16 HURRAH FOR THE SECRET SEVEN!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN HURRAH FOR THE SECRET SEVEN! IT SEEMED a long time before any police cars came. The four boys were so excited that they could not keep still. Peter felt as if he really must go and see how the gang was getting on. He crept out into the yard, and made his way to the lorry. It was dark there, and quiet. He crept forward, and suddenly bumped into someone standing still beside it. The someone gave a shout and caught him. 'Here, who's this? What are you doing?' Then a light was flashed on him, and Zeb's voice said: 'You! The kid who was asking

questions the other day! What are you up to?' He shook Peter so roughly that the boy almost fell over. And then Scamper came flying up! 'Grrrrrrrr!' He flew at Zeb and nipped him sharply on the leg. Zeb gave a yell. Two of the other men came running up. 'What's the matter? What's up?' 'A boy– and a dog!' growled Zeb. 'We'd better get going. Is the unloading finished? That kid may give the alarm.' 'Where is he? Why didn't you hang on to him?' said one of the men, angrily. 'The dog bit me, and I had to let the boy go,' said Zeb, rubbing his leg. 'They've both disappeared into the fog. Come on, hurry, I've got the wind up now.' Peter had shot back to the others, alarmed at being so nearly caught. He bent down and fondled Scamper. 'Good boy!' he whispered. 'Brave dog! Well done, Scamper!'

Scamper wagged his tail, pleased. He didn't understand in the least why Peter should have brought him to this peculiar place in a thick fog, but he was quite happy to be with him anywhere. 'When's that police car coming?' whispered Colin, shivering as much with excitement as with cold. 'Soon, I expect,' whispered back Peter. 'Ah, here it comes– no, two of them!' The sound of cars coming down the road that led to the goods yards was plainly to be heard. They came slowly, because of the fog. They would have got there very much more quickly if the evening had been clear. They came into the yard and stopped. Peter ran to the first one. It was driven by the Inspector, and had four policemen in it. The second car was close behind, and policemen in plain clothes tumbled swiftly out of it. 'Sir! You've come just in time!' said Peter.

'Their lorry is over there. They've loaded it now. You'll catch them just at the right moment!' The police ran over to the dark shape in the fog, the big lorry. Zeb, Larry, Cheeky Charlie and the other men were all in it, with the load of lead behind, but try as Zeb would he could not find the starting-key of the lorry! 'Start her up quickly, you ninny!' said Cheeky Charlie. 'The police are here! Drive the lorry at them if they try to stop us!' 'The key's gone. It must have dropped down,' wailed Zeb, and flashed a torch on to the floor below the steering-wheel. But it was not a bit of good looking there, of course. It was safely in Peter's pocket! The police closed round the silent lorry. 'Game's up, Charlie,' said the Inspector's stern voice. 'You coming quietly, or not? We've got you right on the spot!' 'You wouldn't have, if we could have got

this lorry to move!' shouted Zeb, angrily. 'Who's got the key? That's what I want to know. Who's got it?' 'I have,' called Peter. 'I took it out myself so that you couldn't get away in the lorry!' 'Good boy! Smart lad!' said a nearby policeman, admiringly, and gave the delighted Peter a thump on the back. The fog suddenly thinned, and the scene became clearer in the light of many torches and lamps. The engine-driver and the guard came out of the shed in amazement, wondering what was happening. They had been left comfortably there by Zeb, drinking tea and playing cards. The gang made no fuss. It wasn't worth it, with so many strong men around! They were bundled into the police cars, which drove away at a faster speed than they had come, thanks to the thinning of the fog! 'I'll walk back with you,' said the Inspector's

cheerful voice. 'There's no room in the cars for me now. There's a bit of a squash there at the moment!' He told the engine-driver to report what had happened to his headquarters by telephone, and left the astonished man, and the equally astonished fire-man and guard, to look after themselves and their train. Then he and the four boys trudged back to Peter's house. How amazed his mother was when she opened the door and found four of them with the big Inspector! 'Oh dear, what have they been up to now?' she said. 'A policeman has just been round complaining about Peter trespassing on the railway the other day, with his friends. Oh, don't say he's done anything terribly wrong!' 'Well, he's certainly been trespassing on the railway again,' said the Inspector, with a broad smile, 'but what he's done this time is terribly right, not terribly wrong. Let me come in and