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

They gave it up after a while. There were too many slabs and stones of all sizes! Besides, what good would it be even if they found the right one? The birds had flown – presumably with what they had come for! In fact, if Guy hadn’t come along and seen the searchers, nobody would even have known that they had been in the camp and made a successful search!

‘It’s no good,’ said Julian, at last. ‘This is too big a place to know where to look for anything that might help us. Let’s go back to the gorse-bush and collect our things, return to Kirrin and go to the police. It’s the only sensible thing left to do!’

‘Come along, Harry,’ said Anne, to the miserable twin. He was so full of remorse that her handkerchief was now soaked for the third time! ‘You’d better come with us and tell all you know.’

‘I’ll come,’ said Harry. ‘I’ll do anything to get Guy back. I’ll never quarrel with him again. Never. To think that…’

‘Now don’t go all through that again,’ said Anne. ‘Look, you’re upsetting Timmy so much that his tail is down all the time!’

Harry gave another forlorn little smile. They all left the camp and made their way back to the gorse-bush. It was only when they got there, and began pulling out the tins of food, as well as the rug and other things, that they realized how extremely hungry they were!

‘We’ve had no breakfast. We’ve been up for ages, and it’s very late. I’m simply starving!’ said George.

‘Well, if we finish up all the food, we shan’t have to carry the tins!’ said Dick. ‘Let’s have a meal. Ten minutes more here can’t make much difference.’

They were thankful not to have to sit under the gorse-bush again. They sat outside in the sun, and discussed everything.

‘I believe when Timmy began to growl and growl about six o’clock this morning, it was because he could hear those people coming quietly by to go to search the camp,’ said George.

‘I think you’re right,’ said Julian. ‘I bet they searched the camp well – till Guy woke and came on the scene and fought like fury. It’s a pity I didn’t squeeze out from under the bush and follow them, when Timmy growled.’

‘Anyone want a drink?’ said George. ‘I’ll go and fetch some water from the spring. Where’s the pineapple tin?’

Anne passed it to her. George got up and took the little rabbit-path that led to the spring. She could hear it gurgling and bubbling as she came near – a very pleasant noise.

‘Water always sounds nice,’ said George to herself. ‘I love the sound of water.’

Water! Now why did that ring a bell in her mind just then? Who had been talking about water? Oh – Dick and Julian, of course, when they had come back from the old cottage last night. They had told Anne and herself about the word on the plan – the word that might have been WATER, not WADER.

‘I wonder which it was,’ said George to herself as she idly held the pineapple tin to the gurgling water. She gazed at the beautiful little spring, jutting up from the stony slabs – and then another bell rang loudly in her mind.

‘Stone slabs! Water! Why – I wonder – I just wonder – if one of these slabs is the one! This one just here is about the right size!’

She stared at it. It was set firmly in a high little bank at the back of the place where the spring gurgled up and then ran into the clean stony channel. Did it hide anything behind it?

George suddenly dropped the tin and ran back to the others at full speed. ‘Julian! Julian! I believe I’ve found the slab! It’s been staring us in the face the whole time!’

Julian was very startled. So were the others. They stared up at George in astonishment.

‘What do you mean, George?’ said Julian, jumping to his feet. ‘Show me!’

Followed by everyone, George ran back to the spring. She pointed to the white slab behind the water. ‘There!’ she said. ‘That’s the right size, isn’t it? And it’s beside WATER – just as it said in the plan you told us about – only the people thought it was WADER.’

‘Gosh – I wonder if you’re right, George,’ said Julian, excited. ‘You might be – you never know. Sometimes springs come from underground passages – secret, hidden ways into the earth.’

‘Let’s try and move it,’ said Dick, his face red with sudden excitement. ‘It looks pretty hefty to me.’

They began to struggle with the stone, getting extremely wet as they splashed about in the spring. But nobody minded that. This was too exciting for words. Harry helped too, heaving and tugging. He was very strong indeed.

The stone slab moved a little. It slid to one side and stuck. More tugging. More pulling. More panting and puffing!

‘I believe we’ll have to get help,’ said Julian at last. ‘It really is too heavy and well-embedded.’

‘I’ll go and get some of my tools,’ said Harry. ‘I’m used to heaving stones about with them. We can easily move it if we have the right tools.’

He flew off at top speed. The others sat down and mopped their streaming foreheads.

‘Phew!’ said Julian. ‘What a job this is for a hot day! I’m glad Harry remembered his tools. Just what we want!’

‘How queer that he and Guy are twins!’ said George. ‘I never even thought of such a thing!’

‘Well, they behaved so idiotically,’ said Julian. ‘Always pretending there was just one of them, and neither of them even mentioning the other. I wonder where Guy has been taken to. I don’t think he’ll come to much harm – but it will be worrying to his people.’

‘Here comes Harry,’ said Anne, after a pause. ‘One of us ought to have gone with him to help him. He’s brought dozens of tools!’

The things he had fetched proved very useful indeed, especially a big jemmy-like tool. The stone soon began to move when this was applied by Julian and Harry!

‘It’s slipping – it’s coming away – look out, it will fall right down into the spring!’ cried Dick. ‘Look out, you girls!’

The stone was prised right out, and fell into the stony channel where the water ran. The five children stared at the opening it left.

Julian leaned forward and looked into it. ‘Yes – there’s a big hole behind,’ he said. ‘Let me shine my torch in.’

In great excitement he flashed his torch into the opening. He turned round, his face glowing.

‘Yes! I think we’ve got it! There’s a tunnel behind, going down and down. It widens out behind this hole!’

Everyone was too thrilled for words. George gave Dick a punch, and Anne patted Timmy so hard that he whined. Harry beamed round, all his woes forgotten.

‘Do we go down now?’ asked Dick. ‘We’ll have to make the opening a bit wider. Earth and roots have narrowed it very much. Let’s make it bigger.’

‘Then we’ll explore it!’ said George, her eyes shining. ‘A secret tunnel only known to us! Quick – let’s explore it!’

Chapter Sixteen

THE SECRET WAY

All the children were so excited that they got into each other’s way. Julian pushed them back.

‘Let’s be sensible! We can’t all make the opening wider – let Harry and me get at it with the tools – and we’ll soon make it bigger!’

It took only a minute to hack away at the sides of the hole to make it big enough for even Julian to climb through. He stood there panting, smiling broadly.

‘There – it’s done! I’ll get in first. Everyone got torches? We shall need them! It’s going to be dark in there!’

He clambered up and into the hole. He had to crawl on hands and knees for a little way, and then the hole suddenly went downwards and became considerably bigger. Julian could walk in it, if he bent down, for at that point the tunnel was about three feet high.

He called back to the others. ‘Follow me! Take hold of each other’s coats or jerseys and hang on. It’s as dark as pitch in here!’

George followed after Julian, then Anne, then Dick, then Harry. Timmy went with George, of course, pushing and shoving like all the rest. Everyone was excited, and nobody could talk in a normal voice. They all shouted!

‘I’ll give you a hand! One good shove and you’re in!’

‘I say – isn’t it dark!’

‘What a crawl! I feel like a fox going into its den!’

‘Timmy, don’t butt me from behind like that! I can’t crawl any faster!’

‘Ah – thank goodness I can stand up now! What size of rabbit do you think made this burrow!’