“Yes. I do wish they were coming here,” said Anne. “Still, I expect they’ll like the chance of staying on in camp. Come on, you funny little creature, here’s the stable!”

The girls shut the door on the gypsy’s pony and turned to go back. William, the boy who had brought the message about the horse, yelled to them.

“Hey, George and Anne! There’s another telegram for you!”

The two hurried into the house at once. “Oh, I hope Father is better and we can go home and join the boys at Kirrin!” said George. She tore open the envelope and then gave a yell that made Anne jump.

“Look, see what it says. They’re coming here!” Anne snatched the telegram and read it.

“Joining you tomorrow. We’ll camp out if no room. Hope you’ve got a nice juicy adventure ready for us! Julian and Dick.”

“They’re coming! They’re coming!” said Anne, as excited as George. “Now we’ll have some fun!”

“It’s a pity we’ve no adventure to offer them,” said George. “Still, you simply never know!”

Chapter Two

Julian, Dick - and Henry

George was quite a different person now that she knew her two cousins were coming the next day. She was even polite to Henrietta!

Captain Johnson scratched his head when he heard that the boys were arriving. “We can’t have them in the house, except for meals,” he said. “We’re full up. They can either sleep in the stables or have a tent. I don’t care which.”

“There will be ten altogether then,” said his wife. “Julian, Dick, Anne, George, Henry - and John, Susan, Alice, Rita and William. Henry may have to camp out too.”

“Not with us,” said George, at once.

“I think you’re rather unkind to Henry,” said Mrs Johnson. “After all, you and she are very alike, George. You both think you ought to have been boys, and...”

“I’m not a bit like Henrietta!” said George, indignantly. “You wait till my cousins come, Mrs Johnson. They won’t think she’s like me. I don’t expect they’ll want anything to do with her.”

“Oh well, you’ll just have to shake down together somehow, if you want to stay here,” said Mrs Johnson. “Let me see, I’d better get some rugs out. The boys will want them, whether they sleep in the stables or in a tent. Come and help me to look for them, Anne.”

Anne, George and Henry were a good bit older than the other five children staying at the stables, but all of them, small or big, were excited to hear about the coming of Julian and Dick. For one thing George and Anne had related so many of the adventures they had had with them, that everyone was inclined to think of them as heroes.

Henrietta disappeared after tea that day and could not be found. “Wherever have you been?” demanded Mrs Johnson when she at last turned up.

“Up in my room,” said Henrietta. “Cleaning my shoes and my jods, and mending my riding-jacket. You keep telling me to, and now I’ve done it!”