Five Go to Mystery Moor (2 page)

„Nothing of the sort!" she said. „I"ve been meaning to do it for a long time. If Georgina"s cousins are anything like her I shan"t be very interested in them."

„But you might like my brothers," said Anne, with a laugh. „If you don"t there"ll be something wrong with you."

„Don"t be sil y," said Henrietta. „Georgina"s cousins and your brothers are the same people!"

„How clever of you to work that out," said George. But she felt too happy to keep up the sil y bickering for long. She went out with Timmy, whistling softly.

„They"re coming tomorrow, Tim," she said. „Julian and Dick. We"ll al go off together, like we always do, the five of us. You"l like that, won"t you, Timmy?"

„Woof," said Timmy approvingly and waved his plumy tail. He knew quite wel what she meant.

Next morning George and Anne looked up the trains that arrived at the station two miles away. „This is the one they"l come by," said George, her finger on the timetable. „It"s the only one this morning. It arrives at half past twelve. We"ll go and meet them."

„Right," said Anne. „We"ll start at ten minutes to twelve - we"l be in plenty of time then. We can help them with their things. They won"t bring much."

„Take the ponies up to Hawthorn Field, wil you?" called Captain Johnson. „Gan you manage all four of them?"

„Oh yes," said Anne pleased. She loved the walk to Hawthorn Field, up a little narrow lane set with celandines, violets and primroses, and the fresh green of the budding hawthorn bushes. „Come on, George, let"s catch the ponies and take them now. It"s a heavenly morning."

They set off with the four frisky ponies, Timmy at their heels. He was quite a help with the horses at the stable, especially when any had to be caught.

No sooner had they left the stables and gone on their way to Hawthorn Field than the telephone rang. It was for Anne.

„Oh, I"m sorry, she"s not here," said Mrs Johnson, answering it. „Who is it speaking? Oh, Julian her brother? Can I give her a message?"

„Yes, please," said Julian"s voice. „Tell her we are arriving at the bus-stop at Mil ing Green at half past eleven, and is there a little hand-cart she and George could bring, because we"ve got our tent with us and other odds and ends?"

„Oh, we"ll send the little wagon," said Mrs Johnson. „The one that always goes to meet the train or the bus. I"l get George to meet you with Anne, they can drive it in. We"re pleased you are coming. The weather"s very good and you"l enjoy yourselves!"

„Rather!" said Julian. „Thanks awful y for putting us up. We won"t be any trouble, in fact we"ll help all we can."

Mrs Johnson said good-bye and put down the receiver. She saw Henrietta passing outside the window, looking much cleaner and tidier than usual. She cal ed to her.

„Henry! Where are George and Anne? Julian and Dick are arriving at the bus-stop at Mil ing Green at eleven-thirty and I"ve said we"ll meet them in the little wagon. Wil you tel George and Anne? They can put Winkie into the cart and trot him down to the bus-stop."

„Right," said Henry. Then she remembered that George and Anne had been sent up to Hawthorn Field with the four ponies.

„I say, they won"t be back in time!" she cal ed. „Shall I take the wagon and meet them?"

„Yes, do. That would be kind of you, Henry," said Mrs Johnson. „You"d better hurry, though.

Time"s getting on. Where"s Winkie? In the big field?"

„Yes," said Henry and hurried off to get him. Soon he was in the wagon shafts, and Henry was in the driving-seat. She drove off smartly, grinning to herself to think how cross George and Anne would be to find they had missed meeting the two boys after al .

Julian and Dick had already arrived at the bus-stop when Henry drove up. They looked hopeful y at the wagon, thinking that perhaps one of the girls was driving into meet them.

„No go," said Dick. „It"s somebody else, driving into the vil age. I wonder if the girls got our message. I thought they would meet us at the bus-stop here. Well, we"ll wait a few minutes more."

They had just sat down on the bus-stop seat again when the wagon stopped nearby.

Henry saluted them.

„Are you Anne"s brother?" she called. „She didn"t get your telephone message, so I"ve come with the wagon instead. Get in!"

„Oh, jolly nice of you," said Julian, dragging his things to the wagon. „Er - I"m Julian - and this is Dick. What"s your name?"

„Henry," said Henrietta, helping Julian with his things. She heaved them in valiantly, then clicked to Winkie to stand stil and not fidget. „I"m glad you"ve come. There are rather a lot of small kids at the stables. We"ll be glad of you two! I say, Timmy wil be pleased to see you, won"t he?"

„Good old Tim," said Dick, heaving his things in. Henry gave them a shove too. She wasn"t very fat but she was wiry and strong. She grinned round at the boys. „Al set! Now we"l get back to the stables. Or do you want to have an ice-cream or anything before we start?

Dinner"s not til one."

„No. We"ll get on, I think," said Julian. Henry leapt into the driver"s seat, took the reins and clicked to Winkie. The boys were behind in the wagon. Winkie set off at a spanking pace.

„Nice boy!" said Dick to Julian, in a low voice, as they drove off. „Decent of him to meet us."

Julian nodded. He was disappointed that Anne and George hadn"t come with Timmy, but it was good to be met by someone! It wouldn"t have been very funny to walk the long road to the farm carrying their packs by themselves.

They arrived at the stables and Henry helped them down with their things. Mrs Johnson heard them arriving and came to the door to welcome them.

„Ah, there you are. Come along in. I"ve a mid-morning snack for you, because I guessed you"d have had breakfast early. Leave the things there, Henry. If the boys sleep in one of the stables, there"s no sense in bringing them into the house. Now, are George and Anne stil not back? What a pity!"

Henry disappeared to put away the wagon. The boys went into the pleasant house and sat down to lemonade and home-made biscuits. They had hardly taken a bite before Anne came running in. „Henry told me you"d come! Oh, I"m sorry we didn"t meet you! We thought you"d come by train!"

Timmy came racing in, his tail waving madly. He leapt at the two boys, who were just giving Anne a hug each. Then in came George, her face one big beam.

„Julian! Dick! I am so glad you"ve come! It"s been dul as ditch-water without you! Did anyone meet you?"

„Yes. An awfully nice boy," said Dick. „Gave us quite a welcome and dragged our packs into the wagon, and was very friendly. You never told us about him."

„Oh, was that Wil iam?" said Anne. „Well, he"s only little. We didn"t bother about telling you of the juniors here."

„No, he wasn"t little," said Dick. „He was quite big, very strong too. You didn"t mention him at all."

„Well, we told you about the other girl here," said George. „Henrietta, awful creature!

Thinks she"s like a boy and goes whistling about everywhere. She makes us laugh! You"l laugh too."

A sudden thought struck Anne. „Did the - er - boy who met you, tell you his name?" she asked.

„Yes, what was it now, Henry," said Dick. „Nice chap. I"m going to like him."

George stared as if she couldn"t believe her ears. „Henry! Did she meet you?"

„No - not she - he," corrected Julian. „Fel ow with a big grin."

„But that"s Henrietta!" cried George, her face flaming red with anger. „The awful girl I told you about, who tries to act like a boy, and whistles and strides about all over the place.

Don"t tell me she took you in! She calls herself Henry, instead of Henrietta, and wears her hair short, and..."

„Gosh, she sounds very like you, George," said Dick. „Well, I never! It never occurred to me that he was a girl. Jolly good show she put up. I must say I liked him - her, I mean."

„Oh!" said George real y furious. „The beast! She goes and meets you and never says a word to us, and makes you think she"s a boy - and - and - spoils everything!"

„Hold your horses, George, old thing," said Julian, surprised. „After all, you"ve often been pleased when people take you for a boy, though goodness knows why. I thought you"d grown out of it a bit. Don"t blame us for thinking Henry was a boy, and liking him - her, I mean."

George stamped out of the room. Julian scratched his head and looked at Dick. „Now we"ve put our foot in it," he said. „What an ass George is! I should have thought she"d have liked someone like Henry, who had exactly the same ideas as she has. Well, she"ll get over it, I suppose."

„It"s going to be a bit awkward," said Anne, soberly.

She was right. It was going to be very awkward!

As soon as George had gone out of the room, a scowl on her face, Henry walked in, hands in jodhpur pockets.

„Hal o!" said Dick, at once. „Henrietta!"

Henry grinned. „Oh, so they"ve told you, have they? I was tickled pink when you took me for a boy."

„You"ve even got your riding jacket buttons buttoning up the wrong way," said Anne, noticing for the first time. „You real y are a fathead, Henry. You and George are a pair!"

„Well, I look more like a real boy than George does, anyway," said Henry.

„Only because of your hair," said Dick. „It"s straight."

„Don"t say that in front of George," said Anne. „She"ll immediately have hers cut like a convict or something, all shaven and shorn."

„Well, anyway, it was jolly decent of Henry to come and meet us and lug our things about," said Julian. „Have a biscuit, anyone?"

„No thanks," said Anne and Henry.

„Are we supposed to leave any for politeness sake?" said Dick, eyeing the plate. „They"re home-made and quite super. I could wolf the lot."

„We aren"t frightfully polite here," said Henry, with a grin. „We aren"t frightful y clean and tidy, either. We have to change out of our jods at night for supper, which is an awful nuisance, especially as Captain Johnson never bothers to change his."

„Any news?" asked Julian, drinking the last of the lemonade. „Anything exciting happened?"

„No, nothing," said Anne. „The only excitement is the horses, nothing more. This is quite a lonely place, real y, and the only exciting thing we"ve heard is the name of the big, desolate moor that stretches from here to the coast. Mystery Moor it"s called."

„Why?" asked Dick. „Some long-ago mystery gave it that name, I suppose?"

„I don"t know," said Anne. „I think only gypsies go there now. A little gypsy boy came in with a lame horse yesterday, and said his people had to go to Mystery Moor. Why they wanted to go to such a deserted stretch of land I don"t know - no farms there, not even a cottage."

„Gypsies have peculiar ideas sometimes," said Henry. „I must say I like the way they leave messages for any gypsy following - patrins, they"re called."

„Patrins? Yes, I"ve heard of those," said Dick. „Sticks and leaves arranged in certain patterns, or something, aren"t they?"

„Yes," said Henry. „I know our gardener at home showed me an arrangement of sticks outside our back gate once, which he said was a message to any gypsy following. He told me what it meant, too!"

„What did it mean?" asked Julian.

„It meant “Don"t beg here. Mean people. No good!” " said Henry, with a laugh. „That"s what he said, anyway!"

„We might ask the little gypsy boy who came with the skewbald horse," said Anne. „He"l probably show us some messages. I"d like to learn some. You never know when anything like that could come in useful!"

„Yes. And we"ll ask him why the gypsies go to Mystery Moor," said Julian, getting up and dusting the crumbs off his coat. „They don"t go there for nothing, you may be sure!"

„Where"s old George gone?" asked Dick. „I do hope she"s not going to be sil y."

George was in one of the stables, grooming a horse so vigorously that it was most surprised. Swish-swish-swish-swish! What a brushing! George was working her intense annoyance out of herself. She mustn"t spoil things for the boys and Anne! But oh, that horrible Henrietta, meeting them like that, pretending to be a boy. Heaving their luggage about, playing a joke on them! But surely they might have guessed!

„Oh, there you are, George, old thing," said Dick"s voice at the stable-door. „Let me help.

Gosh, aren"t you brown! Just as many freckles as ever!"

George grinned unwil ingly. She tossed Dick the brush. „Here you are, then! Do you and Ju want to go riding at all? There are plenty of horses to choose from here."

Dick was relieved to see that George appeared to have got over her rage. „Yes. It might be fun to go off for the day. What about tomorrow? We might explore a little of Mystery Moor."

„Right," said George. She began to heave some straw about. „But not with That Girl," she announced, from behind the straw she was carrying.

„What girl?" asked Dick, innocently. „Oh, Henry, you mean? I keep thinking of her as a boy.

No, we won"t have her with us. We"ll be just the five as usual."

„That"s all right then," said George happily. „Oh, here"s Julian. Give a hand, Ju!"

It was lovely to have the two boys again, joking, laughing, teasing. They all went out in the fields that afternoon and heard the tales of the camp. It was just like old times, and Timmy was as pleased as anyone else. He went first to one of the four, then to another, licking each one as he went, his tail wagging vigorously.

„That"s three times you"ve smacked me in the face with your tail, Timmy," said Dick, dodging it. „Can"t you look behind yourself and see where my face is?"

„Woof," said Timmy happily, and turned round to lick Dick, wagging his tail in Julian"s face this time!

Somebody squeezed through the hedge behind them. George stiffened, feeling sure that it was Henrietta. Timmy barked sharply.

It wasn"t Henrietta. It was the little gypsy boy. He came up to them. There were pale streaks down his dirty little face, made by tears that had run through the dirt!

„I"ve come for the horse," he said. „Do you know where he is?"

„He"s not ready for walking yet," said George. „Captain Johnson told you he wouldn"t be.