Blyton, Enid – Famous Five 15 – Five On a Secret Trail

Chapter One

GEORGE IS RATHER DIFFICULT

Mother! Mother, where are you?’ shouted George, rushing into the house. ‘Mother, quick!’

There was no answer. George’s mother was out in the garden at the back of Kirrin Cottage, picking flowers. George yelled again, this time at the top of her very strong voice.

MOTHER! MOTHER! Where are you? IT’S URGENT.’

A door was flung open nearby and George’s father stood there, glaring at her.

‘George! What’s this row about? Here am I in the middle of some very difficult…’

‘Oh Father! Timmy’s hurt!’ said George. ‘He went…’

Her father looked down at Timmy, standing meekly behind George. He gave a little snort.

‘Hurt! He seems all right to me. I suppose he’s got a thorn in his paw again – and you think it’s the end of the world or something, and come yelling in here and…’

‘Timmy is hurt!’ said George, with tears in her voice. ‘Look!’

But her father had gone back into his study again, and the door slammed. George glared at it, looking exactly like her hot-tempered father.

‘You’re unkind!’ she shouted, ‘and … oh there’s Mother. Mother!’.

‘Dear me, George, whatever is the matter?’ said her mother, putting down the flowers. ‘I heard your father shouting, and then you.’

‘Mother – Timmy’s hurt!’ said George. ‘Look!’

She knelt down by the dog, and gently pulled forward one ear. Behind it was a big cut. Timmy whined. Tears came into George’s eyes, and she looked up at her mother.

‘Now don’t be silly, George,’ said Mrs Kirrin. ‘It’s only a cut. How did he do it?’

‘He tried to jump over a ditch, and he didn’t see some old barbed wire there,’ said George. ‘And a rusty piece caught his ear, and ripped that awful cut. I can’t stop it bleeding.’

Her mother looked at it. It certainly was quite deep. ‘Take him to the vet, George,’ she said. ‘Perhaps it ought to be stitched. It does look rather deep. Poor old Timmy-boy – well, it’s a good thing it wasn’t his eye, George.’

‘I’ll take him to the vet at once,’ said George, getting up. ‘Will he be in, Mother?’

‘Oh yes – it’s his surgery hour,’ said her mother. ‘Take him along now.’

So Timmy was hurried along the country lanes to the pretty little house where the vet lived. George, very anxious indeed, was most relieved to see that the vet seemed quite unconcerned.

‘A couple of stitches and that cut will heal well,’ he said. ‘Hold him, will you, while I do the job? He’ll hardly feel it. There, old boy – stand still – that’s right.’

In five minutes’ time George was thanking the vet wholeheartedly. ‘Thank you! I was worried! Will he be all right now?’

‘Good gracious, yes – but you mustn’t let him scratch that wound,’ said the vet, washing his hands. ‘If he does, it may go wrong.’

‘Oh. But how can I stop him?’ asked George anxiously. ‘Look – he’s trying to scratch it now.’

‘Well, you must make him a big cardboard collar,’ said the vet. ‘One that sticks out right round his neck, so that his paw can’t get near that cut, however much he tries to reach it.’

‘But – but Timmy won’t like that a bit,’ said George. ‘Dogs look silly wearing cardboard collars like great ruffs round their neck. I’ve seen them. He’ll hate one.’

‘Well, it’s the only way of stopping him from scratching that wound,’ said the vet. ‘Get along now, George – I’ve more patients waiting.’

George went home with Timmy. He padded along quietly, pleased at the fuss that George was making of him. When he was nearly home, he suddenly sat down and put up his hind leg to scratch his bad ear.

‘No, Timmy! NO!’ cried George, in alarm. ‘You must NOT scratch. You’ll get the plaster off in no time, and break the stitches. NO, Timmy!’

Timmy looked up in surprise. Very well. If scratching was suddenly upsetting George, he would wait till he was alone.

But George could read Timmy’s thoughts as easily as he could read hers! She frowned.

‘Blow! I’ll have to make him that cardboard collar. Perhaps Mother will help me.’

Her mother was quite willing to help. George was not good at things of that sort, and she watched her mother cutting out a big cardboard collar, fitting it round the surprised Timmy’s head, and then lacing the edges together with thread so that he could not get it off. Timmy was most surprised, but he stood very patiently.

As soon as the collar was finished, and safely round his neck, he walked away. Then he raised his hind leg to scratch at his smarting ear – but, of course, he couldn’t get it over the collar, and merely scratched the cardboard.

‘Never mind, Timmy,’ said George. ‘It will only be for a few days.’

The study door nearby opened and her father came out. He saw Timmy in his collar and stopped in surprise. Then he roared with laughter.

‘Hey, Timmy – you look like Queen Elizabeth the First in a fine big ruff!’ he said.

‘Don’t laugh at him, Father,’ said George. ‘You know that dogs can’t bear being laughed at.’

Timmy certainly looked offended. He turned his back on George’s father and stalked off to the kitchen. A little squeal of laughter came from there and then a loud guffaw from someone at the kitchen door – the milkman.

‘Oh Timmy – whatever have you got that collar on for?’ said the cook’s voice. ‘You do look peculiar!’

George was angry. She remained angry all that day and made everyone most uncomfortable. How mean of people to jeer at poor Timmy! Didn’t they realize how terribly uncomfortable a collar like that was – and Timmy had to wear it night and day! He couldn’t even lie down comfortably. George mooned about looking so angry and miserable that her mother felt worried.

‘George dear – don’t be silly about this. You will make your father cross. Timmy will have to wear that collar for at least a week, you know – and he does look a bit comical when you first see him. He’s getting used to it, he soon won’t notice it.’

‘Everybody laughs at him,’ said George, in an angry voice. ‘He went into the garden and a lot of kids hung over the wall and laughed like anything. And the postman told me it was cruel. And Father thinks it’s funny. And…’

‘Oh dear, George, don’t get into one of your moods,’ said her mother. ‘Remember, Anne is coming soon. She won’t enjoy things much if you behave like this.’

George bore it for one day more. Then, after two upsets with her father over Timmy, another with a couple of boys who laughed at him, and one with the paper-boy, she decided she wouldn’t stay at Kirrin Cottage for one day longer!

‘We’ll take my little tent, and go off by ourselves somewhere,’ she told Timmy. ‘Some place where nobody can see you till your ear is better and that hateful collar is off. Don’t you think that’s a good idea, Timmy?’

‘Woof,’ said Timmy. He thought that any of George’s ideas were good, though the collar puzzled him very much.

‘You know the dogs laugh at you too, Timmy,’ said George, earnestly. ‘Did you see how that silly little poodle belonging to Mrs Janes up the lane stood and stared at you? He looked exactly as if he was laughing. I won’t have you laughed at. I know you hate it.’

Timmy certainly didn’t like it, but he really was not as upset about the collar as George seemed to be. He followed her as she went up to her bedroom and watched her as she began to put a few things into a small bag.

‘We’ll go to that lonely little spot on the common,’ she said to him. ‘We’ll pitch our tent near a little stream, and we’ll jolly well stay there till your ear’s better. We’ll go tonight. I’ll take my bike, and strap everything on to the back.’

So, in the middle of the night, when Kirrin Cottage was dark and quiet, George stole downstairs with Timmy. She left a note on the dining-room table, and then went to get her bicycle. She strapped her little tent on it, and the bag containing food and other odds and ends.

‘Come on!’ she whispered to the surprised Timmy. ‘We’ll go. I’ll ride slowly and you can run beside me. Don’t bark for goodness’ sake!’

They disappeared into the darkness, Timmy running like a black shadow beside the bicycle. Nobody guessed they were gone. Kirrin Cottage was quiet and undisturbed – except for the creaking of the kitchen door, which George had forgotten to shut.

But in the morning, what a disturbance! Joan the cook found George’s note first and wondered what a letter in George’s writing was doing on the dining-room table. She ran straight up to George’s room and looked inside.