“Big Hollow!” said Julian. “Well — here we are. What a queer place — sort of mysterious and brooding. Now to find old Tinker! I bet he’ll be pleased to see us all, especially Timmy! Help me with the bags, Dick!”

Chapter Three

Big hollow — and Tinker and Mischief again!

The four children and Timmy went through the big, heavy gate, which groaned loudly. Timmy was very startled to hear the mournful creak, and barked sharply.

“Sh!” said George. “You’ll get into trouble with the Professor, Timmy, if you raise your voice like that. I expect we’ll have to talk in whispers, so as not to disturb the Professor — so just see if you can whisper too.”

Timmy gave a small whine. He knew he couldn’t whisper! He trotted at George’s heel as they all went down the steep drive to the house. It was a queer house, built sideways to the drive, and had astonishingly few windows.

“I expect Professor Hayling is afraid of people peering in at his work,” said Anne. “It’s very, very secret, isn’t it?”

“I know he uses miles and miles of figures,” said Dick. “Tinker told me one day that his monkey Mischief once chewed up a page of figures when he was very small — and Professor Hayling chased him for a whole hour, hoping to catch him and find even a few bits of paper still in his mouth, so that he could rescue at least part of his figures. But Mischief fled down a rabbit-hole and didn’t come up for two days, so it wasn’t any good.”

Everyone smiled at the thought of poor Mischief hiding down a rabbit-hole. “You couldn’t do that, Timmy old thing!” said Julian. “So just be careful of any paper you eat.”

“He wouldn’t be so silly,” said George, at once. “He knows perfectly well what’s eatable and what’s not.”

“Ha! Does he?” said Anne. “Well, I’d just like to know what kind of food he thought my blue slipper was that he chewed up last hols!”

“Don’t tell tales of him,” said George. “He only chewed it because someone shut him in your bedroom and he hadn’t anything else to do.”

“Woof,” said Timmy, quite agreeing. He gave Anne’s hand a little lick, as if to say, “Very sorry, Anne — but I was so bored!”

“Dear Timmy! I wouldn’t mind if you chewed up all my slippers!” said Anne. “But it would be nice if you chose the very oldest ones!”

Timmy suddenly stopped and looked into the bushes. He gave a low growl! George put her hand on his collar at once. She was always afraid of snakes in the spring time.

“It might be an adder!” she said. “The dog next door trod on one last year, so I heard, and his leg swelled up terribly, and he was in great pain. Come away now, Timmy — it’s an adder, with poison in its fangs!”