Five on Finniston Farm (8 page)

„I know those macaroons," announced Junior. „I buy about thirty a week. They"re just wunnerful!"

„Thirty! No wonder you"re so pasty-faced, then," said George, before she could stop herself.

„Aw shucks! Pasty-face yourself!" retorted Junior, feeling safe with his father near him.

He heard a sudden ominous growl under the table, felt hot breath on his bare leg, and decided to say no more. He had forgotten all about the watchful Timmy!

Julian thought it was about time to have some bright conversation, and began to tell Mrs Philpot about the hen-houses and what a good job they were making of patching them to make them rain-proof. Mr Philpot listened too, nodded, and actually joined in.

„Yes - you"re good with your hands, you boys. I had a look when I came by. Fine work!"

„Harriet"s good, too," said Harry at once. „She did that corner where the rats get in. Didn"t you, Harry?"

„I wanted to help, Pop, but they shooed me off, like I was a hen!" said Junior in an aggrieved tone. „Seems as if they don"t want me around. That makes it pretty lonely, Pop.

Can"t I come out with you this afternoon?"

„No," said Pop, shortly.

„Aw, c"mon, Pop," said Junior, in a whiny voice. „Aw shucks, Pop, lemme come!"

„NO!" said Pop, exasperated. Timmy gave a growl again. He didn"t like cross voices. He couldn"t imagine why there was so much quarrelling here, and sat up, tense and stil , until George gave him a gentle push with her toe. Then he lay down again, his head across her feet.

Everyone was glad when the meal was over, delicious though the food had been. The girls and Harriet insisted that Mrs Philpot should go and have a rest while they did al the clearing-away and washing-up. „Now try not to be unkind to Junior this afternoon," she said, as she went. „He"l be al alone when his father"s gone. Do let him be with you."

Nobody answered. They hadn"t the least intention of al owing Junior to be with them.

„Spoilt, bad-mannered little idiot!" thought George, clearing away with such vigour that she almost knocked Anne over.

„Julian," she said in a low voice, catching him at the door as he went out, „Anne and I have something interesting to tel you. Where wil you be this afternoon?"

„Up in the hen-houses, I expect," said Julian. „We"ll watch out for you and Anne. See you in about half an hour.”

Junior had sharp ears. He heard exactly what George had said, and he was full of curiosity at once. What was this interesting thing George wanted to tell the boys? Was it a secret? Al right - he"d be on hand somewhere to hear it!

And so, when the girls had finished their work, and set off to the hen-houses, Junior followed discreetly behind! He kept well out of sight until he saw George and Anne disappear into a henhouse, where the others were working - and then he crept to a corner outside and put his ear to a knot-hole in the wood. I"l get my own back now! he thought. I"l make them smart for leaving me out of things! Just see if I don"t!

The boys were busy hammering and sawing and the girls sat and waited til the noise died down. Snippet was there, leaping about ridiculously with little bits of wood in his mouth, and Nosey the jackdaw had suddenly taken a fancy to the shavings that now covered the floor, and ran about chacking, and picking them up.

Outside the hens clucked and squawked, and not far off the ducks quacked loudly.

„Those are the kind of noises I like to hear," said Anne, settling herself on a sack in a corner.

She raised her voice and shouted above the hammering to Dick. „WANT ANY HELP, DICK?"

„No thanks," said Dick. „We"ll just finish this job, then sit down and have a rest, and listen to what you have to say. You sit and watch our wonderful carpentering! Honestly, I"d make pounds a week if I took it up!"

„Look out - Nosey has got your nails again!" shouted George. Timmy leapt up as if he was going to chase Nosey, and the jackdaw promptly flew up to a crossbeam, and sat there chacking with laughter. Timmy thought him a very exasperating bird indeed. He lay down again with a thump.

At last the boys had finished the job they were on, and sat down, rubbing their hands over their wet foreheads. „Well, now you can tell us your news," said Dick. „Good thing we got rid of that little pest of a Junior - I might have hammered a few nails into him by mistake if he"d come worrying us this afternoon." He imitated Junior"s whining drawl. „Aw, shucks, Pop, lemme come with yew!"

Outside, his ear to the hole, Junior clenched his fists. He would wil ingly have stuck a few nails into Dick at that moment!

George and Anne began to tell the four listening children what old Mr Finniston had told them that morning. „It"s about Finniston Castle," said Anne. „The old castle that gave the vil age its name - and the farm as well. The old fel ow who told us about it is cal ed Finniston, too - and wil you believe it, he"s a descendant of the Finnistons who lived in the castle centuries ago!"

„He seems to have spent most of his life trying to discover everything possible about the old castle," said George. „He said he"d delved into old libraries - and into the church records here - anywhere that might help him to piece together the castle"s history!"

Outside the hen-house, Junior held his breath so as not to miss a single word. Why - his Pop had told him that he couldn"t get anything out of that old Mr Finniston at the antique shop - not a word about the castle, and its history, or even where the site was. Then why had he told Anne, and that horrible boy George? Junior felt angry, and listened even more keenly.

„The story goes that in the twelfth century enemies came to attack the castle one night -

and there were traitors already inside it, who set it on fire, so that the castle-folk would be busy trying to put out the fire, and wouldn"t be prepared for a fight," said George. „The inside of it was burnt right down to the ground - and then the great stone walls outside collapsed inwards, and lay in enormous heaps there, covering the place where the castle had stood."

„Whew!" said Dick, visualizing it al . „What a night that must have been! Everybody kil ed or burnt, I suppose?"

„No, the Lady of the castle wasn"t kil ed and it is said that she took her children to the little chapel near the farm-house - we real y must go and see that, twins - and they stayed there in safety. Anyway, some of the family must have escaped, because it is one of their descendants who keeps that little antique shop - old Mr Finniston!"

„This is tremendously interesting," said Julian. „Where"s the site of the castle? It should easily be known, because of the great mass of stones that fel there when the walls col apsed."

„No, they"re not there now," said George. „Mr Finniston said he thought that when the wind and weather had broken them up smal enough to be lugged away by the farmers and peasants living near by, they were taken to build field wal s, or to line wel s. He said there were some on this farm. He didn"t know himself where the castle once stood, because the site would be all grown over, and with no stones left to mark it, it wouldn"t be easy to find."

„But oh, Julian, I wish we could find it!" cried Anne, her voice rising in excitement.

„Because, so Mr Finniston says, the cel ars and dungeons are probably stil there, quite untouched. You see, no one could uncover them for years, because of the heavy stones there - and when the stones were taken away, people had forgotten about the castle and the dungeons!"

„Gosh! So they may stil be there - with whatever was stored in them hundreds of years ago," said Dick, thril ed. „My word - there might be priceless things there, as old as the hil s!

I mean, even an old broken sword would be worth its weight in gold, because it would be so very very old. I say - don"t say a word of all this in front of that American, or he"d dig up the whole farm!"

„We shouldnt DREAM of it," said George. „He shan"t get to hear a word of this."

Alas! George little knew that every single word had been overheard by Junior, whose left ear was stil pinned to the knot-hole in the wood! His face was red with surprise and delight. WHAT a secret! Whatever would his Pop say? Dungeons! Perhaps ful of gold and jewels and al kinds of things! He rubbed his hands together in delight, thinking that he would soon get even with these annoying children now - as soon as his Pop came home, he"d spil everything to him.

GEE!

Timmy heard the smal sound of Junior rubbing his hands together, and sat up, growling, his ears pricked. Snippet growled too, a miniature little sound that nobody took seriously.

Timmy then heard Junior creeping away, afraid because he had heard the big dog growling. Timmy growled again, and then barked sharply, running to the shut door of the hen-house, scraping at it with his foot.

„Somebody"s outside - quick! If it"s Junior, I"l throw him on to the muck-heap!" yelled Dick, and flung open the door. They all trooped out and looked round - but there was nobody there! Junior had shot off at top speed, and was now safely behind the nearest hedge.

„What was it, Tim?" said George. She turned to the others. „He may have heard those hens scratching near the door," she said. „There"s no one about. Gosh, I was so afraid that it was that little sneak of a Junior! He"d tell his Pop every single thing!"

„Twins, listen - Mr Finniston told us that one of the things that was saved from the castle - or found afterwards, perhaps - was a great old oak door, iron-studded," said Anne, suddenly remembering. „Is that one of your kitchen doors?"

„Yes - that must be the door leading into the dark little passage," said Harry. „You wouldn"t have noticed it particularly, because it"s usual y kept open, and it"s very dark just there.

Gosh, I suppose it could have come from the castle. It"s enormously thick and strong. I wonder if Dad knows."

„We"ll tell him," said Harriet. „I say - shal we go and look for the site of the castle sometime? If only we could find it! Do you suppose that if we found the cel ars and dungeons, full of chests and things, they"d belong to us? The farm belongs to our family, of course, and al the land round."

„Does it? Well then, of course anything found on this land would be yours!" said Julian.

„We might be able to buy a new tractor!" said the twins, both together, in the same excited voice.

„Let"s go and look for the castle-site now," said George, her voice sounding so excited that Timmy sat up and barked.

„No. We must finish this job," said Julian. „We promised we would. There"s plenty of time to hunt around, because nobody knows about this except us."

Julian was wrong, of course. Junior knew - and Junior meant to tell the whole secret to his father as soon as ever he could! He could hardly wait for him to come home.

„Well, we"d better be getting back to the house," said George. „We told Mrs Philpot we"d pick some raspberries for supper tonight, so we"d better fetch baskets, and begin. Oh, I do HOPE we find that castle-site. I shal dream about it tonight, I know I shal ."

„Well, try and dream where it is," said Julian, with a laugh. „Then you can lead us straight to it tomorrow morning. I suppose you haven"t any idea where it might be, have you, twins?"

„No," they said together, frowning. „No idea at all!" And Harriet added, „You see, the farm"s so big - and I suppose it might have been built anywhere on our land."

„Yes - but probably near the top of a hil ," said Julian. „Castles used to overlook surrounding land, you know, so that approaching enemies could easily be seen. And then again, George said Mr Finniston told them that the Lady of the castle escaped with her children and took them in safety to the chapel, which wouldn"t be very far away. I should guess that the castle-site must be not further than a quarter of a mile from the chapel, so that narrows the search down a bit. By the way, we real y must look at that chapel - it sounds interesting, even though it has been used as a store-house for years!"

The girls picked raspberries for the rest of the afternoon, and the boys finished their jobs.

They went back to the farm-house for tea, feeling pleasantly tired. The girls were already there, laying the table. They pounced on the twins, and George spoke excitedly.

„Twins! We"ve been looking at the old studded door. It"s MAGNIFICENT! Come and see it, Julian and Dick. If it isn"t from the old castle, I"l eat my hat - and my shoes as wel !"

She took them to the great door that opened from the kitchen into the passage that led to the yard. With much difficulty she swung it shut. They all gazed at it. It had been almost too heavy for George to move! It was very stout and strong, made of old, old oak. Great iron studs had been driven into it so deeply and firmly that only by destroying the door itself could they ever be removed. There was a curious iron handle in the middle of the outer side, and George raised it and brought it down smartly. A loud bang resounded through the kitchen, and made the others jump.

„The knocker that visitors used when they came to the castle, I suppose!" said George, laughing at their surprised faces. „Noise enough to rouse everyone, and alert any guard at once. Do you suppose it was the front door of the castle - it"s big enough! It must be worth hundreds of pounds!"

„Look out - there"s Junior!" said Anne, in a low voice. „He"s grinning al over his face. What do you suppose he"s been up to? I wish I knew!"

Ar teatime Julian spoke to Mrs Philpot about the old kitchen door. „That"s a fine old door,"

he said. „Did it come from the castle, do you suppose?"

„Yes - so it"s said," answered Mrs Philpot. „Great-Grand-dad here knows more about it than I do, though."

Great-Grand-dad was not at the table. He was sitting in his enormous old chair in the window with Snippet at his feet. He was pul ing contentedly at his pipe, a cup of tea on the window-sil beside him.

„What"s that?" called the old man. „Speak up!" Julian repeated what Mrs Philpot had said, and the old fel ow nodded.

„Oh ay! That door"s from the castle al right. Made of the same oak as the beams in the barns, and the floors of the bedrooms above! Ay, and that American fel ow"s been at me about it, too! Ho! Offered me fifty pounds for it. FIFTY POUNDS! I wouldn"t take a thousand.