Five on Finniston Farm (6 page)

The Five thoroughly enjoyed their ride over the big farm. It spread out in all directions over undulating hil s, and the van swung up and down and continual y lurched round corners.

It stopped every now and again so that the children might see the magnificent views.

Bill told them the names of the great fields as they passed them. „That"s Oak-Tree Field -

that"s Hangman"s Copse over there - that"s Tinker"s Wood Field - and that"s Faraway Field

- the furthest from the farm-house."

Name after name came from his lips, and it seemed as if the sight of the fields he knew and loved suddenly set his tongue going. He told them about the stock too. „Them"s the new cows over there - give good milk they do - helps a farmer no end to get money every week for milk, you know. And them"s the bul s, down in that field. Fine creatures, too

- cost a mint of money. But Mester Philpot, he believes in good animals. He"d rather go without a new car than buy poor stock. Them"s the sheep right away over there - see, dotted about on those slopes. Can"t take you to see "em today, though. You"d like Shepherd. He"s been here so long and is so old, he knows every inch of the farm!"

He relapsed into silence after this unusual spate of talk, and turned down a path that took the children back towards the farm-house, using a different route, to show them even more fields.

There were glorious fields of corn, golden in the sun, waving in the breeze with a wonderful rustling noise. „I could sit here for hours and look at that, and listen," said Anne.

„Then don"t you marry a farmer, if so be you wants to do that, for a farmer"s wife has no time to sit!" said Bil dryly, and was silent again.

They jolted along, shaken to the bones, but loving every minute. „Cows, calves, sheep, lambs, bul s, dogs, ducks, chickens," chanted Anne. „Corn, kale, beet, cauliflower - ooh, Bill, look out!"

The van had gone at such speed into a deep rut that Anne was nearly flung out. Timmy shot through the back entrance of the van, and landed on the ground, rolling over and over. He got slowly to his feet, looking most amazed.

„Timmy! It"s al right! It was only a bigger hole than usual!" shouted George. „Buck up -

jump in!"

As the Land-Rover didn"t stop, Timmy had to gallop after it, and enter with a flying leap from the back. Bill gave a snort of laughter, which made the wheel wobble dangerously.

„This here old car"s almost human," he said. „Just jigs about for joy on a day like this!"

And he drove headlong over a slanting path and straight down into a hol ow, making poor Anne groan again. „Al very wel for Bill!" she said, in Julian"s ear. „He"s got the wheel to hang on to!"

In spite of the jolting and bumping the Five immensely enjoyed their ride round the farm.

„Now we real y know what it"s like!" said Julian, as the Land-Rover came to a very sudden stop near the farm-house, throwing them all on top of one another. „My word - no wonder old Great-Grand-dad, and Mr and Mrs Philpot love the place. It"s GRAND! Thanks awfully, Bill. We"ve enjoyed it tremendously! Wish my people had a farm like this!"

„Farm like this? Ay. It"s taken centuries to grow," said Bill. „Al them names I told you -

they"m centuries old too. Nobody knows now who was hanged down in Hangman"s Copse - or what Tinkers came to Tinkers Wood. But they"m not forgot as long as they fields are there!"

Anne stared at Bil in wonder. Why, that was almost poetry, she thought. He turned and saw her gazing at him. He nodded at her.

„You unnerstand all right, miss, don"t you?" he said. „There"s some that don"t, though. That Mr Henning, he raves about it all - but he don"t unnerstand a thing. As fer that boy of his!"

And to Anne"s surprise he turned and spat into the ditch, „That"s what I thinks of him!"

„Oh - it"s just the way he"s been brought up, I expect," said Anne. „I"ve met heaps of fine American children, and ..."

„Well, that one wants a hiding!" said Bil , grimly. „And if it wasn"t that Mrs Philpot begged me to keep my hands offen him, he"d be black and blue, that boy! And so I tel you!

Trying to ride on them scarey calves and chasing the hens til they"re scared off egg-laying - and stoning the ducks, poor critturs - and slitting sacks of seed just for the fun of seeing it dribble out and waste! Hoo, wouldn"t I like to shake him til his bones rattled!"

The four listened in silence, horrified. Junior was much worse than they had thought, then.

George felt very very pleased that she had taught him a lesson that morning.

„Don"t you worry any more about Junior," said Julian grimly. „We"ll keep him in order while we"re here!"

They said good-bye and walked back to the farmhouse, stiff and sore from the bumpy, bone-shaking ride, but with their minds ful of the lovely sloping hil s, the blue distance, the waving corn, and the feel of a farmland in good heart.

„That was good," said Julian, voicing the feelings of the others. „Very good. I somehow feel more English for having seen those Dorset fields, set about by hedges, basking in the sun."

„I liked Bill," said Anne. „He"s so - so solid and real. He belongs to the land, just as the land belongs to him. They"re one!"

„Ah - Anne has discovered what farming real y means!" said Dick. „I say, I"m most awful y hungry, but I really don"t like to go and ask for anything at the farm-house. Let"s go down to the vil age and get buns and milk at the dairy."

„Oh yes!" said Anne and George, and Timmy gave a few sharp, short barks as if he thoroughly agreed. They set off down the lane that led to the vil age, and soon came to the little ice-cream shop, half baker"s half dairy. Janie, the small talkative girl, was there again. She smiled at them in delight.

„You"re here again!" she said, in pleasure. „Mum"s made some macaroons this morning.

See - al gooey and fresh!"

„Now how did you guess that we are al very partial to macaroons?" said Dick, sitting down at one of the two little tables there. „We"ll have a plateful, please."

„What, a whole plateful?" exclaimed Janie. „But there"s about twenty on a plate!"

„Just about right," said Dick. „And an ice-cream each, please. Large. And don"t forget our dog, wil you?"

„Oh no, I won"t," said Janie. „He"s a very nice dog, isn"t he? Have you noticed what lovely smiley eyes he has?"

„Well, yes, we have. We know him quite well, you see," said Dick, amused. George looked pleased. She did so like Timmy to be praised. Timmy liked it too. He actually went up to Janie and licked her hand!

Soon they had a plateful of delicious macaroons in front of them - and they were indeed nice, and very „gooey" inside, as Janie had so rightly said. George gave Timmy one, but it was real y wasted on him, because he gave one crunch, and then swallowed it! He also chased his ice-cream all over the floor again, much to Janie"s delight.

„How do you like it at Mrs Philpot"s?" she asked. „Kind, isn"t she?"

„Very!" said everyone together.

„We love being at the farm," said Anne. „We"ve been al over it this morning, in the Land-Rover."

„Did Bill take you?" asked Janie. „He"s my uncle. But he don"t usually say much to strangers."

„Well, he said plenty to us," said Julian. „He was most interesting. Does he like macaroons?"

„Oooh yes," said Janie, rather astonished. „Everyone likes Mum"s macaroons."

„Could he eat six, do you think?" asked Julian.

„Ooooh yes," said Janie, stil astonished, her blue eyes opened wide.

„Right. Put six in a bag for me," said Julian. „I"l give them to him in return for a jol y fine ride."

„That"s right down nice of you," said Janie, pleased. „My uncle"s been on Finniston Farm al his life. You ought to get him to show you where Finniston Castle used to stand, before it was burnt down, and..."

„Finniston Castle!" exclaimed George, in surprise. „We went all over the farm this morning, and saw every field - but we didn"t see any ruined castle."

„Oh no, you wouldn"t see anything!" said Janie. „I told you - it was burnt down. Right to the ground, ages ago. Finniston Farm belonged to it, you know. There"s some pictures of it in a shop down the road. I saw them, and..."

„Now Janie, Janie, how many times have I told you not to chatter to customers?" said Janie"s mother, bustling in, frowning. „That tongue of yours! Can"t you learn that people don"t want to hear your chatter, chatter, chatter?"

„We like talking to Janie," said Julian, politely. „She"s most interesting. Please don"t send her away."

But Janie had fled, red-cheeked and scared. Her mother began to arrange the goods on the counter. „Let"s see now - what did you have?" she said. „Good gracious, where are al those macaroons gone? There were at least two dozen there!"

„Er - well - we had almost twenty - and the dog helped, of course - and Janie put six in a bag for us - let"s see now..."

„There were twenty-four on that plate," said Janie"s mother, stil amazed. „Twenty-four! I counted them!"

„And five ice-creams," said Julian. „How much is that altogether? Most delicious macaroons they were!"

Janie"s mother couldn"t help smiling. She totted up the bil , and Julian paid. „Come again," she said, „and don"t you let that little gas-bag of mine bore you!"

They set off down the street, feeling very pleased with life. Timmy kept licking his lips as if he could stil taste macaroon and ice-cream! They walked to the end of the street, and came to the little lane that led up to the farm. Anne stopped.

„I"d like to go and look at the horse-brasses in this little antique shop," she said. „You go on.

I"l come later."

„I"l come in with you," said George, and she turned to the little shop-window. The boys walked on by themselves. „We"ll probably be helping on the farm somewhere!" shouted back Dick. „So long!"

Just as Anne and George were going into the shop, two people came out and almost bumped into them. One was Mr Henning the American, the other was a man they hadn"t seen before. „Good morning," Mr Henning said to them, and went into the street with his friend. Anne and George walked into the dark little shop.

There was an old man there, drumming on the counter, looking quite angry. He gave the two girls such a glare that they felt quite frightened!

„That man!" said the old man, and frowned so fiercely that his glasses fel off. Anne helped him to find them among the clutter of quaint old trinkets on his counter. He fixed them on his nose again and looked sternly at the two girls and Timmy.

„If you"ve come to waste my time, please go," he said. „I"m a busy man. Children are no good to me. Just want to nose round and touch this and that, and never buy anything!

That American boy now - he"s... ah, but you don"t know what I"m talking about, do you?

I"m upset. I"m always upset when people want to buy our beautiful old things and take them away to a country they don"t belong to. Now..."

„It"s al right, Mr Finniston," said Anne, in her gentle voice; „You are Mr Finniston, aren"t you?

I just wanted to look at those lovely old horse-brasses, please. I won"t bother you for long.

We"re staying at Finniston Farm, and..."

„Ah - at Finniston Farm, did you say?" said the old man, his face brightening. „Then you"ve met my great friend, dear old Jonathan Philpot. My very great friend!"

„Is that Mr Philpot, the twins" father?" asked George.

„No, no, no - it"s old Great-Grand-dad! We went to school together," said the old man, excited. „Ah - I could tell you some tales of the Finnistons and the castle they once owned. Yes, yes - I"m a descendant of the owners of that castle, you know - the one that was burnt down. Oh, the tales I could tel you!"

And it was just at that moment that the Adventure began - the Finniston Farm adventure that the Five-were never to forget!

A VERY INTERESTING TALE!

Anne and George looked at the quaint old man, fascinated, as he talked to them. He stood there behind the counter of his little dark antique shop, surrounded by things even older than himself, a little bent old man with only a few hairs on his head. He had a kindly wrinkled face with eyes so hooded with drooping lids that they seemed to look out through slits.

The two girls were thril ed to hear that old Mr Finniston was actual y descended from the long-ago Finnistons, who lived in Finniston Castle.

„Is that why your name"s Finniston?" asked Anne. „Tell us about the castle. We only heard about it for the first time today. But we don"t even know exactly whereabouts it stood. I didn"t see a single stone when we went round the farm this morning!"

„No, no, you wouldn"t," said Mr Finniston. „It was burnt right down to the ground, you see -

and through the centuries people have taken the old stones for building wal s. Ah well - it was a long, long time ago!"

„How long?" asked George.

„Let"s see now - it was burnt down in 1192 - the twelfth century," said Mr Finniston. „Norman times, you know. Ever heard of the Normans? Schooling isn"t what it was, I know, so maybe..."

„Of course we"ve heard of the Normans!" said George, indignantly. „Every child knows them! They conquered England, and the first Norman king was Wil iam the First, 1066!"

„Hmm - that"s right. You"ve had some schooling, then," said Mr Finniston. „Well, it was a Norman castle - look, like that one in this picture, see?" And he showed them a copy of an old print. They gazed at the stone castle pictured there.

„Yes. It"s a Norman castle," said George. „Was Finniston Castle just like that?"

„I"ve got a copy of an old drawing of it somewhere," said the old fellow. „I"l find it and show it to you sometime. A small castle, of course - but a very fine specimen. Well, well, you won"t be interested in such details, I know. How it was burnt down, I don"t know.

Can"t find out for certain. The story goes that it was attacked at night by the enemy, and there were traitors in the castle itself, who set fire to it - and while the castle folk were fighting the fire, the enemy walked in and slew nearly al of them."

„So the castle was no use for living in after that, I suppose," said Anne. „But it"s strange there isn"t even a stone to be seen anywhere."