Whistle Down the Wind

by Mary Hayley Bell

Published 1 July 1986
Brat, her older sister, and little brother discover a strange man in their barn. When they ask him his name he replies "Jesus", and they're convinced that's who he really is. Trusting him implicitly, they refuse to connect the report of an escaped covict with their Jesus. And when the police close in on him, the children together with other children from all over the area, join in an amazing show of solidarity, and form a protective ring around the oast house - his final hiding place - but then it suddenly goes up in flames. Afterwards they expect to find the man's charred body. Instead he has disappeared, leaving them a message, scrawled on a wall. It is the sign of the cross...