The four children laughed. “Oh, the old Professor is all right,” said Julian. “A bit forgetful, like most people who work with their brains all the time. My brain goes fairly slowly — but my Uncle Quentin’s goes about a hundred miles an hour, and I bet the Professor’s does too! We’ll be all right!”

Away went the bus, bumping over the road from Kirrin and Little Hollow, and on to Big Hollow. The four children gazed out of the windows as they passed alongside the shore, where the sea shone as blue as cornflowers, and once more saw Kirrin Island out in the big bay.

“Wish we were going there!” sighed George. “We’ll have to take a picnic meal there sometime, and enjoy ourselves. I’d like old Tinker to visit my island. He may have a lighthouse of his own, but having an island is MUCH better!”

“I think I agree with you,” said Julian. “Tinker’s lighthouse is certainly lovely and all on its own, and the view from it is amazing — but there’s something about Kirrin Island that I love. Islands are quite different from anything else!”

“Yes. They are,” said Anne. “I’d like one too. A very little one, so that I could see all round it at one glance. And I’d like one little cave to sleep in — just big enough for me.”

“You’d soon be lonely, Anne,” said Dick, giving his sister a friendly pat. “You love to have people round you, you like to be friendly!”

“So does Timmy!” said Julian, as Timmy left his place by George’s knee and went to sniff at a net-bag held by an old man, who at once fondled the big dog, and fumbled for a biscuit out of a paper bag. “Timmy doesn’t mind how many people there are around, so long as one or two of them has a biscuit or a bone to hand out!”

“Come to heel, Timmy,” said George. “You’re not to go round begging, telling people you are half-starved! I should think you eat more than any other dog in Kirrin. Who eats the cat’s dinner whenever he can, I should like to know?”

Timmy gave George a loving lick and settled down beside her, his head on her shoes. He got up politely every time someone entered or left the bus. The conductor was most impressed.

“I wish all dogs were as good on my bus as yours,” he told George. “You’d better get ready to jump out. Our next stop is supposed to be a little way beyond Big Hollow, but I’ll ring my bell, and the driver will stop for a moment, and you can get out.”

“Thanks awfully,” said Julian, gratefully, and when the bus stopped with a jerk a minute later, all the Five were ready to jump out.

The bus went on, and left them standing outside a large wooden gate. The drive from it led steeply downwards, and a large house could just be seen hidden in a hollow by great trees.