“Don’t mention it!” said the shadowy head with a chuckle. “Glad you’re all right. See you to-morrow!”

Chapter Nine

Night visitor

Mr. Luffy slept very late the next morning and nobody liked to disturb him. The girls yelled with laughter when they heard how Dick had spoken to him the night before, thinking he was Timmy the dog.

“He was very decent about it,” said Dick. “Seemed to think it was quite amusing. I hope he’ll still think so this morning!”

They were all sitting eating their breakfast — ham, tomatoes, and the bread Mrs. Andrews had given them the day before. Timmy collected the bits as usual, and wondered if George would let him have a lick of the cream cheese she was now putting on her bread. Timmy loved cheese. He looked at the lump in the dish and sighed all over George. He could easily eat that in one mouthful! How he wished he could.

“I wonder what time Jock will come up,” said George. “If he came up pretty soon, we could go for a nice long walk over the moors, and picnic somewhere. Jock ought to know some fine walks.”

“Yes. We’ll mess about till he comes, and then tell him he’s to be our guide and to take us to the nicest walk he knows,” said Anne. “Oh Timmy, you beast — you’ve taken my nice lump of cream cheese right out of my fingers!”

“Well, you were waving it about under his nose, so what could you expect?” said George. “He thought you were giving it to him.”

“Well, he shan’t have any more, it’s too precious,” said Anne. “Oh, dear — I wish we didn’t eat so much. We keep bringing in stacks of food, and it hardly lasts any time.”

“I bet Jock will bring some more,” said Dick. “He’s a sensible sort of fellow. Did you get a peep into that enormous larder of his mother’s? It’s like a great cave, goes right back into the wall, with dozens of stone shelves — and all filled with food. No wonder Jock’s tubby.”

“Is he? I never noticed,” said Anne. “Is that him whistling?”

It wasn’t. It was a curlew, very high up. “Too early for him yet,” said Julian. “Shall we help you to clear up, Anne?”

“No. That’s my job and George’s,” said Anne firmly. “You go down and see if Mr. Luffy is awake. He can have a bit of ham and a few tomatoes, if he likes.”

They went down to Mr. Luffy’s tent. He was awake, sitting at the entrance, eating some kind of breakfast. He waved a sandwich at them.

“Hallo, there! I’m late this morning. I had a job getting back. I went much too far. Sorry I woke you up last night, Dick.”

“You didn’t. I wasn’t asleep,” said Dick, going rather red. “Did you have a good day, Mr. Luffy?”

“Bit disappointing. Didn’t find quite all the creatures I’d hoped,” said Mr. Luffy. “What about you? Did you have a good day?”