Five
have a wonderful time
FAMOUS FIVE 11
Enid Blyton
Illustrated by Betty Maxey
FIVE HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME
The Five's holiday begins peacefully enough on
a camping site where they are staying in two old gypsy caravans. But things
start to happen when the fair-folk arrive.
Ruined Faynights Castle also proves a great
attraction to the Five, particularly when they see a face at the tower window -
and there is no way up to the tower ...
This is the FIVE'S eleventh adventure.
CONTENTS
* 1 George is all alone
* 2 All together again
* 3 A pleasant morning
* 4 The fair-folk arrive
* 5 Night and morning
* 6 Unfriendly folk
* 7 A letter - a walk - and a shock
* 8 Where are the caravans?
* 9 A great surprise
* 10 Back with the fair-folk again
* 11 A very strange thing
* 12 Fire-eating and other things!
* 13 Off to the castle
* 14 Faynights Castle
* 15 An interesting day
* 16 Secret ways
* 17 Excitement and shocks
* 18 Jo has an adventure on her own
* 19 Jo joins in
* 20 A lot of excitement
* 21 In the tower room
* 22 Beauty and Jo enjoy themselves
* 23 Having a wonderful time!
Chapter One
GEORGE IS ALL ALONE
Contents/Next
"I DO think it's mean," said George,
fiercely. "Why can't I go when the others do? I've had two weeks at home,
and haven't seen the others since school broke up. And now they're off for a
wonderful fortnight and I'm not with them."
"Don't be silly, George," said her
mother. "You can go as soon as that cold of yours is better."
"It's better now," said George,
scowling. "Mother, you know it is!"
"That's enough, Georgina," said her
father, looking up from his newspaper. "This is the third breakfast-time
we've had this argument. Be quiet."
George would never answer anyone when she was
called Georgina - so, much as she would have liked to say something back, she
pursed up her mouth and looked away.
Her mother laughed. "Oh, George, dear!
Don't look so terribly fierce. It was your own fault you got this cold - you
would go and bathe and stay in far too long - and after all, it's only the
third week in April!"
"I always bathe in April," said
George, sulkily.
"I said 'BE QUIET'," said her
father, banging down his paper on the table. "One more word from you,
George, and you won't go to your three cousins at all."
"Woof," said Timmy, from under the
table. He didn't like it when anyone spoke angrily to George.
"And don't you start arguing with me,
either," said George's father, poking Timmy with his toe, and scowling
exactly like George.
His wife laughed again. "Oh, be quiet,
the two of you," she said "George, be patient dear. I'll let you go
off to your cousins as soon as ever I can - tomorrow, if you're good, and don't
cough much today."
"Oh, Mother - why didn't you say so
before?" said George, her scowl disappearing like magic. "I didn't
cough once in the night. I'm perfectly all right today. Oh, if I can go off to
Faynights Castle tomorrow, I promise I won't cough once today!"
"What's this about Faynights
Castle?" demanded her father, looking up again. "First I've heard of
it!"
"Oh no, Quentin dear, I've told you at
least three times," said his wife. "Julian, Dick and Anne have been
lent two funny old caravans by a school friend. They are in a field near
Faynights Castle."
"Oh. So they're not staying in a castle,
then," said George's father. "Can't have that. I won't have George
coming home all high and mighty."
"George couldn't possibly be high and
mighty," said his wife. "It's as much as I can do to get her to keep
her nails clean and wear clean shorts. Do be sensible, Quentin. You know
perfectly well that George and her cousins always like to go off on
extraordinary holidays together."
"And have adventures," grinned
George, who was now in a very good temper indeed at the thought of going to
join her cousins the next day.
"No. You're not to have any of those
awful adventures this time," said her mother. "Anyway, I don't see
how you can, staying in a peaceful place like the village of Faynights Castle,
living in a couple of old caravans."
"I wouldn't trust George anywhere,"
said her husband. "Give her just a sniff of an adventure, and she's after
it. I never knew anyone like George. Thank goodness we've only got one child. I
don't feel as if I could cope with two or three Georges."
"There are plenty of people like
George," said his wife. "Julian and Dick for instance. Always in the
middle of something or other - with Anne tagging behind, longing for a peaceful
life."
"Well, I've had enough of this
argument," said George's father, pushing his chair out vigorously, and
accidentally kicking Timmy under the table. He yelped.
"That dog's got no brains," said the
impatient man. "Lies under the table at every meal and expects me to
remember he's there! Well, I'm going to do some work."
He went out of the room. The dining-room door
banged. Then the study door banged.  A fire
was poked very vigorously. There was the creak of an armchair as someone sat
down in it heavily. Then there was silence.
"Now your father's lost to the world till
lunchtime," said George's mother. "Dear, oh dear - I've told him at
least three times about Faynights Castle, where your cousins are staying, bless
him. Now, George, I do really think you can go tomorrow, dear - you look so
much better today. You can get your things ready and I'll pack them this
afternoon."
"Thank you, Mother," said George,
giving her a sudden hug. "Anyway, Father will be glad to have me out of
the house for a bit! I'm too noisy for him!"
"You're a pair!" said her mother,
remembering the slammed doors and other things. "You're both a perfect
nuisance at times, but I couldn't bear to do without you! Oh, Timmy, are you
still under the table? I wish you wouldn't leave your tail about so! Did I hurt
you?"
"Oh, he doesn't mind you treading on it,
Mother," said George, generously. "I'm going to get my things ready
this very minute. How do I get to Faynights Castle? By train?"
"Yes. I'll take you to Kirrin Station,
and you can catch the ten-forty," said her mother. "You change at
Limming Ho, and take the train that goes to Faynights. If you send a card to
Julian, he'll get it tomorrow morning and will meet you."
"I'll write it now," said George,
happily. "Oh, Mother, I began to be afraid this awful cold would hang on
all through the holidays! I shan't bathe again on such a cold day in
April."
"You said that last year - and the year
before that too," said her mother. "You have a very short memory,
George!"
"Come on, Timmy!" said George, and
the two of them went out of the door like a whirlwind. It slammed behind them,
and the house shook.
At once the study door opened and an angry
voice yelled loudly. "Who's that slamming doors when I'm at work?
George grinned as she fled upstairs. The
biggest slammer-of-doors was her father, but he only heard the slams made by
other people. George turned her writing-case inside out to find a post-card.
She must post it at once or Julian wouldn't get it - and it would be so nice to
have all her three cousins meeting her!
"We're off tomorrow," she told
Timmy, who looked up at her and wagged his tail vigorously. "Yes, you're
coming too, of course - then the Five will all be together again. The Famous
Five! You'll like that, won't you, Tim? So shall I!"
She scribbled the post-card and flew down to
post it. Slam went the front door, and her father almost jumped out of his
skin. He was a very clever and hard-working scientist, impatient, hot-tempered,
kindly and very forgetful. How he "wished his daughter was not so exactly
like him, but was like his quiet, gentle little niece Anne!
George posted the card. It was short and to
the point.
"Cold gone. Coming tomorrow. Arriving 12.5
so make sure you all meet me and Timmy. Our tails are well up, I can tell you!
GEORGE."
George turned out her drawers and began to
pick out the things she wanted to take with her. Her mother came to help. There
was always an argument about packing, because George wanted to take as little
as possible, and no warm things at all, and her mother had exactly opposite
ideas.
However, between the two of them they managed
to pack the suit-case full of quite sensible things. George refused as usual to
take a dress of any sort.
"I wonder when you'll grow out of wanting
to be a boy, and of acting like one!" said her mother, exasperated.
"All right, all right - take those awful
old shorts if you want to, and that red jersey. But you are to pack those warm
vests. I put them in once, and you took them out. And you must take a warm rug,
Julian says. The caravans are not very warm this weather."
"I wonder what they're like," said
George, stuffing the vests in. "They're funny, old-fashioned ones, Julian
said in his letter. Perhaps they're like the gypsies have - not the modern,
stream-lined ones that are pulled along by cars."
"You'll see tomorrow," said her
mother. "Oh, George - you're coughing again!"
"Just the dust, that's all," said
George going purple in the face trying to hold back the tickle in her throat.
She drank a glass of water in a hurry. It would be too dreadful if her mother
said she wasn't to go after all!
However, her mother really did think that
George was better. She had been in bed for a week, making a terrible fuss, and
being a very difficult patient. Now, after being up for a few days she really
seemed herself again.
"It will do her good to get down to
Faynights and it's good strong air," thought her mother. "She needs
company again, too - she doesn't like having to be all alone, knowing the
others are holidaying without her."
George felt happy that evening. Only one more
night and she would be off to a fortnight's caravanning! If only the weather
was good, what a fine time they would have!
Suddenly the telephone shrilled
out.R-r-r-r-r-r-ring!R-r-r-r-r-ring!
George's mother went to answer it.
"Hallo!" she said, "Oh - it's you, Julian. Is everything all
right?"
George sped out into the hall at once. Oh,
surely, surely, nothing had happened! Surely Julian wasn't ringing to tell her
not to come! She listened breathlessly.
"What's that you say, Julian? I can't
make out what you're talking about, dear. Yes, of course, your uncle is all
right. Why shouldn't he be? No, he hasn't disappeared. Julian, what are you
talking about?"
George listened impatiently. What was all
this? But it turned out to be something quite ordinary, really. When at last
her mother put down the receiver, she told George.
"Don't hop about like that, George. It's
quite all right,
you can go tomorrow. Julian was only ringing
up to make sure that your father wasn't one of the scientists who have suddenly
disappeared. Apparently in tonight's paper there is a short report about two
that have completely vanished - and dear old Julian wanted to make sure your
father was here safely!"
"As if Father would vanish!'said George,
scornfully. "Julian must be mad! It's just two more of those silly
scientists who are disloyal to this country, and disappear to another country
to sell our secrets! I could have told Julian that!"
Chapter Two
ALL TOGETHER AGAIN
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NEXT morning, on a dewy hillside a good
distance from Kirrin, where George lived, two boys leapt down the steps of a
caravan, and went to one nearby. They rapped on the door.
"Anne! Are you awake? It's a heavenly
day!"
"Of course I'm awake!" cried a
voice. "The door's unlocked. Come in. I'm getting breakfast."
Julian and Dick pushed open the blue-painted
door. Anne was standing at a little stove at one end of her caravan, boiling
eggs in a saucepan.
"I can't look round," she said.
"I'm timing them by my watch. One minute more to go."
"The postman has just brought a card from
George," said Julian. "She says her tail and Timmy's are both well
up! I'm glad she's coming at last - and old Timmy too."
 "Twenty seconds more."
"We only came here ourselves three days
ago," said Dick. "So she hasn't really missed much. Surely those eggs
will be hard-boiled, Anne!"
Anne stopped looking at her watch. "No,
they won't. They'll be just right."  "Put them in the egg-cups, Dick. There they
are-just under your nose."
Dick picked an egg up from the plate on which
Anne had placed them. It was so hot that he dropped it with a yell, and it
broke its shell. Yolk flowed out of it.
"DICK! You saw me take it out of boiling
water!" said Anne "Now I've got to do another. It's a pity old Timmy
isn't here. He'd soon have licked that broken egg up from the floor and saved
me clearing up the mess."
 "The sun's so
lovely."
So they all sat there, eating boiled eggs,
well-buttered bread, with chunky, home-made marmalade afterwards, and then
juicy apples. The sun shone down and Julian took off his coat.
Their two caravans were set on a sloping,
grassy hillside. A tall hedge grew behind, and kept off the wind. Primroses ran
in a pale gold streak under the hedge, and brilliant celandines shone in the
sun, turning their polished faces towards it.
Not far off were three more caravans, but they
were modern ones. The people staying in those were not yet up, and the doors
were fast shut. The three children had had no chance of making friends with
them.
On the opposite hill rose an old, ruined
castle, whose great walls still defied the gales that sometimes blew over the
hills. It had four towers. Three were very much broken, but the fourth looked
almost complete. The windows were slitholes, made centuries back when archers
shot their arrows from them.
A very steep pathway led up to the castle. At
the top of it was a gateway, enormously strong, built of big white blocks of
stone. The gateway was now filled by a great screen of wrought-iron to prevent
anyone entering, and the only entrance was by a small tower in which was a
narrow door. Here there was a turnstile through which visitors might go to see
the old castle.
A high, strong wall ran all round the castle,
still standing after so many years. Bits of the top of it had fallen down the
hill and lay half-buried in grass and weeds. It had once been a magnificent old
castle, built on the high, steep hill for safety, a place from which the castle
guards might see the country easily for miles around.
As Julian said, anyone up in one of the
towers, or even on the wall, would be able to see enemies approaching from
seven counties. There would be plenty of time to shut the great gate, man the
walls, and get ready to withstand quite a long siege if necessary.
The three of them sat on the steps, lazing in
the sun, when they had finished their breakfast. They looked at the ruined old
castle, and watched the jackdaws circling round the four towers.
"There must be about a thousand jackdaws
there," said Dick. "I wish we had field-glasses so that we could
watch them. It would be as good as a circus. I love the way they all fly up
together, and circle round and round and yet never bump into one another."
"Do they nest in that old castle?"
asked Anne.
"Oh, yes - they fill up the towers with
big sticks," said Dick, "and put their nests on the top. I bet we'd
find the ground beneath the towers strewn ankle-deep in sticks if we went to
see."
"Well, let's go one day when George is
here," said Anne. "It only costs five pence to go in. I like old
castles. I like the feel of old places."
"So do I," said Julian. "I hope
George brings the field-glasses she had for her birthday. We could take them up
into the castle with us and see all round the countryside for miles and miles.
We could count the seven counties!"
"I must wash up," said Anne, getting
up. "I must tidy the caravans too before George comes."
"You don't really think old George will
notice if they're tidy or not, do you?" said Dick. "It will be a
waste of your time, Anne!"
But Anne always enjoyed tidying things and
putting them away in cupboards or on shelves. She liked having the two caravans
to look after. She had just got used to them nicely and was looking forward to
showing George round them.
She skipped over to the hedge and picked a
great bunch of primroses. Back she went and divided them into two. She stuffed
half into one little blue bowl, set their green crinkled leaves round them, and
then put the other half into a second bowl.
"There - you go with the green and yellow
curtains!" she said. She was soon very busy sweeping and dusting. She
debated whether to send Dick to the stream to wash the breakfast things, and
decided not to. Dick wasn't too good with crockery, and it was not theirs to
break - it belonged to the owner of the caravans.
By the time it was half-past eleven the
caravans were spick and span. George's sheets and blankets were on the shelf
above her bunk, which, in the daytime, let down neatly against the wall to make
more room. Anne had a bunk on the opposite side.
"This is the kind of holiday I
like," said Anne to herself. "Somewhere small to live, fields and
hills just outside, picnicky meals - and not too much adventure!"
"What are you murmuring about,
Anne?" said Dick, peeping in at the window. "Did I hear something
about adventure? Are you looking for one already?"
"Good gracious no!" said Anne.
"It's the last thing I want! And the last thing we'll get too, in this
quiet little place, thank goodness."
Dick grinned. "Well, you never
know," he said. "Are you ready to come and meet George, Anne? It's
about time we went."
Anne went down the steps and joined Dick and
Julian. "Better lock the door," said Dick. "We've locked
ours." He locked Anne's door and the three set off down the grassy
hillside to the stile that led into the lane below. The old castle on the
opposite hill seemed to tower up higher and higher as they went down and down
towards the village.
"It will be lovely to see Timmy
again," said Anne. "And I'll be jolly glad to have George too, in my
caravan. I didn't really mind being alone at night - but it's always nice to
have George near me, and Timmy grunting in his sleep."
"You want to sleep with Dick if you like
grunts and snorts and moans," said Julian. "What do you dream about,
Dick? You must have more nightmares than anyone else in the kingdom!"
"I never grunt or snort or moan,"
said Dick indignantly. "You want to hear yourself!Why..."
"Look - isn't that the train coming in -
isn't that it curving round the line in the distance?" said Anne. "It
must be! There's only one train in the morning here! We'd better run!"
They ran at top speed. The train drew in at
the station just as they raced on to the platform. A head of short curly hair
looked out from a window-and then another dark brown head just below it.
"George - and Timmy!" yelled Anne.
"Hallo!" shouted George, almost
falling out of the door.
"WOOF!" barked Timmy, and leapt down
to the platform almost on top of Dick. Down jumped George, her eyes shining.
She hugged Anne, and gave Julian and Dick a punch each. "I'm here!"
she said. "I felt awful knowing you were away camping without me. I gave
poor old Mother a dreadful time."
"I bet you did," said Julian, and
linked his arm in hers. "Let me take that suit-case. We'll just slip into
the village first and have a few ice-creams to celebrate. There's a shop here
that has some jolly decent ones."
"Good. I feel exactly like
ice-creams," said George, happily. "Look, Timmy knows what you said.
His tongue is hanging out for an ice-cream already. Timmy, aren't you pleased
we're all together again?"
"Woof," said Timmy, and licked Anne's
hand for the twentieth time.
"I really ought to bring a towel with me
when I meet Timmy," said Anne. "His licks are so very wet. Oh no, not
again, Timmy - go and use your tongue on Julian!"
"I say, look - George has brought her
field-glasses with her!" said Dick, suddenly noticing that the brown strap
over George's shoulder did not belong to a camera but to a very fine leather
case that held the new field-glasses. "Good! We wanted to watch the
jackdaws with them and there are some herons down on the marsh too."
"Well, I thought I must bring them,"
said George. "It's the first hols I've had a chance to use them. Mother
wouldn't let me take them to school. I say-how much further is this ice-cream
shop?"
"In the dairy here," said Julian,
marching her in. "And I advise you to start off with vanilla, go on to
strawberry and finish up with chocolate."
"You do have good ideas!" said
George. "I hope you've got some money as well, if we're going to eat
ice-creams at this rate. Mother didn't give me very much to spend."
They sat down and ordered ice-creams. The
plump little shop-woman smiled at them. She knew them by now. "This is
very good weather for you," she said. "Are there many caravanners up
on Faynights Field?"
"No, not many," said Julian, beginning
his ice.
"Well, you're going to have a few
more," said the little plump lady. "I hear there's some fair-folk
coming - they usually camp up in your field. You'll have some fun if so."
"Oh, good!" said Dick. "We'll
really be able to make a few friends then. We like fair-folk, don't we,
Timmy?"
Chapter Three
A PLEASANT MORNING
Contents- Prev/Next
"IS there going to be a fair near here
then?" asked George, starting on her strawberry ice. "What sort of a
fair? A circus or something?"
"No. Just a mixed-up show," said the
shop-woman. "There's to be a fire-eater, and that'll bring the villagers
to the show faster than anything. A fire-eater! Did you ever hear of such a
thing? I wonder that anyone cares to make a living at that!"
"What else is there to be?" asked
Anne. She didn't somehow fancy watching anyone eating fire!
"Well, there's a man who can get himself
free in under two minutes, no matter how tightly he's tied up with rope,"
said the woman. "Fair miracle he must be! And there's a man called Mr.
India-rubber, because he can bend himself anywhere, and wriggle through
drain-pipes and get in at a window if it's left open just a crack!"
"Gracious! He'd make a good
burglar!" said George. "I wish I was like india-rubber! Can this man
bounce when he falls down?"
Everyone laughed. "What else?" said
Anne. "This sounds very exciting."
"There's a man with snakes," said
the plump little lady with a shudder. "Snakes! Just fancy! I'd be afraid
they would bite me. I'd run a mile if I saw a snake coming at me."
"Are they poisonous snakes that he has, I
wonder?" said Dick. "I don't somehow fancy having a caravan next to
ours with lashings of poisonous snakes crawling round."
"Don't!" said Anne. "I should
go home at once."
Another customer came in and the shop-woman
had to leave the children and go to serve her. The four felt rather thrilled.
What a bit of luck to have such exciting people in the same field as they were!
"A fire-eater!" said Dick.
"I've always wanted to see one. I bet he doesn't really eat fire!
"Has everyone finished?" asked
Julian, getting some money out of his pocket. "If so, we'll take George up
to the field and show her our gay caravans. They aren't a bit like the ones we
once went caravanning in, George - they are old-fashioned gypsy ones. You'll
like them. Gay and very picturesque."
"Who lent you them?" asked George,
as they left the shop. "Some school friend, wasn't it?"
"Yes. He and his family always go and camp
in their caravans in the Easter and summer hols," said Julian. "But
this Easter they're going to France - and rather than leave them empty, they
thought they'd lend them out-and we're the lucky ones!"
They walked up the lane and came to the stile.
George looked up at the towering castle, gleaming in the sun on the hill
opposite.
"Faynights Castle," she said.
"Hundreds of years old! How I'd love to know all the things that happened
there through the centuries. I do love old things. I vote we go and explore
it."
"We will. It only costs five pence,"
said Dick. "We'll all have a good five penceworth of castle. I wonder if
there are any dungeons. Dark, damp, drear and dreadful!"
They went up the grassy hillside to the field
where their caravans were. George exclaimed in delight. "Oh! Are those our
caravans?  They're just like the caravans the gypsies use -
only these look cleaner and gayer."
"The red caravan, picked out with black
and yellow, is ours," said Dick. "The blue one, picked out in black
and yellow, is yours and Anne's."
"Woof," said Timmy at once.
"Oh, sorry - yours too, Timmy," said
Dick at once, and everyone chuckled. It was queer the way Timmy suddenly made a
woofish remark, just as if he really understood every word that was said.
George was quite certain he did, of course.
The caravans stood on high wheels. There was a
window each side. The door was at the front, and so were the steps, of course.
Gay curtains hung at the windows, and a line of bold carving ran round the
edges of the out-jutting roof.
"They are old gypsy caravans painted and
made really up to date," said Julian.
"You sound as if you are trying to sell
them to me!" said George, with a laugh. "You needn't! I love them
both, and I think they're miles nicer than the modern caravans down there.
Somehow these seem real!"
"Oh, the others are real enough,"
said Julian. "And they've got more space - but space doesn't matter to us
because we shall live outside most of the time."
"Do we have a camp-fire?" asked
George, eagerly. "Oh, yes - I see we do. There's the ashy patch where you
had your fire. Oh, Julian, do let's have a fire there at night and sit round it
in the darkness!"
"With midges biting us and bats flapping
all round," said Dick. "Yes, certainly we will! Come inside,
George."
"She's to come into my caravan
first," said Anne, and pushed George up the steps. George was really
delighted.
She was very happy to think she was going to
have a peaceful two weeks here with her three cousins and Timmy. She pulled her
bunk up and down to see how it worked. She opened the larder and cupboard
doors. Then she went to see the boys' caravan.
"How tidy!" she said, in surprise.
"I expected Anne's to be tidy - but yours is just as spick and span. Oh
dear - " I hope you haven't all turned over a new leaf and become models
of neatness. I haven't!"
"Don't worry," said Dick, with a
grin. "Anne has been at work - you know how she loves to put everything in
its place. We don't need to worry about anything when she's about. Good old
Anne!"
"All the same, George will have to help
me," said Anne, firmly. "I don't expect boys to tidy up and cook and
do things like that - but George ought to because she's a girl."
"If only I'd been born a boy!"
groaned George. "All right Anne, I'll do my share - sometimes. I say -
there won't be much room for Timmy on my bunk at nights, will there?"
"Well, he's not coming on mine,"
said Anne. "He can sleep on the floor on a rug. Can't you, Timmy?"
"Woof," said Timmy, without wagging
his tail at all. He looked very disapproving.
"There you are - he says he wouldn't
dream of doing such a thing!" said George. "He always sleeps on my
feet."
They went outside again. It really was a
lovely day. The primroses opened more and more of their little yellow flowers,
and a blackbird suddenly burst into a fluting song on the bough of a hawthorn
tree in the hedge nearby.
"Did anyone get a paper in the
village?" asked Dick. "Oh, you did, Julian. Good. Let's have a look
at the weather forecast. If it's good we might go for a long walk this
afternoon. The sea is not really very far off."
Julian took the folded paper from his pocket
and threw it over to Dick. He sat down on the steps of his caravan and opened
it.
He was looking for the paragraph giving the
weather forecast when headlines caught his eye. He gave an exclamation.
"Hallo! Here's a bit more about those two
vanished scientists, Julian!"
"Oh!" said George, remembering
Julian's telephone call of the night before. "Julian, whatever in the
world made you think my father could be one of the vanished scientists? As if
he would ever be disloyal to his country and take his secrets anywhere
else!"
"Oh, I didn't think that," said
Julian, at once. "Of course I didn't! I'd never think Uncle Quentin would
do a thing like that. No-in yesterday's paper it just said that two of our most
famous scientists had disappeared-and I thought perhaps they had been kidnapped.
And as Uncle Quentin is really very famous, I just thought I'd ring up to make
sure,"
"Oh," said George. "Well, as
Mother hadn't heard a thing about them she was awfully astonished when you
asked her if Father had disappeared. Especially as he was banging about just
then in the study, looking for something he had lost."
"Which he was sitting on as usual, I
suppose," said Dick with a grin. "But listen to this - it doesn't
look as if the two men have been kidnapped - it looks as if they just walked
out and took important papers with them! Beasts! There's too much of that sort
of thing nowadays, it seems tome!"
He read out a paragraph or two.
"Derek Terry-Kane and Jeffrey Pottersham
have been missing for two days. They met at a friend's house to discuss a certain
aspect of their work, and then left together to walk to the underground. Since
then they have not been seen.
"It has, however, been established that
Terry-Kane had brought his passport up to date and had purchased tickets for
flying to Paris. No news of his arrival there has been reported."
"There! Just what I said to Mother!"
exclaimed George. "They've gone off to sell their secrets to another
country. Why do we let them?"
"Uncle Quentin won't be pleased about
that," said Julian. "Didn't he work with Terry-Kane at one
time?"
"Yes. I believe he did," said
George. "I'm jolly glad I'm not at home today - Father will be rampaging
round like anything, telling Mother hundreds of times what he thinks about
scientists who are traitors!"
"He certainly will," said Julian.
"I don't blame him either. That's a thing I don't understand - to be a
traitor to one's own country. It leaves a nasty taste in my mouth to think of
it. Come on - let's think about dinner, Anne. What are we going to have?"
"Fried sausages and onions, potatoes, a
tin of sliced peaches and I'll make a custard," said Anne, at once.
"I'll fry the sausages," said Dick.
"I'll light the fire out here and get the frying-pan. Anyone like their
sausages split in the cooking?"
Everyone did. "I like mine nice and
burnt" said George. "How many do we have each? I've only had those
icecreams since breakfast."
"There are twelve," said Anne,
giving Dick the bag. "Three each. None for Timmy! But I've got a large,
juicy bone for him. Julian, will you get me some water, please? There's the
pail, over there. I want to peel the potatoes. George, can you possibly open
the peaches without cutting yourself like you did last time?"
"Yes, Captain!" said George, with a
grin. "Ah - this is like old times. Good food, good company and a good
time. Three cheers for Us!"
Chapter Four
THE FAIR-FOLK ARRIVE
Contents - Prev/Next
THAT first day they were all together was a
lovely one. They enjoyed it thoroughly, especially George, who had fretted all
by herself for two weeks at home. Timmy was very happy too. He tore after
rabbits, most of them quite imaginary, up and down the field and in and out the
hedges till he was tired out.
Then he would come and fling himself down by
the four, panting like a steam-engine going uphill, his long pink tongue
hanging out of his mouth.
 "Look, George - he's so hot
he's steaming! One of these days, Timmy, you'll blow up!"
They went for a walk in the afternoon, but
didn't quite get to the sea. They saw it from a hill, sparkling blue in the
distance. Little white yachts dotted the blue water like far-off swans with
wings out-spread. They had tea at a farmhouse, watched by a couple of big-eyed
farm-children.
"Do you want to take some of my home-made
jam with you?" asked the farmer's jolly, red-faced wife, when they paid
her for their tea.
"Oh, yes, rather!" said Dick.
"And I suppose you couldn't sell us some of that fruit-cake? We're camping
in caravans in Faynights Field, just opposite the castle - so we're having
picnic meals each day."
"Yes, you can have a whole cake,"
said the farmer's wife. "I did rny baking yesterday, so there's plenty.
And would you like some ham? And I've some good pickled onions too."
This was wonderful! They bought all the food
very cheaply indeed, and carried it home gladly. Dick took off the lid of the
pickled onions half-way back to the caravans, and sniffed.
"Better than any scent!" he said.
"Have a sniff, George."
It didn't stop at sniffs, of course. Everyone
took out a large pickled onion - except Timmy who backed away at once. Onions
were one thing he really couldn't bear. Dick put back the lid.
"I think somebody else ought to carry the
onions, not Dick," said Anne. "There won't be many left by the time
we reach our caravans!"
When they climbed over the stile at the bottom
of the field the sun was going down. The evening star had appeared in the sky
and twinkled brightly. As they trudged up to their caravans Julian stopped and
pointed.
"Hallo! Look! There are two more caravans
here-rather like ours. I wonder if it's the fair-folk arriving."
"And there's another one, see - coming up
the lane," said Dick. "It will have to go to the field-gate because
it can't come the way we do - over the stile. There it goes."
"We shall soon have plenty of exciting
neighbours!" said Anne, pleased. They went up to their own caravans and
looked curiously at the one that stood near to theirs. It was yellow, picked out
with blue and black, and could have done with a new coat of paint. It was very
like their own caravans, but looked much older.
There didn't seem to be anyone about the
newly-arrived vans. The doors and windows were shut. The four stood and looked
curiously at them.
"There's a big box under that nearest
caravan," said Julian. "I wonder what's in it!"
The box was long, shallow and wide, On the
sides were round holes, punched into it at intervals. George went to the
caravan and bent down to look at the box, wondering if there was anything alive
in it.
Timmy went with her, sniffing at the holes in
curiosity. He suddenly backed away, and barked loudly. George put her hand on
his collar to drag him off but he wouldn't go with her. He barked without stopping!
A noise came from inside the box - a rustling,
dry, sliding sort of noise that made Timmy bark even more frantically.
"Stop it, Timmy! Stop it!" said
George, tugging at him. "Julian, come and help me. There's something in
that box that Timmy has never met before - goodness knows what - and he's
half-puzzled and half-scared. He's barking defiance - and he'll never stop
unless we drag him away!"
An angry voice came from the bottom of the
field by the stile, "Hey you! Take that dog away! What do you mean by
poking into my business - upsetting my snakes!"
"Oooh - snakes!" said Anne, retiring
quickly to her own caravan. "George, it's snakes in there. Do get Timmy
away."
Julian and George managed to drag Timmy away,
half-choking him with his collar, though he didn't seem to notice this at all.
The angry voice was now just behind them. George turned and saw a little dark
man, middleaged, with gleaming black eyes. He was shaking his fist, still
shouting.
"Sorry," said George, pulling Timmy
harder. "Please stop shouting, or my dog will go for you."
"Go for me! He will go for me! You keep a
dangerous dog like that, which smells out my snakes and will go for me!"

"Ahhhhhh! Wait till I let out my snakes - and then your dog will run and
run, and will never be seen again!"
This was a most alarming threat.
He had dragged out the big, shallow box, and
had opened the lid. The three watched, fascinated. What snakes had he in there?
Rattlesnakes? Cobras?
A great head reared itself out of the box, and
swung itself from side to side. Two unblinking dark eyes gleamed -and then a
long, long body writhed out and glided up the man's legs, round his waist and
round his neck. He fondled it, talking in a low, caressing voice.
George shivered. Julian and Dick watched in
amazement. "It's a python said Julian. "My, what a monster. I've
never seen one so close before. I wonder it doesn't wind itself round that
fellow and squeeze him to death."
"He's got hold of it near the tail,"
said Dick, watching "Oh, look - there's another one!"
Sure enough a second python slid out of the
box, coil upon gleaming coil. It too wreathed itself round its owner, making a
loud hissing noise as it did so. Its body was thicker than Julian's calf.
Anne was watching out of her caravan window,
hardly able to believe her eyes. She had never in her life seen snakes as big
as these. She didn't even know what they were. She began to wish their caravans
were miles and miles away.
The little man quieted his snakes at last.
They almost hid him with their great coils! From each side of his neck came a
snake's head, flat and shining.
Timmy was now watching out of the window also,
his head beside Anne's. He was amazed to see the gliding snakes, and stopped
barking at once. He got down from the window and went under the table. Timmy
didn't think he liked the look of these new creatures at all!
The man fondled the snakes and then, still
speaking to them lovingly, got them back into their box again. They glided in,
and piled themselves inside, coil upon coil. The man shut down the lid and
locked it.
Then he turned to the three watching children.
"You see how upset you make my snakes?" he said. "Now you keep
away, you hear?  Ah, you children! Interfering,
poking your noses, staring! I do not like children and nor do my snakes. You
KEEP AWAY, SEE?"
He shouted the last words so angrily that the
three jumped. "Look here," said Julian, "we only came to say we
were sorry our dog barked like that. Dogs always bark at strange things they
don't know or understand. It's only natural."
"Dogs, too, I hate," said the little
man, going into his caravan. "You will keep him away from here, especially
when I have my snakes out, or one might give him too loving a squeeze.
Ha!"
He disappeared into his van and the door shut
firmly.
"Not so good," said Julian. "We
seem to have made a bad start with the fair-folk - and I had hoped they would
be friendly and let us into some of their secrets."
"I don't like the last thing he
said," said George, worried. "A 'loving squeeze' by one of those
pythons would be the end of Timmy. I shall certainly keep him away when I see
that funny little man taking out his snakes. He really seemed to love them,
didn't he?"
"He certainly did," said Julian.
"Well, I wonder who lives in the second newly-arrived caravan. I feel I
hardly dare even to look at it in case it contains gorillas or elephants or
hippos, or..."
"Don't be an idiot," said George.
"Come on, it's getting dark. Hallo, here comes the caravan we saw down in
the lane just now!"
It came slowly up the grassy hillside, bumping
as it went. On the side was painted a name in large, scarlet letters.
"Mister India-rubber."
"Oh - the rubber-man!" said George.
"Dick - is he the driver, do you think?"
They all stared at the driver. He was long and
thin and droopy, and he looked as if he might burst into tears at any moment.
His horse looked rather the same.
"Well - he might be Mr.
India-rubber," said Julian. "But certainly there doesn't seem to be
much bounce in him! Look - he's getting down."
The man got down with a supple, loose grace
that didn't seem to fit his droopy body at all. He took the horse out of the
shafts and set it loose in the field. It wandered away pulling here and there
at the grass, still looking as sad and droopy as its master.
"Bufflo!" suddenly yelled the man.
"You in?"
The door of the second caravan opened and a
young man looked out - a huge young man with a mop of yellow hair, a bright red
shirt and a broad smile.
"Hiya, Rubber!" he called. "We
got here first. Come along in - Skippy's got some food ready."
Mr. India-rubber walked sadly up the steps of
Bufflo's caravan. The door shut.
"This is really rather exciting,"
said Dick. "An india-rubber man - Bufflo and Skippy, whoever they may be
-and a man with tame snakes next to us. Whatever next!"
Anne called to them. "Do come in. Timmy's
whining like anything."
They went up the steps of her caravan and
found that Anne had got ready a light supper for them - a ham sandwich each, a
piece of fruit cake l.nd an orange.
"I'll have a pickled onion with my
sandwich, please," said Dick. "I'll chop it up and put it in with the
ham. What wonderful ideas I do have, to be sure!"
Chapter Five
NIGHT AND MORNING
Contents - Prev/Next
AS they had their supper they talked about the
queer new arrivals. Timmy sat close to George, trying to tell her that he was
sorry for causing such a disturbance. She patted him and scolded him at the
same time.
 Do you understand?"
Timmy's tail dropped and he put his big head
on George's knee. He gave a little whine.
"I don't think he'll ever go near that
box again, now he's seen the snakes that came out of it," said Anne.
"You should have seen how scared he was when he looked out of the window
with me and saw them. He went and hid under the table."
"It's a pity we've made a bad start with
the fair-folk," said Julian. "I don't expect they like children much,
because as a rule the kids would make themselves an awful nuisance - peering
here and poking there."
"I think I can hear more caravans
arriving," said George, and Timmy pricked up his ears and growled.
"Be quiet, Timmy. We're not the only ones allowed in this field!"
Dick went to the window and peered out into
the twilight. He saw some large dark shapes in another part of the field,
looming out of the darkness. A little camp-fire burned brightly in front of
one, showing a small figure bending over it.
"These are jolly good sandwiches,
Anne," said Dick. "What about another pickled onion, everyone?"
"No Dick," said Anne, firmly.
"You've eaten your sandwich."
"Well, I can eat a pickled onion without
a sandwich, can't I?" said Dick. "Hand over, Anne."
Anne wouldn't. "I've hidden them,"
she said. "You want some for tomorrow, don't you? Don't be greedy, Dick.

"I meant to ask if we could have a
camp-fire outside tonight," said George, remembering. "But somehow I
feel so sleepy I think I'd nod off if I sat by it!"
"I feel sleepy too," said Anne.
"Let's clear up, George, and snuggle into our bunks. The boys can go to
their caravan and read or play games if they want to."
Dick yawned. "Well - I might read for a
bit," he said. "I hope you've got enough water, Anne, for the various
things you use it for - because I do NOT intend to stumble over this dark field
to the stream, and fall over snakes and anything else the fair-folk may have
strewn carelessly about the grass!"
"You don't think those snakes could get
loose, do you?" said Anne, anxiously.
"Of course not!" said Julian.
"Anyway, Timmy will bark the place down if even a hedgehog comes roving
by, so you don't need to worry about snakes!"
The boys said good night and went off to their
own caravan. The girls saw a light suddenly shine out there, and shadows moved
across the curtains drawn over the windows.
"Dick's lighted their lamp," said
Anne. Theirs was already lighted, and the caravan looked cosy and friendly.
Anne showed George how to put up her bunk. It clicked into place, felt nice and
firm and was most inviting-looking.
The girls made their beds in the bunks,
putting in sheets and blankets and rugs. "Where's my pillow?" asked
George. "Oh - it's a cushion in the daytime, is it? What a good idea!"
She and Anne took the covers off the two
cushions in the chairs, and underneath were the pillow-cases over the pillows,
ready for the night!
They undressed, washed in stream water in the
little sink, cleaned their teeth and brushed their hair. "Does the water
go under the caravan when I pull the plug out of the sink?" said George.
"Here goes!"
The water gurgled out and splashed on the
ground under the van. Timmy pricked up his ears and listened. He could see that
he would have to get used to quite a lot of new noises here!
"Got your torch?" said Anne when at
last they had both got into their bunks. "I'm going to blow out the lamp.
If you want anything in the night you'll have to put on your torch, George.
Look at Timmy sitting on the floor still! He doesn't realize we've gone to bed!
Tim - are you waiting for us to go upstairs?"
Timmy thumped his tail on the floor. That was
just exactly what he was waiting for. When George went to bed she always went
upstairs, whether she was at school or at home - and though he hadn't managed
to discover any stairs in the caravan yet, he was sure that George knew where
they were!
It took Timmy a few minutes to realize that
George was going to sleep for the night in the bunk she had put up against the
wall. Then, with one bound he was on top of her, and settled down on her legs.
She gave a groan.
"Oh, Timmy - you are rough! Get off my
legs - get further down - get into the curve of my knees."
Timmy found the bunk too small to be really
comfortable. However he managed to curl himself up in as small a space as
possible, put his head down on one of George's knees, gave one of his heavy
sighs, and fell asleep.
He had one ear open all the time, though - an
ear for a rat that for some peculiar reason ran over the roof - an ear for a
daring rabbit that nibbled the grass under the caravan - and a very alert ear
for a big cockchafer that flew straight into the glass pane of the right-hand
window, just above George's bunk.
Plang! It collided with the pane, and fell
back, stunned. Timmy couldn't for the life of him think what it was, but soon
fell asleep again, still with one ear open. The blackbird in the hawthorn tree
woke him up early. It had thought of a perfectly new melody, and was trying it
out very loudly and deliberately. A thrush nearby joined in.
"Mind how you do it, mind how you do
it!" sang the thrush at the top of its voice. Timmy sat up and stretched.
George woke up at once, because Timmy trod heavily on her middle.
She couldn't think where she was at first,
then she remembered and smiled. Of course - in a caravan, with Anne. How that
blackbird sang - a better song than the thrush! Cows mooed in the distance, and
the early morning sun slid in through the window and picked out the clock and
the bowl of primroses.
Timmy settled down. If George wasn't going to
get up neither was he!  Outside,
the camp began to awake. Caravan doors opened. Fires were lighted. Somebody
went down to the stream to get water.
The boys came banging at the door of the
girls' caravan. "Come on, sleepyheads! It's half-past seven, and we're
hungry!"
"Goodness!" said Anne, sitting up,
bright-eyed with sleep. "George! Wake up!"
It wasn't long before they were all sitting
round a little fire, from which came a very nice smell. Dick was frying bacon
and eggs, and the smell made everyone very hungry. Anne had boiled a kettle on
her little stove, and made some tea. She came down the steps with a tray on
which she had put the teapot and hot water.
"Anne always does things properly,"
said Dick. "Here, hold your plate out, Ju - your bacon's done.  Do look after Timmy when I'm cooking, George. He's already wolfed one
slice of bacon."
"Well, it saved you cooking it,"
said George. "I say, aren't there a lot of caravans here now? They must
have come last night."
They stared round at the field. Besides the
snake-man's caravan, and Bufflo's and Mr. India-rubber's, there were four or
five more.
One interested the children very much. It was
a brilliant yellow with red flames painted on the sides. The name on it was
"Alfredo, the Fire Eater'.
"I imagine him to be a great big fierce
chap," said Dick. "A regular fire-eater, with a terribly ferocious
temper, an enormous voice and a great stride when he walks."

"There's someone coming out of his
caravan now," said George. "Look."
"It's a woman," said Anne. "His
wife, I expect. How tiny she is - rather sweet. She looks Spanish, she's so
dark."
"This must be the fire-eater, coming
behind her," said George. "Surely it is!  How clever of you!"
A great big fellow came down the steps behind
his tiny wife. He certainly looked very fierce, for he had a lion-like mane of
tawny hair, and a big red face with large, gleaming eyes. He took enormous
strides as he went, and his little wife had to run to keep up with him.
"Just my idea of a fire-eater," said
Dick, pleased. "I think we'll keep out of his way until we know if he also
dislikes children, like the snake-man.  I bet he makes
her run around him, and wait on him hand and foot."
"Well, he's fetching water from the
stream for her, anyway," said Anne. "Two huge pails. My word, he
really does look like a fire-eater, doesn't he?"
"There's somebody else, look," said
Dick. "Now who would he be? Look at him going to the stream - he walks
like a tiger or a cat - all slinky and powerful."
"The man who can set himself free from
ropes no matter how he's tied!" said Anne. "I'm sure he is."
It was most exciting to watch the new
arrivals. They all seemed to know one another. They stopped to talk, they
laughed, they visited one another's caravans, and finally three of the women
set off together with baskets.
"Going off to shop," said Anne.
"That's what I ought to do. Coming George? There's a bus that goes down to
the village in about ten minutes. We can easily clear up when we come
back."
"Right," said George, and got up
too. "What are the boys going to do while we're gone?"
"Oh, fetch more water, find sticks for
the fire, and see to their own bunks," said Anne, airily.
"Are we really?" said Dick,
grinning. "Well, we might. On the other hand, we might not. Anyway, you
two go, because food is getting rather low. A very serious thought, that! Anne,
get me some more tooth-paste, will you? And if you can spot some of those
doughnuts at the dairy, bring a dozen back with you."
"Yes - and see if you can get a tin of
pineapple," said Julian. "Don't forget we want milk too."
"If you want many more things you'll have
to come and help us carry them," said Anne. "Anything else?"
"Call at the post office and see if there
are any letters," said Dick. "And don't forget to buy a paper. We may
as well find out if anything has happened in the outside world! Not that I feel
I can take much interest in it at the moment."
"Right," said Anne. "Come on,
George - we shall miss that bus!" And off they went with Timmy at their
heels.
Chapter Six
UNFRIENDLY FOLK
Contents - Prev/Next
THE two boys decided they would fetch the
water and stack up some firewood while the girls were gone. They
"made" their bunks too, by the simple process of dragging off all the
clothes and bundling them on the shelf, and then letting down the bunks against
the wall.
That done there didn't seem much else to do
except wait for the girls. So they took a walk round the field. They kept a
good distance from the snake-man, who was doing something peculiar to one of
his pythons.
"It looks as if he's polishing it, but he
surely can't be," said Julian. "I'd like to go near enough to watch
but he's such a hot-tempered little fellow he might quite well set one of those
enormous pythons on to us!"
The snake-man was sitting on a box, with one
snake spread over his knee, some of its coils round one of his legs, the other
coils round his waist. The head appeared to be under his arm-pit. The man was
rubbing away hard at the snake's scaly body, and it really seemed as if the
python was enjoying it!
Bufflo was doing something with a whip. It had
a magnificent handle, set with semi-precious stones that caught the sun and
glittered in many colours.
"Look at the lash," said Julian.
"Yards and yards long! I'd like to see him crack it!"
Almost as if he heard him, Bufflo got to his
feet, and swung the great whip in his hand. Then he raised it - and a moment
later there was a sound exactly like a pistol-shot! The lash cracked as it was
whipped through the air, and the two boys jumped, not expecting such a loud
noise.
Bufflo cracked it again. Then he whistled and
a small plump woman came to the steps of his caravan.
"You mended it yet?" she called.
"Perhaps," said Bufflo. "Get a
cigarette, Skippy. Hurry!"
Skippy put her hand into the caravan, felt
along a shelf, and brought out a packet of cigarettes. She didn't go down the
steps, but stood there, holding out the cigarette between her finger and thumb.
Bufflo swung his whip. CRACK! The cigarette
disappeared as if by magic! The boys stared in amazement. Surely the end of the
lash hadn't whipped that cigarette from Skippy's fingers? It didn't seem
possible.
"There it is," said Bufflo, pointing
some distance away. "Hold it again, Skippy. I reckon this whip is okay
now."

"No!" called Bufflo. "I ain't
sure enough of this lash yet.
Skippy took it out of her mouth and held out
the cigarette in her finger and thumb once more.
CRACK! Like a pistol-shot the whip cracked
again, and once more the cigarette disappeared.
"Aw, Bufflo - you've gone and broken it
in half," said Skippy, reproachfully, pointing to where it lay on the
ground, neatly cut in half. "That was real careless of you."
Bufflo said nothing. He merely turned his back
on Skippy, and set to work on his lash again, though what he was doing neither
of the boys could make out. They went a little nearer to see.
Bufflo had his back to them but he must have
heard them coming. "You clear out," he said, hardly raising his
voice. "No kids allowed round here.
Julian and Dick felt perfectly certain he
would be able to carry out his threat, and they retreated with as much dignity
as they could. "I suppose the snake-man told him what a disturbance old
Timmy made yesterday with the snakes," said Dick. "I hope it won't
spoil things for us with all the fair-folk."
They went across the field and on the way met
Mr. India-rubber. They couldn't help staring at him. He honestly looked as if
he were made of rubber - he was a curious grey, the grey of an ordinary school
rubber, and his skin looked rubbery too.
He scowled at the two boys. "Clear
out," he said. "No kids allowed in our field."
Julian was annoyed. "It's our field as
much as yours," he said. "We've got a couple of caravans here - those
over there."
"Well, this has always been our
field," said Mr. India-rubber. "So you clear out to the next
one."
"We haven't any horses to pull our
caravans, even if we wanted to go, which we don't," retorted Julian,
angrily. "Anyway, why should you object to us? We'd like to be friendly.
We shan't do you any harm, or make a nuisance of ourselves."
"Us-folk and you-folk don't mix,"
said the man, obstinately. "We don't want you here - nor them posh
caravans down there, neither," and he pointed to the three modern caravans
in one corner of the field. "This has always been our field."
"Don't let's argue about it," said
Dick, who had been looking at the man with the greatest curiosity. "Are
you really so rubbery that you can wriggle in and out of pipes and things? Do
you -"
But he didn't have time to finish his question
because the rubber-man flung himself down on the ground, did a few strange
contortions, nicked himself between the boys' legs - and there they both were,
flat on the ground! The rubber-man was walking off, looking quite pleased with
himself.
"Well!" said Dick, feeling a bump on
his head. "I tried to grab his legs and they honestly felt like rubber!  It's not going
to be very pleasant to have them all banded against us. Not fair either. I
should like to be friendly."
"Well, perhaps it's just a case of
us-folk and you-folk," said Julian. "There's a lot of that kind of
feeling about these days, and it's so silly. We're all the same under the skin.
We've always got on well with anyone before."
They hardly liked to go near the other
caravans, though they longed to have a closer view of Alfredo the Fire-Eater.
"He looked so exactly like what I
imagined a fire-eater ought to be," said Dick. "I should think he's
probably chief of all the fair-folk here-if they've got a chief."
"Look - here he comes!" said Julian.
And sure enough, round the corner came Alfredo, running fast. He came towards
the boys, and Julian at first thought that he was coming to chase them away. He
didn't mean to run from Alfredo, but it wasn't very pleasant standing still,
either, with this enormous fellow racing towards them, his cheeks as red as
fire, his great mane of hair flopping up and down.
And then they saw why Alfredo was running!
 She was shrieking at him in some
foreign language, and was chasing him with a saucepan!
 He went down to the stile, leapt over it and
disappeared down the lane.
The little dark woman watched him go. When he
turned to look round she waved the saucepan at him.
"Big bad one!" she cried.  Again, again! I bang you with saucepan, big bad one.
Come, Alfredo, come!"
But Alfredo had no intention of coming. The
angry little woman turned to the two boys. "He burn breakfast," she
said. "He no watch, he burn always."
 "Though, on second thoughts,
perhaps it's not!"
"Poof! Fire-eating, it is easy!"
said Alfredo's hot-tempered little wife. "Cooking is not so easy. It needs
brains and eyes and hands. But Fredo, he has no brains, his hands are clumsy -
he can only eat fire, and what use is that?"
"Well - I suppose he makes money by
it," said Dick, amused.

"But he is very good sometimes," she said.
She went back to her caravan. The boys looked
at one another. "Poor Alfredo," said Dick. "He looks as brave as
a lion, and he's certainly a giant of a man-but he's as timid as a mouse.
"Well, I'm not so sure I wouldn't too, if
she came bounding over the field after me, brandishing that dangerous-looking
saucepan," said Julian. "Ah-who's this?"
The man that Anne had thought might be the one
who could set himself free when bound with ropes was coming up from the stile.
He walked easily and lightly, really very like a cat. Julian glanced at his
hands - they were small but looked very strong. Yes - he could certainly undo
knots with hands like that. They gazed at him curiously.
"No kids allowed here," said the man,
as he came up.
"Sorry, but we're caravanners too,"
said Dick. "I say - are you the fellow that can undo ropes when he's tied
up in them?"
"Could be," said the man, and walked
on. He turned round suddenly. "Like me to tie you up?" he called.
"I've a good mind to try. Don't you try interfering with us, or I'll do
it!"
"Dear me - what a nice, pleasant lot they
are!" said Julian. "Quite different from the other circus folk we've
known. I begin to feel we shan't make friends as fast as I thought!"
"We'd better be careful, I think,"
said Dick. "They seem to resent us, goodness knows why. They may make
things jolly unpleasant. Don't let's snoop round any more this morning. Let's
keep away from them till they get a bit used to us. Then perhaps they'll be more
friendly."
"We'll go and meet the girls," said
Julian. So they went down to the stile and walked to the bus-stop. The bus came
panting up the hill at that very moment, and the girls stepped off, with the
three fair-women behind them.
The girls joined the boys. "We've done a
lot of shopping," said Anne. "Our baskets are awfully heavy. Thanks,
Julian, if you'll carry mine. Dick can take George's. Did you see those women
who got off with us?"
"Yes," said Julian. "Why?"
"Well, we tried to talk to them but they
were very unfriendly," said Anne. "We felt quite uncomfortable. And
Timmy growled like anything, of course, which made things worse. I don't think
he liked their smell. They did smell rather unwashed."
"We didn't get on too well either, with
the rest of the fair-folk," said Julian.  All they wanted us to do was to clear
out."
"I got a paper for you," said Anne,
"and George found a letter at the post office from her mother. It's addressed
to all of us so we didn't open it. We'll read it when we get to the
caravans."
"I hope it's nearly time for
dinner," said George. "What do you think, Timmy?"
Timmy knew the word dinner! He gave a joyful
bark and led the way. Dinner? There couldn't be a better idea!
Chapter Seven
A LETTER - A WALK - AND A SHOCK
Contents - Prev/Next
GEORGE opened her mother's letter when they
had finished their meal. Everyone voted that it was a truly wizard lunch - two
hard-boiled eggs each, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and cress, and potatoes
baked in the fire in their jackets - followed by what Julian had asked for -
slices of tinned pineapple, very sweet and juicy.
"Very nice," said Julian, lying back
in the sun.  Now, George, let's
hear what Aunt Fanny has got to say in her letter."
George unfolded the note-paper and smoothed it
out. "It's to all of us," she said.
"DEAR GEORGE, ANNE, JULIAN AND DICK,
"I hope George arrived safely and that
you all met her. I am really writing to remind George that it is her
grandmother's birthday on Saturday, and she must write to her. I forgot to
remind George before she she went, so thought I must quickly send a letter.
"George, your father is very much upset
to read about those two missing scientists. He knows Derek Terry-Kane very
well, and worked with him for some time. He says he is absolutely sure that he
isn't a traitor to his country; he thinks he has been spirited away somewhere,
and Jeffrey Pottersham too - probably in a plane miles away by now, in a
country that will force them to give up their secrets.
"If you write, please don't mention
scientists, as I am hoping he will calm down soon. He really is very upset, and
keeps on saying "What is the world coming to?" when he knows quite
well that it's coming to exactly what the scientists plan it to come to.
"Have a good time, all of you, and DON'T
forget to write to your grandmother, George!"
Your loving,
MOTHER (AUNT FANNY)."
"I can just see Father striding about
like a - like a..."
"Fire-eater," said Julian with a
grin, as George stopped for a word. "He'll drive Aunt Fanny into chasing
him around with a saucepan one day! Funny business about these scientists
though, isn't it? After all, Terry-Kane had planned to leave the country - got
his aeroplane ticket and everything - so although your father believes in him,
George, it honestly looks a bit fishy, doesn't it?"
"Anything in the paper about it?"
asked Dick, and shook it open. "Yes-here we are:
"MISSING SCIENTISTS.
"It is now certain that Jeffrey
Pottersham was in the pay of a country unfriendly to us, and was planning to
join Terry-Kane on his journey abroad. Nothing has been heard of the two men,
although reports that they have been seen in many places abroad have been
received."
"That rather settles it," said
Julian. "Two Really Bad Eggs. Look-here are their photographs."
The four leaned over the paper, looking at the
pictures of the two men. "Well, I should have thought anyone would
recognize Terry-Kane if they saw him," said Anne. "Those big, thick,
arched eyebrows, and that enormous forehead. If I saw anyone with eyebrows like
that I'd think they weren't real!"
"He'll shave them off," said Dick.
"Then he'll look completely different. Probably stick them on his upper
lip upside down and use them for moustaches!"
"Don't be so silly," said George,
with a giggle. "The other fellow is very ordinary-looking, except for his
dome of a head.
"We're not so bad," said Julian.
"We've had to use our brains many times in all our adventures - and we
haven't come off so badly!"
"Let's clear up and then go for a walk
again," said Anne. "If we don't I shall fall asleep. This sun is so
gloriously hot, it's really cooking me."
"Yes - we'd better go for a walk,"
said Julian, getting up. "Shall we go and see the castle, do you think? Or
shall we leave that for another day?"
"Leave it," said Anne. "I
honestly don't feel like clambering up that steep hill just now. I think the
morning would be a better time!"
They cleared up and then locked the two
caravans and set out. Julian looked back. Some of the fair-folk were sitting
together, eating a meal. They watched the children in silence. It wasn't very
pleasant somehow,
"They don't exactly love us, do
they?" said Dick. "Now you listen, Timmy - don't you go accepting any
titbits from people here, see?"
"Oh, Dick!" said George, in alarm,
"you surely don't think they would harm Timmy?"
"No, I don't really," said Dick.
"But we might as well be careful. As the rubber man pointed out to us this
morning, us-folk and his-folk think differently about some things. It just
can't be helped. But I do wish they'd let us be friendly. I don't like this
kind of thing."
"Well, anyway I shall keep Timmy to heel
all the time," said George, making up her mind firmly. "Timmy, to
heel! Please understand that as long as we are in the caravan field you must
walk to heel? Do you understand?"
"Woof-woof," said Timmy, and
immediately kept so close to George's ankles that his nose kept bumping into
them.
They decided to catch the bus to Tinkers'
Green, and then walk from there to the sea. They would have time to get there
and back before dark. The bus was waiting at the corner, and they ran to catch
it.
"Shall we have an ice-cream?"
suggested Dick as they came to a grocer's shop with an ice-cream sign outside
it.
"No," said Julian firmly.
"We've just had an enormous lunch, and we'll save up ice-creams for
tea-time. We shall never get down to the sea if we sit and eat ice-creams half
the afternoon!"
It was a lovely walk, down violet-studded
lanes, and then over a heathery common with clumps of primroses in the hollows
- and even a few very very early bluebells, much to Anne's delight.
"There's the sea!  said Anne, in delight. "And isn't it blue-as blue as
cornflowers. We could almost bathe."
"You wouldn't like it if you did,"
said Julian. "The sea would be as cold as ice! Come on - let's get down to
the little jetty and have a look at the fishing-boats."
They went down to the sun-warmed stone jetty
and began talking to the fishermen there. Some were sitting in the sun mending
their nets, and were very willing to talk.
"How nice to have a bit of friendliness
shown us instead of the stares and rudeness of the fair-folk!" said Dick
to Julian, who nodded and agreed.
A fisherman took them on his boat, and
explained a lot of things they already knew and some they didn't.  He was as brown as an oak-apple.
"Could we ever hire a boat here if we
wanted to?" asked Julian. "Is there one we could manage by ourselves?
We are quite good at sailing."
"Old Joseph there has a boat he could
hire out if you wanted one," said the man they were talking to. "He
hired it out the other day, and I expect he'd hire it out to you too if so be
you can really manage it."
"Thanks. We'll ask him, if we ever decide
to go out," said Julian. He looked at his watch. "We'd better go and
get some tea somewhere. We want to be home before dark. We're camping over at
Faynights Castle."
"Oh ay?" said the fisherman.
"You've got the fair-folk there now, haven't you? They were here two weeks
since. My, that fire-eater is a fair treat, he is! And that rope-man - well! I
tell you this - I tied him up in my fishing-line - you can see it here, strong
as two ropes it is! I tied him up with all the knots I know - and in under a
minute he stood up and the line fell off him, knots and all!"
"Ay, that is so," said the old
fellow called Joseph. "A wonder he is, that man. So is the rubber fellow.
He called for a drain-pipe, narrow as this, see? And he wriggled through it,
quick as an eel. Fair scared me, it did, to see him wriggling out of the other
end."
"We'll go and see them perform when they
begin their show," said Julian. "At the moment they're not very
friendly towards us. They don't like us being in their field."
"They keeps themselves to
themselves," said Joseph. "They had a heap of trouble at the place
they were in before they came to us - someone set the police on them, and now
they won't make friends with anyone."
"Well, we must go," said Julian, and
they said goodbye to the friendly fishermen and went. They stopped and had tea
at a little tea-shop, and then made their way home. "Anyone want to take
the bus?" said Julian. "We can easily get home before dark if we walk
- but if the girls are tired we'll bus from Tinkers' Green."
"Of course we're not tired!" said
George indignantly. "Have you ever known me say I'm tired, Julian?"
"All right, all right - it was just a bit
of politeness on my part," said Julian. "Come on - let's get
going."
The way was longer than they had thought. It
was getting dark when they got to the stile that led into the caravan field.
They climbed over it and made their way slowly to their corner.
And then they suddenly stopped and stared.
They looked all round and stared again.
Their two caravans were gone! They could see
the places where they had stood, and where their fire had been. But no caravans
stood there now!
"Well!" said Julian, astounded.
"This beats everything! Are we dreaming? I can't see a sign of our
caravans anywhere!"
"Yes - but - how could they go?"
said Anne, almost stammering in her surprise. "I mean-we had no horses to
pull them away anywhere! They couldn't go just by themselves."
There was a silence. The four were completely
bewildered. How could two large, solid caravans disappear into thin air?
"Look - there are wheel-marks in the
grass," said Dick suddenly. "See - our caravans went this way - come
on, follow. Down the hillside, look!"
In the greatest astonishment the four children
and Timmy followed the wheel-marks. Julian glanced back once, feeling that they
were being watched. But not one of the fair-folk was to be seen. Perhaps they
are watching silently behind their caravan curtains, Julian thought,
uncomfortably.
The wheel-marks went right down the field and
reached the gate. It was shut now, but it must have been opened for the two
caravans, because there were marks in the grass by the gate, marks that passed
through it and then were lost in the lane.
"What are we to do?" said Anne,
scared. "They're gone! We've nowhere to sleep. Oh, Julian - what are we
going to do?"
Chapter Eight
WHERE ARE THE CARAVANS?
Contents - Prev/Next
FOR once in a way Julian was quite at a loss
what to do! It looked as if someone had stolen the two caravans - taken them
right away somewhere!
"I suppose we'd better ring up the
police," he said. "They'll watch out for the two caravans, and arrest
the thieves. But that won't help us much for tonight! We've got to find
somewhere to sleep."
"I think we ought to go and tackle one or
two of the fair-folk," said Dick. "Even if they have got nothing to
do with the theft they must have seen the caravans being taken away."
"Yes. I think you're right," said
Julian. They must know something about it. George, you stay here with Anne, in
case the fair people are rude. We'll take Timmy - he may be useful."
George didn't want to stay behind - but she
could see that Anne did!
"Don't let's go to the snake-man,"
said Dick. "He might be playing with his snakes in his caravan!"
"What possible game can you play with
snakes?" said Julian. "Or are you thinking of snakes and
ladders?"
"Funny joke," said Dick, politely.
"Look - there's somebody by a camp-fire - Bufflo, I think. No, it's
Alfredo. Well, we know he isn't as fierce as he looks - let's tackle him about
the caravans."
They went up to the big fire-eater, who was
sitting smoking by the fire. He didn't hear them coming and jumped violently
when Julian spoke to him.
"Mr. Alfredo," began Julian,
"could you tell us where our two caravans have gone? We found them missing
when we got back just now."
"Ask Bufflo," said Alfredo, gruffly,
not looking at them.
"But don't you know anything about
them?" persisted Julian.
"Ask Bufflo," said Alfredo, blowing
out clouds of smoke. Julian and Dick turned away, annoyed, and went over to
Bufflo's caravan. It was shut. They knocked on the door, and Bufflo appeared,
his mop of golden hair gleaming in the lamplight.
"Mr. Bufflo," began Julian politely
again, "Mr. Alfredo told us to come and ask you about our caravans, which
are missing, and..."
"Ask the rubber-man," said Bufflo,
shortly, and slammed the door. Julian was angry. He knocked again. The window
opened and Skippy, Bufflo's little wife, looked out.

 said Dick fiercely.
"Looks like it," said Julian.
"Well, we'll try the rubber-man. Come on. He's the last one we'll try,
though!"
They went to the rubber-man's caravan, and
rapped smartly on the door. "Who's there?" came the voice of Mr.
India-rubber.
"Come out - we want to ask you
something," said Julian.
"Who's there?" said the rubber-man
again.
"You know jolly well who we are," said
Julian raising his voice. "Our caravans have been stolen, and we want to
find out who took them. If you won't give us any help, we're going to telephone
the police."
The door opened and the rubber-man stood on
the top of the steps, looking down at Julian. "Nobody has stolen
them," he said. "Nobody at all. You go and ask the snake-man."
"If you think we're going round asking
every single person in this camp, you're mistaken!" said Julian, angrily.
"I don't want to go to the police - we wanted to be friends with you
fair-folk, not enemies. This is all very silly.  We know they were put on to you a few weeks back."
"You know too much," said the
rubber-man, in a very surly voice. "Your caravans are not stolen. I will
show you where they are."
 He went across the
grassy hillside, making for where the children's caravans had stood.
"Where are you taking us?" called
Julian. "We know the vans are not there!
The man said nothing, but walked on. The boys
and Timmy could do nothing but follow. Timmy was not happy. He kept up a
continuous low growling, like far-off thunder. The rubber-man took not the
slightest notice. Julian wondered idly if he didn't fear dogs because they
wouldn't be able to bite rubber!
The man took them to the hedge that ran at one
side of the field, beyond where the two caravans had stood. Julian began to
feel exasperated. He knew perfectly well that the two vans had been taken down
to the field-gate and out into the lane-then why was this fellow leading him in
the opposite direction?
The rubber-man forced his way through the
hedge, and the boys followed - and there, just the other side, two big, dark
shapes loomed up in the twilight - the caravans!
"Well!" said Julian, taken aback.
"What was the idea of putting the caravans here, in the next field?"
"Us-folk and you-folk don't mix,"
said the man. "We don't like kids messing about. Three weeks ago we had a
canary-man, with over a hundred canaries that gave a show with him - and some
kids opened all the cages one night and set them loose."
"Oh," said Julian. "They'd die,
of course, if they were set loose - they don't know how to look for their own
food. That was bad luck. But we don't do things like that."
"No kids allowed with us now," said
the rubber-man. "That's why we put horses into your vans, took them down
to the field-gate, and up into the next field - and here they are. We thought
you'd be back in the daylight and would see them."
"Well, it's nice to find you can be
chatty, all of a sudden," said Julian. "Don't growl any more, Timmy.
It's all right. We've found our vans!"
The rubber-man disappeared without another
word. They heard him squeezing easily through the hedge. Julian took out the
key to his caravan, went up the steps and opened the door. He rummaged about
and found his torch. He switched it on and shone it round. Nothing had been
disturbed.
"Well - so that's that," he said.
"Just a bit of spite on the part of the fair-folk, I suppose - punishing
us for what those horrid kids did to the canaries. I must say it was a shame to
open those cages - half the poor little creatures must have died. I don't like
birds put in cages - but as canaries can't live in this country unless they are
looked after, it's cruel to let them go loose, and starve."
"I agree with you," said Dick. They
were now walking down the hillside to a gap in the hedge through which the vans
must have been pulled up the hill. George and Anne would be most relieved to
hear they had found the caravans!
Julian gave a whistle, and George answered it
at once. "We're still here, Julian! What's happened?"
"We've got the caravans," shouted
back Julian, cheerily. "They're in this field."
The girls joined them at once, most surprised
to hear this news. Julian explained.
"The fair-folk really have got a hate on
against children," he said. "Apparently they had a canary-man, whose
show consisted of singing canaries - and some kids set all the birds loose one
night - so half of them died. And now the fair-folk won't have children
anywhere near them."
"I suppose the snake-man is afraid of us
setting his snakes loose," said Dick, with a chuckle. "Well, thank
goodness we've found the vans. I had a feeling we might have to sleep in a
hay-stack tonight!"
"I wouldn't have minded that," said
George. "I like haystacks."
"We'll light a fire and cook
something," said Julian. "I feel hungry after all this upset."
"I don't," said Anne. "I hate
feeling that the fair-folk won't be friends. It's silly of them. We're not used
to that."
"Yes - but they're rather like children
themselves," said Julian. "Somebody does something unkind to them, so
they get sulky, and wait for a chance to hit back - and then someone set the
police on them, too, don't forget - they're very touchy at the moment, I
imagine."
"Well, it's a pity," said George,
watching Dick light a camp-fire very efficiently. "I was looking forward
to having a good time with them. Do you suppose the farmer will mind us being
here?"
"Oh - I never thought of that," said
Julian. "This may not be a camping field. I hope to goodness we don't have
an angry farmer shouting at us tomorrow!"
"And, oh dear, we are so far away from
the stream now," said Anne. "It's on the other side of the field
where we were - and we do badly want water."
"We'll have to do without it
tonight," said Dick, firmly. "I don't want the top of my hair taken
off by Bufflo, or a rope tying up my legs, thrown by the ropeman, or a snake
wriggling after me. I bet those fair-folk will be on the watch for us to fetch
water. This is all very silly."
They had rather a solemn meal. Things had
suddenly begun to seem rather complicated. They couldn't go to the police about
such a silly thing - nor did they want to. But if the farmer wanted to turn
them out of this field, how could they go back to their first camping-place?
Nobody wanted to live in a camp surrounded by enemies!
"We'll sleep on it," said Julian, at
last. "Don't worry, you girls. We'll find a way out of this problem. We
are pretty good at getting out of difficulties. Never say die!"
"Woof," said Timmy, agreeing
heartily. George patted him.
"That's one of your mottoes, isn't it,
Timmy?" she said.
"And another motto of his is 'Let
sleeping dogs lie'," said Dick, with a broad grin. "He hates being
wakened up when he's having a nice nap, dreaming of millions of rabbits to
catch!"
"Well, talking of naps, what about
getting into our bunks?" said Julian, with a yawn. "We've had a good
long walk today, and I'm tired. I'm going to lie in my bunk and read."
Everyone thought this a very good idea. They
cleared up the supper-things, and the girls said good night to the boys. They
went into the caravan with Timmy.
"I do hope this holiday isn't going to be
a failure," said Anne, as she got into her bunk. George gave one of her
snorts.
"A failure! You wait and see! I've a
feeling it will turn out to be super."
Chapter Nine
A GREAT SURPRISE
Contents - Prev/Next
IT didn't seem as if George's feeling that the
holiday was going to be 'super' was at all correct the next morning. A loud
rapping came on the door of the boys' caravan before they were even awake!
Then a large red face looked in at the window,
startling Julian considerably.
"Who gave you permission to camp
here?" said the face, looking as black as thunder.
Julian went to the door in his pyjamas.
"Do you own this field?" he said, politely. "Well, we were
camping in the next field, and..."
"That's let for campers and
caravanners," said the man, who was dressed like a farmer. "This
isn't."
"As I said, we were in the next
field," repeated Julian, "and for some reason the fair-folk there
didn't like us - and when we were out they brought our caravans here! As we've
no horses to take them away, we couldn't do anything else but stay!"
"Well, you can't stay," said the
farmer. "I don't let out this field. I use it for my cows. You'll have to
go today, or I'll put your caravans out into the road."
"Yes, but look here..." began
Julian, and then stopped. The farmer had walked off, a determined figure in
ridingbreeches and tweed coat. The girls opened their window and called to
Julian.
"We heard what he said. Isn't he mean?
Now what are we going to do?"
"We're going to get up and have
breakfast," said Julian. "And then I'm going to give the fair-folk
one more chance - they'll have to lend us two horses - the two they used
yesterday to pull our vans! - and pull us back into our rightful place.
Otherwise I very much fear I shall have to get help from the police!"
"Oh, dear," said Anne. "I do
hate this kind of thing. We were having such a lovely time before the fair
people arrived. But it seems quite impossible to get them to be friends with
us."
"Quite," said Julian. "I'm not
so sure I want to be friendly now, either. I'd rather give up this holiday
altogether and go back home than have continual trouble going on round us! Dick
and I will go and tackle the fair-folk after breakfast."
Breakfast was just as solemn as supper had
been. Julian was rather silent. He was thinking what was best to say to the
sullen folk in the next field. "You must take Timmy with you," said
George, voicing the thoughts of everyone.
Julian and Dick set off with Timmy about half
past eight. All the fair people were up and about, and the smoke of their fires
rose up in the morning air.
Julian thought he would go and tackle the
fire-eater, so the two boys went towards his caravan. The other fair people
looked up, and one by one left their vans or their fires and closed round the
boys. Timmy bared his teeth and growled.
"Mr. Alfredo," began Julian,
"the farmer is turning us out of that field. We must come back here. We
want you to lend us two horses for our vans."
A ripple of laughter spread through the
listening people. Mr. Alfredo answered politely, with a large smile on his
face. "What a pity! We don't hire out our horses!"
"I don't want to hire them from
you," said Julian, patiently. "It's up to you to let us have them to
bring back our vans. Otherwise - well, I shall have to go and ask the police
for help. Those caravans don't belong to us, you know."
There was an angry murmur from the listening
crowd. Timmy growled more loudly. One or two of the fair-folk stepped back
hurriedly when they heard him.
CRACK! Julian turned quickly. The fair people
ran back, and the two boys found that they were facing Bufflo, who, with a
large and unpleasant grin on his face, was swinging his whip in his hand.
CRACK! Julian jumped violently, for a few
hairs from the top of his head were suddenly whisked off into the air - the end
of the lash had neatly cut them away!
The crowd laughed loudly. Timmy bared his
white teeth, and snarled.
Dick put his hand down on the dog's collar.
"Do that again and I shan't be able to hold the dog!" he called,
warningly.
Julian stood there, at a loss to know what to
do next. He couldn't bear turning tail and going off to the accompaniment of
jeers and howls.
And then something happened. Something so
utterly unexpected that nobody did anything at all except let it happen!
A boyish figure came running up the grassy
hillside-someone very like George, with short curly hair and a very freckled
face - someone dressed, however, in a short grey skirt, and not in shorts, like
George.
She came racing up, yelling at the top of her
voice. "Dick! DICK! Hey, DICK!"
Dick turned and stared in amazement.
"Why - it's Jo! JO! The gypsy girl who
once got mixed up with us in an adventure! Julian, it's Jo!"
There was no doubt about it at all. It was Jo!
 She had always liked him best.
"Dick! I didn't know you were here!
Julian! Are the others here too? Oh, Timmy, dear old Timmy! Dick, are you
camping here? Oh, this is really too marvellous to be true!"
 "Jo! Where in the world have you come
from?"
"Well, you see," said Jo, "I've
got school holidays like you - and I thought I'd go and visit you at Kirrin
Cottage. So I did. But you had all gone away together. That was
yesterday."
"Go on," said Dick, as Jo stopped,
out of breath.
"Well, I didn't want to go back home
again straight away," said Jo. "So I thought I'd pay a visit to my
uncle - he's my mother's brother - and I knew he was camping here so I
hitch-hiked all the way yesterday, and came late last night."
"Well, I'm blessed," said Julian.
"And who is your uncle, may I ask?"
"Oh Alfredo - the Fire-Eater," was
Jo's astonishing reply. "Didn't you know? Oh, Dick! Oh, Julian! Can I stay
here while you're here? Do, DO say I can! You haven't forgotten me, have
you?"
"Of course not," said Dick, thinking
that nobody could possibly forget this wild little gypsy girl, with her mad
ways and her staunch affection.
Then for the first time Jo realized that
something was going on! What was this crowd doing round Julian and Dick?
She looked round, and immediately sensed that
the fair people were not friendly to the two boys - although the main
expression on their faces now was one of astonishment!
How did Jo know these boys? they wondered. How
was it she was so very friendly with them? They were puzzled and suspicious.
"Uncle Alfredo, where are you?"
demanded Jo, looking all round. "Oh, there you are! Uncle, these are my
very best friends - and so are the girls too, wherever they are. I'll tell you
all about them, and how nice they were to me! I'll tell everybody!"
"Well," said Julian, feeling rather
embarrassed at what Jo might reveal, "well, you tell them, Jo, and I'll
just pop back and break the news to George and Anne. They will be surprised to
find you are here - and that Alfredo is your uncle!"
The two boys and Timmy turned to go. The
little crowd opened to let them pass. It closed up again round the excited Jo,
whose high voice the boys could hear all the way across the field.
"Well, well, well!" said Dick, as
they got through the hedge. "What an astonishing thing! I couldn't believe
my eyes when young Jo appeared, could you? I hope George won't mind. She was
always rather jealous of Jo and the things she could do."
The two girls were amazed at the boys' news.
George was not too pleased. She preferred Jo at a distance rather than near.
She liked and admired her but rather unwillingly. Jo was too like George
herself for George to give her complete friendliness!
"Well, fancy Jo, Jo herself being
here!" said Anne, smiling. "Oh, Julian - it was a good thing she
arrived when she did! I don't like that bit about Bufflo cracking his whip at
you. He might have made you bald on the top!"
"Oh, it was only a few hairs," said
Julian. "But it gave me quite a shock. And I think it gave the fair people
a shock too when Jo arrived like a little hurricane, yelling at the top of her
voice, and flinging herself on poor old Dick. She almost knocked him
over!"
"She's not a bad kid," said Dick,
"but she never stops to think. I wonder if the people she stays with know
where she's gone. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she just disappeared without
a word."
"Like the two scientists," said
Julian, with a grin. "Gosh, I can't get over it! Jo was the very last
person I would expect here."
"Well, not really, if you think a
bit," said Anne. "Her father is a gypsy, isn't he - and her mother
was in a circus, she told us so. She trained dogs, don't you remember, Julian?
So it's quite natural for Jo to have relations like the fair people. But just
fancy having a fire-eater for an uncle!"
"Yes - I'd forgotten that Jo's mother was
in a circus," said Julian. "I expect she's got peculiar relations all
over the country! I wonder what she's telling them about us."
"She's singing Dick's praises
anyway," said George. "She always thought the world of Dick. Perhaps
the fair people won't be quite so unfriendly if they know that Jo is fond of
us."
"Well, we're in a bit of a fix,"
said Dick. "We can't stay in this field, or the farmer will be after us
again - and I can't see the fair people lending us their horses - and without
horses we can't leave this field!"
"We could ask the farmer to lend us his
horses," suggested Anne.
"We'd have to pay him, though, and I
don't see why we should," said Julian. "After all, it isn't our fault
that our caravans were moved here."
"I think this is a horrid and unfriendly
place," said Anne. "And I don't want to stay here another day. I'm
not enjoying it a bit."
"Cheer up!" said Dick. "Never
say die!"
"Woof," said Timmy.
"Look - someone's coming through that gap
in the
hedge down there by the lane," said
George, pointing. "It's
Jo!"
"Yes - and my goodness me, she's got a
couple of horses with her!" cried Dick. "Good old Jo! She's got
Alfredo's horses!"
Chapter Ten
BACK WITH THE FAIR-FOLK AGAIN
Contents - Prev/Next
THE four of them, with Timmy capering behind,
ran to meet Jo. She beamed at everyone.
"Hallo, Anne, hallo, George! Pleased to
meet you again! This isn't half a surprise!"
"Jo! How did you get those horses?"
said Dick, taking one by the bridle.
"Easy," grinned Jo. "I just
told Uncle Fredo all about you - what wonders you were - and all you did for me
- and wasn't I shocked when I heard they'd turned you out of your field! I let
go then! I told them just what I thought of them, treating my best friends like
that!"
"Did you really, Jo?" said George,
doubtfully.
"Didn't you hear me?" demanded Jo.
"I yelled like anything at Uncle Fredo, and then his wife, my Aunt Anita,
she yelled at him too - and then we both yelled at everyone."
"It must have been quite a yelling
match," said Julian. "And the result was that you got your way, and
got the horses to take back our caravans, Jo?"
"Well, when Aunt Anita told me they'd
taken your caravans into the next field and left them there, and wouldn't lend
you horses to bring them back, I told them all a few things," said Jo.
"I said - no, I'd better not tell you what I said. I wasn't very
polite."
"I bet you weren't" said Dick, who
had already had a little experience of Jo's wild tongue the year before.
"And when I told them how my father went
to prison, and you got me a home with somebody nice who looks after me, they
were sorry they'd treated you roughly," said Jo. "And so I told Uncle
Fredo I was going to catch two horses and bring your caravans back into the
field again."
"I see," said Julian. "And the
fair-folk just let you?"
"Oh, yes," said Jo. "So let's
hitch them in, Julian, and go back at once. Isn't that the farmer coming over
there?"
It was, and he looked pretty grim. Julian
hurriedly put one horse into the shafts of the girls' caravan, and Dick backed
the other horse into the shafts of the second caravan. The farmer came up and
watched.
"So you thought you'd get horses after
all, did you?" he said. "I thought you would. Telling me a lot of
poppycock about being stranded here and not being able to get away!"
"Grrrrrrrr," said Timmy at once, but
he was the only one who made any reply!
"Gee-up!" said Jo, taking the reins
of the horse pulling the girls" caravan. "Hup there! Git along, will
you?"
The horse got along, and Jo wickedly drove him
so near to the farmer that he had to move back in a hurry. He growled something
at her. Timmy, appearing round the caravan, growled back. The farmer stood back
further, and watched the two caravans going down the hillside, out through the
wide gap in the hedge, and down the lane.
They came to the field-gate and Anne opened
it. In went the horses, straining now, because they were going uphill, and the
vans were heavy. At last they arrived in the corner where the vans had stood
before. Julian backed them over the same bit of ground.
He unhitched the horses, and threw the reins
of the second horse to Dick. "We'll take them back ourselves," he
said.
So the two boys walked the horses over to
Alfredo, who was pegging up some washing on a line. It seemed a most unsuitable
thing for a fire-eater to do, but Alfredo didn't seem to mind.
"Mr. Alfredo, thank you for lending us
the horses," said Julian, in his politest tones. "Shall we tie them
up anywhere, or set them loose?"
 He looked rather ashamed.
"Set them loose," he said. He
hesitated before he put the pegs back into his mouth. "We didn't know you
were friends with my niece," he said. "She told us all about you. You
should have told us you knew her."
"And how could he do that when he didn't
know she was your niece?" shouted Mrs. Alfredo from the caravan door.
 Ahhhhhh! Now
you drop my best blouse on the ground!"
She ran out at top speed, and Alfredo stared
in alarm. Fortunately she had no saucepan with her this time. She turned to the
two amused boys.
"Alfredo is sorry he took your caravans
away," she said, "are you not, Fredo?"
"Well! It was you who..." began
Alfredo, with a look of astonishment. But he wasn't allowed to finish.
"Pay no attention to this big bad man! He
has no brains. He can only eat fire, and that is a poor thing to do! Now Jo,
she has brains.
"I should have felt gladder if you had
all been friendly to us," said Julian. "I'm afraid we don't feel like
stopping here any longer, though. We shall probably leave tomorrow."
"Now there, Fredo, see what you have
done! You have chased away these nice children!" cried Mrs. Alfredo.
"They have manners, these boys, a thing you know nothing about, Fredo. You
should learn from them, Fredo, you should..."
Fredo took some pegs from his mouth to make an
indignant answer, but his wife suddenly gave a shriek and ran to her caravan.
"Something burns! Something burns!"
Alfredo gave a hearty laugh, a loud guffaw that
surprised the boys. "Ha! She bakes today, and burns her cake! She has no
brains, that woman! No brains at all!"
Julian and Dick turned to go. Alfredo spoke to
them in a low voice. "You can stay here now, here in this field. You are
Jo's friend. That is enough for us."
"It may be," said Julian. "But
it's not quite enough for us, I'm afraid. We shall leave tomorrow."
The boys went back to the caravans. Jo sat on
the grass with George and Anne, eagerly telling them of her life with a very
nice family. "But they won't let me wear shorts or be a boy," she
ended sadly. "That's why I wear a skirt now. Could you lend me some
shorts, George?"
"No, I couldn't," said George,
firmly. Jo was quite enough like her as it was, without wearing shorts!
"Well, you seem to have turned over a new leaf, Jo. Can you read and write
yet?"
"Almost," said Jo, and turned her
eyes away. She found lessons very difficult, for she had never been to school
when she lived with her gypsy father.
"Can I stay with you?" she said. "My foster-mother would let me,
I know - if it was you I was with."
"Didn't you tell her you were coming
here?" said Dick. "That was unkind, Jo."
"I never thought," said Jo.
"You send her a card for me, Dick."
"Send one yourself," said George at
once. "You said you could write."
Jo took no notice of that remark. "Can I
stay with you?" she said. "I won't sleep in the caravans, I'll doss
down underneath. I always did that when the weather was fine, and I lived with
my Dad in his caravan. It would be a change for me now not to live in a house.
I like lots of things in houses, though I never thought I would - but I shall
always like sleeping rough best."
"Well - you could stay here with us, if
we were going to stay," said Julian. "But I don't much feel inclined
to, now we've had such an unfriendly welcome from everyone."
"I'll tell everyone to be kind to
you," said Jo at once, and got up as if she meant to go then and there to
force everyone into kindness!
Dick pushed her down. "No. We'll stay
here one more day and night, and make up our minds tomorrow. What do you say,
Julian?"
"Right," said Julian. He looked at
his watch. "Let's go and celebrate Jo's coming with a few ice-creams. And
I expect you two girls have got some shopping to do, haven't you?"
"Yes," said Anne, and fetched the
shopping bags. They set off down the hill, the five of them and Timmy. As they
passed the snake-man he called out cheerily to them: "Good morning! Nice
day, isn't it?"
After the surliness and sulkiness the children
had got from the fair-folk up till then, this came as a surprise. Anne smiled,
but the boys and George merely nodded and passed by. They were not so forgiving
as Anne!
They passed the rubber-man, bringing back
water. Behind him came the rope-man. Both of them nodded to the children, and
the sad-looking rubber-man actually gave a brief grin.
Then they saw Bufflo, practising with his whip
- crack-crack-crack! He came over to them. "If you'd like a crack with my
whip, you're welcome any time," he said to Julian.
"Thanks," said Julian, politely but
stiffly. "But we're probably leaving tomorrow."
"Keep your hair on!" said Bufflo,
feeling snubbed.
"I would if you'd let me," said
Julian at once, rubbing his hand over the top of his head where Bufflo had
stripped off a few up-standing hairs.
"Ho, ho!" guffawed Bufflo and then
stopped abruptly, afraid he had given offence. Julian grinned at him. He rather
liked Bufflo, with his mop of yellow hair and lazy drawl.
"You stay on with us," said Bufflo.
"I'll lend you a whip."
"We're probably leaving tomorrow,"
repeated Julian. He nodded to him, and went on with the others.
"I'm beginning to feel I'd rather like to
stay after all," said George. "It makes such a difference if people
are friendly."
"Well, we're not staying," said
Julian, shortly. "I've practically made up my mind - but we'll just wait
till tomorrow. It's a - a matter of pride with me. You girls don't understand
quite how I feel about the whole thing."
They didn't. Dick understood, though, and he
agreed with Julian. They went on down to the village and made their way to the
ice-cream shop.
They had a very pleasant day. They had a
wonderful lunch on the grass by their caravans - and to their surprise Mrs.
Alfredo presented them with a sponge sandwich she had made. Anne thanked her
very much indeed to make up for a certain stiffness in the thanks of the two
boys.
"You might have said a bit more,"
she said reproachfully to them.
Honestly I wouldn't mind staying on now."
But Julian was curiously obstinate about it.
He shook his head. "We go tomorrow," he said. "Unless something
unexpected happens to make us stay. And it won't."
But Julian was quite wrong. Something unexpected
did happen. Something really very peculiar indeed.
Chapter Eleven
A VERY STRANGE THING
Contents - Prev/Next
THE unexpected happening came that evening
after tea. They had all had rather a late tea, and a very nice one. Bread and
butter and honey - new doughnuts from the dairy - and the sponge-cake that Mrs.
Alfredo had presented them with, which had a very rich filling indeed.
"I can't eat a thing more," said
George, "that spongecake was too rich for words. I don't even feel as if I
can get up and clear away - so don't start suggesting it, Anne."
"I'm not," said Anne. "There's
plenty of time. It's a heavenly evening - let's sit for a while. There goes
that blackbird again. He has a different tune every time he sings."
"That's what I like about
blackbirds," said Dick, lazily. "They're proper composers. They make
up their own tunes - not like the chaffinch who just carols the same old song
again and again and again. Honestly there was one this morning that said it
fifty times without stopping."
"Chip-chip-chip, cherry-erry-erry,
chippee-OO-EE-Ar!" shouted a chaffinch, rattling it all off as if he had
learnt it by heart. "Chip-chip-chip..."
"There he goes again," said Dick.
"If he doesn't say that, he shouts 'pink-pink-pink' as if he'd got that
colour on the brain. Look at him over there - isn't he a beauty?"
He certainly was. He flew down to the grass
beside the children and began to peck up the crumbs, even venturing on to
Anne's knee once. She sat still, really thrilled.
Timmy growled, and the chaffinch flew off.
"Silly, Timmy," said George. "Jealous of a chaffinch! Oh, look,
Dick - are those herons flying down to the marsh on the east side of the castle
hill?"
"Yes," said Dick, sitting up.
"Where are your field-glasses, George? We could see the big birds
beautifully through them."
George fetched them from her caravan. She
handed them to Dick. He focused them on the marsh. "Yes - four herons -
gosh, what long legs they've got, haven't they? They are wading happily about -
now one's struck down at something with its great beak. What's it got? Yes,
it's a frog. I can see its back legs!"
"You can't!" said George, taking the
field-glasses from him. "You're a fibber. The glasses aren't powerful
enough to see a frog's legs all that way off!"
But they were powerful enough. They were
really magnificent ones, far too good for George, who wasn't very careful with
valuable things.
She was just in time to see the poor frog's
legs disappearing into the big strong beak of the heron. Then something
frightened the birds, and before the others could have a look at them they had
all flapped away.
"How slowly they flap their wings,"
said Dick. "They must surely flap them more slowly than any other bird.
Give me the glasses again, George. I'll have a squint at the jackdaws. There
are thousands of them flying again over the castle - their evening jaunt, I
suppose."
He put them to his eyes, and moved the glasses
to and fro, watching the endless whirl and swoop of the black jackdaws, The
sound of their many voices came loudly over the evening air.
"Chack-chack-chack-chack!"
Dick saw some fly down to the only complete
tower of the castle. He lowered the glasses to follow them. One jackdaw flew
down to the sill of the slit-window near the top of the tower, and Dick
followed its flight. It rested for half a second on the sill and then flew off
as if frightened.
And then Dick saw something that made his
heart suddenly jump. His glasses were trained on the window-slit and he saw
something most astonishing there! He gazed as if he couldn't believe his eyes.
Then he spoke in a low voice to Julian.
"Ju! Take the glasses, will you? Train
them on the window-slit near the top of the only complete tower - and tell me
if you see what I see. Quick!"
Julian held out his hand in astonishment for
the glasses. The others stared in surprise. What could Dick have seen? Julian
put the glasses to his eyes and focused them on the window Dick had been
looking at. He stared hard.
"Yes. Yes, I can. What an extraordinary
thing. It must be an effect of the light, I think."
By this time the others were in such a state
of curiosity that they couldn't bear it. George snatched the glasses from
Julian. "Let me see!" she said, quite fiercely. She trained them on
to the window. She gazed and gazed and gazed.
Then she lowered the glasses and stared at
Julian and Dick.  she said. "There's
nothing there - nothing but an empty window!"
Anne snatched the glasses from her just before
Dick tried to take them again. She too trained them on the window. But there
was absolutely nothing there to see.
"There's nothing," said Anne,
disgusted, and Dick took the glasses from her at once, focusing them once more
on the window. He lowered them.
"It's gone," he said to Julian.
"Nothing there now."
"DICK! If you don't tell us what you saw
we'll roll go you down the hill," said George, crossly. "Are you
making something up? What did you see?"
"Well," said Dick, looking at
Julian, I saw a face. A face not far from the window, staring out. What did you
see, Ju?"
"The same," said Julian. "It
made me feel pretty queer, too."
"A face!" said George, Anne and Jo
all together. "What do you mean?"
"Well - just what we said," replied
Dick. "A face - with eyes and nose and mouth."
"But nobody lives in the castle. It's a
ruin," said George. "Was it someone exploring, do you think?"
Julian looked at his watch. "No, it
couldn't have been a visitor, I'm sure - the castle shuts at half past five and
it's gone six. And anyway - it looked a - a - sort of desperate face!"
"Yes. I thought so too," said Dick.
"It's - well, it's very peculiar, isn't it, Julian? There may be some kind
of ordinary explanation for it, but I can't help feeling there's something
queer about it."
"Was it a man's face?" asked George.
"Or a woman's?"
"A man's, I think," said Dick.
"I couldn't see any hair against the darkness inside the window. Or
clothes. But it looked a man's face. Did you notice the eyebrows, Ju?"
"Yes, I did," said Julian.
"They were very pronounced, weren't they?" ,
This rang a bell with George!
"Eyebrows!" she said at once.
"Yes. I do remember," said Dick, and
looked at Julian. Julian shook his head. "I didn't recognize the
likeness," he said, "but after all it's a very long way away. It is
only because George's glasses are so extraordinarily good that we managed to
spot a face looking out of a window so very far away. Actually I think there
will be an ordinary explanation - it's just that we were so startled - and that
made us think it was very queer."
"I wish I'd seen the face," sighed
George. "They're my glasses, too - and I never saw the face!"
"Well, you can keep on looking and see if
it comes back," said Dick, handing over the glasses. "It may
do."
So Anne, George, and Jo took turn and turn
about, gazing earnestly through the field-glasses - but they saw no face. In
the end it got so dark that it was quite difficult to make out the tower, let
alone the window or a face!
"I tell you what we might do," said
Julian. "We could go and see over the castle ourselves tomorrow. And we
could go up into that tower. Then we should certainly see if there's a face
there."
"But I thought we were leaving
tomorrow," said Dick.
"Oh - yes, we did think of leaving,
didn't we?"  "Well - I don't feel as if we can go before we've explored
that castle, and found the explanation of the face."
"Of course we can't," said George.
"Fancy seeing a thing like that and rushing off without finding out about
it. I couldn't possibly."
"I'm going to stay anyhow,"
announced Jo. "I could stop with my Uncle Alfredo, if you go, and I'll let
you know if the face comes again - if George will leave me her glasses."
"Well, I shan't," said George, with
much determination. "If I go, my glasses go with me. But I'm not going.

"We'll stay and find out about the
face," said Julian. "I honestly feel awfully puzzled about it. Hallo,
who's this coming?"
A big figure loomed up in the twilight. It was
Alfredo, the fire-eater. "Jo! Are you there?" he said. "Your
aunt invites you to supper - and all your friends too. Come along."
There was a pause. Anne looked expectantly
across at Julian. Was he still going to be high-and-mighty and proud? She hoped
not.
"Thanks," said Julian, at last.
"We'd be pleased to come. Do you mean now?"
"That would be nice," said Alfredo,
with a little bow. "I fire-eat for you? Anything you say!"
This was too tempting to resist. Everyone got
up at once and followed the big Alfredo over the hillside to his caravan.
Outside there was a really good fire, and on it was a big black pot that gave
out a wonderful smell.
"Supper is not quite ready," said
Alfredo. The five children were relieved. After their big tea they didn't feel
ready even for a meal that smelt as good as the one in the pot! They sat down
by it.

asked Anne. "How do you do it?"
"Ah, very difficult!" said Alfredo.
"I do it only if you promise me not to try it by yourselves.
Everyone felt certain that they wouldn't.
"I don't want you to have blisters in your mouth, either," added
Anne.
Alfredo looked shocked. "I am a very good
fire-eater," he assured her. "No good ones ever make blisters in
their mouths.
Someone else sat down beside them. It was
Bufflo. He grinned at them. Skippy came and sat down too. Then the snake-man
came up, and he sat down on the opposite side of the fire.
Alfredo came back carrying a few things in his
hands. "Quite a family circle!" he said.
Chapter Twelve
FIRE-EATING AND OTHER THINGS!
Contents - Prev/Next
ALFREDO sat down on the grass, some way back
from the fire. He set a little metal bowl in front of him, that smelt of
petrol. He held up two things to show the children.
"His torches," said Mrs. Alfredo,
proudly. "He eats fire from them."
Alfredo called out something to the snake-man,
dipping his two torches into the bowl. They were not alight yet, and to the
children they looked like very large buttonhooks, with a wad of wool caught in
the hook-part.
The snake-man leaned forward and took a
burning twig out of the fire. With a deft throw he pitched it right into the
metal bowl. Immediately it set light to the petrol there, and flames shot up in
the darkness.
Alfredo had held his torches out of the way,
but now he thrust first one and then another into the burning petrol in the
bowl.
They flared alight at once, and red flames
shot up as he held one in each hand. His eyes gleamed in the brilliant light,
and the five children sat still, spellbound.
Then Alfredo leaned back his head - back and
back - and opened his great mouth wide. He put one of the lighted torches into
it, and closed his mouth over it, so that his cheeks gleamed a strange and
unbelievable red from the flames inside his mouth. Anne gave a little scream
and George gasped. The two boys held their breath. Only Jo watched unconcerned.
She had seen her uncle do this many times before!
Alfredo opened his mouth, and flames rushed
out of it, gushing like a fiery waterfall. What with the other torch flaring in
his left hand, the burning petrol in the bowl, the torch in his right hand and
the flames from his mouth, it really was an extraordinary scene!
He did the same with the other torch, and once
more his cheeks glowed like a lamp. Then fire came from his mouth again, and
was blown this way and that by the night breeze.
Alfredo closed his mouth. He swallowed. Then
he looked round, opened his mouth to show that he no longer had any flames
there, and smiled broadly.
"Ah - you like to see me eat fire?"
he said, and put out his torches. The bowl was no longer flaming, and now only
the fire-light lit the scene.
"It's marvellous," said Julian, with
great admiration.
"What, me? No, never!" laughed
Alfredo. "At first maybe, yes - when I begin years and years ago. But now,
no. It would be a shameful thing to burn my mouth - I would hang my head, and
go away."
 asked Dick, puzzled.
Alfredo refused to give any explanation. That
was part of the mystery of his act and he wasn't going to give it away.
"I can fire-eat too," announced Jo,
casually and most unexpectedly. "Here, Uncle, let me have one of your
torches."
"You! You will do nothing of the
sort!" roared Alfredo. "Do you want to burn to bits?"
"No. And I shan't either," said Jo.
"I've watched you and I know just how it's done. I've tried it."
"Fibber!" said George at once.
"Now you listen to me," began
Alfredo again.
I will..."
"Now, Fredo," said his wife,
"you'll do nothing of the sort. I'll deal with Jo if she starts any
nonsense here. As for fire-eating - well, if there's to be anyone else
fire-eating here, I will do it, I, your wife."
"You will not fire-eat," said
Alfredo obstinately, evidently afraid that his hot-tempered little wife might
try to do it.
Anne suddenly gave a scream of fright. A long,
thick body glided between her and Julian - one of the snake-man's pythons! He
had brought one with him, and the children hadn't known. Jo caught hold of it
and held on for dear life.
"Let him be," said the snake-man.
"He will come back to me. He wants a run."
"Let me hold him for a bit," begged
Jo. "He feels so smooth and cold. I like snakes."
Julian put out his hand gingerly and touched
the great snake. It did feel unexpectedly smooth, and quite cool. How
extraordinary! It looked so scaly and rough.
The snake slithered all the way up Jo and then
began to pour itself down her back. "Now don't you let him get his tail
round you," warned the snake-man. "I've told you that before."
"I'll wear him round my neck," said
Jo, and proceeded to pull the snake's long body until in the end he hung round
her neck like a fur. George watched in unwilling admiration. Anne had removed
herself as far from Jo as possible. The boys gazed in astonishment, and felt a
new respect for the little gypsy girl.
Someone struck up a soft melody on a guitar.
It was Skippy, Bufflo's wife.  Practically all the camp had
come along now, and there were quite a few the children hadn't seen before.
It was exciting sitting there round the
glowing fire, listening to the thrum of the guitar, and the sound of Skippy's
low, clear voice - sitting near a fire-eater too, and within arm's length of a
snake who also seemed to be enjoying the music! He swayed about in time to the
chorus, and then suddenly poured himself all down the front of Jo, and glided
like magic to his master, the snake-man.
"Ah, my beauty," said the funny
little man, and let the python slide between his hands, its coils pulsing
powerfully as it went. "You like the music, my beauty?"
"He really loves his snake,"
whispered Anne to George. "How can he?"
Alfredo's wife got up. "It is time to
go," she told the audience. "Alfredo needs his supper. Is it not so,
my big bad man?"
Alfredo agreed that it was so. He placed the
heavy iron pot over the glowing fire again, and in a few seconds such a
glorious smell came from it that all the five children began to sniff
expectantly.
"Where's Timmy?" said George,
suddenly. He was nowhere to be seen!
"He crept away with his tail down when he
saw the snake," said Jo. "I saw him go. Timmy, come back! It's all
right! Timmy, Timmy!"
"I'll call him, thank you," said
George. "He's my dog. Timmy!"
Timmy came, his tail still down. George
fondled him and so did Jo. He licked them both in turn. George tried to drag
him away from Jo. She didn't like Timmy to show affection for the little gypsy
girl - but he always did! He loved her.
The supper was lovely. "What is in your
pot?" asked Dick, accepting a second helping. "I've never tasted such
a delicious stew in my life."
"Chicken, duck, beef, bacon, rabbit,
hare, hedgehog, onions, turnips..." began Alfredo's wife. "I put
there everything that comes. It cooks and I stir, it cooks and I stir. Perhaps
a partridge goes in one day, and a pheasant the next, and..."
"Hold your tongue, wife," growled
Alfredo, who knew quite well that the farmers round about might well ask
questions about some of the things in that stew.
"You tell me to hold my tongue!"
cried little Mrs. Alfredo angrily, flourishing a spoon. "You tell me
that!"
 "Woof!" He got up
and went towards the spoon, hoping for a few more.
"Oh, Aunt Nita, do give Timmy a spoonful
out of the stew," begged Jo, and to Timmy's great joy he got a big
plateful all to himself. He could hardly believe it!
"Thank you very much for a very nice
supper," said Julian, feeling that it really was time to go. He got up and
the others followed his example.
"And thank you for fire-eating for us,
Alfredo," said George. "It doesn't seem to have spoilt your
appetite!"
"Poof!" said Alfredo, as if such a
thing would never enter his head. "Jo - are you going to stay with us
again tonight? You are welcome."
"I'd just like an old rug, that's all,
Aunt Nita," said Jo. "I'm going to sleep under George's
caravan."
"You can sleep on the floor inside, if
you like," said George. But Jo shook her head.
"No. I've had enough of sleeping indoors
for a bit. I want to sleep out. Under the caravan will be a fine place for me.
Gypsies often sleep there when the weather is warm."
They went back over the dark hillside. A few
stars were out, but the moon was not yet up, "That was a jolly interesting
evening," said Dick. "I enjoyed it. I like your aunt and uncle,
Jo."
Jo was delighted. She always loved praise from
Dick. She went under the girls' caravan, and rolled herself up in the rug. She
had been taught to clean her teeth and wash and do her hair, by the
foster-mother she had lived with for some months - but all that was forgotten
now that she was leading a gypsy life again!
"In a day or two she'll be the filthy,
dirty, tangly-haired, rude girl she was when we first knew her," said
George, combing out her own hair extra well. "I'm glad we're going to stay
here after all, aren't you, Anne? I really do think the fair people are
friendly towards us now."
"Thanks to Jo," said Anne. George
said nothing. She didn't like being under obligation to Jo! She finished
preparing herself for bed and got into her bunk.
"I wish we'd seen that face at the
window, don't you, Anne?" she said. "I do wonder whose it was - and
why it was there, looking out."
"I don't think I want to talk about faces
at windows just now," said Anne, getting into her bunk. "Let's change
the subject." She blew out the lamp and settled down. They talked for a
few minutes, and then George heard something outside the caravan. What could it
be? Timmy raised his head and gave a little growl.
George looked at the window opposite.  Timmy growled again, but not
very loudly. Was it someone he knew?
George flashed on her torch, and immediately
saw what it was. She gave a little giggle. Then she called to Anne.
"Anne! Anne! Quick, there's a face at the
window. Anne, wake up!"
"I'm not asleep," said Anne's voice,
and she sat up, scared. "What face? Where? You're not just frightening me,
are you?"
"No - there it is, look!" said
George and shone her torch at the window. A big, long, dark-brown face looked
in, and Anne gave a shriek. Then she laughed. "You beast, George - it's
only Alfredo's horse. Oh, you did give me a fright. I've a good mind to pull
you out of your bunk on to the floor.
Chapter Thirteen
OFF TO THE CASTLE
Contents - Prev/Next
NEXT morning, as they had breakfast, the
children discussed the face at the castle window again. They had levelled the
field-glasses time and again at the window, but there was nothing to be seen.
"Let's go and see over the castle as soon
as it opens," said Dick. "But mind - nobody is to mention faces at
windows - you hear me, Jo?
Jo flared up. "I'm not! I can keep a
secret!"
"All right, fire-eater," said Dick
with a grin. He looked at his watch. "It's too soon to go yet."
"I'll go and help Mr. Slither with his
snakes," said Jo. "Anyone else coming?"
"Mr. Slither! What a marvellous name for
a man who keeps snakes," said Dick. "I don't mind coming to watch,
but I'm not keen on the way they pour themselves up and down people."
They all went to Mr. Slither's caravan except
Anne, who said she would much rather clear up the breakfast things.
The snake-man had both his snakes out of their
box. "He is polishing them," said George, sitting down near by.
"See how he makes their brown bodies shine."
"Here, Jo - you mop Beauty for me,"
said Mr. Slither. "The stuff is in that bottle Over there. He's got those
nasty little mites again under his scales. Mop him with that stuff and that
will soon get rid of them."
Jo seemed to know what to do. She got a rag,
tipped up the bottle of yellow stuff and began to pat one of the snakes gently,
letting the lotion soak round his scales.
George, not to be outdone, offered to help in
the polishing of the other snake. "You hold him then," said Mr.
Slither, and slid the snake over to George. He got up and went into his
caravan. George hadn't quite bargained for this. The snake lay across her
knees, and then began to wind round her body.
The boys soon got tired of seeing Jo and
George vying with one another over the pythons, and went off to where Bufflo
was practising spinning rope-rings. He spun loop after loop of rope, making
wonderful patterns in the air with it. He grinned at the boys.
"Like a try?" he said. But neither
of them could do anything with the rope at all.
"Let's see you snap off something with
the whip-lash," said Dick.
"What do you want me to hit?" asked
Bufflo, picking up his magnificent whip. "The topmost leaves on that
bush?"
"Yes," said Dick. Bufflo looked at
them, swung his whip once or twice, lifted it - and cracked it.
Like magic the topmost leaves disappeared off
the bush. The boys gazed in admiration. "Now pick off that daisy-head over
there," said Julian, pointing.
Crack! The daisy-head vanished. "That's
easy," said Bufflo.  I'll pick it out without touching your fingers!"
Julian hesitated. But Dick dived his hand into
his pocket and brought out a red pencil, not very long. He held out his hand,
with the pencil between finger and thumb. Bufflo looked at it with half-closed
eyes, as if measuring the distance. He raised his whip.
Crack! The tip-end of the lash curled itself
round the pencil and pulled it clean out of Dick's hand. It flew up into the
air, and Bufno reached out his hand and caught it!
"Jolly good," said Dick, lost in
admiration. "Does it take long to learn a thing like that?"
"Matter of twenty years or so," said
Bufflo. "But you want to begin when you're a nipper - about three years
old, say. My Pa taught me - and if I didn't learn fast enough he'd take the
skin off the tips of my ears with his whiplash! You soon learn if you know
that's going to happen to you!"
The boys gazed at Bufflo's big ears. They
certainly did look a bit rough at the edges!
"I throw knives too," said Bufflo,
basking in the boys' admiration. "I put Skippy up against a board, and
throw knives all round her - so that when she walks away from the board at the
end, there's her shape all outlined in knives. Like to see me?"
"Well, no, not now," said Julian,
looking at his watch. "We're going to see over the castle. Have you ever
seen over it, Bufflo?"
"No. Who wants to waste time going over a
ruined old castle?" said Bufflo, scornfully. "Not me!"
He went off to his caravan, spinning rope-rings
as he went with an ease that Dick couldn't help envying from the bottom of his
heart. What a pity he hadn't begun to learn these things early enough. He was
afraid he would never be really good at them now. He was too old!
"George! Jo! It's time we went,"
called Julian. "Put down those snakes, and come along. Anne! Are you
ready?"
Mr. Slither went to collect his snakes. They
glided over him in delight, and he ran his hands over their smooth, gleaming
bodies.
"I must wash my hands before I go,"
said George. "They're a bit snaky. Coming, Jo?"
Jo didn't really see why it was necessary to
wash snaky hands, but she went with George to the stream and they rinsed them
thoroughly. George wiped her hands on a rather dirty hanky, and Jo wiped hers on
a much dirtier skirt. She looked at George's shorts enviously.
They didn't lock up the caravans. Julian felt
sure that the fair-folk were now really friendly to them, and would not take
anything from them themselves, nor permit anyone else to do so. They all walked
down the hillside, Timmy bounding along joyfully, under the impression that he
was going to take them for a nice long walk.
They climbed over the stile, walked up the
lane a little way, and came to the wooden gate that opened on to the steep path
up to the castle. Now that it was so near to them it looked almost as if it
might fall on top of them!
They went up the path and came to the small
tower in which was the little door giving entrance to the castle. An old woman
was there, looking a little like a witch. If she had had green eyes Anne would
most certainly have set her down as a descendant of a witch!  She had no teeth at all and it was difficult to understand
what she said.
"Five, please," said Julian, giving
her twenty-five pence.
"You can't take the dog in," said
the old woman, mumbling so much that they couldn't make out what she said.
"Oh - can't we really take our dog?"
said George. "He won't do any harm."
The old woman pointed to a set of rules:
"DOGS NOT ALLOWED IN."
"All right. We'll leave him outside
then," said George, crossly. "What a silly rule! Timmy, stay here. We
won't be long."
Timmy put his tail down. He didn't approve of
this. But he knew that he was not allowed into certain places, such as
churches, and he imagined this place must be an enormous church - the kind of
place into which George so often disappeared on Sundays. He lay down in a sunny
corner.
The five children went in through the clicking
turnstile. They opened the door beyond and went into the castle grounds. The
door shut behind them.
"Wait - we ought to get a
guide-book," said Julian. "I want to know something about that
tower."
He went back and bought one for another five
pence. They stood in the great castle yard and looked at the book. It gave the
history of the old place - a history of peace and war, quarrels and truces,
family feuds, marriages and all the other things that make up history.
"It would be an exciting story if it was
written up properly," said Julian. "Look - here's the plan. There are
dungeons!"
"Not open to the public," quoted
Dick, in disappointment. "What a pity."
"It was once a very strong and powerful
castle," said Julian, looking at the plan. "It always had the strong
wall that is still round it - and the castle itself is built in the middle of a
great courtyard that runs all round. It says the walls of the castle itself are
eight feet thick. Eight feet thick! No wonder most of it is still
standing!"
They looked at the silent ruins in awe. The
castle towered up, broken here and there, with sometimes a whole wall missing,
and with all the doorways misshapen.
"There were four towers, of course,"
said Julian, still with his nose glued to the guide-book. "It says three
are almost completely ruined now-but the fourth one is in fairly good
condition, though the stone stairway that led up to the top has fallen
in."
"Well then - you couldn't have seen a
face at that window," said George, looking up at the fourth tower.
"If the stairway has fallen in, no one could get up there."
"Hm. We'll see how much fallen in it
is," said Julian. "It may be dangerous to the public, and perhaps
we'll find a notice warning us off - but it might be quite climbable in
places."
"Shall we go up it if so?" said Jo,
her eyes shining. "What shall we do if we find the Face?"
"We'll wait till we find it first!"
said Julian. He shut the guide-book and put it into his pocket. "Well, we
seem to be the only people here. Let's get going. We'll walk round the
courtyard first."
They walked round the courtyard that
surrounded the castle. It was strewn with great white stones that had fallen from
the walls of the castle itself. In one place a whole wall had fallen in, and
they could see the inside of the castle, dark and forbidding.
They came round to the front of it again.
"Let's go in at the front door - if you can call that great stone archway
that," said Julian. "I say - can't you imagine knights on horseback
riding round this courtyard, impatient to be off to some tournament, their
horses' hoofs clip-clopping all the time?"
"Yes!" said Dick. "I can just
imagine it!"
They went in at the arched entrance, and
wandered through room after room with stone floors and walls, and with small
slit-like windows that gave very little light indeed.
"They had no glass for panes in those
days," said Dick. "I bet they were glad on cold windy days that the
windows were so tiny. Brrrrrrr! This must have been a terribly cold place to
live in."
"The floors used to be covered with
rushes, and tapestry was hung on the walls," said Anne, remembering a
history lesson. "Julian - let's go and look for the stairway to that tower
now. Do let's! I'm longing to find out whether there really is a face up in
that tower!"
Chapter Fourteen
FAYNIGHTS CASTLE
Contents - Prev/Next
"CHACK-CHACK-CHACK!
Chack-chack-chack!" The jackdaws circled round the old castle, calling to
one another in their cheerful, friendly voices. The five children looked up and
watched them.
"You can see the grey at the backs of
their necks," said Dick. "I wonder how many years jackdaws have lived
round and about this castle."
 "They make
their nests of big twigs - really, they must drop as many as they use! Just