FIVE GO OFF TO CAMP by Enid Blyton

01 HOLIDAY TIME

'Two jolly fine tents, four groundsheets, four sleeping-bags - I say, what about Timmy? Isn't he going to have a sleeping-bag too?' said Dick, with a grin.

The other three children laughed, and Timmy, the dog, thumped his tail hard on the ground.

 'Look at him,' said George. 'He's laughing, too! He's got his mouth stretched wide open.'

 They all looked at Timmy. He really did look as if a wide grin stretched his hairy mouth from side to side.

 'He's a darling,' said Anne, hugging him. 'Best dog in the world, aren't you, Timmy?'

 'Woof!' said Timmy, agreeing. He gave Anne a wet lick on her nose.

 The four children, Julian, tall and strong for his age, Dick, George and Anne were busy planning a camping holiday. George was a girl, not a boy, but she would never answer to her real name, Georgina. With her freckled face and short, curly hair she really did look more like a boy than a girl.

'It's absolutely wizard, being allowed to go on a camping holiday all by ourselves,' said Dick. 'I never thought our parents would allow it, after the terrific adventure we had last summer, when we went off in caravans.'

 'Well - we shan't be quite all by ourselves,' said Anne. 'Don't forget we've got Mr Luffy to keep an eye on us. He'll be camping quite near.

 'Pooh! Old Luffy!' said Dick, with a laugh. 'He won't know if we're there or not. So long as he can study his precious moorland insects, he won't bother about us.'

'Well, if it hadn't been that he was going to camp, too, we wouldn't have been allowed to go,' said Anne. 'I heard Daddy say so.'

Mr Luffy was a master at the boys' school, an elderly, dreamy fellow with a passion for studying all kinds of insect-life. Anne avoided him when he carried about boxes of insect specimens, because sometimes they escaped and came crawling out. The boys liked him and thought him fun, but the idea of Mr Luffy keeping an eye on them struck them as very comical.

'It's more likely we'll have to keep an eye on him,' said Julian. 'He's the sort of chap whose tent will always be falling down on top of him, or he'll run out of water, or sit down on his bag of eggs. Old Luffy seems to live in the world of insects, not in our world!' seems to live in the world of insects, not in our world!'

 'Well, he can go and live in the world of insects if he likes, so long as he doesn't interfere with us,' said George, who hated interfering people. 'This sounds as if it will be a super holiday - living in tents on the high moors, away from everybody, doing exactly what we like, when we like and how we like.'

 'Woof!' said Timmy, thumping his tail again.

 'That means he's going to do as he likes, too,' said Anne. 'You're going to chase hundreds of rabbits, aren't you, Timmy, and bark madly at anyone who dares to come within two miles of us!'

 'Now be quiet a minute, Anne!' said Dick, picking up his list again. 'We really must check down our list and find out if we've got every single thing we want. Where did I get to - oh, four sleeping-bags.'

 'Yes, and you wanted to know if Timmy was to have one,' said Anne, with a giggle.

'Of course he won't,' said George. 'He'll sleep where he always does - won't you, Timmy? On my feet.'

 'Couldn't we get him just a small sleeping-bag?' asked Anne. 'He'd look sweet with his head poking out of the top.'

 'Timmy hates looking sweet,' said George. 'Go on, Dick. I'll tie my hanky round Anne's mouth if she interrupts again.'