At exactly ten o'clock the next morning there came a number of raps on the Secret Seven shed-door. The password, which was still 'Scamper', was whispered through the door and Scamper, who was inside with Peter and Janet, cocked his ears with pleasure every time he heard his name. He gave little whimpers of delight as the Seven filed in and took their places.
Last of all came Bob, out of breath with running. "Had to do a job for my father," he panted. "Hope I'm not late."
"We shouldn't have started without you," said Peter. "It's important that everyone should be here. Now, the meeting will begin. Stop chattering, please, Pam and Barbara."
The two girls stopped at once, and faced Peter. This would be a worth-while and exciting meeting, and they didn't want to miss a word!
"The meeting has now begun," said Peter. "Please address any remarks to me, because if we all start chattering to one another, we shan't get anywhere. First of all, I must tell you that Janet and I have asked our father about a place in one of our stables for Mr Tolly's horse."
"He said yes," began Janet, eagerly, and stopped as Peter spoke to her sternly.
"Janet! I was speaking!" said Peter. "Please let me finish."
"Sorry," said Janet, going red.
"I'm very pleased to say that my father was sorry for Mr Tolly, and said that the farmer who owns the land on the hill was very hard-hearted," said Peter, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"He said he would willingly give us a place in our biggest stable for Mr Tolly's horse ... and he wouldn't charge him anything. But... he said he thought that Janet and I might like to keep the stable clean ourselves, so that the stable man wouldn't have to do any more work than usual."
"I'll take my turn at that!" said George. "No reason why you and Janet should have to muck it out all the time. I'd be pleased to come every Saturday."
"Look ... we'll all take turns," said Colin. "All of us. Why not? We've taken this thing on together, and we'll jolly well all share in everything. I'll come each Monday after tea."
"And I'll come whenever I can," said Bob. "I must take my share. I'd like to ... if the Secret Seven don't mind me butting in."
"I think we'd better make you a temporary member," said Peter, and the others nodded at once in agreement. Peter solemnly knocked on the table.
"I propose that we make Bob Smith a temporary member, until the matter he has brought to us, is well and truly settled," he said, in a very grown-up voice. "Does the meeting agree to this proposal?"
Everyone agreed very loudly indeed. "And now," said Peter, "I'd like to hear whether Bob has found out exactly what amount the vet's bill is."
Everyone looked so solemnly at Bob that he felt he must stand up. He looked round at the others, feeling just a little wobbly on his legs. "Er ... thank you very much for saying that I can be a temper ... tempory ... - well whatever it is ... - member. It's jolly kind of you. Yes, I did go and find out about the vet's bill. I went to Mr Whistler and I just asked him straight out how much old Mr Tolly owed him."
"What did he say?" asked Peter.
"Well ... he looked a bit startled, and asked me why I wanted to know," said Bob. "And I told him we were sorry for Mr Tolly, because he was afraid the horse would be shot if the bills weren't paid ... and that we would do our best to get at least some of the money pretty soon, if he would wait."
Bob paused for breath and everyone looked anxiously at him. What had the vet said?
"Well, the vet was jolly decent. He said that he hadn't understood that Mr Tolly would have to pay ... and he said he would reduce the bill by half ... and that I was to tell Mr Tolly he wasn't to worry, and that he'd still go on coming to see the horse and how it was getting on ... and not charge him a penny more!"
"That was marvellous of him!" said Janet, her face one big smile. "Did you tell him we would pay the bill ourselves, if he'd let us have time to earn the money?"
"Yes, I did, and he looked so astonished that I was sure he didn't believe me. He asked me what on earth we thought we could do to earn so much money. Even if he halved his bill, there would still be nearly eight pounds to pay. He said that Brownie's legs had needed daily attention for some time, and that was why his fees had mounted up. Actually they came to fifteen pounds fifty pence ... and half that would be seven pounds seventy-five pence!"
"What did you say?" asked Peter.
"I just said that we'd talk it all over at our next Secret Seven meeting, and I'd let him know. I didn't like to make big promises on my own," said Bob. "But I did ask him if there was anything he wanted done, which one of us might be able to do."
"Was there anything?" asked Colin, eagerly.
"Yes. He said his delivery boy ... you know, Fred, who delivers any medicines for animals that the vet has seen during the day ... well, he said Fred wanted two weeks... holiday to go and stay with his grandfather, and if any of us would like to do his rounds each evening, he'd pay him the same as he pays Fred."
"How much is that?" demanded three or four voices at once.
"He pays him fifteen pence a night," said Bob. "So I said I'd take Fred's place while he was away. You see, if I earn fifteen pence a night for a whole fortnight ... let's see, that's fourteen evenings at fifteen pence a time ... er ... er ... that would be..."
"You're no good at figures, Bob!" said Jack. "You would earn exactly two pounds ten pence " and let me tell you, that's a lot of money! It would probably pay over a quarter of the vet's bill ... golly, this is a bit of luck, your getting the errand boy's job for a fortnight. If you get tired of it, one or other of us will take over for you."
"I shan't get tired of it," said Bob. "The only thing is, I have to have one evening off a week to go to choir practice, so one of you can take over then."
"Right. I'll do that evening for you this week," said Peter. "My word ... fancy being able to knock off over a quarter of the vet's bill like this! Good for you, Bob. You did well."
Bob sat down, his face flushed with pride. He decided to be the best errand boy that the vet had ever had. He decided to ask him if he could clean out the kennels in which the vet kept dogs when they were boarded out with him. That would be more money earned, perhaps. And would the vet like him to feed the cats each morning or... Bob's mind ran on and on, and when he finally came to the end of his thoughts about the vet's jobs, he felt almost like a vet himself!
Yes ... it was fun to be one of the Secret Seven ... or wasit the Secret Eight now? Bob made up his mind to be the best member they hadever had. His heart swelled with pride. A member of the Secret Seven ... and thevet'serrand-boy too ... he really was getting on in the world!
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