Disclaimer: I own neither Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends nor the Famous Five.

CHAPTER THREE

A strange new friend – and a delightful morning!

Julian was the first to wake next morning. For a few moments, while golden sunlight filtered into the tent, he couldn't quite remember where he was. He glanced at Dick, eyes closed, mouth ajar, still fast asleep. And then he remembered. They were on Sodor! They were going to have the best holiday ever, with no fear of any adventures!

Julian glanced at his watch. He'd wisely laid it on his backpack, which was lying next to his sleeping bag. It showed half past seven. Gosh! If they didn't wake up soon, they might not be able to do all the things they did so want to do! He sat up and gently nudged his brother with his foot.

'Wake up, Dick!' he whispered. 'We're on Sodor! We have a big day ahead! Oh, do wake up!'

Slowly, Dick opened an eye. 'Oh, it's you, Ju,' he mumbled sleepily. 'Just go and let me sleep.'

'Not on your life!' said Julian, trying to shake his brother awake. 'Come on. If you don't wake up now, we'll never get down to some real exploring.'

Dick bounded up as though electrocuted. 'I'm ready,' he said. 'Let's wake the girls and get dressed. I just can't wait to get started.'

'All right, Dick, no need to go overboard,' said Julian with a chuckle. 'First, I'll go and wake the girls, and then we can have breakfast and set off.'

'Where to?' asked Dick, wriggling out of his sleeping bag at top speed.

'Wherever the moon takes us,' said Julian. 'That's the best bit of camping holidays. You can do what you like and go where you like, when you like! Now I must go and wake George and Anne.'

Within a few minutes, all four children were dressed and Julian was directing Anne and Dick to the village of Hackenbeck for provisions.

'Here's what we need,' explained Julian, handing a sheet of paper to Dick. 'But feel free to get anything we might want. Just don't buy too much – remember that we want it to fit in our tents!'

'Consider it done,' said Dick, pocketing the sheet, taking Anne by the hand and setting off down the slope towards the stile.

In less than a minute, Dick and Anne reached the foot of the hill. Dick let Anne climb over the stile first, and was about to climb over himself when he paused.

'What's the matter?' asked Anne.

'It might be just my imagination, but I got this jolly strange feeling that we're being watched,' said Dick slowly, scanning the hedgerows on either side of them. 'I felt it in my bones.'

'Don't be silly, Dick,' said Anne. 'It's probably just overexcitement at being somewhere new.'

But Dick continued to gaze round him, until he gave a sudden exclamation.

'Anne, look over there! I saw it most distinctly. Over there in that gorse bush!'

Anne whipped round and stared at the bush that Dick was pointing at. Sure enough, they could make out a figure crouched among the prickly branches. But even as they stared, the bush shuddered and crackled and its occupant – a slight, boyish figure wearing grimy shorts and jersey – leapt out and ran like the wind down the road and out of sight.

Having seen the figure emerge, Dick had at once started in pursuit, but the boy was out of sight almost as soon as he'd vaulted the stile and he soon gave up.

'Who do you think it could be?' asked Anne as they set off down the road. Julian had given them directions to Crowe's Farm, which was less than a mile from the campsite.

'I couldn't see,' said Dick. 'He was gone before I could get a better look. But even so, I've got this jolly strange feeling that I've seen him before.'

'Whatever do you mean?' said Anne, gazing thoughtfully after the boy, then at her brother. 'Could it be one of our old friends, do you suppose?'

'It's possible,' said Dick. 'This is quite a large island, after all, and I'm not sure if news travels well. But then we mustn't get our hopes up for another adventure.'

'Oh, can't we just have peace and quiet for once?' said Anne dispiritedly.

'Hasn't experience taught you anything?' said Dick as they neared the main gate of Crowe's Farm. 'We don't find adventure – adventure finds us!'

By now, they had reached the farmyard, where a tall, burly man in dungarees was oiling the rear wheels on a blue tractor. This had to be Mr Crowe. He looked up as they approached and smiled.

'Hello, children,' he said, straightening up. 'Come to clear us out, I suppose?'

'Not exactly,' said Dick, pulling the list out of his pocket. Quickly, he reeled off what they needed, and Mr Crowe saw to it that it was all provided. He even gave them quite a lot that wasn't on the list.

'You never know what you might need,' he said, carefully arranging the food in two large wicker baskets. 'That should do it. Now you can have the lot for half a crown – not a halfpenny more.'

'I say, that's jolly decent of you,' said Dick, feeling in his pocket and turning over the right amount.

'Not at all, Dick,' replied Mr Crowe. He smiled at their shocked faces. 'We were told that you would be coming – two boys, two girls and one dog – yesterday morning. We were told what your names were, and just what adventures you've been up to.'

'Do you manage the farm all by yourself?' asked Anne as she and Dick grasped the baskets, staggering slightly under their weight.

'Nothing of the sort,' said Mr Crowe. 'I have quite a few farmhands. Also, my goddaughter arrived the day before yesterday to spend her Easter holidays on the farm. From the moment she arrived here, she proved to be quite a treasure. I only wish you could see her, but she's gone off exploring.'

'Well, if she's really that valuable to you, she might just as well be your real daughter,' said Dick. 'Thanks again, Mr Crowe. You can be sure that we'll be back.'

A little while later, the Five were seated around a small campfire in front of their tents, while Dick and Anne cooked a simple meal of eggs and bacon. Julian and Dick couldn't help but feel as fond of their little sister as they'd ever been. They could not think what they would do without her to provide grand meals wherever they went. Of course, Anne said the same about Julian for being their leader!

The view of Sodor from the hill was simply beautiful! The countryside stretched towards deep blue seas with golden sands and soaring cliffs. There were quite a few clusters of buildings that Julian said must be towns. 'Otherwise there wouldn't be railways,' he'd said.

Myriad birds swooped overhead, tweeting, cawing and mewing. Rabbits lolloped out of the bushes, disappearing as soon as they saw Tim. One came so close to Anne that she was able to reach out and stroke it, before Timmy frightened it away again, as was his custom. A big handsome stag watched the children from the shelter of a copse before retreating into the trees to find his own breakfast.

'Sodor has an awful lot of animals,' said George when they were eating their bacon and eggs. 'Do you think that's part of the secret Father wouldn't tell us?'

'I don't think so,' said Julian wisely. 'You see, there are billions of animals in the world and where we've been, there seems to be just as many as anywhere else. Besides, I'm not sure having a huge number of animals is too big a secret to be kept from us.'

'I hope there are lots of dogs,' said Anne. 'Then Timmy can make friends like us.'

'Woof!' said Timmy, and thumped his tail.

'He seems to like that,' said Dick, patting the big dog. 'It does seem most unfair to Tim if we can make friends, but he can't.'

When they'd finished breakfast and tidied up, the children shouldered their bags eagerly. Julian took the map and a pencil from his pocket and drew a large X on the hill where they were camped.

'That's to make sure we know where to get to if we get lost,' he said. 'So we are camped two miles from a place called Arlesdale and five miles from a town called Ffarquhar. Those ought to be quite familiar landmarks, in case we need to ask for directions.'

'Good idea, Julian,' said George. 'But where do we go from here?'

Dick peered at the map over Julian's shoulder. 'There's a town of Ffarquhar not too far from here,' he said. 'But I don't believe it can do any harm. At the worst, it ought to offer yet more information about Sodor. At best, we might actually find out Sodor's secret.'

'What are we waiting for?' cried Anne, who was bounding about like a spring. 'Let's go at once!'

'Right, off we go,' said Julian, and they set off down the hill, following Julian as he traced out the route on the map with his finger. The walk downwards was most pleasurable. The long grass swayed gently in the breeze and the fields were simply teeming with buttercups, daisies and daffodils. Timmy just couldn't resist trying to ambush any rabbit he could see, but George made sure he did them no harm, mainly by sternly calling him away if he went after the rabbits.

'Gosh, Sodor rabbits are just as tame as those on Kirrin Island!' said Dick. 'No wonder Timmy leaps at them like that!'

'Come here, Tim!' cried George loudly. 'For goodness sake, I shall take you back to the camp if you don't stop attacking those rabbits!'

Timmy emerged from the bushes, his tail down and eyes huge and sorrowful. He wanted to chase rabbits, but he did not want to be left behind, especially since this was his first day on a strange island.

At last, the children reached the foot of the hill where the fence and stile stood. They climbed over one by one and set off down the road towards the station of Ffarquhar. As they got near, there came the toot of a horn. A red single-decker bus sped past them, and pulled up at a bus stop near the station. The children thought no more of this, but listened carefully for any more vehicles as they arrived in the station yard. Just as they were entering the station, the horn sounded again and the bus sped away.

The children shyly entered the station building. A man was seated behind the desk and poring over a thick leger spread out in front of him. Posters plastered two of the four walls, advertising all manner of things, such as cigarettes, tea and confectionary. But two posters caught Dick and Anne's attention, for the simple reason that they advertised different railways. One advertised a railway called 'The Skarloey Railway', with a picture of a saddle tank engine that wouldn't have looked out of place on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales. The second simply said, in big blue letters, 'NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY (NWR)'. After gazing at this for a few moments, the children approached the desk.

'Can I help you?' asked the man behind the desk.

'Yes,' said Julian. 'We'd like some information about Sodor. You see, we're camping on the hillside a few miles from here, and...'

'Oh, so you're the children Sir Topham Hatt told us all about,' said the man. 'In that case, go right ahead. Thomas will be arriving at platform one in –' he glanced at the clock on the wall opposite his desk, '– about five minutes. Sir Topham said that, since you're related to his old friend Dr Kirrin, we would give you train passes for your stay on his railway. Here they are, and enjoy your holiday!'

Utterly bewildered, the children and Timmy left the office and crammed onto a bench on the platform. The bench was so short that Anne had to sit on Julian's lap and Timmy was in danger of falling off, until George plonked the big dog onto her lap.

They had just made themselves comfortable when a shrill whistle reached their ears. They looked eagerly up the track to see a small, blue, six-wheeled tank engine puffing towards them. Then the children wondered if they were perhaps still feeling drowsy, for the tank engine approaching them appeared to have a FACE!

The engine pulled into the platform, and the children saw that it was pulling two brown coaches.

'Hello!' it said, in a clear, rather squeaky voice. 'You must be the children the Fat Controller told us about. Welcome to Ffarquhar.'

The children felt that they simply must be dreaming. It had been surprising enough meeting an engine with a face, but one who spoke was surely too much!

'Excuse me,' said Julian in a polite voice. 'But we want to know who you are, and whether you are friendly. We haven't met a talking tank engine before, and we're all a bit nervous about it.'

'Please do not worry,' said the engine kindly. 'My name is Thomas the Tank Engine. This is Sodor Island, and this railway is my branch line. By the way, what are your names?'

'I'm Dick,' said Dick. 'This is my sister Anne, my brother Julian and our cousin George.'

'And this is Timmy,' said George, patting the big dog, who gazed up at Thomas inquisitively.

Thomas's face broke into a gigantic smile. 'Oh, George, he's gorgeous! You've made a perfect choice of dog!' Then he looked up, perplexed. 'Erm, I was told that Dr Kirrin would be sending along two boys and two girls, but there are three boys and one girl. Has there been a mix-up, Julian?'

George blushed with pride and pleasure. She loved to be mistaken for a boy, and calling her Timmy 'gorgeous' was praise indeed! Fancy Thomas doing both these things at the same time! She now knew that she was most certainly going to like this extraordinary tank engine.

'George is a girl,' said Julian. 'Her real name's Georgina, but she simply hates that name. She'll only answer you if you call her George, and she can swim, run and sail just as good as any boy.'

'Oh!' said Thomas, looking so taken aback that the children couldn't help but laugh. Thomas quickly saw the funny side and laughed as well.

'Thomas, are there lots of engines like you on the island?' asked Dick.

'You mean, are there more talking trains?' replied Thomas with a little smile. 'If that's the case, then yes there are – lots. I suppose that makes Sodor unique.'

'The secret!' cried Anne suddenly. 'Now we know the secret! Sodor's full of talking trains!'

'I say, so it is!' cried George. 'How wonderful that we've found it out at last!' Timmy barked loudly and thumped his tail on the platform.

'Well, it's not that much of a secret,' said Thomas, clearly startled by this reaction. 'It's just something that makes Sodor stand out, I believe.'

'I remember reading about you in books from the school library,' said Dick. 'Apparently, you and your friends had many grand adventures on this island.'

'I read them too,' said Julian. 'The illustrations did show your lot with faces, but we thought it was just a way of relating to the characters and getting us to use our imaginations.'

'Where were you going before you stopped off here?' asked George.

'I was going to take the workmen to the quarry in Annie and Clarabel,' said Thomas.

'Who are Annie and Clarabel?' asked Anne.

'My two coaches,' said Thomas. 'I say, suppose I stay with you, then you can meet some more of the Ffarquhar fleet. And then you can all climb aboard my coaches and see more of the line as well.'

'That sounds like a wonderful idea,' said Julian happily.

'Smashing,' agreed Dick.

Thomas grinned. 'That's what I like to hear,' he said. 'But I'm afraid that I hardly know you. I've only got Dr Kirrin's word for it that you're all clever and brave children.'

The Five looked at each other and grinned. They felt that, so long as Thomas knew Uncle Quentin, they were perfectly secure.

'Apparently, Dr Kirrin's one of the best scientists in the business,' went on Thomas. 'He went to college with Sir Topham Hatt. He's the head of the railway, but we call him the Fat Controller. You may recognise Dr Kirrin. Tall chap, but has such a short temper! Lives in the seaside village of Kirrin. And I've heard that he's your father, George. But he doesn't say much about his home life.'

'I expect he just keeps quiet about it,' said Julian. 'Some scientists do, so I'm told.'

'Ah, well, that makes sense,' said Thomas thoughtfully. 'You see, I know nothing about how scientists think. To me, science is something complex that only a select few can truly understand.'

'I see what you mean,' said George. 'But my father didn't seem to make enough money for the three of us. That made him so bad-tempered. He even told me that Timmy had to go.'

'What?' cried Thomas in shock. 'Who'd want to get rid of a dog? Why, that's – animal cruelty!'

'I know, but Timmy was a jolly disobedient dog,' said George. 'But Father liked him in the end, and now he's a great deal kinder than he used to be.'

'I suppose...' began Thomas, but broke off at the sound of a bell. 'Oh, that'll be Toby heading off to the quarry with the workmen I brought from Elsbridge. It's only about a mile or so from here.'

'Then why don't we join them?' said Dick. 'A quarry seems like a smashing place to visit! I bet if we ask Thomas, he'd let us follow the workmen up the line.'

'Better not,' said Julian warily. 'It might be dangerous, and we most certainly don't want to be going anywhere dangerous. We might hurt ourselves.'

'It's not that bad,' said Thomas with a laugh. 'But you do have a point, Julian; quarries are so very unpredictable. As for now, take a look round the yard. This is where I live for most of the year round.'

The children looked up and saw a red brick engine shed, with three stalls side-by-side. It was at the edge of a small yard, and there was a separate track that the children assumed must lead to the quarry.

'It looks jolly nice,' said Julian. 'But who do you share the shed with, Thomas?'

As if on cue, there came a whistle and a tank engine pulled up beside Thomas. He was a little green saddle tank engine with four wheels and a number six on his bunker.

'Hello, Percy,' said Thomas. 'We've got ourselves some guests. Percy the Small Engine, meet Anne, George, Dick, Julian and Timmy the dog.'

'Hello, children,' said Percy, in a voice squeakier than Thomas'. 'It's nice to meet you.'

'You can say that again,' said a voice, and the children looked up to see a most peculiar-looking brown engine with cowcatchers and side plates, roll up in front of Thomas, pulling a vintage coach.

'You've been quick, Toby, and Henrietta too,' chuckled Thomas. 'This is Anne, George, Dick, Julian and George's dog, Timmy.'

'The Fat Controller said George and Anne were girls,' said Percy. 'But George is clearly a boy.'

'George is a girl,' explained Thomas. 'She hates being a girl, so you'd better call her George.'

'Well, if it makes her happy, so be it,' said the engine called Toby. 'I've just taken the workmen to the quarry. Busy as ever up there, but it's worth every minute of work.'

'What a queer engine Toby is!' said George, before she could stop herself. She blushed with discomfort, but Toby didn't look the least bit offended.

'He's a tram engine, George,' said Thomas.

'Is he electric?' asked Anne.

'Whoosh!' hissed Toby crossly, blowing steam from under his cowcatchers.

'Idiot, Anne!' hissed Dick, giving her a sharp nudge. 'Now you've offended him!'

'But trams are electric, aren't they?' said Anne. 'We've seen them in London.'

'They are mostly, Anne,' said Julian. 'But, unless I'm much mistaken, this is a steam tram.'

'Electric indeed, electric indeed!' snorted Toby. He looked most offended. Anne felt silly for thinking he was electric when he clearly wasn't.

'I'm sorry, Toby,' she said. 'I didn't realise you were a steam tram.'

Toby smiled. 'That's okay,' he said. 'You're not the first one to think I'm electric, Anne.'

'Are there more of you?' asked George. 'Or are you the only one left?'

Toby sighed. 'I'm afraid I'm the only one of my sort on the line,' he said sadly. 'I used to live in East Anglia, but my line was closed and I was brought to Sodor.'

The children were just absorbing this when they heard a third whistle from the line behind them.

'That's Edward!' cried Thomas, looking up as a small blue tender engine backed towards them. 'Hello, Edward! Good to see you! Oh, hello, Sir! I suppose you're here for the children.'