Read Five Go to Billycock Hill Online

Authors: Enid Blyton

Tags: #Famous Five (Fictitious Characters), #Juvenile Fiction, #General, #People & Places

Five Go to Billycock Hill (13 page)

BOOK: Five Go to Billycock Hill
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When the telephone bell at last shril ed out everyone jumped violently. Mr Thomas ran to it. „Yes - yes - that"s the police speaking, is it? Yes, I"m listening. What"s the news? Oh...

yes... yes..."

The farmer held the telephone close to his ear, nodding as he listened intently. The children watched him just as intently, trying to glean something from his few words, and from his face.

„I see. Well - that"s very disappointing," they heard Mr Thomas say, and their hearts sank.

„Thank you. Yes, very worrying indeed. Good-bye!"

He put down the receiver and faced the children. Toby cal ed out to him. „Was it Jeff who stole the plane, Dad? Was it?"

„No," said his father, and Toby gave a wild yell of joy, and leapt into the air.

„Then nothing else matters!" he cried. „Oh, I knew it wasn"t Jeff!"

„Wait a minute, wait a minute," said Mr Thomas. „There"s something very worrying."

„What?" said Toby, startled.

„Wil Janes has confessed that those four men were sent to steal those two planes," he said. „Two of them were first-class pilots - foreign, of course. The other two were thugs -

bul ies - sent to capture Jeff and Ray that night in the storm. They knocked them out and dragged them away from the airfield, and hid them somewhere. Then the pilots got out the two planes, and flew them away. When the alarm was raised, it was too late."

„So - when the planes crashed into the sea, it was the foreign pilots who were drowned, not Jeff and Ray?" said Julian.

„Yes. But here"s the worrying part. The other two men, the ones who captured Jeff and Ray, have hidden them away, but didn"t tell Janes where!" said Mr Thomas. „They refused to pay him any money for his help, because the planes had crashed and their plans had failed - and they also refused to tell him where Jeff and Ray were hidden..."

„And now I suppose the two thugs have left the district - made their escape - and left Jeff and Ray to starve in some place where they may never be found!" said Toby, sitting down heavily and looking suddenly subdued.

„Exactly," said Mr Thomas. „And unless we find out where they are pretty quickly, things wil go hard with them - they"re probably bound hand and foot - and are dependent on the two bul ies for food and water. Once the men are gone, there is no one to bring them anything!"

„Oh, I say!" said Toby, horrified. „Dad, we must find them, we must!"

„That"s what the police think," said his father. „And what I think, too. But nobody knows where to look!"

„Nobody knows where to look!" The words repeated themselves in everyone"s mind.

Nobody knows where to look!

Chapter Nineteen
A MORNING OF WORK

There was a dead silence after Mr Thomas had said those despairing words - „Nobody knows where to look!" Where were Jeff and Ray lying, worried and anxious, knowing their planes to be stolen, picturing them in the hands of an alien country, being dismantled to discover the new and secret devices built into them!

„They must be absolutely furious to think how easily it was al done!" said Dick. „Taken by surprise like that! Surely there must be someone on the airfield who was in the secret?"

„Bound to be," said Mr Thomas. „These things are careful y planned to the very last detail -

and, of course, it was a bit of luck for the men to have a storm going on just at the time when they needed something to make their getaway unseen and unheard - unheard, that is, until the planes were actual y up in the air, and then it didn"t matter!"

„Yes - the rain simply slashed down that night," said George, remembering. „Nobody would be out in it - even the guards on the airfield would be under shelter somewhere. It was a bit of luck for those fel ows!"

„I expect they were delighted to look out of that tiny little window at the cottage and see a storm blowing up on the very night they wanted one!" said Dick.

„It beats me how Mr Gringle and Mr Brent never heard or suspected anything - with four strange men hanging about Butterfly Farm," said Julian.

„There can"t be anything in their heads but butterflies or moths," said Toby. „I bet the police wil have something to say to them!"

„The thing is - what"s to be done now?" said Julian, frowning. He turned to Mr Thomas, who was deep in thought. „What do you think, sir? Is there anything we can do?"

„I doubt it," said Mr Thomas. „The police have had reports of two men driving a closed van at a fast speed - the number was taken by two or three people who complained - and they think that it might have been one used to transport Jeff and Ray to some distant hiding-place - somewhere in a disused quarry - or in some deserted cel ar. Likely places of that sort."

Everyone groaned. There certainly was absolutely nothing they could do, then - it would be impossible to hunt for miles for old quarries or other hiding-places!

„Well - I must get on with my work," said Mr Thomas. „Where"s your mother, Toby? You"d better tell her about al this."

„She"s gone shopping," said Toby, looking at the clock. „She"ll be back just before dinner-time."

„I suppose Benny has gone with her," said Mr Thomas, going to the door. „Where"s Curly, his pigling? Surely he hasn"t taken him, too!"

„I expect he has," said Toby. He looked at the other four children, suddenly remembering something. „I say - aren"t you a bit short of food up at the camp? Shall I get you some to take back with you?"

„Well - if it isn"t an awful bother," said Julian, apologetical y. It seemed rather dreadful to think about food when probably Jeff and Ray were lying tied up somewhere, hungry and thirsty, with no chance of food of any sort.

„I"l get some. You come with me, Anne, and say what you want," said Toby, and he and Anne went off together to the kitchen, and opened the door of the immense larder. Soon Anne was choosing what she wanted, trying to cheer up poor, downcast Toby at the same time.

„Can we stay and help you this morning, Toby?" asked Julian, when he and Anne came back. He knew that Toby had many jobs to do on the farm, although it was a holiday week - and he thought, too, that it would be good for the boy to have company that worrying morning.

„Yes. I"d like you to!" said Toby, brightening at once. „I told Dad I"d limewash the hen-houses today - it"s just the kind of day for that, nice and dry with a little breeze. You and Dick could help and we"d get them all done by dinner-time."

„Right. We"ll help you al morning, then we"l go back to our camp and have a picnic lunch," said Julian. „If you"ve finished al the jobs you have to do, you could come back with us - and we could go on a hike or something this afternoon."

„Oh yes!" said Toby, cheering up considerably. „Come on, then - we"l get the lime and find the brushes. Hey, Binky, come and help us - and you, too, Timmy."

„Wait a minute - can"t we help?" said George. „I can limewash hen-houses as well as anyone!"

„Oh, no, George - it"s a messy job - a job for boys not girls," said Toby, and went off with Dick and Julian, leaving George looking furious.

„Now you"ve offended George," said Dick, grinning. Toby was genuinely surprised.

„Have I real y?" he said. „Oh, of course - I forgot she doesn"t like to be girlish! Half a minute!" He ran back to the window of the sitting-room and cal ed through it.

„Hie, George! What about doing a job for my mother? She never has time to weed her flower-garden and she is always upset because it"s so untidy. I suppose you and Anne couldn"t do something about that?"

„Yes, of course!" cal ed Anne, going out of the dour. „Let"s find a trowel each, and something to put weeds in. George! Don"t look so gloomy! Let"s weed the whole bed and make it marvel ous for Mrs Thomas. She"s so kind and generous, I"d like to do something for her."

„Al right. So would I," said George, more graciously, and went with her cousin into the garden,

„I wish little Benny was at home," said Anne, as she and George began their task a few minutes later, complete with trowels and two old tin pails for the weeds. „I"d like him running round us, asking questions in that dear little high voice of his. And Curly, his pigling, running about like a funny little pig-puppy!"

„Yes. I like Benny, too," said George, pul ing up a handful of weeds. „My word - there are more weeds than flowers in this bed."

„Let"s take Benny up to the camp with us this afternoon, if Toby comes," said Anne. „Then Toby can take him back with him when he goes. I love little Benny - I could look after him while you and the boys go hiking this afternoon."

„Al right," said George, torn between wanting to stay with Anne and little Benny and his pig and going with the boys. „Help - I"ve been stung by a most vicious nettle!"

Al the children worked hard that morning. The hen-houses had been scrubbed down and well and truly lime-washed. Now they were drying quickly, the doors flung open to sun and wind. The girls had practical y cleared the big flower-bed of weeds and were feeling rather pleased with it - and with themselves too!

There came the sound of a car at about a quarter to one. „That must be Mrs Thomas coming back from her shopping," said George. „Quick, let"s finish this bed before she sees us - we"ve only about ten minutes" more work."

„Benny wil soon come running to see what we are doing," said Anne. „And little Curly, too.

My word - I"ve just fil ed my ninth pail of weeds!"

The three boys came by just then, swinging their empty pails and carrying their big brushes. Timmy came, too, with quite a few white patches on his coat!

„Hal o, girls!" said Dick. „My word you"ve done a fine job on that bed - you can actual y see the flowers now!"

The girls sat back, pleased. „Yes, it looks a bit better," said Anne, pushing back her hair.

„Your mother"s home, I think, Toby. We"d better go now, because you"l soon be having your dinner, and we"ll be as hungry as hunters by the time we get back to our camp."

„Right," said Toby. „Here, I"l take those pails of weeds for you - and the trowels!"

„Oh - thanks," said George. „Dick, Anne and I wil go off to the camp now, with Timmy, and take the salad and stuff that wants washing under the spring - you bring the rest of the food, wil you?"

„Of course," said Dick. „You take one basket, and we"ll take the other."

They went off with Toby. Anne and George went to look for Mrs Thomas, but she had gone into the dairy and was not to be seen.

„Never mind - she"ll be busy," said Anne. „We"ll go off straight away and get our lunch ready."

They went off to the farm-gate and up the path on to the steep slopes of Bil ycock Hil , the basket between them. Soon they were out of sight.

The boys washed their hands under a pump in the yard. Toby had gone to see his mother and to tell her what the police had said - but his father had already told her. She was very worried indeed.

„Poor Jeff! Poor Ray!" she said. Then she looked round as she heard the footsteps of Dick and Julian. „Oh," she said, „I thought it was Benny. Where is he?"

„Benny - well, he was with you, wasn"t he?" said Toby. „You didn"t leave him in the car, did you?"

„What do you mean, Toby?" said Mrs Thomas, looking startled. „I left Benny here at the farm. I didn"t take him with me - I never do when I have a lot of shopping, he gets so bored!"

„But, Mother - I"ve not seen him al morning!" said Toby. „He"s not at the farm. I"ve not seen him for hours!"

„Oh, Toby!" said his mother, looking frightened. „Toby, what"s happened to him then? I thought you"d look after him, as you usual y do!"

„And I thought he"d gone with you," groaned Toby. „Dick - Julian have you seen Benny, or Curly?"

„No - we haven"t set eyes on him this morning!" said Dick. „Gosh - where"s he got to? He may have gone up Bil ycock Hil to try and find our camp - I know he wanted to."

„Toby - the horse-pond!" said Mrs Thomas, looking pale. „Go there - he may have fal en in.

Look in the loft of the barn, too - and go into the machinery shed. Oh, Benny, Benny, where are you?"

She turned to Dick and Julian, standing anxiously beside her. „Go up to your camp," she said. „Hunt and cal all the way. He may be lost on the hil -side. My little Benny! Perhaps his pigling “runned away” again, as he so often tells us - and he followed and got lost! Oh, dear, whatever shall I do?"

Chapter Twenty
A PECULIAR MESSAGE

Toby raced off to the horse-pond, very frightened. The pond was deep in the middle and Benny couldn"t swim. Dick and Julian went off hurriedly through the farm-gate up to Billycock Hill, calling as they went.

„Benny! Benny, where are you? Benny!"

They toiled up the steep, heathery slopes, looking for any sign of the small boy, but there was none. They were both anxious, Benny was such a little wanderer, and his pig made such a good excuse for going long distances!

„Benny! BENNY!" they called, and sometimes the echo came back to them, calling the name, too.

„Perhaps he wil be at the camp," said Dick. „I know he wanted to visit it. He may be there, the little monkey - with Curly, too."

„I hope so," said Julian, soberly. „But it"s a long way for his smal legs to go. I don"t see how he could possibly find the way without someone to guide him - he has never been there yet!"

„Well, maybe the girls spotted him on their way up," said Dick. „My word - this is a day, isn"t it? - nobody knows where Jeff and Ray are - and nobody knows where little Benny is either! I don"t cal this a very good holiday!"

„Exciting - but decidedly worrying," said Julian. „Why do we always run into something like this? We never seem to have a really peaceful time!"

Dick glanced sideways at Julian and gave a fleeting smile. „Would you like a real y peaceful time, Ju?" he said. „I don"t think you would! Come on - let"s shout again!"

They came to the camp at last, not having seen a sign of Benny or the pigling. He was not at the camp either, that was quite clear. The girls and Timmy were alone.

They were horrified when they were told about Benny. Anne went pale. „Let"s go and look for him at once," she said. „We must!"

BOOK: Five Go to Billycock Hill
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