Harry Campbell 5
Harry was very frightened indeed but he was also very tired and miserable. He knew that he could do nothing for the moment so he just lay still. Soon he was fast asleep. When he woke up the next morning he found that he could hardly move. He looked around and then he remembered that he had been tied up in a barn by three men who probably intended to kill him. He wondered what he could do.
And then he noticed that a large scythe was standing in a corner of the barn and this gave him an idea. If only he could shuffle across to it, he could use it to cut the ropes which were binding his hands and his feet. It took him a long time to do this and by the time he had reached the scythe he felt exhausted. He tried rubbing the ropes against the blade of the scythe but all that happened was that it moved. He tried to lie down on the handle to keep it still. Again he tried rubbing the rope against the blade. The ropes were cut a little but the scythe moved again. He shuffled around and tried again. He had to do this several times but after about an hour he had cut about half way through one of the ropes. He felt he wanted to rest but he knew he had better not. He did not know when the men might come back.
After another hour he had cut through the ropes that were round his hands and he could could use them to hold the handle and keep the scythe steady while he moved his feet and sawed through the rope that was binding them together. Now he needed to get out of the barn. The door was locked but the barn was old and some of the wood was rotten. He kicked against the door of the barn and the wood broke quite easily.
He got out and started walking back towards the road. It was then that he saw the three men walking towards the barn. He began to run but his legs were stiff and he was afraid that the men would soon catch up to him.
Back at school they found that Harry was missing. They knew that he had run away because he had been in trouble for something that he had not done. The headmaster got the whole school together and asked if anyone had seen or heard anything of Harry that night. No one was able to help but afterwards one of the boys went to the headmaster and said, "Sir, I don't know if this might help but we have a dog at home and my brother and I have trained it for tracking."
"Well John," said Dr Palmer, "Do you think your dog would be able to pick up the correct scent and be able to follow it?"
"If we had something belonging to Harry and we let the dog smell that, then it should be able to do it."
John's home was not far away. He was a day boy at the school and not a boarder. Dr Palmer and Mr Pritchard went with John to his home. John's older brother was there and came with them bringing the dog. Next they found Harry's football strip and let the dog smell it.
When they left the school they could see that the dog had picked up the scent. It walked along with its nose near the ground and there was no doubt that it knew which way to go. It led them along the road and then into the field where Harry had gone. As they crossed the field they saw Harry running towards them with 3 men chasing him. The men turned and ran in the opposite direction.
"Thank goodness you are safe!" said Dr Palmer, "Why did you run away?"
Harry thought he was in more trouble. "Sir, I did not cheat and that book did not belong to me."
"I know that now," said Dr Palmer, "But why were those men chasing you?"
"I went into the barn and found them with stolen goods, "said Harry. They tied me up and I thought they were going to kill me. I think one of them was Egerton's father. He said that Egerton would hide the goods in his locker."
"Let's get back to the school quickly and we will see," said Dr Palmer.
When they opened Egerton's locker they found the stolen jewellery inside. Egerton's father was found guilty of theft and went to prison. Egerton was expelled from the school.
The boys who had called Harry a cheat, came and said that they were very sorry and once again became his friends. Harry was, once more, happy at school.
THE END
