Five on Finniston Farm (14 page)

„That nice old man, Mr Finniston, down in the little antique shop, would know what everything was worth," said George. „And he"s a descendant of the long-ago Finnistons of Finniston Castle, isn"t he - he"ll be thril ed to bits, when he hears what"s been happening!"

„We"ll send word for him to come up tomorrow," decided Mrs Philpot. „After all, Mr Henning has his adviser - that surly Mr Durleston. We"ll have Mr Finniston for ours. Great-Grand-dad would be pleased about that - they"re great friends, those two."

There was however, no need to send for Mr Finniston, for Great-Grand-dad had himself gone down straight away to tell the great news to his old crony. What a talk they had together!

„Gold coins - jewel ery - suits of armour - swords - and goodness knows what else!" said Great-Grand-dad for the twentieth time, and old Mr Finniston listened gravely, nodding his head. „That splendid big sword!" went on Grand-dad, remembering. „Just right for me, Wil iam! Look, if ever I"ve lived before, that old sword once belonged to me! I feel it! That"s one thing I won"t sell, mind! I"l keep it just for the sake of swinging it round my head, when I lose my temper!"

„Yes, yes - but I hope you"l be sure to stand in the middle of an empty room if you do that," said Mr Finniston, a little alarmed at the fierce look in the old man"s eye. „You won"t be al owed to keep al the money, I"m afraid - there"s such a thing as “Treasure Trove”, you know - some finds go to the Crown, and I fear that wil be one of them. But the jewel ery"s different - and the suits of armour - and the swords! You"l be able to make a mint of money on those!"

„Enough for two new tractors?" said Great-Grand-dad. „Enough for a new Land-Rover?

That one my grandson has, it jolts every bone in my body! Look now, Wil iam - we"ve got to get men digging on that site - uncovering all those cel ars. What say we keep on the men that fel ow Henning"s got? We shan"t let him excavicate, or whatever it"s cal ed, any more. HA! That fel ow gets under my skin, and sets me itching al over. Now I can scratch him out! And see here, Wil iam, you"l shut up this shop of yours and be my adviser, won"t you? I won"t have that American talking me down - or that fel ow Durleston!"

„You"d better stop talking for a bit, Grand-dad you"re getting too red in the face," said Mr Finniston. „You"l go pop if you excite yourself much more! Go home now, and I"l be up tomorrow morning. I"l arrange about the workmen too. And don"t you play about with that old sword too much - you might cut off somebody"s head by mistake!"

„So I might, so I might," said Great-Grand-dad, with a sly look in his eye. „Now, if that Junior got in the way when I was swinging my sword... it"s all right, Wil iam, it"s all right! Just my joke, you know, just my joke!"

And chuckling deep down in his long beard, Great-Grand-dad strode off, turned up the little lane and walked back to the farm-house feeling very pleased indeed with life!

Mr Henning, Mr Durleston and Junior did not come back that night. Apparently they were all so excited over the excavations they had made in the dril ing down through the cel ar roof, that they stayed too long at the hotel and decided to spend the night there, much to Mrs Philpot"s relief.

„Most farm-people like to go to bed about nine o"clock," said Mr Henning, „and it"s already gone that now. We"ll go over tomorrow morning and we"ll get them to sign that agreement you"ve drawn up, Durleston. They"re so short of money they"d sign anything.

And mind you cry down what we think we"ve found, so that they won"t expect any more than £250. We"re going to make our fortunes over this!"

So, next morning the two men, with an excited Junior, whom Mr Durleston found most annoying, arrived at the farm-house at about ten o"clock. They had telephoned to say they would be there then, and would bring the agreement with them, „... and the cheque, Mrs Philpot, the cheque!" purred Mr Henning down the phone.

When they arrived there was quite a company there to greet them! There was old Great-Grand-dad, his grandson Mr Philpot and his wife, the twins, of course, and old Mr Finniston, sniffing a fight, his dul eyes bright this morning, for the first time in years! He sat at the back, wondering what was going to happen.

Al the Five were there too, Timmy wondering what the excitement was. He kept as close to George as he could, and growled at Snippet every time the excited little poodle came near. Snippet didn"t mind! He could always growl back!

A car purred up the drive, and in came Mr Henning, Mr Durleston and Junior, whose face was one big grin.

„Hal o, folks!" said Junior, in his usual jaunty manner. „How"s tricks?"

Nobody answered except Timmy, and he gave a smal growl, which made Junior skip out of the way quickly. „You shut up," he said to Timmy.

„Did you have your breakfast in bed at the hotel, little boy?" suddenly said George. „Do you remember the last time you had it in bed here, and Timmy pul ed..."

„Aw shucks!" said Junior, sulkily. „Skip it, sister!" He subsided after that, and sat down by his father. Then began a short, sharp and satisfactory meeting - from Mr Philpot"s point of view!

„Er - Mr Philpot - it"s my very great pleasure to say that I have been advised by Mr Durleston to offer you a further cheque for £250," said Mr Henning smoothly. „While we are rather disappointed in what appears to be in the cel ars of the castle, we feel it would only be fair to offer you the sum we suggested before. Is that right, Mr Durleston?"

„Absolutely," said Mr Durleston in a business-like voice, and glared round through his horn-rimmed glasses. „I"ve the agreement here. Mr Henning is being very generous. Very. The cel ars are most disappointing."

„I"m sorry about that," said Mr Philpot. „I hold a different opinion - and my adviser, Mr Finniston, upholds me in this. We are going to excavate the site ourselves, Mr Henning -

and then, if any disappointment lies in wait, we shall be the ones to suffer, not you."

„What"s all this?" said Mr Henning, glaring round. „Durleston, what do you say to that? Bit of double-crossing, isn"t it?"

„Offer him £500," said Mr Durleston, looking startled at this unexpected set-back.

„You can offer me five thousand if you like, but I tell you, I prefer to do the excavation myself on my own land," said Mr Philpot. „What is more, I wil return you the cheque you gave me yesterday - and as I intend to keep on the men you engaged, I wil pay them myself for their work. So do not trouble to dismiss them. They wil now be working for me."

„But this is MONSTROUS!" shouted Mr Henning, losing his temper, and jumping to his feet.

He banged on the table, and glared at Mr and Mrs Philpot. „What do you expect to find in those derelict old cel ars? We dril ed right through yesterday, and there"s practically nothing there! I made you a very generous offer. I"l raise it to a thousand pounds!"

„No," said Mr Philpot, quietly. But Great-Grand-dad had had enough of Mr Henning"s shouting and raging. He stood up too, and bel owed so loudly that everyone jumped, and Timmy began to bark. Snippet at once fled to the kitchen cupboard and hid there.

„HA! NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME!" bel owed Greaat-Grand-dad. „This farm belongs to ME, and my GRANDSON, and it"l go to my GREAT GRANDSON, sitting yonder. A finer farm there never was, and my family"s had it for hundreds of years - and sad it"s been for me to see it go down hil for lack of money! But now I see money, much money - down in those cel ars!

HA! Al the money we want for tractors and binders and combines and the Lord knows what! We don"t want your money. No, SIR! You keep your dol ars, you keep them. Offer me five thousand if you like, and see what I"l say!"

Mr Henning turned swiftly and looked at Mr Durleston, who at once nodded. „Right!" said the American to Great-Grand-dad. „Five thousand! Done?"

„No!" bawled Great-Grand-dad, enjoying himself more than he had done for years.

„There"s gold down in those cellars - jewels - suits of armour - swords, daggers, knives - al of them centuries old... and..."

„Don"t hand me stories like that," said Mr Henning, sneeringly. „You old fibber!"

Great-Grand-dad banged his clenched fist down on the table and made everyone almost fall off their chairs. „TWINS!" he roared. „Fetch those things you got yesterday - go on, fetch them here. I"l show this American I"m no fibber!"

And then, before the astounded eyes of Mr Henning and Mr Durleston, and of Junior, too, the twins laid the gold coins, the jewel ery, and the swords and knives on the table. Mr Durleston stared as if he couldn"t believe his eyes.

„Well - what do you say to that?" demanded Great-Grand-dad, banging on the table again.

Mr Durleston sat back and said one word. „Junk!"

Then it was old Mr Finniston"s turn to stand up and say a few words! Mr Durleston, who hadn"t noticed the quiet old man sitting at the back, was horrified to see him there. He knew he was learned and knowledgeable, for he himself had tried to pick his brains about the old castle-site.

„Ladies and gentlemen," said Mr Finniston, just as if he were addressing a well-conducted meeting, „I regret to say that, speaking as a well-known antiquarian, I do not consider that Mr Durleston knows what he is talking about if he calls these articles junk! The things on the table are worth a smal fortune to any genuine collector. I could myself sel them in London tomorrow for far more than any sum Mr Durleston has advised Mr Henning to offer.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen!"

And he sat down, bowing courteously to the assembled company. Anne felt as if she wanted to clap him!

„Well, I don"t think there"s any more to say," said Mr Philpot, getting up. „If you"l tel me what hotel you"l be staying at, Mr Henning, I"ll have your things sent there. You will certainly not wish to stay here any longer!"

„Pop, I don"t wanna go, I wanna stay here!" howled Junior, most surprisingly. „I wanna see the cel ars exca-exculpated! I wanna dig down! I wanna STAY!"

„Well, we don"t want you!" said Harry, fiercely. „You and your peeping and prying and listening and boasting and tale-bearing. Cissy-boy! Breakfast in bed! Can"t clean his shoes! Howls when he can"t get his own way! Screams when..."

„That"s enough, Harry," said his mother sternly, looking quite shocked. „I don"t mind Junior staying on if he"ll behave himself. It"s not his fault that al this has happened."

„I wanna stay!" wept Junior, and kicked out peevishly under the table. He unfortunately caught Timmy on the nose, and the dog rose in anger, growling and showing his teeth.

Junior fled for his life.

„Do you wanna stay now?" shouted George, as he went, and the answer came back at once.

„NO!"

„Well, thanks, Timmy, for helping him to make up his mind," said George, and patted the big dog.

Mr Henning looked as if he were about to burst. „If that dog bites my boy, I"l have him put to sleep," he said. „I"l sue you, I"l ..."

„Please go," said Mrs Philpot, suddenly looking tired out. „I have a lot of baking to do."

„I shall take my time," said Mr Henning, pompously. „I wil not be turned out suddenly, as if I hadn"t paid my bills."

„Seen this sword, Henning?" said old Great-Grand-dad, suddenly, and snatched from the table the big sword that he so much liked. „Beauty, isn"t it? The men of old knew how to deal with their enemies, didn"t they? They swung at them like this - and like THIS - and..."

„Here, stop! You"re dangerous! That sword nearly cut me!" cried Mr Henning in a sudden panic. „WILL you put it down?"

„No. It"s mine. I"m not selling this," said Great-Grand-dad, swinging the sword again. It hit the light-bulb above his head, and the glass fell with a clatter. Mr Durleston deserted Mr Henning and fled out of the kitchen at top speed, colliding violently with Bil , who was just coming in.

„Look out - he"s mad - that old man"s mad!" shouted Mr Durleston. „Henning, come along before he cuts off your head!"

Mr Henning fled too. Great-Grand-dad pursued him to the door, breathing blood and thunder, and the two dogs barked in delight. Everyone began to laugh helplessly.

„Grand-dad - what"s got into you?" said Mr Philpot, as the old fellow swung the sword again, his eyes bright, a broad grin on his wrinkled old face.

„Nothing! I just thought that only this sword would get rid of those fel ows. Do you know what I call them? JUNK! Ha - wish I"d thought of that when they were here! JUNK! Wil iam Finniston, did you hear that?"

„Now you put that sword down before you damage it," said Mr Finniston, who knew how to manage Great-Grand-dad, „and you and I wil go down to the old inn and talk over what we"re going to do about all this treasure trove. You just put that sword down first -

NO, Grand-dad, I am NOT going to take you into the inn carrying that sword!"

Mrs Philpot heaved a sigh of relief when the two old fel ows went off down the lane, leaving the sword safely behind. She sat down, and, to the children"s horror, began to cry!

„Now, now - don"t take any notice of me!" she said, when the twins ran to her in dismay.

„I"m crying for joy - to have got rid of them - and to know I"ve not got to pinch and scrape any more - or to take in visitors. To think that your Dad can buy the farm machinery he wants - and... oh dear, what a baby I am, acting like this!"

„I say, Mrs Philpot - would you like us to leave too?" asked Anne, suddenly realizing that she and the others were ranked as „visitors", and must have been an added burden for poor Mrs Philpot.

„Oh no, my dear, no - you"re not real y visitors, you"re friends!" said Mrs Philpot, smiling through her tears. „And what"s more I shan"t charge your mothers a single penny for having you here - see what good fortune you"ve brought us!"

„Al right - we"ll stay. We"d love to," said Anne. „We wouldn"t miss seeing what else is down in those castle cel ars for anything. Would we, George?"

„Gosh no!" said George. „We want to be in on everything. This is just about the most exciting adventure we"ve ever had!"

„We always say that!" said Anne. „But the nice part about this one is - it isn"t finished yet!

We"ll be able to go and watch the workmen and their dril s. We"ll be able to help in moving al the exciting old things out of their hiding places - we"ll hear what prices you get for them - and see the new tractor! Honestly, I really do believe the second part of this adventure wil be better than the first! Don"t you think so, Timmy?"