The Circus of Adventure (20 page)

‘No. I don’t think they can be,’ said Jack. ‘The van does seem quite genuine, as you say. All right—we’ll go and buy a few things. Not Gussy, though.’

So, while the others strolled off in the dusk to the little travelling shop, poor Gussy was left behind in Ma’s van. He was very cross.

The small man sold all the goods. The big man merely helped, handing down this and that, and wrapping up anything that needed it. He said nothing at all. The other man was a real talker. He chattered all the time, chaffed the women, and passed on little bits of news.

‘And what news have you got?’ he asked Ma and old Lucia, as he sold them hair-pins and combs. ‘You’ve come from the direction of Borken, haven’t you? Any news of the King there? He’s not been found yet, you know!’

Ma gave him her news, and described the clamour of the bells in the night. Old Lucia chimed in with a few remarks too.

‘Where’s little Prince Aloysius?’ she wanted to know. ‘They say he was sent to school in England. If the King is dead, the little Prince will have to be brought back, won’t he?’

‘We had soldiers searching our camp today,’ said Madame Fifi. ‘Though what they expected to find, I don’t know. The King perhaps!’

Everyone laughed. The chattering and buying went on for some time, and the pedlars did very well. Jack went up to buy some sweets for the girls, Kiki on his shoulder.

‘Good-morning, good-night, good gracious!’ said Kiki, conversationally, to the pedlar who was serving. He laughed. But the other man didn’t. He turned round and looked very sharply at Kiki indeed. Jack felt uncomfortable. Why did the second man look round like that? He tried to see what he was like, but it was now dark, and difficult to see inside the little van.

Lucy-Ann pointed to some toffee. ‘I’d like some of that,’ she said, in English. Jack saw the man at the back of the van stiffen. He seemed to be listening for what Lucy-Ann might say next. He reached up to a shelf, took down a tin, and then stood still again, as Lucy-Ann spoke once more.

‘Let’s have a tin of pineapple, Kiki likes that.’

The man swung round. Jack hurriedly pushed Lucy-Ann back into the darkness. This fellow was a spy! He was sure of it! He took another look at him, but could not make out very much. A head of black, curly hair, such as all the Tauri-Hessians had—a small black moustache—that was about all Jack could see.

‘What’s up, Jack?’ said Lucy-Ann, in astonishment as he hurried her away from the van, pulling Dinah and Philip with him too.

He told them hurriedly what he thought and they were very worried. They rushed back to Ma’s van to see if Gussy was all right. To their great relief, he was there, looking very sulky. ‘Though why we should think he wouldn’t be there, I don’t know,’ said Jack. ‘Gussy, get out your embroidery. We’ve seen somebody suspicious. He heard Lucy-Ann talking in English, and Kiki too, and he was much too interested!’

‘Well—we’ll hope he clears off soon,’ said Philip. ‘I’ll go and watch, and tell you when they’re gone.’

But the pedlar’s van didn’t go! The two men shut up the side of the van, safely locking up all their goods, and then sat outside with a little camp-fire, cooking some kind of meal.

‘They’re staying the night,’ reported Philip. ‘Not too good, is it? And Madame Fifi told me that the small man has been asking questions about Kiki—if the boy who owns her belongs to the camp—and where his caravan is!’

‘Blow!’ said Jack. ‘What can we do? We can’t possibly run away. I’ve no idea at all where we are—miles away from anywhere, that’s certain! Well—we can only hope for the best. We’ll sleep as usual under the girls’ van, and Gussy can be with Ma. After all, he’s the important one—we’re not really important, except that Gussy escaped with us, and presumably the Count will think that wherever we are, Gussy will be too!’

The girls went to their van and undressed to go to sleep. Gussy was safely with Ma. The three boys lay on the rugs below the girls’ van as usual. Pedro soon fell asleep, but Jack and Philip were worried, and lay awake, whispering.

Suddenly Jack clutched Philip. ‘I can hear someone,’ he whispered, in his ear. ‘Someone crawling near this van.’

Jack sat up cautiously and felt for his torch. Yes—someone was near the van, crawling quietly on all fours. Jack flicked on his torch at once.

A surprised face was caught in the light. A man was on hands and knees nearby. It was the big pedlar from the little van! His black hair showed up plainly in the beam of the torch.

‘What do you want?’ said Jack, fiercely. ‘What do you mean by crawling around like this? I’ll raise the camp, and have them all after you!’

Chapter 27

A SURPRISE—AND A PLAN

‘Sh!’ said the man, urgently. ‘I . . .’

And then, before he could say another word, a very strange thing happened! Kiki, who had been watching the man in the greatest surprise, suddenly spread her wings and flew to his shoulder! She rubbed her beak against his cheek in the most loving manner, crooning like a dove.

‘Kiki!’ said the man, and stroked her neck.

‘Silly-Billy,’ said Kiki, lovingly. ‘Silly-Billy, put the kettle on, send for the doctor!’

Jack was so astonished that he simply couldn’t say a word. Why in the world was Kiki behaving like that—and how did this man know her? It was Philip who guessed. He suddenly rolled himself over on hands and knees, and crawled at top speed from under the wagon.

‘Bill! BILL! This must be a dream! Bill, it is you, isn’t it? Are you wearing a wig?’

With a grin, the big man stripped off the whole of his black hair—yes, he was wearing a wig! And without it he looked himself at once, in spite of the little black moustache which, of course, was merely stuck on.

‘Bill, oh, Bill! I can’t believe it!’ said Philip. Bill put out his great hand and the two shook hands solemnly for quite a long time. Then Jack joined them, his eyes almost falling out of his head. It must be a dream! This couldn’t be real!

But it was. It was Bill himself. He asked eagerly about the girls. ‘I was so relieved to see them both looking so well,’ he said. ‘Though I hardly knew them in that get-up they were wearing. But I knew Lucy-Ann’s clear high voice all right—and I spotted Kiki too, of course. I couldn’t believe it when I saw her on your shoulder, Jack. I really couldn’t. Where are the girls? In this van here?’

‘Yes. We heard that you had made enquiries about where our van was,’ said Jack. ‘And we thought you were spies! We didn’t guess it was you, and that you wanted to come and find us in the night. Let’s get into the van and wake the girls. We’ll wake old Pedro too. He’s a great friend of ours.’

Soon an extremely excited company of six people and a parrot sat in Pedro’s little van. Lucy-Ann hung on to Bill and wouldn’t let him move even an inch from her. Tears ran down her cheeks and she kept brushing them away.

‘I can’t help it, Bill, I’m not really crying, it’s just because I’m so happy again, I just can’t help it, Bill!’ said poor Lucy-Ann, laughing through the tears that simply poured down her face.

Bill took out an enormous hanky and patted her eyes. He was very fond of Lucy-Ann. ‘You make me think of Gussy,’ he said, ‘and the time when Philip took a kitchen table-cloth to dry his tears! Cheer up—we’re all together again—and you can give me most valuable information!’

‘How’s Mother?’ said Philip. ‘Is she very worried?’

‘Very!’ said Bill. ‘She and I were caught and tied up the night you were kidnapped. We couldn’t get free. We had to wait till Mrs. Gump came along the road next morning on her way to the cottage, and call out to her. By that time, of course, all trace of you had been lost. We’ve had the police hunting every county in England for you! We didn’t dare to say Gussy had gone too, because we didn’t want the news to get to the Tauri-Hessians.’

‘We went off in a plane, after a car had taken us away,’ said Philip. ‘Jack hid in the boot of the car and then stowed away in the plane—so he knew where we had gone. We were imprisoned in Borken Castle with Gussy—and Jack managed to rescue us!’

‘I joined this circus with Kiki,’ explained Jack. ‘Pedro was a brick—he helped me no end. We got Toni and Bingo the acrobats to help in the rescue—phew, it was pretty dangerous!’

He told Bill all about it. Bill listened in amazement. These children! The things that happened to them—the way they tackled everything that came along, and never turned a hair. And now they had got Gussy safely with them, disguised as a girl!

‘But Bill—you haven’t told us what you’re doing here?’ said Jack. ‘Fancy you coming along in a pedlar’s van—all dressed up as a Tauri-Hessian—really, it’s too queer to be true.’

‘Well, it’s true all right,’ said Bill. ‘You see, when our Government learnt that the King of Tauri-Hessia had been captured—or killed, for all we know—it was absolutely essential that we should find out whether this was true or not—and it was essential we should find Gussy too, if possible. So, as the Tauri-Hessian Government had put Gussy into my charge, as you know, it was decided that I should be the one to come out and make inquiries.’

‘I see—spy round to see how the land lay,’ said Philip. ‘Did you think we might all be in Tauri-Hessia?’

‘Yes—I came to the conclusion that wherever Gussy had been taken, you would be there too—to be held as hostages, if our own Government made any trouble about Gussy,’ said Bill. ‘And as soon as the news came that the King had disappeared, we felt sure that Gussy would be somewhere in Borken, Count Paritolen’s own territory—and possibly the King might be held prisoner there too—so I and another man, who speaks Tauri-Hessian well, flew over straight away to do a spot of spying. Hence the pedlar’s van!’

‘Mother will be feeling awfully worried, with you gone too,’ said Dinah.

‘I’ll get a message through to her sometime tomorrow,’ said Bill. ‘Now, I wonder if you can tell me something—have you any sort of an idea at all where the King might be hidden?’

‘In Borken Castle,’ said Jack, promptly. ‘I’m sure of it! I’ll tell you why.’

He told Bill of how he had explored the castle—and how he had overheard the Count and Madame Tatiosa talking excitedly together. ‘That was the night before the King was known to have disappeared,’ said Jack. ‘I think their plans were going well—probably they even had him a prisoner somewhere then. And the obvious place to take him would be the Count’s own castle—he would then have Gussy there—and the King too—right under his hand! He could bargain with both, if he wanted to.’

Bill listened to this long speech with the greatest interest. ‘I think you’re right,’ he said. ‘I wish we could get into the castle and find out something. Ronald, the fellow who is with me, speaks the language like a native. I wonder if he could bluff his way in—say he’s a tradesman come to do a repair, or something.’

‘I know what we could do,’ said Jack, with a sudden surge of excitement. ‘I know a way in, Bill—the way I got out the first night I was there! It leads through secret passages up to the big ballroom. There’s a way into the ballroom from behind a great picture. I don’t know how to move the picture away, though—so as to get into the ballroom. That’s the snag.’

‘We’ll find out!’ said Bill. ‘Jack, this is great! Are you game to come with me—and Ronald too, my pal—and show us the way into the castle? If only we could find out whether the King is alive or not—or whether he’s a prisoner—it would be a great help. There’s one thing, the plans of the plotters must be greatly upset now that Gussy has gone! No King for the country—and no Prince to set in his place! Very difficult for them!’

‘I’ll come, Bill,’ said Jack, his face red with excitement.

‘I’ll come too,’ said Philip.

‘No—you must stay and keep an eye on the girls,’ said Bill. ‘I must have one of you with them. Keep an eye on Gussy too. Pedro can help there.’

‘Shall we go now?’ asked Jack, eagerly. ‘It’s a very dark night.’

‘The sooner the better,’ said Bill, and got up. ‘Wait here. I’ll fetch Ronnie. I’ll have to tell him a few things first though! My word, he’ll be astonished!’

Bill disappeared. For a moment the five said nothing. Kiki broke the silence. ‘Ding dong bell, Billy’s in the well,’ she said. ‘Pussy’s got a cold—a-chooo!’

‘Idiot!’ said Jack. ‘My word—what a night! Fancy BILL turning up here. It was Kiki who recognized him when he came crawling round the van. I didn’t.’

‘Everything will be all right now,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘It always is when Bill comes.’

‘Don’t talk too soon,’ said Dinah. ‘They’ve not got an easy job tonight!’

Bill came back with Ronnie, who seemed rather overcome at meeting so many people at once. He had much more to say as a pedlar than with Bill in Pedro’s van!

‘Well—are we ready?’ said Bill. ‘Come on then.’

They slipped out of the caravan, and Jack followed the two men. Their van was quite near, and Jack guessed what they were going to do. They were going to drive back to Borken. It wouldn’t take long, because it wasn’t really very far away. The circus procession of horse-drawn vans had gone at a walking pace the last two days, and had once had to retrace their steps as well. It wouldn’t take more than an hour to get to Borken.

They went off in the night, Ronnie driving. Kiki was on Jack’s shoulder. She meant to be in everything, no matter what it was!

They came to Borken. The town was in utter darkness. ‘Park the van in the field where the camp was,’ said Jack, and guided them to it. ‘The castle is only just up the steep slope of the hill then.’

They parked the van behind a big bush. Then they made their way up the steep slope to the castle. ‘There’s the bell-tower,’ said Jack, as they came nearer. ‘Better go cautiously in case there are people on guard. The Count must know that we escaped by means of the bell-tower. We had to leave Toni’s wire rope behind, stretched from tower to tower.’

Nobody seemed to be about, however. But Jack suddenly saw lights in the castle windows high above them. They blazed out of half a dozen windows—something was going on in the castle in the middle of that night, it was certain!

‘We might be able to have a look in on that,’ said Bill, staring at the lights. ‘Must be some kind of a conference going on.’