Five Go Off In A Caravan Chapter Fifteen SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN（在线收听）

Chapter Fifteen SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN

Julian  was  suddenly  very  scared.  He  wondered  if  he  had  better  slide  off  the  roof  and  run.  He wouldn't have much chance if the caravan went  hurtling down the hill! But he didn't move. He clung to the chimney with both hands, whilst the men shoved hard against the caravan.

It ran a few feet to the rocky ledge, and then stopped. Julian felt his forehead getting very damp, and he saw that his  hands  were trembling. He felt  ashamed of being so  scared, but  he  couldn't help it.

'Hey! Don't send it down the hill!' said Lou in alarm, and Julian's heart felt lighter. So they didn't mean to destroy the caravan in that way! They had just moved it to get at something underneath.

But what could it be? Julian racked his brains to try and think what the floor of the hollow had been like when Dobby and Trotter pulled their caravans into it. As far as he could remember it was just an ordinary heathery hollow.

The men were now scrabbling away again by the back steps of the caravan. Julian was absolutely eaten up with curiosity, but he did not dare even to move. He could find out the secret when the men had gone. Meantime he really must be patient or he would spoil everything.

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There was some muttered talking, but Julian couldn't catch a word. Then, quite suddenly, there was complete and utter silence. Not a word. Not a bump against the caravan. Not a pant or even a grunt. Nothing at all.

Julian lay still. Maybe the men were still there. He wasn't going to give himself away. He lay for quite a long time, waiting and wondering. But he heard nothing.

Then  he  saw  a  robin  fly  to  a  nearby  bramble  spray.  It  flicked  its  wings  and  looked  about  for crumbs. It was a robin that came around when the children were having a meal - but it was not as tame as most robins, and would not fly down until the children had, left the hollow.

Then a rabbit popped out of a hole on the hillside and capered about, running suddenly up to the hollow.

'Well,'  thought  Julian,  'it's  plain  the  men  aren't  here  now,  or  the  birds  and  animals  wouldn't  be about  like  this.  There's  another  rabbit.  Those  men  have  gone  somewhere  -  though  goodness knows where. I can peep over now and have a look, quite safely, I should think.'

He slid himself round and peered over the roof at the back end of the caravan. He looked down at the ground. There was absolutely nothing to be seen to tell him what the men had been doing, or where  they  had  gone!  The  heather  grew  luxuriantly  there  as  it  did  everywhere  else.  There  was nothing to show what the men had been making such a disturbance about.

'This  is  really  very  queer,'  thought  Julian,  beginning  to  wonder  if  he  had  been  dreaming.  'The men are certainly gone - vanished into thin air, apparently! Dare I  get down and explore a bit?

No,  I daren't.  The men  may  appear at  any moment,  and it's  quite on the cards they'll lose their temper if they find me here, and chuck both me and the caravans down the hill! It's pretty steep just here, too.'

He  lay  there,  thinking.  He  suddenly  felt  very  hungry  and  thirsty.  Thank  goodness  he  had  been sensible enough to take food up to the roof! He could at least have a meal while he was waiting for the men to come back - if they ever did!

He began to eat his sandwiches. They tasted very good indeed. He finished them all and began on the cake. That was good, too. He had brought a few plums up as well, and was very glad of them because he was thirsty. He flicked the plum stones from the roof before he thought what he was doing.

'Dash! Why did I do that? If the men notice them they may remember they weren't there before.

Still, they've most of them gone into the heather!'

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The sun came out a little and Julian felt hot. He wished the men would come again and go down the  hill.  He  was  tired  of  lying  flat  on  the  hard  roof.  Also  he  was  terribly  sleepy.  He  yawned silently and shut his eyes.

How long he slept he had no idea - but he was suddenly awakened by feeling the caravan being moved again! He clutched the chimney in alarm, listening to the low voices of the two men.

They were pulling the caravan back into place again. Soon it was in the same position as before.

Then Julian heard a match struck and smelt smoke again.

The men went and sat on the rocky ledge and took out food they had brought, Julian did not dare to peep at them, though he felt sure they had their backs to him. The men ate, and talked in low voices, and then, to Julian's dismay, they lay down and went to sleep! He knew that they were asleep because he could hear them snoring.

'Am I going to stay on this awful roof all day long?' he thought.  'I'm  getting so cramped, lying flat like this. I want to sit up!'

'R-r-r-r-r-r!' snored Lou and Dan. Julian felt that surely it would be all right to sit up now that the men were obviously asleep. So he sat up cautiously, stretching himself with pleasure.

He looked down on the two men, who were lying on their backs with their mouths open. Beside them  were  two  neat  sacks,  strong  and  thick.  Julian  wondered  what  was  inside  them.  They certainly had not had them when they came up the track.

The boy  gazed down the hillside, frowning, trying to probe the mystery of where the men had been, and what they were doing up here - and suddenly he jumped violently. He stared as if he could not believe his eyes.

A squat and ugly face was peering out from a bramble bush there. There was almost no nose, and an enormous mouth. Who could it be? Was it someone spying on Lou and Dan? But what a face!

It didn't seem human.

A hand came up to rub the face - and Julian saw that it was hairy. With a start he knew who the face belonged to - Pongo the chimpanzee! No wonder he had thought it such an ugly, unhuman face. It was all right on a chimp, of course - quite a nice face - but not on a man.

Pongo  stared  at  Julian  solemnly,  and  Julian  stared  back,  his  mind  in  a  whirl.  What  was  Pongo doing  there?  Was  Nobby  with  him?  If  so,  Nobby  was  in  danger,  for  at  any  moment  the  men might wake up. He couldn't think what to do. If he called out to warn Nobby, he would wake the men.

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Pongo was pleased to see Julian, and did not seem to think the roof of a caravan a curious place to be in at all. After all, he often went up on the roofs of caravans. He nodded and blinked at the boy, and then scratched his head for a long time.

Then beside him appeared Nobby's face - a tear-stained face, bruised and swollen. He suddenly saw Julian looking over the roof of the caravan, and his mouth fell open in surprise. He seemed about  to  call  out,  and Julian  shook  his  head  frantically  to  stop  him,  pointing  downwards  to  try and warn Nobby that somebody was there.

But Nobby didn't understand. He grinned and, to Julian's horror, began to climb up the hillside to the  rocky  ledge!  The  men  were  sleeping  there,  and  Julian  saw  with  dismay  that  Nobby  would probably heave himself up right on top of them

'Look out!' he said, in a low, urgent voice. 'Look out, you fathead!'

But  it was too  late. Nobby heaved himself up on to  the ledge, and, to  his  utmost  horror, found himself sprawling on top of Tiger Dan! He gave a yell and tried to slide away - but Dan, rousing suddenly, shot out a hand and gripped him.

Lou woke up, too. The men glared at poor Nobby, and the boy began to tremble, and to beg for mercy.

'I didn't  know  you were  here,  I swear it!  Let  me  go, let me  go!  I only came up to  look  for my knife that I lost yesterday!'

Dan shook him savagely. 'How long have you been here? You been spying?'

'No, no! I've only just come! I've been at the camp all morning - you ask Larry and Rossy. I been helping them!'

'You been spying on us, that's what you've been doing!' said Lou, in a cold, hard voice that filled the listening Julian with dread. 'You've had plenty of beatings this week, but seemingly they ain't enough.  Well,  up  here,  there's  nobody  to  hear  your  yells,  see?  So  we'll  show  you  what  a  real beating is! And if you can walk down to the camp after it, I'll be surprised.'

Nobby was terrified. He begged for mercy, he promised to do anything the men asked him, and tried to jerk his poor swollen face away from Dan's hard hands.

Julian couldn't bear it. He didn't want to give away the fact that it was he who had been spying, nor did he want to fight the men at all, for he was pretty certain he would get the worst of it. But nobody could lie in silence, watching two men treat a young boy in such a way. He made up his mind to leap off the roof right on to the men, and to rescue poor Nobby if he could.

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Nobby gave an anguished yell as  Lou gave him a flick with his leather belt  - but before Julian could jump down to help him, somebody else bounded up! Somebody who bared his teeth  and made ugly  animal  noises of rage, somebody whose arms were far stronger than either  Lou's  or Dan's - somebody who loved poor Nobby, and wasn't going to let him be beaten any more!

It  was  Pongo.  The  chimpanzee  had  been  watching  the  scene  with  his  sharp  little  eyes.  He  had still  hidden  himself  in  the  bush,  for  he  was  afraid  of  Lou  and  Dan  -  but  now,  hearing  Nobby's cries, he leapt out of the brambles and flung himself on the astonished men.

He  bit  Lou's  arm  hard.  Then  he  bit  Dan's  leg.  The  men  yelled  loudly,  much  more  loudly  than poor Nobby had. Lou lashed out with his leather belt, and it caught Pongo on the shoulder. The chimpanzee  made  a  shrill  chattering  noise,  and  leapt  on  Lou  with  his  arms  open,  clasping  the man to him, trying to bite his throat.

Tiger  Dan  rushed  down  the  hill  at  top  speed,  terrified  of  the  angry  chimpanzee.  Lou  yelled  to Nobby.

'Call him off! He'll kill me!'

'Pongo!' shouted Nobby. 'Stop it! Pongo! Come here.'

Pongo  gave  Nobby a look of the  greatest  surprise. 'What!' he seemed to  say,  'you won't  let me punish this bad man who beat you? Well, well - whatever you say must be right!'

And the chimpanzee, giving  Lou one last  vicious nip,  let the man go. Lou followed Dan down the  hill  at  top  speed,  and  Julian  heard  him  crashing  through  the  bushes  as  if  a  hundred chimpanzees were after him.

Nobby sat  down, trembling. Pongo, not  quite sure if his  beloved friend was  angry  with  him or not,  crept  up  to  him  putting  a  paw  on  the  boy's  knee.  Nobby  put  his  arm  round  the  anxious animal, and Pongo chattered with joy.

Julian slid down from the roof of the caravan and went to Nobby. He, too, sat down beside him. He put his arm round the trembling boy and gave him a hug.

'I was just coming to give you a hand, when Pongo shot up the hill,' he said.

'Were  you  really?'  said  Nobby,  his  face  lighting  up.  'You're  a  real  friend,  you  are.  Good  as Pongo, here.'

And Julian felt quite proud to be ranked in bravery with the chimpanzee!