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

‘Wuff-wuff!’ said Jet, and rolled over on his back to be tickled, his long thin tail wagging all the time. Timmy leaped on him and pretended to eat him. Then a loud voice called to them.

They looked up. The boy was standing at the door, grinning widely.

‘Hallo, sleepy-heads! I came to see if you were all right after that awful storm. I know I promised I wouldn’t come here, but I felt a bit worried about you.’

‘Oh. Well, that’s nice of you,’ said Anne, getting up and brushing the dust from her skirt. ‘We’re quite all right – but we had rather a queer night. We…’

She got a hard nudge from George and stopped suddenly. George was warning her not to say anything about the people they had seen – or the person at the window. Did she think they might have anything to do with this boy? Anne said no more and George spoke instead.

‘Wasn’t it a dreadful storm? How did you get on?’

‘All right. I sleep down in a trench, and the rain can’t get at me. Well – so long! Come on, Jet!’

The boy and the dog disappeared. ‘That was nice of him,’ said Anne. ‘He doesn’t seem crazy this morning, does he – quite normal! He didn’t even contradict us. I think I quite like him after all.’

They went to their soaked tent and got a tin of sardines out to eat with bread and butter. Just as they were opening it, they heard someone whistling and looked up.

‘Here comes that boy again!’ said Anne.

‘Good morning. I don’t want to butt in – but I just wondered if you were all right after the storm,’ said the boy, without even a smile. The girls stared at him in amazement.

‘Look – don’t start being crazy all over again!’ said George. ‘You know jolly well we’re all right. We’ve already told you.’

‘You haven’t. And I didn’t know!’ said the boy. ‘Well, I only came out of politeness. Sorry to see you are still balmy!’

And off he went. ‘There!’ said Anne, vexed. ‘Just as we thought he was nice again, and not crazy, he starts all over again. I suppose he thinks it’s funny. Silly ass!’

They set their things out to dry in the sun, and it was half-past twelve before they were ready to pack and go back to Kirrin Cottage. George was rather cross about going, but Anne was quite firm. She was NOT going to spend another night on the common.

George was just strapping a package on her bicycle, when the two girls heard the sound of voices – and then Timmy went quite mad! He barked wildly, and set off down a path at top speed, his tail wagging nineteen to the dozen!

‘Oh! It can’t be – surely it can’t be Julian and Dick!’ shouted George, in sudden delight, and she shot off after Timmy.

It was! It was Julian and Dick! There they came, packs on their backs, grinning all over their faces! Hurrah! The Famous Five were all together once more!

Chapter Eight

ALL TOGETHER AGAIN!

There was such excitement at the arrival of the boys that at first nobody could make themselves heard. Timmy barked at the top of his very loud voice and simply would not stop! George shouted, and Dick and Julian laughed. Anne hugged them, and felt proud of two such brown, good-looking brothers.

‘Ju! We never guessed you’d come so soon!’ said the delighted George. ‘Gosh, I’m pleased to see you!’

‘We got fed up with French food,’ said Dick. ‘I came out in spots and Julian was sick, and it was SO hot. Phew! Next time I go there I’ll go when it’s cooler.’

‘And we kept on thinking of Kirrin and the bay, and you two girls and Timmy,’ said Julian, giving George a friendly punch. ‘I think we really got a bit homesick. So we packed up before we should, and flew home,’

‘Flew?’ said George. ‘You lucky things! And then did you come straight down here?’

‘We spent the night with Mother and Dad at home,’ said Julian, ‘and then caught the first train here that we possibly could this morning – only to find that you weren’t at Kirrin!’

‘So we packed camping-out things in smaller bags and came straight along to you!’ said Dick. ‘I say, George, old thing, do you think you could possibly make Timmy stop barking? I’m going a bit deaf!’

‘Shut up, Tim,’ ordered George. ‘Let other people bark a bit. Do you notice his collar, Julian?’

‘Can’t help seeing it!’ said Julian. ‘He looks a scream in it, doesn’t he? Ha ha! You’re an Elizabethan dog with a ruff, Timmy – that’s what Uncle Quentin told us – and that’s what you look like, old fellow!’

‘He looks most comical, I must say,’ said Dick. ‘Enough to make a cat laugh, hey, Timmy!’

Anne looked at George. Goodness, what would she say to hear Julian and Dick laughing at Timmy and making fun of him! Would she lose her temper at once?

But George only grinned. In fact she gave a little laugh herself. ‘Yes – he does look funny, doesn’t he? But he doesn’t mind a bit!’

‘You know, we came here to camp because George couldn’t bear people laughing at …’ began Anne, thinking that she wouldn’t let George get away with this! But George gave her such a beseeching look, that she stopped at once. George could never bear to look small in front of Julian and Dick. She prided herself on being just like a boy – and she was suddenly certain that her two cousins would think she was ‘just like a girl’ if they heard of the fuss she had made about people laughing at Timmy’s collar.

‘I say – you two seem to be packing up,’ said Julian, looking at the package strapped to the back of George’s bicycle. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Well – it got a bit lonely and Anne was…’ and then in her turn George caught a beseeching loop from Anne! She knew what it meant ‘I didn’t tell tales of you – so don’t tell tales of me – don’t say I was scared!’

‘Er – Anne was certain that there was something queer going on here,’ went on George, who had quite meant to say that Anne was scared and insisted on going home. ‘And we didn’t feel that we could tackle it ourselves – though if you had been here we wouldn’t have dreamed of going home, of course.’

‘What do you mean – something queer?’ asked Dick.

‘Well – you see – it began like this,’ said George, but Julian interrupted.

‘If there’s a tale to tell, let’s have it over a meal, shall we? We’ve had nothing to eat since six o’clock this morning, Dick and I – and we’re ravenous!’

‘Yes. Good idea,’ said Dick, and began to undo a big package which he took out of his bag. ‘I’ve a picnic lunch here from your mother, George – a jolly good one, I can tell you. I think she was so relieved to think that she was going to get rid of us that she really surpassed herself! We’ve got a marvellous piece of boiled ham – look! It’ll last us for ages – if we don’t give bits to Timmy. Get away, Tim. This is not for you! Grrrrrr!’

George suddenly felt so happy that she could hardly speak. It had been fun camping with Anne – but what a difference the boys made! So confident of themselves, so merry, full of jokes, so idiotic, and yet so dependable. She felt that she wanted to sing at the top of her voice!

The sun had been hot again that morning and had dried the common beautifully. It wasn’t long before the Five were sitting down in the heather with a very fine feast before them.

‘I wouldn’t sell anyone my hunger for a hundred pounds,’ said Dick. ‘Now then – who’s going to carve this magnificent piece of gammon?’

There were no plates, so they had to make sandwiches of the ham. Dick had actually brought some mustard, and dabbed it generously over the slices of ham before George put them between pieces of bread. ‘Aha, Tim – this is one way of making sure you won’t get even a bite of these wonderful ham sandwiches!’ said Dick. ‘You can’t bear mustard, can you? Ju, where’s the meat we brought for Tim?’

‘Here. Pooh – it smells a bit strong,’ said Julian. ‘Do you mind taking it to a nice secluded corner, Tim?’

Timmy immediately sat down close to Julian. ‘Now – don’t be so disobedient!’ said Julian, and gave Timmy a friendly push.

‘He doesn’t understand the word “seclucled”,’ said George, with a grin. ‘Tim – buzz off a bit!’

Timmy understood that and took his meat a little way away. Everyone took a ripe red tomato, and a little lettuce heart from a damp cloth brought by Julian, and settled down happily to munch sandwiches.