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Chapter Six
Uncle Stanley brought lots of local people to help build their tree house. It took them two complete days to get the tree house ready. The children were too excited to think of anything else. They were eagerly waiting to hold their secret meetings there.
In two days, their tree house was also ready and the commotion too had died down. The whole family helped them decorate their tree house. After lunch, they all went to their tree house and sat on colourful mats spread on the wooden floor.
"Isn't it exciting to have a meeting place of our own?" Asked Nicholas excitedly.
"Yeah, gosh it's so cool, " said Skylar, clapping her hands together and looking around.
"We'll keep some cookies and goodies here too," said Diana and everyone agreed excitedly.
"Ok. So what are we doing today? Daryll, let's go and look for a hiding place bang opposite Edward Wellington's house first. Then we'll go look for a place at Wellington Creek. What do you say?" Asked Jasper.
"Sure, let's go. You guys act normal and cover for us. Keep your mobiles on, Skye and Nick," said Daryll. Diana was too small to own a mobile phone. She pouted looking at everyone.
"Be careful Daryll, " she said, timidly.
Daryll touched her cheek lovingly. "Don't worry Di, I will," he promised.
They left on their bikes, riding fast towards Edward Wellington's house. The moment they neared the house, they tried to discreetly go towards it from the tree lined canopy instead of along the main path. They didn't want to risk being seen.
"I think this is the perfect hiding spot, Jasper," said Daryll. They were standing behind two adjacent trees that hid them perfectly. The bikes could be hidden in the bushes behind the trees. They could watch the main door of the house as well as the main gate. They could check out which path the man they'd been seeing everywhere took.
The road in front of the mansion bifurcated into two. The left one led to the Wellington Creek and the right one led to the town's marketplace. A road from the marketplace led to Brighton Creek.
The boys then rode to the Wellington Creek. It was a bright sunny afternoon and they tried to ride towards the mills following a route parallel to the path used.
They soon came upon a big boulder. There were bushes growing all around it.
"This is the perfect spot, don't you think, Daryll?" Asked Jasper.
"Yeah, this is perfect, " said Daryll. They could see the entrance to the mills as well as the meandering path leading to it.
"Duck, Daryll, someone's approaching down the road, " whispered Jasper.
They both stooped down low till the man passed by and went straight up to the dòor of the mills. He looked all around to check if anyone was observing him and opened the door with a key and went in.
Jasper peeked and his eyes went wide. It was that man that he saw everywhere. Did he live here? If yes then why was he checking if anyone saw him or not?
They stayed hidden for nearly an hour to see if the man came out. They were about to give up hope and leave, when the door opened and the man came out with a carton. He again checked if anyone was around and locking the door, rushed with the carton down the same path that he arrived. A car screeched to a halt and he handed the carton over to someone sitting at the back. The car sped off and the man went back down the way he came.
What was happening? The boys went back home to update the others what they saw.
"If he wasn't doing anything illegal, then why was he looking around to check all the time?" Said Nicholas.
"You're right. And what was inside the carton? When he went in, he was empty handed," said Jasper.
"Whom did he hand the carton over to and why?" Asked Daryll.
"Maybe he's a smuggler," said Skylar.
"But what is there inside the mills to smuggle?" Asked Jasper.
"There's one way to find out. We need to go inside the mills," said Nicholas.
"Or we could get to see a copy of the lost map and plan," said Daryll.
"Let's ask uncle Stanley if that's possible, " said Skylar. They all agreed and went in search of their uncle.
"There's no copy of the map. But I think a picture of it appeared in the local newspapers, yesterday. You could check it out, " said uncle Stanley.
The children thanked him and went to grab the local newspaper that their uncle was talking about. They took their magnifying glasses and went to their tree house.
They spread out the newspaper and searched for the news article. They finally found it in one corner of the second page.
"It's too small, can't make out anything, " said Skylar.
"Let's use our magnifying glasses," suggested Jasper.
Still, the print was too hazy to make out anything. "It's useless. We cannot read a single word," said Nicholas.
They all sat down looking at one another. Now what?
"There's only one way to find what they're smuggling. Let's sneak inside and snoop around a bit," suggested Jasper.
"But how? We don't have any key," asked Diana.
"Hmm, let me think. We could keep a watch. Let's see if we get an opportunity to sneak in," said Jasper.
Tomorrow we will keep watch over Edward Wellington's house. I want to know who that man is and what's his job is at the mansion. Maybe Edward Wellington is also involved in this illegal business, " said Jasper.
"Yeah he might have murdered his partner and started this illegal business," said Daryll.
"Anything is possible. We can't rule that angle out," said Jasper.
It was already dinnertime and they trooped in to eat the delicious food waiting for them. They locked the treehouse after dinner and went up to their rooms to sleep. Tomorrow, Jasper and Daryll would keep watch over Edward Wellington's house.
