GOOD OLD SECRET SEVEN by Enid Blyton

03 JACK'S PRESENT

Butbefore Susie could go on, footsteps pattered up to the shed-door, and someonescraped at the bottom.

'Password!' shouted Peter, and a doggy voice answered atonce, 'wuff-wuff-wuff!'

'Enter, Scamper,' said Peter. 'But you said toomany wuffs! Clever dog, to remember the password!'

That made them all laugh, even Susie. Scampertrotted in and licked everyone in delight. Then he lay down at Peter's feet,panting. 'You're late, Scamper,' said Peter. 'But it doesn't matter becauseI've declared the meeting ended. Susie, if you've anything to say, say it, andgo.'

'All right,' said Susie. 'That thing Jack hasbrought is a present from our Uncle Bob, who was once a sailor. It's atelescope ; and a jolly fine one, too!'

'A telescope!' said everyone, excited. Yes, now they could see that it was. Jack began to take off the wrappingssulkily, as Susie went on talking. 'Well, Jack's idea was to bring it down here andgive it to the Secret Seven,' said Susie. 'But Mother said Uncle Bob meant meto share it , and I didn't see why you Secret Seven should haveit all. I knew I'd never see it once it was installed in this shed. So I arguedwith Jack'

'Shouted the place down, you mean!' said poorJack. 'And Mother heard, and she came, and she said Jackwas to share the telescope with me, though she was pleased that the SecretSeven could look through it too. And Jack said he didn't care what Mother said,he wasn't going to let me share any of it ; so I shot off by myself and came to the meeting to tell you all this,'

'And left me behind with Mother in a real rage,'said Jack. 'I'm so sorry, everyone. I meant to leave the telescope here in theshed, so that we could all use it, and look at all sorts of things in thedistance, the different cars going along the hillside road, the castle on the hill, theherons on the old pond itwould have been such fun.'

'Yes , funfor you, but not for me!' said Susie. 'And what aboutBinkie? You want to share the telescope with Peter and Janet and the rest,don't you, well, I want to share it with Binkie!'

'I shouldn't think Binkie knows what a telescopeis!' said Jack. 'Her head's full of wool, not brains! She won't want to use atelescope.' 'Now listen,' said Peter, making up his mindquickly. 'You'll have to share with Susie, Jack, if your mother says so. Butwhy shouldn't we keep it down here in the shed, so that any of us can use it atany time? Not at a special meeting or anything .'

'We'd have to keep the shed locked, then,' saidJack. This telescope is quite valuable, Uncle said. But that means that Susiewill have to know where the key is!' 'Well - aslong as she doesn't try to come to any of our meetings again and spoil them asshe has spoilt today's, I don't see why she shouldn't know where the key is,'said Peter. 'We've got to be fair about this, Jack. I bet my mother would sayI'd got to share with Janet if someone gave me something fine like thistelescope. Let's be fair.' 'All right,' said Jack gloomily. 'Be fair. Butdon't blame me if Susie and Binkie spy on us and find out all our secrets andpasswords and everything.'

'Let's have something to eat and drink,' saidJanet. 'We'll all feel better then. You'd better have some too, Susie. Beingcross always makes people hungry.'

'Well, I'm not hungry,' said Susie, getting up.'But thank you all the same, Janet. I know when I'm not wanted. I only came tosay I'm going to share the telescope.''Wait a bit,' said Colin, seeing that Susie wasnear tears, for all her boldness. 'Before you go we'd better arrange where thekey is to be hidden. Then you'll know where to look for it.' Tell Jack, and he can tell me,' said Susie,stalking out of the door. 'Goodbye, stuck-ups! Wait till I tell Binkie aboutthis!'

She slammed the door so hard that Scamper jumpedand began to bark. Jack looked round at the others, feeling ashamed of hissister. 'Susie's got such a temper,' he said. 'I'm sosorry about this.'

'Let's not talk about Susie,' said Janet. 'Shedidn't go off because she didn't want to share our food, she went because she was afraid she was going to cry. And I can justimagine how awful she'd feel if she did - in front of all of us!'

So nobody said another word about Susie, but tuckedinto currant buns and macaroons and hot cocoa. Scamper had his share, andthoroughly enjoyed himself. He went to sniff all round the big, strange-lookingparcel that Jack had brought into the shed.

'No one seems interested in my telescope exceptScamper,' said Jack, in a forlorn voice. 'And I was so very excited about it.'

Peter clapped him on the shoulder. 'So are we!Come on, let's see this wonderful present!'