George and Jack goes to Tigger's Barn thinking they'll prove Susie's story about a gang meeting there, is right or wrong. And then it turns out to be an adventure!
Jack was pleased when he heard Susie asking for Jeff to come to tea on Tuesday.
" That just proves it!" he said to himself. " They will slip off to Tigger's Barn together. Peter was quite wrong! Let me see... Tuesday is the evening Mother goes to a Committee Meeting, so Susie and Jeff can go off without anyone bothering. And so can I! Aha! George and I will be on their track all right."
Jack told George, who agreed that it did look as if there really was something in all that had been said at the meeting of the Famous Five.
"We'll keep a jolly good watch on Susie and Jeff, and follow them at once," said George. " They'll be most annoyed to find we are with them in Tigger's Barn! We'd better take a torch, Jack. It will be dark."
"Not awfully dark," said Jack. "There will be a moon. But it might be cloudy so we certainly will take a torch."
Susie told Jeff, with many giggles, that Jack had asked George to tea on Tuesday. " So I've asked for you to come too," she said. " And after tea, Jeff, you and I will slip out secretly, and make Jack and George think we are off to Tigger's Barn, but really and truly we will only be hiding somewhere, and we'll go back and play as soon as we are certain Jack and George have gone off to try and follow us to Tigger's Barn! Oh, dear, they'll go all the way there, and won't find a thing, except a horrid old tumbledown house!"
" It will serve them right!" said Jeff. " All I can say is that I'm jolly glad I'm not going off to that lonely place at night."
Tuesday afternoon came, and with it came Jeff and George after school, on their way to tea with Jack and Susie. The two boys walked with Jack, who pretended to be astonished that Jeff should go to tea with Susie.
"Going to play with her dolls? " he asked. " Or perhaps you're going to spring-clean the dolls' house?"
Jeff went red. " Don't be a fathead," he said. "I've got my new railway set with me. We're going to play with that."
" But it take ages to set out on the floor," said Jack, surprised.
" Well, what of it ? " said Jeff, scowling. Then he remembered that Jack and George thought that he and Susie were going off to Tigger's Barn, and would naturally imagine that he wouldn't have time to play such a lengthy game as trains. He grinned to himself. Let Jack be puzzled! It would do him good!
They all had a very good tea, and then went to the playroom upstairs. Jeff began to set out his railway lines. Jack and George would have liked to help, but they were afraid that Susie might point out that Jeff was her guest, not theirs. Susie had a very sharp tongue when she liked!
So they contented themselves with trying to make a rather complicated model aeroplane, keeping a sharp eye on Susie and Jeff all the time.
Very soon Jack's mother put her head in at the door. "Well, dears, I'm off to my Committee Meeting," she said. " You must both go home at eight o'clock, Jeff and George, and Jack, if I'm not back in time for your supper, ask Cook for it, and then go and have your baths."
" Right, Mother," said Jack. " Come and say good-night to us when you get back."
As soon as her mother had gone, Susie went all mysterious. She winked at Jeff, who winked back. Jack saw the winks, of course. They meant him to! He was on the alert at once. Ah... those two were probably going to slip out into the night!
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"Jeff, come and see the new clock we've got downstairs," said Susie. " It has a little man who comes out at the top and strikes a hammer on an anvil to mark every quarter of an hour. It is nearly a quarter past seven, let's go and watch him come out."
" Right," said Jeff, and the two went out, nudging each other, and laughing.
" There they go," said George. " Do we follow them straightaway ? "
Jack went to the door. "They've gone downstairs," he said. " They will get their coats out of the hall cupboard. We'll give them a minute to put them on, then we'll get ours. We shall hear the front door bang, I expect. It won't take us a minute to follow them."
In about a minute they heard the front door being opened, and then it shut rather quietly, as if it was not really meant to be heard.
" Did you hear that ? " asked Jack. " They shut it very quietly. Come on... we'll pull on our coats and follow. We don't want to track them too closely, or they'll see us. We will jolly well surprise them when they get to Tigger's Barn, though!"
They put on their coats, and opened the front door. It was fairly light outside because of the rising moon. They took a torch with them, in case the clouds became thick.
There was no sign of Jeff and Susie.
" They have gone at top speed, I should think!" said Jack, closing the door behind him. "Come on, we know the way to Tigger's Barn, even if we don't spot Jeff and Susie in front of us."
They went down the garden path. They did not hear the giggles that followed them! Jeff and Susie were hiding behind the big hall curtains, and were now watching Jack and George going down the path. They clutched one another as they laughed ... what a fine joke they had played on the two boys!
