Five on Finniston Farm by Enid Blyton Page A

heard anything of any help at al .
    It was most disappomting. Junior saw them, and yelled loudly.
    „Children not allowed here! Keep off! My Dad"s bought this place!"
    „Fibber!" shouted back the two Harries at once. „You"ve got the right to dig and that"s all!"
    „Yah!" yelled Junior. „You wait! Now don"t you set that great dog on me again! I"l tell my Pop, see?"
    Timmy barked loudly, and Junior disappeared in a hurry. George laughed. „Silly little fathead! Why doesn"t somebody box his ears? I bet one of the men wil before he"s many hours older. Look at him trying to use that dril !"
    Junior was certainly not at all popular. He made himself a great nuisance, and in the end his father put him roughly into a lorry and told him to stay there. He howled dismal y, but as no one paid any attention, he soon stopped!
    The six children went slowly back down the gentle slope of the hil , taking a slightly different line, stil hopeful. The jackdaw flew down to Harry"s shoulder, chacking loudly, bored with all this walking! He suddenly saw Snippet sitting down to scratch his neck, and at once launched himself at him. He knew that the poodle always shut his eyes when he scratched himself, and that that was a very good time to give him a well-placed peck!
    But unfortunately for Nosey the poodle opened his eyes too soon, and saw the jackdaw just about to perch on him! He snapped at him - and got him by the wing! „Chack-chack-CHACK!" cried the jackdaw, urgently cal ing for help. „CHACK!"
    Harry ran to Snippet, shouting, „Drop him, Snippet, drop him! You"l break his wing!" Before he could reach the pair, the jackdaw managed to free himself by giving Snippet a sudden peck on his nose, which made him bark in pain. As soon as he opened his mouth to bark, the jackdaw dropped on the ground, and scuttled away, his wing drooping, unable to fly.
    The poodle was after him in a second! The twins yelled in vain. He meant to catch that exasperating jackdaw if it was the last thing he did! The squawking bird looked anxiously for a hiding-place - and saw one! A rabbit-hole - just the thing to hop down in a trice! In he went with another loud squawk, and disappeared from sight.
    „He"s gone down that rabbit-hole!" said Dick, with a shout of laughter. „Clever old bird.
    You"re outwitted, Snippet!"
    But no - Snippet wasn"t! He disappeared down the hole too! He was as smal as a rabbit, and could easily run down a burrow. He had never done more than sniff at one before, being rather scared of dark tunnels - but if Nosey had gone down, well, he would too!
    The children stared in surprise. First the jackdaw - now Snippet! The twins bent down by the hole and yel ed. „Come back, Snippet, you idiot! The hil "s honeycombed with old warrens
    - you"l get lost for ever. Come back! Snippet. Snip-Snip-Snippet, can you hear us? COME HERE!"
    There was silence down the rabbit-hole. No chack, no bark. „They must have gone deep down," said Harry, anxiously. „There"s a perfect maze of burrows in this hil . Dad said there used to be thousands of rabbits here at one time. Hey, Snippet - COME HERE!"
    „Well, we"d better sit down til they come back," said Anne, feeling suddenly tired with excitement and with climbing up hil and down.

    „Right," said Julian. „Anyone got any sweets?"
    „I have," said George, as usual, and took out a rather grimy packet of peppermints. „Here you are; have one, twins?"
    „Thanks," they said. „We real y ought to be getting back - we"ve plenty of work to do!"
    They sat sucking their peppermints, wondering what in the world the jackdaw and Snippet were up to. At last Timmy pricked up his ears and gave a smal bark, looking at the entrance of the burrow as he did so. „They"re coming," said George. „Timmy knows!"
    Sure enough, Timmy was right. Out came first Snippet, and then Nosey, apparently quite good friends again. Snippet rushed to the twins and flung himself on them as if he hadn"t seen them for days. He put