Five on Finniston Farm Read Online Free PDF Page A

plenty of cows there, swishing their tails. The milking was almost finished, and the twins were driving some of the cows back to their field.
    „Hal o - how did you get on?" asked Anne.
    „Fine - it was fun," said Dick. „My cows did better than Julian"s, though - I sang to them all the time, and they loved it!"
    „Ass!" said George. „Did you have a talk with the farmer?"
    „Yes - he says he"s got an old Land-Rover and he"ll take us al over the farm tomorrow,"
    said Dick, pleased. „And we can ride on that tractor, if Bill - that"s one of his farm-hands -
    wil let us. He says Bil won"t have Junior on the tractor at any price - so maybe there"ll be ructions if he sees us on it!"
    „Well, I"m al ready for a ruction, and so is Timmy," said George grimly. „Sooner or later I"m going to tell Junior a few home-truths."
    „We"d all like to do that," said Julian. „But let"s hold our horses til a good moment comes - I don"t want that nice Mrs Phitpot upset - and you know, if we caused her to lose the two Americans she might suffer badly - in her pocket! I bet they pay well."
    „Well - I understand all that too, Ju," said George. „But Timmy doesn"t. He"s longing to have a go at Junior!"
    „And how I share that feeling!" said Dick, rubbing Timmy"s big head. „What"s the time?
    Shall we go for a walk.”
    „No," said Julian. „My legs feel stiff with cycling up so many Dorset hil s today. I vote we just stroll around a bit, not go for miles."
    The Five set off together, wandering round the farm buildings, They were al very old, some of them falling to pieces. The roofs had great Dorset tiles, made of stone, uneven and roughly shaped. They were a lovely grey, and were bril iant with lichen and moss.
    „Aren"t they gorgeous?" said George, stopping to look at the tiles on a small out-house.
    „Look at that lichen, did you ever see such a bril iant orange? But what a pity - half of them have gone from this roof, and someone has replaced them with horrid cheap tiles!"
    „Maybe the Philpots sold them," said Julian. „Old tiles like that, bril iant with lichen, can fetch quite a bit of money - especially from Americans. There"s many a barn out in America covered with old tiles from this country, moss and all. A bit of old England!"
    „If I had a lovely old place like this I wouldn"t sell one single tile, or one single bit of moss!"
    said George, quite fiercely.
    „Maybe you wouldn"t," said Dick. „But some would - if they loved their farm enough and didn"t want to see it go to pieces for lack of money. Their fields would be worth more than old tiles to them!"
    „I bet old Grand-dad wouldn"t sel them if he could help it!" said Anne. „I wonder if the American has tried to buy any of these tiles? I guess he has."
    They had an interesting time wandering round. They found one old barn-like shed stacked with ancient cast-away junk, and Julian rummaged in it with great interest.
    „Look at this giant cart-wheel!" he said, peering into a dark corner. „It"s almost as tall as I am! My word - they must have made al their own wheels here in the old days - in this very shed, perhaps. And maybe their own tools too. Look at this old tool - what in the world is it?"

    They gazed at the curious curved tool, stil as strong and as good as it had been two or three centuries before. It was heavy, and Julian thought that he wouldn"t have liked to use it for more than ten minutes at a time!
    „But I bet old Grand-dad could use it for a whole day and never get tired," he said. „When he was a young man, I mean. He must have been as strong as an ox, then."
    „Well, you remember what the girl at the dairy said," put in Anne. „She said he had once fought a bul and knocked it out. We must ask him about that. I bet he"d love to tell us."
    „He"s a real old character!" said Julian. „I like him, shouts and temper and all. Come on -
    it"s getting latish. We didn"t ask about the evening meal. I wonder what time we ought to get back for