Blyton, Enid – Famous Five 14 – Five Have Plenty of Fun

They were so tired when they got home that night that it was all they could do to eat their supper and stagger upstairs to bed.

‘I shan’t wake till half past twelve tomorrow morning,’ yawned Dick. ‘Oh my poor feet! Gosh, I’m so tired I shall probably fall asleep cleaning my teeth.’

‘What a peaceful night!’ said Anne, looking out of her window. ‘Well – sleep tight, everyone. I don’t expect any of us will open an eye till late tomorrow morning. I know I shan’t!’

But she did. She opened both eyes very wide indeed in the middle of the night.

Chapter Ten

A PUZZLING THING

All was quiet in Kirrin Cottage. The two boys slept soundly in their room, and George and Anne slept without stirring in theirs. Berta was up in Joan’s attic room, and hadn’t moved since she had flopped into bed.

Timmy was on George’s feet, as usual, and Sally the poodle was curled up in the crook of Berta’s knees, looking like a ball of black wool! Nobody stirred.

A black cloud crept up the sky and blotted out the stars one by one. Then a low roll of thunder came. It was far off, and only a rumble, but it woke both the dogs, and it woke Anne too.

She opened her eyes, wondering what the noise was. Then she knew – it was thunder.

‘Oh, I hope a storm won’t come and break up this wonderful weather!’ she thought, as she lay and listened. She turned towards the open window and looked for the stars, but there were none to see.

‘Well, if a storm’s coming, I’ll go and watch it at the window,’ thought Anne. ‘It should be a magnificent sight over Kirrin Bay. I’m so hot too – I’d like a breath of fresh air at the window!’

She got quietly out of bed and padded over to the open window. She leaned out, sniffing the cool air outside. The night was very dark indeed, because of the great black cloud.

The thunder came again, but not very near – just a low growl. Timmy jumped off George’s bed and went to join Anne. He put his great paws up on the windowsill and looked out solemnly over the bay.

And then both he and Anne heard another sound – a faraway chug-chug-chug-chug-chug.

‘It’s a motorboat,’ said Anne, listening. ‘Isn’t it Timmy? Someone’s having a very late trip! Can you see any ship-lights, Tim? I can’t.’

The engine of the motorboat cut out just then, and there was complete silence except for the swish-swash-swish of the waves on the beach. Anne strained her eyes to see if she could spot any light anywhere to show where the motorboat was. It sounded quite far out on the bay. Why had it stopped on the water? Why hadn’t it gone to the jetty?

Then she did see a light, but a very faint one, right out at the entrance of the bay, about the middle. It shone for a while, moved here and there, and then disappeared. Anne was puzzled.

‘Surely that’s just about where Kirrin Island is?’ she whispered to Timmy. ‘Is anyone there? Has the motorboat gone there, do you suppose? Well, we’ll listen to see if it leaves again and goes away.’

But no further sound came from across the bay, and no light shone either. ‘Perhaps the motorboat is behind Kirrin Island,’ thought Anne, suddenly. ‘And then I wouldn’t be able to see any lights on it – the island would hide the boat and its lights. But what was that moving light I saw? Was it someone on the island? Oh dear, my eyes are getting so sleepy again that I can hardly keep them open. Perhaps I didn’t hear or see anything after all!’

There was no more thunder, and no lightning at all. The big black cloud began to thin out and one or two stars appeared in the gaps. Anne yawned and crawled into bed. Timmy jumped back on George’s bed and curled himself up with a little sigh.

In the morning Anne had almost forgotten her watch at the open window the night before. It was only when Joan mentioned that a big storm had burst over a town fifty miles away that Anne remembered the thunder she had heard.

‘Oh!’ she said, suddenly. ‘Yes – I heard thunder too, and I got out of bed, hoping to watch a storm. But it didn’t come. And I heard a motorboat far out on the bay, but I couldn’t see any lights – except for a faint, moving one I thought was on Kirrin Island.’

George sat up in her chair as if she had had an electric shock. ‘On Kirrin Island! Whatever do you mean? Nobody’s there. Nobody’s allowed there!’

‘Well – I may have been mistaken,’ said Anne. ‘I was so very sleepy. I didn’t hear the motorboat go away. I just went back to bed.’

‘You might have waked me, if you thought you saw a light on my island,’ said George. ‘You really might!’

‘Oh, Miss Anne – it wouldn’t be kidnappers, would it!’ said Joan, at once.

Julian laughed. ‘No, Joan. What would be the use of them going to Kirrin Island? They couldn’t do any kidnapping there, in full view of all the houses round the bay!’

‘I guess it was only a dream, Anne,’ said Berta. ‘I guess you heard the thunder in your sleep and it turned into the sound of a motorboat chugging – dreams do that sort of thing. I know once I left the tap running in my basin when I went to sleep, and I dreamed all night long I was riding over the Niagara Falls!’

Everyone laughed. Berta could be very droll at times. ‘If the boat’s ready, we’ll certainly go over to Kirrin Island today,’ said George. ‘If any trippers are there I’ll send Timmy after them!’

‘There will only be the rabbits,’ said Dick. ‘I wonder if there are still hundreds there – my word, last time we went they were so tame that we nearly fell over them!’

‘Yes – but we didn’t have Timmy with us,’ said Anne. ‘George, it will be nice to go to Kirrin Island again. We’ll have to tell Lesley about the adventures we’ve had there.’

They washed up after breakfast, made the beds and did their rooms. Joan put her head round Julian’s bedroom door.

‘Will you want a packed lunch for a picnic again, Master Julian?’ she said. ‘If you don’t, I can get you a nice bit of cold ham for lunch. The grocer’s just rung up.’

‘If the boat’s mended, we’re going over to the island, Joan,’ said Julian. ‘And then we’d like a packed lunch. But if we don’t go, we’ll stay for lunch. It will be easier for you in a way, won’t it? We all got up so late this morning that there’s not much time to make sandwiches and pick fruit and so on.’

‘Well, you tell me, as soon as you know about the boat,’ said Joan, and disappeared.

George came in. ‘I’m going to see if the boat is mended,’ she said. ‘I’ll only be gone a minute. Joan wants to know.’

She was back almost at once. ‘It’s not ready,’ she said, disappointed. ‘But it will be ready at two o’clock this afternoon. So we’ll have lunch here, shall we, and then go over to the island afterwards. We’ll pack up a picnic tea.’

‘Right,’ said Julian. ‘I vote we bathe from the beach this morning, then. The tide will be nice and high and we can have some fun with the big breakers.’

‘And also keep an eye on James to see that he keeps his word about the boat,’ said Dick.

So, when all their jobs were finished – and they were very conscientious about them – the five children and the two dogs went off down to the beach. It was a little cooler after the thunder, but not much, and they were quite warm enough in their swim-suits, with a blazer to wear after a bathe.

‘There’s nothing nicer than to feel hot and go into the sea and get cool, and then come out and get hot in the sun again, and then go back into the sea,’ began Berta.

‘You say that every single day!’ said George. ‘It’s like a gramophone record! Still, I must say that I agree with you! Come on – let’s have a jolly good swim!’

They all plunged through the big, curling breakers, squealing as the water dashed over their bodies, cold and stinging. They chased one another, swam under water and grabbed at the legs swimming there, floated on their backs, and wished they hadn’t forgotten to bring the big red rubber ball with them. But nobody wanted to go and fetch it so they had to do without it.