Five Have Plenty of Fun (8 page)

Timmy and Sal y raced about in the shallow waves at the edge of the sea. Timmy was a fine swimmer, but Sal y didn"t much like the water, so they always played together at the edge. They really were most amusing to watch.

The dogs were glad when the children came panting out of the water. They lay down on the warm beach and Timmy flopped down beside George. She pushed him away.

„You smell of seaweed," she said. „Pooh!"

After a while Dick sat up to pul on his blazer. He gazed over the bay to where Kirrin Island lay basking in the sun and gave a sudden exclamation.

„I say! Look, all of you!"

Everyone sat up. „There"s someone on Kirrin Island, though we can"t see them," said Dick.

„Someone lying down, looking through binoculars at our beach. Can you see the sun glittering on the glasses?"

„Yes!" said Julian. „You"re right! Someone must be using binoculars to examine this beach.

We can"t see them as you say - but it"s easy enough to see the sunlight glinting on the glasses. Gosh, what cheek!"

„Cheek!" said George, her face crimson with rage. „It"s a lot more than cheek! How dare people go on my island and use it to spy on people on the beach? Let"s spy on them!

Let"s get our own field-glasses and look through them. We"ll see who it is, then!"

„I"l get them," said Dick and ran off to Kirrin Cottage. He felt worried. It seemed a strange thing to do - to spy on people sitting on the beach round the bay, using binoculars on Kirrin Island. What was the reason?

He came back with the binoculars, and handed them to Julian. „I think they"ve gone now, whoever it was," said Julian. „I don"t mean gone off the island, but gone somewhere else on it. We can"t see the glint of the sun on their glasses any more."

„Well, buck up and see if you can spy anyone through our glasses," said George, impatiently.

Julian adjusted them, and gazed through them earnestly. The island seemed very near indeed when seen through the powerful glasses. Everyone watched him anxiously.

„See anyone?" asked Dick.

„Not a soul," said Julian, disappointed. He handed the glasses to the impatient George, who put them to her eyes at once. „Blow!" she said. „There"s not a thing to be seen, not a thing. Whoever it was has gone into hiding somewhere. If it"s trippers having a picnic there I"l be absolutely furious. If we see smoke rising we"ll know it is trippers!"

But no smoke arose. Dick had a turn at looking through the glasses, and he looked puzzled. He took them down from his eyes and turned to the others.

„We ought to be able to see the rabbits running about," he said. „But I can"t see a single one. Did either of you, Julian and George?"

„Well - now I come to think of it - no, I didn"t," said Julian, and George said the same.

„They were frightened by whoever was there, of course," said Dick. „I suppose it wil he all right to take Lesley with us when we go to the island this afternoon? I mean - it"s just a bit queer that anyone should be using the island to spy from."

„Yes. I see what you mean," said Julian. „If it occurred to the kidnappers, whoever they are, that Berta might be down here with us, it would be quite a good idea on their part to land on the island and use it as a place from which to spy on the beach. They would guess we would come down to bathe every day."

„Yes. And they would see five children instead of four and would begin to make inquiries about the fifth!" said Dick. „They would hope actually to see Berta on the beach - they"ve probably got a photograph of her - and they would be looking for a girl with long wavy hair."

„And there isn"t one!" said Anne. „Mine"s not wavy and it"s not right down to my shoulders as Lesley"s was. How muddled they would be!"

„There"s one thing that would tel them that Berta was here though," said Julian, suddenly.

He pointed to Sal y.

„Good gracious, yes!" said Dick. „Sal y would give the game away all right! Whew! We"ll have to think about all this!"

George wanted to get her boat and go across to the island immediately. She was so furious at the thought of anyone else being there without permission that all she wanted to do was to chase them away.

But Julian said no. „For one thing the boat won"t be ready til two," he said. „For another thing we"ve got to consider whether it"s a sensible thing to do, to go to the island if possible kidnappers are here, on the lookout for Berta - Lesley, I mean."

„We could go without her," said George. „We could leave her safely with Joan."

„That would be a foolish thing to do," said Dick. „Anyone watching us coming across in the boat would see that one of the five was missing, and would guess at once it was Berta. If we go, all of us must go."

„Actually I think it might be a good thing to go," said Julian. „Carry the war right into the enemy"s camp, so to speak - if there are enemies! It would be a most useful thing if we could see what they are like and give a description to the police. I rather vote we go."

„Oh yes!" said Dick. „Anyway, we"ll have Tim with us. He can deal with any bad behaviour on the part of the intruders!"

„I don"t really think it"s anybody but trippers," said Julian. „I think we"re making too much of the whole thing just because someone gazed at the beach through glasses!"

„Remember that I think I saw a light on the island last night," Anne reminded him.

„Yes, I"d forgotten that," said Julian, looking at his watch. „It"s almost lunch-time. Let"s go and have something to eat, and then fetch the boat. James is working on it now. We"ll give him a shout to see if it wil be ready at two."

James was hailed, and he shouted back. „Yes, sir! Be ready sharp at two o"clock, if you want her. I"ve done one or two little jobs on her besides the rowlock."

„That"s good," said Dick, and they walked back to Kirrin Cottage. „Well - we"ll soon find out who"s on your island, George - and if they are obstinate about leaving, we"ll have a little fun with Timmy! He can round them up all right, can"t you, Tim!"

„So could Sal y," said Berta. „Sal y"s teeth aren"t very big, but they"re sharp. She once went for a man who accidentally pushed into me, and you should have seen the nips she gave him, all down his leg!"

„Yes. Sal y would come in useful," said Dick. George looked rather scornful. „That sil y little poodle!" she thought. „A fat lot of good she would be! Timmy"s worth a hundred of her!"

Joan had a fine lunch ready for them - ham and salad and new potatoes piled high in a big dish. There were firm red tomatoes from the greenhouse, and lettuces with enormous yellow-green hearts, crisp radishes, and a whole cucumber ready for anyone to cut as they liked. Slices of hard-boiled egg were mixed in with the salad, and Joan had put in tiny boiled carrots and peas as wel .

„What a salad!" said Dick. „Fit for a king!"

„And big enough for several kings!" said Anne. „How many potatoes, Ju? Small or large ones?"

Julian looked at the piled-up dish. „Ha - I can real y go for these potatoes!" he said. „I"l have three large and four smal ."

„What"s for pudding?" asked Berta. „I like this kind of salad so much that I might not have room for a stodgy sort of pudding."

„It"s fresh raspberries from the garden, sugar and home-made ice-cream," said Joan. „I didn"t think you"d want a hot pudding. My sister came to see me this morning, so I got her to pick the raspberries for me."

„I can"t think of a nicer meal than this," said Berta, helping herself to the salad. „I real y can"t. I like your meals better than the ones we have at home in America."

„We"ll turn you into a proper little English boy before you know where you are!" said Dick.

They told Joan about what they had seen that morning on the island. She took a grave view of it at once.

„Now you know what your aunt said, Master Julian," she said. „The police have got to have a report of anything suspicious. You"d better ring them up."

„I wil when we"ve been over to the island and back," said Julian. „I don"t want to look an ass, Joan. If it"s only harmless trippers who don"t know any better there"s no need to bother the police. I promise to ring the police if we find anything suspicious."

„I think you ought to ring them now," said Joan. „And what"s more I don"t think you ought to go over to the island if you"re suspicious of the people there."

„We"ll have Timmy with us," said Dick. „Don"t worry."

„And Sal y too," added Berta at once.

Joan said no more, but went out to get the raspberries and ice-cream, looking worried.

She brought in an enormous glass dish of fresh red raspberries and another dish of creamy-looking ice-cream blocks from the refrigerator.

A sigh of admiration went up from everyone. „Who could want anything better?" said Dick. „And that ice-cream - how do you get it like that, Joan - not too frozen and not too melty? Just how I like it. I do hope some American doesn"t get hold of you and whisk you away across the ocean - you"re worth your weight in gold!"

Joan laughed. „You say such extravagant things, Master Dick - and all because of an ordinary dish like raspberries and ice-cream. Get along with you! Master Lesley wil tel you there"s nothing clever about raspberries and cream."

„I agree with every word the others say," said Berta fervently. „You"re wunnerful, you"re a honey, you"re..."

But Joan had run out of the room, laughing, very pleased. She didn"t mind what she did for children like these!

After they had finished lunch, they went down to the beach. James was stil with the boat.

„She"s finished!" he called. „You going out in her now? I"l give you a hand down with her, then."

Soon all five children and the dogs as wel were in George"s boat. The boys took the oars and began to pul hard towards the island. Timmy stood at the prow as he loved to do, fore-paws on the edge of the boat, looking out across the water.

„He fancies himself as a figure-head," said Dick. „Ah, here comes Sally - she wants to be one too. Mind you don"t fall overboard, Sal y, and get your pretty feet wet. You"l have to learn to swim if you do!"

Sal y stood close beside Timmy, and both dogs looked eagerly towards the island - Timmy because he knew there were hundreds of rabbits there, and Sal y because for her it was stil quite an adventure to go out in a boat like this.

Berta, too, gazed eagerly at the little island as they drew near. She had heard so many tales about it now! She looked especial y at the old castle rising up from it. It was in ruins, and Berta thought it must be very old indeed. Like al Americans, she loved old buildings and old customs. How lucky George was to own an island like this!

Rocks guarded the island, and the sea ran strongly over them, sending up spray and foam.

„However are we going to get safely to the shore of the island?" said Berta, rather alarmed at the array of fierce-looking rocks that guarded it.

„There"s a little cove we always use," said George. She was at the til er, and she steered the boat cleverly in and out of the rocks.

They rounded a low wall of very sharp rocks and Berta suddenly saw the little cove.

„Oh - is that the cove you mean?" she said. „Why, it"s like a little harbour going right up to that stretch of sand!"

There was a smooth inlet of water running between rocks, making a natural little harbour, as Berta said. The boat slid smoothly into the inlet and up to the beach of sand.

Dick leapt out and pul ed it up the shore. „She"s safe here," he told Berta. „Welcome to Kirrin Island!"

Berta laughed. She felt very happy. What a truly wonderful place to come to!

George led the way up the sandy beach to the rocks behind, and they climbed over them. They stopped at the top, and Berta exclaimed in amazement.

„Rabbits! Thousands of them! Simply thousands. My, my, I never saw such tame ones in my life. Wil they let me pick them up?"

„No," said George. „They"re not as tame as that! They"l run away when we go near - but they wil probably not go into their holes. They know us - we"ve so often been here."

Sal y the poodle was amazed at the rabbits. She couldn"t believe her eyes. She stood close beside Berta, staring at the scuttling rabbits, her nose twitching as she tried to get their smel . She simply couldn"t understand why Timmy didn"t run at them.

Timmy stood quite stil beside George, his tail down, looking very mournful. A visit to Kirrin Island was not such a pleasure to him as to the children, because he wasn"t allowed to hunt the rabbits. What a waste of rabbits!

„Poor old Tim! Look at him!" said Julian. „He looks the picture of misery. Look at Sal y, too -

she"s longing to go after the rabbits, but she doesn"t think it"s good manners to chase them til Timmy does!"

Good manners or not, little Sally could bear it no longer! She suddenly made a dart at a rabbit who had come temptingly near, and it leapt into the air in fright.

„Sal y!" cal ed George, in a most peremptory manner. „NO! You"re not to chase my rabbits! Tim - go and fetch her here!"

Timmy went off to Sal y and gave a tiny little growl. Sal y looked at him in amazement.

Could her friend Timmy real y be growling at her? Timmy began to push himself against her and she found herself shep-herded over to George.

„Good dog, Timmy," said George, pleased to have shown everyone how obedient he was. „Sal y, you mustn"t chase these rabbits, because they are too tame! They haven"t learnt to run away properly yet, because not many people come here and frighten them."

„Whoever was here this morning scared them all right," said Julian, remembering. „Gosh, don"t let"s forget there may be people here. Well - I can"t see anyone so far!"

They went cautiously forward, towards the old castle. Timmy running ahead. Then Julian stopped and pointed to the ground.

„Cigarette ends - look! Fresh ones, too. There are people here, that"s certain. Walk ahead of us, Tim."

But at that moment there came the sound that Anne had heard the night before - the sound of a motor-boat"s engine. R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!

„They"re escaping!" cried Dick. „Quick, run to the other side of the island! We may see them then!"