Читать книгу Good Work Secret Seven! - Enid blyton - Страница 4

Table of Contents

“Susie!” cried Jack, springing up in a rage. “How dare you! You—you—you ...”

He caught hold of his sister and held her tight. She laughed at him.

“It’s all right; I just wanted to give your high-and-mighty members a shock. Aha! I know your password, see?”

“How did you know it?” demanded Peter. “Let her go, Jack. We’ll turn her out in a minute. How did you know the password, Susie?”

“I got it from Jack, of course,” said Susie, most surprisingly.

Everyone stared at poor Jack, who went as red as a beetroot. He glared at Susie.

“You’re a wicked story-teller! I never told you the password and I didn’t even write it down, in case you found it. How did you know it? Were you listening in the bushes round the shed—did you hear us say the password as we came in?”

“No. If I had, Scamper would have barked,” said Susie, which was quite true. “I tell you, Jack, I heard you say it yourself—you were talking in your sleep last night and you kept yelling out ‘Guy Fawkes! Let me in! Guy Fawkes, I say!’ So I guessed you were trying to get into the meeting in your sleep and were yelling out the password.”

Jack groaned. “I do talk in my sleep—but who would have thought I’d yell out the password? I’ll keep my bedroom door shut in future. I’m sorry, Peter. What are we going to do with Susie? She ought to be punished for bursting in on our secret meeting like this!”

“Well, we’ve nothing important to discuss—so we’ll make Susie sit in that corner over there, and we’ll have our feast, and not offer her a single thing,” said Peter, firmly. “I’m tired of Susie—always trying to upset our Society. Pam and Barbara, sit her down over there.”

Everyone was so very cross with Susie that she began to feel upset. “It was only a joke,” she said. “Anyway, your meetings are silly. You go on and on having them and nothing happens at all. Let me go.”

“Well, promise on your honour you’ll never try to trick us again or upset our meetings?” said Peter, sternly.

“No. I won’t promise,” said Susie. “And I shan’t sit still in this corner, and I shan’t keep quiet. You’re to let me go.”

“Certainly not,” began Peter. “You forced yourself in, and you can jolly well stop and see us eating all ...”

He stopped very suddenly as he heard the sound of panting breath, and running feet coming down the garden path.

“It’s Colin!” said Janet.

There was a loud rat-tat at the door, and the password. “Guy Fawkes! Quick, open the door.”

The door was opened and Colin came in, blinking at the sudden light, after the darkness outside.

“I say—I’ve had an adventure! It might be something for the Secret Seven. Listen!”

“Wait—turn Susie out first!” said Peter.

Colin stared in surprise at seeing Susie there. She gave a sudden giggle, and Jack scowled at her.

“What’s she doing here, anyway?” asked Colin, most astonished, as he watched Susie being hustled out of the shed.

The door was slammed and locked. Scamper, the golden spaniel who belonged to Peter and Janet, barked loudly. He hadn’t at all approved of Susie being in his shed. He knew she wasn’t a member!

“Tell you about Susie later,” said Peter. “Now, Colin—what’s all this about? Why are you late, and what’s happened? And for goodness’ sake, let’s all talk quietly, because Susie is sure to be listening at the door!”

“I’ll jolly well see that she isn’t,” said Jack, getting up, but Peter pulled him back.

“Sit down! Don’t you know it’s just what Susie would like—to be chased all over the garden in the dark, spoiling our feast and our meeting and everything! Let her listen at the door if she wants to—she won’t hear a word if we whisper. Be quiet, Scamper! I can’t hear myself speak with you barking at the top of your voice. Can’t you whisper too?”

Scamper couldn’t. He stopped barking and lay down with his back to Peter, looking rather hurt. But he soon turned himself round again when Colin began his tale.

“I was coming along to the meeting, shining my torch as I came—and when I got to the corner of Beeches Lane, I heard somebody in the clump of bushes there—you know there’s quite a little thicket at that corner. There was a lot of whispering going on—and then suddenly I heard a yell and a groan ...”

“Gracious!” said Janet, startled.

“And somebody fell heavily. I shone my torch at the bushes, but someone knocked it out of my hand,” went on Colin. “Then I heard the sound of running feet. I went to pick up my torch, which was still shining brightly on the ground, but by the time I shone it into the bushes again, nobody was there!”

“You were jolly brave to pick it up and look into the bushes,” said Peter. “What was going on, do you think?”

“I can’t imagine, except that there was a quarrel of some sort,” said Colin. “That isn’t all, though—look what I found in the bushes.”

The Secret Seven were now so excited that they had quite forgotten about whispering. They had raised their voices, and not one of them remembered that Susie might be outside. Scamper gave a little warning growl, but nobody paid any attention.

Colin was holding out a worn and battered note-book, with an elastic band round it. “I’ve had a quick look inside,” he said, “and it might be important. A lot of it is in code, I can’t read it—and there’s a lot of nonsense too—at least it sounds like nonsense, but I expect it’s part of a code. Look!”

They all looked. Everyone began to feel excited. Peter turned the pages and came to a list written down one page. “I say!” he said. “Here’s a list that might be a record of stolen goods. Listen.... Silver candle-sticks, three-branched, cigarette box with initials A.G.B., four silver cups, engraved ...”

Jack sprang up. “I know what all that is! My father read the list out at breakfast this morning—it was in the paper. It’s a list of the things stolen from the famous cricketer, Bedwall, last night. Whew! Do you suppose we’re on to something, Peter?”