Five Have a Wonderful Time (12 page)

They took Timmy by the collar, and went out through the turnstiles, click-click-click. "I feel like having a couple of doughnuts at the dairy," said George. "And some lemonade. Anyone else feel the same?"

Everyone did, including Timmy, who barked at once.

"Timmy's silly over those doughnuts," said George. "He just wolfs them down."

"It's a great waste," said Anne. "He ate four last time — more than anyone else had."

They walked down to the village. "You go and order what we want," said Julian, "and I'll just go and look up this Society. It may have an office somewhere in this district."

He went to the post office to use the telephone there, and the rest of them trooped in at the door of the bright little dairy. The plump shopwoman welcomed them beamingly. She considered them her best customers, and they certainly were.

They were each on their second doughnut when Julian came back. "Any news?" asked Dick.

"Yes," said Julian. "Peculiar news, though. I found the address of the Society — they've got a branch about fifty miles from here, that deals with all the old buildings for a radius of a hundred miles. I asked if they had any recent booklet about the castle."

He stopped to take a doughnut, and bit into it. The others waited patiently while he chewed.

"They said they hadn't. The last time they had checked over Faynights Castle was two years ago."

"But — but what about those two men who came from the Society last week, then?" said George.

"Yes. That's what
I
said," answered Julian, taking another bite. "And here's the peculiar bit. They said they didn't know what I was talking about, nobody had been sent there from the Society, and who was I, anyhow?"

"Hmm!" said Dick, thinking hard. "Then — those men were examining and exploring the castle for their own reasons!"

"I agree," said Julian. "And I can't help thinking that the face at the window and those two men have something to do with one another. It's quite clear that the men had nothing whatever to do with any official society — they merely gave it as an excuse because they wanted to find out what kind of hiding-place the castle had."

The others stared at him, feeling a familiar excitement rising in them — what George called the "adventure feeling".

"Then there
was
a real face at that tower window, and there
is
a way of getting up there," said Anne.

"Yes," said Julian. "I know it sounds very far-fetched, but I do think there is just a possibility that those two scientists have gone there. I don't know if you read it in the paper, but one of them, Jeffrey Pottersham, has written a book on famous ruins. He would know all about Faynights Castle, because it's a very well-known one.

If they wanted to hide somewhere till the hue and cry had died down, and then escape to another country, well…"

"They could hide in the tower, and then quietly slip out from the castle one night, go down to the sea, and hire a fishing-boat!" cried Dick, taking the words out of Julian's mouth. "They'd be across the Channel in no time."

"Yes. That's what I'd worked out too," said Julian. "I rather think I'll telephone Uncle Quentin about this. I'll describe the face as well as I can to him. I feel this is all rather too important to manage quite on our own.

Those men may have extremely important secrets."

"It's an adventure again," said Jo, her face serious, but her eyes very bright. "Oh — I'm
glad
I'm in it too!"

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EVERYONE began to feel distinctly excited. "I think I'll catch the bus into the next town," said Julian. "The telephone-box here is too easily overheard. I'd rather go to a kiosk somewhere in a street, where nobody can hear what I'm saying."

"All right. You go," said Dick. "We'll do some shopping and go back to the caravans. I wonder what Uncle Quentin will say!"

Julian went off to the bus-stop. The others wandered in and out of the few village shops, doing their marketing. Tomatoes, lettuces, mustard and cress, sausage rolls, fruit cake, tins of fruit, and plenty of creamy milk in big quart bottles.

They met some of the fair-folk in the street, and everyone was very friendly indeed. Mrs. Alfredo was there with an enormous basket, nearly as big as herself. She beamed and called across to them.

"You see I have to do my shopping myself! That big bad man is too lazy to do it for me. And he has no brains. I tell him to bring back meat and he brings fish, I tell him to buy cabbage and he brings lettuce. He has no brains!"

The children laughed. It was strange to find great big Alfredo, a real fire-eater, ordered about and grumbled at by his tiny little wife.

"It's a change to find them all so friendly," said George, pleased. "Long may it last. There's the snake-man, Mr. Slither — he hasn't got his snakes with him, though."

"He'd have the whole village to himself if he did!" said Anne. "I wonder what he buys to feed his snakes on."

"They're only fed once a fortnight," said Jo. "They swallow…"

"No, don't tell me," said Anne, hastily. "I don't really want to know. Look, there's Skippy."

Skippy waved cheerily. She carried bags filled to bursting too. The fair-folk certainly did themselves well.

"They must make a lot of money," said Anne.

"Well, they spend it when they have it," said Jo. "They never save. It's either a good time for them or a very bad time. They must have had a good run at the last show-place—they all seem very rich!"

They went back to the camp and spent a very interesting day, because the fair-folk, eager to make up for their unfriendly behaviour, made them all very welcome. Alfredo explained his fire-eating a little more, and showed how he put wads of cotton wool at the hook-end of his torches, and then soaked them in petrol to flare easily.

The rubber-man obligingly wriggled in and out of the wheel-spokes of his caravan, a most amazing feat. He also doubled himself up, and twisted his arms and legs together in such a peculiar manner that he seemed to be more like a four-tentacled octdpus than a human being.

He offered to teach Dick how to do this, but Dick couldn't even bend himself properly double. He was disappointed because he couldn't help thinking what a marvellous trick it would be to perform in the playing-field at school.

Mr. Slither gave them a most entertaining talk about snakes, and ended up with some information about poisonous snakes that he said they might find very useful indeed.

"Take rattlers now," he said, "or mambas, or any poisonous snake. If you want to catch one to tame, don't go after it with a stick, or pin it to the ground. That frightens it and you can't do anything with it."

"What do you have to do then?" asked George.

"Well, you want to watch their forked tongues," said Mr. Slither, earnestly. "You know how they put them out, and make them quiver and shake?"

"Yes," said everyone.

"Well, now, if a poisonous snake makes its tongue go all stiff without a quiver in it, just be careful," said Mr.

Slither, solemnly. "Don't you touch it then. But if its tongue is nice and quivery, just slide your arms along its body, and it will let you pick it up." He went through the motions he described, picking up a pretend snake and letting its body slither through his arms. It was fascinating to watch, but very weird.

"Thanks most awfully," said Dick. "Whenever I pick up poisonous snakes, I'll do exactly as you say."

The others laughed. Dick sounded as if he went about picking up poisonous snakes every day! Mr. Slither was pleased to have such an appreciative audience. George and Anne, however, had firmly made up their minds that they were not going even to
look
at a snake's tongue if it put it out — they were going to run for miles!

There were a few more fair-folk there that the children didn't know much about — Dacca, the tap-dancer, who put on high boots and tap-danced for the children on the top step of her caravan — Pearl, who was an acrobat and could walk on a wire-rope, dance on it, and turn somersaults over it, landing back safely each time

— and others who belonged to the show but only helped with the crowds and the various turns.

Jo didn't know them all, but she was soon so much one of them that the children began to wonder if she would ever go back to her foster-mother again!

"She's exactly like them all now," said George. "Cheerful and dirty, slap-dash and generous, lazy and yet hardworking too! Bufflo practises for hours at his rope-spinning, but he lies about for hours too. They're queer folk, but I really do like them very much."

The others agreed with her heartily. They had their lunch without Julian, because he hadn't come back. Why was he so long? He only had to telephone his uncle!

He came back at last. "Sorry I'm so late," he said, "but first of all I couldn't get any answer at all, so I waited a bit in case Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin were out — and I had lunch while I waited. Then I telephoned again, and Aunt Fanny was in, but Uncle Quentin had gone to London and wouldn't be back till night."

"To London!" said George, astonished. "He hardly ever goes to London."

"Apparently he went up about these two missing scientists," said Julian. "He's so certain that his friend Terry-Kane isn't a traitor, and he went up to tell the authorities so. Well, I couldn't wait till night, of course."

"Didn't you report our news then?" said Dick, disappointed.

"Yes. But I had to tell Aunt Fanny," said Julian. "She said she would repeat it all to Uncle Quentin when he came back tonight. It's a pity I couldn't get hold of him and find out what he thinks. I asked Aunt Fanny to tell him to write to me at once."

After tea they sat on the hillside again, basking in the sun. It really was wonderful weather for them. Julian looked over to the ruined castle opposite. He fixed his eyes on the tower where they had seen the face. It was so far away that he could only just make out the window-slit.

"Get your glasses, George" he said. "We may as well have another squint at that window. It was about this time that we saw the face."

George fetched them. She would not give them to Julian first though — she put them to her own eyes and gazed at the window. At first she saw nothing — and then, quite suddenly, a face appeared at the window!

George was so astonished that she cried out.

Julian snatched the glasses from her. He focused them on the window and saw the face at once. Yes — the same as yesterday — eyebrows and all!

Dick took the glasses, and then each of them in turn gazed at the strange face. It did not move at all, as far as they could see, but simply stared. Then, when Anne was looking at it, it suddenly disappeared and did not come back again.

"Well — we
didn't
imagine it yesterday then," said Julian. "It's there all right. And where there's a face, there should be a body. Er — did any of you think that the face had a — a sort of — despairing expression."

"Yes," said Dick and the others agreed. "I thought so yesterday, too," said Dick. "Do you suppose the fellow, whoever he is, is being kept prisoner up there?"

"It looks like it," said Julian. "But how in the world did he get there? It's a marvellous place to put him, of course. Nobody would ever dream of a hiding-place like that — and if it hadn't been for us looking at the jackdaws through very fine field-glasses, we'd never have seen him looking out. It was a chance in a thousand that we saw him."

"In a
million
," said Dick. "Look here, Ju — I think we ought to go up to the castle and yell up to the fellow

— he might be able to yell back, or throw a message out."

"He would have thrown out a message before now if he'd been able to," said Julian. "As for yelling, he'd have to lean right out of that thick-walled window to make himself heard. He's right at the back of it, remember, and the slit is very deep."

"Can't we go and find out something?" said George, who was longing to take some action. "After all, Timmy got in somewhere, and we might be able to as well."

"That's quite an idea," said Julian. "Timmy
did
find a way in — and it may be the way that leads up to the top of the tower."

"Let's go then," said George at once.

"Not now," said Julian. "We'd be seen if we scrambled about on the hill outside the castle walls. We'd have to go at night. We could go when the moon comes up."

A shiver of excitement ran through the whole five. Timmy thumped his tail on the ground. He had been listening all the time, just as if he understood.

"We'll take you too, Timmy," said George, "just in case we run into any trouble."

"We shan't get into trouble," said Julian. "We're only going to explore — and I don't think for a minute we'll find much, because I'm sure we shan't be able to get up into the tower. But I expect you all feel like I do — you can't leave this mystery of the face at the window alone — you want to
do
something about it, even if it's only scrambling round the old walls at night."

"Yes. That's
exactly
how I feel," said George. "I wouldn't be able to go to sleep tonight, I know. Oh Julian

— isn't this exciting?"

"Very," said Julian. "I'm glad we didn't leave today, after all! We should have, if we hadn't seen that face at the window."

The sun went down and the air grew rather cold. They went into the boys' caravan and played cards, not feeling at all sleepy. Jo was very bad at cards, and soon stopped playing. She sat watching, her arm round Timmy's neck.

They had a supper of sausage rolls and tinned strawberries. "It's a pity they don't have meals like this at school," said Dick. "No trouble to prepare, and most delicious to eat. Julian — is it time to go?"

"Yes," said Julian. "Put on warm things — and we'll set off! Here's to a really adventurous night!"

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THEY waited till the moon went behind a cloud, and then, like moving shadows, made their way down the hillside as fast as they could. They did not want any of the fair-folk to see them. They clambered over the stile and went up the lane. They made their way up the steep path to the castle, but when they came to the little tower where the turnstile was they went off to the right, and walked round the foot of the great, thick walls.