Free Five Have a Mystery to Solve by Enid Blyton

flash!
    „Wasted on you, Tim, absolutely wasted!" said Anne. „Crick-crack, swallow - that"s all a barley-sugar means to you! Why can"t dogs suck a sweet as we do! They never seem to suck anything. No, Timmy, don"t go sniffing into Dick"s pocket for another!"
    Timmy was disappointed. He went snuffling round the cove, and then, scenting a rabbit smell, he followed it with his nose to the ground. The children didn"t notice that he had disappeared, but went on talking, trying to solve their very real difficulty.

    No boat. No food. No way of getting help except by signal ing in some way. Not very funny, thought Dick.
    And then, very suddenly, a loud sound broke the silence - CRACK!
    Everyone jumped up at once. „That was a gunshot," said Dick. „The keepers! But what were they shooting at?"
    „Where"s Timmy?" cried George, looking al round. „Tim, Tim, where are you TIM!"
    Everyone"s heart went cold. Timmy! No, the shot couldn"t have been meant for old Timmy! Surely the keepers wouldn"t shoot a dog!
    George was nearly mad with dread. She clutched at Dick, tears streaming down her cheeks. „Dick! It couldn"t be Timmy, could it? Oh Timmy, where are you? TIMMY! Come to me!"
    „Listen! Listen a minute, George!" said Dick, as shouts came from the distance. „I thought I heard Tim whine then. Isn"t that him coming through the bushes?"
    There was the noise of rustling as some creature pressed through the last year"s old bracken fronds - and then Timmy"s head appeared, his bright eyes looking for them.
    „Oh Timmy, darling Timmy, I thought you"d been shot!" cried George, hugging the big dog. „Did they shoot at you? Are you hurt anywhere?"
    „I bet I know why he was shot at," said Dick. „Look what he"s got in his mouth - half a ham!
    Drop it, you robber, you!"
    Timmy stood there, the ham in his mouth, wagging his tail joyously. He had felt hungry, and was sure the others did too - so he had gone a hunting!
    „Where did you get that, you bad dog?" said Julian. Timmy wished he could tell him. He would have said „Well, I went sniffing after a rabbit - and I came to a shed stored with tins of food - and one was open with this piece of ham inside, waiting for me. And here it is!"
    He dropped the ham at George"s feet. It smelt extremely good. „Well, thanks, old fel ow,"
    said Julian. „We could do with some of that - though we"ll have to pay for it when we meet the owner, whoever he is!"
    „Julian - he has been shot at!" said George, in a trembling voice. „Look - his tail"s bleeding, and some fur is gone."
    „My word, yes!" said Julian, examining Timmy"s tail. „Good gracious - those fel ows mean business. I real y think I"d better find them and tell them we"re here, in case they take a pot-shot at us too!"
    „Well, let"s go now - all of us," said Dick. „They probably thought Timmy was a wolf or a fox or something, slinking through the trees. Poor old fel ow!"
    Timmy was not at all disturbed. He was so proud of finding and bringing back the ham that he even wagged his wounded tail!
    „It"s quite certain that no animals or birds wil be tame and friendly on this island now," said Anne. „They"l have been scared stiff by the game-keepers potting at this and that."
    „You"re right," said Julian. „It rather makes me think that the fel ows on the island are no longer merely gamekeepers, put in to preserve the wild life, and to frighten sight-seers away - but real, fierce guards of some kind. Like those two horrible men we saw in the courtyard!"
    „Well, what are they guarding then?" said George.
    „That"s what I"d very much like to find out," said Julian. „And I think perhaps I"l snoop round a bit and see what I can discover. When it"s getting dark, though, not now."
    „I wish we hadn"t come," said Anne. „I wish we were safe in our cottage with Wilfrid. I wonder if he"s found his whistle-pipe. Goodness, it seems ages since we hired that boat!"

    „Can"t we go quietly through the woods and explore a bit?"