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

‘This is fine,’ he said. ‘Plenty of room for you two girls – and Timmy. My word, he’ll have difficulty with his collar though, won’t he – squeezing in and out!’

‘Take it off!’ said Dick. ‘His ear really is practically healed now. Even if he scratches it, he can’t do much damage. Dear old Timmy, we simply shan’t know you without your collar.’

‘Right,’ said George. She took a quick look at the ear. It was still covered by a piece of elastoplast, but it was quite obvious that the ear was healthy. She cut the thread that bound the two ends of the circular collar – and then bent it so that it came off.

They all stared at Timmy, who looked most surprised. He wagged his tail gently as if to say ‘Well – so you’ve taken off that thing – I wonder why?’

‘Oh Tim – you look sort of undressed without that collar now!’ said Anne. ‘It is nice to see you without it, though. Good old Tim! You’ll guard me and George tonight won’t you? You know that we’re in the Middle of Something again, don’t you?’

‘Woof,’ said Timmy, wagging his tail violently. ‘Woof!’ Yes – he knew all right!

Chapter Thirteen

ON WATCH IN THE COTTAGE

It was getting dark – and under the gorse-bush it was very dark indeed! All the Five had managed to squeeze in there, and Timmy too. One torch only was allowed to be used at a time, to save the batteries of the others.

The Five were having supper. The ham was now practically finished, but there were still a few tomatoes and plenty of cake.

Julian opened the last tin of sardines, and made some sandwiches for himself and Dick to take with them. He also wrapped up two enormous chunks of cake and pocketed two slabs of chocolate each.

‘We shall need something to while away the time when we’re on the watch tonight!’ he said, with a grin. ‘I don’t know if the Weepies and Wailies and Floating Lights will be along to give us a show – but I fear not. They would be wasted on an empty cottage!’

‘I do hope you’ll be careful,’ said Anne.

‘Anne – that’s the seventh time you’ve said that,’ said Dick. ‘Don’t be an ass. Don’t you understand that Ju and I are going to enjoy ourselves? You’ll be the one that has to be careful.’

‘How?’ asked Anne, surprised.

‘Well – you’ll have to be careful of that big black beetle squatting over there,’ said Dick. ‘And mind that the hedgehog doesn’t sit down on your bare legs. And be careful in case a snake wants to share this nice safe warm place with you…’

‘Now you’re being an ass!’ said Anne, giving him a punch. ‘When will you be back?’

‘We shall be back at exactly the moment you hear us squeezing under here,’ said Julian. ‘Now Dick – what about it? I think we might be going, don’t you?’

‘Right,’ said Dick, and began to squeeze out carefully so as not to be pricked more than he could help. ‘Oh – why are gorse bushes so horribly spiteful! Jab jab – anyone would think the bush was trying to prick me!’

The two girls sat quite still when the boys had gone from the bush. They tried to hear their footsteps, but they couldn’t. Dick and Julian trod too softly on the wiry grass.

‘I do so hope they’ll be…’ began Anne, and George groaned.

‘If you say that again I shall slap you, Anne! Honestly I shall.’

‘I wasn’t saying it,’ said Anne, ‘I was only going to say that I hope they’ll be successful tonight. I’d like to get back to Kirrin and have some fun bathing and boating, wouldn’t you?’

‘Yes. And some of Joan’s marvellous cooking,’ said George. ‘Sausages and mash – and tomatoes with it.’

‘Yes. And fried plaice fresh from the sea with Joan’s best chipped potatoes,’ said Anne. ‘I can almost smell it.’

‘Woof,’ said Timmy, sniffing hard.

‘There! He thought I meant it!’ said Anne. ‘Isn’t Timmy clever?’

They had a pleasant talk about how very very clever Timmy was, and Timmy listened and wagged his tail so hard that he made quite a dust in the gorse-hollow.

‘Let’s go to sleep,’ said Anne. ‘We can’t talk all night – and keeping awake won’t help the boys!’

They curled up on the rug they had brought and cuddled together – not so much for warmth, because it was a hot night, but because there was so little room! Anne put out her torch, and the little place immediately became black and dark. Timmy put his head on George’s tummy. She groaned.

‘Oh Tim – be careful, please! I had rather a lot of supper!’

Anne giggled and pulled Timmy’s head close to her. It was comforting to have old Timmy there. She agreed with George that he was the best dog in the whole world.

‘I wonder what the boys are doing now,’ she said, after a while. ‘Do you suppose they are in the middle of something exciting? Perhaps they are!’

But they weren’t! Julian and Dick were feeling extremely bored at that minute. They had gone cautiously to the cottage when they had left the girls, not using their torches at all, for fear of giving anyone warning that they were about. They had debated beforehand where would be the best place to hide, and had decided that it would be a good idea to climb up the little stone stair and hide in the roofless rooms above.

‘There’s no roof there – and hardly any walls,’ said Dick. ‘We can peep over any side to watch – and no one would guess that anyone was above them, spying down! It’s a good thing it’s such a starry night – once we get used to the dim light, we shall be able to see fairly well. Pity there’s no moon.’

They had approached the cottage very cautiously indeed, stopping at every step and listening with bated breath for any sound. But there was none.

‘Not even the light of somebody’s torch, either,’ said Dick, in Julian’s ear. ‘I don’t think anyone is here yet. Let’s get into the cottage and up those stairs as soon as we can.’

They tiptoed into the cottage, not daring to put on their torches. They fumbled across to the little stone stairway, and climbed it with as little sound as they could. Holding their breath made their hearts thump loudly.

‘Can you hear my heart thumping?’ Dick whispered to Julian, as they at last stood on the floor of the roofless rooms above.

‘No. Mine’s just the same, thumping away! Well, we’re safely here. Let’s just shuffle to and fro and see if there are any loose stones we might fall over, and so give ourselves away!’

They cleared away a few loose stones, and then sat down silently on the low broken wall of the two ruined rooms. The wind blew gently but warmly. Everything was still except the rose-rambler climbing over the old house. It moved a little in the wind and made a faint scraping noise. Dick caught his hand on a thorn, and sucked his finger. The rambler was everywhere, across the floor, and over the walls and even up what was left of the little chimney!

The boys had been there for about three-quarters of an hour when Julian gave Dick a slight nudge.

‘Here they come!’ he whispered. ‘See – over there!’

Dick looked round and about and then caught sight of a small, moving light, just a prick in the darkness. It cast a faint glow before it.

‘A torch!’ he whispered. ‘And another – and another! Quite a procession! A slow one, too.’

The procession made very little noise. It made its way to the cottage, and then split up.

‘Having a look to see if we really are gone,’ whispered Julian. ‘Hope they won’t think of coming up here.’

‘Let’s get behind the chimney, in case,’ whispered back Dick. So very quietly they rose and made their way to where the remains of the chimney stood, a dark shadow in the starry night. The chimney was quite big, though rather crumbly. The two boys crouched close to it, on the side farthest from where the stone stairway came up in the corner.

‘Someone is coming up!’ whispered Dick, his sharp ears catching the sound of someone’s feet on the stone stairs. ‘I hope he gets caught by the rambler – there’s a big spray near the top!’

‘Sh!’ said Julian.

Someone came right up the stairway, and gave an exclamation of annoyance near the top. ‘Good!’ thought Dick, ‘he has got caught by the rambler!’

A torch shone out over the ruined rooms, the crumbling walls and the remains of the chimney. The boys held their breath, and stood like statues. The light of the torch played over the place for one second and then a voice called down the stairs.