Five on a Hike Together (2 page)

„Julian"s pul ing your leg as usual," said Dick, giving George a friendly slap on the back. „Al the same, you"ve grown a bit - you"l soon be as tall as I am. Hal o, Timmy! Good dog, fine dog! Tongue as wet as usual? Yes, it is! I never knew a dog with a wetter tongue than yours!"

Timmy went nearly mad with joy at being with all four of his friends. He leapt round them, barking, wagging his long tail and sending a pile of tins crashing to the floor in his delight.

„Now, now!" said the shop-woman, emerging from a dark little room at the back, „Take that dog out. He"s gone mad!"

„Don"t you girls want a drink of ginger-beer or something?" asked Julian, getting hold of Timmy"s col ar. „You"d better, because we don"t want to have to carry heavy bottles of drinkables with us."

„Where are we going to set off to?" asked George. „Yes, I"d like ginger-beer please. Get down, Timmy. Anyone would think you"d been away from Julian and Dick for at least ten years!"

„It probably does seem like ten years to him," said Anne. „I say - are those sandwiches?"

She pointed to a ledge at the back of the counter. There was a little pile of sandwiches there, looking most appetizing.

„Yes, they"re sandwiches, Miss," said the shop-woman, opening two bottles of ginger-beer.

„I"ve made them for my son who works over at Blackbush Farm - he"l be in for them soon."

„I suppose you couldn"t make us some, could you?" asked Julian, „We wouldn"t need to bother about trying to get to some vil age at lunch time then. They look jolly good."

„Yes. I can make you al you want," said the shop-woman, putting two glasses down in front of the girls, „What do you want - cheese, egg, ham or pork?"

„Well - we"d like some of all of those," said Julian, „The bread looks so nice too."

„I make it myself," said the woman, pleased, „Al right - I"l go and make you some. You tell me if anyone comes into the shop while I"m gone."

She disappeared. „That"s good," said Julian. „If she makes plenty of those we can avoid vil ages all the day and have a really good day of exploration - treading where no foot has trod before and al that!"

„How many can you manage each?" asked the woman, suddenly reappearing. „My son, he has six - that"s twelve rounds of bread."

„Well - could you manage eight sandwiches for each of us?" said Julian. The woman looked astonished. „It"s to last us all day," he explained, and she nodded and disappeared again.

„That"s a nice little sum for her," said Anne. „Eight sandwiches each, making sixteen rounds of bread - for four people!"

„Well, let"s hope she"s got a bread-cutting machine!" said Dick. „Or we"ll be here for keeps! Hal o - who"s this?"

A tall man appeared at the entrance of the shop, a bicycle in his hand. „Ma!" he called.

The children guessed who he was at once - the son who worked over at Blackbush Farm.

He had come for his sandwiches!

„Your mother is hard at work cutting sixty-four rounds of bread," said Dick. „Shal I get her for you?"

„No. I"m in a hurry," said the man and he set his bicycle by the door, came in, reached over the counter for his sandwiches and then went back to his bicycle.

„Tell my mother I"ve been in," he said, „And you might tel her I"l be late home today - got to take some stuff to the prison."

He was off at once, sailing away down the road on his bicycle. The old woman suddenly came in, a knife in one hand, a loaf in the other.

„Did I hear Jim?" she said. „Oh yes - he"s got his sandwiches. You should have told me he was in!"

„He said he was in a hurry," explained Julian. „And he said we were to tell you he"d be late today because he had to take some stuff to the prison."

„I"ve got another son there," said the woman. The four looked at her. Did she mean he was a prisoner? And what prison?

She guessed their thoughts and smiled. „Oh, my Tom isn"t a prisoner!" she said. „He"s a warder - a fine fel ow. Not a nice job there though - I"m always afraid of those men in prison - a fierce lot, a bad lot!"

„Yes - I"ve heard there is a big prison on this moor," said Julian. „It"s marked on our map too. We"re not going near it, of course."

'No. Don"t you take the girls near there," said the woman, disappearing again. „If I don"t get on with your sandwiches you"l not have them before tomorrow morning,"

Only one customer came in while the children were waiting - a solemn old man smoking a clay pipe. He looked round the shop, couldn"t see the woman, took a packet of blancmange powder, which he slipped into his pocket, and put the money down on the counter.

„Tell "er when "er comes," he mumbled with his pipe stil in his mouth, and out he shuffled.

Timmy growled. The old man smelt very unwashed and Timmy didn"t like him.

At last the sandwiches were finished and the old woman appeared again. She had packed them up neatly in four parcels of grease-proof paper, and had pencil ed on each what they were, Julian read what she had written and winked at the others.

„My word - we"re in for a grand time!" he said. „Cheese, Pork, Ham and Egg - and what"s this?"

'Oh, that"s four slices of my home-made fruit cake," said the old woman. „I"m not charging you for that, It"s just so that you can taste it!"

„It looks like half the cake!" said Julian, touched, „But we shall pay for it, with many thanks.

How much is all that?"

She told him. Julian put down the money and added some extra for the cake. „There you are, and many thanks," he said. „And that money there was left by an old fel ow with a clay pipe who took a packet of blanc mange powder."

„That would be Old Man Gupps," said the woman. „Well, I hope you"ll enjoy your tour.

Come back here if you want any more sandwiches cut! If you eat all those today you won"t do badly!"

„Woof," said Timmy, hoping that he too would share a few. The woman produced a bone for him, and he took it up in his mouth.

„Thanks!" Julian said. „Come on - now we"ll real y start!"

They set off at last, Timmy running in front. School already seemed far behind them. The October sun shone down warmly, and the trees in the vil age glowed yellow and red and golden, dressed in their autumn colourings. A few leaves floated down in the breeze, but not until there was a real frost would many come whirling down.

„It"s a heavenly day," said George. „I wish I hadn"t got my blazer on. I"m cooked already."

„Well, take it off and carry it over your shoulder," said Julian. „I"m going to do the same.

Our jerseys are quite warm enough today!"

They took off their thick blazers and carried them. Each of them had a rucksack, a mac rolled up tightly and tied to it, and now a blazer to carry. But none of them noticed the weight at the outset of their day.

„I"m glad you girls took my advice and wore your thickest shoes," said Julian, looking with approval at their brogues. „Some of our walking may be wet. Have you got changes of socks?"

„Yes. We brought everything you told us to," said Anne. „Your rucksack looks a bit ful er than ours, Ju!"

„Well, I"ve got maps and things in it," said Julian. 'It"s a queer place, this moor - miles and miles and miles of it! Queer names on it too - Blind Valley - Rabbit Hil - Lost Lake - Coney Copse!"

„Rabbit Hil ! Timmy would love that," said George, and Timmy pricked up his ears. Rabbits?

Ah, that was the kind of place he liked!

„Well, actual y we"re going towards Rabbit Hill now," said Julian, „And after that there"s Coney Copse, and as coney is a country word for rabbit, Timmy ought to enjoy himself!"

„Woof," said Timmy joyfully and bounded ahead. He felt very happy. His four friends were with him, their rucksacks were ful of delicious-smel ing sandwiches, and a long, long walk lay ahead, teeming, he hoped with rabbits!

It was lovely walking along in the sun. They soon left the little vil age behind and took a winding lane. The hedges on either side became so high that the four couldn"t see over the tops at all.

„What a sunken lane!" said Dick. „I feel as if I"m walking in a tunnel! And how narrow! I wouldn"t like to drive a car along this lane. If I met another car I might have to back for miles!"

„We shan"t meet anyone much," said Julian, „It"s only in the summer that cars come along these lanes - people on holiday, touring round the countryside. Look - we take that path now - it leads to Rabbit Hil , according to the map!"

They climbed over a stile in the high hedge and walked over a field towards a curious little hil . Timmy suddenly went mad with excitement. He could smel rabbits - and he could see them too!

„You don"t often see so many rabbits out in the daytime," said George, surprised. „Big ones and little ones too - what a scampering."

They came to the hil and sat down quietly to watch the rabbits. But it was quite impossible to make Timmy do the same. The sight and smel of so many made him quite wild. He pulled away from George"s hand and went bounding madly up the hil , scattering rabbits by the dozen.

„Timmy!" yelled George, but for once Timmy paid no attention. He rushed here and rushed there, getting very angry as first one rabbit and then another neatly popped down a hole.

„It"s no use cal ing him," said Dick. 'He won"t catch one, anyway - see how nippy they are, It"s my belief they"re having a game with our Timmy!"

It did look rather like it. As soon as Timmy had chased two or three rabbits down one hole, a few more would pop up from another behind him. Tht children laughed, It was as good as a pantomime.

„Where do you mean to have lunch?" asked Anne, „If we stay here much longer I shal real y have to have something to eat - and it"s not nearly time yet. I wish I didn"t always feel so hungry in the open air."

„Well, come on then," said Julian. „We"ve got some way to go before we get to our lunch-place. I"ve made a pretty good time-table of our tour - we"re going to go all round the moors and finish at the place we started at! I"ve real y marked it all out pretty well."

„Do we sleep at farm-houses or something at night?" asked George. „I should like that. Wil they mind having us, do you think? Or do we go to inns?"

„Farm-houses for two nights and inns for the other nights," said Julian. „I"ve marked them all."

They went up Rabbit Hill and down the other side. There were just as many rabbits there.

Timmy chased them til he panted like an engine going uphil ! His tongue hung out, dripping wet.

„You"ve had enough, Tim," said George. „Be sensible now."

But Timmy couldn"t be sensible with so many rabbits about. So they left him to chase and dart and race at top speed and went on down the hil . Timmy came rushing after them when they got to the bottom.

„Now perhaps you"l stop tearing about like a mad thing and walk with us," scolded George. But she spoke too soon, for soon they were in a smal wood which Julian informed them was Coney Copse.

„And as I told you, coney means rabbit, so you can"t expect Timmy to stop being mad just yet," said Julian.

They very nearly lost Timmy in Coney Copse. A rabbit disappeared down a very big hole, and Timmy was actual y able to get down a little way. Then he got stuck. He scrabbled violently with his feet but it was no good. He was well and truly stuck.

The others soon discovered he wasn"t with them and went back, calling. Quite by chance they came on the hole he was in and heard the sound of panting and scraping. A shower of sand flew out of the hole.

„There he is! The idiot, he"s down a hole," said George in alarm, „Timmy! TIMMY! Come on out!"

There was nothing that Timmy would have liked better, but he couldn"t come out, however much he tried. A root of a tree had got wedged into his back, and he couldn"t seem to push himself out again, past the annoying root.

It took the four children twenty minutes to get Timmy out. Anne had to lie down and wriggle in a little way to reach him. She was the only one smal enough to get into the hole.

She caught hold of Timmy"s back legs and pul ed hard. Somehow the root slid off his back and he came backwards. He whined loudly.

„Oh Anne, you"re hurting him, you"re hurting him!" shouted George. „Let him go!"

„I can"t!" yelled back Anne. „He"l only go down deeper, if I leave go his legs. Can you pul me out? If so Timmy wil come too - he"l have to because I"ve got his legs!"

Poor Anne was pul ed out by her legs, and poor Timmy came too, pul ed by his. He whined and went to George.

„He"s hurt himself somewhere," said George anxiously. „I know he has. He wouldn"t whine like that if he wasn"t hurt."

She ran her fingers over him, pressing here and there. She examined each leg and each paw. She looked at his head. Stil he whined, Where could he have hurt himself?

„Leave him," said Julian, at last. „I can"t see that he"s hurt anywhere - except in his feelings! He probably didn"t like Anne hauling him out by his hind legs. Most undignified!"

George wasn"t satisfied. Although she could find nothing wrong, she couldn"t help being sure that Timmy had hurt himself somewhere. Ought he to see a vet?

„Don"t be sil y, George," said Julian. „Vets don"t grow on trees in a moorland country like this! Let"s go on walking, You"l see Timmy wil follow quite all right, and soon forget to whine. I tell you, he"s hurt his doggy feelings, that"s all. His vanity is wounded!"

They left Coney Copse and went on, George rather silent. Timmy trotted beside her, also rather quiet. Stil , there real y didn"t seem anything the matter with him, except that he gave sudden little whines now and again.

„Now here"s where I thought we might have our lunch," said Julian, at last, „Fal away Hil !

It"s a good name for it too - it falls away steeply, and we"ve got a marvel ous view."

So they had. They had come to the top of a steep hil , not guessing that it fel away on the other side. They could sit on the tip and see the sun shining on miles and miles of lonely heather-grown moor. They might see shy deer in the distance - or little wild ponies.

„This is heavenly," said Anne, sitting down on a great tuft of heather. „It"s as warm as summer too! I do hope it"s like this al over the week-end. We shall al be burnt brown!"