Читать книгу Five are Together Again - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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George was still looking upset. What with her fears that Timmy might be ill or hurt, and now her distress at Joan being carried off in the ambulance, she wasn’t much help to anyone.

‘Do stop sniffing, George,’ said Anne. ‘We’ve just got to be sensible and think of some way out of this.’

‘I’m going to find Mother,’ said George. ‘I don’t care if she’s in quarantine or not.’

‘Oh no you’re not,’ said Julian, taking her firmly by the arm. ‘You jolly well know what quarantine means. When you had whooping-cough you weren’t allowed to come near any of us, in case we caught it too. You were infectious, and that meant that you didn’t have close contact with anybody for at least a few weeks. I think it’s only two weeks for scarlet fever, so it won’t be too bad.’

George went on sniffing, trying to pull away from Julian’s hand. Julian winked at Dick, and said something that made George pull herself together at once.

‘Well, really, George!’ he said. ‘You’re acting just like a weepy girl. Poor Georgina! Poor little old Georgina!’

George stopped sniffing immediately and glared at Julian in fury. If there was one thing she really hated it was to be told she was acting like a silly girl! And how awful to be called by her real name, Georgina! She gave Julian a hefty punch, and he grinned at her, warding her off.

‘That’s better,’ he said. ‘Cheer up! Just look at Timmy staring at you in amazement. He’s hardly ever heard you crying before.’

‘I’m not crying!’ said George. ‘I’m—well, I’m upset about Joan. And it’s awful to have nowhere to go.’

‘I can hear Aunt Fanny telephoning,’ said Anne, who had very sharp ears. She fondled Timmy’s head, and he licked her hand. He had already given everyone a wonderful welcome, whining with pleasure, and licking lavishly. He had been mad with joy to see George again, and was surprised and sad to find her looking so miserable now. Dear Timmy—he certainly belonged to the Five!

‘Let’s sit down and wait for Aunt Fanny,’ said Julian, settling himself on the grass. ‘We look a bit silly standing staring at Kirrin Cottage like this. Aunt Fanny will come to the window in a minute. She is sure to have thought of a good idea for us. timmy! I shan’t stay sitting down for long if you keep licking my neck like that. I shall send you for a towel in a minute, so that I can wipe it dry!’

The little joke made everyone feel better. They were all sitting on the grass now, and Timmy went lovingly from one to the other. All his family back again—it was too good to be true! He settled down at last, his head on George’s knee, George’s hand caressing his ears.

‘Aunt Fanny’s put down the telephone,’ said Anne. ‘Now she’ll come to the window.’

‘You’ve got ears like a dog—just as good as Timmy’s,’ said Dick. ‘I couldn’t hear a thing!’

‘Here’s Mother!’ said George, and leapt to her feet as Mrs Kirrin came to the window and leaned out.

‘It’s all right, dears,’ she called. ‘I’ve been able to arrange something for you. I have been telephoning the scientist that your father has been working with, George—Professor Hayling. He was coming here for a day or two, and when I told him he couldn’t, because we’re in quarantine, he at once said that you must all go there—and that Tinker, his son—you remember him, don’t you—would be delighted to have your company!’

‘Tinker! Goodness, yes, I shall never forget him—or his monkey either!’ said Julian. ‘He’s the boy who owns that old lighthouse at Demon’s Rocks, isn’t he? We went to stay there with him, and had a marvellous time.’

‘Well—you’re not staying at the lighthouse, I’m afraid,’ said his aunt, from the window. ‘Apparently a storm blew up one night and damaged it, and it’s not safe to live in any more.’

Groans from all the Five, of course, Timmy joining in as usual! ‘Where are we to go then? To Tinker’s home?’ asked Dick.

‘Yes. You can get a bus from here, at Little Hollow, that will take you almost to Big Hollow, where Professor Hayling lives,’ said Aunt Fanny. ‘You’re to go today. I’m so very sorry about this, dears, but it’s just one of those things we have to put up with. I’m sure you’ll have a good time with Tinker, and that monkey of his. What was it called now?’

‘Mischief,’ said everyone together, and Anne smiled in delight to think of being with the naughty little creature, and watching its wicked ways.

‘The bus will pass in ten minutes,’ said her aunt. ‘Julian, if you can’t manage to get your things on the bus, ask the gardener over the way to help you. And have a good time, dears, and send me a card or two. I’ll let you know how we get on—but I really don’t think that either your uncle or I will catch scarlet fever, so don’t worry. And I’ll send you some money to spend. You’d better run for the bus now.’

‘Right, Aunt Fanny, and thank you!’ called Julian. ‘I’ll look after everyone and keep them in order—especially old George. Don’t worry at all—and I do hope you or uncle don’t go down with the fever. Good-bye.’

They all went to the front gate where the luggage still stood. ‘Anne, go out into the road and stop the bus when it comes,’ ordered Julian. ‘Then Dick and I will heave our bags aboard. Gosh, I wonder what it will be like with old Tinker at Big Hollow. I’ve a feeling it might be rather exciting!’

‘I don’t think so,’ said George, mournfully. ‘I like Tinker all right—he’s funny—and that little monkey is a darling—such a naughty little thing too. But oh dear, don’t you remember what it was like when Tinker’s father came to stay with us? It was awful! He never remembered to come to meals, and was always losing his coat or his hanky or his money, and losing his temper too. I got very tired of him.’

‘Well, he’ll probably get very tired of us!’ said Julian. ‘He won’t find it very funny to have four kids parked on him, especially if he’s in the middle of difficult work—to say nothing of a rather large, licky dog leaping round the house as well.’

‘Timmy isn’t likely to lick him,’ said George, at once, and put on one of her scowls. ‘I didn’t like Tinker’s father at all.’

‘Well, don’t look like a thunderstorm,’ said Julian. ‘I don’t expect he’ll like any of us either. But it’s decent of him to give us an invitation to stay at Big Hollow, and we’re jolly well going to behave ourselves, see? There’s to be no back-chat from you, George—even if he dares to disapprove of Timmy!’

‘He’d better not,’ said George. ‘In fact, I’ve a good mind not to go. I think I’ll live in the summer-house with Timmy, at the bottom of the garden!’

‘You will not!’ said Julian, taking firm hold of her arm. ‘You’ll play fair, come with us, and behave properly! Listen, there’s the bus. Come on, we’ll all wave, and hope the driver has a few empty seats.’

Anne had already stopped the bus, and run round to the back of it to ask the conductor if he could help with the bags. He knew the children very well, and leapt down at once.

‘You’re going back to school pretty quick!’ he said. ‘I thought the schools had only just broken up.’

‘They have,’ said Julian, ‘but we’re off to stay at Big Hollow. The bus goes there, doesn’t it?’

‘Yes, we go right through the village of Big Hollow,’ said the conductor, carrying three bags at once, much to Julian’s envy. ‘Whereabouts are you staying there?’

‘At Professor Hayling’s house,’ said Julian. ‘I think that’s called Big Hollow too, like the village.’

‘Ah, we pass it,’ said the conductor, ‘I’ll stop the bus just outside and give you a hand with your things again. My word—you’ll have to mind your p’s and q’s there—old Professor Hayling’s a bit peculiar, you know. Goes off the handle properly if things don’t go his way! Once a horse got into his garden and believe it or not he chased that horse for two miles, shouting at it all the way. And bless me, when he got back home, tired out, there was that horse, chewing up his garden again. The horse was cute—he’d taken a short cut back. Yes—you be careful how you behave at Big Hollow. The old man might get cross and pop you into one of his queer machines and grind you up into little pieces!’

The four children laughed. ‘Oh, the old Professor is all right,’ said Julian. ‘A bit forgetful, like most people who work with their brains all the time. My brain goes fairly slowly—but my Uncle Quentin’s goes about a hundred miles an hour, and I bet the Professor’s does too! We’ll be all right!’

Away went the bus, bumping over the road from Kirrin and Little Hollow, and on to Big Hollow. The four children gazed out of the windows as they passed alongside the shore, where the sea shone as blue as cornflowers, and once more saw Kirrin Island out in the big bay.

‘Wish we were going there!’ sighed George. ‘We’ll have to take a picnic meal there sometime, and enjoy ourselves. I’d like old Tinker to visit my island. He may have a lighthouse of his own, but having an island is much better!’

‘I think I agree with you,’ said Julian. ‘Tinker’s lighthouse is certainly lovely and all on its own, and the view from it is amazing—but there’s something about Kirrin Island that I love. Islands are quite different from anything else!’

‘Yes. They are,’ said Anne. ‘I’d like one too. A very little one, so that I could see all round it at one glance. And I’d like one little cave to sleep in—just big enough for me.’

‘You’d soon be lonely, Anne,’ said Dick, giving his sister a friendly pat. ‘You love to have people round you, you like to be friendly!’

‘So does Timmy!’ said Julian, as Timmy left his place by George’s knee and went to sniff at a net-bag held by an old man, who at once fondled the big dog, and fumbled for a biscuit out of a paper bag. ‘Timmy doesn’t mind how many people there are around, so long as one or two of them has a biscuit or a bone to hand out!’

‘Come to heel, Timmy,’ said George. ‘You’re not to go round begging, telling people you are half-starved! I should think you eat more than any other dog in Kirrin. Who eats the cat’s dinner whenever he can, I should like to know?’

Timmy gave George a loving lick and settled down beside her, his head on her shoes. He got up politely every time someone entered or left the bus. The conductor was most impressed.

‘I wish all dogs were as good on my bus as yours,’ he told George. ‘You’d better get ready to jump out. Our next stop is supposed to be a little way beyond Big Hollow, but I’ll ring my bell, and the driver will stop for a moment, and you can get out.’

‘Thanks awfully,’ said Julian, gratefully, and when the bus stopped with a jerk a minute later, all the Five were ready to jump out.

The bus went on, and left them standing outside a large wooden gate. The drive from it led steeply downwards, and a large house could just be seen hidden in a hollow by great trees.

‘Big Hollow!’ said Julian. ‘Well—here we are. What a queer place—sort of mysterious and brooding. Now to find old Tinker! I bet he’ll be pleased to see us all, especially Timmy! Help me with the bags, Dick!’