Читать книгу Secret Seven Win Through - Enid blyton - Страница 6

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At six o’clock that evening there was a continual noise of footsteps up the path to the little summer-house. Janet, Peter, and Scamper were inside, waiting.

‘Easter-egg,’ said Jack, walking inside. There was no door, for the summer-house was three-sided, with its fourth side open to the garden.

‘Easter-egg,’ said Barbara, walking in, too.

‘Where’s your badge?’ asked Peter sharply.

‘Oh—I’ve got it, it’s all right,’ said Barbara, feeling in her pocket. ‘I don’t know why I forgot to pin it on.’ She pinned it on carefully and sat down.

The other three came along, each solemnly giving the password.

‘For once in a way nobody yelled it out,’ said Peter. He took a note-book out of his pocket, and licked his pencil. ‘Now then—I want your reports on any likely place to meet secretly. Colin, you begin.’

‘Well—there’s a fine big tree at the bottom of our garden,’ began Colin hopefully. ‘It’s a great chestnut, and ...’

‘No good, I’m afraid,’ said Peter, ‘but I’ll put it down. It would hardly be a secret meeting-place! Everyone would see us going down the garden to it, and people passing the wall near-by would hear us up there. Barbara, what’s your idea?’

‘Oh, it’s a silly one,’ said Barbara. ‘There’s an old hut in a field near-by our house, and ...’

‘I know it,’ said Peter, scribbling in his note-book. ‘Not a bad idea, Barbara. You, Pam?’

‘I simply haven’t any idea at all,’ said Pam. ‘I’ve thought and thought, but it’s no use.’

‘Not very helpful,’ said Peter, putting a cross against Pam’s name in his note-book. ‘You, George?’

‘Well, there’s an empty caravan in a field not far from here,’ said George. ‘I know who owns it—it’s a friend of my father’s. I think I could get permission for us to use it.’

This sounded exciting. Everyone looked admiringly at George, who seemed quite pleased with himself.

‘You, Jack?’ said Peter. ‘And don’t suggest anywhere near your house, because of Susie.’

‘I’m not going to,’ said Jack. ‘I’m not quite so silly as that. I’ve chosen somewhere a long way away—down by the river. It’s an old boat-house that nobody ever uses.’

This sounded exciting too. Peter wrote it down solemnly. ‘Now we’ve heard everyone’s idea except mine and Janet’s. We went out hunting together, and Scamper came too—and we’ve all got the same idea.’

‘What?’ asked everyone.

‘Well, it’s a cave in the quarry near the field where we grow potatoes,’ said Peter. ‘So it’s on my father’s farm, and not very far. It’s absolutely lonely and secret, and goes back into the hill behind the quarry. Scamper found it, actually.’

‘That sounds good—a secret cave,’ said Pam.

‘Well, we’ll now put all our ideas to the vote,’ said Peter, and handed round slips of paper. ‘Please write down on these papers what idea you like best—but nobody must vote for their own idea, of course. I’ll just go shortly over them again:

‘Colin suggests a tree, but it’s not a very secret place. Barbara suggests that old hut in the field near her house—but the roof’s almost off and the rain would come in. Pam has no ideas. George suggests the caravan owned by his father’s friend, a very good idea, but I don’t honestly think we’d be allowed to use it because it’s still furnished. I’d be afraid of breaking something.’

Peter paused for breath. ‘Jack suggests the old boat-house by the river. Fine—but isn’t it rather far away for a meeting-place? It’s at least a mile away. And you know what Janet and I suggest—the cave. But that isn’t a really comfortable place. There you are—please vote on your papers, fold them in half, and give them to me.’

Everyone solemnly wrote something on their papers, then handed them to Peter. He opened them and read them. When he looked up, his eyes were shining with pleasure.

‘Er—well—it’s very funny, but everyone except me and Janet have voted for the cave. We couldn’t vote for our own idea, of course. So it’s five votes for the cave—and the cave it will be. I’m glad—it’s a smashing place really!’

‘Is it? Let’s go and see it straight away!’ said Jack. ‘It’s not very far.’

‘All right—come on then,’ said Peter. ‘We’ll have a quick look, and then plan what to bring to it to-morrow. We’ll settle into it at once.’

This was exciting. They all got up and went out into the bright sunshine. It was almost half past six, and as warm as could be.

‘This way,’ said Peter, and led the way down his garden and through a gate into a field. His father owned the farm-land at the back of the house, and it stretched away over the hills, the fields green with growing corn and root-crops.

Peter took them down a grassy path, past a pond with ducks on it, and then turned to the right towards the old quarry. Sand had been dug from it years ago, and it had then been abandoned. They all filed into the quarry and looked round.

Scamper ran in front. ‘He’ll show you,’ said Peter. ‘Just as he showed me and Janet this morning!’ Scamper ran up to what looked like a rabbit path, over a little sandy hill, then down into a hollow behind. The others followed. Scamper stood waiting for them, his tail waving to and fro.

He ran through a gap in some thick bushes and disappeared. The others went through the gap too and looked for Scamper. He had gone!

‘He’s gone into the cave,’ said Peter, grinning. ‘You can see the entrance just there. It’s all hung over with some plant that has sent long, trailing stems down, and has almost hidden the entrance to the cave. Come on—it’s really quite exciting!’