Five Go Off to Camp by Enid Blyton Page A

nobody did, because they were scared. They knew it was a bad place, where bad things happen.'
    Anne felt frightened. 'But Mr Andrews - you don't mean there real y are spook-trains, do you?' she asked, her face rather pale.
    Mr Andrews pursed up his lips and nodded very solemnly indeed. 'That's just what I do mean. Spook-trains come and go. Nobody knows why. But it's bad luck to be there when they come. They might take you away, see?'
    Julian laughed. 'Oh - not as bad as that, sir, surely! Anyway, you're frightening Anne, so let's change the subject. I don't believe in spook-trains.'
    But Mr Andrews didn't seem to want to stop talking about the trains. 'Wooden-Leg Sam was right to hide himself when they come along,' he said. 'I don't know how he manages to stay on in a bad place like that. Never knowing when a train is going to come creeping out of that tunnel in the darkness.'
    Julian was not going to have Anne frightened any more. He got up from the table and turned to Mrs Andrews.
    'Thank you very much for a lovely day and lovely food!' he said. 'We must go now.
    Come along, Anne.'
    'Wait a minute,' said Mr Andrews. 'I just want to warn you all very solemnly that you mustn't go down to that railway yard. You hear me, Jock? You might never come back.
    Old Wooden-Leg Sam's mad, and well he may be, with spook-trains coming along in the dead of night. It's a bad and dangerous place. You're not to go near it!'
    'Well - thank you for the warning, sir,' said Julian, politely, suddenly disliking the small man with the big nose very much indeed. 'We'll be going. Goodbye, Mrs Andrews. Goodbye, Jock. Come along tomorrow and have a picnic with us, wil you?'
    'Oh, thanks! Yes, I wil ,' said Jock. 'But wait a minute - aren't you going to take any food with you?'
    'Yes, of course they are,' said Mrs Andrews, getting up from her chair. She had been listening to the
    conversation with a look of puzzled wonder on her face. She went out into the scul ery, where there was a big, cold larder. Julian fol owed her. He carried the two baskets.
    Til give you plenty,' said Mrs Andrews, putting loaves, butter, and cream cheese into the baskets. 'I know what appetites you youngsters get. Now don't you be too scared at what my husband's just been saying - I saw that little Anne was frightened. I've never heard of the spook-trains, and I've been here for three years. I don't reckon there's much in the tale, you know, for all my husband's so set on warning you not to go down to the yard.'
    Julian said nothing. He thought that Mr Andrews had behaved rather oddly about the whole story. Was he one of the kind of people who believed in al sorts of sil y things and got scared himself? He looked weak enough! Julian found himself wondering how a nice woman like Mrs Andrews could have married such a poor specimen of a man. Stil , he was a generous fellow, judging by al Jock had said, and perhaps Jock's mother felt grateful to him for giving her the farm and the money to run it with. That must be it.
    Julian thanked Mrs Andrews, and insisted on paying her, though she would have given him the food for nothing. She came into the kitchen with him and he saw that the others had already gone outside. Only Mr Andrews was left, eating ham and pickles.
    'Good-bye, sir,' said Julian politely.
    'Good-bye. And you remember what I've told you, boy,' said Mr Andrews. 'Bad luck comes to people who see the spook-trains - yes, terrible bad luck. You keep away from them.'
    Julian gave a polite smile and went out. It was evening now and the sun was setting behind the
    moorland hil s, though it stil had a long way to go before it disappeared. He caught up with the others. Jock was with them.
    'I'm just coming half-way with you,' said Jock. 'I say! My stepfather was pretty scary about those trains, wasn't he?'
    'I felt pretty scary too, when he was warning us about them,' said Anne. 'I shan't go down to that yard again, ever. Wil you, George?'
    'If the boys did, I would,' said