CHAPTER X

_Some One Meets Jack and Molly in the Third Green Lane_

They had gone but a short distance along the broad white road which led to the Three Green Lanes (according to the map), when they heard the East Gate of the City open and shut again with a clang, and looking back Jack and Molly saw that two people had come out and had started off in the opposite direction to that in which they were going.

“Two more searchers,” said Jack. “I remember that little man with the green coat, don’t you, Molly? He was at the Palace—had very twinkling eyes.”

“Oh, yes, I saw him,” said Molly. “And that boy with him in that curious red-brown suit. I wonder which part they are searching. Supposing _they_ are the lucky people who are going to find the Black Leaf ... if we only knew,” sighed the little girl, standing in the middle of the white road and gazing pensively at the two figures in the distance.

“I know one thing,” said Jack. “We shan’t be the lucky people if we don’t move along. Come on, Molly.”

Two minutes’ brisk walking brought them to the entrance to the First Green Lane. And here their search began. The lane was a very twisty one, and was closed in on either side with high thick hedges; fresh and green the hedges were, and starred with tiny white flowers that smelled very sweet.

“How strange that it isn’t autumn here, like it was at home,” said Jack. “It’s more like summer here, isn’t it, Molly?”

“It isn’t really strange,” said Molly. “Everything is so different here, isn’t it? I don’t see why the seasons in the Possible World should be like ours any more than anything else is like ours.”

“No. P’r’aps you’re right,” agreed Jack.

They went carefully along, searching thoroughly as they went, Molly taking the left-hand side of the lane and Jack the right. For the most part it was fairly easy work; there were not many places in the First Green Lane where the Black Leaf could grow undetected, though from time to time an extra thick and low-spreading bush would necessitate a halt for a thoroughly satisfactory examination.

“There is one thing that seems strange to me,” Molly went on presently. “And that is the way the ordinary and the magic things seem to all get mixed up together. I’m sure I shall be forgetting, when we get home again, and keep expecting spells and magic things to happen.”

“So shall I,” said Jack; and then, as Molly began to laugh—“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Oh, Jack,” she laughed. “What would Aunt Phœbe say if she could see us now!”

“‘I’m sure I don’t know what the world’s coming to,’” mimicked Jack, in an Aunt Phœbe voice, and then joined in Molly’s laughter. “And the best of it is,” he chuckled, “it’s all through her giving you that birthday present. She _would_ be wild.”

“I suppose we really ought not to laugh at her,” laughed Molly. “It’s hardly respectful—but, somehow, I can’t just help it.”

They continued to search, chatting and laughing, in a light-hearted, excited mood, and soon they had covered the best part of the First Green Lane. As they neared the end—a break in the hedge (on Jack’s side) blocked by a white gate revealed a big field which lay behind the hedge.

“Hullo,” said Jack. “Have we got to search this field, too, I wonder. Where’s the map?”

Molly had it in her pocket, and produced it at once. Leaning against the gate the two children studied it carefully.

“Yes. See. Here it is ... marked here,” said Molly. “The hedge on the left-hand side—the side I was searching—is the boundary; but the field this side is marked in our square.”

“I tell you what then,” suggested Jack. “I’ll start on the field while you finish to the end of the lane—it’s only a few yards more. Then you come back and start the other end of the field.”

Molly agreed, so they separated for a few minutes and continued the search. But there was no sign of the Black Leaf anywhere in the big field or in the First Green Lane, and at length they started on the Second Green Lane.

The Second Green Lane had low hedges and many ferns and wild flowers growing by the way, and a ditch running along one side of it, which made the searching a little more difficult. There were also several gates leading from this lane into fields which had to be searched too. Some of the fields where the grass was long took a good time to do properly. But the two children stuck to it perseveringly, urged on by the hope that perhaps just round the corner, or behind the next tree, or even, perhaps, a few feet ahead of them among the long grass, grew that which they sought—the Black Leaf. But so far they had searched in vain.

In the early afternoon they found themselves at the beginning of the Third Green Lane; and here they decided to stop and have a short rest and some lunch. When they sat down on the soft grass by the side of the lane they suddenly discovered that they were really tired; and when they saw the tempting little sandwiches and cakes in the “snack for lunch” packets Glan had given them they realized that they were really hungry. They had been too busy and excited to realize these things before. Over lunch they got out the map again and studied it.

“What a lonely piece of country this seems,” Jack remarked. “Do you know, we haven’t seen a single person since we started searching!”

“Nor a single house,” said Molly. “It’s a good thing we have this map with us. How useful it is.... Let me look, Jack. Are there any houses or villages marked near here, because we shall have to find some place to stay to-night if possible.”

“There seems to be some sort of village marked there ... um ... it’s not very near, though,” said Jack. “It’s the other side of the Goblin’s Heath.... There doesn’t seem to be a house of any sort marked between here and that village, does there? Still, I daresay we could reach the village before dusk, if we are not delayed at all——”

“And if the Heath isn’t too big——”

“If it is and we can’t find a cottage before the end of the Heath, we’ll climb up a tree, Moll. It’ll be great sport. And we shall be quite safe there till daylight.”

They packed up the remains of the lunch, for it was a very generous “snack” that Glan had put in for each of them, and after resting a few minutes longer they rose to their feet and prepared to start on again.

“My word, I am thirsty,” said Jack. At Molly’s advice he tried one of the little sweet things in Old Nancy’s packet, and though it was certainly refreshing Jack still craved for a drink of water. “Is there a stream of water marked anywhere near here. Give me the map again, Molly.”

They were standing at the beginning of the Third Green Lane with the map in their hands, when the sound of some one singing came to them from a distance.

Jack and Molly looked at each other. This was the first human sound they had heard since they left the High Road. Perhaps this person, whoever it was, could tell them where they could get some water. The singer was evidently approaching, as the song grew louder and clearer, from the direction of the lane which they were just about to search. Then, just as they expected the singer to come round the corner of the lane—the singing ceased abruptly—and no one appeared.

Jack and Molly waited a while, then started off down the lane in the direction whence the singing had come, thinking perhaps that the singer had stopped to rest round the corner of the lane. They were right. As they turned the corner they saw someone sitting under a tree at the side of the lane. It was a young girl, a little older than Jack and Molly—such a pretty girl, with grey-green eyes and a straight, white nose, and deep golden hair that curled about her shoulders. Her soft green frock matched the colour of her eyes.

She did not notice Jack and Molly at first, as her attention was taken up by the contents of a small wicker basket in her lap: she was peering inside it anxiously, and counting aloud.

“Eight, nine, ten,” they heard her say. “Eleven.... Oh, dear, I’ve lost ... no, here it is ... twelve. Oh, that’s right!”

She looked up, and saw the children. She gazed up at them, then smiled (such a friendly, sweet smile, Molly thought).

“Oh, I ... I didn’t hear you come along,” she said.

“We heard you singing,” said Molly.

The girl blushed. “I didn’t know anyone was near,” she said. “I often sing when I’m by myself—it’s so lonely, as a rule.” She fastened the lid of her basket down.

“We were awfully glad to hear you,” said Jack. “Because, do you know, we haven’t met a soul since we left the East Gate.”

“Have you come from the City, then?” asked the girl with much interest, rising to her feet. “Oh, you can’t imagine how lonely it is to live out here. What news is there? What does the City look like now? Oh, I’d give anything to live in the City with crowds of people and lights and shops and—and real pavement.”

“Haven’t you got any pavement then in the village where you live?” asked Jack.

“I don’t live in a village,” answered the girl. “Its right out here in all this lonely part that mother and I live.”

“Near here?” asked Molly.

“Yes. Just at the end of the Third Green Lane,” said the girl.

“In a house?” inquired Jack.

“Yes. Why not?” the girl smiled. “What did you think we’d live in?”

“I meant,” said Jack, “it’s not marked on our map; there’s no house marked until you get to the other side of the Goblin’s Heath, and I didn’t think there was one so close.”

The girl began to laugh. “Well, there is one, even if it isn’t marked on your map. They don’t mark all the houses, you know. If your way takes you along down this lane you’ll pass the house, and mother would be awfully pleased to see you if you could spare a little while. She rarely gets news of the City or sees anybody.”

“We _were_ going along this way,” said Jack. “And we were just wondering if there was anywhere we could get a drink of water, because we’re both so thirsty....”

“Thirsty?” said the girl. “Why, here is the very thing!” And she opened her basket and took out a beautiful bunch of grapes. “I had been sent out to gather these from our vine—twelve bunches I’ve gathered. Do have one.” She placed a delicious-looking bunch in Jack’s hands.

“Oh, no—really. I say, can you spare them, though?” protested Jack. “And wouldn’t your mother mind?”

“She’d mind if I didn’t give you a bunch when you were so thirsty,” said the girl, and insisted on Molly having a bunch too.

“Well, it really is awfully kind of you,” said Jack, and Molly thanked her also.

Molly hesitated just a second before eating her grapes, wondering if they were doing right in accepting them from the little girl whose name even they didn’t know. But a glance at the little girl’s sweet, frank face reassured any doubts Molly may have had. Jack had already started his bunch. So Molly ate her grapes too.

“You know,” said Jack, “I don’t think I’ve ever tasted such jolly fine grapes. I was terribly thirsty after searching all the morning.”

“Searching?” asked the girl, puzzled. “Did you say searching? What have you lost?”

“It isn’t what we’ve lost—it’s what we can’t find,” said Jack. “You know—it’s what they’re all looking for.”

The girl shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said.

“Don’t you know about the search for the Black Leaf?” asked Jack in surprise. “Oh, I say. And about the Pumpkin being back again—of course, you know that?”

“What!” screamed the girl. “The Pumpkin back? No! No! I didn’t know that. We hear nothing—living out here alone.... But, oh dear, oh dear! Whatever are we going to do?” She was trembling and seemed very upset. “I must get home at once and tell mother—poor mother,” she added. She fastened the lid of her basket with shaking fingers. “Are you coming along this way now?”

The children explained to her that although they were coming that way they would have to search as they came, and advised her to go on in front of them to tell her mother if she felt this was the wisest thing to do. But she seemed afraid to leave them.

“I’d rather stay with you, if you don’t mind,” she said. “I—I expect you’ll think I’m an awful coward—but I simply daren’t go on alone. I’ll help you search as we go along; and do tell me how it all happened—how the Pumpkin came back.”

So, as the three of them moved off down the lane, Jack and Molly recounted something of what had happened. They did not talk much about themselves, but related the main incidents of the Pumpkin’s return. Their companion listened eagerly, putting in a hurried question every now and then. When they had finished she said:

“Well, I do think it’s plucky of you. To search like this—in a strange land. I—I feel quite ashamed of myself for being so scared just now. We all have to take our chance. Do let me help you search this bit of lane. And afterward, I’ll go to the City and ask to be given a part to search too. How far do you intend to search to-day?”

“We thought of trying to get as far as the other side of the Goblin’s Heath,” said Jack.

“Oh, you’ll never be able to do that before nightfall!” the girl exclaimed. “It’s a very big Heath. I wonder—would you care to stay at our house to-night? Mother and I would be only too proud to have you, if you’d care....”

“It’s very good of you,” said Molly. “Perhaps——”

“Well, wait until you see mother, if you’d prefer that,” said the girl. “Wait until you see our house. I know I shouldn’t care to promise to stay with anyone until I’d seen where they lived. In a strange country too.”

She had added this, seeing that Jack and Molly hesitated. But they were more than half-persuaded, because she spoke so reasonably and frankly.

They continued to search the Third Green Lane thoroughly; the afternoon wore on, and the shadows of eventide began to fall.

Presently the girl said, “We are near the end of the lane now. Round the next turning you will see my house.”

So far the search had been in vain, and Jack and Molly were beginning to feel very tired, as the lane had been long and difficult.

“We must have been two hours searching this lane,” said Molly. “Will your mother be getting anxious about you?”

The girl shook her head. “And she won’t even be cross when she sees that I’ve brought visitors home with me. You will come in, won’t you?” she asked, “and we can all have tea together.”

It sounded so tempting that the children accepted gladly, especially as the house hove in sight at that moment. Turning the corner they came suddenly upon it. Such a quaint, cosy little house, which lay snuggled away behind a cluster of thick bushes and trees. The lane continued for only a short distance beyond the house, then it opened out into a great wide heath—the Goblin’s Heath. The children hadn’t time to take in much of the scenery, as their companion ushered them into the garden of her house quickly. It was darker in the garden under the trees than out in the roadway, and they saw that a little light was glimmering from one of the windows of the house, which made it look very homely and comfortable. Jack and Molly followed their companion up the path to the front door.

The girl tapped twice on the front door, then, rattling the handle and calling out, “Here we are, mother!” she threw open the door and the three of them passed in.

They found themselves in a dark, narrow passage, at the end of which they could see a glow as from firelight. Their companion closed the front door and led the way along the passage.

“Here we are, mother!” she called again, and a figure appeared in the firelit opening at the end of the passage, and stood there chuckling softly.

Suddenly, Jack and Molly were afraid.

“Jack, I’m going back!” gasped Molly, and turning, both the children made for the door. But it was shut fast, and there were no handles or bolts to be found.

The girl and the figure in the firelight burst into loud laughter.

“You little sillies!” a voice cried, accompanied by another burst of laughter.

They could see the girl in green quite plainly now. She had reached the end of the passage and stood whispering to the other person. The firelight shone on both of them. The girl in green was strangely altered. No longer fresh and young and pretty—her face looked old and hard and scornful. Jack and Molly caught a few of the words she was whispering.

“Oh, Jack,” Molly sobbed. “They’re the Pumpkin’s friends. We’re trapped!”