George was overjoyed about Tim. She flung her arms round her father’s neck and hugged him, a thing she had not done for a long time. He looked astonished but very pleased. “Well, well,” he said,“this is all very pleasant. Hallo-is this the police already?”
It was. They came up to the door and had a few words with Uncle Quentin. Then one stayed behind to take down the children’s story in his notebook and the others went off to get a boat to the island.
The men had gone from there! The boat from the fishing-smack had fetched them away!- and now both ship and boat had disappeared! The motor-boat was still there, quite unusable. The inspector looked at it with a grin.
“Fierce young lady, isn’t she, that Miss Georgina?” he said. “Done this job pretty well-no one could get away in this boat. We’ll have to get it towed into harbour.”
The police brought back with them some of the ingots of gold to show Uncle Quentin. They had sealed up the door of the dungeon so that no one else could get in until the children’s uncle was ready to go and fetch the gold. Everything was being done thoroughly and properly-though far too slowly for the children! They had hoped that the men would have been caught and taken to prison-and that the police would bring back the whole of the gold at once!
They were all very tired that night and didn’t make any fuss at all when their aunt said that they must go to bed early. They undressed and then the boys went to eat their supper in the girls’ bedroom. Tim was there, ready to lick up any fallen crumbs.
“Well, I must say we’ve had a wonderful adventure,” said Julian, sleepily. “In a way I’m sorry it’s ended -though at times I didn’t enjoy it very much-especially when you and I, George, were prisoners in that dungeon. That was awful.”
George was looking very happy as she nibbled her gingerbread biscuits. She grinned at Julian.
“And to think I hated the idea of you all coming here to stay!” she said. “I was going to be such a beast to you! I was going to make you wish you were all home again! And now the only thing that makes me sad is the idea of you going away-which you will do, of course, when the holidays end. And then, after having three friends with me, enjoying adventures like this, I’ll be all on my own again. I’ve never been lonely before-but I know I shall be now.”
“No, you won’t,” said Anne, suddenly. “You can do something that will stop you being lonely ever again.”
“What?” said George in surprise.
“You can ask to go to the same boarding-school as I go to,” said Anne. “It’s such a lovely one-and we are allowed to keep our pets, so Tim could come too!”
“Gracious! Could he really?” said George, her eyes shining. “Well, I’ll go then. I always said I wouldn’t-but I will because I see now how much better and happier it is to be with others than all by myself. And if I can have Tim, well that’s simply wonderful!”
“You’d better go back to your own bedroom now, boys,” said Aunt Fanny, appearing at the doorway. “Look at Dick, almost dropping with sleep! Well, you should all have pleasant dreams tonight, for you’ve had an adventure to be proud of. George-is that Tim under your bed?”
“Well, yes it is, Mother,” said George, pretending to be surprised. “Dear me! Tim, what are you doing here?”
Tim crawled out and went over to George’s mother. He lay flat on his tummy and looked up at her most appealingly out of his soft brown eyes.
“Do you want to sleep in the girls’ room tonight?” said George’s mother, with a laugh. “All right-just for once!”
“Mother!” yelled George, overjoyed. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! How did you guess that I just didn’t want to be parted from Tim tonight? Oh, Mother! Tim, you can sleep on the rug over there.”
Four happy children snuggled down into their beds. Their wonderful adventure had come to a happy end. They had plenty of holidays still in front of them-and now that Uncle Quentin was no longer poor, he would give them the little presents he wanted to. George was going to school with Anne-and she had Tim for her own again! The island and castle still belonged to George-everything was marvellous!
“I’m so glad Kirrin Island wasn’t sold, George,” said Anne, sleepily. “I’m so glad it still belongs to you.”
“It belongs to three other people too,” said George. “It belongs to me-and to you and Julian and Dick. I’ve discovered that it’s fun to share things. So tomorrow I am going to draw up a deed, or whatever it’s called, and put in it that I give you and the others a quarter-share each. Kirrin Island and Castle shall belong to us all!”
“Oh, George-how lovely!” said Anne, delighted. “Won’t the boys be pleased? I do feel so ha …”
But before she could finish, the little girl was asleep. So was George. In the other room the two boys slept, too, dreaming of ingots and dungeons and all kinds of exciting things.
Only one person was awake-and that was Tim. He had one ear up and was listening to the children’s breathing. As soon as he knew they were asleep he got up quietly from his rug. He crept softly over to George’s bed. He put his front paws up and sniffed at the sleeping girl.
Then, with a bound he was on the bed, and snuggled himself down into the crook of her legs. He gave a sigh, and shut his eyes. The four children might be happy-but Tim was happiest of all.
“Oh, Tim,” murmured George, half waking up as she felt him against her. “Oh, Tim, you mustn’t-but you do feel so nice. Tim-we’ll have other adventures together, the five of us-won’t we?”
They will-but that’s another story!