Five Go Off In A Caravan Chapter Eleven FUN AT THE CIRCUS CAMP（在线收听）

Chapter Eleven FUN AT THE CIRCUS CAMP

Next morning, while Anne cleared up the breakfast things with George, and Dick went off to the farm to buy whatever the farmer's wife had ready for him, Julian took the field-glasses and sat on the ledge to watch for Nobby to go out on the lake in his boat.

Dick  sauntered  along,  whistling.  The  farmer's  wife  was  delighted  to  see  him,  and  showed  him two big baskets full of delicious food.

'Slices  of  ham  I've  cured  myself,'  she  said,  lifting  up  the  white  cloth  that  covered  one  of  the baskets.  'And  a  pot  of  brawn  I've  made.  Keep  it  in  a  cool  place.  And  some  fresh  lettuces  and radishes I pulled myself this morning early. And some more tomatoes.'

'How gorgeous!' said Dick, eyeing the food in delight. 'Just the kind of things we love! Thanks awfully, Mrs Mackie. What's in the other basket?'

'Eggs, butter, milk, and a tin of shortbread I've baked,' said Mrs Mackie. 'You should do all right till tomorrow, the four of you! And in that paper there is a bone for the dog.'

'How  much  do  I  owe  you?'  asked  Dick.  He  paid  his  bill  and  took  up  the  baskets.  Mrs  Mackie slipped a bag into his pocket.

'Just a few home-made sweets,' she said. That was her little present. Dick grinned at her.

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'Well, I won't offer to pay you for them because I'm afraid of that rolling-pin of yours,' he said.

'But thank you very, very much.'

He  went  off  delighted.  He  thought  of  Anne's  pleasure  when  she  came  to  unpack  the  baskets.

How she would love to  put  the things in  the little larder  - and pop the butter in  a dish  set  in  a bowl of cold water - and set the eggs in the little rack!

When  he  got  back  Julian  called  to  him:  'Nobby's  out  in  his  boat.  Come and  look.  He's  waving something that can't possibly be a hanky. It must be the sheet off his bed!'

'Nobby doesn't sleep in sheets,' said Anne. 'He didn't know what they were when he saw them in our bunks. Perhaps it's a table-cloth.'

'Anyway,  it's  something  big,  to  tell  us  that  it's  absolutely  all  right  to  come  down  to  the  camp,'

said Julian. 'Are we ready?'

'Not quite,' said Anne, unpacking the baskets Dick had brought. 'I must put away these things -

and do you want to take a picnic lunch with you? Because if so I must prepare it. Oh - look at all these gorgeous things!'

They  all  came  back  to  look.  'Mrs  Mackie  is  a  darling,'  said  Anne.  'Honestly,  these  things  are super - look at this gorgeous ham. It smells heavenly.'

'Here's her little present - homemade sweets,' said Dick, remembering them and taking them out of his pocket. 'Have one?'

Anne had everything ready in half an hour. They had decided to take a picnic lunch with them for themselves and for Nobby as well. They took their bathing-things and towels, too.

'Are we going to take Timmy or not?' said George. 'I want to. But as these two men seem rather interested  in  our  caravans,  perhaps  we  had  better  leave  him  on  guard  again.  We  don't  want  to come back and find the caravans damaged or half the things stolen.'

'I  should  think  not!'  said  Dick.  'They're  not  our  things,  nor  our  caravans.  They  belong  to somebody else and we've got to take extra good care of them. I think we ought to leave Timmy on guard, don't you, Ju?'

'Yes,  I  do,'  said  Julian  at  once.  'These  caravans  are  too  valuable  to  leave  at  the  mercy  of  any passing tramp - though I suppose we could lock them up. Anyway - we'll leave Timmy on guard today - poor old Timmy, it's a shame, isn't it?'

Timmy didn't answer. He looked gloomy and miserable. What! They were all going off without him again? He knew what 'on guard' meant - he was to stay here with these houses on wheels till 49

the children chose to come back. He badly wanted to see Pongo again. He stood with his ears and tail drooping, the picture of misery.

But  there  was  no  help  for  it.  The  children  felt  that  they  couldn't  leave  the  caravans  unguarded while they were still so uncertain about Lou and Tiger Dan. So they all patted poor Timmy and fondled him, and then said good-bye. He sat down on the rocky ledge with his back to them and wouldn't even watch them go.

'He's sulking,' said George. 'Poor Timothy!'

It didn't take them very long to get down to the camp, and they found Nobby, Pongo, Barker and Growler waiting for them. Nobby was grinning from ear to ear.

'You saw my signal all right?' he said. 'Uncle hasn't changed his mind - in fact, he seems quite to have taken to you, and says I'm to show you all round and let you see anything you want to. That was  his  shirt  I  waved.  I  thought  if  I  waved  something  enormous  you'd  know  things  were absolutely safe.'

'Where  shall  we  put  the  bathing-things  and  the  picnic  baskets  while  we  see  round  the  camp?'

asked Anne. 'Somewhere cool, if possible.'

'Put them in my caravan,' said Nobby, and led them to a caravan painted blue and yellow, with red wheels. The children remembered having seen it when the procession passed by their house a week or two before.

They  peeped  inside.  It  wasn't  nearly  so  nice  as  theirs.  It  was  much  smaller,  for  one  thing,  and very untidy. It looked dirty, too, and had a nasty smell. Anne didn't like it very much.

'Not so good as yours!' said Nobby. 'I wish I had a caravan like yours. I'd feel like a prince. Now what do you want to see first? The elephant? Come on, then.'

They  went  to  the  tree  to  which  Old  Lady  the  elephant  was  tied.  She  curled  her  trunk  round Nobby and looked at the children out of small, intelligent eyes.

'Well, Old Lady!' said Nobby. 'Want a bathe?'

The  elephant  trumpeted  and  made  the  children  jump.  'I'll  take  you  later  on,'  promised  Nobby.

'Now then - hup, hup, hup!'

At these words the elephant curled her trunk tightly round Nobby's waist and lifted him bodily into the air, placing him gently on her big head!

Anne gasped.

'Oh! Did she hurt you, Nobby?'

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''Course not!' said Nobby. 'Old Lady wouldn't hurt anyone, would you, big one?'

A  small  man  came  up.  He  had  bright  eyes  that  shone  as  if  they  had  been  polished,  and  a  very wide grin. 'Good morning,' he said. 'How do you like my Old Lady? Like to see her play cricket?'

'Oh, yes!' said everyone, and the small man produced a cricket bat and held  it out to Old Lady.

She took it in her trunk and waved it about. Nobby slipped deftly off her head to the ground.

'I'll play with her, Larry,' he said, and took the ball from the small man. He threw it to Old Lady and she hit it smartly with the bat. It sailed over their heads!

Julian fetched the ball. He threw it at the elephant, and again the great creature hit the ball with a bang. Soon all the children were playing with Old Lady and enjoying the game very much.

Some small camp children came up to watch. But they were as scared as rabbits as soon as Julian or George spoke to them and scuttled off to their caravans at once. They were dirty and ragged, but most of them had beautiful eyes and thick curly hair, though it wanted brushing and washing.

Nobby went to fetch Pongo, who was dancing to and fro in his cage, making anguished sounds, thinking  he  was  forgotten.  He  was  simply  delighted  to  see  the  children  again,  and  put  his  arm right round Anne at once. Then he pulled George's hair and hid his face behind his paws, peeping out mischievously.

'He's a caution, aren't  you, Pongo?' said Nobby. 'Now you keep with me, Pongo, or I'll put  you back into your cage, see?'

They  went  to  see  the  dogs  and  let  them  all  out.  They  were  mostly  terrier  dogs,  or  mongrels, smart, well-kept little things who jumped up eagerly at Nobby, and made a great fuss of him. It was clear that they loved him and trusted him

'Like to see them play football?' asked Nobby. 'Here, Barker - fetch the ball. Go on, quick!'

Barker darted off to  Nobby's  caravan. The door was  shut, but  the clever little dog stood on his hind legs and jerked the handle with his nose. The door opened and in went Barker. He came out dribbling a football with his nose. Down the steps it went and into the camp field. All the dogs leapt on it with howls of delight.

'Yap-yap-yap! Yap-yap!' They dribbled that football to and fro, while Nobby stood with his legs open to make a goal for them.

It was Barker's job and Growler's to score the goals, and the task of the other dogs to stop them.

So it was a most amusing game to watch. Once, when Barker scored a goal by hurling himself on 51

the ball and sending it rolling fast between Nobby's arched legs, Pongo leapt into the fray, picked up the ball and ran off with it.

'Foul, foul!' yelled Nobby and all the dogs rushed after the mischievous chimpanzee. He leapt on to the top of a caravan and began to bounce the ball there, grinning down at the furious dogs.

'Oh, this is such fun!' said Anne, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. 'Oh, dear! I've got such a pain in my side from laughing.'

Nobby had to climb up to the roof of the caravan to get the ball. Pongo jumped down the other side,  but  left  the  ball  balanced  neatly  on  the  chimney.  He  was  really  a  most  mischievous chimpanzee.

Then  they  went  to  see  the  beautiful  horses.  All  of  them  had  shining  satiny  coats.  They  were being  trotted  round  a  big  field  by  a  slim,  tall  young  fellow  called  Rossy,  and  they  obeyed  his slightest word.

'Can I ride Black Queen, Rossy?' asked Nobby eagerly. 'Do let me!'

'Okay,'  said  Rossy,  his  black  hair  shining  like  the  horses'  coats.  Then  Nobby  amazed  the watching  children,  for  he  leapt  on  to  a  great  black  horse,  stood  up  on  her  back  and  trotted  all round the field like that!

'He'll fall!' cried Anne. But he didn't, of course. Then he suddenly swung himself down on to his hands and rode Black Queen standing upside down.

'Good, good!' cried Rossy. 'You are good with horses, young one! Now ride Fury!'

Fury was a small, fiery-looking little horse, whose gleaming eyes showed a temper. Nobby ran to her  and  leapt  on  her  bare-backed.  She  rose  up,  snorting  and  tried  to  throw  him  off.  But  he wouldn't be thrown off. No matter what she did, Nobby clung on like a limpet to a rock.

At last Fury tired of it and began to canter round the field. Then she galloped - and suddenly she stopped absolutely dead, meaning to fling Nobby over her head!

But the boy was waiting for that trick and threw himself backwards at once. 'Good, good!' cried Rossy. 'She will soon eat out of your hand, Nobby! Good boy.'

'Nobby, Nobby, you're terribly clever!' yelled Anne. 'Oh, I wish I could do the things you do! I wish I could.'

Nobby slid off Fury's back, looking pleased. It was nice to show off a little to his 'posh' friends.

Then he looked round and about. 'I say - where's that chimp? Up to some mischief, I'll be bound!

Let's go and find him.'