Five Are Together Again (13 page)

cycling to Kirrin - rowing over to the island - and back! She must be mad! Suppose Mr Wooh and his friends are waiting there for her! The - sil y - little - idiot!"

„Oh, Julian, quick! You and Dick get your cycles and try to catch her," begged Anne. „Oh please do! Anything might happen to her! Dear, sil y old George! Thank goodness Timmy"s gone with her."

„Well, that"s a blessing, anyway," said Julian, stil angry. „He"l look after her as much as he can. My word, I could shake George til her teeth rattled! I thought she was rather quiet tonight. Thinking out this plan, I suppose!"

He went up to the house with Dick and Tinker to tell Jenny about George, and then he and Dick at once went to get their bicycles. This was serious. George had no right to be out alone at night like this - and go rowing over to Kirrin Island - ESPECIALLY if there was any chance of someone lying in wait for her!

Jenny was very worried indeed. She watched the two boys cycling off in the dark. Tinker begged her to let him go too, but she wouldn"t. „You and Mischief would just be nuisances," she said. „Oh my word, won"t I shake that rascal of a George when she gets back. What a girl! Well, well - thank goodness Timmy"s with her. That dog"s as good as half a dozen policemen!"

It was certainly very dark when the half-moon went behind the clouds. George was glad that her bicycle lamp shone so brightly. The shadows in the hedges were deep and mysterious - „as if they hid people ready to jump out at us," she said to Timmy. „But you"d go for them at once, wouldn"t you, Timmy!"

Timmy was too much out of breath to bark an answer. George was going pretty fast, and he didn"t mean to let her get out of sight. He was sure she shouldn"t be out by herself on a dark night like this. He couldn"t imagine why she had suddenly taken it into her head to go for a long night-ride! He raced along, panting.

They met cars with dazzling head-lamps, and George had to keep pulling to the side. She was terribly afraid that Timmy might be hit by one of the cars. „Oh dear - I"d never, never forgive myself if anything happened to Timmy," she thought. „I half wish I hadn"t set out now. But I"m NOT going to let Julian hide anything on my island. That"s my job, not his.

Timmy darling, PLEASE keep on my left side. You"l be safe then."

So Timmy kept on her left, stil mystified by this sudden journey out into the night. They came at last to Kirrin Vil age, where windows were stil lighted here and there. Through the vil age and on to Kirrin Bay - ah, there was the bay! The half-moon slid out from behind a cloud and George saw the dark sea, shining here and there as the moonlight caught the crests of the waves.

„There"s my island, look Timmy," said George, feeling a swelling of pride as she looked over the dark heaving sea to a darker stretch, which she knew was Kirrin Island. „My very own island. Waiting for me tonight!"

„Woof," said Timmy, rather quietly, because he real y hadn"t any breath to waste. Now what was George going to do? Why had she come out on this lonely ride without the others? Timmy was puzzled.

They came to the stretch of beach where boats were kept. George rode down a ramp to the beach, jumped off her bicycle, and put it by a bathing-hut in the deep shadows. No one would see it there. Then she went to stare over the sea at her island.

She had only looked for a moment or two when she clutched Timmy"s collar, and gave an exclamation.

TIMMY! There"s a light on my island! Look, to the right there. Can you see it? Timmy, there"s somebody camping there. How DARE they? It"s my island and I don"t allow anyone on it unless they have my permission."

Timmy looked - and yes, he could see the light too. Was it made by a camp-fire - or a lantern? He couldn"t tell. Al he knew was that he didn"t want George to go over there now. Suppose there were gypsies camping there, who would resent George coming to turn them off? Or a crowd of il -mannered young boys who hadn"t bothered to find out if they were al owed there? They might make things very unpleasant for George. He pawed at her, trying to make her understand that he wanted her to go back home with him.

„No, Timmy. I"m not going back til I"ve found out who"s there!" she said. „It would be cowardly to turn back now. And if it"s somebody waiting for me to turn up with the papers, they can think again. Look - I"m hiding them here under the tarpaulin in this boat.

It would be idiotic to try and hide them on the island if there"s someone there who might rob me of anything I"ve got - it might be one of the thieves who climbed in to the tower room, and left some of the papers behind. If he"s waiting for me, he won"t get any papers!"

George stuffed the parcel of papers under the tarpaulin as she spoke. „It"s Fisherman Connel "s boat, cal ed Gypsy," she said, reading the name on the boat by the light of her torch. „Hc won"t mind me hiding something in it!"

She covered up the papers with the tarpaulin, and then looked over to the island again.

Yes - that light was stil there. Anger welled up in George again, and she went to look for her own boat, which should be somewhere near where they were.

„Here it is," she said to Timmy, who leapt in at once. She ordered him out for she had to pul the boat down to the water. Fortunately it was a small, light boat and as the tide was almost ful y in, she didn"t have very far to drag it. Timmy took hold of the rope with his teeth and helped too. At last it was on the water, bobbing gently about in the dim light of the half-moon. Timmy leapt in, and soon George was in too, though with very wet feet!

She took the oars and began to pul away from the shore. „Tide"s almost on the turn," she told Timmy. „It won"t be too hard a row. Now we can find those campers and tel them what we think of them. You"re to bark your very loudest and scare them, Timmy - in fact, you can chase them to their boat, if you like."

Timmy answered with a small bark. He knew quite well that George didn"t want him to make much noise. He thought it very queer that she was going over to her island tonight, all by herself. Why hadn"t she taken the others? He was sure that Julian would be very cross!

„Now don"t bark or whine, Timmy," she said, in a whisper. „We"re almost at my landing-place - but I"m going under those trees there, not landing here. I want to hide my boat."

She guided the boat towards some trees whose branches. overhung a tiny creek that ran a little way inland. She leapt out, and flung the mooring rope round the trunk of the nearest tree, and made it fast.

„There, little boat," she said. „You"l be safe there. No one wil see you. Come on, Tim - we"ll tackle those campers now."

She turned to go, and then stopped. „I wonder where their boat is," she said. „Let"s have a look round, Timmy. It must be here somewhere."

She soon found the boat lying on the sands, its rope thrown round a near-by rock. The tide was almost up to it. She grinned to herself. „Timmy!" she whispered. „I"m going to untie this boat and set it loose on the tide. It wil soon be far away. Ha - what wil those awful campers say?"

And, to Timmy"s amazement, she undid the rope from the rock, rolled it up, and threw the coil inside the boat. Then she gave the boat a push - but it was stil embedded in the wet sand.

„Never mind," she said. „Another ten minutes and the tide wil be right under it - and then it wil turn and take the boat with it!"

She began to make her way up the beach, Timmy close to her side. „Now let"s go after those campers, who-ever they are," she said. „Where"s their light gone? I can"t see it now."

But in a minute or two she saw it again. „It"s not from a camp-fire - it"s from a lantern of some sort," she whispered to Timmy. „We"ll have to be careful now. Let"s see if we can creep up behind them."

The two of them made their way silently towards the middle of the little island. Here there was an old ruined castle - and there, in the courtyard of the castle, sitting in the midst of thick, overgrown weeds, were two men. George had her hand on Timmy"s col ar, and tugged it gently. He knew that meant, „No barking, no growling, Tim," and he stood perfectly stil , the hackles on his neck rising fast.

The two men were playing cards by the light of a fairly powerful lantern, which they had set on a ruined stone wall. Timmy couldn"t help giving a surprised growl when he saw one of them, but George hushed him at once.

Mr Wooh, the magician from the circus, was there, dealing out the cards! The other man she didn"t know. He was well-dressed, and seemed bored. He flung down his cards as Timmy and George watched from a dark corner of the old castle, and spoke to his companion in an irritated voice.

„Well, whoever it is you said was bringing the rest of those papers here to the island doesn"t seem to be turning up. The papers you"ve given me are good - very good - but of no use without the others. This scientist fellow you"ve stolen them from is a genius. If we get the complete set of papers, they wil be worth a tremendous sum of money, which I can get for you - but without the other papers, there wil be no money for you - the first set would be useless!"

„I tel you, someone wil be here with them. I heard them say so," said Mr Wooh, in his stately voice.

„Who stole them - you?" asked the other man, shuffling the cards quickly.

„No. I did not steal them," said Mr Wooh. „Me, I keep my hands clean - I do not steal."

The second man laughed. „No. You let other people do your dirty work for you, don"t you!

Mr Wooh, the World"s Most Wonderful Magician, does not soil his hands! He merely uses the hands of others - and charges enormous prices for the goods they steal. You"re a cunning one, Mr Wooh. I wouldn"t like you for an enemy! How did you manage to get the papers?"

„By using my eyes and my ears and my cunning," answered Mr Wooh. „They are better than most people"s. So many people are stupid, my good friend."

„I"m not your good friend," said the other man. „I"ve got to do business with you, Mr Wooh, but I wouldn"t like to have you for a friend. I"d rather have that chimpanzee of yours! I don"t even like playing cards with you! WHY doesn"t this fellow come?"

George put her mouth to one of Timmy"s ears. „Timmy, I"m going to tell them to clear off my island," she whispered furiously to the listening dog. „Fancy fel ows like that daring to set foot here - rascals and rogues! Don"t come with me - wait til I cal you, then if you have to rescue me, come at once!"

Leaving a most unwil ing Timmy standing beside part of the old castle wall, she suddenly appeared before the two astonished men by the light of their lantern.

They leapt to their feet at once. „It"s the girl who"s come - I shouldn"t have thought that the boys would have let her," said Mr Wooh, astonished. „I am..."

„WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON MY ISLAND?" demanded George, angrily. „It belongs to me. I saw your light and came over with my dog. Be careful of him - he"s big and strong and fierce. Clear off at once, or I"l report you to the police!"

„Easy, easy, now!" said Mr Wooh, standing very straight and looking immensely tall. „So the boys sent you to hide the papers instead of daring to come themselves. How cowardly of them! Where are the papers? Give them to me."

„I"ve hidden them," said George. „They"re not very far away. You didn"t think I"d be sil y enough to come along to you with them in my hands when I saw your light and knew that people were here, did you? No - I"ve hidden them somewhere on the shore - where you won"t find them. Now you just clear off, both of you!"

„A very brave and determined young lady!" said Mr Wooh, bowing solemnly to George.

„Do you mean to tell me that"s a girl!" said the other man, amazed. „Well! She"s a plucky kid, I must say! Look here, kid, if you"ve got those papers, hand them over, and I"l give you a whole lot of money which you can give to Professor Hayling with my best wishes."

„Come and get them," said George, turning as if to go. The two men looked at one another, eye-brows raised. Mr Wooh nodded, and then winked. If George had seen his face she would have known what that wink meant. It meant, „Let"s humour this sil y kid, follow her - see the hiding-place, snatch the papers and clear off in our boat without paying a penny! But LOOK OUT for the dog!"

George led the way, Timmy walking between her and the two men. He was growling al the time, deep down in his throat, as if to say, „Just you lay a finger on George and I"l bite it off!" The men took care not to go too near him! They shone the lantern on him al the time, making sure that he was not going to leap at them.

George led them to the shore, to the place where they had left their boat. Mr Wooh gave a cry. „Where"s our boat? It was tied to that rock!"

„Is this it over this ridge?" called George, climbing up a steep bank that overhung the water, which was now quite deep with the surging tide.

The men went to look - and then George gave them the surprise of their lives! She ran at Mr Wooh and gave him such a push that he fel right over the high bank into the sea below, landing with a yell and a terrific splash. George shouted a command to Timmy, who was now very excited, and the big dog did the same to the other man, leaping at him and pushing him over. He too shot over the ridge and fell into the sea with a splash.

Timmy stood on the little cliff and barked madly, as excited as George.

„You"l have to swim to the shore of the mainland if you want to escape!" yel ed George.

„The tide has taken away your boat - I set it loose! You"d better not get back on my island yet - Timmy"s on the watch for you - and he"ll fly at either of you if you try to set a foot on it again!"

Both men could swim, though not very well, and both were exceedingly angry and very frightened. They were sure they could never swim to the mainland - but how to get on the island to safety, they didn"t know. That great, fierce dog was there, barking as if he wanted to bite them into small bits. Their boat had been set loose, there was no way to escape. They swam round in circles, not knowing what to do!

„I"m going back to the mainland now!" yelled George, climbing into her boat. „I"l send the police to rescue you in the morning. You can get on my island now - but you"re in for a VERY cold night! Goodbye!"