The Ragamuffin Mystery (The Barney 'R' Mysteries Book 6)

Enid Blyton:
The Ragamuffin Mystery
The Barney 'R' Mysteries Series Vol. 6

CHAPTER ONE:
Off in the Caravan
“This is going to be just about the most exciting holiday we’ve ever had!” said Roger,
carrying a suitcase and bag down to the front door. “Diana, bring that pile of books,
will you, before we forget them?”
Diana picked them up and ran down the stairs after Roger. At the front door stood a
caravan. Diana stood and gloated over it for about the twentieth time.
“Fancy Dad buying a caravan!” she said. “And oh, what a pity he can’t come with us
after all!”
“Yes - after all our plans!” said Roger. “Still, it’s a jolly good thing Mummy didn’t back
out, when she heard Dad had to go off to America - I was awfully afraid she would!
My heart went into my boots, I can tell you.”
“Same here,” said Diana, stacking the books neatly on a shelf in the caravan. “Have we
got our bird-book - we’ll see plenty of birds on our travels, and that’s my holiday task
- writing an essay on ‘Birds I have seen’.”
“Well, don’t forget to take the field-glasses then,” said Roger. “They’re hanging in the
hall. I say - what did you think about Mummy asking Miss Pepper to come with us, now
that Daddy can’t manage?”
Miss Pepper was a very old friend of their mother’s. The children were fond of her -
but Roger felt rather doubtful about having her on a caravan holiday with them. “You
see - she’s all right in a house,” he said to Diana. “But in a small caravan, with hardly
any room - won’t she get fussed? We shall be so much on top of one another.”
“Oh well - Mummy must have someone to take turns at driving the car that pulls the
caravan,” said Diana. “And she’ll be company for Mummy, too. She’s quite good fun - if
only she won’t keep making us be tidy, and wash our hands and knees a dozen times a
day, and...”
“What are you two gossiping about?” said their mother, hurrying out to the caravan
with some more things. “If we’re going to start off at eleven, we’d better hurry!
We’ve got to pick Miss Pepper up at two o’clock, you know - and that means going over
thirty miles an hour if we don’t start punctually. Too fast for a car with a caravan!”
“I wish Daddy was coming,” groaned Diana, helping her mother to pack in more
luggage. “Miss Pepper’s all right - but Daddy’s such fun on a holiday!”
“Yes - it’s a pity,” said her mother. “But at least we haven’t got to put up with Snubby
this time!”
“Gosh yes - Snubby with us in a small caravan - and Loony too - would be just about
the limit!” said Roger. “Who’s he staying with these hols?”
Snubby was their cousin, a ginger-haired, freckled, snub-nosed twelve-year-old boy.
He had no father or mother, and so spent his holidays with one or other of his aunts
and uncles. Snubby by himself was bad enough, but with his quite mad dog, Loony, a
beautiful black spaniel, he was enough to drive even the most patient aunt and uncle
out of their minds.
“He’s staying with Auntie Pat, I think,” said Diana. “Isn’t he, Mummy? I bet he’s
driving her crazy. Last time he stayed with her, Loony got a passion for goloshes, and
took every single one from the hall cupboard and hid them in the rhododendron
bushes...”
“And the gardener couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw them, and he called Snubby,
and Snubby asked him why he had sown golosh seed under the rhododendrons!” said
Roger, with a sudden snort of laughter.
“Good old Snubby! He is a pest, but honestly you can’t help laughing at him half the
time,” said Diana. “I bet he wishes he was coming on this caravan holiday with us.”
“Well, thank goodness he’s not,” said their mother. “Pack those rugs in the corner....