Famous Five - 18 - Five on Finniston Farm by Enid Blyton

Author:Enid Blyton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Children's Fiction
Published: 1960-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

A MOST EXCITING TALK

The boys were busy hammering and sawing and the girls sat and waited till the noise died down. Snippet was there, leaping about ridiculously with little bits of wood in his mouth, and Nosey the jackdaw had suddenly taken a fancy to the shavings that now covered the floor, and ran about chacking, and picking them up.

Outside the hens clucked and squawked, and not far off the ducks quacked loudly. ‘Those are the kind of noises I like to hear,’ said Anne, settling herself on a sack in a corner. She raised her voice and shouted above the hammering to Dick. ‘WANT ANY HELP, DICK?’

‘No thanks,’ said Dick. ‘We’ll just finish this job, then sit down and have a rest, and listen to what you have to say. You sit and watch our wonderful carpentering! Honestly, I’d make pounds a week if I took it up!’

‘Look out - Nosey has got your nails again!’ shouted George. Timmy leapt up as if he was going to chase Nosey, and the jackdaw promptly flew up to a crossbeam, and sat there chacking with laughter. Timmy thought him a very exasperating bird indeed. He lay down again with a thump.

At last the boys had finished the job they were on, and sat down, rubbing their hands over their wet foreheads. ‘Well, now you can tell us your news,’ said Dick. ‘Good thing we got rid of that little pest of a Junior - I might have hammered a few nails into him by mistake if he’d come worrying us this afternoon.’ He imitated Junior’s whining drawl. ‘Aw, shucks, Pop, lemme come with yew!’

Outside, his ear to the hole, Junior clenched his fists. He would willingly have stuck a few nails into Dick at that moment!

George and Anne began to tell the four listening children what old Mr Finniston had told them that morning. ‘It’s about Finniston Castle,’ said Anne. ‘The old castle that gave the village its name - and the farm as well. The old fellow who told us about it is called Finniston, too - and will you believe it, he’s a descendant of the Finnistons who lived in the castle centuries ago!’

‘He seems to have spent most of his life trying to discover everything possible about the old castle,’ said George. ‘He said he’d delved into old libraries - and into the church records here - anywhere that might help him to piece together the castle’s history!’

Outside the henhouse, Junior held his breath so as not to miss a single word. Why - his Pop had told him that he couldn’t get anything out of that old Mr Finniston at the antique shop - not a word about the castle, and its history, or even where the site was. Then why had he told Anne, and that horrible boy George? Junior felt angry, and listened even more keenly.

‘The story goes that in the twelfth century enemies came to attack the castle one night - and there

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