Mystery of the Hidden House by Enid Blyton Read Free Book Online Page B

deserted place, and the wind was very cold as it swept across it that night.
    Mr. Goon wished he was safe home and warm in bed. He plodded along quietly, thinking of comforting things like oil-stoves and hot cocoa and hot water-bottles. And quite suddenly he saw a light flashing not far from him!
    Mr. Goon sank down on the hillside beside a hedge. So that toad of a boy was right. There was something going on after all on Christmas Hill! What could it be?
    He watched intently, almost forgetting to breathe. A red light - flash-flash! A green one - flash-flash-flash! And gracious, there was another light farther up the hill - a blue one, flash!
    Larry and Pip were enjoying themselves, flashing hard, hoping that Ern was seeing the flashes and marvelling. Fatty was waiting impatiently for Ern. Where was he? All this flashing was being wasted if Ern wasn’t seeing it. Surely he hadn’t gone to sleep in bed when he had been told to come to the mill?
    Then Fatty heard a sigh as if some one was letting out a big breath. Ah - that must be Ern. He must be hiding somewhere nearby. Perhaps he didn’t know quite where the mill was.
    Flash-flash-flash! The lights winked out over the hill. Mr. Goon wondered if they were being flashed in the Morse code, but after trying hard to puzzle out any letters being flashed he gave it up. Who were these signallers? Were they flashing to somebody in the old deserted mill? Mr. Goon thought about the mill. It was almost ruined. He was positive there was nothing to be found there but rats and owls.
    Mr. Goon moved his cramped legs and a twig cracked sharply under him. He held his breath again! Would any one hear that? He listened and heard nothing. The lights went on and on flashing merrily. Most extraordinary. Mr. Goon debated whether or not to tell the Inspector about it. He decided not to. He’d better get to the bottom of things before that cheeky Frederick Trotteville did.
    The lights stopped flashing. They had been going strong for twenty minutes, and now Larry and Pip were so cold that they decided to make their way home. They would meet Fatty again in the morning, and hear what had happened to him and Ern. They chuckled as they thought of Ern, discovering Fatty crouching in a ditch, and wondered what he would do. Run away, probably.
    When the lights stopped flashing Mr. Goon moved very cautiously from the hedge. He went down into some kind of ditch and tried to get a safe footing. Fatty heard him scraping about, and had no doubt at all but that it was Ern, watching the lights flashing with wonder and fear.
    Well, if Ern wasn’t going to discover him, he had better discover Ern! He would leap on him and give him the fright of his life! They would have a good old rough and tumble!
    Fatty crept towards Mr. Goon. He decided to make a few noises first. So he made a mewing noise like a cat. Mr. Goon stopped, surprised. A cat? Out here on Christmas Hill, with not a building near! Poor thing!
    “Puss, puss, puss!” he called. Then he heard an unmistakable clucking. “Cluck-luck-luck-luck-luck! Cluck-luck-luck-luck-luck!”
    A hen! Who could it belong to? Mr. Goon frowned. It must have escaped from somewhere - but where? There was no farm for miles!
    Fatty then mooed like a cow. He was a good mooer and could even startle cows. He startled Mr. Goon extremely, much more than he had ever startled cows. Mr. Goon almost jumped out of his skin. A cow now! Visions of Christmas Hill suddenly populated in the middle of the night with cows, cats and hens came into Mr. Goon’s mind. He couldn’t understand it. For one moment he wondered if he could be dreaming.
    But he was too cold to be dreaming. He scratched the side of his cheek and puzzled about the cow. He ought to take a cow away from this bitter-cold hill. He felt for his torch, and shone it all around, trying to find the cow. Fatty, crouched under a nearby bush, giggled. He thought it was Ern trying to see the cow, the cat and the hen. He debated whether to