Sapta Siaga - Mencari Jejak

Warning: play that funky music, Spoiler.

A false trail laid by the rival Famous Five club leads the Secret Seven to a railway yard on a foggy November night -- and a real adventure!

Oh man, I tell you, I was so excited picking up this book again! Don't ask me why, I just was.

This fourth book in the series opens, as with many others, with Peter and Janet preparing food for a Secret Seven meeting. Their mom says, "But you've only just finished your breakfast!" Turns out each of them had two sausages. "You can't possibly want anything more yet."

Janet and Peter explain that they're having their last meeting before the school is due to start soon. When I read this, I thought, oh, all right, so they'll eat again in the meeting, which wouldn't be so soon. But I was wrong. Within minutes, the other five come -- pickled onion is the current password -- and they do eat again right away! Whoa!

Peter tells the rest what he thinks, that the Secret Seven will not have another meeting until the next holiday, which is Christmas. The others disagree with him. Peter being Peter, he insists, saying that nothing ever turns up in term-time and besides, he has to work "jolly hard" this term because his dad wasn't very happy about his last report.

Then Jack -- my fav if you remember -- delivers this gem: "All right. You work hard, and keep out of the Society till Christmas. I'll run it with Janet. It can be the Secret Six till then." Good ol' Jack.

In the end, it's decided -- by Peter -- that they won't have their regular meetings, but if anything does come up -- he very much doubts it -- they can have a special meeting. This seems to please everyone. Oh, I like democracy. They then pick the next password, Cheeky Charlie. It's Jack's aunt's dog's -- that's right, four apostrophes in succession -- name, BTW. Coincidentally, it's also Saucy Jane's brother.

The next day, the children are starting their term, their S.S. badges proudly in display. This causes envy among other students. I think were those bandannas -- coupled with funny haircuts and conspicuous tattoos -- and not badges, it might instill fear instead.

Then Jack's sis Susie comes up with an ingenious idea -- she gets Kate, Harry, Jeff, and Sam to form their own society. What is called? Why, the Famous Five, of course. They have bigger badges -- my badge is bigger than yours, dun pray pray hor! -- and even secret signs. Noone gets to see those signs, naturally; they're secret.

They also have meetings, taken place in the summer-house in Jack's garden. How dare they! And what's more, they seem to have an adventure of some sort going on! Jack reports this to Peter and the Secret Seven chief promptly orders him to find out what is up. Now, Kids, Kids, would you please stop acting like 12-year-olds? Oops, my bad -- they probably are 12-year-olds! Or younger.

So Jack hides in a bush at the back of the summer-house, just as the Famous Five are about to have their meeting. Susie sees him, however, and she gathers her gang prior to entering the summer-house. They agree to cook some story for Jack's benefit.

That they do. And so, poor Jack listens to some phony plan to stake out Tigger's Barn, where, according to Susie, some bad guys called Stumpy Dick and Twisty Tom are to meet Tuesday night. One funny scene has Jeff -- "a very timid boy" -- offering to go with Susie to Tigger's Barn, saying that if Stumpy Dick discovers them, he'll "knock him to the ground." Even Jack is impressed. These Famous Five are as good as his Secret Seven, who woulda thought!

Once the meeting's over, Jack wastes no time in going to Peter's. He meets George on his way and impresses that boy with the adventure the Famous Five are having. Peter is chopping up firewood when the two arrive. That's right, chopping wood. But don't go on imagining a shirtless, muscular Peter -- the illustration shows him fully clothed.

In any case, Peter doesn't think there's really anything in the story. He laughs at Jack for buying such improbable tale. Annoyed, Jack marches off with George. The two boys plan for George to come to Jack's for tea on Tuesday. If Susie does go after all, they'll follow her.

Susie overhears her brother asking their mom if he could have George for tea on Tuesday. The clever girl guesses what the boys are up to and quickly asks if she could have Jeff for tea, too. I have this mental image of her mom turning to her and answering, "No, Susie, a girl and a boy shouldn't be together by themselves after dark. One thing may lead to another, you know." But that's just me.

Tuesday comes. After school, Jack and George and Jeff walk together to Jack's house. The boys and the girls go to different schools, BTW. They have tea and then play upstairs -- Susie and Jeff with Jeff's railway set, Jack and George with a "complicated model aeroplane." I wonder if this is the same model plane that'll set the Secret Seven on their eight adventure a bit later.

Jack's mother tells the kids she's "off to [her] Committee Meeting" -- whatever that is. Soon after she's gone, Susie and Jeff seemingly try to sneak out of the house. Wasting no time, Jack and George do likewise. Or so they think. Turns out Susie and Jeff are just hiding, tricking the boys into thinking that they're gone. As a result, while Jack and George are on their way to the mysterious Tigger's Barn, Susie and Jeff have the whole house for themselves. Now one thing may lead to another, hmm...

Tigger's Barn is an empty house, having once been part of a burned-down farmhouse. Now and then, tramps use it as a shelter. Jack and George arrive, all the while wondering where Susie and Jeff are. Thinking the other two must've hidden themselves very well, the boys enter the house through a window. They settle on the big fireplace as their hiding place.

What follows next is Enid's familiar series of coincidental events. First, some mysterious guys really show up. It's not Stumpy Dick and Twisty Tom, but instead, a man with an educated voice and his two rough-sounding friends called Zeb and Larry. Jack crawls out of the fireplace and manages to catch snippets of conversation from another room. Then he falls into a cupboard and somehow shuts himself in -- I'm still not clear how that happens, but it does. George, meanwhile, is startled by an owl flying down the chimney and touching his cheek. He goes out of the hiding place and, trying to find Jack, whispers their password: Cheeky Charlie.

Guess what, the men hear him saying Cheeky Charlie and think he has a message for them from their associate, who's also called Charlie! When George says nothing -- what else can you say in his place -- they assume he's stupid and come up with a conclusion that Charlie isn't sending them a message, but instead expecting a message from them. So, the man called Zeb scribbles something on a piece of paper and passes it to our lucky George! They even ask him where Charlie is now, at Dalling's or Hammond's. George tosses an imaginary coin and says Darling's. This seems fine by them and they send him off with ten pence, adding that he shouldn't go "calling him Cheeky Charlie, see? Little boys that are saucy get their ears boxed!" -- another reference to Five on a Hike Together there. Hey, not bad for a few mins of work and getting unlucky -- or lucky, arguably.

George hides himself in a bush outside and when the men are gone, he goes back inside the house and finds Jack. Puzzled and amazed at the same time, the two boys call it a night and return to Jack's place -- a steak restaurant here, but an ordinary house in this book. Susie informs them with delight that she and Jeff were indeed playing a trick on them. Well, thank you, Susie, for now the Secret Seven can have a real adventure!

So lemme get this. Susie and her Famous Five tried to send the Secret on a wild goose chase, saying that on Tuesday night something would happen at Tigger's Barn. On Tuesday night, it so happened that a group of criminals chose Tigger's Barn as their meeting place. Then as it happened, the Secret Seven had recently chosen Cheeky Charlie as their latest password. And who happened to have a friend named Charlie -- it's even suggested in the book that Cheeky Charlie is really this Charlie's nickname -- but this very group of criminals. Furthermore, it was only by chance that George left his hiding place and called out for Jack, and thus got caught.

Nah, not to say this is a bad book, after all. I was really excited. In fact, I could hardly put this book down. To think that it was written for pre-teen readers.

Back to the case. Safe at his home, George reads the penciled note. Hmm, why don't I type it here in full.

Dear Charlie,
Everything's ready and going O.K. Can't see that anything can go wrong, but a fog would be very welcome as you can guess! Larry's looking after the points, we've arranged that. Don't forget the lorry, and get the tarpaulin truck cover marked with white at one corner. That'll save time in looking for the right load. It's clever of you to send out this load by truck, and collect it by lorry!
All the best, Zeb

First of all, if only all thugs could write as well and as politely as Zeb. Second, what's that about truck and lorry? Lorry is the Queen's English for truck, that much I know. So what's truck, then? I looked it up -- 'course I did, I'm obsessed with this kinda thing -- and The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language has it as "a railroad freight car without a top." Well then, shouldn't that make it clear that the bad guys are trying to get (steal?) something from a train?

Apparently not. George calls for a Secret Seven meeting and the children puzzle over this and over the snippets Jack heard: loading and unloading, six-two or maybe seven-ten, points, there musn't be a moon, darkness, fog, mist. Also, over Dalling's and Hammond's. They conclude there's a robbery in planning here and decide not to turn matters into the police just yet. Peter sends the others off, asking them to think of any ideas.

Peter and Janet have an idea to check out the phone directories at the post office. Jack goes with them. You know, given the dynamics among these three, I always imagine that one day Jack'll ask for Janet's hand in marriage and Peter will be his best man. Anyway. Out of three Dallings, they single out a Messrs. E. Dalling, Manufacturers of Lead Goods. Next, among other Hammonds, they find a Hammond and Co., Ltd, Lead Manufacturers. Looks like they've found the right Dalling's and Hammond's. The bad guys must've planned to steal a load of lead!

The Secret Seven have their next meeting on Saturday, but with noone having much to say or report with regard to the current case and it raining outside, they end the meeting early and play with Peter's railway set and Janet's farm set instead. I once helped a friend and his father build a railway set, going around a miniature landscape, complete with hills, houses, roads, even a river. When it was complete, they really put water in the river and ponds. It was a very memorable experience and I was fortunate to have it during my Blytons-reading period, helping me to understand and appreciate the excitement in Enid's books better.

George is tasked with working the points. And that's another lesson I learned from re-reading this book. Point here refers to the Queen's English term for railway switch, a mechanical installation enabling trains to be guided from one set of rail tracks to another. And IIRC, the Indonesian translators had it as persimpangan in the book, which is not technically accurate, IMO. I wonder what the correct term they use in Indonesian railway operation.

While they're playing, Janet realizes that what Jack heard at Tigger's Barn may well be these points, as in railway switches. This gets everyone thinking along the same line: those people must be planning to divert a train -- carrying lead -- onto another line and one of the train's trucks will be marked by white to indicate the location of the lead. "You are really clever, Janet," says Jack and Janet beams -- I think my marriage theory has some foundation.

Peter and Colin go to the railway station to check out the timetable, trying to find any freight trains leaving or arriving at six-two or seven-ten. Well, guess what, they also find a mechanic -- a linesman in British English -- called Zeb. Ironically, it's this Zeb guy that informs the boys of a goods train due to arrive at 6:02 in the evening, twice a week -- and of a colleague of his named Larry, who's in charge of the points. Zeb evens brings Peter and Colin to the points a mile down the line and shows how they work. Now, that's what I call being lucky. Or being a protagonist in an Enid Blyton's book.

After lunch, Peter and Colin are back at the station, this time along with the rest of the Secret Seven. The station porter tells them the six-two train passes by -- it won't stop on its way to Swindon -- every Tuesday and Friday. He also tells them that lately some goods have been stolen from trains.

The children then visit the switches shown by Zeb earlier and follow the side line to a small yard where goods are unloaded from trucks -- that's train carriages, remember -- and loaded into lorries -- that's trucks. The yard is now deserted since no goods trains are expected in the area. In other words, a perfect place for a train robbery.

The Seven are deliberating whether they should now go to the friendly inspector they know from previous adventures. That's not gonna happen, though, as Enid cleverly has a policeman show up out of nowhere and scold them for taking a walk between railway tracks, an illegal thing to do. He proceeds to take down all their names and addresses. Cross, Peter decides to settle the affair themselves. They make a plan for the boys to come back Tuesday night and see if a robbery does take place.

Tuesday evening comes and so does the fog. After tea, Peter, Jack, Colin, and George go to the goods yard and arrive at five to six. It's already very dark and they hear a lorry and a few voices. All four bad guys are here! Once again, the kids hit it on the first try -- what are the chances!

The goods train is late and finally arrives after half past six. Larry works the switches and the train unknowingly changes course. A fog signal causes the driver to stop the train right where the bad guys want it -- in the yard. Larry, claiming to be in charge of the goods yard, tells the engineer -- engine-driver in British English -- that he has accidentally gone along the side line and he should wait, along with the train guard, in the yard shed while he (Larry) will get instructions. They are only too happy to do just that. Err, Mr. Engineer and Mr. Guard, shouldn't you guys be checking for instructions yourselves?

Zeb finds the marked truck and he and the rest begin unloading the contents. Peter tells his friends that he saw a brick building with telephone wires going in. Aaand he noticed, a window was open. Good observation there, Peter. Good luck as well.

As they're making their way there, though, Peter takes his time to creep to the empty lorry cabin and comes back with the ignition key. Reaching the small building, he finds the open window and goes inside. Wasting no time, he calls the police, speaking directly to the inspector.

Waiting for the police, Peter nearly gets himself caught as he bumps into Zeb. Scamper, along for the adventure, comes charging and Peter manages to escape. That's about all the excitement for tonight and the rest comes easy. The police arrive -- the inspector is behind the wheel of one of the cars, how 'bout that -- and catch the bad guys red-handed, who can't run away in the lorry because the key is with Peter. The inspector himself walks the boys to Peter's house and explains everything to the boy's mom.

Peter confirms that they are indeed 12-year-olds -- or younger -- by calling for another Secret Seven meeting tomorrow and inviting the rival Famous Five just so that they "can tell them how the Secret Seven manage their affairs!" and thank them for putting the Secret Seven "on the track of this most exciting adventure!"

Oh well, I guess they deserve that, having entertained me throughout this book.

Next: Five Go Off in a Caravan.

Current music: Herman's Hermits - A Must to Avoid
Current mood: happy