A large section of the wall of the building swung outwards silently. Sitting inside was the black American car that had driven Knuckles and Mr Bah Dee. A corridor led off into the house. The Five stepped inside and the wall closed silently behind them. "Oooh!" said Anne. "I’m terribly scared!"

"No need to worry, old thing," said Dick. "Timmy will look after us."

They made their way along the corridor and stopped outside the first door they came to. George opened it slowly.

"Look here you others!" she gasped. The room was filled with piles of money bags. "They are certainly making a mint from this chocolate business!"

"Let’s get on and find the men," said Julian. "We must show this to the police later."

They shut the door and moved on up the corridor. Despite being in an old house where one would expect regular corridors, the corridor became very narrow in parts and at some points the Five had to bend almost double to get through.

"This is a glorious passageway," puffed Dick, squeezing through a tight spot.

"Super," agreed Anne. "It’s almost as good as some of the other secret passages we’ve been in. I’m glad we’ve managed to find one in this adventure."

"Indeed, it’s a vital part of any adventure," said George.

The corridor suddenly came to an abrupt end. A large door stood at the end. The children could hear voices from the other side. "It sounds like the two drivers, Mr Bah Dee and Knuckles, the fake Mrs Featherhead," said Julian, putting his ear to the door. "Let’s go and wrap things up nicely for the police."

He put out his hand to open the door. It was locked. "Blast!" he said.

"Don’t worry, there’s sure to be a key hidden somewhere nearby," said Dick. "Look hard, everyone."

"Look at this," said Anne. "There is a spiffing painting here, hung on the wall. It’s of a key!"

"Well then, the key will be taped to the back of it," said George. Sure enough, it was. "Bad guys are so predictable," sighed George.

She put the key in the lock, and turned it. Then she tried the door. It swung back on well-oiled hinges, and the men in the room turned to stare as four children and a dog entered.

"What are you doing here?" spluttered Knuckles.

Julian took in the piles of money being divided out to the drivers of the ginger beer van and Knuckles. They were also eating some of the stolen chocolates. "Greedy beasts!" thought Julian.

"We know what you are up to," he said aloud to the men. "It just won’t do you know. The game’s up."

"Ha!" snarled Mr Bah Dee. He produced a revolver from his jacket pocket. "I don’t know what you think you are up to, or why you think you are so clever, but you are in trouble now. We’re going to lock you up and leave you here to starve! We have finished our dealings here, and are off to start again in Scotland, stealing sherbert lemons next!" He took a step towards the children. The other men were ready to grab them too.

Anne grabbed Dick’s arm. "Oh no!" she whispered.

Julian wasn’t fazed. "Not so fast!" he said confidently. "You have underestimated us. We are the Famous Five!"

Mr Bah Dee dropped his gun in horror. The other men shrank back, trembling. "Not the Famous Five!" cried Mr Bah Dee. "But you always catch the crooks! There is no hope for us!"

Sure enough, the sound of approaching police cars could be heard. "Timmy, go and show the policemen the way in," George instructed. Timmy obediently ran back off down the corridor.

"Now, don’t try and escape," warned Julian.

"We wouldn’t, we wouldn’t!" cried the men. "Look, here is some rope, please tie us up ready for the police!"

Shortly, seven burly policemen with cheery faces squeezed into the room from the passage, led by Timmy. "Jolly well done, Famous Five!" they said admiringly as they led the crooks to the police cars, safely handcuffed.

"But how did the police know to come?" asked Dick wonderingly.

"Well, I knew we’d solve this and wrap it all up today, so I phoned the police in advance and told them to come to the old forest this morning," Julian said smugly.

"Oh Ju," exclaimed Anne. "You are so –"

"Awfully clever!" chimed in George and Dick, grinning.

"How did you know that was what I was going to say?" Anne said, surprised.

"Come on everyone," called Julian. "I have saved a police car to take us to the shop. We must rescue the real Mrs Featherhead!"

They piled in the back of the police car and sped back to Kirrin and the village shop. In the basement they found a cold and hungry Mrs Featherhead. She was so delighted to be free she hugged them all. "You can have free buns from my shop whenever you wish, my dears," she said.

"Thanks most awfully!" said Dick, licking his lips.

Later, the Five sat in the sitting room of Kirrin Cottage recounting their recent escapades.

"That was an exciting adventure," said Dick.

"Well, I like it now it’s ended," said Anne thoughtfully. "But at times it was jolly dreadful. When we found out there was no ginger beer for the second day running…. Well, I can’t decide if it was awfully frightful or frightfully awful!"

"Never mind now, old thing," said Julian. "It’s all over now, and once again we apprehended the ghastly crooks. We’re getting quite a reputation!"

Just then the telephone in the hall rang. George went to answer it. She came back with a grinning face.

"It’s absolutely glorious!" she cried. "Smashing, absolutely top notch news!"

"What, what!?" cried the others. Timmy barked impatiently too.

"That was a policeman ringing to say that Daily Cream are so grateful to us for catching the robbers that they are going to give us a whole years’ supply of ginger beer!"

"How marvellous! How fabulous! What corking news!" they all cried.

"You know what that means, don’t you?" asked Dick.

"No, what?" asked the others.