2 AN AMERICAN INDIAN AFTERNOON

CHAPTER TWO AN AMERICAN INDIAN AFTERNOON AT HALF-PAST two the Secret Seven Society arrived by ones and twos. Jack arrived first, wearing his badge again. He had chased and caught Susie, and taken it from her. 'I'll come and bang at the door again and shout the password,' threatened Susie. 'That won't be any good,' said Jack. 'We've got a new one!' Everyone said the new password cautiously, just in case that tiresome Susie was anywhere about. 'Indians!'

'Indians!' The password was whispered time after time till all seven were gathered together. Everyone had brought American Indian suits and head-dresses. Soon they were all dressing, except Colin, who hadn't one.

'Now off we go to Little Thicket,' said Peter, prancing about with a most terrifying-looking hatchet. Fortunately, it was only made of wood. 'I'll take Janet and Jack for my two men, and George can have Barbara and Pam. Colin's to be the one we both try to stalk and capture.' 'No tying me to trees and shooting off arrows at me,' said Colin, firmly. 'That's fun for you, but not for me. OK?' They had all painted their faces in weird patterns, except Colin. Jack had a rubber knife which he kept pretending to plunge into Scamper. They really did look a very fierce collection of Indians indeed. They set off for Little Thicket, which was about half a mile away, across the fields. It lay beside a big mansion called Milton Manor, which had high walls all round it. 'Now, what we'll do is to start out at opposite ends of Little Thicket,' said Peter.

'My three can take this end, and you three can take the other end, George. Colin can go to the middle. We'll all shut our eyes and count one hundred– and then we'll begin to hunt for Colin and stalk him.' 'And if I spot any of you and call your name, you have to get up and show yourselves,' said Colin. 'You'll be out of the game then.' 'And if any one of us manages to get right up to you and pounce on you, then you're the prisoner,' said Peter. 'Little Thicket is just the right kind of place for this!' It certainly was. It was a mixture of heather and bushes and trees. Big, heathery tufts grew there, and patches of wiry grass, small bushes, and big and little trees. There were plenty of places to hide, and anyone could stalk a person from one end of the thicket to the other without being seen, if they crawled carefully along on their tummy. The two parties separated, and went to each

end of Little Thicket. A fence bounded one side and on the other the walls of Milton Manor grounds rose strong and high. If Colin could manage to get out of either end of Little Thicket uncaptured, he would be clever! He went to stand in the middle, waiting for the others to count their hundred with their eyes shut. As soon as Peter waved a handkerchief to show that the counting had begun, Colin ran to a tree. He climbed quickly up into the thick branches, and sat himself on broad bough. He grinned. They can stalk me all they like, from one end of the thicket to the other, but they won't find me! he thought. And when they're all tired of looking and give up, I'll shin down and stroll up to them! The counting was up. Six American Indians began to spread out and worm their way silently through heather and thick undergrowth and long grass.

Colin could see where some of them were by the movement of the undergrowth. He kept peeping between the boughs of his tree, chuckling to himself. This was fun! And then something very surprising caught his eye. He glanced over to the high wall that surrounded the grounds of Milton Manor, and saw that somebody was astride the top! Even as he looked the man jumped down and disappeared from view, and Colin heard the crackling of undergrowth. Then everything was still. Colin couldn't see him at all. He was most astonished. What had the man been doing, climbing over the wall? Colin couldn't for the life of him think what was the best thing to do. He couldn't start yelling to the others from the tree. Then he suddenly saw that Peter, or one of the others, was very near where the man had gone to ground! It was Peter. He had thought he had heard