The Circus of Adventure Read online

  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 clucked 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 hehind 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?’

  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 Mas 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 Mas 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 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 hairpins.

  ‘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 hairpins. Combs of all kinds. Soap. Sweets. Really, it was just like a little general shop seen in so many villages.
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br />   ‘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!’

  ‘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 hairpins 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 cross. ‘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!’

  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 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-Bill,’ 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 isyou, 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 tablecloth 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 cau
ght 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 amazing 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?’