Five Have Plenty of Fun (13 page)

„I suppose you..." began Julian, and then stopped as Dick gave an exclamation.

„I"ve got an idea!" he said. „Suppose that caravan was moved for another reason -

suppose someone was making a row inside the van - someone shouting for help, say!

Gringo would have to move it away from the rest of the camp in case that someone was heard."

There was a pause, and then Spiky nodded. „Yes. It could be," he said. „I"ve never known Gringo move his caravan away from the camp before. Shal I do a bit of snooping for you?"

„Yes," said Julian, excited. „My word - it would be a bit of luck if we could find George so quickly - and so near us too! A Fair camp would be a fine place to hide her, of course.

Thank goodness we found that bit of paper with “Gringo” written on it!"

„Let"s al go to the Fair this afternoon," said Dick. „Timmy too. He"d smell out George at once."

„Hadn"t we better tell the police first?" said Julian. At once Spiky and Jo got up in alarm.

Spiky looked as if he were going to run away immediately!

„Don"t you get the police, Julian!" said Jo urgently. „You won"t get anything more out of Spiky, if you do. Not a thing."

„I"m going," said Spiky, stil looking terrified.

„No, you"re not," said Dick, and caught hold of him. „We shan"t go to the police. They might frighten off Gringo and make him smuggle George away at once. I"ve no doubt he has plans to do so at any minute. We shan"t say a word, so sit down and be sensible."

„You can believe him," Jo told Spiky. „He"s straight, see?"

Spiky sat down, stil looking wary. „If you"re coming to the Fair, come at four," he said. „It"s half-day closing today for the towns around, and the place wil be packed. If you want to do any snooping, you won"t be noticed in that crowd."

„Right," said Julian. „We"ll be there. Look out for us, Spiky, in case you"ve got any news."

Spiky then left, and the boys couldn"t help smiling at his back view - the spikes of hair at the top of his head were so very noticeable!

„You"d better stay to lunch with us, Jo," said Dick, and the delighted girl beamed all over her face.

„Wil Joan"s cousin mind you not being back to dinner?" asked Julian.

„No. I said I wouldn"t be back all day," said Jo. „It"s stil school holidays, you see. Anyway, I can"t stand that Jane - she moons about all the time - and she"s got some of my clothes on, too."

Jo sounded so indignant about Berta that the boys had to laugh. They all went back to Kirrin Cottage, and found Joan and Anne hard at work in the house.

„Well, you monkey!" said Joan to Jo. „Up to tricks as usual, I hear. Throwing stones at people"s windows in the middle of the night. You just try that on my window and see what happens to you! Now, put on that apron, and help round a bit. How"s Miss Jane?

Joan was most excited to hear about the boys" latest ideas as to where George might be.

Julian gave her a warning.

„But no ringing up the police behind our backs this time, Joan," he said. „This is something best done by Dick and me."

„Can"t I come with Sally?" asked Anne.

„We can"t possibly take Sal y," said Dick, „in case Gringo"s about and recognises her. So you"d better stay and look after her, and we"l take Timmy. He would be sure to smell where George is, if she"s hidden anywhere in the camp. But I think she"s probably in Gringo"s own caravan."

Timmy pricked up his ears every time he heard George"s name mentioned. He was a very miserable dog indeed, and kept running to the front gate, hoping to see George coming along. Whenever they missed him, they knew where to find him - lying mournful y on George"s empty bed - probably with an equal y mournful Sal y beside him!

The boys and Jo set off to the Fair about half past three, on their bicycles. Jo rode Anne"s this time, and Timmy ran valiantly beside them. Jo glanced at Dick"s bicycle from time to time, proud of its bril iant look - how well she had cleaned it that morning!

They came to the Fair. „You can put your bikes up against Spiky"s caravan," said Jo.

„They"l be safe there. Wil you pay, and then we"ll get in straightaway? You needn"t pay for me - I"m going through the gap in the hedge. I"m Spiky"s friend, so it"s all right."

She gave Dick her bicycle and disappeared. Julian paid and went in at the gate. They saw Jo waving wildly to them from the side of the big field and wheeled the three bicycles over to her, Timmy following closely at their heels.

„Hal o!" said Spiky, appearing suddenly. „See you soon! I"ve got to go and "tend to the roundabout. I"ve got a bit of news, but not much. That"s Gringo"s caravan over there, the double-one, big van in front, little van behind."

He nodded his head to where a most magnificent caravan stood, right away from the rest of the camp. There were people mil ing about al round the other vans, but there was nobody at all by Gringo"s. Evidently no one dared to go too near.

„I vote we buy a ball at one of the stands, and then go and play near Gringo"s caravan,"

said Dick, in a low voice. „Then one of us wil throw the bal too hard and it wil go near the van - and we"ll somehow manage to get a peep inside. Timmy can go sniffing round while we play. If George is there he"l bark the place down."

„Jolly good idea!" said Julian. „Come on, Jo! And keep your eyes open al the time in case you"ve got to warn us of danger."

The two boys and Jo, with Timmy at their heels, wandered round the Fair to find somewhere to buy a ball. There seemed to be none for sale, so they had a go at a Hoopla stal , and Julian managed to get a ring round a smal red ball. Just the thing!

It was a big and noisy Fair, and hundreds of people from the near-by towns had come on this shops" closing day to enjoy the fun. The roundabout played its loud, raucous music all the time, swings went to and fro, the dodgem cars banged and bumped one another as usual, and men went round shouting their wares.

„Bal oons! Giant bal oons! Three pence each!"

„Ice-cream! Al flavours."

„Tell your fortune, lady? I"l tell it true as can be!"

Jo was very much at home in the Fair. She had been brought up in one, and knew all the tricks of the trade. Timmy was rather amazed at the noise, and kept close to the boys, his tail stil down because he could not forget that George was missing.

„Now let"s play our little game of bal ," said Julian. „Come on, Tim - and if we get into any trouble, just growl and show your teeth, see?"

The three of them, with Timmy, went to the clear space of field that separated the magnificent caravan from the rest of the Camp. A man at a near-by stall called to them.

„Hey! You"l get into trouble if you play there!" But they took no notice and he shrugged his shoulders and began to shout his wares.

They threw the bal to one another, and then Julian flung it so wildly that it ran right up to the wheels of the front caravan of the pair. In a trice Dick and Jo were after it. Jo leapt up on a wheel and looked in at the big window, while Dick ran to the small van that was attached behind the big one.

A quick glance assured Jo that the big caravan was empty. The interior was furnished in a most luxurious way and looked like a very fine bed-sitting-room. She leapt down.

Dick peered into the window of the smal er van. At first he thought there was no one there

- and then he saw a pair of very fierce, angry eyes looking at him - the eyes of a smal , bent old woman with untidy hair. She looked rather like a witch, Dick thought. She was sitting sewing in a bunk, and, as he looked in, she shook her fist at him and cal ed out something he couldn"t hear.

He jumped down and joined the others. „No one at all in the big van," said Jo.

„Only a witch-like old woman in the other," reported Dick, in deep disappointment. „Unless George is pushed under a bunk or squashed into a cupboard, she"s certainly not there!"

„Timmy doesn"t seem interested in the caravans at all, does he?" said Julian. „I"m sure if George real y was in one of those caravans, he"d bark and try to get inside."

„Yes - I think he would," said Dick. „Hal o, there"s somebody coming out of the second van.

It"s the old lady! She"s in a fine old temper!"

So she was! She came down the steps to the van, shouting and shaking her fist at them.

„Tim - go and find, go and find - in that van!" said Julian, suddenly, as the old woman came towards them.

The three of them stood their ground as the old woman came right up. They couldn"t understand a word she said, partly because she had no teeth, and partly because she spoke a mixture of many languages. Anyway, it was quite obvious that she was ticking them off for daring to play near the two vans.

Timmy had understood what Julian had said, and had slipped inside the second van. He was there for half a minute, and then he barked. The boys jumped, and Dick made a move towards the van.

Then Timmy appeared, dragging something behind him with his teeth. He tried to bark at the same time, but he couldn"t. He dragged the coat-like thing right down to the ground before the old woman was on him, screaming in a high voice, and hitting him. She pul ed the garment away and went up the steps, kicking out at the surprised Timmy as he tried to pul it away. The door slammed.

„If that old woman hadn"t been old, Timmy would have soon shown her he was top dog!"

said Dick. „Whatever was he pul ing out of the van?"

„Come over here, out of sight of the van," said Julian, urgently. „Didn"t you recognise it, Dick? It was George"s dressing-gown!"

„My word!" said Dick, stopping in surprise. „Yes, you"re right - it was. Whew! What does that mean exactly? George certainly isn"t in those vans, or Timmy would have found her."

„I sent him in to see if he could smel that George had been hidden there," said Julian. „I thought he would bark excitedly if he smelt her scent anywhere - on the bunk, perhaps. I never guessed he"d find her dressing-gown and drag it out to show us!"

„Good old Timmy! Clever old Timmy!" said Dick, patting the dog, whose tail was now at half-mast instead of right down. He had at least found George"s dressing-gown - but how surprising to find it in that caravan!

„Why on earth didn"t they take the dressing-gown with them, when they took George off?" wondered Julian. „There"s no doubt that she has been in that caravan - she was taken straight there the night before last, I expect. Where is she now?"

„She must have been dressed differently," said Dick. „They must have had to dress her properly, when they took her somewhere else. After all, she was only in pyjamas and dressing-gown."

Jo was listening to all this, puzzled and worried. She nudged Dick. „Spiky"s beckoning to us," she said. They went over to the roundabout boy, whose father was now in charge of the noisy machine.

Spiky took them into his caravan, a small and rather dirty one, in which he lived with his father.

„I saw Gringo"s old Ma chasing you!" he said with his lop-sided grin. „What was your dog dragging out of the van?"

They told him. He nodded. „I"ve been asking round a bit, cautious-like," he said. „Just to see if anyone had heard anything from Gringo"s caravan - and the fellow whose caravan is nearest told me he heard shouts and yel s two nights ago. He reckoned it was someone in Gringo"s van - but he"s too scared of Gringo to go and interfere, of course."

„That would be George yelling," said Dick.

„Well, then Gringo"s vans were moved the next day right away from the other vans," said Spiky. „And this afternoon, before the Fair opened, Gringo got his car and towed the little van - the second one - out of the field, and set off with it. We all wondered why, but he told somebody it needed repairing."

„Whew! And George was inside!" said Dick. „What a cunning way of moving her off to another hiding-place."

„When did the van come back?" asked Julian.

„Just before you came," said Spiky. „I don"t know where it went. It was gone an hour, I should think."

„An hour," said Dick. „Well, suppose it goes at an average of 25 miles an hour - you can"t go very fast if you are towing something - that would mean he had gone somewhere about 12 miles or so away, and come back the same distance - making about an hour"s drive, allowing for a stop when they arrived at the place they had to leave her at."

„Yes," said Julian. „But there are lots of places within the radius of 12 miles!"

„Where"s Gringo"s car?" said Dick suddenly.

„Over there, under that big tarpaulin," said Spiky. „It"s a silver-grey one - American and very striking, He thinks the world of it, Gringo does."

„I"m going to have a peep at it," said Julian, and strode off. He came to the tarpaulin, which covered the car right to the ground. He lifted it and was just about to look under it when a man ran up, shouting.

„Here, you! Leave that alone! You"l be turned out of the Fair if you mess about with things that don"t concern you!"

But Timmy was with Julian, and he turned and growled so fiercely that the man stopped in a hurry. Julian had plenty of time to take a good look under the tarpaulin!

Yes - the car was silver-grey, a big American one - and the wings were bright blue! Julian took a quick look at the two left-hand ones and saw a deep scratch on one of them.

Before he dropped the tarpaulin he had time to glance at the tyres. He was sure they had the same pattern as those shown in the wheel-tracks he had sketched! He had checked the sketch with Jim, at Kirrin Garage, who had told him they were an American design.

Yes - this was the car that had hidden in the clearing the night before last - the car that had turned with difficulty and made those deep ruts - the car that had taken George away, and this afternoon had towed away the caravan with her inside, to hide her somewhere else.

He dropped the tarpaulin and walked back to the others, excited, taking no notice of the rude things that the near-by man cal ed out to him.

„It"s the car, al right," said Julian. „Now - WHERE did it go this afternoon? If only we could find out!"

„It"s such a very striking car that anyone would notice it - especial y as it was towing a rather nice little caravan," said Dick.