They all sat down to tea, and the four visitors wished they had not had such a big lunch! A large ham sat on the table, and there were crusty loaves of new bread.
Crisp lettuces, dewy and cool, and red radishes were side by side in a big gla.s.s dish. On the sideboard was an enormous cake, and beside it a dish of scones. Great slabs of b.u.t.ter and jugs of creamy milk were there, too, with honey and home- made jam. "I wish I was hungry, really hungry," said d.i.c.k. "This is just the kind of meal for a hungry day."
"I didn"t think you"d have had much lunch," said Mrs Thomas. "Now then, Toby - you"re the host. See to your guests, please - and, Benny, take the pigling off your knee. I will not have him at the table."
"Curly will be very upset if he sees that ham," said Toby slyly. "That"s his grandfather!"
Benny put Curly down hurriedly, afraid that his feelings might be hurt. The pigling went to sit beside Timmy, who, very much surprised, but rather pleased, at once made room for him.
It was a very happy meal, and Toby was a good host. Anne sat beside little Benny, and found herself liking him more than ever. "He"s like a little boy out of a story,"
she said to George. "He and Curly ought to be put into a book!"
"Well now," said Mrs Thomas after everyone had eaten their fill, "what are your plans? Toby, show them where you have put their tents and everything. Then they can decide where they are going to camp."
"Come on, then," said Toby, and Benny and Curly and Binky all came along, too.
"You can help to carry everything - and we"ll go up on Billyc.o.c.k Hill and find a fine camping place. How I wish I could camp out with you too!"
Away they all went, feeling rather full but very happy. Where should they camp?
How lovely to sleep out at nights, and see the stars through the opening in the tent!
Chapter Four
A FINE CAMPING-PLACE
Toby had put all the camping-out gear in a nearby barn. He took the Five there, with Benny and the pigling trailing after. Binky came, too, so friendly now with Timmy that they trotted along side by side, occasionally pushing against each other like schoolboys!
Julian and d.i.c.k looked at the pile of canvas, the pegs and the ropes. Yes, these two tents would do very well, though if the weather stayed like this they would hardly need tents! They could lay their rugs out on the springy heather. "This is fine, Toby," said Julian gratefully. "You"ve even provided a kettle and a frying-pan."
"Well, you might want to cook a meal," said Toby. "Or boil soup. There"s a saucepan for that - ah, here it is!"
He picked it up and promptly put it on Benny"s head, where it stuck tightly on his yellow curls. Benny yelled and ran at Toby, hitting him with his fists. The little pig rushed away in fright and disappeared round a corner.
Anne took the saucepan off poor Benny"s head. "You"re all right!" she said. "It was a funny hat to wear, wasn"t it?"
"Curly"s runned away again!" wept Benny, and he pummelled the laughing Toby.
"I hate you, I hate you!"
"You go and find him," said Toby, fending off the angry small boy, and Benny ran off on his fat little legs.
"Well, we"ve got rid of him for a few minutes," said Toby. "Now - is there anything I"ve forgotten? You"ve got torches, I suppose? What about candles - and matches?"
"We"ve got those, too," said d.i.c.k. "And we"ve brought macs and swim-suits - but that"s about all. I see you"ve put a couple of rugs here as well in case we"re cold!"
"Well, it might turn wet and chilly," said Toby. "Of course, if it snows, or anything like that, you"ll have to come and borrow some more rugs! Now, shall I help you to fix them on your bikes?"
It was too difficult to fix everything on to the four bikes, and in the end Toby found a hand-cart and the children piled everything into that.
"We"ll fetch our bikes some other time," said Julian.
"Leave them here!" said Toby. "They"ll be all right. Are you going now? Well, I"ll get a package Mother"s got ready for you - you know, ham and new-laid eggs and bread and b.u.t.ter and the rest."
"It"s most awfully good of her," said Julian gratefully. "Well, let"s start - we"ve got everything in the handcart now. We"ll just wait for the food. d.i.c.k, you and I can push this hand-cart together. It will need two of us up the hill - and I vote we camp on the side of the slope somewhere, so that we can get a good view."
Toby came back with an enormous package of food. Benny came with him, Curly trotting behind. Benny carried a basket of ripe strawberries. "I picked them for you," he said, and handed them to Anne.
"What beauties!" she said, and gave the smiling child a hug. "We shall enjoy them, Benny."
"Can I come and see your camp when you"ve builded it?" he asked. "Can I bring Curly? He"s never seen a camp."
"Yes, of course you can," said Anne. "Are we ready now, Julian? What about milk?
Mrs Thomas said we could take some."
"Oh, yes - I forgot that," said Toby. "It"s in the dairy." He sped off with Binky, and the others arranged everything neatly in the useful little hand-cart. Toby came back with the milk - two big bottles. They were stacked carefully in a corner of the cart.
"Well, we"re ready now, I think," said Julian, and he and d.i.c.k began to push the cart down the path to the gate. Timmy and Binky trotted on ahead, and everyone else followed. Benny came as far as the gate with Curly, then Toby sent him back.
"You know what Mother said, Benny," he said. "You"re not to come with us now - it"ll be too late when Binky and I come back."
Benny"s mouth went down, but he didn"t attempt to follow them. He picked Curly up in his arms in case the pigling should run away after the others.
"Benny"s a pet," said Anne. "I wish I had a little brother like that."
"He"s all right," said Toby. "A bit of a cry-baby, though. I"m trying to bring him up properly - teasing him out of his babyishness, and making him stand on his own feet."
"He seems to be able to do that all right," said d.i.c.k. "My word - the way he went for you when you put that saucepan on his head! He pummelled you right and left!"
"Benny"s a funny little kid," said Toby, giving a hand with the cart as they reached the slope of the hill. "He"s always having queer pets. Two years ago he had a lamb that followed him everywhere. Last year he had two goslings that followed him about - and when they grew into geese they still followed him! They waddled all the way upstairs one day!"
"And this year he"s got a pig!" said George, who, like Anne, was very much amused with Benny. "Don"t you think Timmy was very funny with Curly? I"m sure he still thinks it"s a puppy without any hair!"
They made their way up the hill, following a narrow sheep-path. The hand-cart b.u.mped and wobbled, and soon it needed four or five pairs of hands to push it. "How much farther?" panted Toby at last. "Surely you"re not going right to the top?"
"No," said Julian. "About half-way up. We do want to have a good view, Toby, Not very much farther up, I should think. But let"s have a bit of rest, shall we?"
They sat down, glad to get their breath. Certainly the view was magnificent. Far away on the horizon were purplish hills, and in front of them stretched miles and miles of green and golden countryside. Green for growing corn and gra.s.s - gold for the b.u.t.tercups, which were at their best in this sunny week of June.
"I like those silvery threads here and there winding about the green fields," said Anne. "Little streams - or rivers - curving like snakes all about! And I like the dark green patches that are woods."
"What"s that just down there?" asked George, pointing to what looked like an enormous field with great sheds in the centre.
"That"s an airfield," said Toby promptly. "A bit hush-hush. Secret planes tried out, and all that. I know all about it because a cousin of mine is there - he"s a flight- lieutenant. He comes to see us sometimes and tells me things. It"s an experimental place."
"What"s that, exactly?" asked Anne.
"Well - where new ideas are tried out," said Toby. "They deal mostly with very small planes down there - one-man fighter planes, I think. Don"t be scared if you hear noises from the airfield sometimes - bangs and bursts. I don"t know what they are, of course - it"s all to do with their experiments."
"I wish I could visit the airfield," said d.i.c.k. "I"m keen on planes. I"m going to fly one when I"m older."
"You"d better meet my cousin, then," said Toby. "He might take you up in one."
"I should like to meet him," said d.i.c.k, delighted. "So would Julian."
"We"d better get on now," said Julian, standing up. "We won"t go much higher - the view can"t be much better anywhere else!"
George and Anne went on ahead to find a good camping-place, while the three boys pushed the cart slowly over the heather. But it was Timmy who found the right place! He ran on ahead, feeling thirsty, so when he heard the sound of running water he ran to it at once. From under a jutting rock gushed a little spring. It rippled down a rocky shelf and lost itself in a ma.s.s of lush greenery below. Rushes grew to mark the way it went, and George"s sharp eyes could follow its path for quite a long way down the hill, outlined by the dark line of rushes.
"Julian! Look what Timmy"s found!" she called as she watched him lap from the clear spring water. "A little spring gushing out of the hillside! Hadn"t we better camp near it?"
"Jolly good idea!" shouted back Julian, and left the hand-cart to come and see.
"Yes, this is just the place! A fine view - plenty of spring heather to camp on - and water laid on quite near!"
Everyone agreed that it was a fine place, and soon all the gear was taken from the hand-cart. The tents were not erected, for everyone meant to sleep under the stars that night, the evening was so warm. n.o.body wanted to lie in a stuffy tent!
Anne unpacked the food parcel, wondering where would be the coolest place for a "larder". She went over to the rock from which gushed the crystal-clear spring water. She pushed away the rushes around and discovered a kind of small cave hollowed out of the rock below the spring.
"It would be as cool as anything in there," thought Anne, and put her hand through the falling water into the cave-like hole. Yes, it was icy cold! Was it big enough to hold the milk bottles and everything? Just about, she thought.
Anne loved arranging anything, and she was soon at work putting away the food and the milk into her queer larder. George laughed when she saw it.
"Just like you, Anne!" she said. "Well, we"d better put a towel by the spring, for certainly we shall get soaked every time we get out any food!"
"Tell Timmy he"s not to try and poke his head into my larder," said Anne, pushing Timmy away. "Oh, now he"s all wet. Go and shake yourself somewhere else, Timmy - you"re showering me with drops of water!"
Toby had to leave them, for it was already past his supper-time. "See you tomorrow!" he said. "How I wish I was staying up here with you! So long!"
Away he went down the hill with Binky at his heels. The Five looked at one another and grinned.
"He"s nice - but it"s good to be alone again - just us Five," said George. "Come on - let"s settle in. This is the best camp we"ve ever had!"
Chapter Five
THE FIRST NIGHT - AND A MORNING VISITOR
"What"s the time?" said Julian, looking at his watch. "Good gracious - it"s almost eight o"clock! Anyone feel tired?"
"Yes," said d.i.c.k, Anne and George, and even Timmy joined in with his deepest "Woof".
"With all that bicycling and then pushing that heavy cart up the hill, I can hardly move!" said d.i.c.k. "I vote we have a simple supper - something out of Anne"s little larder - and then spread our rugs over some thick heather and sleep under the sky.
Even up here, with a breeze, it"s warm. I should be stifled in a tent."
"Well, we"re all agreed on that," said Julian. "Anne, what do you suggest for a light supper?"
"Bread, b.u.t.ter and some of Mrs Thomas"s farm cheese," said Anne promptly. "With a tomato or two if you like - and icy-cold milk and Benny"s strawberries to finish with. That is - if the milk has had time to get cold in the little hole under the spring."
"Sounds jolly good," said Julian. "What do you think, Timmy ? Anne, if you and George get the supper ready, d.i.c.k and I will prepare our heathery beds. Then we can all turn in as soon as possible. I honestly feel that once I sit down or lie down I"ll not be able to get up again!"
"Same here," said d.i.c.k, and went off with Julian to find the best place for sleeping.
They soon found one. They came across a giant of a gorse bush, thick, p.r.i.c.kly and still full of golden blooms. In front of it was a stretch of very close-set heather, as springy as the best mattress in the world. d.i.c.k sat down on it and grinned at Julian.
"Just made for us!" he said. "We shall sleep like tops here. We hardly need a rug to lie on, it"s so close-grown. Help me up, Ju - my legs won"t do anything now I"ve sat down!"
Julian pulled him up and they called to the girls: "Anne! George! Bring the supper here. We"ve found a good place. It"s by this giant gorse bush."
The girls came along with the meal, and the boys fetched a couple of rugs from the pile of things that they had brought in the hand-cart. They spread them on the heather. "I say! This certainly is a good place," said George, coming up with Anne and Timmy, carrying a loaf of bread, a pat of b.u.t.ter and tomatoes. Anne had the milk and the cheese. Timmy was carrying a little bag of his own biscuits.
"The gorse bush will shelter us from too much wind," said d.i.c.k, taking the milk from Anne. "It"s an ideal spot - and the view is superb."
It was a very happy supper they had, sitting in the heather, while the sun sank lower and lower in the west. The evenings were very light now, and certainly they would not need candles! They finished up everything, and then went to wash at the little spring that bubbled out so cheerfully.
They lay down on their rugs in the heather while it was still daylight. "Good night!"
said d.i.c.k, and promptly fell fast asleep. "Good night!" called Julian, and lay for a few seconds looking at the view, which was now becoming dim and blue.
Timmy kept the two girls awake for a minute or two, trying to squeeze in between them. "Do keep still, Timmy," said George. "And just remember you"re on guard, even though I don"t expect there is anyone nearer than a mile - and that will be at Billyc.o.c.k Farm! Lie still now, or I"ll push you off the rug! Good night, Anne."
George was soon asleep, and so was Timmy, tired out with so many miles of running. Anne lay awake for a few minutes, looking at the evening star which shone large and golden in the sky. She felt very happy. "I don"t want to grow up,"