The Circus of Adventure (19 page)

‘I don’t know what we’d have done without you, Snoozy, when we were shut up in that tower-room,’ said Philip, softly. ‘You kept us all amused with your little games and antics, didn’t you? And you told Jack where we were, the other night—you ran under the door to him!’

Soon they were on the way again. The bears settled down to sleep, happy to know that Philip was driving them. He had fed them himself again when the procession halted for a meal, and the bears grunted at him happily. Fank heard them and was happy too.

The procession wound down the road, came out into a main road, and went down that, intending to turn off at a country road about two miles on. But halfway down something happened.

Three powerful military cars swept by the procession, and drove right up to the head of it. Then they stopped, and soldiers leapt down from the cars, with a captain in command.

‘Halt!’ he said, to the front driver, and the whole procession came to a stop. The circus-folk looked worried. What was this? Soldiers already? And why were they being halted? They had done nothing wrong!

They jumped down from their vans, and gathered together in little knots, waiting. Jack poked his head back into Ma’s van, which he was driving. ‘This is it, Ma,’ he said. ‘I think the vans are going to be searched. Give Gussy something to do, and scold him as if he was your grandchild. Gussy, you’re a girl, remember—so don’t answer back, or even say a word, when the men come along. Look shy if you can.’

Pedro also knew what was about to happen. He called to the two girls, ‘Come out, and mix with the circus folk. Go with Toni and Bingo. I’ll come too. I’ll put my arms round you both as if you were my sisters or my friends.’

Philip, however, didn’t move. He decided that he was in a very good place, driving the bears’ van! The men would be sure to upset the bears and he would have to pacify them. He would appear to the men to be a bear-trainer!

The captain found the Boss. Pedro heard him talking to him in sharp tones.

‘We are going to search your vans. We suspect you have someone here we want. It will be the worse for you, if you have. I warn you to give him up now, at once, because when we find him you will be severely punished.’

The Boss looked surprised. He was sitting in his great chair inside his van. ‘I do not know what you mean,’ he said. ‘Search my vans! You are welcome!’

The Boss thought that the soldiers were looking for a deserter, a young man, perhaps. He did not know they were hunting for a small boy, and certainly had no idea they were after the little Prince Aloysius!

The captain gave a sharp command. His soldiers marched down the sides of the vans, keeping a watch for anyone who might try to hide in the wayside bushes. Then they began to search carefully, probing each van, lifting up piles of rugs or clothes to see if anyone could be hidden there.

They stopped at the sight of Philip. They had been told that although they must at all costs find Gussy, there were three other children, too, to look for. Children whose presence in the camp would tell them the Prince was somewhere about too.

They came up to the bears’ van, their heels clicking sharply. Their loud voices angered the three bears, and they growled and flung themselves at the bars.

Toni came up and spoke to them, telling them to keep out of sight of the bears.

‘We had trouble with them yesterday,’ he said, ‘and this boy, who helps the trainer, only just managed to keep them under control. As you see, the bars of the cage were broken and had to be mended. Keep out of sight, please, or they will break the bar’s again.’

Philip didn’t understand what Toni was saying, but guessed. He decided that the best thing he could do to avoid being questioned was to get inside the bears’ cage, and pretend to quieten them. So in he went, and the bears fawned round him in delight.

The soldiers watched from a safe distance. The captain was satisfied. Obviously this boy belonged to the circus, and travelled as a helper with the bears. He could not be one of the boys they had been told to look out for. They went, on to the next van, and Toni winked at Philip.

‘Good!’ he said. ‘Keep there. You are safer with the bears than anywhere else!’

The soldiers went from van to van. They hardly glanced at Dinah or Lucy-Ann, who, with Pedro’s arms round them, were standing watching the two chimpanzees. Madame Fifi had taken the opportunity of giving them a little airing.

The captain, however, glanced sharply at Pedro. Could he be one of the boys they sought? He beckoned to him. Pedro came over, still with the girls, smiling, and at ease.

The captain snapped something at him in Tauri-Hessian. Pedro answered smoothly, pointing to his mother’s van. He was saying that he travelled with his mother, and his little cousin, Anna-Maria.

‘And these two girls?’ said the captain, sharply.

‘They are with the circus too,’ said Pedro. ‘They belong to the boy who manages the bears—you have seen him. They are Jabberwockians, and speak very little Hessian. But they speak French if you would like to ask them anything.’

Dinah heard Pedro say the word ‘Jabberwockians’ and guessed that he was saying that she and Lucy-Ann belonged to Jabberwocky! Dinah immediately poured out a string of utter gibberish to the captain, waving her hands about, and smiling broadly. Lucy nodded her head now and again as if she agreed with her sister!

‘All right, all right,’ said the captain, in his own language. ‘It’s all nonsense to me, this. I can’t understand a word! What is she saying?’

Pedro grinned. He told the Captain that Dinah thought him very magnificent, much grander than captains in Jabberwocky. He was pleased. He saluted the two smiling girls smartly, and went away, satisfied that they were certainly not English. He really must find out where the Land of Jabberwocky was—he didn’t seem to have heard of it. These circus-folk came from queer places!

And now the soldiers had reached Ma’s caravan. Jack was still sitting in the driver’s seat, Kiki on his shoulder. He had warned her not to talk, because he was afraid her English words might give them away. ‘But you can make noises,’ he told her, and Kiki understood perfectly.

She raised her crest as the men came near and coughed loudly. The soldiers looked at her in surprise.

‘Powke,’ said Jack, patting Kiki. ‘Powke, arka powke.’ He knew that this meant ‘Clever parrot,’ because the people who had come to marvel at Kiki when she had been on show, had so often said those two words. ‘Arka powke!’ Clever parrot!

Kiki gave a loud hiccup, and then another. The soldiers were tickled, and roared with laughter. Then Kiki ducked like a hen laying eggs, and that amused them even more.

This was the kind of thing Kiki liked. It gave her a wonderful opportunity for showing off. She put down her head, looked wickedly at the soldiers, and gave them the full benefit of her aeroplane-in-trouble noise.

They were extremely startled, and stepped back at once. Kiki cackled idiotically, laughing till the soldiers and Jack were laughing helplessly too!

A sharp voice came from behind them. It was their captain. They jumped to attention at once.

‘Why waste time on this boy?’ said the captain. ‘You can see he is a circus boy, with a parrot like that! Search the van!’

Jack knew enough of the Hessian language now to understand roughly what the captain had said. He wasn’t suspected then—and it was obvious that none of the soldiers suspected Philip or the girls. Now there was only Gussy left. Would he play up and be sensible?

Two soldiers went into Ma’s van. They saw Gussy at once, sitting beside Ma. ‘Who’s this?’ they said, sharply. ‘What’s her name?’

Chapter 26

THE PEDLAR’S VAN

Gussy looked shyly up at them, and then hid his face in Ma’s lap, as if very overcome. That had been Ma’s idea, of course!

‘Now, now!’ said Ma, in Tauri-Hessian, tapping Gussy. ‘Sit up and answer the gentlemen, my little Anna-Maria!’ She turned to the soldiers.

‘You must pardon her,’ she said. ‘She is a silly little girl, and cannot say boo to a goose! Sit up my pet, and show these kind gentlemen what you are making.’

Gussy sat up, and held out a piece of embroidery to the two soldiers, keeping his head down as if very shy indeed. Jack, looking in through the window, was amazed at Gussy’s acting. And that embroidery! How very very clever of Ma to give Gussy that to show to the soldiers! He had seen Ma working on it herself, night after night!

‘She is my favourite grandchild,’ Ma prattled on. ‘The prettiest little thing and so good. Talk to the kind gentlemen, Anna-Maria! Say how-do-you-do.’

‘I cannot,’ said Gussy, and hid his face in Ma’s lap again.

‘Don’t bother her,’ said one soldier. ‘I have a little girl at home as shy as she is. It’s better to have them that way than bold and cheeky. How pretty her hair is! You must be proud of her, old woman.’

‘She is such a good little needlewoman,’ said Ma, proudly, and patted Gussy’s head. ‘Sit up, my pet—the gentlemen won’t eat you!’

‘We’re going,’ said the first soldier. ‘Here, give her this to spend. She really does remind me of my little girl at home.’

He threw a coin to Ma and she caught it deftly and pocketed it at once. Jack heaved an enormous sigh of relief when he saw the two men walking away. He poked his head in at the window.

‘It’s all right. They’ve gone. Gussy, you were absolutely marvellous! Talk about an actor! Why, you’re a born actor! A shy little girl to the life.’

Gussy lifted his head from Ma’s lap. His eyes were bright and his face was red. He was laughing.

‘It was Ma’s idea, to behave like that,’ he said. ‘She said I must not show my face at all, I must be shy and put it into her lap.’

‘A really good idea,’ said Jack, and grinned at Ma’s smiling face. ‘Honestly, Gussy, I congratulate you—I never imagined you could act like that.’

‘I like acting,’ said Gussy. ‘But not in girls’ clothes. I feel silly. Still—it was a very good idea. Now—I am safe, is it not so?’

‘I think so,’ said Jack, looking up the road. ‘The men are going back to their cars. They are getting into them. Yes—the first car is going off. Whew! I was in a stew when those two fellows walked into your van.’

As soon as the three military cars had shot off down the road, Philip left the bears’ van, and came running over to the others, grinning. They all collected round Ma’s van, and heard Jack’s recital of Gussy’s marvellous performance.

Gussy was pleased. He was not often praised by the others, and it was very pleasant to have them admiring him for once in a way. Then he caught sight of himself in Ma’s mirror, ribbons and all, and his face clouded.

‘I do not like myself,’ he said, staring in the mirror. ‘I will now dress in my own things again.’

‘Oh no—not yet!’ said Jack, quickly. ‘You don’t know who might recognize you suddenly if you did. You’ll have to be a girl until we get you to safety somewhere. Go on, now, Gussy—you like acting. You’ll give a marvellous performance!’

The vans went on again. The excitement quickly died down, and everyone grew silent. They were tired with their short night and the disturbances they had had. They stopped for a snack about six o’clock and then went on again.

They were now on a lonely country road. The surface was bad, and the vans had to go slowly. Nobody minded that. Circus-folk were never in a hurry except when their show was about to begin. Then everyone fell into a tremendous rush, and raced about in excitement.

They camped that, night in the hills. They all slept very soundly to make up for the lack of sleep the night before. Then they set out again, jogging on slowly, not really very certain where they were going.

The Boss suddenly decided that they had taken a wrong turning a few miles back. The vans were, turned round and back they all went, grumbling hard. They passed few people on the road, for they were now in a very lonely part.

‘I want shops,’ grumbled Ma. ‘I need to buy things. We all need to buy things. We must go to some place where there are shops. I will go to tell the Boss.’

But she didn’t, because she was afraid of him. She just went on grumbling. She wanted new cotton reels. She wanted some tinned fruit. She wanted hair-pins.

‘Cheer up, Ma—we may meet a travelling pedlar-van,’ said Pedro, getting tired of Ma’s grumbling.

‘What’s that?’ asked Jack.

‘Oh—a van that takes all kinds of things to lonely villages,’ said Pedro. ‘I don’t expect we shall meet one—but I’ve got to say something to keep Ma quiet!’

The Boss gave the order to camp early that night, and everyone was thankful. Soon fires were burning by the roadside and good smells came on the air.

Just as it was getting dusk, a small van came labouring up the hill on the slope of which the camp had been pitched. Madame Fifi saw it first and gave a shout.

Everyone looked up. ‘Ma! You’re in luck!’ called Pedro. ‘Here’s a pedlar’s van!’

The little black van drew up at the sight of the circus camp. Two men sat in the front of it, in the usual Tauri-Hessian clothes, sunburnt fellows, one small, one big and burly.

‘Better keep out of sight, Gussy,’ said Jack, suddenly. ‘You never know—this might be men sent to check over the camp again.’

‘Oh dear!’ sighed Lucy-Ann. ‘Don’t say they’re going to search all over again.’

The small man jumped out, went to the side of the van, and swung down half the wooden side, making a kind of counter. Inside the van, on shelves, were goods of every conceivable kind! Tins of meat, sardines and fruit. Tins of salmon and milk. Skeins of wool, reels of cotton, rolls of lace, bales of cheap cotton cloth. Safety-pins and hair-pins. Combs of all kinds. Soap. Sweets. Really, it was just like a little general shop seen in so many villages.

‘It sells everything!’ said Pedro. ‘Ma, do you want me to buy half the things for you?’

‘No. I’ll come myself,’ said Ma, who enjoyed a bit of shopping. ‘Stay here, Anna-Maria!’

‘Can we go and have a look at the shop, do you think?’ asked Dinah. ‘You’ve got some Hessian money, haven’t you, Jack? I do really want to buy some soap, and a few other things. Surely that van is genuine—those men can’t be spies, sent to search the camp again!’