Five Go to Billycock Hill Page 5

  ‘Let’s get into our bathing things, then,’ said Dick.

  ‘You girls can have that bush over there and we’ll have this one. Buck up!’

  They were soon changed into their swim-suits, and dived into the pool, which was surprisingly deep. It was also deliciously cool, and silky to the touch, just as the spring water had been. The two dogs leapt in gladly and swam vigorously round and round. The children splashed them, and Timmy began to bark excitedly.

  ‘Shut up, Timmy!’ said Toby at once.

  ‘Why should he?’ demanded George, swimming up.

  ‘Well - someone at the airfield might hear him,’ said Toby.

  ‘You said it didn’t matter us being here!’ said George. ‘Look out for yourself!’ She dived underwater and got hold of Toby’s legs, pulling him down. He yelled and kicked and spluttered, but George was strong and she gave him a very, very good ducking! He came up purple in the face.

  ‘I said I’d pay you out for the spider!’ yelled George, and swam strongly away. Toby swam after her, and she led him a fine dance round the pool, for she was a splendid swimmer. The others laughed at the contest.

  ‘I back old George,’ said Dick. ‘She’d out-swim most boys. Well, she’s put Toby in his place all right. He won’t be so free with spiders and silly jokes for a while!’

  Timmy began to bark again when he saw Toby chasing George, and Binky joined in.

  ‘Shut up, Binky!’ shouted Toby. ‘I tell you STOP BARKING!’

  Before Toby had obeyed, something happened. A stentorian voice came across the pool.

  ‘What’s all this! You’re trespassing on Crown property. Didn’t you see the notice?’

  The dogs stopped barking and the five children looked round to see who was shouting. Their heads bobbed on the surface of the water as they gazed about to find the shouter.

  It was a man in Air Force uniform, a big man, burly and red-faced.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ called Julian, swimming towards him. ‘We’re only bathing. We’re not doing any harm.’

  ‘Didn’t you see the notice?’ shouted the man, pointing over to it.

  ‘Yes. But we couldn’t see much danger here,’ called back Julian, wishing now that he hadn’t believed Toby.

  ‘You come on out!’ roared the man. ‘All of you, Come on.’

  They all waded out of the cool pond, Anne feeling scared. The dogs splashed out, too, and stood eyeing the man grimly. He calmed down a little when he saw them.

  ‘Those your dogs I heard barking? Well, now, I see you’re all kids - though one of you’s big enough to know better!’ and he pointed to Julian. ‘I thought maybe you were trippers - thinking you could come wandering on the airfield and not get into trouble!’

  ‘Trippers don’t come here,’ said Toby, squeezing the water out of his hair.

  ‘Nor do sensible children,’ retorted the man. ‘I’ve had trouble from you before, haven’t I? Yes. Didn’t you come walking round the hangars bold as brass one day? And that dog with you, too?’

  ‘I only went to see my cousin, Flight-Lieutenant Thomas,’ said Toby. ‘I wasn’t doing any harm - I wasn’t spying. I tell you I only went to see my cousin!’

  ‘Well, I shall report you to him,’ said the man, ‘and tell him to give you a proper ticking off. We’ve strict instructions to warn off anyone - there’s notices everywhere.’

  ‘Is something hush-hush going on, then?’ said Toby with a sudden grin.

  ‘As if I’d tell you if there was!’ said the man in disgust. ‘Far as I can see, there’s nothing much doing here - dull as ditch-water this place - and as far as I’m concerned I’d welcome a horde of trippers - it would liven up the place no end. But orders is orders, as you very well know.’

  Julian thought it was about time that he should join in. The man was only doing his duty, and Toby was an ass to have said that the notices meant nothing.

  ‘Well, we apologise for trespassing,’ he said in his clear, pleasant voice. ‘We shan’t bathe here again, I promise you. Sorry to have made you come all this way to warn us off.’

  The RAF guard looked at Julian with respect. There was something about the boy that reassured people, and the man now felt quite sure that it was all Toby’s fault. He smiled and gave a sketchy salute.

  ‘That’s all right,’ he said. ‘Sorry to cut your bathe short this hot day. And - er - if that rogue of a boy here’ - he pointed to Toby - ‘if he cares to ask Flight-Lieutenant Thomas for permission to bathe in this pool at certain hours, it’s okay by me. I shan’t come running then when I hear dogs barking and a lot of shouting if I know you’re allowed here at certain hours.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Julian. ‘But anyway we’re only here for a few days.’

  ‘So long,’ said the man, who saluted them all and walked off smartly.

  ‘Well,’ said Toby, quite unashamed, ‘what did he want to come messing about here for, spoiling our bathe? He said there wasn’t anything secret going on, so why...’

  ‘Oh, shut up!’ said Dick. ‘You heard what he said about orders being orders? He’s not a silly schoolboy trying to be clever and getting out of doing his work - yes, like you do at school, Toby, and a good many of the others! He’s a man in uniform. You’d better grow up a bit, young Toby.’

  ‘I agree,’ said Julian. ‘So don’t let’s hear any more about it. You slipped up, Toby, and that’s all there is to it. Now let’s dry ourselves and go to the farm and ask your nice kind mother if she’ll let us have some more food to take back to our camp with us. I’m as hungry as a hunter after our bathe.’

  Toby was rather subdued after all this. He glanced at George to see if she was gloating over his ticking off, but George was never one to exult over anyone’s downfall, and Toby felt relieved.

  ‘Shall I ask my cousin if he’ll get permission for us to bathe in the pool?’ he said as they went away from the water, dry and dressed again.

  ‘I think not,’ said Julian. ‘But I’d like to meet your cousin some time all the same.’

  ‘He might take us up in a plane,’ said Toby hopefully, his spirits rising at the thought. ‘Oh, look there - here’s that little wretch Benny again - and the pigling!’

  Benny panted up, carrying the little pig. ‘You look like Tom, Tom the Piper’s Son,’ said Julian, ruffling the yellow curls. ‘He stole a pig and ran away, carrying it under his arm.’

  ‘But this is my own pig,’ said Benny, surprised. ‘I didn’t steal him. I came to find you, because my mother says come to tea.’

  ‘You have got a nice mother!’ said Anne, taking the small boy’s hand. ‘Why don’t you put the pig down? He must be so heavy.’

  ‘He runned away again,’ said Benny severely. ‘So I carried him.’

  ‘Put a collar on his neck, with a lead,’ suggested Dick.

  ‘He hasn’t got a neck,’ said Benny, and indeed the pigling was so plump that his head joined his body without any neck at all.

  The little procession made its way to the farm, and the pigling at once ran in front, squealing. It seemed surprised and delighted to find it was home again. Timmy pricked up his ears when it squealed. He thought that it must be in pain, and he was worried! He ran beside the little creature, trying to nuzzle it.

  Mrs Thomas saw them through the window. ‘Come along in!’ she said. ‘I thought you might like to have tea here again today, because I’ve a visitor you’d like to meet!’

  ‘Who is it?’ cried Toby, running indoors. ‘Oh! it’s you, Cousin Jeff. Hey, Julian, Dick - look, it’s my Cousin Jeff from the airfield - Flight-Lieutenant Thomas! The one I told you about! Cousin Jeff, meet my friends - Julian, Dick, Anne, Georgina - er, I mean George - and Timmy!’

  A tall, good-looking young man stood up, smiling. The Five gazed at him, liking him very much indeed. What a fine young fellow - how strong - what keen straight eyes he had - what a cousin to possess! They all envied Toby at that moment. No wonder he had boasted about him so much!

  ‘Hallo to you
!’ said Cousin Jeff. ‘Glad to see you all. ‘Hey - look at this dog!’

  And well might everyone look, for Timmy had marched straight up to him and then held up a paw. ‘Wuff!’ he said, which, of course, meant ‘Shake’!

  ‘How do you do?’ said Cousin Jeff solemnly, and shook paws with Timmy at once.

  ‘Timmy’s never done that before!’ said George, astonished. ‘Well - what a surprising thing! He must like you very much!’

  Chapter Nine

  COUSIN JEFF

  ‘I like dogs,’ said Jeff, and patted Timmy on the head. ‘This is a fine one - as smart as can be, too, isn’t he?’

  George nodded, pleased. She loved anyone to praise Timmy. ‘Yes, he’s very clever. He’s been in heaps of adventures with us. He can be very fierce if he thinks anyone is going to attack us. Oh, look - he wants to shake hands again! Isn’t he funny!’

  Jeff shook paws once more and then Timmy settled down beside him, almost as if he considered himself to be his dog. George didn’t mind. She liked Cousin Jeff as much as Timmy did!

  ‘Tell us about your job,’ begged Dick. ‘It’s such a queer airfield, the one you’re at - no fencing round it, hardly any planes, nobody about the field! Do you do much flying?’

  ‘Not much at the moment,’ said Cousin Jeff. ‘But don’t be misled by the fact that there’s no fencing round the airfield! Believe me, the commanding officer knows immediately if any stranger comes into the district, and - er - well, let us say that extra precautions are taken.’

  ‘Really?’ said George. ‘Do you mean to say, for instance, that your commanding officer knows we’ve arrived?’

  ‘You bet he does,’ said Jeff, laughing. ‘You’ve probably been given the once-over already, though you didn’t know it. I expect someone has been detailed to find out who you are and why you’re here, and you may even have been watched for a few hours - though you had no idea of it.’

  This was rather a creepy thought. Watched? How? By whom? And where did they hide to watch? Dick asked Jeff these questions, but the young airman shook his head.

  ‘Sorry. Can’t answer,’ he said. ‘But you needn’t worry, you’re all right. Maybe my aunt here has said a few words about you - you never know!’

  Mrs Thomas smiled, but said nothing. She beckoned to Anne and George to help her to bring in the tea - just as good a one as they had had before. The girls bustled about, setting out cups and saucers, while the boys talked to Cousin Jeff and asked him eager questions about planes and flying and how this was done and that.

  ‘I suppose you wouldn’t take us up some time, Cousin Jeff, would you?’asked Toby at last.

  ‘I don’t think I’d be allowed to,’ said Jeff. ‘In fact I don’t think I can even ask. You see, the planes there are pretty special - you can’t go joy-riding in them and...’

  ‘Of course we see,’ said Julian hurriedly, afraid of embarrassing the friendly young airman. ‘We wouldn’t dream of bothering you. When are you going up next? Can we watch you from our camping-place?’

  ‘Yes, I should think you could see me with field-glasses,’ said Jeff, considering. ‘I’ll tell you the number of my plane - it’s painted underneath it, of course, so you’ll know it’s me if you see it circling over the hill. But I shan’t do any stunts, I’m afraid - like coming down low to you, or anything like that. Only fat-headed beginners do that.’

  ‘We’ll look out for you,’ said Dick, quite envious of Toby for having such a fine young cousin. 'I don’t expect you’ll see us - but we’ll wave anyway!’

  Tea was now ready and they all drew up their chairs. Benny wandered in with his pigling under his arm, and set it down in the cat’s basket, where it stayed quite peacefully, falling asleep and making tiny, grunting snores.

  ‘Does the cat mind?’ asked George, astonished, looking at the basket.

  ‘Not a bit,’ said Mrs Thomas. ‘It had to put up with two goslings last year in its basket - and something the year before...’

  ‘A lamb,’ said Toby.

  ‘Oh, yes - and old Tinky - that’s the cat - didn’t seem to worry at all,’ said Mrs Thomas, pouring out creamy milk for everyone, even Cousin Jeff. ‘I once found her curled up round the goslings one morning, purring loudly.’

  ‘Good old Tinky!’ said Toby. ‘Where is she? I’d like to see what she thinks of Curly. She couldn’t cuddle him - he takes up nearly all the basket, he’s so plump.’

  Tea was a merry meal, with Toby playing the fool, putting a spoonful of sifted sugar on the side of Anne’s plate to eat with her crisp radishes instead of salt, and offering the salt to George to eat with her strawberries.

  Both girls were listening so intently to Cousin Jeff that they didn’t even notice what Toby had done, and he almost fell off his chair with laughing when he saw their faces. Salt with strawberries - ugh! Sugar and radishes - ugh!

  ‘Funny boy, aren’t you?’ said George, annoyed at being tricked. ‘You wait!’ But Toby was too wily to be tricked and George had to give it up. Anyway, she couldn’t bother with Toby when Cousin Jeff was talking about planes, his eyes shining with pleasure. Flying was his great love, and in listening to him all three boys there made up their minds to take it up as soon as ever they could!

  Benny didn’t listen much. He was more interested in animals than in planes. He ate his tea solemnly and watched his pigling in the cat’s basket, occasionally leaning over to tap his mother’s hand when he wanted to speak to her.

  ‘Curly runned away again,’ he told her solemnly. ‘Right up to the horse-pond.’

  ‘I thought I had told you not to go there,’ said his mother. ‘You fell in last time.’

  ‘But Curly runned there,’ said Benny, his big eyes looking very wide and innocent. ‘I had to go after him, didn’t I? He’s my pigling.’

  ‘Well, I shall spank Curly if he takes you to places you’ve been told not to go to,’ said his mother. ‘I can’t let him grow up disobedient, can I?’

  This needed thinking over, and Benny ate his tea with a serious face, ignoring the others. Anne looked at him several times, delighted with the solemn little boy and his funny ways. How nice it would be to have a small brother like that!

  ‘Well, I must be off,’ said Jeff when the meal was finished. ‘Thanks most awfully for a super tea, Aunt Sarah - but then your teas always are super! I was jolly lucky to be stationed here so near to Billycock Farm! Well, so long, everyone! So long, Timmy!’

  Everyone went with him to the gate, Timmy and Binky as well, and Benny awoke his little pig and carried him to the gate too, squealing and kicking. They all watched the tall, sturdy young airman striding away round the hill.

  ‘Do you like him?’ asked Toby proudly. ‘Isn’t he super? I’m awfully proud of him. He’s supposed to be one of the cleverest flying men in the kingdom - did you know?’

  ‘No, we didn’t,’ said Dick. ‘But I’m not surprised. He’s got eyes as keen as a hawk’s, and he’s heart and soul in his work! How lucky for you that he is stationed so near!’

  ‘We’d better get back to our camp when the girls have helped your mother to clear away and wash-up,’ said Julian, anxious not to outstay his welcome at the farm. ‘Toby, can you pack us up a bit more food in case we don’t see you tomorrow?’

  ‘Right,’ said Toby, and went off, whistling.

  Benny appeared again with Curly running round his feet.

  ‘Hallo!’ said Dick with a grin, ‘is that pigling of yours running away again?’

  Benny grinned back. ‘If he runned away to your camp, would you be cross?’ he asked, looking most innocently up at Dick.

  ‘He mustn’t do that,’ said Dick seriously, guessing what was in the little boy’s mind; he meant to go to find the camp himself, and then say that it was Curly who had ‘runned away’ there! ‘You see, you might lose your way if you went so far.’

  Benny said no more, but wandered off with his comical pet running in front of him. The boys went to find Toby to see if they could help him to pack f
ood into a basket. ‘We must pay his bill, too,’ said Julian, feeling for his purse. ‘It was a good idea of his to save up the money to buy his mother a present. She really is a darling.’

  Soon the Five were on their way back to their camp again. Toby was left behind to do his usual jobs of collecting the eggs, washing them and grading them into sizes for the market. ‘I’ll be up tomorrow!’ he called after them. ‘We’ll plan something good to do - maybe visit the caves if you like!’

  The four children went up the steep slope of Billycock Hill, talking, while Timmy ranged in front, sniffing everywhere as usual. And then suddenly a large butterfly sailed through the air, and came to rest on a flower of a blossoming elder bush, just in front of George - a butterfly that none of them had ever seen before.

  ‘Look at that! What is it?’ cried Anne in delight. ‘Oh, what a beauty! Julian, what is it?’

  ‘I’ve absolutely no idea!’ said Julian, astonished. ‘It may be an unusual Fritillary, though it’s early in the year for those. That Butterfly Man - what’s his name now? - Mr Gringle - said that this hill was famous for rare butterflies, and I imagine this is pretty uncommon. It is a beauty, isn’t it?’

  They watched the butterfly opening and shutting its magnificent wings on the white blossom. ‘We ought to try to catch it,’ said Dick. ‘I’m sure that Mr Gringle would be thrilled. It might lay eggs for him and start a whole breed of uncommon butterflies in this country.’

  ‘I’ve got a very thin hanky,’ said Anne. ‘I think I can catch it without harming its wings - and we’ll put it into the little box that Toby filled with sugar lumps for us. Get it and empty it, Dick.’

  In half a minute the butterfly was inside the box, quite unharmed, for Anne had been very deft in catching it.

  ‘What a magnificent creature!’ said Dick, shutting the box. ‘Now come on - we’ll give Mr Gringle a surprise!’

  ‘What about that witch woman - you know, Mrs Janes, who looks exactly like a witch?’ said Anne. ‘I don’t want to meet her again.’