Chapter 4: Ten to Midnight
Tommo remembers that Molly's stones had been right - when Charlie and Tommo were with Molly, they had good luck. But when Molly was not with them, they were not so lucky. The first time Charlie and Tommo go poaching without Molly, things went terribly wrong. When Tommo was on lookout duty, he fell asleep, and they got caught by the Colonel's lookout, Lambert, with his two dogs. At the point of a gun, Charlie and Tommo were marched back to the Big House (where the Colonel lives). They get taken home after they are locked in the stables. They are forced to apologize for trespassing and are made to clean the kennels every Saturday until Christmas. Molly happily gets better and starts to come to school again. At Christmas Eve, they finish their work cleaning the kennels, and just after Tommo's 12th Birthday, Charlie and Molly leave school and find work up at the Big House. This means he only gets to see them at night and on the one day they have off each week. He begins to feel left out because his stories about school aren't interesting to them anymore, and he doesn't understand their stories about the Big House. When he sees Molly walking to work with Charlie holding hands, he gets sad and jealous. One day they see an airplane - the first one they had every seen. It landed and the pilot asks them for directions. They tell him where to go and he gave them some humbugs. Tommo's humbugs are confiscated by Mr. Munnings and he gets 6 whacks on his hand with a ruler. Charlie came home and told Tommo he had stolen Bertha because the Colonel was going to shoot her because she was too old - so Charlie stole her and hid her in his father's old shack.
Tommo remembers that Molly's stones had been right - when Charlie and Tommo were with Molly, they had good luck. But when Molly was not with them, they were not so lucky. The first time Charlie and Tommo go poaching without Molly, things went terribly wrong. When Tommo was on lookout duty, he fell asleep, and they got caught by the Colonel's lookout, Lambert, with his two dogs. At the point of a gun, Charlie and Tommo were marched back to the Big House (where the Colonel lives). They get taken home after they are locked in the stables. They are forced to apologize for trespassing and are made to clean the kennels every Saturday until Christmas. Molly happily gets better and starts to come to school again. At Christmas Eve, they finish their work cleaning the kennels, and just after Tommo's 12th Birthday, Charlie and Molly leave school and find work up at the Big House. This means he only gets to see them at night and on the one day they have off each week. He begins to feel left out because his stories about school aren't interesting to them anymore, and he doesn't understand their stories about the Big House. When he sees Molly walking to work with Charlie holding hands, he gets sad and jealous. One day they see an airplane - the first one they had every seen. It landed and the pilot asks them for directions. They tell him where to go and he gave them some humbugs. Tommo's humbugs are confiscated by Mr. Munnings and he gets 6 whacks on his hand with a ruler. Charlie came home and told Tommo he had stolen Bertha because the Colonel was going to shoot her because she was too old - so Charlie stole her and hid her in his father's old shack.