Five Are Together Again
Chapter
One
BACK
FOR THE HOLIDAYS
‘George,
can’t you sit still for even a minute!’ said Julian. ‘It’s bad enough to have
the train rocking about all over the place, without you falling over my feet
all the time, going to look out of first one window and then the other.’
‘Well,
we’re nearly at Kirrin - almost home!’ said George. ‘I can’t help feeling
excited. I’ve missed old Timmy so much this term, and I just can’t wait to see
him! I love to look out of the window and see how much nearer we are to Kirrin.
Do you think Timmy will be on the station to meet us, barking madly?’
‘Don’t
be an ass,’ said Dick. ‘He’s a clever dog, but not clever enough to read
railway time-tables.’
‘He
doesn’t need to,’ said George. ‘He always knows when I’m coming home.’
‘I
really believe he does,’ said Anne, seriously. ‘Your mother always says how
excited he is on the day you are arriving home from school - can’t keep still -
keeps going to the front gate and looking down the road.’
‘Dear,
dear Timmy!’ said George, falling over Julian’s feet again, as she scrambled
once more to the window. ‘We’re nearly there. Look, there’s the signal-box, and
the signal is down. HURRAH!’
Her
three cousins looked at her in amusement. George was always like this on the
way home from school. Her thoughts were full of very little else but her
beloved Timmy all the way home. Julian thought how much she looked like a
restless boy just then, with her short, curly hair, and her determined
expression. George had always longed to be a boy, but as she wasn’t, she made
up for it by trying to speak and act like one, and would never answer to her
full name of
‘We’re
coming into Kirrin station!’ yelled George, almost falling out of the window.
‘I can see our porter. Hey, Peters - we’re back again. WE’RE BACK AGAIN!’
The
train slid into Kirrin station, and Peters waved and grinned. He had known
George since she was a baby. George opened the door and leapt out of the
carriage.
‘Home
again! Back at Kirrin! Oh, I do hope Timmy will be at the station!’ she said.
But
there was no Timmy there. ‘He must have forgotten you were coming,’ said Dick,
with a grin, and at once got a scowl from George. Peters came up, smiling all
over his face, and gave them his usual welcome. Everyone in Kirrin Village knew
the Five - which, of course, included Timmy the dog.
Peters
soon had the children’s luggage out, and wheeled it down the platform on his
trolley. ‘I’ll send it along to Kirrin Cottage as soon as the van comes,’ he
said. ‘Had a good term?’
‘Smashing!’
said Dick. ‘But it seemed very long, as Easter is so late this year. My word -
look at the primroses on the railway banks.’
But
George had no eyes for anything just then. She was still looking out for Timmy.
Where was he? WHY hadn’t he come to the station to meet them? He came last time
and the time before! She turned a troubled face to Dick.
‘Do
you think he’s ill?’ she asked. ‘Or has he forgotten me?  ‘He is probably in the house somewhere and
can’t get out. Look out - the trolley nearly ran you over then.’
George
skipped out of the way, glaring. WHERE was Timmy? She was sure he was ill - or
had had an accident - or was tied up and couldn’t get away. Perhaps Joan, the
cook, had forgotten to let him loose.
‘I’m
going to take a taxi home, if I’ve enough money,’ she said, taking out her
purse. ‘You others can walk. I must see if anything’s happened to Timmy - he’s
never missed meeting our train before.’
‘But
George, it’s such a lovely walk to Kirrin Cottage!’ said Anne. ‘You know how
you love to see your island - dear old Kirrin Island - as we walk to your
mother’s house - and the bay - and hear the waves crashing on the rocks.’
‘I’m
taking the station taxi,’ said George, obstinately, counting the money in her
purse. ‘If you’d like to come with me, you can. It’s Timmy I want to see, not
islands and waves and things! I’m sure he’s ill or has had an accident or
something!’
‘All
right, George, do as you please,’ said Julian. ‘Hope you find dear old Timmy is
perfectly well - and has only forgotten the time of the train. See you later.’
The
two brothers, and their sister Anne, set off together, looking forward to the
walk to Kirrin Cottage. How lovely to see Kirrin Bay again, and George’s
island!
‘Isn’t
she lucky to have a real island of her very own!’ said Anne. ‘Fancy it
belonging to her family for years and years - and then one day her mother
suddenly gives it to George! I bet she worried and worried dear Aunt Fanny
until she gave in to old George. I do so hope Timmy is all right; we shan’t
enjoy our holidays with George’s mother if there’s anything wrong with Timmy.’
‘Oh,
George will probably go and live in Timmy’s kennel with him,’ said Dick, with a
chuckle. ‘Ha - look! The sea - and Kirrin Bay - AND the little old island as
lovely as ever!’
‘With
its gulls circling round, and mewing like cats,’ said Julian. ‘And the old
ruined castle there, just exactly the same as usual. Not a single stone fallen
out of it, as far as I can see.’
‘You
can’t possibly see that at this distance,’ said Anne, screwing up her eyes.
‘Oh, isn’t the first day of the hols heavenly? We seem to have all the time in
the world in front of us!’
‘Yes.
And then, alas, after a few days, the holidays rush by,’ said Julian. ‘I wonder
if George is home by now.’
‘Well,
her taxi passed us going at a tremendous pace!’ said Dick. ‘I bet old George
was shouting at the driver to go as fast as possible!’
‘Look
- there’s Kirrin Cottage - I can just see the chimneys in the distance,’ said
Dick. ‘Smoke is coming from one of them.’
‘Funny
- why only one?’ said Julian.  He’s such a cold mortal when he’s working out
all his wonderful figures for his inventions.’
‘Perhaps
he’s away,’ said Anne, hopefully. She was rather afraid of George’s
hasty-tempered father. ‘I should think Uncle Quentin could do with a holiday at
times - he’s always buried in rows and rows of figures.’
‘Well,
let’s hope we don’t disturb him too much,’ said Julian. ‘It’s hard on Aunt
Fanny if he keeps yelling at everyone. We’ll try and be out of doors most of
the time.’
They
were nearly at Kirrin Cottage now. As they came near to the front gate, they
saw George come running down the garden-path. To Julian’s horror, she was
crying bitterly.
‘I
say - it does look as if something has happened to old Timmy,’ he said, scared.
‘It’s not like George to cry - she never cries! What can have happened?’
In
great alarm they began to run, and Anne shouted as she ran, ‘George! George,
what’s the matter? Is something wrong with Timmy? What’s happened?’
‘We
can’t stay at home,’ wept George. ‘We’ve got to go away somewhere. Something
awful’s happened!’
‘What
is it? Tell us, you idiot!’ said Dick, in alarm. ‘For goodness’ sake, what’s
happened? Is Timmy run over, or something?’
‘No
- it isn’t Timmy,’ said George, wiping her eyes with her hand, because, as
usual, she had no handkerchief. ‘It’s Joan - Joan, our dear, darling cook!’
‘What’s
the matter with her?’ asked Julian, thinking of all kinds of dreadful things.
‘GEORGE, will you please TELL US!’
‘Joan’s
got scarlet fever,’ said George, sniffing dolefully. ‘So we can’t be at Kirrin
Cottage.’
‘Why
not?’ demanded Dick. ‘Joan will have to go to a fever hospital - and we can all
stay at Kirrin Cottage and help your mother. Poor old Joan! But cheer up,
George, scarlet fever isn’t much of a thing to have nowadays. Come on - let’s
go in and see if we can comfort your mother. Poor old Aunt Fanny, she will be
in a stew - with all of us four cousins at Kirrin Cottage too! Never mind, we
can...’
‘Stop
jabbering, Dick,’ said George, exasperated. ‘We can’t stay at Kirrin Cottage.
Mother wouldn’t even let me go in at the front door! She shooed me away, and
said I was to wait in the garden, the doctor was coming in a minute or two.’
Someone
called to them from a window of Kirrin Cottage. ‘Are you all there, children?
Julian, come here, will you?’
They
all went into the garden, and saw their Aunt Fanny, George’s mother, leaning
out of a bedroom window.
‘Listen,
dears,’ she said. ‘Joan has scarlet fever, and is waiting for an ambulance to
take her to the hospital, and...’
‘Aunt
Fanny - don’t worry. We’ll all turn to and help,’ called back Julian,
cheerfully.
‘Dear
Julian - you still don’t understand,’ said his aunt. ‘You see, neither your
uncle nor I have had scarlet fever - so we are in quarantine, and mustn’t have
anyone near us, in case we get it, and give it to them - and that might mean
we’d give it to all you four.’
‘Would
Timmy get it?’ asked George, still sniffing dolefully.
‘No,
of course not. Don’t be silly, George,’ said her mother. ‘Did you ever hear of
dogs getting measles or whooping-cough or any of our illnesses? Timmy isn’t in
quarantine. You can get him out of his kennel as soon as you like.’
George’s
face lighted up immediately, and she shot round the back of the house, yelling
Timmy’s name. At once there came a volley of barks!
‘Aunt
Fanny - what do you want us to do?’ asked Julian. ‘We can’t go to my home, because
my people are still in Germany. Should we go to a hotel?’
‘No,
dear, I’ll think of somewhere you can all go,’ said his aunt. ‘Good gracious,
what a row Timmy is making! Poor Joan - she has such a splitting headache.’
‘Here’s
the ambulance,’ cried Anne, as a big hospital van drew up outside the gate. Mrs
Kirrin disappeared from the window at once to tell Joan. The ambulance man went
up to the front door, his mate behind him carrying a stretcher. The four
children watched in surprise. ‘He’s gone to fetch dear old Joan,’ said Julian.
And sure enough the stretcher was soon carried out with Joan lying on it,
wrapped round in blankets. She waved to the children as the men carried her
out.
‘Soon
be back!’ she said, in rather a croaky voice. ‘Help Mrs Kirrin if you can. So
sorry about this!’
‘Poor
Joan,’ said Anne, with tears in her eyes. ‘Get better quickly, Joan. We shall
miss you so!’
The
ambulance door closed and the van went off very smoothly and quietly.
‘Whatever
shall we do?’ said Dick, turning to Julian. ‘Can’t go home - can’t stay here!
Oh, here’s TIMMY! How are you, Tim, old thing? Thank goodness you can’t get
scarlet fever. Don’t knock me over, old boy. Down!
Timmy
was the only one in high spirits. The others felt really down in the dumps. Oh
dear - what was to be done? Where could they go?  Down, Timmy, DOWN! What a dog! Anyone would think he had never even
heard of scarlet fever! WILL you get down, Timmy!
Chapter
Two
PLANS
FOR THE FIVE
George
was still looking upset. What with her fears that Timmy might be ill or hurt,
and now her distress at Joan being carried off in the ambulance, she wasn’t
much help to anyone.
‘Do
stop. sniffing, George,’ said Anne. ‘We’ve just got to be sensible and think of
some way out of this.’
‘I’m
going to find Mother,’ said George. ‘I don’t care if she’s in quarantine or
not.'
‘Oh
no you’re not,’ said Julian, taking her firmly by the arm. ‘You jolly well know
what quarantine means. When you had whooping-cough you weren’t allowed to come
near any of us, in case we caught it too. You were infectious, and that meant
that you didn’t have close contact with anybody for at least a few weeks. I
think it’s only two weeks for scarlet fever, so it won’t be too bad.’
George
went on sniffing, trying to pull away from Julian’s hand. Julian winked at
Dick, and said something that made George pull herself together at once.
‘Well,
REALLY, George!’ he said. ‘You’re acting just like a weepy girl. Poor Georgina!
Poor little old Georgina!’
George
stopped sniffing immediately and glared at Julian in fury.  And
how awful to be called by her real name, Georgina!
‘That’s
better,’ he said. ‘Cheer up! Just look at Timmy staring at you in amazement.
He’s hardly ever heard you crying before.’
‘I’m
NOT crying!’ said George. ‘I’m - well, I’m upset about Joan. And it’s awful to
have nowhere to go.’
‘I
can hear Aunt Fanny telephoning,’ said Anne, who had very sharp ears. She
fondled Timmy’s head, and he licked her hand. He had already given everyone a
wonderful welcome, whining with pleasure, and licking lavishly. He had been mad
with joy to see George again, and was surprised and sad to find her looking so
miserable now. Dear Timmy - he certainly belonged to the Five!
‘Let’s
sit down and wait for Aunt Fanny,’ said Julian, settling himself on the grass.
‘We look a bit silly standing staring at Kirrin Cottage like this. Aunt Fanny
will come to the window in a minute. She is sure to have thought of a good idea
for us. TIMMY! I shan’t stay sitting down for long if you keep licking my neck
like that. I shall send you for a towel in a minute, so that I can wipe it
dry!’
The
little joke made everyone feel better. They were all sitting on the grass now,
and Timmy went lovingly from one to the other. All his family back again - it
was too good to be true! He settled down at last, his head on George’s knee,
George’s hand caressing his ears.
‘Aunt
Fanny’s put down the telephone,’ said Anne.  ‘I couldn’t hear a
thing!’
‘Here’s
Mother!’ said George, and leapt to her feet as Mrs Kirrin came to the window
and leaned out.
‘It’s
all right, dears,’ she called. ‘I’ve been able to arrange something for you. I
have been telephoning the scientist that your father has been working with,
George - Professor Hayling. He was coming here for a day or two, and when I
told him he couldn’t because we’re in quarantine, he at once said that you must
all go there - and that Tinker, his son - you remember him, don’t you - would
be delighted to have your company!’
‘Tinker!
Goodness, yes, I shall never forget him - or his monkey either!’ said Julian.
‘He’s the boy who owns that old lighthouse at Demon’s Rocks, isn’t he? We went
to stay there with him, and had a marvellous time.’
‘Well
- you’re not staying at the lighthouse, I’m afraid,’ said his aunt, from the
window. ‘Apparently a storm blew up one night and damaged it, and it’s not safe
to live in any more.’
Groans
from all the Five, of course, Timmy joining in as usual! ‘Where are we to go then?
To Tinker’s home?’ asked Dick.
‘Yes.
You can get a bus from here, at Little Hollow, that will take you almost to Big
Hollow, where Professor Hayling lives,’ said Aunt Fanny. ‘You’re to go today.
I’m so very sorry about this, dears, but it’s just one of those things we have
to put up with. I’m sure you’ll have a good time with Tinker, and that monkey
of his. What was it called now?’
‘Mischief,’
said everyone together, and Anne smiled in delight to think of being with the
naughty little creature, and watching its wicked ways.
‘The
bus will pass in ten minutes,’ said her aunt. ‘Julian, if you can’t manage to
get your things on the bus, ask the gardener over the way to help you. And have
a good time, dears, and send me a card or two. I’ll let you know how we get on
- but I really don’t think that either your uncle or I will catch scarlet
fever, so don’t worry. And I’ll send you some money to spend. You’d better run
for the bus now.’
‘Right,
Aunt Fanny, and thank you!’ called Julian. ‘I’ll look after everyone and keep
them in order - especially old George. Don’t worry at all - and I DO hope you
or uncle don’t go down with the fever. Good-bye.’
They
all went to the front gate where the luggage still stood. ‘Anne, go out into
the road and stop the bus when it comes,’ ordered Julian.  Gosh, I wonder what it will be like with old Tinker at
Big Hollow. I’ve a feeling it might be rather exciting!’
‘I
don’t think so,’ said George, mournfully.  But oh
dear, don’t you remember what it was like when Tinker’s father came to stay
with us? It was awful! He never remembered to come to meals, and was always
losing his coat or his hanky or his money, and losing his temper too. I got
very tired of him.’
‘Well,
he’ll probably get very tired of us!’ said Julian. ‘He won’t find it very funny
to have four kids parked on him, especially if he’s in the middle of difficult
work - to say nothing of a rather large, licky dog leaping round the house as
well.’
‘Timmy
isn’t likely to lick him,’ said George, at once, and put on one of her scowls.
‘I didn’t like Tinker’s father at all.’
‘Well,
don’t look like a thunderstorm,’ said Julian. ‘I don’t expect he’ll like any of
us either. But it’s decent of him to give us an invitation to stay at Big
Hollow, and we’re jolly well going to behave ourselves, see? There’s to be no
back-chat from you, George - even if he dares to disapprove of Timmy!’
‘He’d
better not,’ said George. ‘In fact, I’ve a good mind not to go. I think I’ll
live in the summer-house with Timmy, at the bottom of the garden!’
‘You
will NOT!’ said Julian, taking firm hold of her arm. ‘You’ll play fair, come
with us, and behave properly! Listen, there’s the bus. Come on, we’ll all wave,
and hope the driver has a few empty seats.’
Anne
had already stopped the bus, and run round to the back of it to ask the
conductor if he could help with the bags. He knew the children very well, and
leapt down at once.
‘You’re
going back to school pretty quick!’ he said. ‘I thought the schools had only
just broken up.’
‘They
have,’ said Julian, ‘but we’re off to stay at Big Hollow. The bus goes there,
doesn’t it?’
‘Yes,
we go right through the village of Big Hollow,’ said the conductor, carrying
three bags at once, much to Julian’s envy. ‘Whereabouts are you staying there?’
‘At
Professor Hayling’s house,’ said Julian. ‘I think that’s called Big Hollow too,
like the village.’
‘Ah,
we pass it,’ said the conductor, ‘I’ll stop the bus just outside and give you a
hand with your things again. My word - you’ll have to mind your p’s and q’s
there - old Professor Hayling’s a bit peculiar, you know.  Once a horse got into his garden and
believe it or not he chased that horse for two miles, shouting at it all the
way. And bless me, when he got back home, tired out, there was that horse,
chewing up his garden again. The horse was cute - he’d taken a short cut back.
Yes - you be careful how you behave at Big Hollow.
The
four children laughed. ‘Oh, the old Professor is all right,’ said Julian. ‘A
bit forgetful, like most people who work with their brains all the time.  We’ll be all right!’
Away
went the bus, bumping over the road from Kirrin and Little Hollow, and on to
Big Hollow. The four children gazed out of the windows as they passed alongside
the shore, where the sea shone as blue as cornflowers, and once more saw Kirrin
Island out in the big bay.
‘Wish
we were going there!’ sighed George. ‘We’ll have to take a picnic meal there
sometime, and enjoy ourselves. I’d like old Tinker to visit my island. He may
have a lighthouse of his own, but having an island is MUCH better!’
‘I
think I agree with you,’ said Julian. ‘Tinker’s lighthouse is certainly lovely
and all on its own, and the view from it is amazing - but there’s something
about Kirrin Island that I love. Islands are quite different from anything
else!’
‘Yes.
They are,’ said Anne. ‘I’d like one too. A very little one, so that I could see
all round it at one glance. And I’d like one little cave to sleep in - just big
enough for me.’
‘You’d
soon be lonely, Anne,’ said Dick, giving his sister a friendly pat. ‘You love
to have people round you, you like to be friendly!’
‘So
does Timmy!’ said Julian, as Timmy left his place by George’s knee and went to
sniff at a net-bag held by an old man, who at once fondled the big dog, and
fumbled for a biscuit out of a paper bag. ‘Timmy doesn’t mind how many people
there are around, so long as one or two of them has a biscuit or a bone to hand
out!’
‘Come
to heel, Timmy,’ said George. ‘You’re not to go round begging, telling people
you are half-starved! I should think you eat more than any other dog in Kirrin.
Who eats the cat’s dinner whenever he can, I should like to know?’

He got up politely every time someone entered or left the bus. The conductor
was most impressed.
‘I
wish all dogs were as good on my bus as yours,’ he told George. ‘You’d better
get ready to jump out. Our next stop is supposed to be a little way beyond Big
Hollow, but I’ll ring my bell, and the driver will stop for a moment, and you
can get out.’
‘Thanks
awfully,’ said Julian, gratefully, and when the bus stopped with a jerk a
minute later, all the Five were ready to jump out.
The
bus went on, and left them standing outside a large wooden gate. The drive from
it led steeply downwards, and a large house could just be seen hidden in a
hollow by great trees.
‘Big
Hollow!’ said Julian. ‘Well - here we are.  Now to find old Tinker! I bet he’ll be pleased to see
us all, especially Timmy! Help me with the bags, Dick!’
Chapter
Three
BIG
HOLLOW - AND TINKER AND MISCHIEF AGAIN!
The
four children and Timmy went through the big, heavy gate, which groaned loudly.
Timmy was very startled to hear the mournful creak, and barked sharply.
‘Sh!’
said George. ‘You’ll get into trouble with the Professor, Timmy, if you raise
your voice like that. I expect we’ll have to talk in whispers, so as not to
disturb the Professor - so just see if you can whisper too.’
Timmy
gave a small whine. He knew he couldn’t whisper! He trotted at George’s heel as
they all went down the steep drive to the house. It was a queer house, built
sideways to the drive, and had astonishingly few windows.
‘I
expect Professor Hayling is afraid of people peering in at his work,’ said
Anne. ‘It’s very, very secret, isn’t it?’
‘I
know he uses miles and miles of figures,’ said Dick. ‘Tinker told me one day
that his monkey Mischief once chewed up a page of figures when he was very
small - and Professor Hayling chased him for a whole hour, hoping to catch him
and find even a few bits of paper still in his mouth, so that he could rescue
at least part of his figures. But Mischief fled down a rabbit-hole and didn’t
come up for two days, so it wasn’t any good.’
Everyone
smiled at the thought of poor Mischief hiding down a rabbit-hole. ‘You couldn’t
do that, Timmy old thing!’ said Julian. ‘So just be careful of any paper you
eat.’
‘He
wouldn’t be so silly,’ said George, at once. ‘He knows perfectly well what’s
eatable and what’s not.’
‘Ha!
Does he!’ said Anne.   He gave Anne’s hand a little lick, as if to say,
‘Very sorry, Anne - but I was so bored!’
‘Dear
Timmy! I wouldn’t mind if you chewed up all my slippers!’ said Anne. ‘But it
would be nice if you chose the very oldest ones!’
Timmy
suddenly stopped and looked into the bushes. He gave a low growl! George put
her hand on his collar at once. She was always afraid of snakes in the spring
time.
‘It
might be an adder!’ she said. ‘The dog next door trod on one last year, so I
heard, and his leg swelled up terribly, and he was in great pain. Come away
now, Timmy - it’s an adder, with poison in its fangs!’
But
Timmy went on growling. Then he suddenly stood still and sniffed hard. He gave
an excited whimper and pulled away from George, jumping into the bushes - and
out came, not a snake, but Mischief, Tinker’s bright-eyed little monkey!
He
at once leapt on to the dog’s broad back, put his little monkey fingers under
Timmy’s collar, and chattered in delight.
‘Mischief!’
cried everyone at once, in real delight. ‘You’ve come to welcome us!’
And
the little monkey, jabbering away excitedly in monkey-language, leapt first on
to George’s shoulder, and then on to Julian’s. He pulled Julian’s hair, twisted
his right ear round, and then leapt from him to Dick, and on to Anne’s
shoulder. He cuddled into her neck, his eyes bright and brown, looking very
happy.
‘Oh!
Isn’t he pleased to see us again!’ said Anne, delighted. ‘Mischief, where’s
Tinker?’
Mischief
jumped off Anne’s shoulder and scampered down the drive as if he quite
understood all that Anne had said. The children raced after him - and then a
stentorian voice suddenly roared at them from one side of the drive.
‘What
are you doing here? Clear out! This is private ground. I’ll fetch the police.
Clear OUT!’
The
Five stopped still in fright - and then Julian saw who it was - Professor
Hayling! He stepped forward at once. ‘Good afternoon, sir,’ he said. ‘I hope we
didn’t disturb you, but you did tell my aunt we could come here.’
‘Your
aunt? Who’s your aunt? I don’t know any aunt!’ roared the Professor. ‘You’re
sight-seers, that’s what you are! Come to pry into my work, just because there
was a piece about it in some silly paper! You’re the third lot today.  How DARE you!’
‘But
sir - don’t you really know us?’ said Julian, very startled. ‘You came to stay
at our house, you know, and...’
‘Stuff
and nonsense! I haven’t been away for years!’ shouted the Professor. Mischief,
the monkey, was so frightened that he leapt away into the bushes, making a
funny little crying noise.
‘I
hope he fetches Tinker,’ said Julian, in a low voice to Dick. ‘The Professor
has forgotten who we are, and why we’ve come. Let’s retreat a bit.’
But
as they went cautiously back up the steep path, followed by the angry
Professor, a loud voice hailed them, and Tinker came racing up with Mischief on
his shoulder, clinging to his hair. So the little monkey had gone to fetch him.
‘Good for him!’ thought Julian, pleased.
‘Dad!
 ‘You asked them here yourself, you know you did!’
‘I
DID NOT!’ said the Professor. ‘Who are they?’
‘Well,
George, that girl, is the daughter of Mr Kirrin, and the others are his niece
and nephews. And that’s their dog, Timmy. And you asked them all here because
Mr and Mrs Kirrin are in quarantine for scarlet fever,’ shouted Tinker, still
dancing about in front of his father.
‘Stop
jigging about like that,’ said the Professor, crossly. ‘I don’t remember asking
them. I would have told Jenny the maid, if I had.’
‘You
did tell her!’ shouted Tinker, still jigging about, with Mischief the monkey
jigging too in delight. ‘She’s already made up the beds. I helped her. She’s
angry because you left your breakfast and now it’s almost dinner-time. She’s
cleared it away.’
‘Bless
us all - so that’s why I feel so hungry and cross!’ said Professor Hayling, and
he began to laugh. He had a tremendous laugh, and the children couldn’t help
laughing too. What an odd fellow - so brainy, such a fine scientist - with the
most enormous amount of knowledge in his head - and yet no memory for such
ordinary things as breakfast and visitors and telephone calls.
‘It
was just a misunderstanding, sir,’ said Julian, politely. ‘It was very, very
kind of you to invite us here when we can’t be at home because of the scarlet
fever. We’ll try not to be a nuisance, and if there’s anything we can do to
help you, please ask us. We’ll make as little noise as possible, and keep out
of your way, of course.’
‘You
hear that, Tinker?’ said Professor Hayling, suddenly swinging round on the
startled Tinker. ‘Why can’t you do the same - make a very little noise, and
keep out of my way? You know I’m very busy now - on a MOST IMPORTANT project.’
He turned to Julian. ‘You’ll be very welcome if you keep Tinker out of my way.
And NOBODY - absolutely NOBODY - is to go up into that tower. Understand?’
They
all looked up to where he was pointing, and saw a tall, slender tower rising up
amid the trees. It had curious tentacle-like rods sticking out at the top, and
these shook slightly in the breeze.
‘And
don’t ask me questions about it,’ went on the Professor, looking fiercely at
George. ‘Your father’s the only other man who knows what it’s for, and he knows
how to keep his mouth shut.’
‘None
of us would dream of prying, sir,’ said Julian. ‘It’s very, very kind of you to
offer to have us here, and do believe me when I say we shan’t be any trouble to
you at all - but a help if you’ll allow us.’
‘Ah
well, you sound a sensible fellow, I must say,’ said the Professor, who had now
calmed down, and looked quite peaceable. ‘Well, I’ll say good-bye for now and
go and have my breakfast. I hope it’s fried eggs and bacon. I’m very hungry.’
‘Dad
- Jenny’s cleared your breakfast AWAY! I told you that before!’ said Tinker in
despair. ‘It’s almost dinner-time, now.’
‘Ah
good - good!’ said the Professor. ‘I’ll come at once.’
And
he led the way indoors, followed by the five children, with Timmy and Mischief,
all looking rather worried. Really, nobody ever knew what the Professor was
going to do or say next!
Jenny
certainly had a good dinner for them all. There was a large and delicious stew
with carrots, onions and peas swimming in the gravy, and plenty of potatoes.
Everyone tucked in well, and Mischief, who loved the peas, took quite a few
from Tinker’s plate, his little paw creeping up, and neatly snatching a pea
from the gravy.
The
girls went out to help bring in the next course, which was a big steamed
pudding with plenty of raisins in it. Mischief at once jigged up and down in
delight, for he loved raisins. He leapt on to the table, and received a sharp
smack from the Professor, who unfortunately smacked the pudding dish at the
same time, making the pudding jump in the air.
‘Good
gracious, Dad - we nearly lost the pudding!’ cried Tinker. ‘And it’s my
favourite. Oh, don’t give us such small pieces! Mischief, get off the table.

So
Mischief disappeared under the table, where he received quite a lot of raisins
from various kindly hands, unseen by the Professor. Timmy felt rather left out.
He was under the table too, having been rather scared by the Professor’s angry
voice, but as he didn’t very much like raisins, he wasn’t as lucky as Mischief.
‘Ha
- I enjoyed that!’ said the Professor, having cleaned his plate thoroughly.
‘Nothing like a good breakfast!’
‘It
was midday dinner, Dad!’ said Tinker. ‘You don’t have pudding at breakfast.’
‘Dear
me, of course - that was pudding!’ said his father, and laughed his great
laugh. ‘Now you can all do exactly what you like, so long as you do NOT go into
my study, OR my workroom OR that tower. AND DON’T MEDDLE WITH ANYTHING!
Mischief, get off the water-jug, you’ll upset it.
And
with that he marched out of the room, and disappeared into some mysterious
passage that apparently led to his study or workroom. Everyone heaved a sigh of
relief.
‘We’ll
clear away and then I’ll show you your rooms,’ said Tinker. ‘I do hope you
won’t be too dull here.’
Dull,
Tinker! You needn’t worry! There is far too much excitement waiting for the
Five - and you too! Just wait a bit, and see!
Chapter
Four
JENNY
HAS A VERY GOOD IDEA
Tinker
raced out to the kitchen to fetch a tray or two. He made a most peculiar noise
as he went, and for a moment Timmy looked extremely startled.
‘Goodness
- don’t say that Tinker still has that awful habit of pretending to be some
kind of car!’ groaned Julian. ‘How on earth does his father put up with it?
What’s he think he is now? A motor-bicycle, by the sound of it.’
There
was a sudden crash and a loud yell. The Five raced down the kitchen passage to
find out what had happened, Timmy at the front.
‘Accident!’
bellowed Tinker, scrambling up from the floor. ‘I took the bend too quickly,
and my front wheel skidded, and I went bang into a wall! I’ve bent my
mudguard.’
‘Tinker
- do you mean to say you’re still being fatheaded enough to pretend to be cars
and bicycles and tractors and lorries,’ demanded Julian.   ‘It sort of comes over me, and away I go.
You should have heard me being a lorry absolutely loaded with new cars for
delivery yesterday. Dad really thought it was a great lorry and he rushed out
into the drive to send it away. But it was only me. I hooted too - like this!’
And
the sound of a loud and deep hooter immediately filled the passage!
‘I
should have thought that your father would have been driven completely mad by
now!’ he said.  Can’t you grow up a bit?’
‘No,’
said Tinker, sullenly. ‘I don’t want to grow up. I might be like my father and
forget to eat my meals, and go out with one sock on and one off. And I’d hate
to forget my meals. Just think how awful it would be! I’d always be hungry.’
Julian
couldn’t help laughing. ‘Pick up your tray, and help to clear away!’ he said.
‘And if you simply can’t HELP being a car sometimes, for goodness sake go
outside! It sounds frightful in the house. You’re much too good at awful
noises.’
‘Oh,
am I really good?’ said Tinker, pleased. ‘I suppose you wouldn’t like to hear
me being one of those new planes that go over here sometimes, making a queer,
droning noise?’
‘No.
I WOULD NOT!’ said Julian, firmly. ‘Now will you PLEASE get that tray, Tinker.
And tell Mischief to get off my right foot. He seems to think it’s a chair.’
But
Mischief clung to Julian’s ankle and refused to move. ‘All right, all right,’
said Julian.
‘Why
didn’t you tell me that just now?’ asked Julian, and stamped a few steps round
the room. Mischief leapt off his foot at once, and sat on a table, making an
angry noise.
‘He
sits on Dad’s foot for ages, even when he walks about,’ said Tinker. ‘But Dad
doesn’t even notice him there! He even sat on Dad’s head once, and Dad thought
he was wearing his hat indoors and tried to take it off. But it was only
Mischief there!’
That
made everyone laugh. ‘Now come on,’ said Julian, briskly. ‘We really must clear
away the dinner things.  And DON’T let Mischief think he can carry teapots or
milk-jugs.’
Jenny
was very pleased with their help. She was short and fat, and waddled rather
than walked, but managed to get here and there remarkably quickly.
‘I’ll
show your visitors their bedrooms after we’ve cleared,’ she said. ‘But, you
know, Tinker, those mattresses we sent to be remade haven’t come back yet. I’ve
told your father a dozen times to telephone about them, but I’m sure he hasn’t
remembered.’
‘Oh,
JENNY!’ said Tinker, in dismay. ‘That means that the two beds for visitors
can’t be slept in! What ever are we to do?’
‘Well,
your Dad will have to ring up for new mattresses to be sent today,’ said Jenny.
‘Maybe they would send them out by van.’
Tinker
immediately became a furniture van and rushed down the passage, into the
dining-room and back again, Mischief following him in delight. He made a noise
exactly like a slow-moving van, and the children couldn’t help laughing.
The
Professor shot out of his study, his hands to his ears. ‘TINKER! COME HERE!’
‘No
thanks,’ said Tinker, warily. ‘Sorry, Father. I was a van bringing the
mattresses you forgot to order for the beds for visitors.’
But
the Professor didn’t seem to hear. He advanced on Tinker, who fled upstairs
with Mischief leaping after him. Professor Hayling turned on Jenny.
‘Can’t
you keep the children quiet? What do I pay you for?’
‘Cleaning,
cooking and washing,’ she said, briskly. ‘But I’m not a nurse for children,
sir. That Tinker of yours could do with half a dozen nurses, and he’d still be
a nuisance to you while he was in the house. Why don’t you let him take his
tent and camp out in the field with his friends? It’s hot weather and those new
mattresses haven’t come, and they’d all love it. I can cook for the children
and take them out meals - or they could come and fetch them.’
The
Professor looked as if he could give Jenny a big hug. The children waited
eagerly to see what he would say. Camping out - that would be fun in this
weather - and honestly, living in the same house as the Professor wasn’t going
to be much fun. Timmy gave a little whine as if to say, ‘Fine idea! Let’s go at
once!’
‘Good
idea, Jenny. VERY good idea!’ said Professor Hayling. ‘But that monkey’s to
camp out too. Then perhaps he won’t jump in at my workroom window and fiddle
about with my models!’
He
marched back into his study and slammed the door so hard that the whole house
shook. Timmy was startled and gave a yelp. Mischief the monkey leapt up the
stairs, howling in fright. Tinker began to dance round in joy, and very firmly
Jenny took hold of him and propelled him into her big, clean kitchen.
‘Wait,
Jenny, I’ve remembered something. We’ve only one tent, and that’s mine, a small
one. I’ll have to ask Dad if I can get two big ones!’ And before anyone could
stop him he was banging at the Professor’s door, then flung it open, and
shouted out his request.
‘WE
WANT TWO MORE TENTS, DAD. CAN I BUY THEM?’
‘For
goodness sake, Tinker, clear out and leave me alone!’ shouted his father. ‘Buy
six tents if you want them, but GET OUT!’
‘Ooh,
thanks, Dad!’ said Tinker, and was just slipping out of the door when his
father yelled again.
‘But
what on earth do you want TENTS for?’
Tinker
slammed the door and grinned at the others. ‘I’d better buy Dad a new memory.
He’s only just told us we can camp out, and he knows there’s only my very small
tent - almost a toy one.’
‘I’m
glad we shan’t be in the house,’ said Anne. ‘I know what a nuisance it is to
George’s father to have us around, playing about. We’ll be better out of the
way.’
‘Camping
out again!’ said George, very pleased. ‘Let’s catch the bus back home and get
our own tents. I’ve got them all stored away in the garden shed. We can ask Jim
the Carrier to fetch them, when we’ve found them.’
‘He’s
calling here today - I’ll give him the message for you, if you like,’ said
Jenny. ‘The sooner you get the tents, the better. It was a kind thought of the
master’s to ask you all here, but I just knew it wouldn’t work! You’ll be all
right out in the fields at the back of the house - he won’t hear a thing, not
even if you all yell together! So you get your tents and put them up, and I’ll
see what I can find in the way of ground-sheets and rugs.’
‘Don’t
bother, Jenny,’ said Julian. ‘We’ve got all those things - we’ve often camped
out before.’
‘I
only hope there aren’t any cows in the fields,’ said Anne. ‘Last time we
camped, a cow put its head into my tent opening, and mooed. I woke up with such
a jump, and I was too scared to move.’
‘I
don’t think, there are any cows,’ said Jenny, laughing. ‘Now I am to get on
with the washing-up, so will you bring out the dinner things please - but don’t
let that monkey carry anything breakable, for goodness sake! He tried to
balance the teapot on his head last week - and that was the end of the teapot!’
Soon
everyone was cleaning away with a will, and the two girls helped Jenny with the
washing-up.
‘I
shall like camping out,’ Anne told her. ‘I’d be scared of staying here in the
house. Professor Hayling is a bit like my Uncle Quentin, you know - forgetful,
and quick-tempered and a bit shouty.’
‘Oh,
you don’t want to be scared of him,’ said Jenny, handing Anne a dish to dry.
‘He’s kind, for all his crossness, when he’s upset. Why, when my mother was
ill, he paid for her to go into a really good nursing-home - and believe it or
not, he gave me money to buy her fruit and flowers!’
‘Oh
goodness - that reminds me - we MUST send our cook, Joan, some flowers,’ said
George. ‘She has scarlet fever, you know. That’s why we’re here.’
‘Well,
you go and telephone the florist,’ said Jenny. ‘I’ll finish this job.’
But
George was rather afraid that Professor Hayling might rush out to see who was
using the telephone!
‘I’m
sure we can buy flowers in Kirrin Village, and have them sent,’ she said.
‘We’ve got to go and get our things ready for the carrier, and I can order the
flowers then.  ‘I can easily manage it beside mine,
as I ride back.’
‘Look
George,’ said Dick, ‘you needn’t come. I’ll order the flowers and I can bring
your bike back too. So you stay with Anne.’ Reluctantly George agreed.
Off
went Julian and Dick, leaving Tinker and the girls to help Jenny. But Jenny
soon sent Tinker off afraid that he would drop things and break them.
‘You
go and be a nice, quiet, purring Rolls Royce at the bottom of the garden,’ she
said.‘And when you think you’ve done thirty miles or so, come back for petrol.’
‘Lemonade,
you mean!’ said Tinker, with a grin. ‘All right. I haven’t been a Rolls Royce
for a long time. Dad won’t hear me right at the bottom of the garden!’
Off
he went, and Jenny and the girls finished the washing-up. Mischief was a
nuisance and went off with the teaspoons. He leapt to the top of a high
cupboard, and dropped them there.
Tinker
suddenly put his head in at the window. ‘Come on out in the field, where we’re
going to put up our tents,’ he called to Anne and George. ‘We’ll choose a nice
sheltered spot. Buck up! You must have finished washing-up by now. I’m tired of
being a Rolls Royce!’
‘You
go with him, Anne,’ said George. ‘I don’t feel like it just now.’
So
down the garden went the two children and out through a gate at the bottom into
a big field.
‘Good
gracious!’ said Tinker, staring. ‘Look at all those caravans coming in at the
gate the other end of the field.  It’s OUR field!’ And
away he marched to the gate in the distance.
‘Come
BACK, Tinker,’ shouted Anne. ‘You’ll get into trouble if you interfere. COME
BACK!’
But
Tinker marched on, his head held high. Ha - he’d soon tell the caravan-folk it
was HIS field!
Chapter
Five
THE
TRAVELLING CIRCUS
Anne
watched anxiously as Tinker went on and on over the field. There were now four
caravans trundling in, at the far gate, and behind them, in the lane, were vans
- enormous vans - all with enormously large words painted on them.
TAPPER’S
TRAVELLING CIRCUS
‘Hoo!
I’ll tell Mr Tapper what I think of him, coming into my field!’ said Tinker to
himself. Mischief the monkey was on his shoulder, jogging up and down as Tinker
marched along, muttering furiously.
Four
or five children from the caravans looked at him curiously as he marched along.

‘A
monkey, look, a monkey!’ he cried. ‘Much smaller than our chimp. What’s he
called, boy?’
‘Mind
your own business,’ said Tinker. ‘Where’s Mr Tapper?’
‘Mr
Tapper? Oh, you mean our Grandad!’ said the boy. ‘He’s over there, look, beside
that big van. Better not talk to him now, boy. He’s that busy!’
Tinker
walked over to the van and addressed the man there. He was rather
fierce-looking and had a long, bushy beard, enormous eye-brows that hung down
over his eyes, a rather small nose, and only one ear. He looked inquiringly
down at Tinker, and put out his hand to Mischief.
‘My
monkey might bite you,’ said Tinker, at once. ‘He doesn’t like strangers.’
‘I’m
no stranger to any monkey,’ said the man in a deep-down voice. ‘There isn’t a
monkey in the world, nor a chimp either that wouldn’t come to me if I called
it. Nor a gorilla, see?’
‘Well,
my monkey won’t come to you,’ said Tinker, angrily. ‘But what I’ve come to say
is...’
Before
he could finish his sentence, the man made a curious noise in his throat -
rather like Mischief did when he was pleased about anything. Mischief looked at
the man in surprised delight - and then leapt straight from Tinker’s shoulder
to his, nuzzling against his neck, making little crooning noises. Tinker was so
amazed that he stared without saying a word.
‘See?’
said the man. ‘He’s my little friend already. Don’t gawp so, little fellow.
 You lend me this little chap and
I’ll teach him to ride a small tricycle in two days!’
‘Come
here, Mischief!’ said Tinker, amazed and angry at the monkey’s behaviour. But
Mischief cuddled down still farther into the big man’s neck. The man hauled him
out and handed him to Tinker.
‘There
you are,’ he said. ‘Nice little fellow he is. What is it you wanted to say to
me?’
‘I’ve
come to say that this field belongs to my father, Professor Hayling,’ said
Tinker. ‘And you’ve no right to bring your caravans here. So please take them
all out. I and my friends are planning to camp out here.’
‘Well,
I’ve no objection to that,’ said the big man, good-temperedly. ‘You choose your
own corner, young sir. If you don’t interfere with us, we shan’t interfere with
you!’
A
boy of about Tinker’s age came sidling up, and looked at Tinker and Mischief
with interest. ‘Is he selling you that monkey, Grandad?’ he asked.
‘No,
I’M NOT!’ almost shouted Tinker. ‘I came to tell you and your caravans to clear
out. This field belongs to my family.’
‘Ah,
but we’ve an old licence to come here every ten years, and show our circus,’
said the bearded man. ‘And believe it or not, there’s been a Tapper’s circus in
this field every ten years since the year 1648. So you just run home and make
no silly fuss, young man.’
‘You’re
a fibber!’ cried Tinker, losing his temper. ‘I’ll tell the police! I’ll tell my
father! I’ll...’
‘Don’t
you talk to my old Grandad like that!’ shouted the boy, standing beside the old
man. ‘I’ll hit you if you do!’
‘I’ll
say what I like!’ shouted Tinker, his temper now quite lost.
The
very next moment Tinker found himself flat on his back on the grass. The boy
had shot out his fist and hit Tinker hard in the chest! He struggled to his
feet, red in the face, quite furious.
The
old man fended him away. ‘Don’t you be silly now, boy,’ he said. ‘This
youngster is a Tapper, like me, and he’ll never give in. You go home and be
sensible.
Our circus is coming in this here field, just like it has for years and years!’
He
turned and walked to the nearest caravan. It was drawn by horses, and he
clicked to them. They strained forward and the caravan followed. Others behind
began to move too. The circus boy put his tongue out at Tinker. ‘Sucks to you!’
he said. ‘Nobody gets the better of my Grandad - or of me either! Still - it
was plucky of you to go for him. I enjoyed it.’
‘Shut
up!’ said Tinker, alarmed to find himself very near to tears. ‘You just wait
till my Dad tells the police! You’ll all go out much quicker than you came in -
and one of these days I’ll knock you down!’
He
turned and ran back to the gate. He wondered what to do. He had so often heard
his father say that the field behind their house belonged to him, and that he
had let this or that farmer have the grazing rights for his horses or cattle.
How DARE the Travelling Circus come into his father’s field?
‘I’ll
tell Dad,’ he said to Anne, who was waiting at the gate. ‘He ought to turn them
out! It’s our field and I love it, especially just now when it’s so green and
beautiful, and the hedges are just going to be covered in white may. I’ll tell
Dad that boy knocked me down - shot out his fist just like that - and down I
went. I’d like to do the same to him!’
He
went into the house, followed by a puzzled Anne.
He
looked into the sitting-room and saw George there.
‘Tinker!
That boy knocked you down!’ said Anne, in a horrified voice. ‘Why did he do
that?’
‘Oh
- just because I told his Grandad to take his caravans away,’ said Tinker,
feeling rather grand. ‘He didn’t hurt me at all - just punched me on the chest.
Still - I said what I had gone to say.’
‘But
will they take the caravans away out of the field?’ asked Anne.
‘I
told them I’d tell the police,’ said Tinker. ‘So I bet they’ll skedaddle. They
haven’t any right to be there. It’s our field!’
‘Are
you going to the police?’ asked George, disbelievingly. ‘I really don’t see why
you have to make such a fuss about it all, Tinker. They might make it difficult
for us to go camping there.’
‘But
I tell you it’s my field - Dad’s always said so!’ said Tinker. ‘He said it
wasn’t any use to him, so I could consider it my own. And I do. AND we’re going
to camp in it, whatever anyone says! It’s a travelling circus that’s coming
there, so the old man said.’
‘Oh
TINKER! How marvellous to have a circus at the bottom of the garden!’ said
George, her eyes shining, and Anne nodded too. Tinker glared at them.
‘JUST
like girls to say a thing like that!’ he said.  You do make it sound so exciting!’ said George. ‘Will there really be
lions and tigers? Suppose one escaped - what a thrill!’
‘Well
- I shouldn’t like that,’ said Anne, at once. ‘I don’t particularly want a lion
peering in at my window, or a bear clomping round my bedroom!’
‘Neither
do I,’ said Tinker, in a most decided voice. ‘That’s why I’m going to tell Dad
about it. He’s got the old documents that set out our rights to that field. He
showed me them one day. I’ll ask him about them, and if he’ll let me see them,
I’ll take them straight to the police and let them turn out that rude old man
and his horrible circus.’
‘How
do you know it’s horrible?’ asked George. ‘It might be awfully good. I’m sure
they’d let us camp in the corner nearest the garden, and we’d get an awfully
good view of what’s going on all the time.  He never does that if he’s busy. It would be a
good time to go and ask him about the document. He might even show it to us.’
‘All
right,’ said Tinker, rather sulkily. ‘But you’ll see I’m right. Come on.’
However,
Tinker proved to be quite, quite wrong! His father went to fetch the old,
yellowed piece of parchment at once. ‘Ha! Here it is!’ he said. ‘It’s pretty
valuable too, because it’s so old. It dates back quite a few centuries.’
He
undid the rather dirty piece of ribbon round it and unrolled it. Neither the
girls nor Tinker could read the old-fashioned lettering.
‘What
does it all say?’ asked Anne, with great interest.
‘It
says that the field known as “Cromwell’s Corner” is to be held by the Hayling
Family for always,’ said Professor Hayling. ‘It was given to them by Cromwell
because our family allowed them to camp in that field when they sorely needed a
rest after battle. It’s been ours ever since.’
‘So
NOBODY else is allowed to camp in it, or use it for grazing or anything, unless
we say so!’ said Tinker, triumphantly.
‘Quite
right,’ said his father. ‘But wait a minute - I seem to remember an odd clause
that said something about a travelling show - a show that had rights to camp in
the field since about 1066. Not even Cromwell could alter that - it was in the
original deeds, long before Cromwell battled in that district. Now let’s see -
that piece would come about the end, I expect.’
The
two girls and Tinker waited while the Professor pored over the old and
beautiful lettering. He jabbed his finger on to three lines towards the end.
‘Yes.
There it is. I’ll quote it. Listen! “And let it be known that Ye Travelling
Show so-named ‘Tapper’s Travelling Show’, which has always had camping rights,
shall still have the right to claim these once every ten years so long as the
show travels the country ways - Given under my hand...” and so on and so on.
Well - I don’t expect that Tapper’s Travelling Show is going now, all these
years and years after the document was drawn up and signed in the year 1648.
See - here’s the date - if you can read the old figures!’
The
children stared at the date, and then glanced up at Tinker. He looked angry and
very red in the face. ‘You might have told me all that before, Dad,’ he said.
‘Why?’
asked his father, astonished. ‘What possible interest can it have for you
children?’
‘Only
that there’s a circus called Tapper’s Travelling Circus in that field this very
minute,’ said Anne. ‘And the old man with it is called Tapper - and he said it
was his right to be there, and...’
‘He
was rude to me and I want you to turn out this circus this very day!’ said
Tinker. ‘We want to camp there.’
‘I’m
sure Mr Tapper would have no objection to you camping there,’ said his father.
‘Aren’t you being rather silly, Tinker? You weren’t rude to any of the circus
folk, were you?’
Tinker
went very red, turned his back and stalked out of the room, Mischief clinging
to his neck. He rubbed his chest where the circus boy had punched him. ‘Just
you wait!’ he said in a whisper. ‘I’ll punch you one day!’
‘Anne,
if you and the others want to camp in the field, I’ll go and speak to Mr
Tapper,’ said the Professor, puzzled by Tinker’s behaviour.
‘Oh
no - it’s all right,’ said Anne, hastily. ‘He has already said that it didn’t
matter if we camped there. Oh - there are the boys back again. I’ll just go and
see if they have brought back all our bicycles safely. Thank you for showing us
that marvellous old document, Professor!’
And
away she went looking rather hot and bothered!
Chapter
Six
GETTING
READY FOR CAMPING OUT
Dick
and Julian were most interested to hear about Tinker and the Travelling Circus
- and the old, old document.
‘You
made a bit of a fool of yourself,’ said Julian, looking at Tinker. ‘Still,
there’s no harm done, apparently. I vote we go and see where we can put up our
tents. Personally, I shall be thrilled to see a bit of circus life so close to
me! I wonder how they’ll manage to put on a show. I suppose they’ve everything
with them, and can put up a circus ring and a marquee and anything else
necessary.’
‘There
are a lot of big vans,’ said Anne. ‘I went down to have a look about half an
hour ago. The field is almost full now, except for one corner near our hedge
that I suppose they have left for our tents.’
‘I
saw the posters about the circus as we cycled back,’ said Dick. ‘Dead-Shot Dick
- Chimpanzee that plays Cricket - the Boneless Man - Madelon and her Beautiful
Horses - Monty and Winks the clowns - the Dancing Donkey - Mr Wooh, the Wonder
Wizard - gosh, it sounded quite a circus. I’m glad we can camp in the same
field - we shall really see behind the scenes, then.’
‘Don’t
forget there was Charlie the Chimp, and the Bonzo Band,’ said Julian. ‘What fun
if the chimp got loose and peeped in at the kitchen window!’
‘It
wouldn’t be at all funny,’ said Anne. ‘Jenny would run for miles! So would
Tinker’s monkey!’
‘What
about putting up our own tents after tea?’ said Dick. ‘The carrier said he’d
have them here by tea-time. It’s hotter than ever today. I don’t feel I can do
much at the moment. I just want to laze.’
‘Woof,’
said Timmy, who was lying down with his head on his paws, panting.

‘You’re tired out with your long run to Kirrin and back again, aren’t you?’
‘The
roads were so dusty!’ said Dick. ‘He kept sneezing whenever a car passed us, because
the dust got up his nose. Poor old Tim. You really are tired out with that
long, long run!’
‘Woof!’
said Tim, suddenly sitting up straight and pawing vigorously at George.
Everyone laughed.
‘He
says he’s not at all tired, he wants a walk,’ chuckled Dick.
‘Well,
if he’s not tired, I am,’ said Julian. ‘It really was a job sorting out all our
things at Kirrin - and cycling there and back. No, Timmy - I am NOT going to
take you for a walk!’
Timmy
whined, and at once Mischief the monkey leapt down from Tinker’s shoulder and
went to cuddle against the big dog, making small comforting noises. He even put
his thin little arms round Timmy’s neck!
‘You’re
just being a little bit soppy, Mischief,’ said Tinker, but Mischief didn’t
care.
Then he suddenly pricked up his ears, and sat straight up, He had heard a noise
from somewhere. So had all the others.
‘It’s
music of some kind,’ said Anne. ‘Oh - I believe I know what it is!’
‘What?’
said the others.
‘It
must be Tapper’s Travelling Circus Band practising for opening night,’ said
Anne.
‘Well,
that’s tomorrow,’ yawned George. ‘Yes - it does sound like a band. Maybe we
shall see the bandsmen after tea, when we put up our tents. I’d like to see the
Boneless Man, wouldn’t you?’
‘NO!’
said Anne.  I shan’t go and see him. But I’d love to see the horses and the
Dancing Donkey. Does he dance to the band, do you think?’
‘We’ll
find out when we go,’ said Dick, ‘as it opens tomorrow. If Mr Tapper isn’t
annoyed about Tinker trying to turn them out, he might let us wander round.’
‘I
don’t think I want to come,’ said Tinker. ‘Mr Tapper was rude - and that boy
knocked me flat.’
‘Well,
I expect I’d do the same if I thought you were being rude to my Grandad,’ said
Julian, lazily ‘Now - it’s settled, is it, that we go down with our things to
the field after tea, and see if we can put up our tents in some sheltered
corner?’
‘Yes,’
said everyone.
The monkey sneezed at once, and then again.  Then he sneezed once more.
‘Borrow
a hanky, old thing,’ said Julian.  Then he pretended to blow his nose.
Everyone
roared with laughter, and Mischief was delighted.
‘The Pick-pocket Monkey!’
‘He’d
be very good in a circus,’ said Julian.
‘I’d
never let him join a circus!’ said Tinker at once. ‘He might have a dreadful
life.’
‘No.
I don’t think he would,’ said Julian. ‘Circus-folk love their animals and are
proud of them. And after all, if they treated them unkindly, the animals
wouldn’t be happy or healthy, and couldn’t enjoy their acts. Most circus people
treat their animals like one of the family.’
‘What!
Even a chimpanzee!’ said Anne, in horror.
‘They’re
nice creatures - and very clever,’ said Julian. ‘Mischief, do not remove my
handkerchief, please. It was funny the first time, but not a second time. Look
at him now, trying to undo Timmy’s collar.’
‘Come
and sit quietly by me, Mischief,’ ordered Tinker, and the little creature
obediently went to him and cuddled on to his knee, making a soft, crooning noise.
‘You’re
a humbug,’ said Tinker, fondling him. ‘You be careful I don’t give you away to
the circus, and get an elephant in exchange!’
‘Idiot!’
said Dick, and everyone laughed at the thought of Tinker and an elephant. What
in the world would he do with it?
A
voice called from the house. ‘Tinker! The carrier’s come with all the camping
things. He’s put them in the hall, just where your father will fall over them.
You’d better come and see to them now.’
‘In
a few minutes, Jenny!’ called back Tinker. ‘We’re busy.’
‘You’re
a real fibber, Tinker,’ said Dick. ‘We are not busy. You could easily go to
find out where the things are, and see if they’re all there. There are quite a
lot.’
‘We’ll
go in twenty minutes or so,’ said Anne, yawning. ‘I bet Tinker’s father is
asleep this hot afternoon. He won’t stir out of his study.’
But
she was wrong. Professor Hayling was wide awake, and when he had finished his
work, he wanted a drink of very cold water. He threw open his study door,
strode out towards the kitchen - and fell over a pile of all kinds of camping
gear, bringing them down with a tremendous noise.
 ‘WHAT ARE THESE THINGS? I WILL NOT HAVE THEM IN THE HALL! JENNY! JENNY!
Take them down to the bonfire and burn the lot!’
‘Our
camping things!’ cried George, listening in horror. ‘Quick! We must get them!
Oh, I do hope Tinker’s father hasn’t hurt himself. Blow, blow, blow!’
While
Julian and Dick deftly removed everything that had fallen on to the angry
Professor and took them down the garden, Anne and George comforted him, and
made such a fuss of him that he began to feel decidedly less angry. He sat down
in a chair and wiped his forehead. ‘I hope you’ve taken all those things down
to the bottom of the garden?’ he asked, after a while.
‘Yes,’
said Tinker, truthfully. ‘Er - they’re all by the bonfire, but it’s not lighted
yet.’
‘I’ll
light it myself tomorrow,’ said his father, and Tinker heaved a sigh of relief.
His father would forget, of course - and anyhow, everything was going to be
taken into the camping field after tea.
‘Have
a cup of nice hot tea, sir,’ said Jenny, appearing with a tray of tea-things.
‘Sit you down and drink this. It’s newly made. Best thing to have after a fall
and a shock.’
She
turned and whispered crossly to Tinker. ‘Didn’t I call to you and tell you the
Professor would trip over those things, the poor man? Now you just get your own
tea, while I take him into the dining-room and comfort him with a nice hot
scone, and a cup of tea!’
‘I’ll
get our tea,’ said Anne. ‘Then we’ll set up the tents down in the field, and
enjoy ourselves. And Tinker, don’t you get into any more trouble with the
circus folk.’
‘I’ll
see he doesn’t,’ said George, firmly. ‘Come on - let’s go down to the field
while Anne gets the tea. I could do with a bun or two!’
Between
them, Dick and Julian had lugged all the things down the garden - two tents, ground-sheets,
blankets, tent-pegs and all the rest. Timmy ran with them in excitement,
wondering what all the fuss was about. Mischief, of course, leapt to the top of
whatever was being carried, and chattered excitedly all the way down the
garden.
He
got into trouble when he ran off with a tentpeg, but Timmy managed to catch him
and make him drop it. Then, very solemnly, Timmy carried the tent-peg to
Julian.
‘Good
dog!’ said Julian. ‘Just keep an eye on that wicked little monkey, Tim, will
you? There are all sorts of things he might run off with!’
So
Timmy kept an eye on Mischief, nosing him away whenever he thought the monkey
was going to pick up something he shouldn’t. Finally Mischief became tired of
Timmy’s nose and leapt on his back, where, clinging to the dog’s collar, he
rode just as if he were on horseback. ‘Only it’s dogback, not horseback,’ said
Anne, with a laugh.
‘They
would make quite a good pair for the circus,’ said Dick. ‘I bet Mischief could
hold on to reins, if Timmy had any!’
‘Well,
he’s not going to have any,’ said George. ‘The next thing would be a whip!
Whew! What a lot of things we’ve got - is that the lot?’
It
was, thank goodness. A bell rang out from the house at that moment, and
everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
‘Tea
at last!’ said Dick. ‘I could drink a whole potful. Come on - we’ve finished
piling up all the things. We’ll get busy after tea with them, I can’t do a
thing more. Don’t you agree, Timmy?’
‘WOOF!’
said Timmy, heartily, and galloped up the garden path at top speed, with
Mischief scampering after him.
‘Talk
about a circus!’ said Dick. ‘We’ve a ready-made one here! All right, Anne -
we’re coming! We’re coming!’
Chapter
Seven
IN
THE CIRCUS FIELD
Nobody
wanted to spend a long time over tea. They all longed to go down to the field
and set up their little camp.
‘We
shall have a wonderful look-in at what goes on in a circus camp,’ said Dick.
‘We shall be living so near the circus folk! I do hope Mischief won’t get too
friendly with the people there. They might take him away with them when they
leave.’
‘Indeed
they won’t!’ said Tinker, fiercely. ‘What a thing to say! As if Mischief would
go with them, anyhow! I don’t expect he’ll mix with the circus crowd at all.’
‘You
wait and see!’ grinned Dick. ‘Now buck up with your tea - I’m longing to go and
set our camp in the field, and see what’s going on there.’
It
wasn’t long before they were ready. They were soon down by the fence, and gazed
over it in amazement. Great vans were in the field, all with Mr Tapper’s name
on and all painted in gay colours. There were caravans too, much smaller than
the great vans, and these had windows, each with neat lace curtains. The circus
folk lived in the caravans, of course, and George found herself wishing that
she herself could go about in one, instead of living in a house that couldn’t
move anywhere!
‘Look
at the horses!’ cried Dick, as a bunch of them appeared with tossing heads and
beautiful long thick tails. The boy who had knocked Tinker down was with them,
whistling. They were all coming from a big horse-van, and were delighted to be
in a field with lush green grass.
‘Is
that field gate properly shut?’ yelled an enormous voice, and the boy yelled
back, ‘Yes, Grandad. I shut it. There’s nowhere the horses can get out. My word
- don’t they like this grass!’
Then
he saw Julian and the others all looking over the fence, and waved to them.
‘See our horses? Aren’t they a grand lot?’
And,
just to show off a little, he leapt on to the back of the nearest one, and went
all round the edge of the field with it. George watched him enviously. If only
she could have a horse like that!
‘Well,
let’s take our camp things into the field,’ said Tinker. ‘The nearer we are to
the circus the better. We ought to have some fun.’
He
climbed over the fence and Dick followed. ‘I’ll hand everything over,’ said
Julian. ‘George can help me - she’s as good as a boy any day!’
George
grinned. She loved to hear anyone say that! It was quite a job getting some of
the things over the fence. The tents, neatly wrapped though they were, were
heavy, awkward things to handle, but at last everything was safely over, lying
on the grass.
Then
Julian, Anne and George climbed over the fence too, and stood in the field,
looking round for a good corner to set up their things.
‘What
about near those bushes over there?’ said Julian. ‘There’s that big tree behind
as well to protect us from the wind - and we aren’t too near the circus folk -
they might not like us right on top of them - and yet we’re near enough to see
what’s going on.’
‘Oh,
it’s going to be FUN!’ said Anne, her eyes shining.
‘I
think I’d better go and find the old Grandad - Mr Tapper,’ said Julian. ‘Just
to tell him we’re here, in case he thinks we’re intruders and have no right to
be here.’
‘You
haven’t got to ask his permission for us to be in MY field!’ said Tinker, at
once.
‘Now
don’t keep flying off the handle like that, Tinker,’ said Julian. ‘This is
merely a question of good manners - something you don’t seem to know much
about! How do we know that the circus folk won’t resent us camping so near
them? Much better to show ourselves friendly from the start.’
‘All
right, all right,’ said Tinker, sulkily. ‘But it is my field, after all!  ‘Anyway, be
sensible, Tinker - it’s not often people have a circus just at the bottom of
their garden, and can pop over the fence, and mix with the circus folk.’
Julian
walked over to the nearest caravan. It was empty, and no one answered his
knock.

‘Where’s
Mr Tapper?’ asked Julian, smiling at the untidy, bright-eyed little thing.
‘He’s
with one of the horses,’ said the small girl. ‘Who are you?’
‘We’re
your neighbours,’ said Julian.  ‘I’ll show you.
She
led the children to the middle of the camp. A mournful howl came from somewhere
behind them and George stopped suddenly. ‘That’s Timmy! He must have found out
that we’ve got out of the garden. I’ll go back for him.’
‘Better
not,’ said Julian. ‘There might be ructions if he met the chimpanzee. A big
chimp would make mincemeat of him!’
‘It
wouldn’t!’ said George, but all the same she didn’t go back to fetch Timmy.
Julian hoped that the dog wouldn’t jump over the fence, and come to find them.
‘There’s
old Granddad Tapper on them steps,’ said the little girl, smiling up at Julian,
whose hand she still held.  Your hand smells nice.’
‘Well,
that’s because I wash it with soap and water four or five times a day,’ said
Julian. ‘Yours would smell nice too, if you did the same.’
The
little girl sniffed at Julian’s hand. Then she shouted loudly to the old fellow
sitting on the steps of a nearby caravan. ‘Grandad! Here’s folks to see you!’
Grandad
was looking at a beautiful chestnut-brown horse, tethered close to him. He had
one of the horse’s hooves in his hand. The children stood and gazed at him -
black beard, frowning eye-brows - and, oh dear! thought Anne, only one ear,
poor man. What could have happened to the missing one?
‘GRANDAD!’
called the girl again. FOLKS TO SEE YOU!’
Mr
Tapper looked round, his eyes very bright under his black eye-brows. He set the
horse’s hoof down, and gave the lovely creature a pat. ‘You don’t need to limp
any more, my beauty,’ he said.
You can dance again!’
The
horse lifted up its magnificent head and neighed as if it were saying thank
you. Tinker almost jumped out of his skin, and Mischief slipped from his
shoulder and cuddled under his arm in terror.

‘Does
that horse really dance?’ said Anne, longing to stroke its long, smooth nose.
‘Dance!
 The horse pricked up its ears, gazed at Grandad, and
then began to dance! The children watched in astonishment.
There
it went, round and round, nodding its head to the tune, its feet tapping the
grass in perfect time to Grandad’s whistling.
‘Oh,
the lovely thing!’ said George. ‘Do all your horses dance as well as this one?’
‘Yes.
Some a good deal better,’ said Grandad. ‘This one has a fair ear for music, but
not as good an ear as some.  Horses - there’s nothing in the world as
beautiful as a good horse.’
‘Mr
Tapper - we come from the house over the fence there,’ said Julian, feeling
that it was time to explain their visit. ‘As you probably know, Tinker’s father
owns this field, and...’
‘Yes,
yes - but we have an old right to come every so often,’ said the old man,
raising his voice. ‘Now don’t you start arg...’
‘I
haven’t come to argue with you,’ said Julian, politely. ‘I’ve only just come to
say that we - that is my friends here and I - would like to come and camp in
this field, but we shouldn’t annoy you in any way, and...’
‘Oh
well - if that’s what you want, you’re more than welcome!’ said the old man.
‘More than welcome! I thought maybe you’d think you could turn us out - like
that youngster there would like to do!’ And he nodded at Tinker.
Tinker
went red and said nothing. The old man laughed. ‘Ha! My grandson didn’t think
much of that idea, did he, youngster? He hit out, and down you went on your
back. He’s got a temper, he has, young Jeremy. But another time maybe he’ll
find himself on his back, eh?’
‘Yes.
He will,’ said Tinker, at once.
‘Right.
Well, you’ll be even with one another then, and you can shake hands like
gentlemen,’ said the old man, his eyes twinkling. ‘Now - what about you
bringing your gear right into the field, and setting up your tents? I’ll get
old Charlie the Chimp to help you. He’s as strong as ten men!’
‘The
chimpanzee! Is he tame enough to help us to put up our tents?’ said Anne,
disbelievingly.
‘Old
Charlie is cleverer than all of you put together, and as tame as you are!’ said
Grandad. ‘And he could beat you three boys at cricket any day! You bring your
bat along one morning, and watch him. I’ll call him to help you. CHARLIE!
CHARLIE! Where are you? Snoozing I suppose!’
But
no Charlie came. ‘You go and fetch him,’ said the old man, pointing to a corner
of the field where stood a big, strong cage, with a tarpaulin roof to keep out
the rain. ‘He’ll do anything you want him to do, so long as you give him a word
of praise now and again!’
‘Let’s
get him, Ju,’ said Dick, eagerly. ‘My word - fancy having a chimpanzee to help
us!’
And
off they all went to the great cage. CHARLIE! CHARLIE! Wake up, you’re wanted!
CHARLIE!
Chapter
Eight
CHARLIE
THE CHIMP IS A HELP!
Tinker
came to the big cage first. He peered inside. Charlie the Chimp was there all
right, sitting at the back of his cage, his brown eyes looking at the children
with curiosity. He got up and went over to where Tinker was peering in, and
pressed his nose against the strong wire, almost against Tinker’s. Then he blew
hard, and Tinker backed away, surprised and cross.
‘He
blew at me!’ he said to the others, who were laughing at Tinker’s disgust. The
chimp made a funny noise that Mischief the monkey immediately tried to imitate.
The chimpanzee stared at Mischief, then he grew very excited. He rattled his
cage, jumped up and down, and made some very queer noises indeed.
A
boy came running up at once. It was the boy who had knocked Tinker down. ‘Hey -
what are you doing to the chimp?’ he called. ‘Oh - aren’t you the boy who
shouted at my Grandad - the one I knocked down?’
‘Yes.

‘Shut
up, Tinker,’ said Julian. He turned to the boy. ‘Your name’s Jeremy, isn’t it?’
he said. ‘Well, we’ve just been talking to your Grandad over there, and he said
we could get the chimpanzee to help us with our camping gear.  ‘He gets bored in
his cage. He’d love to help put up your tents - he’s always helping us circus
folk with things like that. He’s as strong as a lion.’
‘Is
he - er - is he safe?’ asked Dick, eyeing the big animal doubtfully.
‘Safe?
What do you mean - safe?’ asked Jeremy, surprised. ‘He’s as safe as I am!
Charlie, come on out!
The
chimpanzee made a funny little chuckling noise, put his hand through the wire,
reached the bolt, pulled it, took his hand back - and pushed open the cage
door.
‘See?
Easy, isn’t it?’ said Jeremy, grinning. ‘Charlie boy, come along. Your help’s
wanted!’
Charlie
lumbered out of his cage, and went with the children to where they had left
their tents and ground-sheets and the rest. He walked with his fists on the
ground in a most inelegant manner, making a funny little groaning noise all the
time. Mischief was rather afraid of him, and kept well to the back - but the
chimpanzee suddenly turned round, caught hold of Mischief, and sat him up on
his shoulder! Mischief held on, not knowing whether to be scared or jubilant!
‘I
wish I had my camera here,’ said Anne to George. ‘Just look at them - Mischief
is as pleased as can be!’
They
arrived at the pile of camping gear. ‘Carry this, Charlie, and follow us,’ ordered
Jeremy. The chimp grabbed at this, that and the other, and, with his great arms
full, followed the children to where they thought they could camp, with the
great hedge to shelter them from the wind.
‘Drop
those things, Charlie,’ said Jeremy, ‘and go back for the rest. Buck up. Don’t
stand there staring! You’ve got work to do!’
But
Charlie still crouched there, staring straight at Mischief. ‘Oh! He wants
Mischief the monkey to go with him!’ cried George. ‘Go on, Mischief, have a
ride again!’
Mischief
leapt up on to the chimpanzee’s shoulders. Charlie put up a great paw to steady
him and then lumbered off to fetch the rest of the things. One of the
ground-sheets came undone, and slithered over his head like a tent, so that he
couldn’t see where he was going. In a rage he leapt on it and began to jump up
and down, up and down, growling most terrifyingly. The children felt rather
scared.
‘Charlie,
don’t be an ass!’ said Jeremy, and pulled it away from him, rolling it up
swiftly. The chimpanzee could manage it then, and his good temper immediately
came back again.

Charlie watched them with the greatest interest, and helped most intelligently
when he saw that he could.
‘He’s
a good sort, isn’t he?’ said Jeremy, proud that his friend the chimpanzee could
show off like this. ‘Did you see him put that tent-pole in exactly the right
place? And you ought to see him fetch the pails of water for the horses each
day. He carries a full pail in each hand!’
‘He
ought to get wages,’ said Tinker.
‘He
does!’ said Jeremy. ‘He gets eight bananas a day and as many oranges as he
likes. And he LOVES sweets!’
‘Oh!
I think I’ve got some!’ said Tinker and delved into one of his pockets. He
brought up a peculiar mixture of things, among which was a screwed-up sweet
bag. Inside was a mess of half-melted boiled sweets.
‘You
can’t give him those!’ said Anne. ‘They’re old and sticky and messy!’
But
Charlie thought differently. He took the paper bag straight out of Tinker’s
hand, sniffed it - and then put the whole thing into his mouth at once!
‘He’ll
choke!’ said Julian.
‘Not
Charlie!’ said Jeremy. ‘Let him be.  He’ll be as
happy as can be.’
‘Well
- he certainly deserved a reward,’ said George. ‘He did all the heavy work!
Come on, let’s finish putting everything straight. I say - won’t it be fun
sleeping out in tents tonight! We’d better have supper first.’
‘You
can come and join us, if you like,’ said Jeremy. ‘We don’t have posh food like
you, of course - but it’s good food, all the same. Old Grandma cooks it in her
pot. She’s two hundred years old.’
The
children laughed in disbelief. ‘Two hundred! Nobody lives as long as that!’
said George.
‘Well,
that’s what she tells everyone,’ said Jeremy. ‘And she looks it, too!  Shall I tell her you’ll be here to supper?’
‘Well
- would there be enough for so many extra?’ said Julian. ‘We meant to bring our
own meal. Should we bring that and share everything with you? We’ve more than
enough. Our cook Jenny said she would have it all ready for us to bring down
tonight - a meat-pie - cold sausages - and apples and bananas.’
‘Sh!
 ‘He’ll worry you for them
all the time. All right - you bring your food and we’ll share with you round
our camp-fire. I’ll tell old Grandma. We’re having a sing-song tonight, and
Fred the Fiddler’s playing his fiddle. Ah, that fiddle! Its tunes get into your
feet and away you go!’
This
all sounded very exciting.
‘We’ll
be back as soon as we can,’ said he. ‘And thanks awfully for all your help.
Come on, Mischief. Say good-bye to Charlie for the moment, and don’t look so
gloomy. We’re coming back here tonight!’
  ‘I bet the supper will taste delicious. I say - I hope Dad won’t
mind us popping off to the circus camp.’
‘I
don’t expect he’ll even notice that we’ve gone,’ said George. ‘My father never
notices things like that.
‘Now - let’s see what Jenny’s got that we can take back with us.’
Jenny
listened wide-eyed to all they had to say. ‘Well, well, well!’ she said. ‘Camping
out with the circus-folk! Whatever next? I’d like to know what your parents
would think of that, Master Julian!’
‘We’ll
ask them, next time we see them,’ said Julian, with a grin. ‘What do you have
for our supper? We’re taking it down to our camp.’
‘I
thought maybe you’d do that,’ said Jenny. ‘It’s all cold. A meat pie - cold
sausages - a cucumber and lettuce hearts and tomatoes, rolls - and apples and
bananas. Will that be enough?’
‘Gosh,
yes,’ said Tinker, thrilled. ‘What about something to drink?’
‘You
can take lemonade or orangeade with you, whichever you please,’ said Jenny.
 He’s worked
hard all day, and he’s tired.’
‘And
cross, I expect,’ said Tinker. ‘People are always cross when they’re tired.
Except you, dear, dear Jenny.’
‘Ha!
You want something else out of my cupboard, calling me your dear, dear Jenny,’
she said with a twinkle.
‘Could
we have some sugar-lumps?’ asked Tinker. ‘Oh, Jenny, there are the loveliest
horses you ever saw down in the circus field. I want to give them a sugar lump
each.’
‘And
yourself a few as well!’ said Jenny. ‘All right. I’ll pack up everything for
you, and give you a few enamel plates and mugs and knives. What about Timmy?
Doesn’t he want a meal too?’
‘Wuff!’
said Timmy, glad that someone had remembered him. Jenny patted his big head.
‘It’s all ready in the larder for you,’ she said. ‘George, you go and get it.
He must be hungry.’
George
fetched a plate of meat and biscuits from the larder and Timmy fell on it with
happy little barks. Yes - he was very, VERY hungry!
At
last all the food was ready-packed to take down the garden to the field. What a
lot there seemed! Well, they would certainly have plenty to spare for their
circus friends. They said good night to Jenny, and set off down the garden
again. They thought they had better not disturb Professor Hayling.
‘He
might be cross and forbid us to go and feed with the circus-folk,’ said Tinker.
‘Mischief, come off that basket, and don’t pretend you weren’t fishing in it
for a banana. And please put on your best table-manners tonight, or Charlie the
Chimp will be ashamed of you!’
It
was fun going back down the garden and over the fence into the field again. The
sun was sinking fast and soon the shadows would fall. How lovely to sit round a
fire and eat supper with the kindly circus-folk - and perhaps to sing old songs
with them - and hear Fred the Fiddler fiddle his old, old tunes! What fun to
creep into a tent, and sleep with the cries of owls around, and stars shining
in at the tent opening!
There
they go, over the fence, handing the food one to another.  That’s right, Timmy, nibble his ear if he’s as
mischievous as his name! You’re all going to have some fun tonight!
Chapter
Nine
A
WONDERFUL EVENING
As
soon as Jeremy saw the visitors climbing over the fence, he ran to help them.
He was very excited at the thought of having guests. He took them over to old
Grandad first, to be welcomed.
‘Now
I expect your friends will like to see round a bit,’ said Grandad. ‘Charlie the
Chimp can go with you. We’ve a rehearsal on tonight, so the ring has been set
up. You can watch some of the show.’
This
was grand news. The children saw that curved pieces of painted wood had been
set together to make a great ring in the field, and as they went across the
grass, the Musical Horses began to troop into the ring, the leading one ridden
by Madelon, a lovely girl, dressed in shimmering gold.
‘How
beautiful they are!’ thought Anne, as she watched. ‘Look at their great
feathery plumes, nodding on their magnificent heads.’
The
Bonzo Band struck up just then, and the horses at once trotted in perfect time
to the music. The band looked a little peculiar as the bandsmen had not put on
their smart uniforms. They were saving those for the opening night!
The
horses trotted prettily out of the ring after two or three rounds, the
beautiful Madelon on the leading horse. Then in came Fred the Fiddler and
played his violin for a few minutes. First the music was slow and solemn, then
Fred began to play quickly, and the children found themselves jiggling about,
up and down and round about. ‘I can’t keep still!’ panted Anne. ‘The tune’s got
into my feet.’
Charlie
the Chimp came up just then, walking on hind legs, and looking unexpectedly
tall. He usually walked on all fours. He began to jig about too, looking very
funny. He ran right into the ring and put his arms round Fred the Fiddler’s
legs. ‘He loves Fred,’ said Jeremy. ‘Now he’s going to rehearse his cricket
act. I must go and bowl to him.’
And
off went Jeremy into the ring. The chimpanzee rushed over to him and hugged
him. A bat was thrown into the ring, and Charlie picked it up, and made a few
swipes into the air with it, making delighted noises all the time.
Then
a cricket ball was thrown to Jeremy, who caught it deftly. A small girl
appeared from somewhere and set up three stumps for a wicket. ‘Can’t find the
bails, jeremy!’ she called. ‘Have you got them in your pocket?’
‘No,’
said Jeremy. ‘Never mind, I’ll knock the stumps right over!’
But
that wasn’t so easy with Charlie the Chimp at the wicket! He took a terrific
swipe at the ball, and it went right over Jeremy’s head, too high to catch.
The
chimp lost his balance and sat down on the wicket, knocking the stumps out of
the ground.
‘OUT!’
yelled Jeremy, but the chimp wasn’t having that. He carefully put up the stumps
again, and then set himself in front once more, waggling the bat.
It
was the funniest cricket that the children had ever seen! The chimpanzee was
very, very clever with the bat, and sent poor Jeremy running all over the
place. Then finally he chased the boy all round the ring with the bat making
curious chortling noises. The children didn’t know if he was amused or angry!
Finally he threw the bat at Jeremy and walked off, scratching himself under one
arm.
The
children roared with laughter at him. ‘He’s as good as any clown!’ said Dick.
‘Jeremy, does he do this cricket act every night when the circus is open?’
‘Oh
yes - and sometimes he hits the ball into the audience,’ said Jeremy. ‘There’s
great excitement then. Sometimes, for a treat, we let one of the boys in the
audience come down and bowl to Charlie. One bowled him right out once, and
Charlie was so cross that he chased him all round the ring three times - just
as he chased me just now. The boy didn’t like it much!’
Charlie
came up to Jeremy, and put his great arms round him, trying to swing him off
the ground.
‘Stop
that, Charlie,’ said Jeremy, wriggling free. ‘Look out - here comes the Dancing
Donkey!
In
came the Dancing Donkey. He was dark grey, and tossed his head as he came
galloping in. He stood and looked round at everyone. Then he sat down, lifted
up a leg and scratched his nose. The children stared in astonishment. They had
never in their lives seen a donkey do that before! Then, when the band suddenly
began to play, the donkey stood up and listened, flapping his ears first one
way and then another, and nodding his head in time to the music.
The
band changed its tune to a march. The donkey listened again, and then began to
march round the ring in perfect time - clip-clop-clip-clop-clip-clop. Then it
apparently felt tired, and sat down heavily on its back legs. The children
couldn’t help laughing. The donkey got up, and somehow its back legs became
entangled with its front ones, and it fell down, looking most ridiculous.
‘Has
it hurt itself?’ asked Anne, anxiously. ‘Oh dear - it will break one of its
legs if it goes on like this. Look, it can’t untangle them, Jeremy.’
The
donkey gave a mournful bray, tried to get up, and flopped down again. The band
changed its tune, and the donkey leapt up at once, and began to do a kind of
tap-dance - clickety-click, clickety-click, clickety-click - it was marvellous!
‘I
shouldn’t have thought that a donkey could possibly have been taught to
tap-dance,’ said George.
Soon
the donkey seemed to feel tired again. It stopped dancing, but the band still
went on playing. The donkey ran towards it and stamped its foot.
A
weird voice suddenly came from it. ‘Too fast! TOO FAST!’ But the band took no
notice and went on playing. The donkey bent down, wriggled hard - and its head
fell off on to the grass in the ring! Anne gave a shriek of fright.
 ‘You didn’t think the donkey was a real one, did
you?’
‘Isn’t
it?’ said Anne, relieved. ‘It looks just like that donkey that used to give
rides to children on Kirrin beach.’
The
donkey now split in half, and a small man climbed out of each half, taking
their legs carefully out of the donkey’s legs. The donkey-skin fell to the
ground, and lay there, flat and collapsed.
‘Wish
I had a donkey-skin like that,’ said Tinker. ‘I’ve got a friend at school who
could be the back legs and I’d be the front legs. The things we’d do!’
‘Well,
I must say you’d make a first-class donkey, the way you behave sometimes,’ said
George. ‘Look, this must be Dead-Shot Dick coming on.’
But
before Dead-Shot Dick could do any of his shooting tricks, the two donkey-men
had run to the band and begun a loud argument with them.
‘Why
play so fast? You know we can’t do our tricks at top speed. Are you trying to
mess up our turn?’
The
band leader shouted something back. It must have been rude, because one of the
donkey-men shook his fist and began to run towards the band.
A
loud voice crashed in on the argument, and made everyone jump. It was Mr
Tapper, old Grandad, giving his orders in an enormous voice.
‘ENOUGH!
 I give the orders, not you.
ENOUGH, I SAY!’
The
two donkey-men glared at him, but did not dare to say a word more. They stalked
out of the ring, taking the donkey-skin with them.
Dead-Shot
Dick looked very ordinary, dressed in a rather untidy flannel suit. ‘He’s not
going to go all through his act,’ said Jeremy. ‘You’ll see him another night,
when the show’s on for the public - he shoots at all kinds of things - even a
sixpenny bit dangling on a long string from the roof - and never misses!  Look - there he is, peeping in
to see if Dick’s coming back to him.’
A
small white horse was looking anxiously at the ring, its eyes fixed on
Dead-Shot Dick. It pawed the ground as if to say, ‘Buck up! I’m waiting for
you!  ‘I hear your horse has hurt
a foot - give him a good rest tonight. We’ll want him on tomorrow.’
‘Right,
sir!’ said Dead-Shot Dick. He saluted smartly, and ran off to his little horse.
‘What’s
next, Jeremy?’ asked George, who was enjoying everything very much.
‘Don’t
know. Let’s see - there’s the acrobats - but the trapeze-swings aren’t put up
yet, so they won’t come on tonight. And there’s the Boneless Man - look, there
he is. Good old Boney! I like him. He’s free with his money, he is, not like
some of the other folk!’
The
Boneless Man looked very peculiar. He was remarkably thin, and remarkably tall.
He walked in, looking quite extraordinary. ‘He can’t be boneless!’ said Dick.
‘He couldn’t walk if he was!’
But
the Boneless Man soon began to seem absolutely boneless. His legs gave way at
the knees, and his ankles turned over so that he sank down to the ground,
unable to walk. He could bend his arms all kinds of different ways, and turned
his head almost completely round on his neck. He did a few peculiar things with
his apparently boneless body, and finally wriggled along the ground exactly
like a snake!
‘He’ll
be dressed in a sort of snake-skin when he does his act properly,’ said Jeremy.
‘Queer, isn’t he?’
‘How
on earth does he do it?’ wondered Julian, amazed. ‘He bends his arms and legs
all the wrong ways! Mine would break if I did that!’
‘Oh,
it’s easy for him!’ said Jeremy. ‘It’s just that he’s completely double-jointed
- he can bend his arms both ways, and his legs both ways, and make them seem so
loose that it looks as if he really is boneless. He’s a nice chap. You’d like
him.’
Anne
felt a bit doubtful.  It was a world of its
own. She jumped suddenly as there came the sound of a trumpet blowing loudly.
‘That’s
for supper,’ said Jeremy gleefully. ‘Come on - let’s go to old Grandma and her
pot! Buck up, all of you!’
Chapter
Ten
ROUND
THE CAMPFIRE
Jeremy
led the way out of the circus-ring. It had been well-lighted, and the night
seemed very dark outside the ring. They went over the field to where a large
fire was burning, cleverly set about with stones. An enormous cooking-pot was
hung over it, and a very, very nice smell came to their noses as they went near.
Old
Grandma was there, of course, and she began stirring the pot when she saw them.
‘You’ve been a long time in the ring,’ she grumbled to Grandad. ‘Anything gone
wrong?’
‘No,’
said Grandad, and sniffed the air. ‘I’m hungry. That smells good. Jeremy, help
your Grandma.’
‘Yes,
Grandad,’ said Jeremy, and took a pile of plates to the old lady, who at once
began ladling out pieces of meat and potatoes and vegetables from the steaming
pot. Old Grandad turned to Julian.
‘Well
- did you like our little rehearsal?’ he asked.
‘Oh
yes!’ said Julian. ‘I’m only sorry you didn’t rehearse all the turns. I badly
wanted to see the acrobats and the clowns. Are they here? I can’t see them.’
‘Oh
yes - there’s one clown over there - look - with Madelon, who had the horses,’
said Grandad.
The
children looked - and were very disappointed. ‘Is he a clown?’ said Dick,
disbelievingly. ‘He doesn’t look a bit funny. He looks miserable.’
‘That’s
Monty all right,’ said Grandad. ‘He always looks like that out of the ring.
He’ll make you double up with laughter when the circus is on, he’s a born clown
- but a lot of clowns are like Monty when they’re not performing - not much to
say for themselves, and looking miserable. Winks is a bit livelier - that’s
him, pulling Madelon’s hair. He’ll get a smacked face in a minute, he’s a real
tease. There - I knew he’d get a clip on the ear!’
Winks
went howling over to the children, boo-hooing most realistically. ‘She smacked
me!’ he said. ‘And she’s got such p-p-p-pretty hair!’
The
children couldn’t help laughing. Mischief ran to the clown, jumped up on his
shoulder and chattered comforting monkey-words into his ear. Charlie the Chimp
let himself out of his cage, and came to put his great paw into Winks’s hand.
They both thought that Winks really was hurt.
‘That’s
enough, Winks,’ said Grandad. ‘You’ll have the horses comforting you next! You
do that in the ring tomorrow when we open, and you’ll bring the house down. Sit
down, and have your supper.’
‘Mr
Tapper,’ said Julian. ‘There’s one member of your circus we didn’t see at the
rehearsal - and that’s Mr Wooh, the Wonder Magician. Why wasn’t he there?’
‘Oh,
he never rehearses,’ said Mr Tapper. ‘He keeps himself to himself, does Mr
Wooh. He may come and join us for supper, and he may not. As we’re opening the
circus tomorrow night, maybe he’ll turn up tonight. I’m a bit scared of him, to
tell you the truth.’
‘But
he’s not a real wizard, is he?’ asked Tinker.
‘Well,
when I talk to Mr Wooh I feel as if he is,’ said Mr Tapper. ‘There isn’t a thing
he doesn’t know about figures, there isn’t a thing he can’t do with them. Ask
him to multiply any number by any other number, running into dozens of figures,
and he’ll tell you in a second. He shouldn’t be in a circus. He should be an
inventor of some sort - an inventor whose invention needs pages and pages of
figures. He’d be happy then.’
‘He
sounds a bit like my father,’ said Tinker. ‘He’s an inventor, you know, and
sometimes when I creep into his study I see papers FULL of millions of tiny
figures and plans and diagrams with tiny figures all over them too.’
‘Very
interesting,’ said Grandad. ‘Your father and Mr Wooh ought to meet. They would
probably talk figures all day long! My word - what’s that you’re handing round,
young lady?’
‘Some
of the food we brought,’ said Anne. ‘Have a sausage or two, Mr Tapper - and a
roll - and a tomato.’
‘Well,
thanks,’ said Mr Tapper, pleased. ‘Very kind of you. Nice to have met you all.
You might be able to teach Jeremy a few manners!’
‘Grandad
- here’s Mr Wooh!’ said Jeremy, suddenly, and got up. Everyone turned round. So
this was Mr Wooh the Wonder Magician. Well, he certainly looked the part.
He
stood there, with a half-smile on his face, tall, commanding and handsome. His
hair was thick, and black as soot, his eyes gleamed in the fire-light, half
hidden by great eye-brows, and he wore a thin, pointed beard. He had a
curiously deep voice, and spoke like a foreigner.
‘So
we have visitors this night?’ he said, and showed a row of gleaming white teeth
in a quick smile. ‘May I join you?’
‘Oh
do, Mr Wooh,’ said Anne, delighted to have the chance of talking to a Wonder
Magician. ‘We’ve brought plenty of food. Do you like cold sausage - and tomato
- and a roll?’
‘Most
deelicious!’ said the magician, and sat down cross-legged to join the group.
‘We
were disappointed not to see you at the rehearsal,’ said Dick. ‘I’d have liked
to hear you doing all kinds of wizard sums in your head, as quick as
lightning!’
‘My
father can do that too,’ said Tinker proudly. ‘He’s a wizard at figures as
well. He’s an inventor.’
‘Ha!
An inventor? And what does he invent?’ asked Mr Wooh, eating his roll.
That
was enough to set Tinker describing at once how wonderful his father was. ‘He
can invent anything he’s asked for,’ said the boy, proudly. ‘He invented a
wonderful thing for keeping aeroplanes dead straight in the right direction -
better than any idea before. He invented the sko-wheel, if you know what that
is - and the electric trosymon, if you’ve ever heard of that. I don’t suppose you
have, though. They’re too...’
‘Wait,
boy!’ said Mr Wooh, sounding most interested. ‘These things I have heard of,
yes. I do not know them, but I have certainly heard of them. Your father must
be a very, very clever man, with a most unusual brain.’
Tinker
swelled with pride. ‘Something got into the papers about his inventions a
little while ago,’ he said, ‘and reporters came down to see Dad, and his name
was in the papers - but Dad was awfully cross about it. You see, he’s in the
middle of the biggest idea he’s ever thought of and it messed up his work to
have people coming to interview him - some of them even peered through the
window, and went to see his wonderful tower, with its...’
‘Tower?
He has a tower?’ said Mr Wooh, full of surprise. Before Tinker could answer, he
received a hard poke from Julian’s finger. He turned crossly, to see Julian
frowning fiercely at him. So was George. He went suddenly red in the face. Of
course - he had been told never to talk about his father’s work. It was secret work,
very secret.
He
pretended to choke over a piece of meat, hoping that Julian would take the
chance of changing the subject - and Julian did, of' course!
‘Mr
Wooh, could you do a bit of magic reckoning with figures?’ he asked. ‘I’ve
heard that you can give the answers to any sum as quick as lightning.’
‘That
is true,’ said Mr Wooh. ‘There is nothing that I cannot do with figures.  ‘Multiply sixty-three thousand, three
hundred and forty-two by eighty thousand, nine hundred and fifty-three! Ha -
you can’t do that in a hurry!’
‘The
answer is, in figures,<PHONE_NUMBER>,’ said Mr Wooh at once, with a slight bow.
‘That is an easy question, my boy.’
‘Crumbs!’
said Tinker, astounded. He turned to Julian. ‘Is that right, Ju?’
Julian
worked out the sum on paper. ‘Yes. Absolutely correct. Whew!’ he said. ‘You
said that as quick as lightning!’
‘Let
me give him a sum to do!’ cried George. ‘What do you get if you multiply 602491
by 352, Mr Magician?’
‘I
get the figures 2-1-2-0-7-6-8-3-2,’ said Mr Wooh, immediately. And once more
Julian worked out the sum on paper. He raised his head and grinned. ‘Yes -
correct. How do you do it so quickly?’
‘Magic
- just a little elementary magic!’ answered Mr Wooh. ‘Try it sometime yourself.
I am sure that this boy’s father would be as quick as I am!’ He looked at
Tinker. ‘I should much like to meet your clever father, my boy,’ he said in his
deep, foreign-sounding voice. ‘We would have much, so much to talk about. I
have heard about his wonderful tower. A monument to his genius! Ah, you see,
even we foreigners know of your father’s great work. Surely he is afraid of
having his secrets stolen?’
‘Oh,
I don’t think so,’ said Tinker. ‘The tower is a pretty good hiding-place,
and...’ He stopped suddenly, and went red again as he received an even harder
kick from Julian.
Julian
thought it was time to take Tinker firmly away from Mr Wooh and give him a good
lecture on keeping his mouth shut. He looked at his watch, and pretended to be
horrified at the time. ‘Good gracious-do you know what the time is? Jenny will
be ringing up the police if we don’t get back straight away. Come on, Tinker,
and you others, we must go. Thanks most awfully, Grandad, for letting us share
your supper.’
‘But
we haven’t yet finished!’ said Grandad. ‘You haven’t had enough to eat.’
‘We
really couldn’t eat any more,’ said Dick, following Julian’s determined lead.
‘See you tomorrow, Grandad. Good night, Grandma. Thanks very much indeed.’
‘We’ve
still got bananas and apples to eat,’ said Tinker, feeling obstinate.
‘Oh,
we brought those for Charlie the Chimp,’ said Dick, not quite truthfully. He
could have boxed Tinker’s ears! Silly little fathead, couldn’t he realize that
Julian wanted to get him away from this cunning Mr Wooh? Wait till he got
Tinker by himself!
Tinker
found himself hustled on all sides, and felt a bit scared. Julian sounded
rather fierce, he thought. Old Grandad was most astonished at the sudden
departure of his guests - but Charlie the Chimp didn’t mind! The guests had
left behind a most generous supply of fruit!
Over
the fence they all went, with Julian hustling Tinker in front of him. Once over
the fence and out of Mr Wooh’s hearing, Julian and George rounded on the boy
angrily.
 ‘Didn’t you guess that that foreign fellow was
trying to pump you about your father’s hush-hush job?’
‘He
wasn’t,’ said Tinker, almost in tears. ‘You’re just exaggerating!’
‘Well,
I hope I never try to give away my father’s secret work!’ said George, in a
tone of such disgust that Tinker could have howled.
‘I
wasn’t trying to!’ he said. ‘Mr Wooh’s all right. Why should you think he
isn’t?’
‘I
don’t like him and I don’t trust him,’ said Julian, sounding suddenly very
grown up. ‘But there you sat lapping up everything he said, ready to pour out
all he wanted to know. I’m ashamed of you.  I only hope you haven’t already said too much. You
know how angry your father was when a report of his latest ideas got into the
papers, and swarms of people came prying round the house...’
Tinker
could stand it no longer. He gave a forlorn howl that made Mischief jump, and
fled up the garden to the house, the little monkey running swiftly behind him.
He wanted to comfort Tinker. What was the matter? Poor little Mischief felt
bewildered, and tried his best to catch up the sobbing Tinker.
‘Oh,
Mischief,’ said Tinker. ‘I’m glad you’re still my friend. The others won’t be
now, I know.  But I was only being proud of my
father, I was, really!’
Mischief
clung to Tinker, puzzled and upset. Tinker stopped outside the tall tower.
There was a light at the top. His father must still be working there. A faint
humming noise came to his ears. He wondered if it was those queer, spindly
tentacles right at the very top of the tower, that made the noise. Suddenly the
light at the top of the tower went out.
‘Dad
must have finished his work for tonight,’ thought Tinker. ‘He’ll be coming to
the house. I’d better go. He might wonder why I’m all upset. Gosh, I never
heard Julian be so angry before. He sounded as if he absolutely despised me!’
He
crept up the path that led to the house, and in at the garden door. Better not
go and see Jenny. She might worm everything out of him, and be as disgusted
with him as Julian was. She would wonder why he wasn’t camping out with them.
He’d go upstairs and sleep in his own bed tonight!
‘Come
on, Mischief,’ he said, in a mournful voice. ‘We’ll go to bed, and you can
cuddle down with me. You’d never be mean to me, would you? You’d always be my
friend.’
 He flung himself into bed, and Mischief lay at the bottom, on his
feet. ‘I shall never be able to get to sleep tonight,’ said Tinker, still
miserable. ‘Never!’
But
he fell asleep at once - which was a great pity, really. He might have shared
in quite a bit of excitement, if he hadn’t slept so soundly! Poor Tinker!
Chapter
Eleven
IN
THE DARK OF THE NIGHT
Julian
and the others made no attempt to follow Tinker. ‘Let him go, the little ass!’
said Julian. ‘Come into one of the tents and have a low pow-wow before we get
undressed and go to sleep.’
‘I’m
sorry poor old Tinker isn’t going to camp out with us, our first night in the
field,’ said Anne. ‘I don’t think he meant to give anything away.’
‘That’s
no excuse, Anne,’ said George.  Let’s go to our tent. I feel quite tired. Come
along, Timmy!’
She
yawned and Dick yawned too. Then Julian found himself yawning. ‘Awfully
catching, this yawning business!’ he said. ‘Well, it’s turned out to be a
lovely night as regards weather - warm and dry - and there’s a nice little
half-moon to look at. Good night, girls, sleep tight!   Timmy, please watch out for spiders, and give me warning of them!’
Everyone
laughed. ‘Well, good night, girls,’ said Dick. ‘Pity about young Tinker.
They
were all quite tired, and it wasn’t long before everyone’s torch was out, and
peace and quiet descended on the little camp. Much farther up the field the
circus was also peaceful and quiet, though there were still lights here and
there in the tents. Someone belonging to the circus band was strumming a banjo,
but not loudly, and the sound was pleasant to hear - strum-a-strum -
strum-a-strum - strummmm...
A
few clouds blew up and slid across the moon. One by one the lights went out in
the circus tents. The wind blew softly through the trees, and an owl hooted.
Anne
was still awake. She lay listening to the wind, and to the owl’s
‘Too-whoo-too-whit’, and then she too fell asleep. Nobody heard someone
stirring in the circus camp. Nobody saw a shadowy figure creep out when the
moon was safely behind a cloud. It was late, very late, and the two camps were
lost in dreams.
Timmy
was fast asleep too - but in his sleep he heard a faint sound, and at once he
was awake. He didn’t move, except for his ears, which switched themselves up to
listen. He gave a little growl, but not enough to wake George. So long as the
person who was moving about in the circus camp did not come near to George’s
tent, or the boys’ tent, Timmy did not mean to bark. He heard a tiny grunt, and
recognized it at once. Charlie the Chimp! Well, that was all right! Timmy fell
asleep again.
Tinker,
too, was fast asleep in his bed up at the house, Mischief at his feet. He had
thought he would be too miserable to sleep, but found himself half-dreaming in no
time.  Then there came
other very small noises - and a whisper of a voice - and more noises again.
Nobody
heard anything at all until Jenny woke up thirsty, and stretched out her hand
to get a glass of water from her bed-table. She didn’t switch her light on, and
was about to lie down again when her quick ears caught a little sound.
She
sat up. ‘That can’t be the children,’ she thought. ‘They’re camping down in the
field. Oh my goodness me, I hope it’s not a burglar - or someone trying to
steal the Professor’s secrets. He’s got papers all over the place. Thank
goodness he keeps most of them in that tower of his!’
She
listened and then lay down again. But soon she heard another little noise, and
sat up, scared. ‘It sounds as if it comes from the tower,’ she thought, and got
out of bed. No - there was no light in the tower - no light anywhere, that she
could see. The moon was behind a cloud. She’d just wait till it slid out and
lighted up the courtyard below, and the tower. There! That was another little
noise. Could it be the wind? No, it couldn’t. And now, what was that? It
sounded just like someone whispering down there in the courtyard. Jenny felt
really frightened, and began to shake. She must go and wake the Professor!
Suppose it was someone after his precious papers? Or his wonderful new
invention!
The
moon swung out from behind the cloud and Jenny peered cautiously out of the
window again. She gave a loud scream, and staggered back into her room, still
screaming. ‘There’s a man! Help! Help! He’s climbing up the wall of the tower!
Professor! PROFESSOR HAYLING! Come quickly! Thieves, robbers, help, help! Get
the police!’
There
came a long slithering sound, and before Jenny dared to look out again, the
moon had gone behind another cloud, and she could not see a thing in the sudden
darkness. There was a deep silence after the slithering noise, and Jenny
couldn’t bear it. She rushed out of her bedroom, yelling at the top of her
voice. ‘THIEVES! ROBBERS! SIR, COME QUICKLY!’
The
Professor woke with a jump, threw off his bedclothes and rushed out into the
passage, almost colliding with Jenny. He clutched at her, thinking she was the
thief, and she screamed again, sure that one of the intruders had got hold of
her. They struggled together, and then the Professor realized that he wasn’t
holding a thief, he was holding poor, plump Jenny!
‘JENNY!
What on earth are you doing, waking up the whole household!’ said the
Professor, switching on the passage light.  ‘Sir, there’s
robbers about. I saw one climbing up the tower wall - and there must have been
others below. I heard them whispering, sir. Oh, I’m that scared! What shall we
do? Can you telephone for the police, sir?’
‘Well,’
said the Professor, doubtfully.  I mean - if there really are robbers, I’ll certainly
telephone - but it’s rather a long way for the police to come out here, and...’
‘Oh,
sir - then won’t you just take a torch and look round the place?’ begged Jenny.
‘You know there’s your precious papers in that tower, sir. And isn’t there that
new invention of yours?
‘Yes,
yes, Jenny, I know,’ said poor Professor Hayling, trying to stop Jenny’s stream
of talk. ‘But honestly, everything seems quiet now. I’ve looked out into the
courtyard. There’s no one there. And you know as well as I do that nobody can
get into my tower. It has three different keys - one to unlock the bottom door
- one for the middle door, half-way up - and one for the top door. Jenny, be
sensible. Nobody could have used my three keys. Look, there they are on my
dressing-table.’
Jenny
began to calm down, but she still wasn’t satisfied. ‘I did hear whispering, and
I did see someone half-way up the wall of the tower, sir. Please do come down
with me, sir, and let’s look around.  But I shan’t sleep
again tonight till I know nobody’s forced the tower door, or taken a ladder to
go up the tower.’
‘All
right, Jenny,’ said the Professor, with a sigh. ‘Put on your dressing-gown, and
I’ll put mine on too - we’ll try the doors, and we’ll look for a ladder -
though, mind you, it would have to be an absolutely colossal one to reach the
top of that tower. Nobody could possibly bring one that size and length into
our small courtyard! All right, all right - we’ll go.’
And
so, a few minutes later, Jenny and the Professor were down in the courtyard.
There was no sign of any ladder at all - no sign of anyone climbing up the
wall-and the downstairs tower door was safely locked! ‘You unlock the door,
sir, and go up to the top room and see if that door’s locked too,’ begged
Jenny.
‘I
think you’re being rather silly now, Jenny,’ said the Professor impatiently.
‘Here, take the keys yourself. This one’s locked, of course - and if the middle
door is still locked, you’ll know nobody could have got into my top room.
Hurry, Jenny.’
So
Jenny, still trembling, slid a key into the bottom lock, opened the door, and
began to climb the spiral stair that led upwards. Half-way was another door,
also safely locked. She unlocked this too. She began to feel rather silly.
Nobody could have gone through locked doors. And there now - the top one was
well and truly locked also! She gave a sigh of relief and ran down the spiral
stairway, locking the middle door, and then the bottom one. She gave the keys
to the Professor, who by now was feeling rather chilly!
‘All
locked, sir,’ said Jenny. ‘But I’m still sure someone was about. I could have
sworn I saw someone up that tower-wall, and heard somebody else whispering
below.’
‘I
expect you were so scared that you imagined things, Jenny,’ said the Professor,
yawning. ‘I think you’ll agree with me that the wall is far too steep for
anyone to climb - and I’m pretty certain I’d have heard it if a ladder had been
dragged about the courtyard!’
‘Well,
I’m sure I’m very sorry, sir,’ said poor Jenny. ‘It’s a good thing we didn’t
wake Tinker - though I’m surprised Mischief didn’t hear something and come
running down the stairs.’
‘But
Mischief is surely with Tinker, camping out in the field!’ said the Professor
in surprise.
‘No
- Tinker and Mischief are back, sir. I found them asleep in bed - but not the
others!’ said Jenny. ‘Maybe Tinker has quarrelled with them. Funny that
Mischief didn’t come running out to see what was up - he must have heard us!’
‘Mischief
is clever - but not clever enough to open Tinker’s bedroom door,’ said the
Professor, yawning again. ‘Good night, Jenny. Don’t worry. You’ll feel all
right in the morning, and that will be that!’
The
Professor went sleepily to his room. He looked out of the window down into the
courtyard and then across at the tower, and smiled. Dear Jenny!  As if anyone in the world could get up
into that tower room without a ladder! And now could a long, long ladder be
brought into that small courtyard without either being seen or heard? The
Professor yawned once more and climbed into bed.
But
someone had been in the tower room! Someone very clever, someone very
light-fingered! What a shock for poor Professor Hayling next morning, when he
crossed the courtyard, unlocked the bottom door of the tower - walked up the
spiral stairway - unlocked the middle door, and went on up the stairway again -
and finally unlocked the top door and opened it wide.
He
stood and stared in horror. The place was upside down! All his papers were
scattered everywhere. He crouched down at once to see if any were missing. Yes
- quite a lot! But they seemed to have been taken quite haphazardly - a few
pages from this note-
book
- a few pages from that - some letters he had written and left on his desk to
post - and good gracious, the ink was spilt all over the place - and the little
clock was gone from the mantelpiece. So Jenny was right - a thief had been
about last night. A thief that could apparently get through three locked doors
- or else could climb up a long, long ladder that he had put outside without
being seen - and taken away again!
‘I’ll
have to ring the police,’ he thought. ‘But I must say it’s a mystery! I wonder
if Tinker heard anything in the night? No, he couldn’t have, or he would have
run to fetch me. It’s a mystery - a real puzzle of a MYSTERY!’
Chapter
Twelve
A
SHOCK FOR TINKER
Tinker
was horrified when Jenny told him the next morning what had happened. ‘Your
father’s in a rare old state,’ she said. ‘He came down early this morning,
because he wanted to finish some work up in the tower - and as soon as he
unlocked the top door into the tower room, he saw the whole room upside down
and some of his precious papers gone, and...’
‘JENNY!
How awful!’ said Tinker. ‘Dad kept his most precious papers there - with all
the figures for that new electric thing of his. It’s a wonderful thing, too
marvellous for words, Jenny, it’s for...’
‘Now
don’t you give away any of your father’s plans, not even to me,’ said Jenny.
‘You’ve been told that before. Maybe you’ve been talking too much already, and
somebody’s ears took it all in!’
Tinker
suddenly felt quite sick. Was it because of something he had been silly enough
to say in public? In the bus, perhaps? Or in the circus-field? What would the
others say - especially Julian - when they heard that someone had come in the
night and stolen precious papers, containing figures and diagrams for some of
his father’s inventions? Julian would be sure to say that it was his fault for
not keeping his mouth shut! Oh dear - would this be in the papers - and would
hordes of people come visiting the place again, staring and whispering and
exclaiming in awe at his father’s curious tower, with its waving tentacles?
He
dressed quickly and ran downstairs. Jenny had told him that she was sure she
had heard whispering down in the courtyard the night before, and had seen
someone climbing up the tower. ‘Your father says nobody could have brought a
long ladder into that courtyard,’ she said. ‘Not without us seeing it, anyway,
or hearing some kind of noise when it was dragged in. But it might have been a
sliding ladder, mightn’t it? That would be a smallish thing, with ropes to pull
out the sliding part.’
‘Yes.
Like the window-cleaner uses,’ said Tinker. ‘I say - could it have been the
window-cleaner, do you think?’
‘No.
He’s a real decent fellow,’ said Jenny. ‘I’ve known him for twenty years. So
put that out of your head. But the ladder could certainly have been the sort
that window-cleaners use. We’ll go out into the courtyard as soon as I’ve
finished washing-up, and see if we can find the marks where the ladder was
dragged over the courtyard. Though I must say I didn’t hear any dragging
noises. I heard whispering - and a kind of slithery noise - but that’s all.’
‘The
slithery noise might have been made by the ladder when it was dragged along!’
said Tinker. ‘I say - look at old Mischief. He’s listening as if he understood
every word. Mischief, why didn’t you wake me up last night when all this was
going on? You usually wake if anything unusual happens, or you hear a strange
noise.’
Mischief
leapt into Tinker’s arms and cuddled there. He didn’t like it when Tinker was
upset about anything; he knew by the boy’s voice that he was worried. He made
small comforting noises, and rubbed his monkey nose against the boy’s chin.
‘You’d
better go to your father,’ said Jenny. ‘You might be able to comfort him a
little. He’s very upset indeed. He’s up in the tower room, trying to sort out
his papers. My word, they were left in a state - scattered all over the room!’
Tinker
stood up to go, and was astonished to find that he was shaky at the knees.
Would his father ask him if he had been talking about the work he was doing? Oh
dear - he had even boasted about it just the day before, and talked about his
father’s sko-wheel, and the wonderful new machine, the electric trosymon!
Tinker’s knees became shakier than ever.
But
fortunately his father was far too upset about his muddled room and missing
papers to worry about anything Tinker had said or done. He was up in the tower
room, trying to discover which of his papers were missing.
‘Ah,
Tinker,’ he said, when the boy came into the tower room. ‘Just give me a hand,
will you? The thief who came last night must have knocked the whole bunch of
papers off the table, down on the floor - and fortunately he seems not to have
seen some that went under the table. So I doubt very much if the papers he did
take away with him will be of any use. He’d need to be quite a scientist to
understand them, without having the ones he left behind.’
‘Will
he come back for the others, then?’ asked Tinker.
‘Probably,’
said his father. ‘But I shall hide them somewhere. Can you think of a good
hiding-place, Tinker?’
‘Dad
- don’t you hide them,’ begged Tinker. ‘Not unless you tell me where they are!
You know how you forget things!  Have you
copies of the stolen sheets of figures and diagrams?’
‘No.
But they’re all in my head as well as on paper,’ said his father. ‘It will take
me a bit of time to work them all out again, but it can be done. It’s a
nuisance-especially as I’m working to a date. Now run along, Tinker, please.
I’ve work to do.’
Tinker
went down the spiral staircase of the tower. He’d have to make sure that his
father did hide away those papers very carefully indeed - in some really good
place. ‘Oh dear - I hope he won’t do what he did with the last lot of papers he
wanted to hide,’ he thought. ‘He stuffed them up the chimney - and they nearly
went up in flames because Jenny thought she’d light the fire the next night, it
was unexpectedly so cold. Good thing they fell down when she laid the fire, and
she rescued them before they got burnt! Why are brainy people like Dad so silly
about ordinary things? I say he’ll either forget where he puts them - or go and
hide them in some easy place where anyone could find them!’
He
went to talk to Jenny. ‘Jenny - Dad says that the thief only took some of his
papers - and that he can’t make much use of the ones he took, unless he has the
whole lot. And Dad says he thinks that when the thief finds this out, he’ll try
to steal the rest of the papers.’
‘Well,
let him try!’ said Jenny. ‘I could hide them in a place where no thief would
find them - if your Dad would let me have them. I shan’t tell you where!’
‘I’m
afraid he might hide them up a chimney again, or some silly place like that,’
said Tinker, looking so worried that Jenny felt really worried too! ‘They’ve
got to be hidden somewhere NOBODY would think of looking. And if Dad finds a
place like that he’ll promptly forget all about it, and never be able to find
them again! But a thief might find them - he’d know ALL the places to look in.’
'Let’s
go up to the tower room, and clear up the mess that the spilt ink made, and see
if your father has taken his precious papers, and hidden them somewhere there,’
said Jenny. ‘It would be just like him to hide them in the very room that the
thief went to last night! Up the ladder, in at the window - left wide open,
I’ve no doubt - snatched up every paper he could see, the rogue, and then raced
down the ladder again!’
‘Come
on up to the tower, then,’ said Tinker. ‘I only hope Dad isn’t there!’
‘He’s
just crossing the courtyard, look,’ said Jenny, leaning out of the window.
‘See, there he is - carrying something under his arm.’
‘His
morning newspapers,’ said Tinker. ‘It looks as if he’s going to have a jolly
good read, doesn’t it? Oh dear, I do hope all this won’t be printed in the
newspapers - it would bring hordes of people down here again. Do you remember
how awful it was last time, Jenny - people even walked over the flower-beds!’
‘Hoo
- some people like to poke their noses into everything!’ said Jenny.
Tinker
gave a shout of laughter. ‘I wish I’d seen that!’ he said. ‘Oh Jenny - if
people come poking their noses into Dad’s business again, DO let’s empty water
on their silly heads! Come on, Jenny - let’s go up to the tower room now Dad’s
out of the way. Quick!’
They
were soon out in the courtyard, and as they crossed it, Jenny stopped and
looked hard at the ground.
‘What
are you looking for?’ asked Tinker.
‘Just
to see if there are any marks that might have been made by someone dragging a
ladder across,’ said Jenny. ‘I heard a funny slithering sound, you know - but
it didn’t sound like a ladder being dragged across.’
The
two of them looked all over the courtyard, but could see no marks there that
could possibly have been made by a ladder.
‘Funny,’
said Jenny. ‘It worries me, that slithery sound.’ She looked up at the tall,
steep wall of the tower. It was made of flint-stones of all shapes and sizes,
the kind found in the country-side round about Kirrin and Big Hollow.
‘Well,
I suppose a cat might climb up,’ said Jenny, doubtfully. ‘But not a man. He’d
slip sooner or later. It would be far too dangerous. I doubt if even a cat
would get far.’
‘And
yet you say you thought you saw someone up the tower-wall!’ said Tinker. ‘Go
on, Jenny - it must have been the shadow of a passing cloud that you saw! Look
up this wall - now can you imagine ANYONE climbing up it at night, when it was
dark?’
Jenny
stared up. ‘No - you’re right. Only a madman would even try. Well, my eyes must
have played me up, then, when I looked out last night - but I really did think
I saw a dark shadow climbing up the tower-wall. Still, it’s easy to be mistaken
at night. And I don’t believe there was a ladder, either! There would be marks
on the paving-stones of the courtyard if there had been a ladder. Oh well -
let’s hurry on up to the tower room before your Dad decides to go back to it
again!’
They
went up the spiral stairway. All the doors were unlocked, so it was plain that
the Professor was going to come back again after he had read his papers.
‘All
the same - he shouldn’t leave the doors unlocked, even for a minute!’ said
Jenny. ‘Well, here we are - just look at the ink-splashes everywhere - and that
dear little clock that kept such good time is gone. Now what would the thief
want with a clock, I’d like to know?’
‘It
would be small and neat enough to pop into his pocket,’ said Tinker. ‘If he was
dishonest enough to steal Dad’s papers, he would certainly not say no to a nice
little clock like that! He’s probably taken other things too!’
They
went right into the room, and Jenny at once gave a loud exclamation. LOOK!
Aren’t those some of the papers your father was working on - on the table
there? All covered with tiny figures?’
Tinker
looked closely at them. ‘Yes - they’re his very latest papers. He showed me
them the other day. I remember this diagram. Jenny - how COULD he leave them on
the table with the door unlocked this morning - when only last night the thief
was here! How could he? He said he was going to hide them away so carefully,
because, if the thief found them, he could use them with the other papers that
were stolen - but as long as the thief only had half of them, they wouldn’t be
much use - and now he’s forgotten all about hiding them, after all!’
‘Look
now, Tinker - let’s hide them away ourselves,’ said Jenny, ‘and not tell him
where they are. These thieves will have another try for them, no doubt about
that. Let’s think of some place where they’d be absolutely safe.’
‘I
know!’ said Tinker. ‘We could hide them on Kirrin Island! Somewhere in the old
ruined castle! NOBODY would guess they were there.’
‘Now
that’s a fine idea!’ said Jenny. ‘I’d be glad to think they were out of the
house.’ She gathered up the papers quickly. ‘Here you are. You’d better tell
Julian and the others, and go across to the island with them as soon as you
can. My, what a relief to think they’ll be well away from here. I’ll be able to
sleep soundly in my bed at nights then!’
Tinker
stuffed the precious papers under his coat, and he and Jenny ran at top speed
down the spiral stairway. They saw the Professor not far off, and he turned and
hailed them. ‘Tinker! Jenny! I know what you’re going to ask me! You want to
know where I’ve hidden those papers of mine. Come here and I’ll whisper!’
Not
knowing quite what to say, the two went rather guiltily over to Tinker’s
father. He whispered loudly, ‘I’ve wrapped them up, and put them under the coal
at the back of the coal-cellar - right at the very back!’
‘And
a fine mess you’ve made of your trousers, sir,’ said Jenny, disgusted. ‘And
good gracious - you must have sat down in the coal yourself! You look a right
mess. Come along and let me brush you down. Not indoors though, or the place
will be thick with coal-dust!’
‘Don’t
you think it was a good hiding-place, Jenny?’ asked the Professor. ‘Ha - you
thought I’d forget to hide them, didn’t you?’
He
went off, looking very pleased with himself. Jenny chuckled in delight. ‘Dear
old Professor! He’s hidden all his newspapers there, but not a single one of
his own precious papers. And now whatever shall we tell him when he wants the
morning papers? Tinker, you cycle out to the paper-shop and get another lot.
Land-snakes - what it is to have a brainy man in the house? Whatever will he do
next!’
Chapter
Thirteen
QUITE
A LOT OF PLANS!
After
Tinker had fetched a new supply of morning papers, he decided to go down to the
camp in the field and tell the others all that had happened that morning. He
still felt angry about being ticked off by Julian the night before - but he
simply couldn’t wait to tell the others about the robbery - and about the grand
idea he, Tinker, had of hiding the rest of his father’s papers on Kirrin
Island.
So
off he went, with Mischief happily on his shoulder, holding tightly to his
hair. The others were all there in the field. They had just come back from a
shopping expedition, and Tinker’s eyes gleamed when he saw the various tinned
meats and tinned fruits, fresh rolls, tomatoes and apples and bananas that had
been brought back from the shops at Big Hollow.
Julian
was glad to see that Tinker looked bright and cheerful. He was afraid that the
boy might have sulked, and that would have spoilt things for the others.
‘Hi!’
said Tinker. ‘I’ve got news!’ And he proceeded to tell the others all about the
happenings of the night before, ending up with his father solemnly going off to
hide his morning newspapers under the coal at the back of the coal-cellar,
under the impression that he was hiding the rest of his precious papers.
‘But
why on earth didn’t you tell him he had left his valuable papers behind and
hidden his newspapers?’ asked George.
‘Because
if he knew that, he’d go and hide the precious papers somewhere, and forget
where he’d put them - and they might be lost for ever!’ said Tinker.
‘Well,
what are you going to do with them?’ asked Dick.
‘I’ve
had rather a brain-wave,’ said Tinker, as modestly as he could. ‘Er - I thought
that we’d hide them away ourselves, where nobody could possibly find them.’
‘And
where is this wonderful hiding-place?’ asked Dick.
‘On
Kirrin Island!’ said Tinker, triumphantly. ‘Who’d think of looking there? And
as we shall all know the hiding-place, we can’t possibly forget it. The papers
will be absolutely safe. Dad can get on with the rest of his ideas without
worrying about anything.’
‘Have
you told him all this?’ asked Julian.
‘Well,
no,’ said Tinker. ‘Jenny thought we’d better just keep it to ourselves. She’s
pretty certain the thieves will try their hand at breaking in to get the rest
of the papers, though.’
‘Ha!
Well, I vote we scribble some papers ourselves,’ said Dick. ‘Complete with
wonderful diagrams, and all kinds of peculiar figurings and numberings. I feel
I could do that very well! And we’d leave them up in the tower room for the
thieves to take - they’d think they were the ones they’d missed!’
Everyone
chuckled. ‘Ass!’ said Julian. ‘Still - it’s not a bad idea to leave something
behind for the thieves that isn’t worth a moment’s look - and hide the genuine
figures where they’d never dream of finding them - on Kirrin Island!’
‘When
shall we go?’ asked George. ‘It’s ages since I’ve visited my island - and will
you believe it, last time I rowed over, trippers had been there and left their
beastly mess everywhere! Paper bags, broken glass, lettuce leaves, orange peel,
ugh!’
‘Why
DO people do that?’ asked Anne. ‘They’d hate to have to sit in the midst of
other people’s mess - so why in the world can’t they clear up their own?’
‘Oh,
they’re probably just like that in their own homes,’ said Dick. ‘All mess and
litter - and yet it takes so little time to clear up a picnic mess, and leave
the place decent for the next comers.’
‘What
did you do with all the mess left on Kirrin Island?’ asked Julian.
‘I
buried it deep in the sand at the back of one of the beaches,’ said George.
‘Where the tide can’t turn it all up again.  Blow
you!”’
George
looked and sounded so very fierce that everyone burst out laughing.
‘Good
old George. She always says straight out what she thinks!’ said Julian.
 ‘Dick and Julian had better make
the fake plans and figures,’ said George. ‘They’d be better at that kind of
thing than anyone else. And Tinker can plant them somewhere in his father’s
tower room for the thief to take if he goes there again - and I bet he will. He
found it easy enough last night!’
‘And
George could take Tinker’s father’s papers with the correct figures and plans
over to Kirrin Island,’ said Anne.
‘Not
till night-time, though,’ said Dick. ‘If anyone were on the watch, and saw
George rowing over there, they might guess she was taking something important
to hide. They might be watching her father too. By the way - where are these