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easily.»
    She was quite right. It was very easy to follow them. They went on and on down the lane – and then stopped outside the old house. There were such a lot of all kinds of marks there that it was difficult to see exactly what they were – footprints, tyre-marks, places where the snow had been kicked and ruffled up – it was hard to tell anything except that this was where people had got out and perhaps had had some kind of struggle.
    «Look – the tyre-marks leave all this mess and go on down the lane», said Janet. She looked over the gate longingly. Were the boys in the old house with the caretaker?
    «Let's go and see if we can find the boys», said Barbara.
    «No. We haven't quite finished our job yet», said Janet. «We ought to follow the tracks as far as they go. Come on – we'll see if they go as far as the stream. There are two lots of tracks all down the lane, as we saw – so it's clear that the car and trailer went down, and then up again. We'll find out where they turned.»
    That was easy. The tracks went down to a field-gate, almost to the stream. Someone had opened the gate, and the car had gone in with the trailer, and had made a circle there, come out of the gate again, and returned up the lane. It was all written clearly in the tyre-tracks.
    «Well, that's the story of last night», said Janet, pleased at their discoveries. «The car and the thing it was pulling came from the direction of Templeton, turned down into this lane, stopped outside the old house, where people got out and messed around – and then went down to the field, someone opened the gate, the car and trailer went in and turned, and came out again and went up the lane – and disappeared into the night. Who or what it brought in the trailer-van goodness knows!»
    «Funny thing to do at that time of night», said Barbara.
    «Very queer», agreed Janet. «Now let's go back to the old house and wait for the boys.»
    «It's almost one o'clock», said Barbara. «Do you think they're still there?
    They hung over the gate and watched and listened. To their horror the old caretaker came rushing out as soon as he saw them, his big stick in his hand.
    «More of you!» he cried. «You wait till I get you. You'll feel my stick all right. Pestering, interfering children! You just wait!»
    But Barbara and Janet didn't wait! They fled up the lane in fright, as fast as they could possibly go in the soft thick snow.

7 – A Talk With the Caretaker
     
    The three boys and Scamper had had an exciting time. They had gone down the lane, noting the car-tracks as they passed. They came to the old house. They saw that the gate was shut. They leaned over the top and saw tracks going up the drive.
    «There's my footprints that I made yesterday morning», said Peter, pointing to them. «And look, you can see Scamper's paw-marks here and there too – but our tracks are all overlaid with others – bigger footmarks – and other marks too, look – rather queer.»
    «A bit like prints that would be made by someone wearing great flat, roundish slippers», said Jack, puzzled. «Who would wear slippers like that? Look, you can see them again and again, all over the place. Whoever wore them was prancing about a bit! Probably being dragged in.»
    The boys leaned over the gate and considered all the marks carefully. They traced them with their eyes as far as they could see.
    «Can any of you make out if the tracks go up the front door steps?» said Colin. «I can't from here – but it rather looks to me as if the snow is smooth up the steps – not trampled at all.»
    «I can't make out from here», said Peter. «Let's go up the drive. After all, we've got to interview the caretaker and find out if he heard anything last night. So we've got to go in.»
    «What shall we say if he asks us why we want to know?» said Colin. «I mean – if he's in this mystery, whatever it is, he may be frightfully angry if he thinks we know anything about it.»
    «Yes, he