Читать книгу Good Old Secret Seven - Enid blyton - Страница 6

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The wrappings were soon off—and the Seven crowded round as Jack put the big telescope together, and showed them how the long tube could be stretched out even longer.

‘You’ve no idea how far the telescope’s eye can see,’ he said. ‘When I looked through it this morning before I came, I could see the scarecrow in the field half a mile from our house—and what is more I could see a sparrow or some bird sitting on his hat!’

‘Do let’s look through it,’ said Janet, excited. ‘Let’s take it out into the garden, and train it on something far away.’

So they carried it out into the garden, and set it on its little stand on the broad top of the low garden wall. Jack was very clever at adjusting the lens so that it focused properly, and made everything as clear as could be.

‘Now that’s exactly right,’ said Jack, looking through the telescope. ‘I’ve trained it on that little cottage over on the slope there. Before you look through the telescope tell me what you can see with your bare eyes.’

‘Well—the cottage, of course,’ said Pam. ‘And something in the garden, I can’t see what.’

‘And somebody on the path. That’s about all,’ said Barbara.

‘Right. Well, look through the telescope and you’ll see a whole lot more!’ said Jack. ‘You first, Peter—you’re our leader.’

So Peter looked through the long telescope, and immediately gave a loud cry. ‘Jack! It’s marvellous! I can see Mrs Haddon as if she was just over our wall—and I can even see the jug she is carrying. And that’s a pram in the garden—and I can see the baby’s teddy bear sitting up at the end of it! And ...’

‘Let me have a turn,’ said Janet, itching to have a look. ‘Good gracious! I can see something sticking out of the chimney! It must be a sweep’s brush. Yes, it is! And there’s a cat sitting just inside the window! Oh Jack—it’s as if I’ve magic eyes that can see for miles! Oh, aren’t you lucky to have a telescope like this? What fun we’ll have!’

Jack was very pleased at the excitement his telescope caused, as one after another the Secret Seven peered through it. ‘We can have great fun with it,’ he said, proudly. ‘We can watch the birds and see everything they do. We can examine every aeroplane that comes overhead. We can ...’

‘Children! Whatever are you doing standing still out in the cold for so long?’ suddenly cried a voice. ‘You’ll get colds, all of you! What’s that you’ve got?’

‘It’s a telescope, Mother,’ called Janet. ‘It belongs to Jack. He’s sharing it with us.’

‘How lovely! But do you know how late it’s getting?’ called her mother.

‘Well, we’ll put the telescope away now,’ said Jack. ‘I’m supposed to get home to an early lunch. Come on—help me with it, Colin.’

Soon the telescope was safely in the shed, wrapped up very carefully.

‘It’s jolly good of you to share it with us,’ said Peter, ‘and to say we can all use it when we like. But I think we’d better say that I or Janet must be told when anyone comes to borrow it—we’ll be responsible for it, see? Is that understood, everyone?’

‘Oh yes! We’ll come and tell you when we want to look through it,’ said George, and the others agreed. ‘But suppose you’re out? We’d better know where the key of the shed is to be kept, Peter.’

‘Oh—of course,’ said Peter. ‘Let’s think now—somewhere fairly easy to get—but yet well hidden. What about under this flat stone here, just by the shed? Scamper, you’re the only one not allowed to touch the stone or the key. Understand?’

‘Wuff,’ said Scamper solemnly and wagged his tail. He watched while Peter carefully slid the key under the stone.

‘I’ll have to tell Susie where it is,’ said Jack, in rather a small voice.

‘I know. We promised that,’ said Peter. ‘She will have to go into our shed, but we’ll be careful not to leave any Secret Seven secrets about! Tell her where the key is—and say she must put it back under the stone if she ever uses it.’

‘Right,’ said Jack. ‘Er—what about a new password, Peter? Susie knows our last one.’

‘Good gracious, yes. I’d forgotten that,’ said Peter. ‘Well, I think it’s quite obvious what we’ll have! The next password, members, is—telescope!’

Then off they all went, and Peter and Janet carried everything carefully back to the house. Scamper followed them, wagging his tail. ‘Wuff-wuff!’ he said, and Peter laughed. ‘No—that’s our old password, Scamper. You’ll have to remember the new one!’