chapter 8 all together again!

there was such excitement at the arrival of the boys that at first nobody could make themselvesheard. timmy barked at the top of his very loud voice and simply would not stop! george shouted,and dick and julian laughed. anne hugged them, and felt proud of two such brown, good-lookingbrothers.

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'ju! we never guessed you'd come so soon!' said the delighted george. 'gosh, i'm pleased to see you!'

'we got fed up with french food,' said dick. 'i came out in spots and julian was sick, and it was sohot. phew! next time i go there i'll go when it's cooler.'

'and we kept on thinking of kirrin and the bay, and you two girls and timmy,' said julian, givinggeorge a friendly punch. 'i think we really got a bit homesick. so we packed up before we should,and flew home.'

'flew?' said george. 'you lucky things! and then did you come straight down here?'

'we spent the night with mother and dad at home,' said julian, 'and then caught the first train herethat we possibly could this morning - only to find that you weren't at kirrin!'

'so we packed camping-out things in smaller bags and came straight along to you!' said dick. 'i say,george, old thing, do you think you could possibly make timmy stop barking? i'm going a bit deaf!'

'shut up, tim,' ordered george. 'let other people bark a bit. do you notice his collar, julian?'

'can't help seeing it!' said julian. 'he looks a scream in it, doesn't he? ha ha! you're an elizabethandog with a ruff, timmy - that's what uncle quentin told us - and that's what you look like, oldfellow!'

'he looks most comical, i must say,' said dick. 'enough to make a cat laugh, hey, timmy!'

anne looked at george. goodness, what would she say to hear julian and dick laughing at timmyand making fun of him! would she lose her temper at once?

but george only grinned. in fact she gave a little laugh herself. 'yes - he does look funny, doesn't he?

but he doesn't mind a bit!'

'you know, we came here to camp because george couldn't bear people laughing at ...' began anne,thinking that she wouldn't let george get away with this! but george gave her such a beseechinglook, that she stopped at once. george could never bear to look small in front of julian and dick. sheprided herself on being just like a boy - and she was suddenly certain that her two cousins wouldthink she was 'just like a girl' if they heard of the fuss she had made about people laughing attimmy's collar.

'i say - you two seem to be packing up,' said julian, looking at the package strapped to the back ofgeorge's bicycle. 'what's happened?'

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'well - it got a bit lonely and anne was...' and then in her turn george caught a beseeching loop fromanne! she knew what it meant 'i didn't tell tales of you - so don't tell tales of me - don't say i wasscared!'

'er - anne was certain that there was something queer going on here,' went on george, who had quitemeant to say that anne was scared and insisted on going home. 'and we didn't feel that we couldtackle it ourselves - though if you had been here we wouldn't have dreamed of going home, ofcourse.'

'what do you mean - something queer?' asked dick.

'well - you see - it began like this,' said george, but julian interrupted.

'if there's a tale to tell, let's have it over a meal, shall we? we've had nothing to eat since six o'clockthis morning, dick and i - and we're ravenous!'

'yes. good idea,' said dick, and began to undo a big package which he took out of his bag. 'i've apicnic lunch here from your mother, george - a jolly good one, i can tell you. i think she was sorelieved to think that she was going to get rid of us that she really surpassed herself! we've got amarvellous piece of boiled ham - look! it'll last us for ages - if we don't give bits to timmy. getaway, tim. this is not for you! grrrrrr!'

george suddenly felt so happy that she could hardly speak. it had been fun camping with anne -but what a difference the boys made! so confident of themselves, so merry, full of jokes, so idiotic,and yet so dependable. she felt that she wanted to sing at the top of her voice!

the sun had been hot again that morning and had dried the common beautifully. it wasn't long beforethe five were sitting down in the heather with a very fine feast before them.

'i wouldn't sell anyone my hunger for a hundred pounds,' said dick. 'now then - who's going to carvethis magnificent piece of gammon?'

there were no plates, so they had to make sandwiches of the ham. dick had actually brought somemustard, and dabbed it generously over the slices of ham before george put them between pieces ofbread. 'aha, tim - this is one way of making sure you won't get even a bite of these wonderful hamsandwiches!' said dick. 'you can't bear mustard, can you? ju, where's the meat we brought for tim?'

'here. pooh - it smells a bit strong,' said julian. 'do you mind taking it to a nice secluded corner,tim?'

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timmy immediately sat down close to julian. 'now - don't be so disobedient!' said julian, and gavetimmy a friendly push.

'he doesn't understand the word 'seclucled',' said george, with a grin. 'tim - buzz off a bit!'

timmy understood that and took his meat a little way away. everyone took a ripe red tomato, and alittle lettuce heart from a damp cloth brought by julian, and settled down happily to munchsandwiches.

'lovely!' said anne, contentedly. 'goodness gracious - i can hardly believe we had such a peculiartime last night!'

'ah - tell us all about it!' said dick.

so first anne, then george related all that had happened. anne told of the night she had seen a lightin the old cottage and had heard whispers and footfalls inside.

'we did think i might have been dreaming,' she said, 'but now we don't think i was. we think i reallydid see and hear those things.'

'what next?' asked julian, taking his third sandwich. 'this all sounds most interesting. quite famousfive-ish, in fact!'

george told of the storm in the night, and how they had had to leave their heather-bed and go toshelter in the old cottage - and how, in the flashes of lightning, anne had seen two or three peoplestanding outside - and then how they had both seen someone standing silently, looking in at thewindow.

'queer,' said julian, puzzled. 'yes - something is up. i wonder what? i mean - there's absolutelynothing on this lonely bit of common that's at all interesting.'

'well - there are the remains of an old roman camp,' said anne. 'and a boy there who is examiningthem to see if he can find anything old and interesting.'

'a completely mad boy,' said george. 'he doesn't seem to know what he says or doesn't say.

contradicts himself all the time - or, to put it another way, tells the most idiotic fibs.'

'and he apparently thinks it's awfully funny to meet us somewhere, and then double round on histracks and appear suddenly somewhere else,' said anne. 'sometimes i can't help liking him -other times he's too fat-headed for words.'

'he's got a little one-eyed dog called jet,' said george, and timmy gave a sudden bark as he heard thename. 'you like jet, don't you, tim?'

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'this all sounds most interesting,' said dick. 'pass me the tomato bag, ju, before you eat the lot.

thanks. as i said, most interesting - a one-eyed dog, a mad boy, roman remains - and people whocome to an old ruined cottage in the dead of night and look into windows!'

'i wonder you two girls didn't pack up and go home,' said julian. 'you must be braver without us thani thought possible!'

george caught anne's eye and grinned mischievously, but said nothing. anne owned up, red in theface.

'well - i did tell george i was going home this very morning, i was so scared last night. george didn'twant to, of course, but she was coming, all the same. but now you've turned up, things are different.'

'ah - well, do we stay on, or don't we, ju?' said dick. 'are we scared or are we not?'

everyone laughed. 'well - if you go back i shall stay on alone!' said anne. 'just to show you!'

'good old anne!' said dick. 'we all stay, of course. it may be nothing - it may be something - wecan't tell. but we'll certainly find out. and the first thing to do is to have a look at the roman remainsand the mad boy. i'm looking forward to meeting him, i must say! after that we'll tackle the ruinedcottage!'

timmy came up to see if he could get any tit-bits. julian waved him away. 'you smell of too-strongmeat, timmy,' he said. 'go and get a drink. by the way, is there anything to drink here, george?'

'oh yes,' said george. 'a lovely spring. not far off, either. let's take the remains of our meal there,and the mug. we've only got one unfortunately, so it's no good getting water unless we all sit by thespring and take turns at the mug. come on!'

the boys thought that the spring was a really splendid one. they grouped themselves around it andtook turns at filling the mug and drinking from it. they were now eating slabs of joan's fruit-cake andit was very good.

'now, you girls unpack again,' said dick, when they had finished their meal. 'goodness, i did enjoythat! we'd better unpack too, julian.'

'right, where shall we put our things?' asked julian, looking around. 'i don't somehow like to leaveeverything under that little tent, with a mad boy about, and a one-eyed dog. i feel that both of themmight like the rest of that ham.'

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'oh, it's too hot to leave ham out in this sun,' said george. 'we'll have to put it into the old cottage, ona shelf. we'll put everything there, shall we? move in properly, in case it rains again at night. it's sotiresome to have to bundle everything indoors in the dark and the rain.'

'i agree,' said dick. 'right. we'll move into the ruined cottage. what fun! come on, everyone!'

they spent the next half-hour taking their things into the cottage and putting them in corners or onshelves. george found a dark corner behind the fireplace where she put the food, for she was half-afraid that jet, nice little dog though he seemed, might perhaps smell the ham and gobble up most oftheir food.

'now!' said julian, 'are we ready to go and see the roman remains and the mad boy? here we go,then - the famous five are off again, and who knows what will happen!'