FIVE RUN AWAY TOGETHER - by Enid Blyton

03 A NASTY SHOCK

GEORGE'S boat was almost ready, but not quite. It was having a last coat of paint on it. It looked very gay, for George had chosen a bright red paint, and the oars were painted red too.

"Oh, can't we possibly have it this afternoon?" said George to Jim the boatman.

He shook his head.

"No, Master George," he said, "not unless you all want to be messed up with red paint. It'll be dry tomorrow, but not before."

It always made the others smile to hear the boatmen and fishermen call Georgina "Master George." The local people all knew how badly she wanted to be a boy, and they knew, too, how plucky and straightforward she was, so they laughed to one another and said: "Well, they reckoned she behaved like a boy, and if she wanted to be called "Master George" instead of "Miss Georgina", she deserved it!"

So Georgina was Master George, and enjoyed strutting about in her jeans and jersey on the beach, using her boat as well as any fisher-boy, and swimming faster than them all.

"We'll go to the island tomorrow then," said Julian. "We'll just picnic on the beach today. Then we'll go for a walk."

So they picnicked on the sands with Timothy sharing more than half their lunch. The sandwiches were not very nice. The bread was too stale; there was not enough butter inside, and they were far too thick. But Timothy didn't mind. He gobbled up as many as he could, his tail wagging so hard that it sent sand over everyone.

"Timothy, do take your tail out of the sand if you want to wag it," said Julian, getting sand all over his hair for the fourth time. Timmy wagged his tail hard again, and sent another shower over him. Everyone laughed.

"Let's go for a walk now," said Dick, jumping up. "My legs could do with some good exercise. Where shall we go?"

"We'll walk along the cliff-top, where we can see the island all the time, shall we?" said Anne. "George, is the old wreck still there?"

George nodded. The children had once had a most exciting time with an old wreck that had lain at the bottom of the sea. A great storm had lifted it up and set it firmly on the rocks. They had been able to explore the wreck then, and had found a map of the castle in it, with instructions as to where hidden treasure was to be found.

"Do you remember how we found that old map in the wreck, and how we looked for the ingots of gold and found them?" said Julian, his eyes gleaming as he remembered it all. "Isn't the wreck battered to pieces yet, George?"

"No," said George. "I don't think so. It's on the rocks on the other side of the island, you remember, so we can't see it from here. But we might have a look at it when we go on the island tomorrow."

"Yes, let's," said Anne. "Poor old wreck! I guess it won't last many winters now."

They walked along the cliff-top with Timothy capering ahead of them. They could see the island easily and the ruined castle rising up from the middle.

"There's the jackdaw tower," said Anne, looking. "The

other tower's fallen down hasn't it? Look at the jackdaws circling round and round the tower, George!"

"Yes. They build in it every year," said George. "Don't you remember the masses of sticks round about the tower that the jackdaws dropped when they built their nests? We picked some up and made a fire with them once."

"I'd like to do that again," said Anne. "I would really. Let's do it each night if we stay a week on the island. George, did you ask your mother?"

"Oh yes," said George. "She said she thought we might, but she would see."