11 Jobs for every member

CHAPTER ELEVEN Jobs for every member THE NEXT day another Secret Seven meeting was held, but this time it was at Colin's, in his little summerhouse. It wasn't such a good place as Peter's shed, because it had an open doorway with no door, and they were not allowed to have an oil-stove in it. However, Colin's mother had asked all the Secret Seven to tea, so it was clear they would have to have their next meeting at his house, and the little summerhouse was the only place where they could talk in secret. 'We'll bring our old clothes for the Guy and decide what he should wear,' said Peter. 'We haven't even thought about him in the last two meetings and it's Bonfire Night in a few days.

We'll need paper and straw for stuffing him too.' So all the Secret Seven went to Colin's house that evening. They had a fine tea, the kind they all enjoyed most. 'Sardine sandwiches, honey sandwiches, a smashing cherry cake with cherries inside and on top, and an iced sponge cake. I say, Colin, your mother's a wonder,' said Peter, approvingly. 'Isn't she going to have it with us? I'd like to thank her.' 'No, she's had to go out to a committee meeting or something,' said Colin. 'All she said was that we've to behave ourselves, and if we go down to the summerhouse this cold dark evening, we've GOT to put on our coats.' 'Right,' said Peter. 'Coats it will be. Mothers are always very keen on coats, aren't they? Personally, I think it's quite hot today.' They finished up absolutely everything on the tea-table. There wasn't even a piece of the

big cherry cake left! Scamper, who had also been asked to tea, had his own dish of dog-biscuits with shrimp paste on each. He was simply delighted, and crunched them up non-stop. 'Now we'll go to the summerhouse. We'd better take a candle it's so dark already,' said Colin. 'And don't forget your coats everyone.' 'And the things for the Guy,' said Peter. So down they all went to the little wooden summerhouse, carrying paper, straw, string and safety pins as well as an odd assortment of old clothes. The house had a wooden bench running all round it and felt a bit cold. Nobody minded that. It was such a nice secret place to talk in, down at the bottom of the dark garden. The candle was stuck in a bottle and lit. There was no shelf to put it on, so Colin stood it in the middle of the floor. 'Have to be careful of Scamper knocking it over!' said Peter. 'Where is he?'

'He's gone into the kitchen to see Daddy,' said Colin. 'He's cooking a stew or something, and Scamper smelt it. He'll be along soon. Now, stack your things under the wooden bench for the time being. That's right. We'll look at the clothes when we've finished the meeting.' 'We'll begin it now,' said Peter. 'Owing to our silly mistake about the spectacles case, we're not as far on with this adventure as we ought to be. We must do a little more work on it. First, has anyone any idea where "Sid's Place" is?' There was a silence. 'Never heard of it,' said Jack. 'Well, it must be some place that is used by men like those two in my father's car,' said Peter. 'Perhaps Larry at the garage would know?' said Colin, who had great faith in Larry. 'He knows a lot of lorry-drivers, and they're the

kind who might go to some place called "Sid's" or "Jim's" or "Nick's".' 'Yes. That's a good idea,' said Peter. 'Colin, you and George go and find out from Larry tomorrow. Now, what else can we do? What about the number that one of the men had to get in touch with – what was it now?' 'Q8061,' said Pam, promptly. 'I think of it as the letter Q, but it might be spelt K-E-W, you know.' 'Yes, you're right. It might,' said Peter. 'That's really quite an idea, Pam. It might be a telephone number at Kew telephone exchange, Kew 8061. You and Barbara can make it your job to find out.' 'How do we set about it?' said Barbara. 'I really can't explain such easy things to you,' said Peter, impatiently. 'You and Pam can quite well work out what to do yourselves. Now, is there anything else we can work on?' 'Only the button we found in the car,' said

Jack. 'I told you, it's sure to belong to my father's mac,' said Peter. 'It's just like the buttons on it.' 'But we ought to make sure,' argued Jack. 'You know you always say we never ought to leave anything to chance, Peter. There are hundreds of different coat buttons.' 'Well, perhaps you're right,' said Peter. 'Yes, I think you are. Janet, will you see to that point, please, and look at Dad's mac. I know he's got a button missing, so I expect it belongs to his mac, but we will make sure.' 'You haven't given me anything to do,' said Jack. 'Well, if the button doesn't match the ones on Dad's mac, you can take charge of that point,' said Peter, with a sudden giggle, 'and you can march about looking for people wearing a mac with a missing button.' 'Don't be an idiot,' said Jack. 'Still, if it isn't