Mr Galliano's Circus Page 14

  “Jumbo! Jumbo! What are you doing?” cried Jimmy in a fright. The man struggled, but it was no use, he could not get away from the elephant.

  And then suddenly Jimmy saw who the man was. He was Harry, the bad man who had been odd-job man to the circus before Mr. Brown had joined it—the man who had run off with all the circus money, and had never been found.

  A policeman came running up. “What’s all this—now what’s all this?” he said sternly. “What’s your elephant doing?”

  “He’s caught the man who stole the money from the circus,” said Jimmy. “That’s Harry in his trunk! Jumbo won’t hurt him—he’s just got hold of him to take him back to the circus, I expect. Elephants never forget a kindness, or an unkindness, you know—and this man was unkind to Jumbo. Now Jumbo has remembered and has got Harry.”

  A crowd, with the policeman at the head, followed old Jumbo, who plodded back to the circus, holding Harry firmly. Harry was not in the least hurt, but he was very frightened at the thought of meeting Mr. Galliano, whom he had robbed some months back.

  Only when Jumbo was at Mr. Galliano’s caravan did he put Harry down—and the policeman at once took hold of his arm. Mr. Galliano appeared in astonishment—and very soon Harry was marched off by the policeman, who had written down in his notebook all about the money Harry had stolen.

  “What did I tell you?” said Mr. Tonks to Jimmy and Lotta. “An elephant never forgets! If Harry hadn’t teased Jumbo, Jumbo would have passed him by today; but he did him a bad turn, and Jumbo remembered it and caught Harry.”

  “What an exciting day!” sighed Jimmy, setting off once more with Jumbo to fetch his caravan. He got to the field at last, hitched Jumbo to his lovely yellow caravan and set off back to the camp again. It was dark when he got there, but all the circus-folk were waiting to greet him and cheer the new caravan.

  “Hurray! Here comes Jimmy—my, what a fine caravan!” shouted Lotta. How excited all the circus-folk were when they saw the marvellous caravan. They had to look at everything though it was getting very late. But at last the beds were made in three of the four bunks, the door was shut, and the Brown family settled themselves to sleep in their beautiful new home. Lucky had a basket of her own, and she slept proudly on a yellow blanket to match the caravan.

  “Goodnight, Lucky,” said Jimmy sleepily. “You are Lucky by name and lucky by nature! Goodnight, best little dog in the world!”

  THE TWO MARVELLOUS BROTHERS

  When Jimmy awoke the next morning in the new caravan, he looked round in delight. The sun shone through the windows and lighted up everything. All was new and gleaming. How happy his mother would be in a home like this! Jimmy loved living in a house on wheels. It was most exciting.

  The circus was moving off to its next show-place early that morning. Soon the Browns were up and took their turn at washing in the fine wash-basin. Jimmy’s mother folded back the three bunk-beds out of the way, and set the table for breakfast, which she cooked on the bright little stove in the corner.

  “I shall love following the circus and belonging to it now I have a fine new caravan,” said Mrs. Brown happily. “I just couldn’t bear having to live in a mess and a muddle, and being dirty and untidy, like most of the circus-folk. I like them very much—they are generous and kind-hearted—but, oh dear! they really are not very clean or tidy.”

  “Perhaps when they see our fine gleaming caravan they will want one like it, and be tidy and clean too,” said Jimmy; but Mr. Brown said no, the folk were too old to alter their ways now.

  “Lotta’s not too old,” said Jimmy’s mother. “She will see our caravan and perhaps mend her ways a bit, the untidy little thing.”

  Jimmy laughed. Lotta was certainly untidy, though she could look beautiful enough in the ring, dressed up in her fine clothes. But he did not think that even his mother could make Lotta wash behind her ears each morning.

  The circus set off once more. Everyone was talking about how Jumbo had caught Harry the night before, and the elephant was quite a hero. Mr. Tonks was proud of him. Harry would be well punished, there was no doubt of that. Maybe he would not be unkind to an animal again.

  On went the circus to its next show-place. There it settled in and once more gave its show every night. Everyone worked hard, and again the circus was a success, especially Jimmy and Lucky. How people stood up and cheered when they saw Lucky following Jimmy on the tight-rope, walking on her hind legs, and carrying her little sunshade! Jimmy and Lucky had their pictures in the papers, and Mrs. Brown cut them out and pinned them on the walls of the caravan.

  On went the circus again, and yet again. Always it seemed to be on the move. Sometimes it stayed only three nights at a town, sometimes two or three weeks. Christmas drew near, and Mr. Galliano planned an extra big circus just outside a very big town. He drew up the programme carefully.

  “I must get one more turn,” he said to Mrs. Galliano. “I will get the two Marvel Brothers, yes. They sit on trapeze seats high in the air, and catch one another as they swing. It is a thing that people love, yes.”

  So the two Marvel Brothers came to join the circus. They were short, strong men with beautiful straight bodies and bright, clear eyes. They brought with them a thin little dog, a black spaniel with sad brown eyes and floppy ears.

  Jimmy made friends with the spaniel that same day. Its name was Lulu, and it snuggled up to Jimmy as if it had known him all its life.

  “Lotta, isn’t this dog thin?” said Jimmy, feeling it. “I wonder if there’s anything wrong with it.”

  “Perhaps the Marvel Brothers don’t feed it enough,” said Lotta. “I’ll give her some biscuits when I next feed our own dogs. I don’t much like those two new circus-men, Jimmy. They smile too much.”

  “Smile too much?” said Jimmy, in surprise. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you watch them next time you see them,” said Lotta. “They smile with their mouths and show all their lovely white teeth—but they don’t smile with their eyes like you do and everyone else.”

  Lotta was right. Jan and Yol, the two trapeze performers, never smiled with their eyes—but they smiled with their mouths a hundred times a day, saying wonderful things to everyone, and trying to make people think they were the most marvellous brothers in the world.

  They certainly were marvellous. The first time Jimmy saw them swinging on their bar-swings, high up in the top of the big tent, flying from one swing to another, and catching one another in mid-air, he gazed in astonishment. He was dreadfully afraid they would fall.

  “Fall!” said Jan scornfully, when Jimmy told him this one day. “You do not know what you are talking about, boy. I have been doing these things since I was two. My father and my mother, my grandfather and my great-grandfather, were all trapeze-folk.”

  The spaniel, Lulu, came up just then and sprawled over Jan’s feet. He kicked it away impatiently. Jimmy went red with anger.

  “Don’t do that,” he said. “You hurt the dog.”

  “Well, it’s my dog, isn’t it?” said Jan, and he would have kicked the spaniel again if it had not gone out of his reach. Jimmy didn’t say a word more. He went off to tell Lotta. She nodded her head.

  “They are clever men, but not good,” she said. “Don’t let Lucky go near them, Jimmy.”

  Jimmy was careful to keep Lucky away from the Marvel Brothers, for after he had told Jan not to kick Lulu, both brothers seemed to dislike him.

  Then another thing happened that made Jimmy even more careful. His father had to put up and test the big steel posts and bars from which the strong swings hung on which Jan and Yol swung each night. Mr. Brown was always careful to see that these were exactly right, for he knew that if anything went wrong, Jan or Yol might fall.

  One night Jan missed catching his brother as Yol came flying through the air from his swing. Yol fell into the net below, where he bounced up and down. He was soon up again and on his swing—but Mr. Galliano was angry.

  “If you do that again I shall not
pay you so much money,” he told the two sulky brothers. “You know why you made that mistake? It is because you do not practise enough. You will practise every day from now—yes?”

  “It wasn’t our fault,” said Jan; “the posts were not put up right. They had slipped a little. Brown had not done the job well.”

  So Jimmy’s father was called to Mr. Galliano’s caravan. But he knew quite well that he had tested every screw, every post, every bar—and Mr. Galliano believed him, for he had found Brownie to be an honest and truthful man.

  This made Jan and Yol dislike Jimmy even more, and they lay in wait for him behind caravans and tripped him up. The little boy was not used to people disliking him and it made him very unhappy. Also he was dreadfully afraid they might harm Lucky. He took her with him wherever he went.

  Lulu the spaniel tried to go with Jimmy as much as she could. Jimmy fed her, for he knew quite well she didn’t get enough food from Jan and Yol. Lulu lay on the steps of Jimmy’s caravan all day long. She loved Jimmy and Lotta. But Jan and Yol were angry when they found that their dog followed the boy and girl about so much. They whipped her and shut her up in their own caravan, where she howled and scratched at the door for hours.

  Jimmy and Lotta dared not let Lulu out, but they were miserable about it. The brothers’ caravan was right at the end of the circus-field, and nobody but the two children could hear the dog. They didn’t know what to do.

  “I wish they’d never come to the circus,” said Jimmy gloomily. “They are the first people I haven’t liked.”

  “Oh, all circus-people aren’t nice,” said Lotta, laughing at Jimmy’s gloomy face. “But it’s funny to meet two that don’t like animals. Most circus-folk love them.”

  “They’ve been telling everyone that my father doesn’t do his work properly,” said Jimmy. “I don’t mind what they say about me—but I won’t have them saying things about my father.”

  “Brownie is a good sort,” said Lotta, who was very fond of Jimmy’s father. “Cheer up, Jimmy. Let’s go and take the dogs for a walk.”

  “I wish we could take Lulu too,” said Jimmy. But that was impossible.

  That night, when the Marvel Brothers went up the steps of their caravan and opened the door, they fell headlong over Lulu, who rushed to welcome them. Yol hit his head against a chair and fell into a great rage.

  He picked up a whip and beat poor Lulu hard. Then he turned the dog out into the bitter frosty night and banged the door on her. The little dog lay under the caravan, shivering with cold. After a while she crept to Lotta’s caravan, which was the nearest, and whined. Lotta, who always awoke at a dog’s bark or whine, sat up and listened. Lulu whined again.

  In a trice the little girl was out of bed and lit a candle. She opened the door and saw poor Lulu there, bleeding from a cut over her eye where Yol had hit her very hard. Lotta threw on a coat, slipped out of the caravan, and went to wake Jimmy. The two children bathed the dog’s cut, whispered angrily about Yol and Jan, and then Jimmy put Lucky at the foot of his own bed, and put Lulu into Lucky’s basket. She was still shivering with cold, so he heated some milk for her and covered her up well.

  In the morning Lotta and Jimmy went to Mr. Galliano with Lulu. They told him how she had come to them in the middle of the night, cold and hurt. Mr. Galliano listened and his face grew dark.

  “No one shall stay in my circus who is cruel to an animal,” he said. “Hey, Mr. Wally! Tell Jan and Yol I want to see them.”

  Jan and Yol came, smiling and showing their strong white teeth. Jimmy and Lotta had gone with Lulu. Mr. Galliano was standing by his caravan, whip in hand, his top-hat perfectly straight on his head.

  “Here is your money,” he said to the two surprised brothers. “Take it and leave. I will not have anyone with me who treats a dog as you treat yours. You will leave the dog behind, yes.”

  “But, Mr. Galliano,” said Jan, forgetting to smile, “you can’t do this. We bring hundreds of people to see your Christmas circus. We are famous.”

  “I don’t care if nobody comes at all,” said Mr. Galliano, with a loud crack of his whip. “You are clever, yes, but it is not enough to be clever only. Leave this morning.”

  The two brothers did not dare to say any more. With dark, sulky faces they rolled away in their green caravan, leaving Lulu behind. Jimmy and Lotta watched them go. Everyone was glad.

  “Good old Galliano!” said Lilliput, who was wearing Jemima the monkey round his neck as usual. “Trust him to send off any rascals, even if he loses money in doing so.”

  “He made them leave Lulu behind, and they did,” said Jimmy. “Lotta and I are going to share her. She isn’t at all clever, but she is a loving, gentle creature, and Lucky loves her.”

  “Jan and Yol would not dare to take Lulu with them after Galliano had forbidden them to,” said Lilliput. “He could send word to every circus in the country, and no one would take the Marvel Brothers again. I have heard that they have been turned out of two other circuses before this.”

  “Woof!” said Lulu, and tugged at Jimmy’s bootlace. “I am glad to be your dog now. Woof!”

  LOTTA IS UNHAPPY

  The Christmas holidays were over, and the month of January was slipping away. The circus had done well all through Christmas and afterwards, and now it was on the move again. It had a long way to go to its next show-place, and Jimmy was pleased to think that his mother had such a big, comfortable caravan to live in. He was very proud of the spick-and-span home on wheels that he had been able to get for her.

  Jimmy’s mother kept it beautifully, too—not as most of the caravans were kept. The circus-folk were kindly, generous, brave people, but they were not very clean and dreadfully untidy. Lotta was beginning to be much cleaner and tidier, though—she was brushing her pretty hair every day and tying it back, and her face at least was clean. She was better at her lessons too, and was reading very well.

  Lal was delighted. She came to see Mrs. Brown one day and thanked her.

  “Lotta is a different child since you and Jimmy came,” she said, pleased. “She was such a little harum-scarum thing, and I wasn’t much good at dealing with her—but now I am quite proud of her.”

  “Well, you’ve done a lot for Jimmy too,” said Mrs. Brown. “You and Laddo have taught him to ride well, and helped him with animals—and you bought him his wonderful dog, Lucky.”

  Jimmy and Lotta were always together. They sometimes quarrelled, especially when Lotta had one of her naughty days, when she made faces and pinched and punched poor Jimmy all for nothing—but they always made it up, and thought the world of one another.

  “Won’t it be lovely when the spring days come and we can go for walks in the early morning?” said Lotta, who loved the fresh dawns of the countryside. “We shall be at Westsea for Easter, and that’s a lovely place—we can take the dogs out for a run on the beach before breakfast each day.”

  “I shall love the summer again too,” said Jimmy. “The smell of the May as we go down the lanes—and the birds singing—and the blue sky, like forget-me-nots—lovely!”

  They were sitting in Jimmy’s caravan, whilst Mrs. Brown did some mending. It was too cold to sit on the caravan steps now when the circus was moving. The cold wind came and nipped their legs and hands and made them shiver there. Mrs. Brown would not let them get cold—so they had to come inside, and talk and play there.

  It was fun to look out of the big side-window and see the towns they passed. Jimmy felt quite sorry for people who lived in houses now. A home on wheels was such fun—you could go where you liked, see fresh places and new people, and then, when the time came, off you went again on rumbling wheels! Lovely!

  After a whole week’s travelling the circus came to its next show-place. It was February now, and the days were beginning to get longer. The birds sang madly in the early morning. Jimmy lay and listened to them. He tried to whistle as they did, and sometimes his imitation was so good that the blackbirds answered him, and the starlings sat on the chim
ney of the caravan and made fizzy, spluttery noises, thinking there was another starling down below.

  The little boy was very happy and so was Lotta—until a dreadful thing happened.

  Jimmy had noticed Lal and Laddo, Lotta’s father and mother, looking rather grave and solemn the last few days, but neither he nor Lotta knew why. Sometimes they had sent Lotta out of the caravan, saying they wanted to talk over something. It was all most mysterious.

  Jimmy wondered what it was all about—and then he knew. One morning he missed Lotta and couldn’t find her anywhere. He hunted all round the circus-field. He asked Oona and Lilliput and Mr. Tonks if they had seen the little girl, but nobody had. She really seemed to have quite disappeared.

  “Wherever can she be?” thought Jimmy, quite worried. And then at last he found her.

  She was huddled underneath her own caravan, curled up in a big old box that stood on its side. And she was crying bitterly, with Lulu the spaniel licking her face.

  Jimmy crawled under the caravan, alarmed. It was so unlike Lotta to cry. Whatever could be the matter?

  “Lotta! What is it? Come out and tell me!” he begged.

  But Lotta wouldn’t come out, and she wouldn’t stop crying. Her face was dirty and tear-stained and her eyes were swollen. Jimmy sat down beside her and put his arm round her. The little girl snuggled against him and cried hot tears all down his shirt.

  “Lotta, you might tell me what’s the matter,” said Jimmy. “Are you ill? Have you been punished for something?”

  Lotta did not answer at first—but gradually her sobs stopped and she began to speak.

  “Oh, Jimmy! Lal and Laddo are leaving the circus—and they’re not taking me with them. And I’ve got to go to Uncle Benjy and live with him—till they come back.”