Five Go Off to Camp Read Free Page A

Luffy. 'It's changed hands, I believe, since I was here three years ago. I hope the new people are nice. Now - did we leave something to eat for our tea?'
    They had, because Anne had wisely put away a good many sandwiches and bits of cake for tea-time. They sat in the heather, with bees humming al round them, and munched solidly for fifteen minutes. Timmy waited patiently for his bits, watching the bees that hummed round him. There were thousands of them.
    'And now I suppose we'd better put up our tents,' said Julian. 'Come on, Dick - let's unpack the trailer. Mr Luffy, we don't intend to camp on top of you, sir, because you won't want four noisy children too near. Where would you like your tent put?' Mr Luffy was about to say that he would like to have
    the four children and Timmy quite close, when it suddenly occurred to him that perhaps they might not want him too near. They might want to make a noise, or play sil y games, and if he were near it would stop them enjoying themselves in their own way.
    So he made up his mind not to be too close. Til pitch my tent down there, where that old gorse bush is,' he said. 'And if you'd like to put yours up here, where there's a half-circle of gorse bushes keeping off the wind, you'd be well sheltered. And we shan't interfere with one another at al .'
    'Right, sir,' said Julian, and he and Dick began to tackle the tents. It was fun. Timmy got under everyone's feet as usual, and ran off with an important rope, but nobody minded.

    By the time that dusk came creeping up the heather-covered moorland, all three tents were up, the ground-sheets were put down, and the sleeping-bags unrolled on them, two in each of the children's tents, and one in Mr Luffy's.
    'I'm going to turn in,' said Mr Luffy. 'My eyes are almost shut. Good night al of you. Sleep well!'
    He disappeared into the dusk. Anne yawned widely, and that set the others off too.
    'Come on - let's turn in, too,' said Julian. 'We'll have a bar of chocolate each, and a few biscuits. We can eat those in our sleeping-bags. Good night, girls. Won't it be grand to wake up tomorrow morning?'
    He and Dick disappeared into their tent. The girls crawled into theirs with Timmy. They undressed, and got into their warm, soft sleeping-bags.
    'This is super!' said George, pushing Timmy to one side. 'I never felt so cosy in my life.
    Don't do that, Timmy. Don't you know the difference between my feet and my middle?
    That's better.'
    'Good night,' said Anne, sleepily. 'Look, George, you can see the stars shining through the opening of the tent. Don't they look enormous?'
    But George didn't care whether they were enormous or not. She was fast asleep, tired out with the day's run. Timmy cocked one ear when he heard Anne's voice, and gave a little grunt. That was his way of saying good night. Then he put his head down and slept.
    'Our first night of camping,' thought Anne, happily. 'I shan't go to sleep. I shal lie awake and look at the stars and smell that heathery smell.'
    But she didn't. In half a second she was sound asleep, too!

    3 Anne's volcano

    Julian awoke first in the morning. He heard a strange and lonely sound floating overhead. 'Coor-lie! Coor-lie!'
    He sat up and wondered where he was and who was calling. Of course! He was in his tent with Dick - they were camping on the moors. And that wild cry overhead came from a curlew, the bird of the moorlands.
    He yawned and lay down again. It was early in the morning. The sun put its warm fingers in at his tent opening, and he felt the warmth on his sleeping-bag. He felt lazy and snug and contented. He also felt hungry, which was a nuisance. He glanced at his watch.
    Half past six. He real y was too warm and comfortable to get up yet. He put out his hand to see if there was any chocolate left from the night before, and found a little piece. He put it into his mouth and lay there contentedly, listening to more curlews, and watching the sun climb a little higher.
    He fel asleep again, and was