1 THE SECRET SEVEN MEET

SECRET SEVEN Secret Seven On The Trail ILLUSTRXI'ED

CHAPTER ONE THE SECRET SEVEN MEET 'MUMMY, HAVE you got anything we could have to drink?' asked Janet. 'And to eat too?' 'But you've only just finished your breakfast!' said their mother in surprise. 'And you each had two sausages. You can't possibly want anything more yet.' 'Well, we're having the very last meeting of the Secret Seven this morning,' said Janet. 'Down in the shed. We don't think it's worth while meeting when we all go back to school, nothing exciting ever happens then.' 'We're going to meet again when the

Christmas holidays come,' said Peter. 'Aren't we, Scamper, old boy?' The golden spaniel wagged his tail hard, and gave a small bark. 'He says, he hopes he can come to the last meeting too,' said Janet. 'Of course you can, Scamper.' 'He didn't say that,' said Peter, grinning. 'He said that if there were going to be snacks of any kind at this meeting, he'd like to join in!' 'Woof,' agreed Scamper, and put his paw up on Peter's knee. 'I'll give you lemons, and some sugar, and you can make your own lemonade,' said Mummy. 'You like doing that, don't you? And you can go and see if there are any rock-buns left in the tin in the larder. They'll be stale, but I know you don't mind that!' 'Oh, thanks,' said Janet. 'Come on Peter. We'd better get the things now, because the others will be here soon!'

They ran off to the larder, Scamper panting behind. Rock-buns! Stale or not, Scamper liked those as much as the children did. Janet took some lemons, and went to get the sugar from her mother. Peter emptied the stale rock-buns on to a plate, and the two of them, followed by Scamper, went down to the shed. Janet had the lemon-squeezer and a big jug of water. It was fun to make lemonade. They pushed open the shed door. On it were the letters S.S. in green– S.S. for the Secret Seven! 'Our Secret Society has been going for some time now,' said Janet, beginning to squeeze a lemon. 'I'm not a bit tired of it, are you, Peter?' 'Of course not!' said Peter. 'Just think of all the adventures we've had, and the exciting things we've done! But I do think it's sensible not to bother about the Secret Seven meetings till the hols. For one thing, in this Christmas

term the days get dark very quickly, and we have to be indoors.' 'Yes, and nothing much happens then,' said Janet. 'Oh, Scamper– you won't like that squeezed out lemon-skin, you silly dog! Drop it!' Scamper dropped it. He certainly didn't like it! He sat with his tongue hanging out, looking most disgusted. Peter glanced at his watch. 'Nearly time for the others to come,' he said. 'I hope they'll agree to this being the last meeting till Christmas. We'd better collect all the badges from them, and put them in a safe place. If we don't, someone is bound to lose one.' 'Or that silly sister of Jack's will take it and wear it herself,' said Janet. 'What's her name– Susie? Aren't you glad I'm not annoying to you, like Susie is to Jack, Peter?' 'Well, you're pretty annoying sometimes,' said Peter, and immediately got a squirt of

lemon-juice in his eye from an angry Janet! 'Oh, don't do that. Don't you know that lemon-juice stings like anything? Stop it, Janet!' Janet stopped it. 'I'd better not waste the juice,' she said. 'Ah, here comes someone.' Scamper barked as somebody walked up the path and knocked on the door. 'Password!' called Peter, who never opened the door to anyone until the correct password was called. 'Pickled onions!' said a voice, and giggled. That was the latest password of the Secret Seven, suggested by Colin, whose mother had been pickling onions on the day of the last meeting they had had. It was such a silly password that everyone had laughed, and Peter had said they would have it till they thought of a better one. 'Got your badge?' said Peter, opening the door.