Chapter 1 BACK FOR THE HOLIDAYS
'George, can't you sit still for even a minute!' said Julian. 'It's bad enough to have the train rockingabout all over the place, without you falling over my feet all the time, going to look out of first onewindow and then the other.'
'Well, we're nearly at Kirrin - almost home!' said George. 'I can't help feeling excited. I've missed oldTimmy so much this term, and I just can't wait to see him! I love to look out of the window and seehow much nearer we are to Kirrin. Do you think Timmy will be on the station to meet us, barkingmadly?'
'Don't be an ass¹,' said Dick. 'He's a clever dog, but not clever enough to read railway time-tables.'
'He doesn't need to,' said George. 'He always knows when I'm coming home.'
'I really believe he does,' said Anne, seriously. 'Your mother always says how excited he is on the dayyou are arriving home from school - can't keep still - keeps going to the front gate and looking downthe road.'
'Dear, dear Timmy!' said George, falling over Julian's feet again, as she scrambled² once more to thewindow. 'We're nearly there. Look, there's the signal-box, and the signal is down.
HURRAH³!'
Her three cousins looked at her in amusement. George was always like this on the way home fromschool. Her thoughts were full of very little else but her beloved Timmy all the way home.
Julian thought how much she looked like a restless boy just then, with her short, curly hair, and herdetermined expression. George had always longed to be a boy, but as she wasn't, she made up for itby trying to speak and act like one, and would never answer to her full name of Georgina.
'We're coming into Kirrin station!' yelled George, almost falling out of the window. 'I can see ourporter. Hey, Peters - we're back again. WE'RE BACK AGAIN!'
The train slid into Kirrin station, and Peters waved and grinned. He had known George since she wasa baby. George opened the door and leapt out of the carriage.
'Home again! Back at Kirrin! Oh, I do hope Timmy will be at the station!' she said.
But there was no Timmy there. 'He must have forgotten you were coming,' said Dick, with a grin, andat once got a scowl⁴ from George. Peters came up, smiling all over his face, and gave 2them his usual welcome. Everyone in Kirrin Village knew the Five - which, of course, includedTimmy the dog.
Peters soon had the children's luggage out, and wheeled it down the platform on his

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