chapter one holiday time

'two jolly fine tents, four groundsheets, four sleeping-bags - i say, what about timmy? isn't hegoing to have a sleeping-bag too?' said dick, with a grin.

the other three children laughed, and timmy, the dog, thumped his tail hard on the ground.

'look at him,' said george. 'he's laughing, too! he's got his mouth stretched wide open.'

they all looked at timmy. he really did look as if a wide grin stretched his hairy mouth fromside to side.

'he's a darling,' said anne, hugging him. 'best dog in the world, aren't you, timmy?'

'woof!' said timmy, agreeing. he gave anne a wet lick on her nose.

the four children, julian, tall and strong for his age, dick, george and anne were busy planninga camping holiday. george was a girl, not a boy, but she would never answer to her realname, georgina. with her freckled face and short, curly hair she really did look more like a boythan a girl.

'it's absolutely wizard, being allowed to go on a camping holiday all by ourselves,' said dick. 'inever thought our parents would allow it, after the terrific adventure we had last summer, whenwe went off in caravans.'

'well - we shan't be quite all by ourselves,' said anne. 'don't forget we've got mr. luffy to keepan eye on us. he'll be camping quite near.'

'pooh! old luffy!' said dick, with a laugh. 'he won't know if we're there or not. so long as hecan study his precious moorland insects, he won't bother about us.'

'well, if it hadn't been that he was going to camp, too, we wouldn't have been allowed to go,' saidanne. 'i heard daddy say so.'

mr. luffy was a master at the boys' school, an elderly, dreamy fellow with a passion for studyingall kinds of insect-life. anne avoided him when he carried about boxes of insect specimens,because sometimes they escaped and came crawling out. the boys liked him and thought himfun, but the idea of mr. luffy keeping an eye on them struck them as very comical.

'it's more likely we'll have to keep an eye on him,' said julian. 'he's the sort of chap whose tentwill always be falling down on top of him, or he'll run out of water, or sit down on his bag ofeggs. old luffy seems to live in the world of insects, not in our world!'

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'well, he can go and live in the world of insects if he likes, so long as he doesn't interfere withus,' said george, who hated interfering people. 'this sounds as if it will be a super holiday -living in tents on the high moors, away from everybody, doing exactly what we like, when welike and how we like.'

'woof!' said timmy, thumping his tail again.

'that means he's going to do as he likes, too,' said anne. 'you're going to chase hundreds ofrabbits, aren't you, timmy, and bark madly at anyone who dares to come within two miles of us!'

'now be quiet a minute, anne!' said dick, picking up his list again. 'we really must check downour list and find out if we've got every single thing we want. where did i get to - oh, foursleeping-bags.'

'yes, and you wanted to know if timmy was to have one,' said anne, with a giggle.

'of course he won't,' said george. 'he'll sleep where he always does - won't you, timmy? on myfeet.'

'couldn't we get him just a small sleeping-bag?' asked anne. 'he'd look sweet with his headpoking out of the top.'

'timmy hates looking sweet,' said george. 'go on, dick. i'll tie my hanky round anne's mouth ifshe interrupts again.'

dick went on down his list. it was a very interesting one. things like cooking-stoves, canvasbuckets, enamel plates and drinking-cups were on it and each item seemed to need a lot ofdiscussion. the four children enjoyed themselves very much.

'you know, it's almost as much fun planning a holiday like this as having it,' said dick. 'well - ishouldn't think we've forgotten a thing, have we?'

'no. we've probably thought of too much!' said julian. 'well, old luffy says he'll take all ourthings on the trailer behind his car, so we'll be all right. i shouldn't like to carry them ourselves!'

'oh, i wish next week would come!' said anne. 'why is it that the time seems so long whenyou're waiting for something nice to happen, and so short when something nice is happening?"'yes, it seems the wrong way round, doesn't it?' said dick, with a grin. 'anyone got the map? i'dlike to take another squint at the spot where we're going.'

julian produced a map from his pocket. he opened it and the four children sprawled round it.

the map showed a vast and lonely stretch of moorland, with very few houses indeed.

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'just a few small farms, that's all,' said julian pointing to one or two. 'they can't get much of aliving out of such poor land, though. see, that's about the place where we're going - just there -and on the opposite slope is a small farm where we shall get milk, eggs and butter when we needthem. luffy's been there before. he says it's a rather small farm, but jolly useful to campers.'

'these moors are awfully high, aren't they?' said george. 'i guess they'll be freezing cold in thewinter.'

'they are,' said julian. 'and they may be jolly windy and cold in the summer, too, so luffy sayswe'd better take sweaters and things. he says in the winter they are covered with snow formonths. the sheep have to be dug out when they get lost.'

dick's finger followed a small winding road that made its way over the wild stretch of moorland.

'that's the road we go,' he said. 'and i suppose we strike off here, look, where a cart-track isshown. that would go to the farm. we shall have to carry our stuff from wherever luffy parkshis car, and take it to our camping-place.'

'not too near luffy, i hope,' said george.

'oh, no. he's agreed to keep an eye on us, but he'll forget all about us once he's settled down inhis own tent,' said julian. 'he will, really. two chaps i know once went out in his car with himfor a day's run, and he came back without them in the evening. he'd forgotten he had them withhim, and had left them wandering somewhere miles and miles away.'

'good old luffy,' said dick. 'that's the sort of fellow we want! he won't come springing up toask if we've cleaned our teeth or if we've got our warm jerseys on!'

the others laughed, and timmy stretched his doggy mouth into a grin again. his tongue hungout happily. it was good to have all four of his friends with him again, and to hear them planninga holiday. timmy went to school with george and anne in term time, and he missed the twoboys very much. but he belonged to george, and would not dream of leaving her. it was a goodthing that george's school allowed pets, or george would certainly not have gone!

julian folded up the map again. 'i hope all the things we've ordered will come in good time," hesaid. 'we've got about six days to wait. i'd better keep on reminding luffy that we're going withhim, or he's quite likely to start without us!'

it was difficult to have to wait so long now that everything was planned. parcels came fromvarious stores and were eagerly opened. the sleeping-bags were fine.

'super!' said anne.

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'smashing!' said george, crawling into hers. 'look! i can lace it up at the neck - and it's got ahood thing to come right over my head. golly, it's warm! i shan't mind the coldest night if i'msleeping in this. i vote we sleep in them tonight.'

'what? in our bedrooms?' said anne.

'yes. why not? just to get used to them,' said george, who felt that a sleeping-bag was a hundredtimes better than an ordinary bed.

so that night all four slept on the floor of their bedrooms in their sleeping-bags, and voted themvery comfortable and as warm as toast.

'the only thing is, timmy kept wanting to come right inside mine,' said george, 'and honestlythere isn't enough room. besides, he'd be cooked.'

'well, he seemed to spend half the night on my tummy,' grumbled julian. 'i shall jolly well keepthe bedroom door shut if timmy's going to spend the night flopping on everyone's bag in turn.'

'i don't mind the flopping, so much as the frightful habit he's got of turning himself round andround and round before he flops down,' complained dick. 'he did that on me last night. sillyhabit of his.'

'he can't help it,' said george at once. 'it's a habit that wild dogs had centuries and centuries ago -they slept in reeds and rushes, and they got into the way of turning themselves round and roundin them, to trample them down and make themselves a good sleeping-place. and our dogs go onturning themselves round now, before they go to sleep, even though there aren't any rushes totrample down.'

'well! i wish timmy would forget his doggy ancestors were wild dogs with rushy beds, and justremember he's a nice tame dog with a basket of his own,' said dick. 'you should see my tummytoday! it's all printed over with his foot-marks.'

'fibber!' said anne. 'you do exaggerate, dick. oh, i do wish tuesday would come. i'm tired ofwaiting.' 'it'll come all right,' said julian. and so, it did, of course. it dawned bright and sunny,with a sky that was a deep blue, flecked with tiny white clouds.

'good-weather clouds,' said julian, pleased. 'now let's hope old luffy has remembered it's todaywe're starting off. he's due here at ten o'clock. we're taking sandwiches for the whole party.

mother thought we'd better, in case luffy forgot his. if he's remembered them it won't matter,because we're sure to be able to eat them ourselves. and there's always timmy to finish thingsup!'

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timmy was as excited as the four children. he always knew when something nice was going tohappen. his tail was on the wag the whole time, his tongue hung out, and he panted as if he hadbeen running a race. he kept getting under everyone's feet, but nobody minded.

mr. luffy arrived half an hour late, just when everyone was beginning to feel he had forgotten tocome. he was at the wheel of his big old car, beaming. all the children knew him quite well,because he lived not far away and often came to play bridge with their father and mother.

'hallo, hallo!' he cried. 'all ready, i see! good for you! pile the things on the trailer, will you?

mine are there too but there's plenty of room. i've got sandwiches for everyone, by the way. mywife said i'd better bring plenty.'

'we'll have a fine feast today then,' said dick, helping julian to carry out the folded-up tents andsleeping-bags, while the girls followed with the smaller things. soon everything was on thetrailer and julian made them safe with ropes.

they said good-bye to the watching grown-ups and climbed excitedly into the car. mr. luffystarted up his engine and put the lever into first gear with a frightful noise.

'good-bye!' called all the grown-ups, and julian's mother added a last word. 'don't get into anyawful adventure this time!'

'of course they won't!' called back mr. luffy cheerfully. 'i'll see to that. there are no adventuresto be found on a wild and deserted moor. good-bye!'

off they went, waving madly, and shouting goodbye all the way down the road. 'good-bye!

good-byeeeeee! hurrah, we're off at last!'

the car raced down the road, the trailer bumping madly after it. the holiday had begun!