Free Five Have Plenty of Fun by Enid Blyton Page B

raspberries and ice-cream, looking worried.
    She brought in an enormous glass dish of fresh red raspberries and another dish of creamy-looking ice-cream blocks from the refrigerator.
    A sigh of admiration went up from everyone. „Who could want anything better?" said Dick. „And that ice-cream - how do you get it like that, Joan - not too frozen and not too melty? Just how I like it. I do hope some American doesn"t get hold of you and whisk you away across the ocean - you"re worth your weight in gold!"
    Joan laughed. „You say such extravagant things, Master Dick - and all because of an ordinary dish like raspberries and ice-cream. Get along with you! Master Lesley wil tel you there"s nothing clever about raspberries and cream."
    „I agree with every word the others say," said Berta fervently. „You"re wunnerful, you"re a honey, you"re..."
    But Joan had run out of the room, laughing, very pleased. She didn"t mind what she did for children like these!
    After they had finished lunch, they went down to the beach. James was stil with the boat.
    „She"s finished!" he called. „You going out in her now? I"l give you a hand down with her, then."
    Soon all five children and the dogs as wel were in George"s boat. The boys took the oars and began to pul hard towards the island. Timmy stood at the prow as he loved to do, fore-paws on the edge of the boat, looking out across the water.
    „He fancies himself as a figure-head," said Dick. „Ah, here comes Sally - she wants to be one too. Mind you don"t fall overboard, Sal y, and get your pretty feet wet. You"l have to learn to swim if you do!"
    Sal y stood close beside Timmy, and both dogs looked eagerly towards the island - Timmy because he knew there were hundreds of rabbits there, and Sal y because for her it was stil quite an adventure to go out in a boat like this.
    Berta, too, gazed eagerly at the little island as they drew near. She had heard so many tales about it now! She looked especial y at the old castle rising up from it. It was in ruins, and Berta thought it must be very old indeed. Like al Americans, she loved old buildings and old customs. How lucky George was to own an island like this!

    Rocks guarded the island, and the sea ran strongly over them, sending up spray and foam.
    „However are we going to get safely to the shore of the island?" said Berta, rather alarmed at the array of fierce-looking rocks that guarded it.
    „There"s a little cove we always use," said George. She was at the til er, and she steered the boat cleverly in and out of the rocks.
    They rounded a low wall of very sharp rocks and Berta suddenly saw the little cove.
    „Oh - is that the cove you mean?" she said. „Why, it"s like a little harbour going right up to that stretch of sand!"
    There was a smooth inlet of water running between rocks, making a natural little harbour, as Berta said. The boat slid smoothly into the inlet and up to the beach of sand.
    Dick leapt out and pul ed it up the shore. „She"s safe here," he told Berta. „Welcome to Kirrin Island!"
    Berta laughed. She felt very happy. What a truly wonderful place to come to!
    George led the way up the sandy beach to the rocks behind, and they climbed over them. They stopped at the top, and Berta exclaimed in amazement.
    „Rabbits! Thousands of them! Simply thousands. My, my, I never saw such tame ones in my life. Wil they let me pick them up?"
    „No," said George. „They"re not as tame as that! They"l run away when we go near - but they wil probably not go into their holes. They know us - we"ve so often been here."
    Sal y the poodle was amazed at the rabbits. She couldn"t believe her eyes. She stood close beside Berta, staring at the scuttling rabbits, her nose twitching as she tried to get their smel . She simply couldn"t understand why Timmy didn"t run at them.
    Timmy stood quite stil beside George, his tail down, looking very mournful. A visit to Kirrin Island was not such a pleasure to him as to the children, because