Cambridge University Press
978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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Cambridge
Discovery
Readers
A Little Trouble in the
Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
CEF B1
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
02/07/09 14:51
02/07/09 14:50
Cambridge University Press
978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
Excerpt
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People in the story
Mary Lawson: a fifteen-year-old girl; Andy Lawson’s twin
sister
Andy Lawson: a fifteen-year-old boy; Mary Lawson’s twin
brother
David Lawson: Mary and Andy Lawson’s father
Gladys Whitehead: David Lawson’s sister; Mary and Andy’s
aunt
Lord Fitch: the owner of Arkle House
Jack: works for Lord Fitch
Martin: works for Lord Fitch
David Metcalfe: a private detective
Inspector Rawlinson: a police officer
BEFORE YOU READ
1 Look at People in the story and the pictures in the first
chapter. Answer the questions.
1 Who are the main characters in this part of the story?
2 Describe where the action takes place.
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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Places in the story
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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Chapter 1
Discovering an old mine
YORKSHIRE EVENING NEWS
Arkle House papers sold for £75,000
A suitcase full of old
papers dating from the
nineteenth century was
sold this morning for
£75,000.
The suitcase was
discovered last year in
a farmhouse near Reeth,
North Yorkshire. Inside
r papers that
it were photographs, letters, bills and othe
once belonged to Sir Francis Goodwin.
Arkendale
Sir Francis, the owner of Arkle House in
thought to be
from 1802 to his death in 1866, was always
children and
extremely rich. However, after his death, his
he had left
grandchildren were surprised to discover that
undiscovered
almost no money. There are many stories of
the grounds of
money, or even gold, hidden somewhere in
f. But nothing
Arkle House, or possibly in the house itsel
has ever been found.
present
The suitcase was bought by Lord Fitch, the
1
great-great-
owner of Arkle House. Thomas Goodwin, the
in the papers.
grandson of Sir Francis, was also interested
for them as
However, he was unable to offer as much
Lord Fitch.
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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‘What’s that?’ asked Andy, pointing to a dark area on the side
of the hill in front of him and his sister.
‘I’ve no idea,’ said Mary. ‘Let’s go and have a look.’
Andrew, always called Andy, and Mary Lawson were on
holiday in the Yorkshire Dales2 in the north of England. The
Yorkshire Dales are very beautiful: hills and dales, up and
down, wild countryside on the tops of the hills, sleepy villages,
rivers and farms in the dales at the bottom. Today Andy and
Mary were out cycling in the hills.
‘Let’s leave our bikes here,’ said Andy, putting his bike
against a large stone.
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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‘Good thinking,’ said Mary, placing her bike carefully on
the ground. ‘There’s no one around to steal them.’
They hadn’t seen anyone at all for the last hour. The
countryside was completely empty of people: no other
mountain bikers, no walkers – just birds, lots of rabbits and a
few sheep.
There was a kind of road going up the side of the hill.
Together Andy and Mary climbed until they were standing in
front of a large hole in the side of the hill.
‘It’s very dark in there,’ said Andy. ‘What do you think it is?’
‘It’s a mine,’ said Mary, sounding very sure of herself. ‘You
know, where people dig3 into the ground looking for a metal
like gold or silver or something like that.’
‘You mean there’s gold here in the dales?’ said Andy,
looking rather surprised.
‘No, silly,’ said Mary. ‘Dad was telling me about it last
night. There are lots of mines in this part of the dales,
but they’re lead mines. And if you ever listened in your
geography class, you’d know that lead is a metal that’s used
on roofs.’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Andy. ‘So why aren’t they still digging for
it now, Miss Clever?’
‘Because they’ve taken out almost all the lead that is there,’
said Mary, and she started to take off her backpack and look
inside it.
‘What are you looking for?’ asked Andy.
‘My torch,’ replied Mary. ‘I know it’s here somewhere and
we’re going to need some light if we want to go and have a look
inside.’
‘But …’ Andy looked into the entrance to the mine and
shook his head a little. ‘Why? It’s dark and cold and wet and
probably dangerous.’
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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‘Here it is,’ said Mary, finally pulling a torch out of her
backpack and turning it on and off quickly to check that it worked.
‘Let’s go,’ she said and started to walk into the mine,
holding the torch in front of her.
Andy shook his head again and followed her in. He and Mary
were the same age, fifteen – they were twins – but everything else
about them was different. He was 180 centimetres tall; she was
shorter. He had short red hair; she had long brown hair. He had
blue eyes; she had brown eyes. And if they got into trouble, it was
usually her fault. He didn’t really want to go into the mine, but he
thought he should go with her to make sure she was OK.
‘I thought mines went downwards into the ground,’ he
said, as they moved carefully along.
‘Some do,’ said Mary. ‘And some go flat, straight into the
side of a hill.’
The floor of the mine was even and the roof was low. Both
Mary and Andy had to be careful not to hit their heads. In one
or two places someone had put pieces of wood across the roof
of the mine to stop it falling down. When they came to one of
these places, Mary shone the torch on the wood.
‘Look at that,’ she said.
‘What?’
‘Well, those are new pieces of wood,’ she said. ‘Someone’s
been looking after this mine.’
‘Maybe they’re still looking for lead,’ said Andy.
Mary did not reply. She just kept moving forward into
the mine, waving her torch slowly from side to side. Then
suddenly she stopped.
Andy came up beside her. The torch was lighting up a new
wooden door in the side wall. There was a lock on the door.
Mary went over and pulled at the lock, but it didn’t open. She
pulled at the door, but that didn’t open either.
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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‘I think you should leave it now,’ said Andy.
‘Why?’ asked Mary.
‘Well, if you get it open, someone’s going to know we’ve
been here,’ he replied. ‘And they might not like that.’
‘Why not?’ asked Mary.
‘There’s a lock on the door, stupid,’ said Andy. ‘That
probably means they don’t want people to go in there.’
He put a hand on his sister’s arm.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I really think we should go. If someone
finds us here, we could be in trouble.’
Mary said nothing for a moment, then she spoke, ‘OK,
Mr Careful. You’re right, as usual. Let’s go.’
10
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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A few minutes later they were back out in the warm
afternoon sunshine. They jogged back down the hill and
picked up their bikes.
Before getting on his bike, Andy looked round at the hills.
This place is beautiful, he thought, not for the first time. But
what was that? Up on the side of one of the other hills the
sunlight had caught something. A mirror? It couldn’t be. Then
the light disappeared and Andy saw a head move. Someone
was watching them! Through binoculars!4 A man in a dark
blue jacket.
‘Look. There’s someone watching us,’ said Andy. ‘Up on
the side of the hill over there.’
11
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Richard MacAndrew
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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Mary looked up, but by then the man had gone.
‘Too late,’ said Andy. ‘He’s gone. Come on. Let’s get going.’
Quickly, they started cycling back the way they had come.
A few minutes later, as they came over the top of a hill and
started down the other side, they saw a Land Rover driving
towards them along the dirt road. The Land Rover stopped
and a man got out, waiting for them to reach him. He was
youngish, maybe twenty-five to thirty years old, and dressed
in a green and brown shirt and trousers, and walking boots.
He had dark hair, very light blue eyes and an unfriendly look.
Andy and Mary had to stop and get off their bikes to get
past the Land Rover.
‘Where have you been?’ asked the man, as they walked up
to him. ‘Down any of the mines?’
13
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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LOOKING BACK
1 Check your answers to Before you read on page 4.
ACTIVITIES
2 Complete the sentences with the names in the box.
Sir Francis Goodwin Andy Thomas Goodwin
Andy and Mary’s dad Lord Fitch Andy and Mary
1 Sir Francis Goodwin died a long time ago.
2 lives in Arkle House.
3 wanted to buy Sir Francis’s papers.
4 find a mine.
5 told Mary about the mines in Yorkshire.
6 doesn’t want to go into the mine.
3 Underline the correct words in each sentence.
1 They found Sir Francis’s papers in Arkle House / a farmhouse.
2 Andy and Mary are in a big city / the countryside.
3 Andy and Mary are cycling / walking in the dales.
4 In the past, there was more / less lead in the Yorkshire Dales
than there is now.
5 Andy is / isn’t older than Mary.
6 The twins find a door / torch in the mine.
14
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978-84-832-3584-3 – A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales
Richard MacAndrew
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4 Match the two parts of the sentences.
1 Thomas Goodwin wanted to buy Sir Francis’s papers but c
2 Mary looks for her torch because
3 Andy doesn’t want to go into the mine, but
4 Mary and Andy know that people still use the mine because
5 A man is watching Andy and Mary, but
6 The man in the Land Rover stops because
a he follows Mary into it.
b Mary doesn’t see him.
c Lord Fitch could pay more than him.
d there are new pieces of wood on the roof.
e he wants to talk to Andy and Mary.
f it’s very dark in the mine.
5 Answer the questions.
1 Why are Andy and Mary in the Yorkshire Dales?
Because they’re on holiday.
2 Why doesn’t Andy want to go into the mine?
3 How does Andy know that someone is watching him?
4 What does the man ask the twins?
LOOKING FORWARD
6 Tick (✓) what you think happens in the next two chapters.
1 Andy and Mary see the man with the binoculars again.
2 Andy and Mary go back to the mine.
15
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