FIVE FALL INTO ADVENTURE by Enid Blyton

22 JO IS VERY SMART

"Jo" said Simmy. "Well, of all the... well... Jo!" Jake recovered first. "What's all this?" he said, roughly, to Simmy. "What's Jo doing here? How did she get here? Where's the other kid, the one we caught?"

"How do I know?" said Simmy, still staring at Jo. "Look here, Jo - what are you doing here? Go on, tell us. And where's the other kid?"

"Hunt round the room and see if you can find her!" said Jo, brightly, keeping on her toes in case her father or Jake was going to pounce on her. The two men looked hurriedly round the room. Jake went to a big cupboard.

"Yes - she might be in there," said Jo, enjoying herself. "You have a good look."

The two bewildered men didn't know what to think. They had come to get George - and had only found Jo!

But how - why - what had happened? They didn't know what to do. Neither of them wanted to go back and tell Red. So they began to search the room feverishly, looking into likely and unlikely places, with Jo jeering at them all the time.

"Better take the drawers out of that chest and see if she's here. And don't forget to look under the rug. That's right, Jake, poke your head up the chimney. Mind George doesn't kick soot down into your eyes."

"I'll lam you in a minute!" growled Jake, furiously, opening a small cupboard door.

An angry voice came up the stairway. "Jake! What are you doing up there? Bring that kid down."

"She's not here!" yelled back Jake, suddenly losing his temper. "What have you done with her? She's gone!"

Red came tearing up, two steps at a time, his eyes narrow with anger. The first thing he saw in the room was Jo - and, of course, he thought she was George.

"What do you mean - saying she's not here!" he raged. "Are you mad?"

"Nope," said Jake, his eyes narrow too. "Not so mad as you are, anyway, Red. This kid isn't that fellow's daughter - the scientist chap we took the papers from - this is Simmy's kid - Jo."

Red looked at Jake as if he had gone off his head. Then he looked at Jo. He could see no difference between Jo and the absent George at all - short hair, freckles, turned-up nose - he couldn't believe that she was Simmy's daughter.

In fact, he didn't believe it. He thought Jake and Simmy were suddenly deceiving him for some strange reason.

But Jo had a word to say, too. "Yes, I'm Jo," she said. "I'm not Georgina. She's gone. I'm just Jo, and Simmy's my Dad. You've come to save me, haven't you, Dad?"

Simmy hadn't come to do anything of the sort, of course. He stared helplessly at Jo, completely bewildered.

Red completely lost his temper. As soon as he heard Jo's voice he realized she was not George. Somehow or other he had been deceived - and seeing that this was Simmy's daughter, then it must be Simmy who had had a hand in the deception!

He went suddenly over to Simmy and struck him hard, his eyes blazing. "Have you double-crossed me?" he shouted.

Simmy was sent flying to the floor. Jake came up immediately to help him. He tripped up Red, and leapt on him.

Jo looked at the three struggling, shouting men, and shrugged her shoulders. Let them fight! They had forgotten all about her, and that suited her very well. She ran to the door and was just going down the stairs, when an idea came into her sharp little mind. With an impish grin she turned back. She pulled the door to quietly - and then she turned the key in the lock, and shot the bolt.