Chapter 1 A WEEK'S HOLIDAY
'Where's the map?' said Julian. 'Is that it, George? Good! Now - where shall we spread it?'
'On the floor,' said Anne. 'A map is always easiest to read on the floor. I'll push the table out of theway.'
'Well, be careful, for goodness' sake,' said George. 'Father's in his study, and you know whathappened before when someone pushed the table right over!'
Everyone laughed. George's father so often came pouncing¹ out of his study if any sudden noise wasmade when he was working.
The table was pushed out of the way and the big map unfolded and spread out over the floor.
Timmy was surprised to see the four children kneeling down around it, and barked, imagining thiswas some kind of new game.
'Be quiet, Timmy!' said Dick. 'You've got into trouble once this morning already for making a row.
And stop brushing my face with your tail.'
'Wuff,' said Timmy and lay down heavily on the map.
'Get up, idiot,' said Dick. 'Don't you know we're in a hurry? We want to trace our route to BillycockHill...'
'Billycock Hill - what a lovely name!' said Anne. 'Is that where we're going?'
'Yes,' said Julian, poring over the map. 'It's near some caves we want to see - and there's a ButterflyFarm not far off, and...'
'A Butterfly Farm!' said George, surprised. 'Whatever's that?'
'Just what it sounds like!' said Dick. 'A farm for butterflies! Toby, a friend of ours at school, told meabout it. He lives quite near it and he says it's a most interesting place - they breed butterflies- and moths³, too - from eggs, and sell them to collectors.'
'Do they really?' said Anne. 'Well, I must say I used to enjoy keeping caterpillars⁴ and seeing whatthey turned into - it was like magic to see a lovely butterfly or moth² creep out of the chrysalis. But afarm for them - can we really go and see it?'
'Oh, yes - Toby says the men who run it are very decent about showing anyone round,' said Julian.
'Apparently⁵ Billycock Hill is a good place for rare butterflies, too - that's why they've got their farmthere. They rush about with nets half the time - and at night they go moth-hunting.'
2'It sounds exciting,' said Dick. 'Well, what with caves to see, and a butterfly farm, and Toby to visit,and...'

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