'Timmy — meet a friend,' said George to him, solemnly. Timmy looked at Mr Lenoir out of his big brown eyes. He trotted straight up to him, and held up his right paw politely to shake hands, as George had taught him.
Mr Lenoir was rather taken aback. He was not used to good manners in dogs. He couldn't help putting out his hand to Timmy — and the two shook hands in a most friendly manner. Timmy didn't attempt to lick Mr Lenoir or jump up at him. He took away his paw, gave a little wuff as if to say 'How-do-you-do?' and then went back to George. He lay down quietly beside her. 'Well — he doesn't seem like a dog!' said Mr Lenoir, in surprise.
'Oh, he is,' said George, at once, very earnestly. 'He's a real, proper dog, Mr Lenoir — only much, much cleverer than most dogs are. Could I keep him, please, while we stay here, and get someone in the town to look after him?'
'Well — seeing he is such a very fine fellow — and seems so sensible — I'll let you have him here,' said Mr Lenoir, making a great effort to be generous. 'Only — please keep him out of my way. I'm sure a sensible boy like you will see to that.'
Everyone grinned when Mr Lenoir called George a boy. He never seemed to realise she was a girl. She grinned, too. She wasn't going to tell him she wasn't a boy!
'You'll never see him!' she said, joyfully. 'I'll keep him right out of your way. Thank you very much. It's awfully good of you.'
The Inspector liked Timmy, too. He looked at him and nodded across to George. 'When you want to get' rid of him, sell him to me!' he said.
'We could do with a dog like that in our police force! Soon round up the smugglers for us!'
George didn't even bother to reply! As if she would ever sell Timmy, or let him go into the police force!
All the same, the Inspector had to call on Timmy for help before long. When the next day came, and no one had found Mr Barling and his companions in the maze of tunnels, and they hadn't turned up anywhere, the Inspector asked George if she would let Timmy go down into the tunnels and hunt them out.
'Can't leave them there, lost and starving,' he said.
'Bad as they are we'll have to rescue them! Timmy is the only one who can find them.'
That was true, of course. So Timmy once more went underground into the hill, and hunted for his enemies. He found them after a while, lost in the maze of passages, hungry and thirsty, in pain and frightened.
He took them like sheep to where the police waited for them. And after that Mr Barling and his friends disappeared from public life for quite a long time!
'The police must be glad to have got them at last,' said Mr Lenoir. 'They have tried to stop this smuggling for a long time. They even suspected me at one time! Barling was a clever fellow, though I still think he was half mad. When Block found out my ideas about draining the marsh, Barling was afraid that once the mists and the marsh were gone, that would be the end of all his excitements — no more smuggling! No more waiting for his little ships to come creeping up in the fog — no more lines of men slipping across the secret ways of the marsh — no more signalling, no more hiding away of smuggled goods, Did you know that the police had found a cave full of them inside the hill?'
It was an exciting adventure to talk about, now that it was all over. The children felt sorry about one thing, though — they were sorry that they had thought Mr Lenoir so horrid. He was a queer man in many ways, but he could be kind and jolly too.
'Did you know we're leaving Smuggler's Top?' said Sooty. 'Mother was so terribly upset when I disappeared, that Father promised her he'd sell the place and leave Castaway, if I came back safe and sound. Mother's thrilled!'
'So am I,' said Marybelle. 'I don't like Smuggler's Top — it's so queer and secret and lonely!'
'Well, if it will make you all happy to leave it, I'm glad,' said Julian. 'But I like it! I think it's a lovely place, set on a hill-top like this, with mists at its foot, and secret ways all about it. I'll be sorry never to come here again, if you leave.'
'So will I,' said Dick, and Anne and George nodded.
'It's an adventurous place!' said George, patting Timmy. 'Isn't it, Timmy? Do you like it, Timmy? Have you enjoyed your adventure here?'
'Woof!' said Timmy, and thumped his tail on the floor. Of course he had enjoyed himself. He always did, so long as George was anywhere about.
'Well — now perhaps we'll have a nice peaceful time!' said Marybelle. 'I don't want any more adventures.'
'Ah, but we do!' said the others. So no doubt they will get them. Adventures always come to the adventurous, there's no doubt about that!
THE END