Nine
Another meeting
The two children soon gathered up the things they wanted to take to the meeting-shed. Cookie had been very nice and had given them half the gingerbread cake. ‘It wants eating up,’ she said. ‘It’s getting a wee bit stale, but you won’t mind that, I know. And here’s an apple for each one of you. Gardener brought them in — he says they’re only windfalls, but they’ll be sweet.’
‘Oh, thank you!’ said Janet, pleased. ‘I usually buy some sweets or something for the meetings, but I haven’t enough time now — not till I find my purse anyway — and goodness knows where that’s gone! Buck up, Peter. I’m just going down to the shed. The others will be here in half a tick.’
‘I’m just going to make a few notes,’ said Peter. ‘I think we ought to find out if anyone has got money in to help to pay the vet’s bill. We ought to begin to pay some of it off. We promised we would.’
‘Well, I’ve got five pence,’ said Janet. ‘I didn’t earn it, though. I found it on our gravel path this morning. I only hope I can remember where I put it!’
‘Lucky thing!’ said Peter. ‘I’m taking a collection this morning at the meeting, so you could put it in that. Every little helps.’
‘I was going to, of course,’ said Janet. ‘And I’ve opened my money-box too. Mother said I could take half of what I had there, to help to pay the vet’s fees, if I really wanted to. I said that I’d do anything to help poor old Tolly.’
‘So would I,’ said Peter. ‘I’ll get my money-box too. I wish I hadn’t spent so much on bull’s-eyes lately. But I’ve had several good books to read — and a bull’s-eye is just right for a good book. It lasts and lasts!’
At five minutes to ten they were down at the shed. Clean writing-paper was there, a pencil and a pen and a rubber. Even a ruler, though Janet felt sure that Peter wouldn’t want that! Their money-boxes were there too, each with their keys in them for unlocking.
‘Gingerbread cake!’ said Janet, putting a plate on the table. ‘A bit stale, but what does that matter? And an apple each. These two are a bit bad, Peter, we’d better have those and give the good ones to the others.’
‘Right,’ said Peter. ‘Oh, you’ve brought some of your chocs too. Good! Shut the door, quick. I can hear someone coming. It might be Susie, that tiresome sister of Jack’s, and we’re not having her in!’
Knock-knock.
‘Password!’ shouted Peter and Janet together. A plaintive voice came from outside. ‘Peter — Janet — is it still “Scamper” because if there’s a new password, I’ve forgotten it.’
‘Enter!’ called Peter, and in came Pam, with Barbara close behind her. ‘Hallo!’ said Pam. ‘I thought we hadn’t changed the password. Hallo, Scamper! How do you like being a password?’
Scamper licked her bare legs, and sat down by Janet. He liked these meetings. There were always titbits of some sort!
One by one the others came, and soon the meeting was complete. Bob was there too, looking very thrilled. ‘Any news of old Mr Tolly?’ asked Colin. ‘I don’t seem to have seen any of you at all. I’ve had to do a lot of swotting.’
‘Now,’ said Peter, ‘I will declare the meeting open, and ask the members if they have anything to say. You will remember what we talked about at the last meeting, and how we were all going to try and help Mr Tolly in some way.’
‘Let’s tell them what’s happened since the last meeting,’ interrupted Janet.
‘Yes, yes — do tell us,’ said Pam, Jack, and George all together, while Colin, Barbara, and Bob nodded their heads. ‘We’re just bursting to know!’
‘Well actually, quite a lot has happened,’ said Peter. ‘Old Mr Tolly brought his horse Brownie here to us yesterday, and it’s in our stable now. That horrid Mr Dinneford was very, very angry with Tolly. He said that Tolly had ruined the horse’s back legs, and . . .’
‘Oh — is the horse here?’ said Pam, in excitement, and Peter frowned.
‘Don’t interrupt when I’m speaking,’ he said. ‘I’m the head of the Secret Seven, aren’t I?’
‘Ooooh, sorry, Peter,’ said Pam, going very red. ‘It’s just that I so badly wanted . . .’
‘Be quiet! Sh!’ said everyone, and Pam sank back into her chair, half sulky.
‘Where was I now?’ said Peter. ‘Oh yes — when the police vet came, he said that the horse’s legs were quite badly damaged and that he was in a very nervy state — but that with gentle handling and kindness, he might be quite all right again in a few months’ time. He said his legs were to be rubbed with some kind of stud — Janet knows more about that than I do — she’s done a little of the rubbing because she has gentle hands. And that’s about all.’
‘Oh no, Peter — you’ve forgotten the most important part — about buying the horse!’ said Janet. ‘That’s what we want the money for!’
‘Why — do you want the horse to belong to everybody in the Secret Seven Club, instead of just us and Tolly?’ said Peter. ‘That’s silly.’
‘No, it isn’t silly!’ said Barbara, who was fond of horses. ‘I’d just love to think I owned part of a horse. I once owned half a dog. I and my cousin, who lived next door, shared it between us — we each put down half the money. I really do think that the dog liked being shared. I’m sure Brownie would. Think of having seven people spoiling him instead of just one. What a wonderful time he’d have! Fancy the Secret Seven owning half a horse! I bet no other club in the world does that!’
‘Where is this horse?’ asked Colin. ‘I didn’t see him when I came past the stables. They seemed empty to me!’
‘Somebody must have stolen him then!’ cried Janet, jumping up. ‘Or left the door open. Peter, did you?’
‘No! I haven’t been near the stables!’ said Peter, jumping up too. ‘Oh — Oh, I say — just look!’
And, as they all turned towards the open window of the shed, they saw a very, very pleasant sight. Brownie was putting his long nose inside! He had somehow got out of his stall, and had heard the sound of voices, and come to investigate! What a lovely thing he looked, staring shyly in at the window. ‘Hhrumph!’ he said, in a mild, inquiring voice.
‘He wants a piece of gingerbread!’ said Pam, and would have given him the whole lot if Peter hadn’t snatched the plate from her!
‘The meeting is put off for half an hour,’ said Peter, desperately. ‘We really can’t have Brownie at a meeting. Stop barking, Scamper. Oh goodness — there they go together, tearing over the lawn. Look at those hoof marks! Now we’re in for trouble!’
It took some time to capture the excited Brownie. He thought that it was a wonderful game of ‘Dodge About’ and ‘Don’t be Caught’ and he darted here and there, over flower beds and vegetable beds and lawns to his heart’s content. The gardener and Tolly caught him at last, and led him firmly back to his stable.
‘I’m ashamed of you, Brownie!’ said the panting Tolly. ‘Right — Down — Ashamed — Of You! I’ll be working all day long on the beds you’ve trampled!’
‘We’ll help!’ said the children, and they did. Tolly was very thankful to see the garden more or less itself again before Peter’s father came out!
‘We were in the middle of a Secret Seven meeting,’ said Peter to Tolly. ‘I suppose you couldn’t come to it now, could you? — we’re going to hold the rest of it immediately — in the shed — and we’d like you to tell us a few things.’
‘Right,’ said Tolly. ‘I’ve got about a quarter of an hour to spare. What meeting is this?’
‘We were going to discuss money,’ said Peter, leading everyone back into the shed. ‘You see, we have promised to pay the vet’s fees for Brownie — and we’ve got some money towards them this morning — and we also want to discuss the buying of Brownie.’
They were now all sitting round the shed, looking eagerly at the surprised Tolly. He gazed at the various money-boxes on the table, and at one or two envelopes and purses.
‘That’s what we’ve got already towards the vet’s fees,’ said Pam. ‘That’s my purse. I weeded my Granny’s garden for a day and a half, and she gave me fifty pence! So that’s to go towards the vet’s fees.’
‘And I took care of our neighbour’s dog for two whole days while he was away,’ said Jack. ‘Awfully nice dog too, it was. I didn’t take it walks. It took me walks! And guess what old Mr Kay gave me for that. He gave me twenty-five pence at first — and then when he heard what I was going to do with it — help with the vet’s fees, of course — he trebled the money and gave me seventy-five pence!’
‘Good gracious!’ said everyone.
‘I’m afraid I wasn’t so lucky,’ said Colin. ‘I took two dogs for walks, but one jumped into a very dirty part of the river, and it came out absolutely covered with mud. So I’m afraid I only got fifteen pence — and I had to give the dog a bath too!’
‘Bad luck,’ said Peter. ‘What about you, Barbara?’
‘I brought my money-box. I think it has about ninety pence in it,’ said Barbara. ‘I had to buy rather a lot of birthday presents — three lots in three weeks — and the last one was two days ago. I’m sure there’s only ninety pence in it now.’
‘Bad luck. Never mind, you can always save up a bit more later on’, said Peter. ‘We shan’t be able to pay much of the vet’s bill this time. George, what about you?’
‘Ha!’ said George. ‘I’ve got some news. Some weeks ago I went in for a competition for an essay about clubs — the first prize was ten pounds and . . .’
‘You surely didn’t win that!’ shouted Peter, standing up in excitement.
‘No, no, I didn’t win the first prize of ten pounds — but I did win the second prize — and that was five pounds!’ said George, his face glowing. ‘I heard this morning. I haven’t got the money yet, but Dad says it will come all right. He gave me the five pounds in advance, so that I could give the whole of it to the vet for his fees for Brownie. I shall give the money back to Dad when my prize money arrives.’
There was a silence. What a wonderful thing to do! What a gift! Good old George! Now he was being hugged by Janet, and patted on the back by the others!
‘Did your parents say you could give it towards the vet’s fees?’ asked Peter.
‘Yes. I told them, of course. They were frightfully bucked,’ said George. ‘In fact, Dad nearly gave me another five-pound note to match this one. Mother just stopped him in time!’
The gifts from the others didn’t seem very exciting, after hearing about George’s magnificent prize of five pounds! Peter put in his money-box savings, which amounted to seventy-five pence and Janet put in hers which came to forty pence altogether. Bob shyly put in forty-five pence. ‘Mostly for errands,’ he said.
‘How much does it all amount to?’ asked Pam, eagerly. ‘It looks an awful lot of money now it’s out on the table. Enough to pay a dozen vets!’
Peter solemnly and slowly counted the collection of money on the table, including, of course, the exciting, crisp five-pound note!
‘We have here the large sum of eight pounds ninety pence,’ he said. ‘There!’
Jack lost control of himself in his excitement, and jumped up, cheering so loudly that Scamper fled out of the shed with his tail well down!
‘Hip hurray! Hip, hip hip, hurray!’ And, of course, everyone joined in, including Tolly, who was almost as excited as the children.
‘We’ve got enough for the vet’s fees!’ cried Peter, in delight. ‘Oh, George — you are a brick to put in that five pounds! We’ll never, never, forget that. Never! What a happy ending to a wonderful meeting! Hurray!’
to be continued…
