Five Go Off In A Caravan
CHAPTER ONE
THE BEGINNING OF THE HOLIDAYS
'I do love the beginning of the summer
hols,' said Julian. They always seem to stretch out ahead for ages and ages.'
'They go so nice and slowly at first,' said
Anne, his little sister. 'Then they start to gallop.'
The others laughed. They knew exactly what
Anne meant. 'Woof,' said a deep voice, as if someone else thoroughly agreed
too.
'Timmy thinks you're right, Anne,' said
George, and patted the big dog lying panting beside them. Dick patted him, too,
and Timmy licked them both.
The four children were lying in a sunny
garden in the first week of the holidays. Usually they went to their cousin
Georgina's home for holidays, at Kirrin — but this time, for a change, they
were all at the home of Julian, Dick and Anne.
Julian was the oldest, a tall, sturdy boy
with a strong and pleasant face. Dick and
'Daddy said this morning that if we didn't
want to stay here all the hols we could choose what we wanted to do,' said
Anne. 'I vote for staying here.'
'We could go off somewhere just for two
weeks, perhaps,' said Dick. 'For a change.'
'Shall we go to Kirrin, and stay with
George's mother and father for a bit?' said Julian, thinking that perhaps
George would like this.
'No,' said George at once. 'I went home at
half-term, and Mother said Father was just beginning one of his experiments in
something or other — and you know what that means. If we go there we'd have to
walk about on tiptoe, and talk in whispers, and keep out of his way the whole
time.'
'That's the worst of having a scientist for
a father,' said Dick, lying down on his back and shutting his eyes. 'Well, your
mother couldn't cope with us and with your father, too, in the middle of one of
his experiments at the same time.
'I like Uncle Quentin, but I'm afraid of him
when he's in one of his tempers,' said Anne. 'He shouts so.'
'It's decided that we won't go to Kirrin,
then,' said Julian, yawning. 'Not these hols, anyhow. You can always go and see
Mother for a week or so, George, when you want to. What shall we do, then? Stay
here all the time?'
They were now all lying down on their backs
in the sun, their eyes shut. What a hot afternoon! Timmy sat up by George, his
pink tongue hanging out, panting loudly.
'Don't, Timmy,' said Anne. 'You sound as if
you have been running for miles, and you make me feel hotter than ever.'
Timmy put a friendly paw on Anne's middle
and she squealed. 'Oh, Timmy — your paw's heavy. Take it off.'
'You know, I think if we were allowed to go
off by ourselves somewhere, it would be rather fun,' said George, biting a
blade of grass and squinting up into the deep blue sky. The biggest fun we've
ever had was when we were alone on
'But where?' said Dick. 'And how? I mean we
aren't old enough to take a car — though I bet I could drive one. It wouldn't
be much fun going on bicycles, because Anne can't ride as fast as we can.'
'And somebody always gets a puncture,' said
Julian.
'It would be jolly good fun to go off on
horses,' said George. 'Only we haven't got even one.'
'Yes, we have — there's old Dobby down in
the field,' said Dick. 'He is ours. He used to draw the pony-cart, but we don't
use it any more now he's turned out to grass.'
'Well, one horse wouldn't take four of us,
silly,' said George. 'Dobby's no good.'
There was a silence, and everyone thought
lazily about holidays. Timmy snapped at a fly, and his teeth came together with
a loud click.
'Wish I could catch flies like that,' said
Dick, flapping away a blue-bottle. 'Come and catch this one, Timmy, old thing.'
'What about a walking tour?' said Julian
after a pause. There was a chorus of groans.
'What! In this weather! You're mad!'
'We shouldn't be allowed to.'
'All right, all right,' said Julian. 'Think
of a better idea, then.'
'I'd like to go somewhere where we could
bathe,' said Anne. 'In a lake, for instance, if we can't go to the sea.'
'Sounds nice,' said Dick. 'My goodness, I'm
sleepy. Let's hurry up and settle this matter, or I shall be snoring hard.'
But it wasn't easy to settle. Nobody wanted
to go off to an hotel, or to rooms. Grown-ups would want to go with them and
look after them. And nobody wanted to go walking or cycling in the hot August
weather.
'Looks as if we'll have to stay at home all
the hols, then,' said Julian. 'Well — I'm going to have a snooze.'
In two minutes they were all asleep on the
grass except Timmy. If his family fell asleep like this, Timmy considered
himself on guard. The big dog gave his mistress George a soft lick and sat up
firmly beside her, his ears cocked, and his eyes bright. He panted hard, but
nobody heard him. They were all snoozing deliciously in the sun, getting
browner and browner.
The garden sloped up a hillside. From where
he sat Timmy could see quite a long way, both up and down the road that ran by
the house. It was a wide road, but not a very busy one, for it was a country
district.
Timmy heard a dog barking in the distance,
and his ears twitched in that direction. He heard people walking down the road
and his ears twitched again. He missed nothing, not even the robin that flew
down to get a caterpillar on a bush not far off. He growled softly in his
throat at the robin — just to tell it that he was on guard, so beware.
Then
something came down the wide road, something that made Timmy shake with
excitement, and sniff at the strange smells that came floating up to the
garden. A big procession came winding up the road, with a rumble and clatter of
wheels — a slow procession, headed by a very strange thing.
Timmy had no idea what it was that headed
the procession. Actually it was a big elephant, and Timmy smelt its smell,
strange and strong, and didn't like it. He smelt the scent of the monkeys in
their travelling cage, too, and he heard the barking of the performing dogs in
their van.
He answered them defiantly. 'WOOF, WOOF,
WOOF.'
The loud barking awoke all four children at
once. 'Shut up, Timmy,' said George crossly. 'What a row to make when we're all
having a nap.'
'WOOF,' said Timmy obstinately, and pawed at
his mistress to make her sit up and take notice. George sat up. She saw the
procession at once and gave a yell.
'Hey, you others. There's a circus
procession going by. Look.'
They all sat up, wide awake now. They stared
down at the caravans going slowly along, and listened to an animal howling, and
the dogs barking.
'Look at that elephant, pulling the caravan
along,' said Anne. 'He must be jolly strong.'
'Let's go down to the gate of the drive and
watch,' said Dick. So they all got up and ran down the garden, then round the
house and into the drive that led to the road. The procession was just passing
the gates.
It was a gay sight. The caravans were
painted in brilliant colours, and looked spick and span from the outside.
Little flowery curtains hung at the windows. At the front of each caravan sat
the man or woman who owned it, driving the horse that pulled it. Only the front
caravan was pulled by an elephant.
'Golly
— doesn't it look exciting?' said George. 'I wish I belonged to a circus that
went wandering all over the place all the year. That's just the sort of life
I'd like.'
'Fat lot of good you'd be in the circus,'
said Dick rudely. 'You can't even turn a cart-wheel.'
'What's a cart-wheel?' said Anne.
'What that boy's doing over there,' said
Dick. 'Look.'
He pointed to a boy who was turning
cart-wheels very quickly, going over and over on his hands and feet, turning
himself like a wheel. It looked so easy, but it wasn't, as Dick very well knew.
'Oh, is he turning a cart-wheel?' said Anne
admiringly. 'I wish I could do that.'
The boy came up to them and grinned. He had
two terrier dogs with him. Timmy growled and George put her hand on his collar.
'Don't come too near,' she called. 'Timmy
isn't quite sure about you.'
'We won't hurt him!' said the boy, and
grinned again. He had an ugly, freckled face, with a shock of untidy hair. 'I
won't let my dogs eat your Timmy.'
'As if they could!' began George scornfully,
and then laughed. The terriers kept close to the boy's heels. He clicked and
both dogs rose at once on their hind legs and walked sedately behind him with
funny little steps.
'Oh — are they performing dogs?' said Anne.
'Are they yours?'
These two are,' said the boy. This is Barker
and this is Growler. I've had them from pups — clever as paint they are!'
'Woof,' said Timmy, apparently disgusted at
seeing dogs walk in such a peculiar way. It had never occurred to him that a
dog could get up on his hind legs.
'Where are you giving your next show?' asked
George eagerly. 'We'd like to see it.'
'We're off for a rest,' said the boy. 'Up in
the hills, where there's a blue lake at the bottom. We're allowed to camp there
with our animals — it's wild and lonely and we don't disturb nobody. We just
camp there with our caravans.'
'It sounds fine,' said Dick. 'Which is your
caravan?'
'This one, just coming,' said the boy, and he
pointed to a brightly painted van, whose sides were blue and yellow, and whose
wheels were red. 'I live in it with my Uncle Dan. He's the chief clown of the
circus. There he is, sitting on the front, driving the horse.'
The children stared at the chief clown, and
thought that they had never seen anyone less like a clown. He was dressed in
dirty grey flannel trousers and a dirty red shirt open at an equally dirty
neck.
He didn't look as if he could make a single
joke, or do anything in the least funny. In fact, he looked really
bad-tempered, the children thought, and he scowled so fiercely as he chewed on
an old pipe that Anne felt quite scared. He didn't look at the children at all,
but called in a sharp voice to the boy:
'Nobby! You come on along of us. Get in the
caravan and make me a cup of tea.'
The boy Nobby winked at the children and ran
to the caravan. It was plain that Uncle Dan kept him in order all right! He
poked his head out of the little window in the side of the caravan nearest to
the children.
'Sorry I can't ask you to tea too!' he
called. 'And the dog. Barker and Growler wouldn't half like to know him!'
The caravan passed on, taking the scowling
clown with it, and the grinning Nobby. The children watched the others going
by, too; it was quite a big circus. There was a cage of monkeys, a chimpanzee
sitting in a corner of a dark cage, asleep, a string of beautiful horses, sleek
and shining, a great wagon carrying benches and forms and tents, caravans for
the circus folk to live in, and a host of interesting people to see, sitting on
the steps of their vans or walking together outside to stretch their legs.
At last the procession was gone and the
children went slowly back to their sunny corner in the garden. They sat down —
and then George announced something that made them sit up straight.
'I know what we'll do these hols! We'll hire
a caravan and go off in it by ourselves. Do let's! Oh, do let's!'
CHAPTER TWO
GEORGE'S GREAT IDEA
The others stared at George's excited face.
She had gone quite red. Dick thumped on the ground.
'A jolly good idea! Why didn't we think of
it before?'
'Oh, yes! A caravan to ourselves! It sounds
too good to be true!' said Anne, and her eyes shone.
'Well, I must say it would be something
we've never done before,' said Julian, wondering if it was really possible. 'I
say — wouldn't it be gorgeous if we could go off into the hills — where that
lake is that the boy spoke about? We could bathe there — and we could perhaps
get to know the circus folk. I've always wanted to know about circuses.'
'Oh, Julian! That's a better idea still!'
said George, rubbing her hands together in delight. 'I liked that boy Nobby,
didn't you?'
'Yes,' said everyone.
'But I didn't like his uncle,' said Dick.
'He looked a nasty bit of work. I bet he makes Nobby toe the mark and do what
he's told.'
'Julian, do you think we'd be allowed to go
caravanning by ourselves?' asked Anne earnestly. 'It does seem to me to be the
most marvellous idea we've ever had.'
'Well — we can ask and see,' said Julian.
'I'm old enough to look after you all.'
'Pooh!' said George. 'I don't want any
looking after, thank you. And anyway, if we want looking after, Timmy can do
that. I bet the grown-ups will be glad to be rid of us for a week or two. They
always think the summer hols are too long.'
'We'll take Dobby with us to pull the
caravan!' said Anne suddenly, looking down at the field where Dobby stood,
patiently flicking away the flies with his long tail. 'Dobby would love that! I
always think he must be lonely, living in that field all by himself, just being
borrowed by people occasionally.'
'Of course — Dobby could come,' said Dick.
'That would be fine. Where could we get the caravan from? Are they easy to
hire?'
'Don't know,' said Julian. 'I knew a chap at
school — you remember him, Dick, that big fellow called Perry — he used to go
caravanning every hols with his people. They used to hire caravans, I know. I
might find out from him where he got them from.'
'Daddy will know,' said Anne. 'Or Mummy.
Grown-ups always know things like that. I'd like a nice large caravan — red and
blue — with a little chimney, and windows each side, and a door at the back,
and steps to go up into the caravan, and . . .'
The others interrupted with their own ideas,
and soon they were all talking excitedly about it — so loudly that they didn't
see someone walking up and standing near by, laughing at the excitement.
'Woof,' said Timmy politely. He was the only
one who had ears and eyes for anything else at the moment. The children looked
up.
'Oh, hallo, Mother!' said Julian. 'You've
just come at the right moment. We want to tell you about an idea we've got.'
His mother sat down, smiling. 'You seem very
excited about something,' she said. 'What is it?'
'Well, it's like this, Mummy,' said Anne,
before anyone else could get a word in, 'we've made up our minds that we'd like
to go off in a caravan for a holiday by ourselves! Oh, Mummy — it would be such
fun!'
'By yourselves?' said her mother doubtfully.
'Well, I don't know about that.'
'Julian can look after us,' said Anne.
'So can Timmy,' put in George at once, and
Timmy thumped the ground with his tail. Of course he could look after them!
Hadn't he done it for years, and shared all their adventures? Thump, thump,
thump!
'I'll have to talk it over with Daddy,' said
Mother. 'Now don't look so disappointed — I can't decide a thing like this all
by myself in a hurry. But it may fit in quite well because I know Daddy has to
go up north for a little while, and he would like me to go with him. So he
might think a little caravanning quite a good idea. I'll talk to him tonight.'
'We could have Dobby to pull the caravan,
Mummy,' said Anne, her eyes bright. 'Couldn't we? He'd love to come. He has
such a dull life now.'
'We'll see, we'll see,' said her mother,
getting up. 'Now you'd better all come in and wash. It's nearly tea-time. Your
hair is terrible, Anne. What have you been doing?'
Everyone rushed indoors to wash, feeling
distinctly cheerful. Mother hadn't said NO. She had even thought it might fit
in quite well. Golly, to go off in a caravan all alone — doing their own
cooking and washing — having Dobby for company, and Timmy as well, of course.
How simply gorgeous.
The children's father did not come home
until late that evening, which was a nuisance, for nobody felt that they could
wait for very long to know whether they might or might not go. Everyone but
Julian was in bed when he came home, and even when he, too, came to bed he had
nothing to report.
He stuck his head into the girls' bedroom.
'Daddy's tired and he's having a late supper, and Mother won't bother him till
he's feeling better. So we shan't know till morning, worse luck!'
The girls groaned. How could they possibly
go to sleep with thoughts of caravans floating deliciously in their heads — not
knowing whether or not they would be allowed to go!
'Blow!' said George. 'I shan't go to sleep
for ages. Get off my feet, Timmy. Honestly, it's too hot to have you anywhere
near me this weather.'
In the morning good news awaited the four
children. They sat down at the breakfast-table, all very punctual for once, and
Julian looked expectantly at his mother. She smiled at him and nodded.
'Yes, we've talked it over,' she said. 'And
Daddy says he doesn't see why you shouldn't have a caravan holiday. He thinks
it would be good for you to go off and rough it a bit. But you will have to
have two caravans, not one. We couldn't have all four of you, and Timmy too,
living in one caravan.'
'Oh — but Dobby couldn't pull two caravans,
Mummy,' said Anne.
'We can borrow another horse,' said Julian.
'Can't we, Mother? Thanks awfully, Daddy, for saying we can go. It's jolly
sporting of you.'
'Absolutely super,' said Dick.
'Wizard!' said George, her fingers
scratching Timmy's head excitedly. 'When can we go? Tomorrow?'
'Of course not!' said Julian. 'We've got to
get the caravans — and borrow a horse — and pack — and all sorts of things.'
'You can go next week, when I take your
mother up north with me,' said his father. 'That will suit us very well. We can
give Cook a holiday, too, then. You will have to send us a card every single
day to tell us how you are and where you are.'
'It does sound thrilling,' said Anne. 'I
really don't feel as if I can eat any breakfast, Mummy.'
'Well, if that's the effect the idea of
caravanning has on you, I don't think you'd better go,' said her mother. Anne
hastily began to eat her shredded wheat, and her appetite soon came back. It
was too good to be true — to have two caravans — and two horses — and sleep in
bunks perhaps — and cook meals outside in the open air — and . . .
'You will be in complete charge, you
understand, Julian,' said the boy's father. 'You are old enough now to be
really responsible. The others must realise that you are in charge and they
must do as you say.'
'Yes, sir,' said Julian, feeling proud.
'I'll see to things all right.'
'And Timmy will be in charge, too,' said
George. 'He's just as responsible as Julian.'
'Woof,' said Timmy, hearing his name, and
thumping the floor with his tail.
'You're a darling, Timmy,' said Anne. 'I'll
always do what you say, as well as what Julian says!'
'Idiot!' said Dick. He patted Timmy's head.
'I bet we wouldn't be allowed to go without you, Timothy. You are a jolly good
guard for anyone.'
'You certainly wouldn't be allowed to go
without Timmy,' said his mother. 'We know you'll be safe with him.'
It was all most exciting. The children went
off to talk things over by themselves when breakfast was finished.
'I vote we go caravanning up into the hills
that boy spoke of, where the lake lies at the bottom — and camp there,' said
Julian. 'We'd have company then — jolly exciting company, too. We wouldn't live
too near the circus camp — they might not like strangers butting in — but we'll
live near enough to see the elephant going for his daily walk, and the dogs
being exercised . . .'
'And we'll make friends with Nobby, won't
we?' said Anne eagerly. 'I liked him. We won't go near his uncle, though. I think
it's queer that such a bad-tempered looking man should be the chief clown in a
circus.'
'I wonder when and where Mother will get the
caravans!' said Julian. 'Gosh, won't it be fun when we see them for the first
time!'
'Let's go and tell Dobby!' said Anne. 'He is
sure to be excited, too!'
'Baby! He won't understand a word you tell
him!' said George. But off she went with Anne just the same, and soon Dobby was
hearing all about the wonderful holiday plan. Hrrrrumph! So long as it included
him, too, he was happy!
CHAPTER THREE
THE CARAVANS ARRIVE
At last the great day came when the two
caravans were due to arrive. The children stood at the end of the drive for
hours, watching for them.
Mother had managed to borrow them from an
old friend of hers. The children had promised faithfully to look after them
well, and not to damage anything. Now they stood at the end of the drive,
watching eagerly for the caravans to arrive.
'They are being drawn by cars today,' said
Julian. 'But they are fitted up to be horse-drawn, too. I wonder what they are
like — and what colour they are?'
'Will they be like gypsy caravans, on high
wheels, do you think?' asked Anne. Julian shook his head.
'No, they're modern, Mother says.
Streamlined and all that. Not too big either, because a horse can't draw too
heavy a van.'
'They're coming, they're coming! I can see
them!' suddenly yelled George, making them all jump. 'Look, isn't that them,
far down the road?'
They all looked hard into the distance. No
one had such good eyes as George, and all they could see was a blotch, a moving
speck far away on the road. But George's eyes saw two caravans, one behind the
other.
'George is right,' said Julian, straining
his eyes. 'It's our caravans. They're each drawn by a small car.'
'One's red and the other's green,' said
Anne. 'Bags I the red one. Oh, hurry up, caravans!'
At last they were near enough to see
properly. The children ran to meet them. They certainly were very nice ones,
quite modern and 'streamlined', as Julian had said, well built and comfortable.
They almost reach the ground!' said Anne.
'And look at the wheels, set so neatly into the side of the vans. I do like the
red one, bags I the red one.'
Each van had a little chimney, long, narrow
windows down the two sides, and tiny ones in front by the driver's seat. There
was a broad door at the back and two steps down. Pretty curtains fluttered at
the open windows.
'Red curtains for the green caravan, and
green ones for the red caravan!' said Anne. 'Oh, I want to go inside!'
But she couldn't because the doors were
locked. So she had to be content to run with the others up the drive after the
two caravans, shouting loudly:
'Mummy! They're here, the caravans are
here.'
Her mother came running down the steps to
see. Soon the doors were unlocked and the children went inside the caravans.
Delighted shouts came from both vans.
'Bunks along one side — is that where we
sleep? How gorgeous!'
'Look at this little sink — we can really
wash up. And golly, water comes out of these taps!'
'There's a proper stove to cook on — but I
vote we cook out of doors on a camp-fire. I say, look at the bright frying-pans
— and all the cups and saucers hanging up!'
'It's like a proper little house inside.
Doesn't it seem nice and big? Mother, isn't it beautifully planned? Don't you
wish you were coming with us?'
'Hey, you girls! Do you see where the water
comes from? Out of that tank on the roof. It must collect rain-water. And look
at this gadget for heating water. Isn't it all super?'
The children spent hours examining their
caravans and finding out all the secrets. They certainly were very well fitted,
spotlessly clean, and very roomy. George felt as if she couldn't wait to start
out. She really must get Dobby and set out at once!
'No, you must wait, silly,' said Julian.
'You know we've to get the other horse. He's not coming till tomorrow.'
The other horse was a sturdy little black
fellow called Trotter. He belonged to the milkman, who often lent him out. He
was a sensible little horse, and the children knew him very well and liked him.
They all learnt riding at school, and knew how to groom and look after a horse,
so there would be no difficulty over their managing Dobby and Trotter.
Mother was thrilled over the caravans, too,
and looked very longingly at them. 'If I wasn't going with Daddy I should be
most tempted to come with you,' she said. 'Don't look so startled, Anne dear —
I'm not really coming!'
'We're jolly lucky to get such decent
caravans,' said Julian. 'We'd better pack our things today, hadn't we, Mother —
and start off tomorrow, now we've got the caravans.'
'You won't need to pack,' said his mother.
'All you have to do is to pop your things straight into the cupboards and
drawers — you will only want clothes and books and a few games to play in case
it's rainy.'
'We don't need any clothes except our night
things, do we?' said George, who would have lived in a jersey and jeans all day
and every day if she had been allowed to.
'You must take plenty of jerseys, another
pair of jeans each, in case you get wet, your rain-coats, bathing-things,
towels, a change of shoes, night things, and some cool shirts or blouses,' said
Mother. Everyone groaned.
'What a frightful lot of things!' said Dick.
'There'll never be room for all those.'
'Oh yes there will,' said Mother. 'You will
be sorry if you take too few clothes, get soaked through, have nothing to
change into, and catch fearful colds that will stop you from enjoying a lovely
holiday like this.'
'Come on, let's get the things,' said Dick.
'Once Mother starts off about let you have. And remember that there is plenty
of ginger-beer in the locker under the second caravan.'
'It's all so thrilling,' said Anne, peering
down to look at the locker into which Julian had put the bottles of
ginger-beer. 'I can't believe we're really going tomorrow.'
But it was true. Dobby and Trotter were to
be taken to the caravans the next day and harnessed. How exciting for them,
too, Anne thought.
Timmy couldn't quite understand all the
excitement, but he shared in it, of course, and kept his tail on the wag all
day long. He examined the caravans thoroughly from end to end, found a rug he
liked the smell of, and lay down on it. 'This is my corner,' he seemed to say.
'If you go off in these peculiar houses on wheels, this is my own little
corner.'
'We'll have the red caravan, George,' said
Anne. 'The boys can have the green one. They don't care what colour they have —
but I love red. I say, won't it be sport to sleep in those bunks? They look
jolly comfortable.'
At last tomorrow came — and the milkman
brought the sturdy little black horse, Trotter, up the drive. Julian fetched
Dobby from the field. The horses nuzzled one another and Dobby said 'Hrrrumph'
in a very civil horsey voice.
'They're going to like each other,' said
Anne. 'Look at them nuzzling. Trotter, you're going to draw my caravan.'
The two horses stood patiently while they
were harnessed. Dobby jerked his head once or twice as if he was impatient to
be off and stamped a little.
'Oh, Dobby, I feel like that, too!' said
Anne. 'Don't you, Dick, don't you, Julian?'
'I do rather,' said Dick with a grin. 'Get
up there, Dobby — that's right. Who's going to drive, Julian — take it in
turns, shall we?'
'I'm going to drive our caravan,' said
George. 'Anne wouldn't be any good at it, though I'll let her have a turn at it
sometimes. Driving is a man's job.'
'Well, you're only a girl!' said Anne
indignantly. 'You're not a man, nor even a boy!'
George put on one of her scowls. She always
wanted to be a boy, and even thought of herself as one. She didn't like to be
reminded that she was only a girl. But not even George could scowl for long
that exciting morning! She soon began to caper round and about again, laughing
and calling out with the others:
'We're
ready! Surely we're ready!'
'Yes. Do let's go! JULIAN! He's gone
indoors, the idiot, just when we want to start.'
'He's gone to get the cakes that Cook has
baked this morning for us. We've heaps of food in the larder. I feel hungry already.'
'Here's Julian. Do come on, Julian. We'll
drive off without you. Good-bye, Mother! We'll send you a card every single
day, we faithfully promise.'
Julian got up on the front of the green
caravan. He clicked to Dobby. 'Get on, Dobby! We're off! Good-bye, Mother!'
Dick sat beside him, grinning with pure
happiness. The caravans moved off down the drive. George pulled at Trotter's
reins and the little horse followed the caravan in front. Anne, sitting beside
George, waved wildly.
'Good-bye, Mother! We're off at last on
another adventure. Hurrah! Three cheers! Hurrah!'
CHAPTER FOUR
AWAY THEY GO!
The caravans went slowly down the wide road.
Julian was so happy that he sang at the top of his voice, and the others joined
in the choruses. Timmy barked excitedly. He was sitting on one side of George
and as Anne was on the other George was decidedly squashed. But little things
like that did not bother her at all.
Dobby plodded on slowly, enjoying the sunshine
and the little breeze that raised the hairs on his mane. Trotter followed at a
short distance. He was very much interested in Timmy, and always turned his
head when the dog barked or got down for a run. It was fun to have two horses
and a dog to travel with.
It had been decided that they should make
their way towards the hills where they hoped to find the circus. Julian had
traced the place in his map. He was sure it must be right because of the lake
that lay in the valley at the foot of the hills.
'See?' he said to the others, pointing.
There it is — Lake Merran. I bet we'll find the circus camp somewhere near it.
It would be a very good place for all their animals — no one to interfere with
the camp, plenty of water for both animals and men, and probably good farms to
supply them with food.'
'We'll have to find a good farm ourselves
tonight,' said Dick. 'And ask permission to camp. Lucky we've got that little
book telling us where to go and ask.'
Anne thought with delight of the coming
evening, when they would stop and camp, cook a meal, drowse over a camp-fire,
and go to sleep in the little bunks. She didn't know which was nicer — ambling
along down country lanes with the caravans — or preparing to settle in for the
night. She was sure it was going to be the nicest holiday they had ever had.
'Don't you think so?' she asked George as
they sat together on the driving-seat, with Timmy, for once, trotting beside
the caravan, and leaving them a little more room than usual. 'You know, most of
our hols have been packed with adventures — awfully exciting, I know — but I'd
like an ordinary holiday now, wouldn't you — not too exciting.'
'Oh, I like adventures,' said George,
shaking the reins and making Trotter do a little trot. 'I wouldn't a bit mind
having another one. But we shan't this time, Anne. No such luck!'
They stopped for a meal at half-past twelve,
all of them feeling very hungry. Dobby and Trotter moved towards a ditch in
which long, juicy grass grew, and munched away happily.
The children lay on a sunny bank and ate and
drank. Anne looked at George. 'You've got more freckles these hols, George,
than you ever had in your life before.'
'That doesn't worry me!' said George, who
never cared in the least how she looked, and was even angry with her hair for
being too curly, and making her look too much like a girl. 'Pass the
sandwiches, Anne — the tomato ones — golly, if we always feel as hungry as this
we'll have to buy eggs and bacon and butter and milk at every farm we pass!'
They set off again. Dick took his turn at
driving Dobby, and Julian walked to stretch his legs. George still wanted to
drive, but Anne felt too sleepy to sit beside her with safety.
'If I shut my eyes and sleep I shall fall
off the seat,' she said. 'I'd better go into the caravan and sleep there.'
So in she went, all by herself. It was cool
and dim inside the caravan, for the curtains had been pulled across the window
to keep the inside cool. Anne climbed on to one of the bunks and lay down. She
shut her eyes. The caravan rumbled slowly on, and the little girl fell asleep.
Julian peeped in at her and grinned. Timmy
came and looked, too, but Julian wouldn't let him go in and wake Anne by
licking her.
'You come and walk with me, Tim,' he said.
'You're getting fat. Exercise will do you good.'
'He's not getting fat!' called George,
indignantly. 'He's a very nice shape. Don't you listen to him, Timothy.'
'Woof,' said Timmy, and trotted along at
Julian's heels.
The two caravans covered quite a good
distance that day, even though they went slowly. Julian did not miss the way
once. He was very good indeed at map-reading. Anne was disappointed that they
could not see the hills they were making for, at the end of the day.
'Goodness, they're miles and miles away!'
said Julian. 'We shan't arrive for at least four or five days, silly! Now, look
out for a farm, kids. There should be one near here, where we can ask
permission to camp for the night.'
'There's one, surely,' said George, after a
few minutes. She pointed to where a red-roofed building with moss-covered
barns, stood glowing in the evening sun. Hens clucked about it, and a dog or
two watched them from a gateway.
'Yes, that's the one,' said Julian,
examining his map. 'Longman's Farm. There should be a stream near it. There it
is, look — in that field. Now, if we could get permission to camp just here, it
would be lovely.'
Julian went to the farm to see the farmer,
and Anne went with him to ask for eggs. The farmer was not there, but the
farmer's wife, who liked the look of the tall, well-spoken Julian very much,
gave them permission at once to spend the night in the field by the stream.
'I know you won't leave a lot of litter, or
go chasing the farm animals,' she said. 'Or leave the gates open like some
ill-bred campers do. And what's that you want, Missy — some new-laid eggs. Yes,
of course, you can have some — and you can pick the ripe plums off that tree,
too, to go with your supper!'
There was bacon in the larder of the
caravans, and Anne said she would fry that and an egg each for everyone. She
was very proud of being able to cook them. She had taken a few lessons from
Cook in the last few days, and was very anxious to show the others what she had
learnt.
Julian said it was too hot to cook in the
caravan, and he built her a fine fire in the field. Dick set the two horses
free and they wandered off to the stream, where they stood knee-high in the
cool water, enjoying it immensely. Trotter nuzzled against Dobby, and then
tried to nuzzle down to Timmy, too, when the big dog came to drink beside him.
'Doesn't the bacon smell lovely?' called
Anne to George, who was busy getting plates and mugs out of the red caravan.
'Let's have ginger-beer to drink, George. I'm jolly thirsty. Watch me crack
these eggs on the edge of this cup, everybody, so that I can get out the yolk
and white and fry them.'
Crack! The egg broke against the edge of the
cup — but its contents unfortunately fell outside the cup instead of inside.
Anne went red when everyone roared with laughter.
Timmy came and licked up the mess. He was
very useful for that sort of thing. 'You'd make a good dust-bin, Timmy,' said
Anne. 'Here's a bit of bacon-rind, too. Catch!'
Anne fried the bacon and eggs really well.
The others were most admiring, even George, and they all cleared their plates
well, wiping the last bit of fat off with bread, so that they would be easy to
wash.
'Do you think Timmy would like me to fry him
a few dog-biscuits, instead of having them cold?' said Anne, suddenly. 'Fried
things are so nice. I'm sure Timmy would like fried biscuits better than
ordinary ones.'
'Well, he wouldn't,' said George. 'They would
just make him sick.'
'How do you know?' said Anne. 'You can't
possibly tell.'
'I always know what Timmy would really like
and what he wouldn't,' said George. 'And he wouldn't like his biscuits fried.
Pass the plums, Dick. They look super.'
They lingered over the little camp-fire for
a long time, and then Julian said it was time for bed. Nobody minded, because
they all wanted to try sleeping on the comfortable-looking bunks.
'Shall I wash at the stream or in the little
sink where I washed the plates?' said Anne. 'I don't know which would be
nicer.'
'There's more water to spare in the stream,'
said Julian. 'Hurry up, won't you, because I want to lock your caravan door so
that you'll be safe.'
'Lock our door!' said George, indignantly.
'You jolly well won't! Nobody's going to lock me in! I might think I'd like to
take a walk in the moonlight or something.'
'Yes, but a tramp or somebody might . . .'
began Julian. George interrupted him scornfully.
'What about Timmy? You know jolly well he'd
never let anyone come near our caravans, let alone into them! I won't be locked
in, Julian. I couldn't bear it. Timmy's better than any locked door.'
'Well, I suppose he is,' said Julian. 'All
right, don't look so furious, George. Walk half the night in moonlight if you
want to — though there won't be any moon tonight, I'm sure. Golly, I'm sleepy!'
They climbed into the two caravans, after
washing in the stream. They all undressed, and got into the inviting bunks. There
was a sheet, one blanket and a rug — but all the children threw off both
blanket and rug and kept only a sheet over them that hot night.
At first Anne tried sleeping in the lower
bunk, beneath George — but Timmy would keep on trying to clamber up to get to
George. He wanted to lie on her feet as usual. Anne got cross.
'George! You'd better change places with me.
Timmy keeps jumping on me and walking all over me trying to get up to your
bunk. I'll never get to sleep.'
So George changed places, and after that
Timmy made no more noise, but lay contentedly at the end of George's bunk on
the rolled-up blanket, while Anne lay in the bunk above, trying not to go to
sleep because it was such a lovely feeling to be inside a caravan that stood by
a stream in a field.
Owls hooted to one another, and Timmy
growled softly. The voice of the stream, contented and babbling, could be quite
clearly heard now that everything was so quiet. Anne felt her eyes closing. Oh
dear — she would simply have to go to sleep.
But something suddenly awoke her with a
jump, and Timmy barked so loudly that both Anne and George almost fell out of
their bunks in fright. Something bumped violently against the caravan, and
shook it from end to end! Was somebody trying to get in?
Timmy leapt to the floor and ran to the
door, which George had left open a little because of the heat. Then the voices
of Dick and Julian were heard.
'What's up? Are you girls all right? We're
coming!' And over the wet grass raced the two boys in their dressing-gowns.
Julian ran straight into something hard and warm and solid. He yelled.
Dick switched on his torch and began to
laugh helplessly. 'You ran straight into Dobby. Look at him staring at you! He
must have lumbered all round our caravans making the bumps we heard. It's all
right, girls. It's only Dobby.'
So back they all went again to sleep, and
this time they slept till the morning, not even stirring when Trotter, too,
came to nuzzle round the caravan and snort softly in the night.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE WAY TO MERRAN LAKE
The next three or four days were absolutely
perfect, the children thought. Blue skies, blazing sun, wayside streams to
paddle or bathe in, and two houses on wheels that went rumbling for miles down
roads and lanes quite new to them — what could be lovelier for four children
all on their own?
Timmy seemed to enjoy everything thoroughly,
too, and had made firm friends with Trotter, the little black horse. Trotter
was always looking for Timmy to run beside him, and he whinnied to Timmy
whenever he wanted him. The two horses were friends, too, and when they were
set free at night they made for the stream together, and stood in the water
side by side, nuzzling one another happily.
'I like this holiday better than any we've
ever had,' said Anne, busily cooking something in a pan. 'It's exciting without
being adventurous. And although Julian thinks he's in charge of us, I am
really! You'd never get your bunks made, or your meals cooked, or the caravans
kept clean if it wasn't for me!'
'Don't boast!' said George, feeling rather
guilty because she let Anne do so much.
'I'm not boasting!' said Anne, indignantly.
'I'm just telling the truth. Why, you've never even made your own bunk once,
George. Not that I mind doing it. I love having two houses on wheels to look
after.'
'You're a very good little housekeeper,'
said Julian. 'We couldn't possibly do without you!'
Anne blushed with pride. She took the pan
off the camp-fire and put the contents on to four plates. 'Come along!' she
called, in a voice just like her mother's. 'Have your meal while it's hot.'
'I'd rather have mine when it's cold, thank
you,' said George. 'It doesn't seem to have got a bit cooler, even though it's
evening-time.'
They had been on the road four days now, and
Anne had given up looking for the hills where they hoped to find the circus
folk camping. In fact she secretly hoped they wouldn't find them, because she
was so much enjoying the daily wanderings over the lovely countryside.
Timmy came to lick the plates. The children
always let him do that now because it made them so much easier to wash. Anne
and George took the things down to a little brown brook to rinse, and Julian
took out his map.
He and Dick pored over it. 'We're just about
here,' said Julian, pointing. 'And if so, it looks as if tomorrow we ought to
come to those hills above the lake. Then we should see the circus.'
'Good!' said Dick. 'I hope Nobby will be
there. He would love to show us round, I'm sure. He would show us a good place
to camp, too, perhaps.'
'Oh, we can find that ourselves,' said
Julian, who now rather prided himself on picking excellent camping-sites.
'Anyway, I don't want to be too near the circus. It might be a bit smelly. I'd
rather be up in the hills some way above it. We'll get a place with a lovely
view.'
'Right,' said Dick, and Julian folded up the
map. The two girls came back with the clean crockery, and Anne put it neatly
back on the shelves in the red caravan. Trotter came to look for Timmy, who was
lying panting under George's caravan.
Timmy wouldn't budge, so Trotter tried to
get under the caravan too. But he couldn't possibly, of course, for he was much
too big. So he lay down on the shady side, as near to Timmy as he could get.
Trotter's really a comic horse,' said Dick.
'He'd be quite good in a circus, I should think! Did you see him chasing Timmy
yesterday — just as if they were playing "He"?'
The word 'circus' reminded them of Nobby and
his circus, and they began to talk eagerly of all the animals there.
'I liked the look of the elephant,' said
George. 'I wonder what his name is. And wouldn't I like to hold a monkey!'
'I bet that chimpanzee's clever,' said Dick.
'I wonder what Timmy will think of him. I hope he'll get on all right with all
the animals, especially the other dogs.'
'I hope we don't see much of Nobby's uncle,'
said Anne. 'He looked as if he'd like to box anybody's ears if they so much as
answered him back.'
'Well, he won't box mine,' said Julian.
'We'll keep out of his way. He doesn't look a very pleasant chap, I must say.
Perhaps he won't be there.'
'Timmy, come out from under the caravan!'
called George. 'It's quite cool and shady where we are. Come on!'
He came, panting. Trotter immediately got up
and came with him. The little horse lay down beside Timmy and nuzzled him.
Timmy gave his nose a lick and then turned away, looking bored.
'Isn't Trotter funny?' said Anne. 'Timmy,
what will you think of all the circus animals, I wonder! I do hope we see the
circus tomorrow. Shall we get as far as the hills, Julian? Though really I
shan't mind a bit if we don't; it's so nice being on our own like this.'
They all looked out for the hills the next
day as the caravans rumbled slowly down the lanes, pulled by Trotter and Dobby.
And, in the afternoon, they saw them, blue in the distance.
'There they are!' said Julian. 'Those must
be the Merran Hills — and Merran Lake must lie at the foot. I say, I hope the
two horses are strong enough to pull the caravans a good way up. There should
be an absolutely marvellous view over the lake if we get up high enough.'
The hills came nearer and nearer. They were
high ones, and looked lovely in the evening light. Julian looked at his watch.
'We shan't have time to climb them and find
a camping site there tonight. I'm afraid,' he said. 'We'd better camp a little
way on this evening, and then make our way up into the hills tomorrow morning.'
'All right,' said Dick. 'Anything you say,
Captain! There should be a farm about two miles on, according to the book.
We'll camp there.'
They came to the farm, which was set by a
wide stream that ran swiftly along. Julian went as usual to ask permission to
camp, and Dick went with him, leaving the two girls to prepare a meal.
Julian easily got permission, and the
farmer's daughter, a plump jolly girl, sold the boys eggs, bacon, milk, and
butter, besides a little crock of yellow cream. She also offered them
raspberries from the garden if they liked to pick them and have them with the
cream.
'Oh, I say, thanks awfully,' said Julian.
'Could you tell me if there's a circus camping in those hills? Somewhere by the
lake.'
'Yes, it went by about a week ago,' said the
girl. 'It goes camping there every year, for a rest. I always watch the
caravans go by — quite a treat in a quiet place like this! One year they had
lions, and at nights I could hear them roaring away. That fair frizzled my
spine!'
The boys said good-bye and went off,
chuckling to think of the farm-girl's spine being 'fair frizzled' by the roars
of the distant lions.
'Well, it looks as if we'll pass the circus
camp tomorrow all right,' said Julian. 'I shall enjoy camping up in the hills,
won't you, Dick? It will be cooler up there, I expect — usually there's a
breeze on the hills.'
'I hope we shan't get our spines fair
frizzled by the noise of the circus animals at night,' grinned Dick. 'I feel
fair frizzled up by the sun today, I must say!'
The next morning the caravans set off again
on what the children hoped would be the last lap of their journey. They would
find a lovely camping-place and stay there till they had to go home.
Julian had remembered to send a post-card
each day to his parents, telling them where he was, and that everything was
fine. He had found out from the farm-girl the right address for that district,
and he planned to arrange with the nearest post office to take in any letters
for them that came. They had not been able to receive any post, of course, when
they were wandering about in their caravans.
Dobby and Trotter walked sedately down the
narrow country lane that led towards the hills. Suddenly George caught sight of
something flashing blue between the trees.
'Look! There's the lake! Merran Lake!' she
shouted. 'Make Dobby go more quickly, Ju. I'm longing to come out into the open
and see the lake.'
Soon the lane ended in a broad cart-track
that led over a heathery common. The common sloped right down to the edge of an
enormous blue lake that lay glittering in the August sunshine.
'I say! Isn't it magnificent?' said Dick,
stopping Dobby with a pull. 'Come on, let's get down and go to the edge,
Julian. Come on, girls!'
'It's lovely!' said Anne, jumping down from
the driving-seat of the red caravan. 'Oh, do let's bathe straight away!'
'Yes, let's,' said Julian, and they all
dived into their caravans, stripped off jeans and blouses and pulled on
bathing-things. Then, without even a towel to dry themselves on, they tore down
to the lake-side, eager to plunge into its blue coolness.
It was very warm at the edge of the water,
but further in, where it was deep, the lake was deliciously cold. All the
children could swim strongly, and they splashed and yelled in delight. The
bottom of the lake was sandy, so the water was as clear as crystal.
When they were tired they all came out and
lay on the warm sandy bank of the lake. They dried at once in the sun. Then as
soon as they felt too hot in they went again, squealing with joy at the cold
water.
'What gorgeous fun to come down here every
day and bathe!' said Dick. 'Get away, Timmy, when I'm swimming on my back.
Timmy's enjoying the bathe as much as we are, George.'
'Yes, and old Trotter wants to come in,
too,' shouted Julian. 'Look at him — he's brought the red caravan right down to
the edge of the lake. He'll be in the water with it if we don't stop him!'
They decided to have a picnic by the lake,
and to set the horses free to have a bathe if they wanted one. But all they
wanted was to drink and to stand knee-high in the water, swishing their tails
to keep away the flies that worried them all day long.
'Where's the circus camp?' said George
suddenly as they sat munching ham and tomato sandwiches. 'I can't see it.'
The children looked all round the edge of
the lake, which stretched as far as they could see. At last George's sharp eyes
saw a small spire of smoke rising in the air about a mile or so round the lake.
'The camp must be in that hollow at the foot
of the hills over there,' she said. 'I expect the road leads round to it. We'll
go that way, shall we, and then go up into the hills behind?'
'Yes,' agreed Julian. 'We shall have plenty
of time to have a word with Nobby, and to find a good camping-place before
night comes — and to find a farm, too, that will let us have food. Won't Nobby
be surprised to see us?'
They cleared up, put the horses into their
harness again and set off for the circus camp. Now for a bit of excitement!
CHAPTER SIX
THE CIRCUS CAMP AND NOBBY
It did not take the caravans very long to
come in sight of the circus camp. As George had said, it was in a comfortable
hollow, set at the foot of the hills — a quiet spot, well away from any
dwelling-places, where the circus animals could enjoy a certain amount of
freedom and be exercised in peace.
The
caravans were set round in a wide circle. Tents had been put up here and there.
The big elephant was tied by a thick rope to a stout tree. Dogs ran about
everywhere, and a string of shining horses was being paraded round a large
field nearby.
'There they all are!' said Anne, excitedly,
standing up on the driving-seat to see better. 'Golly, the chimpanzee is loose,
isn't he? No, he isn't — someone has got him on a rope. Is it Nobby with him?'
'Yes, it is. I say, fancy walking about with
a live chimp like that!' said Julian.
The children looked at everything with the
greatest interest as their caravans came nearer to the circus camp. Few people
seemed to be about that hot afternoon. Nobby was there with the chimpanzee, and
one or two women were stirring pots over small fires — but that seemed to be
all.
The circus dogs set up a great barking as
the red and green caravans drew nearer. One or two men came out of the tents
and looked up the track that led to the camp. They pointed to the children's
caravans and seemed astonished.
Nobby, with the chimpanzee held firmly by
the paw, came out of the camp in curiosity to meet the strange caravans. Julian
hailed him.
'Hi, Nobby! You didn't think you'd see us
here, did you?'
Nobby was amazed to hear his name called. At
first he did not remember the children at all. Then he gave a yell.
'Jumping Jiminy, it's you kids I saw away
back on the road! What are you doing here?'
Timmy growled ominously and George called to
Nobby. 'He's never seen a chimpanzee before. Do you think they'll be friends?'
'Don't know,' said Nobby doubtfully. 'Old
Pongo likes the circus dogs all right. Anyway, don't you let your dog fly at
Pongo, or he'll be eaten alive! A chimp is very strong, you know.'
'Could I make friends with Pongo, do you
think?' asked George. 'If he would shake hands with me, or something, Timmy
would know I was friends with him and he'd be all right. Would Pongo make
friends with me?'
''Course he will!' said Nobby. 'He's the
sweetest-tempered chimp alive — ain't you, Pongo? Now, shake hands with the
lady.'
Anne didn't feel at all inclined to go near
the chimpanzee, but George was quite fearless. She walked up to the big animal
and held out her hand. The chimpanzee took it at once, raised it to his mouth
and pretended to nibble it, making friendly noises all the time.
George laughed. 'He's nice, isn't he?' she
said. 'Timmy, this is Pongo, a friend. Nice Pongo, good Pongo!'
She patted Pongo on the shoulder to show
Timmy that she liked the chimpanzee, and Pongo at once patted her on the
shoulder, too, grinning amiably. He then patted her on the head and pulled one
of her curls.
Timmy wagged his tail a little. He looked
very doubtful indeed. What was this strange creature that his mistress appeared
to like so much. He took a step towards Pongo.
'Come on, Timmy, say how do you do to
Pongo,' said George. 'Like this.' And she shook hands with the chimpanzee
again. This time he wouldn't let her hand go, but went on shaking it up and
down as if he was pumping water with a pump-handle.
'He won't let go,' said George.
'Don't be naughty, Pongo,' said Nobby in a
stern voice. Pongo at once dropped George's hand and covered his face with a
hairy paw as if he was ashamed. But the children saw that he was peeping
through his fingers with wicked eyes that twinkled with fun.
'He's a real monkey!' said George, laughing.
'You're wrong — he's an ape!' said Nobby.
'Ah, here comes Timmy to make friends. Jumping Jiminy, they're shaking paws!'
So they were. Timmy, having once made up his
mind that Pongo was to be a friend, remembered his manners and held out his
right paw as he had been taught. Pongo seized it and shook it vigorously. Then
he walked round to the back of Timmy and shook hands with his tail. Timmy
didn't know what to make of it all.
The children yelled with laughter, and Timmy
sat down firmly on his tail. Then he stood up again, his tail wagging, for
Barker and Growler had come rushing up. Timmy remembered them, and they
remembered him.
'Well, they're making friends all right,'
said Nobby, pleased. 'Now they'll introduce Timmy to all the other dogs, and
there'll be no trouble. Hey, look out for Pongo, there!'
The chimpanzee had stolen round to the back
of Julian and was slipping his hand into the boy's pocket. Nobby went to him
and slapped the chimpanzee's paw hard.
'Naughty! Bad boy! Pickpocket!'
The children laughed again when the chimpanzee
covered his face with his paws, pretending to be ashamed.
'You'll have to watch out when Pongo's
about,' said Nobby. 'He loves to take things out of people's pockets. I say —
do tell me — are those your caravans? Aren't they posh?'
'They've been lent to us,' said Dick. 'As a
matter of fact, it was seeing your circus go by, with all its gay caravans,
that made us think of borrowing caravans, too, and coming away for a holiday.'
'And as you'd told us where you were going
we thought we'd follow you and find you out, and get you to show us round the
camp,' said Julian. 'Hope you don't mind.'
'I'm proud,' said Nobby, going a bright red.
''Tisn't often folks want to make friends with a circus fellow like me — not
gentlefolk like you, I mean. I'll be proud to show you round — and you can make
friends with every blessed monkey, dog and horse on the place!'
'Oh, thanks!' said all four at once.
'Jolly decent of you,' said Dick. 'Gosh,
look at that chimp — he's trying to shake hands with Timmy's tail again. I bet
he's funny in the circus ring, isn't he, Nobby?'
'He's a scream,' said Nobby. 'Brings the
house down. You should see him act with my Uncle Dan. He's the chief clown, you
know. Pongo is just as big a clown as my uncle is — it's a fair scream to see
them act the fool together.'
'I wish we could see them,' said Anne.
'Acting in the ring, I mean. Will your uncle mind you showing us all the
animals and everything?'
'Why should he?' said Nobby. 'Shan't ask him!
But you'll mind and act polite to him, won't you? He's worse than a tiger when
he's in a temper. They call him Tiger Dan because of his rages.'
Anne didn't like the sound of that at all —
Tiger Dan! It sounded very fierce and savage.
'I hope he isn't about anywhere now,' she
said nervously, looking round.
'No. He's gone off somewhere,' said Nobby.
'He's a lonesome sort of chap — got no friends much in the circus, except Lou,
the acrobat. That's Lou over there.'
Lou was a long-limbed, loose-jointed fellow
with an ugly face, and a crop of black shining hair that curled tightly. He sat
on the steps of a caravan, smoking a pipe and reading a paper. The children
thought that he and Tiger Dan would make a good pair — bad-tempered, scowling
and unfriendly. They all made up their minds that they would have as little as
possible to do with Lou the acrobat and Tiger Dan the clown.
'Is he a very good acrobat?' said Anne in a
low voice, though Lou was much too far away to hear her.
'Fine. First class,' said Nobby with
admiration in his voice. 'He can climb anything anywhere — he could go up that
tree there like a monkey — and I've seen him climb a drainpipe straight up the
side of a tall building just like a cat. He's a marvel. You should see him on
the tight-rope, too. He can dance on it!'
The children gazed at Lou with awe. He felt
their glances, looked up and scowled. 'Well,' thought Julian, 'he may be the
finest acrobat that ever lived — but he's a jolly nasty-looking fellow. There's
not much to choose between him and Tiger Dan!'
Lou got up, uncurling his long body like a
cat. He moved easily and softly. He loped to Nobby, still with the ugly scowl
on his face.
'Who are these kids?' he said. 'What are
they doing messing about here?'
'We're not messing about,' said Julian
politely. 'We came to see Nobby. We've seen him before.'
Lou looked at Julian as if he was something
that smelt nasty. 'Them your caravans?' he asked jerking his head towards them.
'Yes,'
said Julian.
'Posh, aren't you?' said Lou sneeringly.
'Not particularly,' said Julian, still
polite.
'Any grown-ups with you?' asked Lou.
'No. I'm in charge,' said Julian, 'and we've
got a dog that flies at people he doesn't like.'
Timmy clearly didn't like Lou. He stood near
him, growling in his throat. Lou kicked out at him.
George caught hold of Timmy's collar just in
time. 'Down Tim, down!' she cried. Then she turned on Lou, her eyes blazing.
'Don't you dare kick my dog!' she shouted.
'He'll have you down on the ground if you do. You keep out of his way, or he'll
go for you now.'
Lou spat on the ground in contempt and
turned to go. 'You clear out,' he said. 'We don't want no kids messing about
here. And I ain't afraid of no dog. I got ways of dealing with bad dogs.'
'What do you mean by that?' yelled George,
still in a furious temper. But Lou did not bother to reply. He went up the
steps of his caravan and slammed the door shut. Timmy barked angrily and tugged
at his collar, which George was still holding firmly.
'Now you've torn it!' said Nobby dismally.
'If Lou catches you about anywhere he'll hoof you out. And you be careful of
that dog of yours, or he'll disappear.'
George was angry and alarmed. 'Disappear!
What do you mean? If you think Timmy would let anyone steal him, you're wrong.'
'All right, all right. I'm only telling you.
Don't fly at me like that!' said Nobby. 'Jumping Jiminy, look at that chimp.
He's gone inside one of your caravans!'
The sudden storm was forgotten as everyone
rushed to the green caravan. Pongo was inside, helping himself liberally from a
tin of sweets. As soon as he saw the children he groaned and covered his face
with his paws — but he sucked hard at the sweets all the time.
'Pongo! Bad boy! Come here!' scolded Nobby.
'Shall I whip you?'
'Oh, no, don't,' begged Anne. 'He's a scamp,
but I do like him. We've plenty of sweets to spare. You have some, too, Nobby.'
'Well, thank you,' said Nobby, and helped
himself. He grinned round at everyone. 'Nice to have friends like you,' he
said. 'Ain't it, Pongo?'
CHAPTER SEVEN
A TEA-PARTY — AND A VISIT IN THE NIGHT
Nobody particularly wanted to see round the camp
just then, as Lou had been so unpleasant. So instead they showed the admiring
Nobby over the two caravans. He had never seen such beauties.
'Jumping Jiminy, they're like palaces!' he
said. 'Do you mean to say them taps turn on and water comes out? Can I turn on
a tap? I've never turned a tap in my life!'
He turned the taps on and off a dozen times,
exclaiming in wonder to see the water come gushing out. He thumped the bunks to
see how soft they were. He admired the gay soft rugs and the shining crockery.
He was, in fact, a very nice guest to have, and the children liked him more and
more. They liked Barker and Growler, too, who were both well-behaved, obedient,
merry dogs.
Pongo, of course, wanted to turn the taps on
and off, too, and he threw all the coverings off the two bunks to see what was
underneath. He also took the kettle off the stove put the spout to his thick
lips and drank all the water out of it very noisily indeed.
'You're forgetting your manners, Pongo!'
said Nobby in horror, and snatched the kettle away from him. Anne squealed with
laughter. She loved the chimpanzee, and he seemed to have taken a great fancy
to Anne, too. He followed her about and stroked her hair and made funny
affectionate noises.
'Would you like to stay and have tea here
with us?' asked Julian, looking at his watch. 'It's about time.'
'Coo — I don't have tea as a rule,' said
Nobby. 'Yes, I'd like to. Sure you don't mind me staying, though? I ain't got
your manners, I know, and I'm a bit dirty, and not your sort at all. But you're
real kind.'
'We'd love to have you stay,' said Anne in
delight. 'I'll cut some bread and butter and make some sandwiches. Do you like
potted meat sandwiches, Nobby?'
'Don't I just!' said Nobby. 'And Pongo does,
too. Don't you let him get near them or he'll finish up the lot.'
It was a pleasant and amusing little
tea-party. They all sat out on the heather, on the shady side of the caravan.
Barker and Growler sat with Timmy. Pongo sat beside Anne, taking bits of
sandwich from her most politely. Nobby enjoyed his tea immensely, eating more
sandwiches than anyone and talking all the time with his mouth full.
He made the four children yell with
laughter. He imitated his Uncle Dan doing some of his clown tricks. He turned
cart-wheels all round the caravan while he was waiting for Anne to cut more
sandwiches. He stood solemnly on his head and ate a sandwich like that, much to
Timmy's amazement. Timmy walked round and round him, and sniffed at his face as
if to say: 'Strange! No legs! Something's gone wrong.'
At last nobody could eat any more. Nobby
stood up to go, suddenly wondering if he had stayed too long.
'I was enjoying myself so much I forgot the
time,' he said awkwardly. 'Bet I've stayed too long and you've been too polite
to tell me to get out. Coo, that wasn't half a good tea! Thanks, Miss, awfully,
for all them delicious sandwiches. 'Fraid my manners aren't like yours, kids,
but thanks for a very good time.'
'You've got very good manners indeed,' said
Anne, warmly. 'You've been a splendid guest. Come again, won't you?'
'Well, thanks, I will,' said Nobby,
forgetting his sudden awkwardness, and beaming round. 'Where's Pongo? Look at
that chimp! He's got one of your hankies, and he's blowing his nose!'
Anne squealed in delight. 'He can keep it!'
she said. 'It's only an old one.'
'Will you be here camping for long?' asked
Nobby.
'Well, not just exactly here, said Julian.
'We thought of going up higher into the hills. It will be cooler there. But we
might camp here just for tonight. We meant to go up higher this evening, but we
might as well stay here and go tomorrow morning now. Perhaps we could see round
the camp tomorrow morning.'
'Not if Lou's there you can't,' said Nobby.
'Once he's told people to clear out he means it. But it will be all right if
he's not. I'll come and tell you.'
'All right,' said Julian. 'I'm not afraid of
Lou — but we don't want to get you into any trouble, Nobby. If Lou's there
tomorrow morning, we'll go on up into the hills, and you can always signal to
us if he's out of the camp, and we can come down any time. And mind you come up
and see us when you want to.'
'And bring Pongo,' said Anne.
'You bet!' said Nobby. 'Well — so long!'
He went off with Barker and Growler at his
heels and with Pongo held firmly by the paw. Pongo didn't want to go at all. He
kept pulling back like a naughty child.
'I do like Nobby and Pongo,' said Anne. 'I
wonder what Mummy would say if she knew we'd made friends with a chimpanzee.
She'd have a fit.'
Julian suddenly looked rather doubtful. He
was wondering if he had done right to follow the circus and let Anne and the
others make friends with such queer folk and even queerer animals. But Nobby
was so nice. He was sure his mother would like Nobby. And they could easily
keep away from Tiger Dan and Lou the acrobat.
'Have we got enough to eat for supper
tonight and breakfast tomorrow?' he asked Anne. 'Because there doesn't seem to
be a farm near enough to go to just here. But Nobby says there's one up on the
hill up there — the circus folk get their supplies from it, too — what they
don't get from the nearest town. Apparently somebody goes in each day to shop.'
'I'll just see what we've got in the larder,
Julian,' said Anne, getting up. She knew perfectly well what there was in the
larder — but it made her feel grown-up and important to go and look. It was
nice to feel like that when she so often felt small and young, and the others
were big and knew so much.
She called back to them: 'I've got eggs and
tomatoes and potted meat, and plenty of bread, and a cake we bought today, and
a pound of butter.'
'That's all right then,' said Julian. 'We
won't bother about going to the farm tonight.'
When darkness fell that night, there were
clouds across the sky for the first time. Not a star showed and there was no
moon. It was pitch-black, and Julian, looking out of the window of his caravan,
before clambering into his bunk, could not even see a shimmer of water from the
lake.
He got into his bunk and pulled the covers
up. In the other caravan George and Anne were asleep. Timmy was, as usual, on
George's feet. She had pushed him off them once or twice, but now that she was
asleep he was undisturbed, and lay heavily across her ankles, his head on his
paws.
Suddenly his ears cocked up. He raised his
head cautiously. Then he growled softly in his throat. He had heard something.
He sat there stiffly, listening. He could hear footsteps from two different
directions. Then he heard voices — cautious voices, low and muffled.
Timmy growled again, more loudly. George
awoke and reached for his collar. 'What's the matter?' she whispered. Timmy
listened and so did she. They both heard the voices.
George slipped quietly out of the bunk and
went to the half-open door of the caravan. She could not see anything outside
at all because it was so dark. 'Don't make a noise, Tim,' she whispered.
Timmy understood. He did not growl again,
but George could feel the hairs rising all along the back of his neck.
The voices seemed to come from not very far
away. Two men must be talking together, George thought. Then she heard a match
struck, and in its light she saw two men lighting their cigarettes from the
same match. She recognised them at once — they were Nobby's Uncle Dan and Lou
the acrobat.
What were they doing there? Had they got a
meeting-place there — or had they come to steal something from the caravans?
George wished she could tell Julian and Dick — but she did not like to go out
of her caravan in case the men heard her.
At first she could not hear anything the men
said. They were discussing something very earnestly. Then one raised his voice.
'Okay, then — that's settled.' Then came the
sound of footsteps again, this time towards George's caravan. The men walked
straight into the side of it, exclaimed in surprise and pain, and began to feel
about to find out what they had walked into.
'It's those posh caravans!' George heard Lou
exclaim. 'Still here! I told those kids to clear out!'
'What kids?' asked Tiger Dan, in surprise.
Evidently he had come back in the dark and did not know they had arrived.
'Some kids Nobby knows,' said Lou in an
angry voice. He rapped loudly on the walls of the caravan, and Anne woke up
with a jump. George, just inside the caravan with Timmy, jumped in fright, too.
Timmy barked in rage.
Julian and Dick woke up. Julian flashed on
his torch and went to his door. The light picked out the two men standing by
George's caravan.
'What are you doing here at this time of
night?' said Julian. 'Making a row like that! Clear off!'
This was quite the wrong thing to have said
to Dan and Lou, both bad-tempered men who felt that the whole of the
camping-ground around belonged to them and the circus.
'Who do you think you're talking to?'
shouted Dan angrily. 'You're the ones to clear off! Do you hear?'
'Didn't I tell you to clear out this
afternoon?' yelled Lou, losing his temper, too. 'You do as you're told, you
young rogue, or I'll set the dogs on you and have you chased for miles.'
Anne began to cry. George trembled with
rage. Timmy growled. Julian spoke calmly but determinedly.
'We're going in the morning, as we meant.
But if you're suggesting we should go now, you can think again. This is as much
our camping-ground as yours. Now get off, and don't come disturbing us again.'
'I'll give you a leathering, you young
cockerel!' cried Lou, and began to unfasten the leather belt from round his
waist.
George let go her hold of Timmy's collar.
'Go for them, Timmy,' she said. 'But don't bite. Just worry them!'
Timmy sprang down to the ground with a joyful
bark. He flung himself at the two men. He knew what George wanted him to do,
and although he longed to snap at the two rogues with his sharp teeth, he
didn't. He pretended to, though, and growled so fiercely that they were scared
out of their wits.
Lou hit out at Timmy, threatening to kill
him. But Timmy cared for no threats of that kind. He got hold of Lou's right
trouser-leg, pulled, and ripped it open from knee to ankle.
'Come on — the dog's mad!' cried Dan. 'He'll
have us by the throat if we don't go. Call him off, you kids. We're going. But
mind you clear out in the morning, or we'll see you do! We'll pay you out one
day.'
Seeing that the men really meant to go,
George whistled to Timmy. 'Come here, Tim. Stand on guard till they're really
gone. Fly at them if they come back.'
But the men soon disappeared — and nothing
would have made either of them come back and face Timmy again that night!
CHAPTER EIGHT
UP IN THE HILLS
The four children were upset and puzzled by
the behaviour of the two men. George told how Timmy had wakened her by growling
and how she had heard the men talking together in low voices.
'I don't really think they had come to steal
anything,' she said. 'I think they were just meeting near here for a secret
talk. They didn't know the caravans were here and walked straight into ours.'
'They're bad-tempered brutes,' said Julian.
'And I don't care what you say, George, I'm going to lock your caravan door
tonight. I know you've got Timmy — but I'm not running any risk of these men
coming back, Timmy or no Timmy.'
Anne was so scared that George consented to
let Julian lock the red caravan door. Timmy was locked in with them. The boys
went back to their own caravan, and Julian locked his door, too, from the
inside. He wanted to be on the safe side.
'I'll be glad to get away from here up into
the hills,' he said. 'I shan't feel safe as long as we are quite so near the
camp. We'll be all right up in the hills.'
'We'll go first thing after breakfast,' said
Dick, settling down to his bunk again. 'Gosh, it's a good thing the girls had
Timmy tonight. Those fellows looked as if they meant to go for you properly,
Ju.'
'Yes. I shouldn't have had much chance
against the two of them either,' said Julian. 'They are both hefty, strong
fellows.'
The next morning all the four awoke early.
Nobody felt inclined to lie and snooze — all of them were anxious to get off
before Lou and Dan appeared again.
'You get the breakfast, Anne and George, and
Dick and I will catch the horses and put them in the caravan shafts,' said
Julian. 'Then we shall be ready to go off immediately after breakfast.'
They had breakfast and cleared up. They got
up on to the driving-seats and were just about to drive away when Lou and Dan
came down the track towards them.
'Oh, you're going, are you?' said Dan, with
an ugly grin on his face. 'That's right. Nice to see kids so obedient. Where
you going?'
'Up into the hills,' said Julian. 'Not that
it's anything to do with you where we go.'
'Why don't you go round the foot of the
hills, instead of over the top?' said Lou. 'Silly way to go — up there, with
the caravans dragging them horses back all the way.'
Julian was just about to say that he didn't
intend to go right up to the top of the hills and over to the other side, when
he stopped himself. No — just as well not to let these fellows know that he
meant to camp up there, or they might come and worry them all again.
He clicked to Dobby. 'We're going the way we
want to go,' he said to Lou in a curt voice. 'And that's up the hill. Get out
of the way, please.'
As Dobby was walking straight at them, the
men had to jump to one side. They scowled at the four children. Then they all
heard the sound of running footsteps and along came Nobby, with Barker and
Growler at his heels as usual.
'Hey, what you going so early for?' he
yelled. 'Let me come part of the way with you.'
'No, you don't,' said his uncle, and gave
the surprised boy an unexpected cuff. 'I've told these kids to clear out, and
they're going. I won't have no meddling strangers round this camp. And don't
you kid yourself they want to make friends with you, see! You go and get out
those dogs and exercise them, or I'll give you another box on the ears that'll
make you see all the stars in the sky.'
Nobby stared at him, angry and afraid. He
knew his uncle too well to defy him. He turned on his heel sullenly and went
off back to the camp. The caravans overtook him on the way. Julian called to
him in a low voice:
'Cheer up, Nobby. We'll be waiting for you
up in the hills — don't tell Lou and your uncle about it. Let them think we've
gone right away. Bring Pongo up sometime!'
Nobby grinned. 'Right you are!' he said. 'I
can bring the dogs up to exercise them, too — but not today. I dursent today.
And as soon as them two are safely out for the day I'll bring you down to the
camp and show you round, see? That all right?'
'Fine,' said Julian, and drove on. Neither
Lou nor Dan had heard a word, or even guessed that this conversation was going
on, for Nobby had been careful to walk on all the time and not even turn his
face towards the children.
The road wound upwards into the hills. At
first it was not very steep, but wound to and fro across the side of the hill.
Half-way up the caravans crossed a stone bridge under which a very swift stream
flowed.
'That stream's in a hurry!' said George,
watching it bubble and gurgle downwards. 'Look — is that where it starts from —
just there in the hillside?'
She pointed some way up the hill, and it
seemed as if the stream really did suddenly start just where she pointed.
'But it can't suddenly start there — not
such a big fast stream as this!' said Julian, stopping Dobby on the other side
of the bridge. 'Let's go and see, I'm thirsty, and if there's a spring there,
it will be very cold and clear — lovely to drink from. Come on, we'll go and
see.'
But there was no spring. The stream did not
'begin' just there, but flowed out of a hole in the hillside, as big and as
fast as it was just under the stone bridge. The children bent down and peered
into the water-filled hole.
'It comes out from inside the hill,' said
Anne, surprised. 'Fancy it running around in the hill itself. It must be glad
to find a way out!'
They didn't like to drink it as it was not
the clear, fresh spring they had hoped to find. But, wandering a little farther
on, they came to a real spring that gushed out from beneath a stone, cold and
crystal clear. They drank from this and voted that it was the nicest drink they
had ever had in their lives. Dick followed the spring-water downwards and saw
that it joined the little rushing stream.
'I suppose it flows into the lake,' he said.
'Come on. Let's get on and find a farm, Julian. I'm sure I heard the crowing of
a cock just then, so one can't be far away.'
They went round a bend of the hill and saw
the farm, a rambling collection of old buildings sprawling down the hillside.
Hens ran about, clucking. Sheep grazed above the farm, and cows chewed the cud
in fields nearby. A man was working not far off, and Julian hailed him. 'Good
morning! Are you the farmer?'
'No. Farmer's over yonder,' said the man,
pointing to a barn near the farmhouse. 'Be careful of the dogs.'
The two caravans went on towards the farm.
The farmer heard them coming and came out with his dogs. When he saw that there
were only children driving the two caravans he looked surprised.
Julian had a polite, well-mannered way with
him that all the grown-ups liked. Soon he was deep in a talk with the man, with
most satisfactory results. The farmer was willing to supply them with any farm
produce they wanted, and they could have as much milk as they liked at any
time. His wife, he was sure, would cook them anything they asked her to, and
bake them cakes, too.
'Perhaps I could arrange payment with her?'
said Julian. 'I'd like to pay for everything as I buy it.'
'That's right, son,' said the farmer. 'Always pay your way as you go
along, and you won't come to any harm. You go and see my old woman. She likes
children and she'll make you right welcome. Where are you going to camp?'
'I'd like to camp somewhere with a fine view
over the lake,' said Julian. 'We can't see it from just here. Maybe a bit
farther on we'll get just the view I want.'
'Yes, you go on about half a mile,' said the
farmer. The track goes that far — and when you come to a clump of fine birch
trees you'll see a sheltered hollow, set right in the hillside, with a
wonderful fine view over the lake. You can pull your caravans in there, son,
and you'll be sheltered from the winds.'
'Thanks awfully,' said all the children
together, thinking what a nice man this old farmer was. How different from Lou
and Dan, with their threats and rages!
'We'll go and see your wife first, sir,'
said Julian. Then we'll go on and pull into the hollow you suggest. We'll be
seeing you again some time, I expect.'
They went to see the farmer's wife, a fat,
round-cheeked old woman, whose little curranty eyes twinkled with good humour.
She made them very welcome, gave them hot buns from the oven and told them to
help themselves to the little purple plums on the tree outside the old
farmhouse.
Julian arranged to pay on the spot for
anything they bought each day. The prices the farmer's wife asked seemed very
low indeed, but she would not hear of taking any more money for her goods.
'It'll be a pleasure to see your bonny faces
at my door!' she said. That'll be part of my payment, see? I can tell you're
well-brought-up children by your nice manners and ways. You'll not be doing any
damage or foolishness on the farm, I know.'
The children came away laden with all kinds
of food, from eggs and ham to scones and ginger cakes. She pushed a bottle of
raspberry syrup into Anne's hand when the little girl said good-bye. But when
Julian turned back to pay her for it she was quite annoyed.
'If I want to make a present to somebody
I'll do it!' she said. 'Go on with you . . . paying for this and paying for
that. I'll have a little something extra for you each time, and don't you dare
to ask to pay for it, or I'll be after you with my rolling pin!'
'Isn't she awfully nice?' said Anne as they
made their way back to the caravans. 'Even Timmy offered to shake hands with
her without you telling him to, George — and he hardly ever does that to
anyone, does he?'
They packed the things away into the larder,
got up into the driving-seats, clicked to Dobby and Trotter and set off up the
track again.
Just over half a mile away was a clump of
birch trees. 'We'll find that sheltered hollow near them,' said Julian.
'Yes, look — there it is — set back into the
hill, a really cosy place! Just right for camping in — and oh, what a
magnificent view!'
It certainly was. They could see right down
the steep hillside to the lake. It lay spread out, flat and smooth, like an
enchanted mirror. From where they were they could now see right to the opposite
banks of the lake — and it was indeed a big stretch of water.
'Isn't it blue?' said Anne, staring. 'Bluer
even than the sky. Oh, won't it be lovely to see this marvellous view every
single day we're here?'
Julian backed the caravans into the hollow.
Heather grew there, like a springy purple carpet. Harebells, pale as an evening
sky, grew in clumps in crevices of the hill behind. It was a lovely spot for
camping in.
George's sharp ears caught the sound of
water and she went to look for it. She called back to the others. 'What do you
think? There's another spring here, coming out of the hill. Drinking and
washing water laid on! Aren't we lucky?'
'We certainly are,' said Julian. 'It's a
lovely place — and nobody will disturb us here!'
But he spoke too soon!
CHAPTER NINE
AN UNPLEASANT MEETING
It really was fun settling into that cosy
hollow. The two caravans were backed in side by side. The horses were taken out
and led to a big field where the farmer's horses were kept when they had done
their day's work. Trotter and Dobby seemed very pleased with the green, sloping
field. It had a spring of its own that ran into a stone trough and out of it, keeping
it always filled with fresh cold water. Both horses went to take a long drink.
'Well, that settles the two horses all
right,' said Julian. 'We'll tell the farmer he can borrow them if he wants to —
he'll be harvesting soon and may like to have Dobby and Trotter for a few days.
They will enjoy hobnobbing with other horses again.'
At the front of the hollow was a rocky
ledge, hung with heathery tufts. This is the front seat for Lake View!' said
Anne. 'Oh, it's warm from the sun! How lovely!'
'I vote we have all our meals on this
ledge,' said George, sitting down too. 'It's comfortable and roomy — and flat
enough to take our cups and plates without spilling anything — and honestly the
view from here is too gorgeous for words. Can anyone see anything of the circus
from up here?'
'There's a spire or two of smoke over
yonder,' said Dick, pointing. 'I should think that's where the camp is. And
look — there's a boat pushing out on the lake — doesn't it look tiny?'
'Perhaps Nobby is in it,' said Anne.
'Haven't we brought any field-glasses, Julian? I thought we had.'
'Yes — we have,' said Julian, remembering.
'I'll get them.' He went to the green caravan, rummaged about in the drawers,
and came out with his field-glasses swinging on the end of their straps.
'Here we are!' he said, and set them to his
eyes. 'Yes — I can see the boat clearly now — and it is Nobby in it — but who's
with him? Golly, it's Pongo!'
Everyone had to look through the glasses to
see Nobby and Pongo in the boat. 'You know, we could always get Nobby to signal
to us somehow from his boat when he wanted to tell us that Lou and his uncle
were away,' said Dick. Then we should know it was safe, and we could pop down
to the camp and see round it.'
'Yes.
Good idea,' said George. 'Give me the glasses, Dick. Timmy wants to have a turn
at seeing, too.'
'He can't see through glasses like these,
idiot,' said Dick, handing them to George. But Timmy most solemnly glued his
eyes to the glasses, and appeared to be looking through them very earnestly
indeed.
'Woof,' he remarked, when he took his eyes
away at last.
'He says he's seen Nobby and Pongo, too,'
said George, and the others laughed. Anne half-believed that he had. Timmy was
such an extraordinary dog, she thought, as she patted his smooth head.
It was a terribly hot day. Too hot to do
anything — even to walk down to the lake and bathe! The children were glad they
were up in the hills, for at least there was a little breeze that fanned them
now and again. They did not expect to see Nobby again that day, but they hoped
he would come up the next day. If not they would go down and bathe in the lake
and hope to see him somewhere about there.
Soon the rocky ledge got too hot to sit on.
The children retreated to the clump of birch trees, which at least cast some
shade. They took books with them, and Timmy came along, too, panting as if he
had run for miles. He kept going off to the little spring to drink. Anne filled
a big bowl with the cold water, and stood it in a breezy place near by, with a
cup to dip into it. They were thirsty all day long, and it was pleasant to dip
a cup into the bowl of spring-water and drink.
The lake was unbelievably blue that day, and
lay as still as a mirror. Nobby's boat was no longer in the water. He and Pongo
had gone. There was not a single movement to be seen down by the lake.
'Shall we go down to the lake this evening,
when it's cooler, and bathe there?' said Julian, at tea-time. 'We haven't had
much exercise today, and it would do us good to walk down and have a swim. We
won't take Timmy in case we happen to come across Lou or Dan. He'd certainly
fly at them today. We can always keep an eye open for those two and avoid them
ourselves — but Timmy would go for them as soon as he spotted them. We might be
in the water and unable to stop him.'
'Anyway, he'll guard the caravans for us,'
said Anne. 'Well, I'll just take these cups and plates and rinse them in the
stream. Nobody wants any more to eat, do they?'
'Too hot,' said Dick, rolling over on to his
back. 'I wish we were by the lake at this moment — I'd go straight into the
water now!'
At half-past six it was cooler, and the four
children set off down the hill. Timmy was angry and hurt at being left behind.
'You're to be on guard, Timmy,' said George
firmly. 'See? Don't let anyone come near our caravans. On guard, Timmy!'
'Woof,' said Timmy dismally, and put his
tail down. On guard! Didn't George know that the caravans wouldn't walk off by
themselves, and that he wanted a good splash in the lake?
Still, he stayed behind, standing on the
rocky ledge to see the last of the children, his ears cocked to hear their
voices and his tail still down in disgust. Then he went and lay down beneath
George's caravan, and waited patiently for his friends to return.
The children went down the hill with their
bathing-things, taking short cuts, and leaping like goats over the steep bits.
It had seemed quite a long way up when they had gone so slowly in the caravans
with Dobby and Trotter — but it wasn't nearly so far when they could go on
their own legs, and take rabbit-paths and short cuts whenever they liked.
There was one steep bit that forced them
back on to the track. They went along it to where the track turned a sharp
corner round a cliff-like bend — and to their surprise and dismay they walked
almost straight into Lou and Tiger Dan!
'Take no notice,' said Julian, in a low
voice. 'Keep together and walk straight on. Pretend that Timmy is somewhere
just behind us.'
'Tim, Tim!' called George, at once.
Lou and Dan seemed just as surprised to see
the children, as they had been to see the two men. They stopped and looked hard
at them, but Julian hurried the others on.
'Hey, wait a minute!' called Dan. 'I thought
you had gone off — over the hill-top!'
'Sorry we can't stop!' called back Julian.
'We're in rather a hurry!'
Lou looked round for Timmy. He wasn't going
to lose his temper and start shouting in case that mad dog came at him again.
He spoke to the children loudly, forcing himself to appear good-tempered.
'Where are your caravans? Are you camping up
here anywhere?'
But the children still walked on, and the
men had to go after them to make them hear.
'Hey! What's the matter? We shan't hurt you!
We only want to know if you're camping here. It's better down below, you know.'
'Keep on walking,' muttered Julian. 'Don't
tell them anything. Why do they tell us it's better to camp down below when
they were so anxious for us to clear out yesterday? They're mad!'
'Timmy, Timmy!' called George, again, hoping
that the men would stop following them if they heard her calling for her dog.
It did stop them. They gave up going after
the children, and didn't shout any more. They turned angrily and went on up the
track.
'Well, we've thrown them off all right,'
said Dick, with relief. 'Don't look so scared, Anne. I wonder what they want up
in the hills. They don't look the sort that would go walking for pleasure.'
'Dick — we're not going to have another
adventure, are we?' said Anne suddenly, looking very woebegone. 'I don't want
one. I just want a nice ordinary, peaceful holiday.'
''Course we're not going to have an
adventure!' said Dick, scornfully. 'Just because we meet two bad-tempered
fellows from a circus camp you think we're in for an adventure, Anne! Well, I
jolly well wish we were! Every hols we've been together so far we've had
adventures — and you must admit that you love talking about them and
remembering them.'
'Yes, I do. But I don't like it much when
I'm in the middle of one,' said Anne. 'I don't think I'm a very adventurous
person, really.'
'No, you're not,' said Julian, pulling Anne
over a very steep bit. 'But you're a very nice little person, Anne, so don't
worry about it. And, anyway, you wouldn't like to be left out of any of our
adventures, would you?'
'Oh no,' said Anne. 'I couldn't bear it. Oh,
look — we're at the bottom of the hill — and there's the lake, looking
icy-cold!'
It wasn't long before they were all in the
water — and suddenly there was Nobby too, waving and yelling. 'I'm coming in!
Lou and my uncle have gone off somewhere. Hurray!'
Barker and Growler were with Nobby, but not
Pongo the chimpanzee. Nobby was soon in the water, swimming like a dog, and
splashing George as soon as he got up to her.
'We met Lou and your uncle as we came down,'
called George. 'Shut up, Nobby, and let me talk to you. I said, we met Lou and
your uncle just now — going up into the hills.'
'Up into the hills?' said Nobby, astonished.
'Whatever for? They don't go and fetch things from the farm. The women do that,
early each morning.'
'Well, we met those two,' said Dick swimming
up. They seemed jolly surprised to see us. I hope they aren't going to bother
us any more.'
'I've had a bad day,' said Nobby, and he
showed black bruises on his arms. 'My uncle hit me like anything for making
friends with you. He says I'm not to go talking to strangers no more.'
'Why ever not?' said Dick. 'What a surly,
selfish fellow he is! Well, you don't seem to be taking much notice of him
now!'
''Course not!' said Nobby. 'He's safe up in
the hills, isn't he? I'll have to be careful he doesn't see me with you, that's
all. Nobody else at the camp will split on me — they all hate Lou and Tiger
Dan.'
'We saw you out in your boat with Pongo,'
said Julian, swimming up to join in the conversation. 'We thought that if ever
you wanted to signal to us you could easily do it by going out in your boat,
and waving a handkerchief or something. We've got field-glasses, and we can
easily see you. We could come along down if you signalled. We'd know it would
be safe.'
'Right,' said Nobby. 'Come on, let's have a
race. Bet you I'm on the shore first!'
He wasn't, of course, because he didn't swim
properly. Even Anne could race him. Soon they were all drying themselves
vigorously.
'Golly, I'm hungry!' said Julian. 'Come on
up the hill with us, Nobby, and share our supper!'
CHAPTER TEN
A CURIOUS CHANGE OF MIND
Nobby felt very much tempted to go and have
a meal up in the hills with the children. But he was afraid of meeting Lou and
his uncle coming back from their walk.
'We can easily look out for them and warn
you if we see or hear them,' said Dick, 'and you can flop under a bush and hide
till they go past. You may be sure we'll be on the look-out for them ourselves,
because we don't want to meet them either!'
'Well, I'll come,' said Nobby. 'I'll take
Barker and Growler too. They'll like to see Timmy.'
So all five of them, with the two dogs, set
off up the hill. They climbed up short cuts at first, but they were soon
panting, and decided to take the track, which, although longer, was easier to
follow.
They all kept a sharp look-out for the two
men, but they could see no sign of them. 'We shall be at our caravans soon,'
said Julian. Then he heard Timmy barking in the distance. 'Hallo! What's old
Tim barking for? I wonder if those fellows have been up to our caravans?'
'Good thing we left Timmy on guard if so,'
said Dick. 'We might have missed something if not.'
Then he went red, remembering that it was
Nobby's uncle he had been talking of. Nobby might feel upset and offended to
hear someone speaking as if he thought Tiger Dan would commit a little robbery.
But Nobby wasn't at all offended. 'Don't you
worry about what you say of my uncle,' he said, cheerfully. 'He's a bad lot. I
know that. Anyway, he's not really my uncle, you know. When my father and
mother died, they left a little money for me — and it turned out that they had
asked Tiger Dan to look after me. So he took the money, called himself my
uncle, and I've had to 'be with him ever since.'
'Was he in the same circus, then?' asked
Julian.
'Oh yes. He and my father were both clowns,'
said Nobby. 'Always have been clowns, in my family. But wait till I'm old
enough, and I'll do a bunk — clear off and join another circus, where they'll
let me look after the horses. I'm mad on horses. But the fellow at our circus
won't often let me go near them. Jealous because I can handle them, I suppose!'
The children gazed at Nobby in wonder. He
seemed an extraordinary boy to them — one who walked about with a tame
chimpanzee, exercised hordes of performing dogs, lived with the chief clown in
the circus, could turn the most marvellous cart-wheels, and whose only ambition
was to work with horses! What a boy! Dick half-envied him.
'Haven't you ever been to school?' he asked
Nobby.
The boy shook his head. 'Never! I can't
write. And I can only read a bit. Most circus folk are like that, so nobody
minds. Jumping Jiminy, I bet you're all clever, though! I bet even little Anne
can read a book!'
'I've been able to read for years,' said
Anne. 'And I'm up to fractions now in numbers.'
'Coo! What's fractions?' said Nobby,
impressed.
'Well — quarters and halves and seven-eighths,
and things like that,' said Anne. 'But I'd rather be able to turn a cart-wheel
like you can, Nobby, than know how to do fractions.'
'Whatever is Timmy barking for?' said George
as they came near the clump of birch trees. Then she stopped suddenly, for she
had seen two figures lying down in the grass below the trees. Lou — and Tiger
Dan!
It was too late for Nobby to hide. The men
saw him at once. They got up and waited for the children to come near. George
felt thankful that Timmy was within whistling distance. He would come at the
first call or whistle, she knew.
Julian looked at the men. To his surprise
they appeared to be quite amiable. A faint scowl came over Tiger Dan's face
when he caught sight of Nobby, but it passed at once.
'Good evening,' said Julian curtly, and
would have passed on without another word, but Lou stepped up to him.
'We see you're camping up by here,' said
Lou, and smiled showing yellow teeth. 'Ain't you going over the hill?'
'I don't need to discuss my affairs with
either you or your friend,' said Julian, sounding extremely grown-up. 'You told
us to clear out from down below, and we have. What we do now is nothing to do
with you.'
'Ho yes, it is,' said Tiger Dan, sounding as
if he was being polite with great difficulty. 'We come up here tonight to plan
a place for some of our animals, see? And we don't want you to be in no
danger.'
'We shan't be,' said Julian, scornfully.
'And there is plenty of room on these hills for you and your animals and for
us, too. You won't scare us off, so don't think it. We shall stay here as long
as we want to — and if we want help there's the farmer and his men quite near
by — to say nothing of our dog.'
'Did you leave that there dog on guard?' asked
Lou, as he heard Timmy barking again. 'He ought to be destroyed, that dog of
yours. He's dangerous.'
'He's only dangerous to rogues and scamps,'
said George, joining in at once. 'You keep away from our caravans when Timmy's
on guard. He'll maul you if you go near.'
Lou began to lose his temper. 'Well, are you
going or ain't you?' he said. 'We've told you we want this here bit of the
hill. You can come down and camp by the lake again if you want to.'
'Yes — you come,' said Tiger Dan to the
children's growing astonishment. 'You come, see? You can bathe in the lake
every day, then — and Nobby here can show you round the camp, and you can make
friends with all the animals, see?'
Now it was Nobby's turn to look amazed.
'Jumping Jiminy! Didn't you beat me black
and blue for making friends with these kids?' he demanded. 'What's the game,
now? You've never had animals up in the hills before. You've . . .'
'Shut up,' said Tiger Dan in such a fierce
voice that all the children were shocked. Lou nudged Dan, and he made an effort
to appear pleasant again.
'We didn't want Nobby to make friends with
posh folk like you,' he began again. 'But it seems as if you want to pal up
with him — so it's okay with us. You come on down and camp by the lake, and
Nobby'll show you everything in the circus. Can't say fairer than that.'
'You've got other reasons for making all
these suggestions,' said Julian, scornfully. 'I'm sorry — but our plans are
made, and I am not going to discuss them with you.'
'Come on,' said Dick. 'Let's go and find
Timmy. He's barking his head off because he can hear us, and it won't be long
before he comes flying along here. Then we shall find it difficult to keep him
off these two fellows.'
The four children began to move off. Nobby
looked doubtfully at his uncle. He didn't know whether to go with them or not.
Lou nudged Dan again.
'You go, too, if you want to,' said Tiger
Dan, trying to grin amiably at the surprised Nobby. 'Keep your fine friends,
see! Much good may they do you!' The grin vanished into a scowl, and Nobby
skipped smartly out of reach of his uncle's hand. He was puzzled and wondered
what was behind his uncle's change of mind.
He tore after the children. Timmy came to
meet them, barking his head off, waving the plumy tail wildly in joy.
'Good dog, good dog!' said George, patting
him. 'You keep on guard beautifully. You know I would have whistled for you if
I'd wanted you, didn't you, Timmy? Good dog!'
'I'll get you some supper,' said Anne to
everyone. 'We're all famishing. We can talk while we eat. George, come and
help. Julian, can you get some ginger-beer? And, Dick, do fill up the
water-bowl for me.'
The boys winked at one another. They always
thought that Anne was very funny when she took command like this, and gave her
orders. But everyone went obediently to work.
Nobby went to help Anne. Together they
boiled ten eggs hard in the little saucepan. Then Anne made tomato sandwiches
with potted meat and got out the cake the farmer's wife had given them. She
remembered the raspberry syrup, too — how lovely!
Soon they were all sitting on the rocky
ledge, which was still warm, watching the sun go down into the lake. It was a
most beautiful evening, with the lake as blue as a cornflower and the sky
flecked with rosy clouds. They held their hard-boiled eggs in one hand and a
piece of bread and butter in the other, munching happily. There was a dish of
salt for everyone to dip their eggs into.
'I don't know why, but the meals we have on
picnics always taste so much nicer than the ones we have indoors,' said George.
'For instance, even if we had hard-boiled eggs and bread and butter indoors,
they wouldn't taste as nice as these.'
'Can everyone eat two eggs?' asked Anne. 'I
did two each. And there's plenty of cake — and more sandwiches and some plums
we picked this morning.'
'Best meal I've ever had in my life,' said
Nobby, and picked up his second egg. 'Best company I've ever been in, too!'
Thank you,' said Anne, and everyone looked
pleased. Nobby might not have their good manners, but he always seemed to say
just the right thing.
'It's a good thing your uncle didn't make
you go back with him and Lou,' said Dick. 'Funny business — changing his mind
like that!'
They began to talk about it. Julian was very
puzzled indeed, and had even begun to wonder if he hadn't better find another
camping site and go over the hill.
The others raised their voices scornfully.
'JULIAN! We're not cowards. We'll jolly well
stay here!'
'What, leave now — why should we? We're in
nobody's way, whatever those men say!'
'I'm not moving my caravan, whatever anyone
says!' That was George, of course.
'No, don't you go,' said Nobby. 'Don't you
take no notice of Lou and my uncle. They can't do nothing to you at all.
They're just trying to make trouble for you. You stay and let me show you over
the camp, see?'
'It isn't that I want to give in to those
fellows' ideas,' said Julian. 'It's just that — well, I'm in charge of us all —
and I don't like the look of Lou and Tiger Dan — and, well . . .'
'Oh, have another egg and forget about it,'
said Dick. 'We're going to stay here in this hollow, however much Dan and Lou
want us out of it. And, what's more, I'd like to find out why they're so keen
to push us off. It seems jolly queer to me.'
The sun went down in a blaze of orange and
red, and the lake shimmered with its fiery reflection. Nobby got up
regretfully, and Barker and Growler, who had been hobnobbing with Timmy, got
up, too.
'I'll have to go,' said Nobby. 'Still got
some jobs to do down there. What about you coming down tomorrow to see the
animals? You'll like Old Lady, the elephant. She's a pet. And Pongo will be
pleased to see you again.'
'Your uncle may have changed his mind again
by tomorrow, and not want us near the camp,' said Dick.
'Well — I'll signal to you,' said Nobby.
'I'll go out in the boat, see? And wave a hanky. Then you'll know it's all
right. Well — so long! I'll be seeing you.'
CHAPTER ELEVEN
FUN AT THE CIRCUS CAMP
Next morning, while Anne cleared up the
breakfast things with George, and Dick went off to the farm to buy whatever the
farmer's wife had ready for him, Julian took the field-glasses and sat on the
ledge to watch for Nobby to go out on the lake in his boat.
Dick sauntered along, whistling. The
farmer's wife was delighted to see him, and showed him two big baskets full of
delicious food.
'Slices of ham I've cured myself,' she said,
lifting up the white cloth that covered one of the baskets. 'And a pot of brawn
I've made. Keep it in a cool place. And some fresh lettuces and radishes I
pulled myself this morning early. And some more tomatoes.'
'How gorgeous!' said Dick, eyeing the food
in delight. 'Just the kind of things we love! Thanks awfully, Mrs Mackie.
What's in the other basket?'
'Eggs, butter, milk, and a tin of shortbread
I've baked,' said Mrs Mackie. 'You should do all right till tomorrow, the four
of you! And in that paper there is a bone for the dog.'
'How much do I owe you?' asked Dick. He paid
his bill and took up the baskets. Mrs Mackie slipped a bag into his pocket.
'Just a few home-made sweets,' she said.
That was her little present. Dick grinned at her.
'Well, I won't offer to pay you for them
because I'm afraid of that rolling-pin of yours,' he said. 'But thank you very,
very much.'
He went off delighted. He thought of Anne's
pleasure when she came to unpack the baskets. How she would love to put the
things in the little larder — and pop the butter in a dish set in a bowl of
cold water — and set the eggs in the little rack!
When he got back Julian called to him:
'Hobby's out in his boat. Come and look. He's waving something that can't
possibly be a hanky. It must be the sheet off his bed!'
'Nobby doesn't sleep in sheets,' said Anne.
'He didn't know what they were when he saw them in our bunks. Perhaps it's a
table-cloth.'
'Anyway, it's something big, to tell us that
it's absolutely all right to come down to the camp,' said Julian. 'Are we
ready?'
'Not quite,' said Anne, unpacking the
baskets Dick had brought. 'I must put away these things — and do you want to take
a picnic lunch with you? Because if so I must prepare it. Oh — look at all
these gorgeous things!'
They all came back to look. 'Mrs Mackie is a
darling,' said Anne. 'Honestly, these things are super — look at this gorgeous
ham. It smells heavenly.'
'Here's her little present — homemade
sweets,' said Dick, remembering them and taking them out of his pocket. 'Have
one?'
Anne had everything ready in half an hour.
They had decided to take a picnic lunch with them for themselves and for Nobby
as well. They took their bathing-things and towels, too.
'Are we going to take Timmy or not?' said
George. 'I want to. But as these two men seem rather interested in our
caravans, perhaps we had better leave him on guard again. We don't want to come
back and find the caravans damaged or half the things stolen.'
'I should think not!' said Dick. 'They're
not our things, nor our caravans. They belong to somebody else and we've got to
take extra good care of them. I think we ought to leave Timmy on guard, don't
you, Ju?'
'Yes, I do,' said Julian at once. 'These
caravans are too valuable to leave at the mercy of any passing tramp — though I
suppose we could lock them up. Anyway — we'll leave Timmy on guard today — poor
old Timmy, it's a shame, isn't it?'
Timmy didn't answer. He looked gloomy and
miserable. What! They were all going off without him again? He knew what 'on
guard' meant — he was to stay here with these houses on wheels till the
children chose to come back. He badly wanted to see Pongo again. He stood with
his ears and tail drooping, the picture of misery.
But there was no help for it. The children
felt that they couldn't leave the caravans unguarded while they were still so
uncertain about Lou and Tiger Dan. So they all patted poor Timmy and fondled
him, and then said good-bye. He sat down on the rocky ledge with his back to
them and wouldn't even watch them go.
'He's sulking,' said George. 'Poor Timothy!'
It didn't take them very long to get down to
the camp, and they found Nobby, Pongo, Barker and Growler waiting for them.
Nobby was grinning from ear to ear.
'You saw my signal all right?' he said.
'Uncle hasn't changed his mind — in fact, he seems quite to have taken to you,
and says I'm to show you all round and let you see anything you want to. That
was his shirt I waved. I thought if I waved something enormous you'd know
things were absolutely safe.'
'Where shall we put the bathing-things and
the picnic baskets while we see round the camp?' asked Anne. 'Somewhere cool,
if possible.'
'Put them in my caravan,' said Nobby, and
led them to a caravan painted blue and yellow, with red wheels. The children
remembered having seen it when the procession passed by their house a week or
two before.
They peeped inside. It wasn't nearly so nice
as theirs. It was much smaller, for one thing, and very untidy. It looked
dirty, too, and had a nasty smell. Anne didn't like it very much.
'Not so good as yours!' said Nobby. 'I wish
I had a caravan like yours. I'd feel like a prince. Now what do you want to see
first? The elephant? Come on, then.'
They went to the tree to which Old Lady the
elephant was tied. She curled her trunk round Nobby and looked at the children
out of small, intelligent eyes.
'Well, Old Lady!' said Nobby. 'Want a
bathe?'
The elephant trumpeted and made the children
jump. 'I'll take you later on,' promised Nobby. 'Now then — hup, hup, hup!'
At these words the elephant curled her trunk
tightly round Nobby's waist and lifted him bodily into the air, placing him
gently on her big head!
Anne gasped.
'Oh! Did she hurt you, Nobby?'
''Course not!' said Nobby. 'Old Lady
wouldn't hurt anyone, would you, big one?'
A small man came up. He had bright eyes that
shone as if they had been polished, and a very wide grin. 'Good morning,' he
said. 'How do you like my Old Lady? Like to see her play cricket?'
'Oh, yes!' said everyone, and the small man
produced a cricket bat and held it out to Old Lady. She took it in her trunk
and waved it about. Nobby slipped deftly off her head to the ground.
'I'll play with her, Larry,' he said, and
took the ball from the small man. He threw it to Old Lady and she hit it
smartly with the bat. It sailed over their heads!
Julian fetched the ball. He threw it at the
elephant, and again the great creature hit the ball with a bang. Soon all the
children were playing with Old Lay and enjoying the game very much.
Some small camp children came up to watch.
But they were as scared as rabbits as soon as Julian or George spoke to them
and scuttled of to their caravans at once. They were dirty and ragged, but most
of them had beautiful eyes and thick curly hair, though it wanted brushing and
washing.
Nobby
went to fetch Pongo, who was dancing to and fro in his cage, making anguished
sounds, thinking he was forgotten. He was simply delighted to see the children
again, and put his arm right round Anne at once. Then he pulled George's hair
and hid his face behind his paws, peeping out mischievously.
'He's a caution, aren't you, Pongo?' said
Nobby. 'Now you keep with me, Pongo, or I'll put you back into your cage, see?'
They went to see the dogs and let them all
out. They were mostly terrier dogs, or mongrels, smart, well-kept little things
who jumped up eagerly at Nobby, and made a great fuss of him. It was clear that
they loved him and trusted him.
'Like to see them play football?' asked
Nobby. 'Here, Barker — fetch the ball. Go on, quick!'
Barker darted off to Nobby's caravan. The
door was shut, but the clever little dog stood on his hind legs and jerked the
handle with his nose. The door opened and in went Barker. He came out dribbling
a football with his nose. Down the steps it went and into the camp field. All
the dogs leapt on it with howls of delight.
'Yap-yap-yap! Yap-yap!' They dribbled that
football to and fro, while Nobby stood with his legs open to make a goal for
them.
It was Barker's job and Growler's to score
the goals, and the task of the other dogs to stop them. So it was a most
amusing game to watch. Once, when Barker scored a goal by hurling himself on
the ball and sending it rolling fast between Nobby's arched legs, Pongo leapt
into the fray, picked up the ball and ran off with it.
'Foul, foul!' yelled Nobby and all the dogs
rushed after the mischievous chimpanzee. He leapt on to the top of a caravan
and began to bounce the ball there, grinning down at the furious dogs.
'Oh, this is such fun!' said Anne, wiping
the tears of laughter from her eyes. 'Oh, dear! I've got such a pain in my side
from laughing.'
Nobby had to climb up to the roof of the
caravan to get the ball. Pongo jumped down the other side, but left the ball
balanced neatly on the chimney. He was really a most mischievous chimpanzee.
Then they went to see the beautiful horses.
All of them had shining satiny coats. They were being trotted round a big field
by a slim, tall young fellow called Rossy, and they obeyed his slightest word.
'Can I ride Black Queen, Rossy?' asked Nobby
eagerly. 'Do let me!'
'Okay,' said Rossy, his black hair shining
like the horses' coats. Then Nobby amazed the watching children, for he leapt
on to a great black horse, stood up on her back and trotted all round the field
like that!
'He'll fall!' cried Anne. But he didn't, of
course. Then he suddenly swung himself down on to his hands and rode Black
Queen standing upside down.
'Good, good!' cried Rossy. 'You are good
with horses, young one! Now ride Fury!'
Fury was a small, fiery-looking little
horse, whose gleaming eyes showed a temper. Nobby ran to her and leapt on her
bare-backed. She rose up, snorting and tried to throw him off. But he wouldn't
be thrown off. No matter what she did, Nobby clung on like a limpet to a rock.
At last Fury tired of it and began to canter
round the field. Then she galloped — and suddenly she stopped absolutely dead,
meaning to fling Nobby over her head!
But the boy was waiting for that trick and
threw himself backwards at once. 'Good, good!' cried Rossy. 'She will soon eat
out of your hand, Nobby! Good boy.'
'Nobby, Nobby, you're terribly clever!'
yelled Anne. 'Oh, I wish I could do the things you do! I wish I could.'
Nobby
slid off Fury's back, looking pleased. It was nice to show off a little to his
'posh' friends. Then he looked round and about. 'I say — where's that chimp? Up
to some mischief, I'll be bound! Let's go and find him.'
CHAPTER TWELVE
A LOVELY DAY — WITH A HORRID END
They soon saw Pongo. He was coming round one
of the caravans, looking exceedingly pleased with himself. He went to Anne and
held out his paw to her, making little affectionate noises.
Anne took what he held. She looked at it.
It's a hard-boiled egg! Oh, Nobby, he's been at the picnic baskets!'
So he had! Two of the eggs were gone, and
some of the tomatoes! Nobby smacked the chimpanzee and took him back to his
cage. He was very sad and made a noise as if he was crying, hiding his face in
his paws. Anne was upset.
'Is he really crying? Oh, do forgive him,
Nobby. He didn't mean to be naughty.'
'He's not crying. He's only pretending,'
said Nobby. 'And he did mean to be naughty. I know him!'
The morning soon went in visiting the circus
animals. It was dinner-time before they had had time to see the monkeys. 'We'll
see them afterwards,' said Nobby. 'Let's have a meal now. Come on. We'll go and
have it by the lake.'
The children hadn't seen Lou or Tiger Dan at
all, much to their joy. 'Where are they?' asked Julian. 'Gone out for the day?'
'Yes, thank goodness,' said Nobby. 'Gone out
on one of their mysterious jaunts. You know, when we're on the road, going from
place to place, my uncle sometimes disappears at night. I wake up — and he's
not there.'
'Where does he go?' asked George.
'I wouldn't dare to ask,' said Nobby.
'Anyway, he and Lou are out of the way today. I don't expect they'll be back
till night.'
They had their meal by the lake. It
glittered at their feet, calm and blue, and looked very inviting.
'What about a swim?' asked Dick when they
had eaten as much as they could. Julian looked at his watch.
'Can't swim directly after a good meal,' he
said. 'You know that, Dick. We'll have to wait a bit.'
'Right,' said Dick, and lay down. 'I'll have
a snooze — or shall we go and see the monkeys?'
They all had a short nap and then got up to
go and see the monkeys. When they got back to the camp they found it alive with
people, all excited and yelling.
'What's up?' said Nobby. 'Jumping Jiminy,
the monkeys are all loose!'
So they were. Wherever they looked the
children saw a small brown monkey, chattering to itself, on the roof of a caravan
or tent!
A brown-faced woman with sharp eyes came up
to Nobby. She caught him by the shoulder and shook him. 'See what that chimp of
yours has done!' she said. 'You put him in his cage and couldn't have locked it
properly. He got out and let all the monkeys loose. Drat that chimp — I'll take
a broomstick to him if ever I catch him!'
'Where's Lucilla then?' asked Nobby,
dragging himself away from the cross woman. 'Can't she get them in?'
'Lucilla's gone to the town,' scolded the
woman. 'And fine and pleased she'll be to hear this when she comes back!'
'Aw, let the monkeys be!' said Nobby. 'They
won't come to any harm. They'll wait for Lucilla all right!'
'Who's Lucilla?' asked Anne, thinking that
life in a circus camp was very exciting.
'She owns the monkeys,' said Nobby. 'Hi,
look — there's Lucilla coming back! Now we'll be all right!'
A little wizened old woman was hurrying
towards the camp. She really looked rather like a monkey herself, Anne thought.
Her eyes were bright and sharp, and her tiny hands clutched a red shawl round
her. They looked like brown paws.
'Your monkeys are out!' yelled the camp
children. 'LUCILLA! Your monkeys are out.'
Lucilla heard and, raising her voice, she
scolded everyone in sight fully and shrilly. Then she stood still and held out
her arms. She spoke some soft words in a language the children didn't know —
magic words, Anne said afterwards.
One by one the wandering monkeys came
scampering over to her, flinging themselves down from the caravan roofs, making
little chattering sounds of love and welcome. They leapt on to Lucilla's
shoulders and into her arms, cuddling against her like tiny brown children. Not
one monkey was left out — all went to Lucilla as if drawn by some enchantment.
She walked slowly towards their cage,
murmuring her soft words as she went. Everyone watched in silence.
'She's a queer one,' said the brown-faced
woman to Nobby. 'She don't love nobody but her monkeys — and there's nobody loves
her but them. You mind out she doesn't go for that chimp of yours, letting out
her precious monkeys!'
'I'll take him and Old Lady down to bathe,'
said Nobby, hastily. 'By the time we're back, Lucilla will have forgotten.'
They fetched Old Lady and discovered where
naughty Pongo was hiding under a caravan. As quickly as possible they went back
to the lake, Old Lady stepping out well, looking forward to her bathe.
'I suppose things like that are always
happening in a circus camp,' said Anne. 'It's not a bit like real life.'
'Isn't it?' said Nobby, surprised. 'It's
real life all right to me!'
It was cool in the lake and they all enjoyed
themselves very much, swimming and splashing. Pongo wouldn't go in very far,
but splashed everyone who came within reach, laughing and cackling loudly. He
gave Old Lady a shock by leaping up on to her back, and pulling one of her big
ears.
She dipped her trunk into the lake, sucked
up a lot of water, turned her trunk over her back, and squirted the water all
over the startled chimpanzee! The children yelled with laughter, and roared
again to see Pongo falling in fright off Old Lady's back. Splash! He went right
in and got himself wet from head to foot — a thing he hated doing.
'Serves you right, you scamp!' shouted
Nobby. 'Hey, Old Lady, stop it! Don't squirt at me!'
The elephant, pleased with her little joke,
didn't want to stop it. So the children had to keep well away from her, for her
aim was very good.
'I've never had such a lovely time in my
life!' said Anne, as she dried herself. 'I shall dream all night of monkeys and
elephants, horses, dogs and chimpanzees!'
Nobby turned about twenty cart-wheels by the
edge of the lake from sheer good spirits — and Pongo at once did the same. He
was even better at it than Nobby. Anne tried and fell down flop immediately.
They went back to the camp. 'Sorry I can't
offer you any tea,' said Nobby, 'but we never seem to have tea, you know — we
circus folk, I mean. Anyway, I'm not hungry after that enormous lunch. Are
you?'
Nobody was. They shared out Mrs Mackie's
home-made toffees, and gave one to Pongo. It stuck his teeth together, and he
looked so comically alarmed when he found that he couldn't open his mouth that
the children roared at him.
He sat down, swayed from side to side, and
began to groan dismally. But the toffee soon melted away, and he found that he
could open his mouth after all. He sucked the rest of the sweet noisily, but
wouldn't have another.
They wandered round the camp, looking at the
different caravans. Nobody took much notice of them now. They were just Nobby's
'posh' friends — that was all. Some of the smaller children peeped out and
stuck out their little red tongues — but at Nobby's roar they vanished.
'Got no manners at all!' said Nobby. 'But
they're all right really.'
They came to where big wagons stood, stored
with all kinds of circus things. 'We don't bother to unpack these when we're
resting in camp like this,' said Nobby. 'Don't need them here. One of my jobs
is to help to unpack this stuff when we're camping to give a show. Have to get
out all them benches and set them up in the big top — that's the circus tent,
you know. We're pretty busy then, I can tell you!'
'What's in this cart?' asked Anne, coming to a small wagon with a
tightly-fitting hood of tarpaulin.
'Don't know,' said Nobby. That cart belongs
to my uncle. He won't never let me unpack it. I don't know what he keeps there.
I've wondered if it was things belonging to my Dad and Mum. I told you they
were dead. Anyway, I thought I'd peep and see one day; but Uncle Dan caught me
and half-killed me!'
'But if they belonged to your parents, they
ought to be yours!' said George.
'Funny thing is, sometimes that cart's
crammed full,' said Nobby. 'And sometimes it isn't. Maybe Lou puts some of his
things there too.'
'Well, nobody could get anything else in
there at the moment!' said Julian. 'It's full to bursting!'
They lost interest in the little wagon and
wandered round to see the 'props' as Nobby called them. Anne pictured these as
clothes-props, but they turned out to be gilt chairs and tables, the shining
poles used for the tight-rope, gaily-painted stools for the performing dogs to
sit on, and circus 'props' of that kind.
'Properties, Anne,' said Julian. 'Circus
properties. Props for short. Look here, isn't it about time we went back? My
watch has stopped. Whatever time is it?'
'Golly, it's quite late!' said Dick, looking
at his watch. 'Seven o'clock. No wonder I feel jolly hungry. Time we went back.
Coming with us, Nobby? You can have supper up there if you like. I bet you
could find your way back in the dark.'
'I'll take Pongo with me, and Barker and
Growler,' said Nobby, delighted at the invitation. 'If I lose the way back,
they won't!'
So they all set off up the hill, tired with
their long and exciting day. Anne began to plan what she would give the little
company for supper. Ham, certainly — and tomatoes — and some of that raspberry
syrup diluted with icy-cold spring-water.
They all heard Timmy barking excitedly as
soon as they came near the caravans. He barked without ceasing, loudly and
determinedly.
'He sounds cross,' said Dick. 'Poor old Tim!
He must think we've quite deserted him.'
They came to the caravans and Timmy flung
himself on George as if he hadn't seen her for a year. He pawed her and licked
her, then pawed her again.
Barker and Growler were pleased to see him
too, and as for Pongo, he was delighted. He shook hands with Timmy's tail
several times, and was disappointed that Timmy took no notice of him.
'Hallo! What's Barker gnawing at?' suddenly
said Dick. 'Raw meat! How did it come here? Do you suppose the farmer has been
by and given Timmy some? Well, why didn't he eat it, then?'
They all looked at Barker, who was gnawing
some meat on the ground. Growler ran to it too. But Timmy would not go near it.
Nor would Pongo. Timmy put his tail down and Pongo hid his furry face behind
his paws.
'Funny,' said the children, puzzled at the
queer behaviour of the two animals. Then suddenly they understood — for poor
Barker suddenly gave a terrible whine, shivered from head to foot, and rolled
over on his side.
'Jiminy — it's poisoned!' yelled Nobby, and
kicked Growler away from the meat. He picked Barker up, and to the children's
utter dismay they saw that Nobby was crying.
'He's done for,' said the boy, in a choking
voice. 'Poor old Barker.'
Carrying Barker in his arms, with Growler
and Pongo behind him, poor Nobby stumbled down the hill. No one liked to follow
him. Poisoned meat! What a terrible thing.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
JULIAN THINKS OF A PLAN
George was trembling. Her legs felt as if
they wouldn't hold her up, and she sank down on the ledge. She put her arms
round Timmy.
'Oh, Timmy! That meat was meant for you! Oh,
thank goodness, thank goodness you were clever enough not to touch it! Timmy,
you might have been poisoned!'
Timmy licked his mistress soberly. The
others stood round, staring, not knowing what to think. Poor Barker! Would he
die? Suppose it had been old Timmy? They had left him all alone, and he might
have eaten the meat and died.
'I'll never, never leave you up here alone
again!' said George.
'Who threw him the poisoned meat, do you
think?' said Anne, in a small voice.
'Who do you suppose?' said George, in a
hard, scornful voice. 'Lou and Tiger Dan!'
'They want to get us away from here, that's
plain,' said Dick. 'But again — why?'
'What can there be about this place that
makes the men want to get rid of us all?' wondered Julian. 'They're real
rogues. Poor Nobby. He must have an awful life with them. And now they've gone
and poisoned his dog.'
Nobody felt like eating very much that
evening. Anne got out the bread and the butter and a pot of jam. George
wouldn't eat anything. What a horrid end to a lovely day!
They all went to bed early, and nobody
objected when Julian said he was going to lock both the caravans. 'Not that I
think either Lou or Dan will be up here tonight,' he said. 'But you never
know!'
Whether they came or not the children didn't
know, for although Timmy began to bark loudly in the middle of the night, and
scraped frantically at the shut door of George's caravan, there was nothing to
be seen or heard when Julian opened his door and flashed on his torch.
Timmy didn't bark any more. He lay quite
quietly sleeping with one ear cocked. Julian lay in bed and thought hard.
Probably Lou and Dan had come creeping up in the dark, hoping that Timmy had
taken the meat and been poisoned. But when they heard him bark, they knew he
was all right, and they must have gone away again. What plan would they make
next?
'There's something behind all this,' Julian
thought, again and again. 'But what can it be? Why do they want us out of this
particular spot?'
He couldn't imagine. He fell asleep at last
with a vague plan in his mind. He would tell it to the others tomorrow. Perhaps
if he could make Lou and Dan think they had all gone off for the day — with
Timmy — but really, he, Julian, would be left behind, in hiding — maybe he
could find out something, if Lou and Dan came along . . .
Julian fell asleep in the middle of thinking
out his plan. Like the others, he dreamt of elephants squirting him with water,
of Pongo chasing the monkeys, of the dogs playing football with excited yaps —
and then into the dream came lumps of poisoned meat! Horrid.
Anne woke with a jump, having dreamt that
someone had put poison into the hard-boiled eggs they were going to eat. She
lay trembling in her bunk, and called to George in a small voice.
'George! I've been having an awful dream!'
George woke up, and Timmy stirred and
stretched himself. George switched on her torch.
'I've been having beastly dreams, too,' she
said. 'I dreamt that those men were after Timmy. I'll leave my torch on for a
bit and we'll talk. I expect that with all the excitement we've had today, and
the horrid end to it this evening, we're just in the mood for horrid dreams!
Still — they are only dreams.'
'Woof,' said Timmy, and scratched himself.
'Don't,' said George. 'You shake the whole
caravan when you do that, Timmy. Stop it.'
Timmy stopped. He sighed and lay down
heavily. He put his head on his paws and looked sleepily at George, as if to
say, 'Put that torch out. I want to go to sleep.'
The next morning was not so warm, and the
sky was cloudy. Nobody felt very cheerful, because they kept thinking of Nobby
and poor Barker. They ate their breakfast almost in silence, and then Anne and
George began to stack the plates, ready to take them to the spring to rinse.
'I'll go to the farm this morning,' said
Julian. 'You sit on the ledge and take the field-glasses, Dick. We'll see if
Nobby goes out in his boat and waves. I've an idea that he won't want us down
in the camp this morning. If he suspects his Uncle Dan and Lou of putting down
the meat that poisoned Barker, he'll probably have had a frightful row with
them.'
He went off to the farm with two empty
baskets. Mrs Mackie was ready for him, and he bought a further supply of
delicious-looking food. Her present this time was a round ginger cake, warm
from the oven!
'Do the circus folk come up here often to
buy food?' asked Julian, as he paid Mrs Mackie.
'They come sometimes,' said Mrs Mackie. 'I
don't mind the women or the children — dirty though they are, and not above
taking one of my chickens now and again — but it's the men I can't abide. There
were two here last year, messing about in the hills, that my husband had to
send off quick.'
Julian pricked up his ears. Two men? What
were they like?'
'Ugly fellows,' said Mrs Mackie. 'And one
had the yellowest teeth I ever saw. Bad-tempered chaps, both of them. They came
up here at night, and we were afraid our chickens would go. They swore they
weren't after our chickens — but what else would they be up here at night for?'
'I can't imagine,' said Julian. He was sure
that the two men Mrs Mackie spoke of were Lou and Tiger Dan. Why did they
wander about in the hills at night?
He went off with the food. When he got near
the camping-place, Dick called to him excitedly.
'Hey, Julian! Come and look through the
glasses. Nobby's out in his boat with Pongo, and I simply can't make out what
it is they're both waving.'
Julian took the glasses and looked through
them. Far down the hill, on the surface of the lake, floated Nobby's little
boat. In it was Nobby, and with him was Pongo. Both of them were waving
something bright red.
'Can't see what they're waving — but that
doesn't matter,' said Julian. The thing is — what they're waving is red, not
white. Red for danger. He's warning us.'
'Golly — I didn't think of that. What an
idiot I am!' said Dick. 'Yes — red for danger. What's up, I wonder?'
'Well, it's clear we'd better not go down to
the camp today,' said Julian. 'And it's also clear that whatever danger there
is, is pretty bad — because both he and Pongo are waving red cloths — doubly
dangerous!'
'Julian, you're jolly sharp,' said George,
who was listening. 'You're the only one of us who tumbled to all that.
Double-danger. What can it be?'
'Perhaps it means danger down at the camp,
and danger here too,' said Julian, thoughtfully. 'I hope poor old Nobby is all
right. Tiger Dan is so jolly beastly to him. I bet he's had a beating or two
since last night.'
'It's a shame!' said Dick.
'Don't tell Anne we think there is
double-danger about,' said Julian, seeing Anne coming back from the spring.
'She'll be scared. She was hoping we wouldn't have an adventure these hols —
and now we seem to be plunged into the middle of one. Golly, I really think we
ought to leave these hills and go on somewhere else.'
But he only said this half-heartedly,
because he was burning to solve the curious mystery behind Lou's behaviour and
Dan's. The others pounced on him at once.
'We can't leave! Don't be a coward, Ju!'
'I won't leave. Nor will Timmy.'
'Shut up,' said Julian. 'Here comes Anne.'
They said no more. Julian watched Nobby for
a little while longer. Then the boy and the chimpanzee drew in to the shore and
disappeared.
When they were all sitting together on the
ledge, Julian proposed the plan he had been thinking out the night before.
'I'd like to find out what there is about
this place that attracts Lou and Dan,' he said. There is something not far from
here that makes the men want to get rid of us. Now suppose we four and Timmy go
off down the hill and pass the camp, and yell out to Nobby that we're all — all
of us — going to the town for the day — and you three do go, but I slip back up
the hill — maybe Lou and Dan will come up here, and if I'm in hiding I shall
see what they're up to!'
'You mean, we'll all four pretend to go to
town — but really only three of us go, and you get back and hide,' said Dick.
'I see. It's a good idea.'
'And you'll hide somewhere and watch for the
men to come,' said George. 'Well, for goodness' sake don't let them see you,
Julian. You won't have Timmy, you know! Those men could make mincemeat of you
if they wanted to.'
'Oh, they'd want to all right. I know that,'
said Julian grimly. 'But you can be sure I'll be jolly well hidden.'
'I don't see why we can't have a good look
round and see if we can't find the cave or whatever it is the men want to come
to,' said Dick. 'If they can find it, we can, too!'
'We don't know that it is a cave,' said
Julian. 'We haven't any idea at all what attracts the men up here. Mrs Mackie
said they were up here last year, too, and the farmer had to drive them away.
They thought the men were after the chickens — but I don't think so. There's
something in these hills that makes the men want to get us away.'
'Let's have a good look round,' said George,
feeling suddenly thrilled. 'I've gone all adventurous again!'
'Oh dear!' said Anne. But she couldn't help
feeling rather thrilled, too. They all got up and Timmy followed, wagging his
tail. He was pleased that his friends hadn't gone off and left him on guard by
himself that morning.
'We'll all go different ways,' said Julian.
'Up, down and sideways. I'll go up.'
They separated and went off, George and
Timmy together, of course. They hunted in the hillside for possible caves, or
even for some kind of hiding-place. Timmy put his head down every rabbit-hole
and felt very busy indeed.
After about half an hour the others heard
Julian yelling. They ran back to the caravans, sure that he had found something
exciting.
But he hadn't. He had simply got tired of
hunting and decided to give it up. He shook his head when they rushed up to
him, shouting to know what he had found.
'Nothing,' he said. 'I'm fed up with
looking. There's not a cave anywhere here. I'm sure of that! Anyone else found
anything?'
'Not a thing,' said everyone in
disappointment. 'What shall we do now?'
'Put our plan into action,' said Julian,
promptly. 'Let the men themselves show us what they're after. Off we go down
the hills, and we'll yell out to Nobby that we're off for the day — and we'll
hope that Lou and Tiger Dan will hear us!'
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A VERY GOOD HIDING-PLACE
They went down the hill with Timmy. Julian
gave Dick some instructions. 'Have a meal in the town,' he said. 'Keep away for
the day, so as to give the men a chance to come up the hill. Go to the post
office and see if there are any letters for us — and buy some tins of fruit.
They'll make a nice change.'
'Right, Captain!' said Dick. 'And just you
be careful, old boy. These men will stick at nothing — bad-tempered brutes they
are.'
'Look after the girls,' said Julian. 'Don't
let George do anything mad!'
Dick grinned. 'Who can stop George doing
what she wants to? Not me!'
They were now at the bottom of the hill. The
circus camp lay nearby. The children could hear the barking of the dogs and the
shrill trumpeting of Old Lady.
They looked about for Nobby. He was nowhere
to be seen. Blow! It wouldn't be any good setting off to the town and laying
such a good plan if they couldn't tell Nobby they were going!
Nobody dared to go into the camp. Julian
thought of the two red cloths that Nobby and Pongo had waved. Double-danger! It
would be wise not to go into the camp that morning. He stood still, undecided
what to do.
Then he opened his mouth and yelled:
'Nobby! NOBBY!'
No answer and no Nobby. The elephant man
heard him shouting and came up. 'Do you want Nobby? I'll fetch him.'
Thanks,' said Julian.
The little man went off, whistling. Soon
Nobby appeared from behind a caravan, looking rather scared. He didn't come
near Julian, but stood a good way away, looking pale and troubled.
'Nobby! We're going into the town for the
day,' yelled Julian at the top of his voice. 'We're . . .'
Tiger Dan suddenly appeared behind Nobby and
grabbed his arm fiercely. Nobby put up a hand to protect his face, as if he
expected a blow. Julian yelled again:
'We're going into the town, Nobby! We shan't
be back till evening. Can you hear me? WE'RE GOING TO THE TOWN!'
The whole camp must have heard Julian. But
he was quite determined that, whoever else didn't hear, Tiger Dan certainly
should.
Nobby tried to shake off his uncle's hand,
and opened his mouth to yell back something. But Dan roughly put his hand
across Nobby's mouth and hauled him away, shaking him as a dog shakes a rat.
'HOW'S BARKER?' yelled Julian. But Nobby had
disappeared, dragged into his uncle's caravan by Dan. The little elephant man
heard, however.
'Barker's bad,' he said. 'Not dead yet. But
nearly. Never saw a dog so sick in my life. Nobby's fair upset!'
The children walked off with Timmy. George
had had to hold his collar all the time, for once he saw Dan he growled without
stopping, and tried to get away from George.
Thank goodness Barker isn't dead,' said
Anne. 'I do hope he'll get better.'
'Not much chance,' said Julian. 'That meat
must have been chockful of poison. Poor old Nobby. How awful to be under the
thumb of a fellow like Tiger Dan.'
'I just simply can't imagine him as a clown
— Tiger Dan, I mean,' said Anne. 'Clowns are always so merry and gay and
jolly.'
'Well, that's just acting,' said Dick. 'A
clown needn't be the same out of the ring as he has to be when he's in it. If
you look at photographs of clowns when they're just being ordinary men, they've
got quite sad faces.'
'Well, Tiger Dan hasn't got a sad face. He's
got a nasty, ugly, savage, cruel, fierce one,' said Anne, looking quite fierce
herself.
That made the others laugh. Dick turned
round to see if anyone was watching them walking towards the bus-stop, where
the buses turned to go to the town.
'Lou the acrobat is watching us,' he said.
'Good! Can he see the bus-stop from where he is, Ju?'
Julian turned round. 'Yes, he can. He'll
watch to see us all get into the bus — so I'd better climb in, too, and I'll
get out at the first stop, double back, and get into the hills by some path he
won't be able to see.'
'Right,' said Dick, enjoying the thought of
playing a trick on Lou. 'Come on. There's the bus. We'll have to run for it.'
They all got into the bus. Lou was still
watching, a small figure very far away. Dick felt inclined to wave cheekily to
him, but didn't.
The bus set off. They took three tickets for
the town and one for the nearest stop. Timmy had a ticket, too, which he wore
proudly in his collar. He loved going in a bus.
Julian got out at the first stop. 'Well, see
you this evening!' he said. 'Send Timmy on ahead to the caravans when you come
back — just in case the men are anywhere about. I may not be able to warn you.'
'Right,' said Dick. 'Good-bye — and good
luck!'
Julian waved and set off back down the road
he had come. He saw a little lane leading off up into the hills and decided to
take it. It led him not very far from Mrs Mackie's farm, so he soon knew where
he was. He went back to the caravans, and quickly made himself some sandwiches
and cut some cake to take to his hiding-place. He might have a long wait!
'Now — where shall I hide?' thought the boy.
'I want somewhere that will give me a view of the track so that I can see when
the men come up it. And yet it must be somewhere that gives me a good view of
their doings, too. What would be the best place?'
A tree? No, there wasn't one that was near
enough or thick enough. Behind a bush? No, the men might easily come round it
and see him. What about the middle of a thick gorse bush? That might be a good
idea.
But Julian gave that up very quickly, for he
found the bush far too prickly to force his way into the middle. He scratched
his arms and legs terribly.
'Blow!' he said. 'I really must make up my
mind, or the men may be here before I'm in hiding!'
And then he suddenly had a real brainwave,
and he crowed in delight. Of course! The very place!
'I'll climb up on to the roof of one of the
caravans!' thought Julian. 'Nobody will see me there — and certainly nobody
would guess I was there! That really is a fine idea. I shall have a fine view
of the track and a first-rate view of the men and where they go!'
It wasn't very easy to climb up on to the
high roof. He had to get a rope, loop it at the end, and try to lasso the
chimney in order to climb up.
He managed to lasso the chimney, and the
rope hung down over the side of the caravan, ready for him to swarm up. He
threw his packet of food up on to the roof and then climbed up himself. He
pulled up the rope and coiled it beside him.
Then he lay down flat. He was certain that
nobody could see him from below. Of course, if the men went higher up the hill
and looked down on the caravans, he could easily be spotted — but he would have
to chance that.
He lay there quite still, watching the lake,
and keeping eyes and ears open for anyone coming up the hillside. He was glad
that it was not a very hot sunny day, or he would have been cooked up on the
roof. He wished he had thought of filling a bottle with water in case he was
thirsty.
He saw spires of smoke rising from where the
circus camp lay, far below. He saw a couple of boats on the lake, a good way
round the water — people fishing, he supposed. He watched a couple of rabbits
come out and play on the hillside just below.
The sun came out from behind the clouds for
about ten minutes and Julian began to feel uncomfortably hot. Then it went in
again and he felt better.
He suddenly heard somebody whistling and
stiffened himself in expectation — but it was only someone belonging to the
farm, going down the hill some distance away. The whistle had carried clearly in
the still air.
Then he got bored. The rabbits went in, and
not even a butterfly sailed by. He could see no birds except a yellow-hammer
that sat on the topmost spray of a bush and sang: '
Little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese', over and over again in a most maddening
manner.
Then it gave a cry of alarm and flew off. It
had heard something that frightened it.
Julian heard something, too, and glued his
eyes to the track that led up the hill. His heart began to beat. He could see
two men. Were they Lou and Dan?
He did not dare to raise his head to see
them when they came nearer in case they spotted him. But he knew their voices
when they came near enough!
Yes — it was Lou and Tiger Dan all right.
There was no mistaking those two harsh, coarse voices. The men came right into
the hollow, and Julian heard them talking.
'Yes, there's nobody here. Those kids have
really gone off for the day at least — and taken that wretched dog with them!'
'I saw them get on the bus, dog and all, I
told you,' growled Lou. 'There'll be nobody here for the day. We can get what
we want to.'
'Let's go and get it, then,' said Dan.
Julian waited to see where they would go to.
But they didn't go out of the hollow. They stayed there, apparently beside the
caravans. Julian did not dare to look over the edge of the roof to see what
they were up to. He was glad he had fastened all the windows and locked the
doors.
Then there began some curious scuffling
sounds, and the men panted. The caravan on which Julian was lying began to
shake a little.
'What are they doing?' thought Julian in
bewilderment. In intense curiosity he slid quietly to the edge of the caravan
roof and cautiously peeped over, though he had firmly made up his mind not to
do this on any account.
He looked down on the ground. There was
nobody there at all. Perhaps the men were the other side. He slid carefully
across and peeped over the opposite side of the caravan, which was still
shaking a little, as if the men were bumping against it.
There was nobody the other side either! How
very extraordinary! 'Golly! They must be underneath the caravan!' thought
Julian, going back to the middle of the roof. 'Underneath! What in the wide
world for?'
It was quite impossible to see underneath
the caravan from where he was, so he had to lie quietly and wonder about the
men's doings. They grunted and groaned, and seemed to be scraping and
scrabbling about, but nothing happened. Then Julian heard them scrambling out from
underneath, angry and disappointed.
'Give us a cigarette,' said Lou in a
disagreeable voice. 'I'm fed up with this. Have to shift this van. Those
tiresome brats! What did they want to choose this spot for?'
Julian heard a match struck and smelt
cigarette smoke. Then he got a shock. The caravan he was on began to move!
Heavens! Were the men going to push it over the ledge and send it rolling down
the hillside?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN
Julian was suddenly very scared. He wondered
if he had better slide off the roof and run. He wouldn't have much chance if
the caravan went hurtling down the hill! But he didn't move. He clung to the
chimney with both hands, whilst the men shoved hard against the caravan.
It ran a few feet to the rocky ledge, and
then stopped. Julian felt his forehead getting very damp, and he saw that his
hands were trembling. He felt ashamed of being so scared, but he couldn't help
it.
'Hey! Don't send it down the hill!' said Lou
in alarm, and Julian's heart felt lighter. So they didn't mean to destroy the
caravan in that way! They had just moved it to get at something underneath. But
what could it be? Julian racked his brains to try and think what the floor of
the hollow had been like when Dobby and Trotter pulled their caravans into it.
As far as he could remember it was just an ordinary heathery hollow.
The men were now scrabbling away again by
the back steps of the caravan. Julian was absolutely eaten up with curiosity,
but he did not dare even to move. He could find out the secret when the men had
gone. Meantime he really must be patient or he would spoil everything.
There was some muttered talking, but Julian
couldn't catch a word. Then, quite suddenly, there was complete and utter
silence. Not a word. Not a bump against the caravan. Not a pant or even a
grunt. Nothing at all.
Julian lay still. Maybe the men were still
there. He wasn't going to give himself away. He lay for quite a long time,
waiting and wondering. But he heard nothing.
Then he saw a robin fly to a nearby bramble
spray. It flicked its wings and looked about for crumbs. It was a robin that
came around when the children were having a meal — but it was not as tame as
most robins, and would not fly down until the children had, left the hollow.
Then a rabbit popped out of a hole on the
hillside and capered about, running suddenly up to the hollow.
'Well,' thought Julian, 'it's plain the men
aren't here now, or the birds and animals wouldn't be about like this. There's
another rabbit. Those men have gone somewhere — though goodness knows where. I
can peep over now and have a look, quite safely, I should think.'
He slid himself round and peered over the
roof at the back end of the caravan. He looked down at the ground. There was
absolutely nothing to be seen to tell him what the men had been doing, or where
they had gone! The heather grew luxuriantly there as it did everywhere else.
There was nothing to show what the men had been making such a disturbance
about.
'This is really very queer,' thought Julian,
beginning to wonder if he had been dreaming. 'The men are certainly gone —
vanished into thin air, apparently! Dare I get down and explore a bit? No, I
daren't. The men may appear at any moment, and it's quite on the cards they'll
lose their temper if they find me here, and chuck both me and the caravans down
the hill! It's pretty steep just here, too.'
He lay there, thinking. He suddenly felt
very hungry and thirsty. Thank goodness he had been sensible enough to take
food up to the roof! He could at least have a meal while he was waiting for the
men to come back — if they ever did!
He began to eat his sandwiches. They tasted
very good indeed. He finished them all and began on the cake. That was good,
too. He had brought a few plums up as well, and was very glad of them because
he was thirsty. He flicked the plum stones from the roof before he thought what
he was doing.
'Dash! Why did I do that? If the men notice
them they may remember they weren't there before. Still, they've most of them
gone into the heather!'
The sun came out a little and Julian felt
hot. He wished the men would come again and go down the hill. He was tired of
lying flat on the hard roof. Also he was terribly sleepy. He yawned silently
and shut his eyes.
How long he slept he had no idea — but he
was suddenly awakened by feeling the caravan being moved again! He clutched the
chimney in alarm, listening to the low voices of the two men.
They were pulling the caravan back into
place again. Soon it was in the same position as before. Then Julian heard a
match struck and smelt smoke again.
The men went and sat on the rocky ledge and
took out food they had brought, Julian did not dare to peep at them, though he
felt sure they had their backs to him. The men ate, and talked in low voices,
and then, to Julian's dismay, they lay down and went to sleep! He knew that
they were asleep because he could hear them snoring.
'Am I going to stay on this awful roof all
day long?' he thought. 'I'm getting so cramped, lying flat like this. I want to
sit up!'
'R-r-r-r-r-r!' snored Lou and Dan. Julian
felt that surely it would be all right to sit up now that the men were obviously
asleep. So he sat up cautiously, stretching himself with pleasure.
He looked down on the two men, who were
lying on their backs with their mouths open. Beside them were two neat sacks,
strong and thick. Julian wondered what was inside them. They certainly had not
had them when they came up the track.
The boy gazed down the hillside, frowning,
trying to probe the mystery of where the men had been, and what they were doing
up here — and suddenly he jumped violently. He stared as if he could not
believe his eyes.
A squat and ugly face was peering out from a
bramble bush there. There was almost no nose, and an enormous mouth. Who could
it be? Was it someone spying on Lou and Dan? But what a face! It didn't seem
human.
A hand came up to rub the face — and Julian
saw that it was hairy. With a start he knew who the face belonged to — Pongo
the chimpanzee! No wonder he had thought it such an ugly, unhuman face. It was
all right on a chimp, of course — quite a nice face — but not on a man.
Pongo stared at Julian solemnly, and Julian
stared back, his mind in a whirl. What was Pongo doing there? Was Nobby with
him? If so, Nobby was in danger, for at any moment the men might wake up. He
couldn't think what to do. If he called out to warn Nobby, he would wake the
men.
Pongo was pleased to see Julian, and did not
seem to think the roof of a caravan a curious place to be in at all. After all,
he often went up on the roofs of caravans. He nodded and blinked at the boy,
and then scratched his head for a long time.
Then beside him appeared Nobby's face — a
tear-stained face, bruised and swollen. He suddenly saw Julian looking over the
roof of the caravan, and his mouth fell open in surprise. He seemed about to
call out, and Julian shook his head frantically to stop him, pointing downwards
to try and warn Nobby that somebody was there.
But Nobby didn't understand. He grinned and,
to Julian's horror, began to climb up the hillside to the rocky ledge! The men
were sleeping there, and Julian saw with dismay that Nobby would probably heave
himself up right on top of them.
'Look out!' he said, in a low, urgent voice.
'Look out, you fathead!'
But it was too late. Nobby heaved himself up
on to the ledge, and, to his utmost horror, found himself sprawling on top of
Tiger Dan! He gave a yell and tried to slide away — but Dan, rousing suddenly,
shot out a hand and gripped him.
Lou woke up, too. The men glared at poor
Nobby, and the boy began to tremble, and to beg for mercy.
'I didn't know you were here, I swear it!
Let me go, let me go! I only came up to look for my knife that I lost
yesterday!'
Dan shook him savagely. 'How long have you
been here? You been spying?'
'No, no! I've only just come! I've been at
the camp all morning — you ask Larry and Rossy. I been helping them!'
'You been spying on us, that's what you've
been doing!' said Lou, in a cold, hard voice that filled the listening Julian
with dread. 'You've had plenty of beatings this week, but seemingly they ain't
enough. Well, up here, there's nobody to hear your yells, see? So we'll show
you what a real beating is! And if you can walk down to the camp after it, I'll
be surprised.'
Nobby was terrified. He begged for mercy, he
promised to do anything the men asked him, and tried to jerk his poor swollen
face away from Dan's hard hands.
Julian couldn't bear it. He didn't want to
give away the fact that it was he who had been spying, nor did he want to fight
the men at all, for he was pretty certain he would get the worst of it. But
nobody could lie in silence, watching two men treat a young boy in such a way.
He made up his mind to leap off the roof right on to the men, and to rescue
poor Nobby if he could.
Nobby gave an anguished yell as Lou gave him
a flick with his leather belt — but before Julian could jump down to help him,
somebody else bounded up! Somebody who bared his teeth and made ugly animal
noises of rage, somebody whose arms were far stronger than either Lou's or Dan's
— somebody who loved poor Nobby, and wasn't going to let him be beaten any
more!
It was Pongo. The chimpanzee had been
watching the scene with his sharp little eyes. He had still hidden himself in
the bush, for he was afraid of Lou and Dan — but now, hearing Nobby's cries, he
leapt out of the brambles and flung himself on the astonished men.
He bit Lou's arm hard. Then he bit Dan's
leg. The men yelled loudly, much more loudly than poor Nobby had. Lou lashed
out with his leather belt, and it caught Pongo on the shoulder. The chimpanzee
made a shrill chattering noise, and leapt on Lou with his arms open, clasping
the man to him, trying to bite his throat.
Tiger Dan rushed down the hill at top speed,
terrified of the angry chimpanzee. Lou yelled to Nobby.
'Call him off! He'll kill me!'
'Pongo!' shouted Nobby. 'Stop it! Pongo!
Come here.'
Pongo gave Nobby a look of the greatest
surprise. 'What!' he seemed to say, 'you won't let me punish this bad man who
beat you? Well, well — whatever you say must be right!'
And the chimpanzee, giving Lou one last
vicious nip, let the man go. Lou followed Dan down the hill at top speed, and
Julian heard him crashing through the bushes as if a hundred chimpanzees were
after him.
Nobby sat down, trembling. Pongo, not quite
sure if his beloved friend was angry with him or not, crept up to him putting a
paw on the boy's knee. Nobby put his arm round the anxious animal, and Pongo
chattered with joy.
Julian slid down from the roof of the
caravan and went to Nobby. He, too, sat down beside him. He put his arm round
the trembling boy and gave him a hug.
'I was just coming to give you a hand, when
Pongo shot up the hill,' he said.
'Were you really?' said Nobby, his face lighting
up. 'You're a real friend, you are. Good as Pongo, here.'
And Julian felt quite proud to be ranked in
bravery with the chimpanzee!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A SURPRISING DISCOVERY
'Listen — somebody's coming!' said Nobby, and
Pongo gave an ugly growl. The sound of voices could be heard coming up the
hill. Then a dog barked.
'It's all right. It's Timmy — and the
others,' said Julian, unspeakably glad to welcome them back. He stood up and
yelled.
'All right! Come along!'
George, Timmy, Dick and Anne came running up
the track. 'Hallo!' shouted Dick. 'We thought it would be safe, because we saw
Lou and Dan in the distance, running along at the bottom of the hill. I say —
there's Pongo!'
Pongo shook hands with Dick, and then went
to the back of Timmy, to shake hands with his tail. But Timmy was ready for
him, and backing round, he held out his paw to Pongo instead. It was very funny
to see the two animals solemnly shaking hands with one another.
'Hallo, Nobby!' said Dick. 'Goodness — what
have you been doing to yourself? You look as if you've been in the wars.'
'Well, I have, rather,' said Nobby, with a
feeble grin. He was very much shaken, and did not get up. Pongo ran to Anne and
tried to put his arms round her.
'Oh, Pongo — you squeeze too hard,' said
Anne. 'Julian, did anything happen? Did the men come? Have you any news?'
'Plenty,' said Julian. 'But what I want
first is a jolly good drink. I've had none all day. Ginger-beer, I think.'
'We're all thirsty. I'll get five bottles —
no, six, because I expect Pongo would like some.'
Pongo loved ginger-beer. He sat down with
the children on the rocky ledge, and took his glass from Anne just like a
child. Timmy was a little jealous, but as he didn't like ginger-beer he
couldn't make a fuss.
Julian began to tell the others about his
day, and how he had hidden on the caravan roof. He described how the men had
come — and had gone under the caravan — and then moved it. They all listened
with wide eyes. What a story!
Then Nobby told his part. 'I butted in and
almost gave the game away,' he said, when Julian had got as far as the men
falling asleep and snoring. 'But, you see, I had to come and warn you. Lou and
Dan swear they'll poison Timmy somehow, even if they have to dope him, put him
into a sack and take him down to the camp to do it. Or they might knock him on
the head.'
'Let them try!' said George, in her fiercest
voice, and put her arm round Timmy. Pongo at once put his arm round Timmy too.
'And they said they'd damage your caravans
too — maybe put a fire underneath and burn them up,' went on Nobby.
The four children stared at him in horror.
'But they wouldn't do a thing like that, surely?' said Julian, at last. They'd
get into trouble with the police if they did.'
'Well, I'm just telling you what they said,'
Nobby went on. 'You don't know Lou and Tiger Dan like I do. They'll stick at
nothing to get their way — or to get anybody out of their way. They tried to
poison Timmy, didn't they? And poor old Barker got it instead.'
'Is — is Barker — all right?' asked Anne.
'No,' said Nobby. 'He's dying, I think. I've
given him to Lucilla to dose. She's a marvel with sick animals. I've put Growler
with the other dogs. He's safe with them.'
He stared round at the other children, his
mouth trembling, sniffing as if he had a bad cold.
'I dursent go back,' he said, in a low
voice, 'I dursent. They'll half-kill me.'
'You're not going back, so that's settled,'
said Julian, in a brisk voice. 'You're staying here with us. We shall love to
have you. It was jolly decent of you to come up and warn us — and bad luck to
have got caught like that. You're our friend now — and we'll stick together.'
Nobby couldn't say a word, but his face
shone. He rubbed a dirty hand across his eyes, then grinned his old grin. He
nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak, and the children all thought
how nice he was. Poor old Nobby.
They finished their ginger-beer and then
Julian got up. 'And now,' he said, 'we will do a little exploring and find out
where those men went, shall we?'
'Oh yes!' cried George, who had sat still
quite long enough. 'We must find out! Do we have to get under the caravan,
Julian?'
''Fraid so,' said Julian. 'You sit there
quietly, Nobby, and keep guard in case Lou or Dan come back.'
He didn't think for a moment that they
would, but he could see that Nobby needed to sit quietly for a while. Nobby,
however, had different ideas. He was going to share this adventure!
'Timmy's guard enough, and so is Pongo,' he
said. They'll hear anyone coming half a mile away. I'm in on this!'
And he was. He went scrabbling underneath
the low-swung base of the caravan with the others, eager to find out anything
he could.
But it was impossible to explore down in the
heather, with the caravan base just over their heads. They had no room at all.
Like Dan and Lou they soon felt that they would have to move the van.
It took all five of them, with Pongo giving
a shove, too, to move the caravan a few feet away. Then down they dropped to
the thick carpet of heather again.
The tufts came up easily by the roots,
because the men had already pulled them up once that day and then replanted
them. The children dragged up a patch of heather about five feet square, and
then gave an exclamation.
'Look! Boards under the heather!'
'Laid neatly across and across. What for?'
'Pull them up!'
The boys pulled up the planks one by one and
piled them on one side. Then they saw that the boards had closed up the
entrance of a deep hole. 'I'll get my torch,' said Julian. He fetched it and
flashed it on.
The light showed them a dark hole, going
down into the hillside, with footholds sticking out of one side. They all sat
and gazed down in excitement.
'To think we went and put our caravan
exactly over the entrance of the men's hiding-place!' said Dick. 'No wonder
they were wild! No wonder they changed their minds and told us we could go down
to the lake and camp there instead of here!'
'Gosh!' said Julian, staring into the hole.
'So that's where the men went! Where does it lead to? They were down there a
mighty long time. They were clever enough to replace the planks and drag some
of the heather over them, too, to hide them when they went down.'
Pongo suddenly took it into his head to go
down the hole. Down he went, feeling for the footholds with his hairy feet,
grinning up at the others. He disappeared at the bottom. Julian's torch could
not pick him out at all.
'Hey, Pongo! Don't lose yourself down
there!' called Nobby, anxiously. But Pongo had gone.
'Blow him!' said Nobby. 'He'll never find
his way back, if he goes wandering about underground. I'll have to go after
him. Can I have your torch, Julian?'
'I'll come too,' said Julian. 'George, get
me your torch as well, will you?'
'It's broken,' said George. 'I dropped it
last night. And nobody else has got one.'
'What
an awful nuisance!' said Julian. 'I want us to go and explore down there — but
we can't with only one torch. Well, I'll just go down with Nobby and get Pongo
— have a quick look round and come back. I may see something worth seeing!'
Nobby went down first, and Julian followed,
the others all kneeling round the hole, watching them enviously. They
disappeared.
'Pongo!' yelled Nobby. 'Pongo! Come here,
you idiot!'
Pongo had not gone very far. He didn't like
the dark down there very much, and he came to Nobby as soon as he saw the light
of the torch. The boys found themselves in a narrow passage at the bottom of
the hole, which widened as they went further into the hill.
'Must be caves somewhere,' said Julian,
flashing his torch round. 'We know that a lot of springs run out of this hill.
I daresay that through the centuries the water has eaten away the softer stuff
and made caves and tunnels everywhere in the hill. And somewhere in a cave Lou
and Dan store away things they don't want anyone to know about. Stolen goods,
probably.'
The passage ended in a small cave that
seemed to have no other opening out of it at all. There was nothing in it.
Julian flashed his torch up and down the walls.
He saw footholds up one part, and traced
them to a hole in the roof, which must have been made, years before, by running
water. That's the way we go!' he said. 'Come on.'
'Wait!' said Nobby. 'Isn't your torch
getting rather faint?'
'Goodness — yes!' said Julian in alarm, and
shook his torch violently to make the light brighter. But the battery had
almost worn out, and no better light came. Instead the light grew even fainter,
until it was just a pin-prick in the torch.
'Come on — we'd better get back at once,'
said Julian, feeling a bit scared. 'I don't want to wander about here in the
pitch dark. Not my idea of fun at all.'
Nobby took firm hold of Pongo's hairy paw
and equally firm hold of Julian's jersey. He didn't mean to lose either of
them! The light in the torch went out completely. Now they must find their way
back in black darkness.
Julian felt round for the beginning of the
passage that led back to the hole. He found it and made his way up it, feeling
the sides with his hands. It wasn't a pleasant experience at all, and Julian
was thankful that he and Nobby had only gone a little way into the hill. It
would have been like a nightmare if they had gone well in, and then found
themselves unable to see the way back.
They saw a faint light shining further on
and guessed it was the daylight shining down the entrance-hole. They stumbled
thankfully towards it. They looked up and saw the anxious faces of the other
three peering down at them, unable to see them.
'We're back!' called Julian, beginning to
climb up. 'My torch went out, and we daren't go very far. We've got Pongo,
though.'
The others helped to pull them out at the
top of the hole. Julian told them about the hole in the roof of the little
cave.
That's where the men went,' he said. 'And
tomorrow, when we've all bought torches, and matches and candles, that's where
we're going, too! We'll go down to the town and buy what we want, and come back
and do a Really Good Exploration!'
'We're going to have an adventure after
all,' said Anne, in rather a small voice.
''Fraid so,' said Julian. 'But you can stay
at the farm with Mrs Mackie for the day, Anne dear. Don't you come with us.'
'If you're going on an adventure, I'm
coming, too,' said Anne. 'So there! I wouldn't dream of not coming.'
'All right,' said Julian. 'We'll all go
together. Golly, things are getting exciting!'
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ANOTHER VISIT FROM LOU AND DAN
Nobody disturbed the children that night,
and Timmy did not bark once. Nobby slept on a pile of rugs in the boy's
caravan, and Pongo cuddled up to him. The chimpanzee seemed delighted at
staying with the caravanners. Timmy was rather jealous that another animal
should be with them, and wouldn't take any notice of Pongo at all.
The next morning, after breakfast, the
children discussed who was to go down to the town. 'Not Nobby and Pongo,
because they wouldn't be allowed in the bus together,' said Julian. 'They had
better stay behind.'
'Not by ourselves?' said Nobby, looking
alarmed. 'Suppose Lou and Uncle Dan come up? Even if I've got Pongo I'd be
scared.'
'Well, I'll stay here, too,' said Dick. 'We
don't all need to go to buy torches. Don't forget to post that letter to Daddy
and Mother, Julian.'
They had written a long letter to their
parents, telling them of the exciting happenings. Julian put it into his
pocket. 'I'll post it all right,' he said. 'Well, I suppose we might as well go
now. Come on, girls. Keep a look-out, Dick, in case those rogues come back.'
George, Timmy, Anne and Julian went down the
hill together, Timmy running on in front, his tail wagging nineteen to the
dozen. Pongo climbed up to the roof of the red caravan to watch them go. Nobby
and Dick sat down in the warm sun on the ledge, their heads resting on springy
clumps of heather.
'It's nice up here,' said Nobby. 'Much nicer
than down below. I wonder what everyone is thinking about Pongo and me. I bet
Mr Gorgio, the head of the circus, is wild that the chimpanzee's gone. I bet
he'll send up to fetch us.'
Nobby was right. Two people were sent up to
get him — Lou and Tiger Dan. They came creeping up through the bracken and
heather, keeping a sharp eye for Timmy or Pongo.
Pongo sensed them long before they could be
seen and warned Nobby. Nobby went very pale. He was terrified of the two
scoundrels.
'Get into one of the caravans,' said Dick in
a low voice. 'Go on. I'll deal with those fellows — if it is them. Pongo will
help me if necessary.'
Nobby scuttled into the green caravan and
shut the door. Dick sat where he was. Pongo squatted on the roof of the
caravan, watching.
Lou and Dan suddenly appeared. They saw
Dick, but did not see Pongo. They looked all round for the others.
'What do you want?' said Dick.
'Nobby and Pongo,' said Lou with a scowl.
'Where are they?'
'They're going to stay on with us,' said
Dick.
'Oh, no, they're not!' said Tiger Dan.
'Nobby's in my charge, see? I'm his uncle.'
'Funny sort of uncle,' remarked Dick. 'How's
that dog you poisoned, by the way?'
Tiger Dan went purple in the face. He looked
as if he would willingly have thrown Dick down the hill.
'You be careful what you say to me!' he
said, beginning to shout.
Nobby, hidden in the caravan, trembled when
he heard his uncle's angry yell. Pongo kept quite still, his face set and ugly.
'Well, you may as well say good-bye and go,'
said Dick in a calm voice to Dan. 'I've told you that Nobby and Pongo are
staying with us for the present.'
'Where is Nobby?' demanded Tiger Dan,
looking as if he would burst with rage at any moment. 'Wait till I get my hands
on him. Wait . . .'
He began to walk towards the caravans — but
Pongo was not having any of that! He leapt straight off the roof on to the
horrified man, and flung him to the ground. He made such a terrible snarling
noise that Dan was terrified.
'Call him off!' he yelled. 'Lou, come and
help.'
'Pongo won't obey me,' said Dick still
sitting down looking quite undisturbed. 'You'd better go before he bites big
pieces out of you.'
Dan staggered to the rock ledge, looking as
if he would box Dick's ears. But the boy did not move, and somehow Dan did not
dare to touch him. Pongo let him go and stood glowering at him, his great hairy
arms hanging down his sides, ready to fly at either of the men if they came
near.
Tiger Dan picked up a stone — and as quick
as lightning Pongo flung himself on him again and sent the man rolling down the
hill. Lou fled in terror. Dan got up and fled, too, yelling furiously as he
went. Pongo chased them in delight. He, too, picked up stones and flung them
with a very accurate aim, so that Dick kept hearing yells of pain.
Pongo came back, looking extremely pleased
with himself. He went to the green caravan, as Dick shouted to Nobby.
'All right, Nobby. They've gone. Pongo and I
won the battle!'
Nobby came out. Pongo put his arm round him
at once and chattered nonsense in his ear. Nobby looked rather ashamed of
himself.
'Bit of a coward, aren't I?' he said.
'Leaving you out here all alone.'
'I enjoyed it,' said Dick truthfully. 'And
I'm sure Pongo did!'
'You don't know what dangerous fellows Lou
and Dan are,' said Nobby, looking down the hillside to make sure the men were
really gone. 'I tell you they'd stick at nothing. They'd burn your caravans,
hurl them down the hill, poison your dog, and do what harm they could to you,
too. You don't know them like I do!'
'Well, as a matter of fact, we've had some
pretty exciting adventures with men just as tough as Dan and Lou,' said Dick.
'We always seem to be falling into the middle of some adventure or other. Now,
last hols we went to a place called Smuggler's Top — and, my word, the
adventures we had there! You wouldn't believe them!'
'You tell me and Pongo,' said Nobby, sitting
down beside Dick. 'We've plenty of time before the others come back.'
So Dick began to tell the tale of all the
other thrilling adventures that the five of them had had, and the time flew.
Both boys were surprised when they heard Timmy barking down the track, and knew
that the others were back.
George came tearing up with Timmy at her
heels. 'Are you all right? Did anything happen while we were away? Do you know,
we saw Lou and Tiger Dan getting on the bus when we got off it! They were
carrying bags as if they meant to go away and stay somewhere.'
Nobby brightened up at once. 'Did you
really? Good! They came up here, you know, and Pongo chased them down the hill.
They must have gone back to the camp, collected their bags, and gone to catch
the bus. Hurrah!'
'We've got fine torches,' said Julian, and
showed Dick his. 'Powerful ones. Here's one for you, Dick — and one for you,
Nobby.'
'Oooh — thanks,' said Nobby. Then he went
red. 'I haven't got enough money to pay you for such a grand torch,' he said
awkwardly.
'It's a present for you,' said Anne at once,
'a present for a friend of ours, Nobby!'
'Coo! Thanks awfully,' said Nobby, looking
quite overcome. 'I've never had a present before. You're decent kids, you are.'
Pongo held out his hand to Anne and made a
chattering noise as if to say: 'What about one for me, too?'
'Oh — we didn't bring one for Pongo!' said
Anne. 'Why ever didn't we?'
'Good thing you didn't,' said Nobby. 'He
would have put it on and off all day long and wasted the battery in no time!'
'I'll give him my old torch,' said George.
'It's broken, but he won't mind that!'
Pongo was delighted with it. He kept
pressing down the knob that should make the light flash — and when there was no
light he looked all about on the ground as if the light must have dropped out!
The children roared at him. He liked them to laugh at him. He did a little dance
all round them to show how pleased he was.
'Look here — wouldn't it be a jolly good
time to explore underground now that we know Lou and Dan are safely out of the
way?' asked Julian suddenly. 'If they've got bags with them, surely that means
they're going to spend the night somewhere and won't be back till tomorrow at
least. We'd be quite safe to go down and explore.'
'Yes, we could,' said George eagerly, 'I'm
longing to get down there and Make Discoveries!'
'Well, let's have something to eat first,'
said Dick. 'It's long past our dinner-time. It must be about half-past one.
Yes, it is!'
'George and I will get you a meal,' said
Anne. 'We called at the farm on our way up and got a lovely lot of food. Come
on, George.'
George got up unwillingly. Timmy followed
her, sniffing expectantly. Soon the two girls were busy getting a fine meal
ready, and they all sat on the rocky ledge to eat it.
'Mrs Mackie gave us this enormous bar of
chocolate for a present today,' said Anne, showing a great slab to Dick and
Nobby. 'Isn't it lovely? No, Pongo, it's not for you. Eat your sandwiches
properly, and don't grab.'
'I vote we take some food down into the hill
with us,' said Julian. 'We may be quite a long time down there, and we shan't
want to come back at tea-time.'
'Oooh — a picnic inside the hill!' said
Anne. That would be thrilling. I'll soon pack up some food in the kitbag. I
won't bother to make sandwiches. We'll take a new loaf, butter, ham and a cake,
and cut what we want. What about something to drink?'
'Oh, we can last out till we get back,' said
Julian. 'Just take something to eat to keep us going till we have finished
exploring.'
George and Nobby cleared up and rinsed the
plates. Anne wrapped up some food in greased paper, and packed it carefully
into the kitbag for Julian to carry. She popped the big bar of chocolate into
the bag, too. It would be nice to eat at odd moments.
At last they were all ready. Jimmy wagged
his tail. He knew they were going somewhere.
The five of them pushed the caravan back a
few feet to expose the hole. They had all tugged the van back into place the
night before, in case Lou and Dan came to go down the hole again. No one could
get down it if the caravan was over it.
The boards had been laid roughly across the
hole and the boys took them off, tossing them to one side. As soon as Pongo saw
the hole he drew back, frightened.
'He's remembered the darkness down there,'
said George. 'He doesn't like it. Come on, Pongo. You'll be all right. We've
all got torches!'
But nothing would persuade Pongo to go down
that hole again. He cried like a baby when Nobby tried to make him.
'It's no good,' said Julian. 'You'll have to
stop up here with him.'
'What — and miss all the excitement!' cried
Nobby indignantly. 'I jolly well won't. We can tie old Pongo up to a wheel of
the van so that he won't wander off. Lou and Dan are away somewhere, and no one
else is likely to tackle a big chimp like Pongo. We'll tie him up.'
So Pongo was tied firmly to one of the
caravan wheels. 'You stay there like a good chimp till we come back,' said
Nobby, putting a pail of water beside him in case he should want a drink.
'We'll be back soon!'
Pongo was sad to see them go — but nothing
would have made him go down that hole again! So he sat watching the children
disappear one by one. Timmy jumped down, too, and they were all gone. Gone on
another adventure. What would happen now?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
INSIDE THE HILL
The children had all put on extra jerseys,
by Julian's orders, for he knew it would be cold inside the dark hill. Nobby
had been lent an old one of Dick's. They were glad of them as soon as they were
walking down the dark passage that led to the first cave, for the air was very
chilly.
They came to the small cave and Julian
flashed his torch to show them where the footholds went up the wall to a hole
in the roof.
'It's exciting,' said George, thrilled. 'I
like this sort of thing. Where does that hole in the roof lead to, I wonder?
I'll go first, Ju.'
'No, you won't,' said Julian firmly. 'I go
first. You don't know what might be at the top!'
Up he went, his torch held in his mouth, for
he needed both hands to climb. The footholds were strong nails driven into the
rock of the cave-wall, and were fairly easy to climb.
He got to the hole in the roof and popped
his head through. He gave a cry of astonishment.
'I say! There's a most ENORMOUS cavern here
— bigger than six dance-halls — and the walls are all glittering with something
— phosphorescence, I should think.'
He scrambled out of the hole and stood on
the floor of the immense cave. Its walls twinkled in their queer light, and
Julian shut off his torch. There was almost enough phosphorescent light in the
cavern to see by!
One by one the others came up and stared in
wonder. 'It's like Aladdin's cave!' said Anne. 'Isn't that a queer light
shining from the walls — and from the roof, too, Julian?'
Dick and George had rather a difficulty in
getting Timmy up to the cavern, but they managed it at last. Timmy put his tail
down at once when he saw the curious light gleaming everywhere. But it went up
again when George patted him.
'What an enormous place!' said Dick. 'Do you
suppose this is where the men hide their stuff, whatever it is?'
Julian flashed his torch on again and swung
it round and about, picking out the dark, rocky corners. 'Can't see anything
hidden,' he said. 'But we'd better explore the cave properly before we go on.'
So the five children explored every nook and
cranny of the gleaming cave, but could find nothing at all. Julian gave a
sudden exclamation and picked something up from the floor.
'A cigarette end!' he said. 'That shows that
Lou and Dan have been here. Come on, let's see if there's a way out of this
great cave.'
Right at the far end, half-way up the
gleaming wall, was a large hole, rather like a tunnel. Julian climbed up to it
and called to the others. 'This is the way they went. There's a dead match just
at the entrance to the tunnel or whatever this is.'
It was a curious tunnel, no higher than
their shoulders in some places, and it wound about as it went further into the
hill. Julian thought that at one time water must have run through it. But it
was quite dry now. The floor of the tunnel was worn very smooth, as if a stream
had hollowed it out through many, many years.
'I hope the stream won't take it into its
head to begin running suddenly again!' said George. 'We should get jolly wet!'
The tunnel went on for some way, and Anne
was beginning to feel it must go on for ever. Then the wall at one side widened
out and made a big rocky shelf. Julian, who was first, flashed his torch into
the hollow.
'I say!' he shouted. 'Here's where those
fellows keep their stores! There's a whole pile of things here!'
The others crowded up as closely as they
could, each of them flashing their torch brightly. On the wide, rocky shelf lay
boxes and packages, sacks and cases. The children stared at them. 'What's in
them?' said Nobby, full of intense curiosity. 'Let's see!'
He put down his torch and undid a sack. He
slid in his hand — and brought it out holding a piece of shining gold plate!
'Coo!' said Nobby. 'So that's what the
police were after last year when they came and searched the camp! And it was
hidden safely here. Coo, look at all these things. Jumping Jiminy, they must
have robbed the Queen herself!'
The sack was full of exquisite pieces of
gold plate — cups, dishes, small trays. The children set them all out on the
ledge. How they gleamed in the light of their torches!
'They're thieves in a very big way,' said
Julian. 'No doubt about that. Let's look in this box.'
The box was not locked, and the lid opened
easily. Inside was a piece of china, a vase so fragile that it looked as if it
might break at a breath!
'Well, I don't know anything about china,'
said Julian, 'but I suppose this is a very precious piece, worth thousands of
pounds. A collector of china would probably give a very large sum for it. What
rogues Lou and Dan are!'
'Look here!' suddenly said George, and she
pulled leather boxes out of a bag. 'Jewellery!'
She opened the boxes. The children exclaimed
in awe. Diamonds flashed brilliantly, rubies glowed, emeralds shone green.
Necklaces, bracelets, rings, brooches — the beautiful things gleamed in the
light of the five torches.
There was a tiara in one box that seemed to
be made only of big diamonds. Anne picked it out of its box gently. Then she
put it on her hair.
'I'm a princess! It's my crown!' she said.
'You look lovely,' said Nobby admiringly.
'You look as grand as Delphine the Bareback Rider when she goes into the ring
on her horse, with jewels shining all over her!'
Anne put on necklaces and bracelets and sat
there on the ledge like a little princess, shining brightly in the magnificent
jewels. Then she took them off and put them carefully back into their
satin-lined boxes.
'Well — what a haul those two rogues have
made!' said Julian, pulling out some gleaming silver plate from another
package. 'They must be very fine burglars!'
'I know how they work,' said Dick. 'Lou's a
wonderful acrobat, isn't he? I bet he does all the climbing about up walls and
over roofs and into windows — and Tiger Dan stands below and catches everything
he throws down.'
'You're about right,' said Nobby, handling a
beautiful silver cup. 'Lou could climb anywhere — up ivy, up pipes — even up
the bare wall of a house, I shouldn't wonder! And jump! He can jump like a cat.
He and Tiger Dan have been in this business for a long time, I expect. That's
where Uncle Dan went at night, of course, when we were on tour, and I woke up
and found him gone out of the caravan!'
'And I expect he stores the stolen goods in
that wagon of his you showed us,' said Julian, remembering. 'You told us how
angry he was with you once when you went and rummaged about in it. He probably
stored it there, and then he and Lou came up here each year and hid the stuff
underground — waiting till the police had given up the search for the stolen
things — and then they come and get it and sell it somewhere safe.'
'A jolly clever plan,' said Dick. 'What a
fine chance they've got — wandering about from place to place like that hearing
of famous jewels or plate — slipping out at night — and Lou climbing up to
bedrooms like a cat. I wonder how they found this place — it's a most wonderful
hidey-hole!'
'Yes. Nobody would ever dream of it!' said
George.
'And then we go and put our caravan bang on
the top of the entrance — just when they want to put something in and take
something out!' said Julian. 'I must have annoyed them.'
'What are we going to do about it?' said
Dick.
Tell the police, of course,' said Julian,
promptly. 'What do you suppose? My word, I'd like to see the face of the
policeman who first sees this little haul.'
They put everything back carefully. Julian
shone his torch up the tunnel. 'Shall we explore a bit further, or not?' he
said. 'It still goes on. Look!'
'Better get back,' said Nobby. 'Now we've
found this we'd better do something about it.'
'Oh, let's just see where the tunnel goes
to,' said George. 'It won't take a minute!'
'All right,' said Julian, who wanted to go
up the tunnel as much as she did. He led the way, his torch shining brightly.
The tunnel came out into another cave, not
nearly as big as the one they had left behind. At one end something gleamed
like silver, and seemed to move. There was a curious sound there, too.
'What is it?' said Anne, alarmed. They stood
and listened.
'Water!' said Julian, suddenly. 'Of course!
Can't you hear it flowing along? It's an underground stream, flowing through
the hill to find an opening where it can rush out.'
'Like that stream we saw before we came to
our caravan camping-place,' said George. 'It rushed out of the hill. Do you
remember? This may be the very one!'
'I expect it is!' said Dick. They went over
to it and watched it. It rushed along in its own hollowed out channel, close to
the side of the cave-wall.
'Maybe at one time it ran across this cave
and down the tunnel we came up by,' said Julian. 'Yes, look — there's a big
kind of groove in the floor of the cave here — the stream must have run there
once. Then for some reason it went a different way.'
'Let's get back,' said Nobby. 'I want to
know if Pongo's all right. I don't somehow feel very comfortable about him. And
I'm jolly cold, too. Let's go back to the sunshine and have something to eat. I
don't want a picnic down here, after all.'
'All right,' said Julian, and they made
their way back through the tunnel. They passed the rock shelf on which lay the
treasure, and came at last to the enormous gleaming cavern. They went across it
to the hole that led down into the small cave. Down they went. Julian and
George trying to manage Timmy between them. But it was very awkward, for he was
a big dog.
Then along the passage to the entrance-hole.
They all felt quite pleased at the idea of going up into the sunshine again.
'Can't see any daylight shining down the
hole,' said Julian puzzled. 'It would be near here.'
He came up against a blank wall, and was
surprised. Where was the hole? Had they missed their way? Then he flashed his
torch above him and saw the hole there — but there was no daylight shining in!
'I say!' said Julian, in horror. 'I say!
What do you think's happened?'
'What?' asked everyone, in panic.
'The hole is closed!' said Julian. 'We can't
get out! Somebody's been along and put those planks across — and I bet they've
put the caravan over them, too. We can't get out!'
Everyone stared up at the closed entrance in
dismay. They were prisoners.
'Whatever are we to do?' said George.
'Julian — what are we going to do?'
CHAPTER NINETEEN
PRISONERS UNDERGROUND
Julian didn't answer. He was angry with
himself for not thinking that this might happen! Although Lou and Dan had been
seen getting on the bus with bags, they might easily not have been spending the
night away — the bags might contain things they wanted to sell — stolen goods
of some kind.
'They came back quickly — and came up the
hill, I suppose, to have another try at getting Nobby and Pongo back,' said
Julian, out loud. 'What an idiot I am to leave things to chance like that. Well
— I'll have a try at shifting these planks. I should be able to, with luck.'
He did his best, and did shift them to a
certain extent — but, as he feared, the caravan had been run back over the
hole, and even if he managed to shift some of the planks it was impossible to
make a way out.
'Perhaps Pongo can help,' he said suddenly.
He shouted loudly: 'Pongo! Pongo! Come and help!'
Everyone stood still, hoping that they would
hear Pongo chattering somewhere near, or scraping at the planks above. But
there was no sign or sound of Pongo.
Everyone called, but it was no use. Pongo
didn't come. What had happened to him? Poor Nobby felt very worried.
'I wish I knew what has happened,' he kept
saying. 'I feel as if something horrid has happened to poor old Pongo. Where
can he be?'
Pongo was not very far away. He was lying on
his side, his head bleeding. He was quite unconscious, and could not hear the
frantic calls of the children at all. Poor Pongo!
What Julian had feared had actually
happened. Lou and Dan had come back up the hill, bringing money with them to
tempt Nobby and Pongo back. When they had got near to the hollow, they had
stood still and called loudly.
'Nobby! Nobby! We've come to make friends,
not to hurt you! We've got money for you. Be a sensible boy and come back to the
camp. Mr Gorgio is asking for you.'
When there had been no reply at all, the men
had gone nearer. Then they had seen Pongo and had stopped. The chimpanzee could
not get at them because he was tied up. He sat there snarling.
'Where have those kids gone?' asked Lou.
Then he saw that the caravan had been moved back a little, and he at once
guessed.
'They've found the way underground! The
interfering little brutes! See, they've moved one of the caravans off the hole.
What do we do now!'
'This first,' said Tiger Dan, in a brutal
voice, and he picked up an enormous stone. He threw it with all his force at
poor Pongo, who tried to leap out of the way. But the rope prevented him, and
the stone hit him full on the head.
He gave a loud scream and fell down at once,
lying quite still.
'You've gone and killed him,' said Lou.
'So much the better!' said Tiger Dan. 'Now
let's go and see if the entrance-hole is open. Those kids want their necks
wringing!'
They went to the hollow and saw at once that
the hole had been discovered, opened, and that the children must have gone down
it.
'They're down there now,' said Tiger Dan,
almost choking with rage. 'Shall we go down and deal with them — and get our
stuff and clear off? We meant to clear off tomorrow, anyway. We might as well
get the stuff out now.'
'What — in the daylight — with any of the
farm men about to see us!' said Lou with a sneer. 'Clever, aren't you?'
'Well, have you got a better idea?' asked
Tiger Dan.
'Why not follow our plan?' said Lou. 'Go
down when it's dark and collect the stuff. We can bring our wagon up as we
planned to do tonight. We don't need to bother about forcing the children to go
now — they're underground — and we can make them prisoners till we're ready to
clear off!'
'I see,' said Dan, and he grinned suddenly,
showing his ugly teeth. 'Yes — we'll close up the hole and run the caravan back
over it — and come up tonight in the dark with the wagon — go down — collect
everything — and shut up the hole again with the children in it. We'll send a
card to Gorgio when we're safe and tell him to go up and set the kids free.'
'Why bother to do that?' said Lou, in a
cruel voice. 'Let 'em starve underground, the interfering little beasts. Serve
'em right.'
'Can't do that,' said Dan. 'Have the police
after us worse than ever. We'll have to chuck some food down the hole, to keep
them going till they're set free. No good starving them, Lou. There'd be an
awful outcry if we do anything like that.'
The two men carefully put back the boards
over the top of the hole and replaced the heather tufts. Then they ran the
caravan back over the place. They looked at Pongo. The chimpanzee was still
lying on his side, and the men could see what a nasty wound he had on his head.
'He ain't dead,' said Lou, and gave him a
kick. 'He'll come round all right. Better leave him here. He might come to
himself if we carried him back to camp, and fight us. He can't do us any harm
tonight, tied up like that.'
They went away down the track. Not ten
minutes afterwards the children came to the hole and found it blocked up! If
only they hadn't stopped to explore that tunnel a bit further, they would have
been able to get out and set Timmy on the two men.
But it was too late now. The hole was well
and truly closed. No one could get out. No one could find poor Pongo and bathe
his head. They were real prisoners.
They didn't like it at all. Anne began to
cry, though she tried not to let the others see her. Nobby saw that she was
upset, and put his arm round her.
'Don't cry, little Anne,' he said. 'We'll be
all right.'
'It's no good staying here,' said Julian, at
last. 'We might as well go somewhere more comfortable, and sit down and talk
and eat. I'm hungry.'
They all went back down the passage, up
through the hole in the roof, and into the enormous cavern. They found a sandy
corner and sat down. Julian handed Anne the kitbag and she undid it to get the
food inside.
'Better only have one torch going,' said
Julian. 'We don't know how long we'll be here. We don't want to be left in the
dark!'
Everybody immediately switched off their
torches. The idea of being lost in the dark inside the hill wasn't at all nice!
Anne handed out slices of bread and butter, and the children put thin slices of
Mrs Mackie's delicious ham on them.
They felt distinctly better when they had
all eaten a good meal. That was jolly good,' said Dick. 'No, we won't eat that
chocolate, Anne. We may want it later on. Golly, I'm thirsty!'
'So am I,' said Nobby. 'My tongue's hanging
out like old Timmy's. Let's go and get a drink.'
'Well, there was a stream in that other cave
beyond the tunnel, wasn't there?' said Dick. 'We can drink from that. It'll be
all right.'
'Well, I hope it will,' said Julian. 'We
were told not to drink water that wasn't boiled while we were caravanning — but
we didn't know this sort of thing was going to happen! We'll go through the
tunnel and get some water to drink from the stream.'
They made their way through the long,
winding tunnel, and passed the shelf of stolen goods. Then on they went and
came out into the cave through which the stream rushed so quickly. They dipped
in their hands and drank thirstily. The water tasted lovely — so clear and
cold.
Timmy drank too. He was puzzled at this
adventure, but so long as he was with George he was happy. If his mistress
suddenly took it into her head to live underground like a worm, that was all
right — so long as Timmy was with her!
'I wonder if this stream does go to that
hole in the hillside, and pours out there,' said Julian, suddenly. 'If it does,
and we could follow it, we might be able to squeeze out.'
'We'd get terribly wet,' said George, 'but
that wouldn't matter. Let's see if we can follow the water.'
They went to where the stream disappeared
into a tunnel rather like the dry one they had come along. Julian shone his
torch into it.
'We could wade along, I think,' he said. 'It
is very fast but not very deep. I know — I'll go along it myself and see where
it goes, and come back and tell you.'
'No,' said George, at once. 'If you go, we
all go. You might get separated from us. That would be awful.'
'All right,' said Julian. 'I thought there
was no sense in us all getting wet, that's all. Come on, we'll try now.'
One by one they waded into the stream. The
current tugged at their legs, for the water ran very fast. But it was only just
above their knees there. They waded along by the light of their torches,
wondering where the tunnel would lead to.
Timmy half-waded, half-swam. He didn't like
this water-business very much. It seemed silly to him. He pushed ahead of
Julian and then a little further down, jumped up to a ledge that ran beside the
water.
'Good idea, Tim,' said Julian, and he got up
on to it too. He had to crouch down rather as he walked because his head
touched the roof of the tunnel if he didn't — but at least his legs were out of
the icy-cold water! Ail the others did the same, and as long as the ledge ran
along beside the stream they all walked along it.
But at times it disappeared and then they
had to wade in the water again, which now suddenly got deeper. 'Gracious! It's
almost to my waist,' said Anne. 'I hope it doesn't get any deeper. I'm holding
my clothes up as high as I can, but they'll get soaked soon.'
Fortunately the water got no deeper, but it
seemed to go faster. 'We're going down hill a bit,' said Julian at last.
'Perhaps we are getting near to where it pours out of the hill.'
They were! Some distance ahead of him Julian
suddenly saw a dim light, and wondered whatever it could be. He soon knew! It
was daylight creeping in through the water that poured out of the hole in the
hillside — poured out in a torrent into the sunshine.
'We're almost there!' cried Julian. 'Come
on.'
With light hearts the children waded along
in the water. Now they would soon be out in the warm sunshine. They would find
Pongo, and race down the hill in the warmth, catch the first bus, and go to the
police station.
But nothing like that happened at all. To
their enormous disappointment the water got far too deep to wade through, and
Nobby stopped in fright. 'I dursent go no further,' he said. 'I'm almost off my
feet now with the water rushing by.'
'I am, too,' said Anne, frightened.
'Perhaps I can swim out,' said Julian, and
he struck out. But he gave it up in dismay, for the torrent of water was too
much for him, and he was afraid of being hurled against the rocky sides and
having his head cracked.
It's no good,' he said, gloomily. 'No good
at all. All that wading for nothing. It's far too dangerous to go any further —
and yet daylight is only a few yards ahead. It's too sickening for words.'
'We must go back,' said George. 'I'm afraid
Timmy will be drowned if we don't. Oh, dear — we must go all that way back!'
CHAPTER TWENTY
MORE EXCITEMENT
It was a very sad and disappointed little
company that made their way back to the cave. Along the tunnel they went,
painfully and slowly, for it was not so easy against the current. Julian
shivered; he was wet through with trying to swim.
At last they were back in the cave through
which the stream flowed so swiftly. 'Let's run round and round it to get warm,'
said Julian. 'I'm frozen. Dick, let me have one of your dry jerseys. I must
take off these wet ones.'
The children ran round and round the cave,
pretending to race one another, trying to get warm. They did get warm in the
end, and sank down in a heap on some soft sand in a corner, panting. They sat
there for a little while to get their breath.
Then they heard something. Timmy heard it
first and growled. 'Jumping Jiminy, what's up with Timmy?' said Nobby, in
fright. He was the most easily scared of the children, probably because of the
frights he had had the last few days.
They all listened, George with her hand on
Timmy's collar. He growled again, softly. The noise they all heard was a loud
panting coming from the stream over at the other side of the cave!
'Someone is wading up the stream,' whispered
Dick, in astonishment. 'Did they get in at the place where we couldn't get out?
They must have!'
'But who is it?' asked Julian. 'Can't be Lou
or Dan. They wouldn't come that way when they could come the right way. Sh!
Whoever it is, is arriving in the cave. I'll shut off my torch.'
Darkness fell in the cave as the light from
Julian's torch was clicked off. They all sat and listened, and poor Nobby shook
and shivered. Timmy didn't growl any more, which was surprising. In fact, he
even wagged his tail!
There was a sneeze from the other end of the
cave — and then soft footsteps padded towards them. Anne felt as if she must
scream. WHO was it?
Julian switched on his torch suddenly, and
its light fell on a squat, hairy figure, halting in the bright glare. It was
Pongo!
'It's Pongo!' everyone yelled, and leapt up
at once. Timmy ran over to the surprised chimpanzee and sniffed round him in
delight. Pongo put his arms round Nobby and Anne.
'Pongo! You've escaped! You must have bitten
through your rope!' said Julian. 'How clever you are to find your way through
that hole where the stream pours out. How did you know you would find us here!
Clever Pongo.'
Then he saw the big wound on poor Pongo's
head. 'Oh look!' said Julian. 'He's been hurt! I expect those brutes threw a
stone at him. Poor old Pongo.'
'Let's bathe his head,' said Anne. 'I'll use
my hanky.'
But Pongo wouldn't let anyone touch his
wound, not even Nobby. He didn't snap or snarl at them, but simply held their
hands away from him, and refused to leave go. So nobody could bathe his head or
bind it up.
'Never mind,' said Nobby at last, 'animals'
wounds often heal up very quickly without any attention at all. He won't let us
touch it, that's certain. I expect Lou and Dan hit him with a stone, and
knocked him unconscious when they came. They then shut up the hole and made us
prisoners. Beasts!'
'I say,' suddenly said Dick. 'I say! I've
got an idea. I don't know if it will work — but it really is an idea.'
'What?' asked everyone, thrilled.
'Well — what about tying a letter round
Pongo's neck and sending him out of the hole again, to take the letter to the
camp?' said Dick. 'He won't go to Lou or Dan because he's scared of them — but
he'd go to any of the others all right, wouldn't he? Larry would be the best
one. He seems to be a good fellow.'
'Would Pongo understand enough to do all
that, though?' asked Julian, doubtfully.
'We could try him,' said Nobby. 'I do send
him here and there sometimes, just for fun — to take the elephant's bat to
Larry, for instance — or to put my coat away in my caravan.'
'Well, we could certainly try,' said Dick.
'I've got a notebook and a pencil. I'll write a note and wrap it up in another
sheet, pin it together and tie it round Pongo's neck with a bit of string.'
So he wrote a note. It said:
'To whoever gets this note — please come up
the hill to the hollow where there are two caravans. Under the red one is the
entrance to an underground passage. We are prisoners inside the hill. Please
rescue us soon.
Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Nobby.'
He read it out to the others. Then he tied
the note round Pongo's neck. Pongo was surprised, but fortunately did not try
to pull it off.
'Now, you give him his orders,' said Dick to
Nobby. So Nobby spoke slowly and importantly to the listening chimpanzee.
'Where's Larry? Go to Larry, Pongo. Fetch
Larry. Go. GO!'
Pongo blinked at him and made a funny little
noise as if he was saying: 'Please, Nobby, I don't want to go.'
Nobby repeated everything again. 'Understand
Pongo? I think you do. GO, then, GO. GO!'
And Pongo turned and went! He disappeared
into the stream, splashing along by himself. The children watched him as far as
they could by the light of their torches.
'He really is clever,' said Anne. 'He didn't
want to go a bit, did he? Oh, I do hope he finds Larry, and that Larry sees the
note and reads it and sends someone to rescue us.'
'I hope the note doesn't get all soaked and
pulpy in the water,' said Julian, rather gloomily. 'Gosh, I wish I wasn't so
cold. Let's run round a bit again, then have a piece of chocolate.'
They ran about and played 'He' for a time
till they all felt warm again. Then they decided to sit down and have some
chocolate, and play some sort of guessing game to while away the time. Timmy
sat close to Julian, and the boy was very glad.
'He's like a big hot-water bottle,' he said.
'Sit closer, Tim. That's right. You'll soon warm me up!'
It was dull after a time, sitting in the
light of one torch, for they dared not use them all. Already it seemed as if
Julian's torch was getting a little dim. They played all the games they could
think of and then yawned.
'What's the time? I suppose it must be
getting dark outside now. I feel quite sleepy.'
'It's nine o'clock almost,' said Julian. 'I
hope Pongo has got down to the camp all right and found someone. We could
expect help quite soon, if so.'
'Well, then, we'd better get along to the
passage that leads to the hole,' said Dick, getting up. 'It's quite likely that
if Larry or anyone else comes they'll not see the footholds leading up the wall
out of that first little cave. They might not know where we were!'
This seemed very likely. They all made their
way down the tunnel that led past the hidden store of valuables, and came out
into the enormous cave. There was a nice sandy corner just by the hole that led
down into the first small cave, and the children decided to sit there, rather
than in the passage or in the first rocky and uncomfortable little cave. They
cuddled up together for warmth, and felt hungry.
Anne and Nobby dozed off to sleep. George
almost fell asleep, too. But the boys and Timmy kept awake, and talked in low
voices. At least, Timmy didn't talk, but wagged his tail whenever either Dick
or Julian said anything. That was his way of joining in their conversation.
After what seemed a long while Timmy
growled, and the two boys sat up straight. Whatever it was that Timmy's sharp
ears had heard, they had heard nothing at all. And they continued to hear
nothing. But Timmy went on growling.
Julian shook the others awake. 'I believe
help has come,' he said. 'But we'd better not go and see in case it's Dan and
Lou come back. So wake up and look lively!'
They were all wide awake at once. Was it
Larry come in answer to their note — or was it those horrid men, Tiger Dan and
Lou the acrobat?
They soon knew! A head suddenly poked out of
the hole nearby, and a torch shone on them. Timmy growled ferociously and
struggled to fly at the head, but George held on firmly to his collar, thinking
it might be Larry.
But it wasn't! It was Lou the acrobat, as
the children knew only too well when they heard his voice. Julian shone his
torch on to him.
'I hope you've enjoyed your little selves,'
came Lou's harsh voice. 'And you keep that dog under control, boy, or I'll
shoot him. See? I'm not standing no nonsense from that dog this time. Have a
look at this here gun!'
To George's horror she saw that Lou was
pointing a gun at poor Timmy. She gave a scream and flung herself in front of
him. 'Don't you dare to shoot my dog! I'll — I'll — I'll . . .'
She couldn't think of anything bad enough to
do to the man who could shoot Timmy, and she stopped, choked by tears of rage
and fear. Timmy, not knowing what the gun was, couldn't for the life of him
understand why George wouldn't let him get at his enemy — such a nice position,
too, with his head poking through a hole like that. Timmy felt he could deal
with that head very quickly.
'Now, you kids, get up and go into that
tunnel,' said Lou. 'Go on — go right ahead of me, and don't dare to stop. We've
got work to do here tonight, and we're not going to have any more interference
from kids like you. See?'
The children saw quite well. They began to
walk towards the entrance of the tunnel. One by one they climbed into it.
George first with Timmy. She dared not let his collar go for an instant. A few
paces behind them came Lou with his revolver, and Dan with a couple of big
sacks.
The children were made to walk right past
the shelf on which were the hidden goods.
Then Lou sat down in the tunnel, his torch
switched on fully so that he could pick out each child. He still pointed his
revolver at Timmy.
'Now we'll get on,' he said to Tiger Dan.
'You know what to do. Get on with it.'
Tiger Dan began to stuff the things into one
of the big sacks he had brought. He staggered off with it. He came back in
about ten minutes and filled the other sack. It was plain that the men meant to
take everything away this time.
'Thought you'd made a very fine discovery,
didn't you?' said Lou, mockingly, to the children. 'Ho, yes — very smart you
were! See what happens to little smarties like you — you're prisoners — and
here you'll stay for two or three days!'
'What do you mean?' said Julian, in alarm.
'Surely you wouldn't leave us here to starve?'
'Not to starve. We're too fond of you,'
grinned Lou. 'We'll chuck you down some food into the tunnel. And in two or
three days maybe someone will come and rescue you.'
Julian wished desperately that Pongo would
bring help before Lou and Dan finished their business in the tunnel and went,
leaving them prisoners. He watched Tiger Dan, working quickly, packing
everything, carrying it off, coming back again, and packing feverishly once
more. Lou sat still with his torch and revolver, enjoying the scared faces of
the girls and Nobby. Julian and Dick put on a brave show which they were far
from feeling.
Tiger Dan staggered away with another
sackful. But he hadn't been gone for more than half a minute before a wail
echoed through the tunnel.
'Lou! Help! Help! Something's attacking me!
HELP.'
Lou rose up and went swiftly down the tunnel.
'It's Pongo, I bet it's old Pongo,' said Julian thrilled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
DICK HAS A GREAT IDEA!
'Listen,' said Dick, in an urgent voice. 'It
may be Pongo by himself — he may not have gone back to the camp at all — he may
have wandered about and at last gone down the entrance-hole by the caravans,
and come up behind Tiger Dan. If so he won't have much chance because Lou's got
a gun and will shoot him. And we shan't be rescued. So I'm going to slip down
the tunnel while there's a chance and hide in the big cave.'
'What good will that do?' said Julian.
'Well, idiot, I may be able to slip down
into the passage that leads to the entrance-hole and hop out without the others
seeing me,' said Dick, getting up. 'Then I can fetch help, see? You'd better
all clear off somewhere and hide — find a good place, Julian, in case the men
come after you when they find one of us is gone. Go on.'
Without another word the boy began to walk
down the tunnel, past the rocky shelf on which now very few goods were left,
and then came to the enormous cave.
Here there was a great noise going on, for
Pongo appeared to have got hold of both men at once! Their torches were out,
and Lou did not dare to shoot for fear of hurting Dan. Dick could see very
little of this; he could only hear snarlings and shouting. He took a wide
course round the heaving heap on the floor and made his way as quickly as he
could in the dark to where he thought the hole was that led down into the first
passage. He had to go carefully for fear of falling down it. He found it at
last and let himself down into the cave below, and then, thinking it safe to
switch on his torch in the passage he flashed it in front of him to show him
the way.
It wasn't long before he was out of the hole
and was speeding round the caravans. Then he stopped. A thought struck him. He
could fetch help all right — but the men would be gone by then! They had laid
their plans for a getaway with all the goods; there was no doubt about that.
Suppose he put the boards over the hole,
ramming them in with all his strength, and then rolled some heavy stones on
top? He couldn't move the caravan over the boards, for it was far too heavy for
a boy to push. But heavy stones would probably do the trick. The men would
imagine that it was the caravan overhead again!
In great excitement Dick put back the
boards, lugging them into place, panting and puffing. Then he flashed his torch
round for stones. There were several small rocks nearby. He could not lift
them, but he managed to roll them to the boards. Plonk! They went on to them
one by one. Now nobody could move the boards at all.
'I know I've shut the others in with the
men,' thought Dick. 'But I hope Julian will find a very safe hiding-place just
for a time. Gosh, I'm hot! Now, down the hill I go — and I hope I don't lose my
way in the darkness!'
Down below, the two men had at last freed
themselves from the angry chimpanzee. They were badly bitten and mauled, but
Pongo was not as strong and savage as usual because of his bad head-wound. The
men were able to drive him off at last, and he went limping in the direction of
the tunnel, sniffing out the children.
He would certainly have been shot if Lou
could have found his revolver quickly enough. But he could not find it in the
dark. He felt about for his torch, and found that although it was damaged, he
could still put on the light by knocking it once or twice on the ground. He
shone it on to Dan.
'We ought to have looked out for that ape
when we saw he was gone,' growled Dan. 'He had bitten his rope through. We
might have known he was somewhere about. He nearly did for me, leaping on me
like that out of the darkness. It was lucky he flung himself on to my sack and
not me.'
'Let's get the last of the things and clear
out,' said Lou, who was badly shaken up. 'There's only one more load. We'll get
back to the tunnel, scare the life out of those kids once more, shoot Pongo if
we can, and then clear out. We'll chuck a few tins of food down the hole and
then close it up.'
'I'm not going to risk meeting that chimp
again,' said Dan. 'We'll leave the rest of the things. Come on. Let's go.'
Lou was not particularly anxious to see
Pongo again either. Keeping his torch carefully switched on and his revolver
ready, he followed Dan to the hole that led down to the first cave. Down they
went, and then along the passage, eager to get out into the night and go with
their wagon down the track.
They got a terrible shock when they found
that the hole was closed. Lou shone his torch upwards, and gazed in amazement
at the underside of the boards. Someone had put them back into place again.
They were prisoners now!
Tiger Dan went mad. One of his furious rages
overtook him, and he hammered against those boards like a mad-man. But the
heavy stones held them down, and the raging man dropped down beside Lou.
'Can't budge the boards! Someone must have
put the caravan overhead again. We're prisoners!'
'But who's made us prisoners? Who's put back
those boards?' shouted Lou, almost beside himself with fury. 'Could those kids
have slipped by us when we were having that fight with the chimp?'
'We'll go and see if the kids are still
there,' said Tiger Dan, grimly. 'We'll find out. We'll make them very, very
sorry for themselves. Come on.'
The two men went back again to the tunnel.
The children were not there. Julian had taken Dick's advice and had gone off to
try and find a good hiding-place. He had suddenly thought that perhaps Dick
might get the idea of shutting up the entrance-hole — in which case the two men
would certainly be furious!
So up the tunnel the children went, and into
the cave with the stream. It seemed impossible to find any hiding-place there
at all.
'I don't see where we can hide,' said
Julian, feeling rather desperate. 'It's no good wading down that stream again —
we shall only get wet and cold — and we have no escape from there at all if the
men should come after us!'
'I can hear something,' said George,
suddenly. 'Put your light out, Julian — quick!'
The torch was snapped off, and the children
waited in the darkness. Timmy didn't growl. Instead George felt that he was
wagging his tail.
'It's someone friendly,' she whispered.
'Over there. Perhaps it's Pongo. Put the torch on again.'
The light flashed out, and picked out the
chimpanzee, who was coming towards them across the cave. Nobby gave a cry of
joy.
'Here's old Pongo again!' he said. 'Pongo,
did you go to the camp? Did you bring help?'
'No — he hasn't been down to the camp,' said
Julian, his eyes catching sight of the note still tied round the chimpanzee's
neck. There's our letter still on him. Blow!'
'He's clever — but not clever enough to
understand a difficult errand like that,' said George.
'Oh, Pongo — and we were depending on you!
Never mind — perhaps Dick will escape and bring help. Julian, where shall we
hide?'
'Up the stream?' suddenly said Anne. 'We've
tried going down it. But we haven't tried going up it. Do you think it would be
any good?'
'We could see,' said Julian, doubtfully. He
didn't like this business of wading through water that might suddenly get deep.
'I'll shine my torch up the stream and see what it looks like.'
He went to the stream and shone his light up
the tunnel from which it came. 'It seems as if we might walk along the ledge
beside it,' he said. 'But we'd have to bend almost double — and the water runs
so fast just here we must be careful not to slip and fall in.'
'I'll go first,' said Nobby. 'You go last,
Julian. The girls can go in the middle with Pongo and Timmy.'
He stepped on to the narrow ledge inside the
rocky tunnel, just above the rushing water. Then came Pongo. Then Anne, then
George and Timmy — and last of all Julian.
But just as Julian was disappearing, the two
men came into the cave, and by chance Lou's torch shone right on to the
vanishing Julian. He gave a yell.
'There's one of them — look, over there!
Come on!'
The men ran to where the stream came out of
the tunnel, and Lou shone his torch up it. He saw the line of children, with
Julian last of all. He grabbed hold of the boy and pulled him back.
Anne yelled when she saw Julian being pulled
back. Nobby had a dreadful shock. Timmy growled ferociously, and Pongo made a
most peculiar noise.
'Now look here,' came Lou's voice, 'I've got
a gun, and I'm going to shoot that dog and that chimp if they so much as put
their noses out of here. So hang on to them if you want to save their lives!'
He passed Julian to Tiger Dan, who gripped
the boy firmly by the collar. Lou shone his torch up the tunnel again to count
the children. 'Ho, there's Nobby,' he said. 'You come on out here, Nobby.'
'If I do, the chimp will come out too,' said
Nobby. 'You know that. And he may get you before you get him!'
Lou thought about that. He was afraid of the
big chimpanzee. 'You stay up there with him, then,' he said. 'And the girl can
stay with you, holding the dog. But the other boy can come out here.'
He thought that George was a boy. George
didn't mind. She liked people to think she was a boy. She answered at once.
'I can't come. If I do the dog will follow
me, and I'm not going to have him shot.'
'You come on out,' said Lou, threateningly.
'I'm going to show you two boys what happens to kids who keep spying and
interfering. Nobby knows what happens, don't you, Nobby? He's had his lesson.
And you two boys are going to have yours, too.'
Dan called to him. There ought to be another
girl there, Lou. I thought Nobby said there were two boys and two girls.
Where's the other girl?'
'Gone further up the tunnel, I suppose,'
said Lou, trying to see. 'Now, you boy — come on out!'
Anne began to cry. 'Don't go, George; don't
go. They'll hurt you. Tell them you're a . . .'
'Shut up,' said George, fiercely. She added,
in a whisper: 'If I say I'm a girl they'll know Dick is missing, and will be
all the angrier. Hang on to Timmy.'
Anne clutched Timmy's collar in her
trembling hand. George began to walk back to the cave. But Julian was not going
to let George be hurt. She might like to think of herself as a boy, but he
wasn't going to let her be treated like one. He began to struggle.
Lou caught hold of George as she came out of
the tunnel — and at the same moment Julian managed to kick high in the air, and
knocked Lou's torch right out of his hand. It flew up into the roof of the cave
and fell somewhere with a crash. It went out. Now the cave was in darkness.
'Get back into the tunnel, George, with
Anne,' yelled Julian. 'Timmy, Timmy, come on! Pongo, come here!'
'I don't want Timmy to be shot!' cried out
George, in terror, as the dog shot past her into the cave.
Even as she spoke a shot rang out. It was
Lou, shooting blindly at where he thought Timmy was. George screamed.
'Oh, Timmy, Timmy! You're not hurt, are
you?'
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE END OF THE ADVENTURE
No, Timmy wasn't hurt. The bullet zipped
past his head and struck the wall of the cave. Timmy went for Lou's legs. Down
went the man with a crash and a yell, and the revolver flew out of his hand.
Julian heard it slithering across the floor of the cave, and he was very
thankful.
'Put on your torch, George, quickly!' he
yelled. 'We must see what we're doing. Goodness, here's Pongo now!'
Tiger Dan gave a yell of fright when the
torch flashed on and he saw the chimpanzee making straight for him. He dealt
the ape a smashing blow on the face that knocked him down, and then turned to
run. Lou was trying to keep Timmy off his throat, kicking frantically at the
excited dog.
Dan ran to the tunnel — and then stopped in
astonishment. Four burly policemen were pushing their way out of the tunnel,
led by Dick! One of them carried a revolver in his hand. Dan put his hands up
at once.
'Timmy! Come off!' commanded George, seeing
that there was now no need for the dog's delighted help. Timmy gave her a
reproachful glance that said: 'Mistress! I'm really enjoying myself! Let me eat
him all up!'
Then the dog caught sight of the four
policemen and yelped furiously. More enemies! He would eat the lot.
'What's all this going on?' said the first
man, who was an Inspector. 'Get up, you on the floor. Go on, get up!'
Lou got up with great difficulty. Timmy had
nipped him in various places. His hair was over his eyes, his clothes were
torn. He stared at the policemen, his mouth open in the utmost surprise. How
had they come here? Then he saw Dick.
'So one of you kids slipped out — and shut
the boards on us!' he said, savagely. 'I might have guessed. You . . .'
'Hold your tongue, Lewis Allburg,' rapped
out the Inspector. 'You can talk when we tell you. You'll have quite a lot of
talking to do, to explain some of the things we've heard about you.'
'Dick! How did you get here so soon?' cried
Julian, going over to his brother. 'I didn't expect you for hours! Surely you
didn't go all the way to the town and back?'
'No. I shot off to the farm, woke up the
Mackies, used their telephone and got the police up here double-quick in their
car,' said Dick, grinning. 'Everyone all right? Where's Anne? And Nobby?'
'There they are — just coming out of the
tunnel, upstream,' said Julian, and swung his torch round. Dick saw Anne's
white, scared face, and went over to her.
'It's all right,' he said. 'The adventure is
over, Anne! You can smile again!'
Anne gave a watery sort of smile. Pongo took
her hand and made little affectionate noises, and that made her smile a little
more. George called Timmy to her, afraid that he might take a last nip at Lou.
Lou swung round and stared at her. Then he
looked at Dick and Julian. Then at Anne.
'So there was only one girl!' he said. 'What
did you want to tell me there were two boys and two girls for?' he said to
Nobby.
'Because there were,' answered Nobby. He
pointed to George. 'She's a girl, though she looks like a boy. And she's as
good as a boy any day.'
George felt proud. She stared defiantly at
Lou. He was now in the grip of a stout policeman, and Tiger Dan was being
hustled off by two more.
'I think we'll leave this rather gloomy
place,' said the Inspector, putting away the notebook he had been hastily
scribbling in. 'Quick march!'
Julian led the way down the tunnel. He
pointed out the shelf where the men had stored their things, and the Inspector
collected the few things that were still left. Then on they went, Tiger Dan
muttering and growling to himself.
'Will they go to prison?' whispered Anne to
Dick.
'You bet,' said Dick. That's where they
ought to have gone long ago. Their burglaries have been worrying the police for
four years!'
Out of the tunnel and into the cave with
gleaming walls. Then down the hole and into the small cave and along the narrow
passage to the entrance-hole. Stars glittered over the black hole, and the
children were very thankful to see them. They were tired of being underground!
Lou and Dan did not have a very comfortable
journey along the tunnels and passages, for their guards had a very firm hold
of them indeed. Once out in the open they were handcuffed and put into the
large police car that stood a little way down the track.
'What are you children going to do?' asked
the big Inspector, who was now at the wheel of the car. 'Hadn't you better come
down into the town with us after this disturbing adventure?'
'Oh, no, thanks,' said Julian politely.
'We're quite used to adventures. We've had plenty, you know. We shall be all
right here with Timmy and Pongo.'
'Well, I can't say I'd like a chimpanzee for
company myself,' said the Inspector. 'We'll be up here in the morning, looking
round and asking a few questions, which I'm sure you'll be pleased to answer.
And many thanks for your help in capturing two dangerous thieves!'
'What about the wagon of goods?' asked Dick.
'Are you going to leave it up here? It's got lots of valuables in it.'
'Oh, one of the men is driving it down,'
said the Inspector, nodding towards a policeman, who stood near by. 'He'll
follow us. He can drive a horse all right. Well, look after yourselves. See you
tomorrow!'
The car started up suddenly. The Inspector
put her into gear, took off the brake and the car slid quietly down the hill,
following the winding track. The policeman with the wagon followed slowly,
clicking to the horse, which didn't seem at all surprised to have a new driver.
'Well, that's that!' said Julian thankfully.
'I must say we were well out of that. Gosh, Dick, I was glad to see you back
with those bobbies so quickly. That was a brain wave of yours to telephone from
the farm.'
Dick suddenly yawned. 'It must be frightfully
late!' he said. 'Long past the middle of the night. But I'm so fearfully hungry
that I simply must have something to eat before I fall into my bunk!'
'Got anything, Anne?' asked Julian.
Anne brightened up at once. 'I'll see,' she
said. 'I can find something, I'm sure!'
And she did, of course. She opened two tins
of sardines and made sandwiches, and she opened two tins of peaches, so they
had a very nice meal in the middle of the night! They ate it sitting on the
floor of George's caravan. Pongo had as good a meal as anyone, and Timmy
crunched at one of his bones.
It didn't take them long to go to sleep that
night. In fact they were all so sleepy when they had finished their meal that
nobody undressed! They clambered into the bunks just as they were and fell
asleep at once. Nobby curled up with Pongo, and Timmy, as usual, was on
George's feet. Peace reigned in the caravans — and tonight no one came to
disturb them!
All the children slept very late the next
morning. They were awakened by a loud knocking on Julian's caravan. He woke up
with a jump and yelled out:
'Yes! Who is it?'
'It's us,' said a familiar voice, and the
door opened. Farmer Mackie and his wife peeped in, looking rather anxious.
'We wondered what had happened,' said the
farmer. 'You rushed out of the farmhouse when you had used the 'phone last
night and didn't come back.'
'I ought to have slipped back and told you,'
said Dick, sitting up with his hair over his eyes. He pushed it back. 'But I
forgot. The police went down into the hills with us and got the two men.
They're well-known burglars. The police got all the goods, too. It was a very
thrilling night. Thanks most awfully for letting me use the 'phone.'
'You're very welcome,' said Mrs Mackie. 'And
look — I've brought you some food.'
She had two baskets stacked with good
things. Dick felt wide awake and very hungry when he saw them. 'Oh, thanks,' he
said gratefully. 'You are a good sort!'
Nobby and Pongo suddenly uncurled themselves
from their pile of rugs, and Mrs Mackie gave a squeal.
'Land-snakes, what's that? A monkey?'
'No, an ape, Mam,' said Nobby politely. 'He
won't hurt you. Hi, take your hand out of that basket!'
Pongo, who had been hoping to find a little
titbit unnoticed, covered his face with his hairy paw and looked through his
fingers at Mrs Mackie.
'Look at that now — he's like a naughty
child!' said Mrs Mackie. 'Isn't he, Ted?'
'He is that,' said the farmer. 'Queer sort
of bedfellow, I must say!'
'Well, I must be getting along,' said Mrs
Mackie, nodding and smiling at George and Anne, who had now come out of their
caravan with Timmy to see who the visitors were. 'You come along to the farm if
you want anything. We'll be right pleased to see you.'
'Aren't they nice?' said Anne as the two
farm-folk went down the cart-track. 'And oh, my goodness — what a breakfast
we're going to have! Cold bacon — tomatoes — fresh radishes — curly lettuces —
and who wants new honey?'
'Marvellous!' said Julian. 'Come on — let us
have it now, before we clean up.'
But Anne made them wash and tidy themselves
first! 'You'll enjoy it much more if you're clean,' she said. 'We all look as
black as sweeps! I'll give you five minutes — then you can come to a perfectly
wonderful breakfast!'
'All right, Ma!' grinned Nobby, and he went
off with the others to wash at the spring. Then back they all went to the sunny
ledge to feast on the good things kind Mrs Mackie had provided.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
GOOD-BYE, NOBBY — GOOD-BYE, CARAVANNERS!
Before they had finished their breakfast the
Inspector came roaring up the track in his powerful police car. There was one
sharp-eyed policeman with him to take down notes.
'Hallo, hallo!' said the Inspector, eyeing
the good things set out on the ledge. 'You seem to do yourselves well, I must
say!'
'Have some new bread and honey?' said Anne
in her best manner. 'Do! There's plenty!'
'Thanks,' said the Inspector, and sat down
with the children. The other policeman wandered round the caravans, examining
everything. The Inspector munched away at honey and bread, and the children
talked to him, telling him all about their extraordinary adventure.
'It must have been a most unpleasant shock
for those two fellows when they found that your caravan was immediately over
the entrance to the place where they hid their stolen goods,' said the
Inspector. 'Most unpleasant.'
'Have you examined the goods?' asked Dick
eagerly. 'Are they very valuable?'
'Priceless,' answered the Inspector, taking
another bit of bread and dabbing it thickly with honey. 'Quite priceless. Those
rogues apparently stole goods they knew to be of great value, hid them here for
a year or two till the hue and cry had died down, then got them out and quietly
disposed of them to friends in Holland and Belgium.'
'Tiger Dan used to act in circuses in
Holland,' said Nobby. 'He often told me about them. He had friends all over
Europe — people in the circus line, you know.'
'Yes. It was easy for him to dispose of his
goods abroad,' said the Inspector. 'He planned to go across to Holland today,
you know — got everything ready with Lou — or, to give him the right name,
Lewis Allburg — and was going to sell most of those things. You just saved them
in time!'
'What a bit of luck!' said George. They
almost got away with it. If Dick hadn't managed to slip out when Pongo was
attacking them, we'd still have been prisoners down in the hill, and Lou and
Dan would have been half-way to Holland!'
'Smart bit of work you children did,' said
the Inspector approvingly, and looked longingly at the honey-pot. That's fine
honey, I must buy some from Mrs Mackie.'
'Have some more,' said Anne, remembering her
manners. 'Do. We've got another loaf.'
'Well, I will,' said the Inspector, and took
another slice of bread, spreading it with the yellow honey. It looked as if
there wouldn't even be enough left for Pongo to lick out! Anne thought it was
nice to see a grown-up enjoying bread and honey as much as children did.
'You know, that fellow Lou did some very
remarkable burglaries,' said the Inspector. 'Once he got across from the third
floor of one house to the third floor of another across the street — and nobody
knows how!'
'That would be easy for Lou,' said Nobby,
suddenly losing his fear of the big Inspector. 'He'd just throw a wire rope
across, lasso something with the end of it, top of a gutter-pipe, perhaps, draw
tight, and walk across! He's wonderful on the tight-rope. There ain't nothing
he can't do on the tight-rope.'
'Yes — that's probably what he did,' said
the Inspector. 'Never thought of that! No, thanks, I really won't have any more
honey. That chimpanzee will eat me if I don't leave some for him to lick out!'
Pongo took away the jar, sat himself down
behind one of the caravans, and put a large pink tongue into the remains of the
honey. When Timmy came running up to see what he had got, Pongo held the jar
high above his head and chattered at him.
'Yarra-yarra-yarra-yarra!' he said. Timmy
looked rather surprised and went back to George. She was listening with great
interest to what the Inspector had to tell them about the underground caves.
They're very old,' he said. The entrance to
them used to be some way down the hill, but there was a landslide and it was
blocked up. Nobody bothered to unblock it because the caves were not
particularly interesting.'
'Oh, but they are,' said Anne, 'especially
the one with the gleaming walls.'
'Well, I imagine that quite by accident one
day Dan and Lou found another way in,' said the Inspector. The way you know — a
hole going down into the hill. They must have thought what a fine hiding-place
it would make for any stolen goods — perfectly safe, perfectly dry, and quite
near the camping-place here each year. What could be better?'
'And I suppose they would have gone on
burgling for years and hiding the stuff if we hadn't just happened to put our
caravan over the very spot!' said Julian. 'What a bit of bad luck for them!'
'And what a bit of good luck for us!' said
the Inspector. 'We did suspect those two, you know, and once or twice we raided
the circus to try and find the goods — but they must always have got warning of
our coming and got them away in time — up here!'
'Have you been down to the camp, mister?'
asked Nobby suddenly.
The Inspector nodded. 'Oh, yes. We've been
down already this morning — seen everyone and questioned them. We created quite
a stir.'
Nobby looked gloomy.
'What's the matter, Nobby?' said Anne.
'I shan't half cop it when I get back to the
camp,' said Nobby. They'll say it's all my fault the coppers going there. We
don't like the bobbies round the camp. I shall get into a whole lot of trouble
when I go back. I don't want to go back.'
Nobody said anything. They all wondered what
would happen to poor Nobby now his Uncle Dan was in prison.
Then Anne asked him: 'Who will you live with
now in the camp. Nobby?'
'Oh, somebody will take me in and work me
hard,' said Nobby. 'I wouldn't mind if I could be with the horses — but Rossy
won't let me. I know that. If I could be with horses I'd be happy. I love them
and they understand me all right.'
'How old are you, Nobby?' asked the
Inspector, joining in the talk. 'Oughtn't you to be going to school?'
'Never been in my life, mister,' said Nobby.
'I'm just over fourteen, so I reckon I never will go now!'
He grinned. He didn't look fourteen. He
seemed more like twelve by his size. Then he looked solemn again.
'Reckon I won't go down to the camp today,'
he said. 'I'll be proper set on by them all — about you going there and
snooping round like. And Mr Gorgio, he won't like losing his best clown and
best acrobat!'
'You can stay with us as long as you like,'
said Julian. 'We'll be here a bit longer, anyway.'
But he was wrong. Just after the Inspector
had left, taking his policeman with him, Mrs Mackie came hurrying up to them
with a little orange envelope in her hand.
'The telegraph boy's just been up,' she
said. 'He was looking for you. He left this telegram for you. I hope it's not
bad news.'
Julian tore the envelope open and read the
telegram out loud.
'AMAZED TO GET YOUR LETTER ABOUT THE
EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENINGS YOU DESCRIBE. THEY SOUND DANGEROUS. COME HOME AT ONCE.
DADDY.'
'Oh dear,' said Anne. 'Now we shall have to
leave. What a pity!'
'I'd better go down to the town and telephone
Daddy and tell him we're all right,' said Julian.
'You can 'phone from my house,' said Mrs
Mackie, so Julian thought he would. They talked as they went along and suddenly
a bright idea struck Julian.
'I say — I suppose Farmer Mackie doesn't
want anyone to help him with his horses, does he?' he asked. 'He wouldn't want
a boy who really loves and understands them and would work hard and well?'
'Well, now, I dare say he would,' said Mrs
Mackie. 'He's a bit short-handed now. He was saying the other day he could do
with a good lad, just leaving school.'
'Oh, do you think he'd try our friend Nobby
from the circus camp?' said Julian. 'He's mad on horses. He can do anything
with them. And he's been used to working very hard. I'm sure he'd do well.'
Before Julian had left the farmhouse after
telephoning to his amazed parents, he had had a long talk with Farmer Mackie —
and now he was running back with the good news to the caravans.
'Nobby!' he shouted as he got near. 'Nobby!
How would you like to go and work for Farmer Mackie and help with the horses?
He says you can start tomorrow if you like — and live at the farm!'
'Jumping Jiminy!' said Nobby, looking
startled and disbelieving. 'At the farm? Work with the horses? Coo — I wouldn't
half like that. But Farmer Mackie wouldn't have the likes of me.'
'He will. He says he'll try you,' said
Julian. 'We've got to start back home tomorrow, and you can be with us till
then. You don't need to go back to the camp at all.'
'Well — but what about Growler?' said Nobby.
'I'd have to have him with me. He's my dog. I expect poor old Barker's dead.
Would the farmer mind me having a dog?'
'I shouldn't think so,' said Julian. 'Well,
you'll have to go down to the camp, I suppose, to collect your few things — and
to get Growler. Better go now, Nobby, and then you'll have the rest of the day
with us.'
Nobby went off, his face shining with
delight. 'Well, I never!' he kept saying to himself. 'Well, I never did! Dan
and Lou gone, so they'll never hurt me again — and me not going to live in the
camp any more — and going to have charge of them fine farm horses. Well, I
never!'
The children had said good-bye to Pongo
because he had to go back with Nobby to the camp. He belonged to Mr Gorgio, and
Nobby could not possibly keep him. Anyway, it was certain that even if he could
have kept him, Mrs Mackie wouldn't have let him live at the farm.
Pongo shook hands gravely with each one of
them, even with Timmy. He seemed to know it was good-bye. The children were
really sorry to see the comical chimpanzee go. He had shared in their adventure
with them and seemed much more like a human being than an animal.
When he had gone down the hill a little way
he ran back to Anne. He put his arms round her and gave her a gentle squeeze,
as if to say: 'You're all nice, the lot of you, but little Anne's the nicest!'
'Oh, Pongo, you're really a dear!' said
Anne, and gave him a tomato. He ran off with it, leaping high for joy.
The children cleared up everything, put the
breakfast things away, and cleaned the caravans, ready for starting off the
next day. At dinner-time they looked out for Nobby. Surely he should be back
soon?
They heard him whistling as he came up the track.
He carried a bundle on his back. Round his feet ran two dogs. Two!
'Why — one of them is Barker!' shouted
George in delight. 'He must have got better! How simply marvellous!'
Nobby came up, grinning. They all crowded
round him, asking about Barker.
'Yes, it's fine, isn't it?' said Nobby,
putting down his bundle of belongings. 'Lucilla dosed him all right. He almost
died — then he started to wriggle a bit, she said, and the next she knew he was
as lively as could be — bit weak on his legs at first — but he's fine this
morning.'
Certainly there didn't seem anything wrong
with Barker. He and Growler sniffed round Timmy, their tails wagging fast.
Timmy stood towering above them, but his tail wagged, too, so Barker and
Growler knew he was friendly.
'I was lucky,' said Nobby. 'I only spoke to
Lucilla and Larry. Mr Gorgio has gone off to answer some questions at the
police station, and so have some of the others. So I just told Larry to tell Mr
Gorgio I was leaving, and I got my things and hopped it.'
'Well, now we can really enjoy our last
day,' said Julian. 'Everybody's happy!'
And they did enjoy that last day. They went
down to the lake and bathed. They had a fine farmhouse tea at Mrs Mackie's, by
special invitation. They had a picnic supper on the rocky ledge, with the three
dogs rolling over and over in play. Nobby felt sad to think he would so soon
say good-bye to his 'posh' friends — but he couldn't help feeling proud and
pleased to have a fine job of his own on the farm — with the horses he loved so
much.
Nobby, Barker, Growler, Farmer Mackie and
his wife all stood on the cart-track to wave good-bye to the two caravans the
next morning.
'Good-bye!' yelled Nobby. 'Good luck! See
you again some time!'
'Good-bye!' shouted the others. 'Give our
love to Pongo when you see him.'
'Woof! woof!' barked Timmy, but only Barker
and Growler knew what that meant. It meant, 'Shake paws with Pongo for me!'
Good-bye, five caravanners . . . till your next
exciting adventure!