Five Go Off In A Caravan Chapter Seventeen ANOTHER VISIT FROM LOU AND DAN（在线收听）

Chapter Seventeen ANOTHER VISIT FROM LOU AND DAN

Nobody disturbed the children that night, and Timmy did not bark once. Nobby slept on a pile of rugs  in  the  boy's  caravan,  and  Pongo  cuddled  up  to  him.  The  chimpanzee  seemed  delighted  at staying with the caravanners. Timmy was rather jealous that another animal should be with them, and wouldn't take any notice of Pongo at all.

The next morning, after breakfast, the children discussed who was to go down to the town. 'Not Nobby and Pongo, because they wouldn't be allowed in the bus together,' said Julian. 'They had better stay behind.'

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'Not by ourselves?' said Nobby, looking alarmed. 'Suppose Lou and Uncle Dan come up? Even if I've got Pongo I'd be scared.'

'Well, I'll stay here, too,' said Dick. 'We don't all need to go to buy torches. Don't forget to post that letter to Daddy and Mother, Julian.'

They had written a long letter to their parents, telling them of the exciting happenings. Julian put it into his pocket. 'I'll post it all right,' he said. 'Well, I suppose we might as well go now. Come on, girls. Keep a look-out, Dick, in case those rogues come back.'

George, Timmy, Anne and Julian went  down the hill  together,  Timmy  running on in  front, his tail  wagging  nineteen  to  the  dozen.  Pongo  climbed  up  to  the  roof  of  the  red  caravan  to  watch them go. Nobby and Dick sat down in the warm sun on the ledge, their heads resting on springy clumps of heather.

'It's nice up here,' said Nobby. 'Much nicer than down below. I wonder what everyone is thinking about Pongo and me. I bet Mr Gorgio, the head of the circus, is wild that the chimpanzee's gone.

I bet he'll send up to fetch us.'

Nobby was right. Two people were sent up to get him - Lou and Tiger Dan. They came creeping up through the bracken and heather, keeping a sharp eye for Timmy or Pongo.

Pongo sensed them long  before they could  be seen and warned Nobby. Nobby went  very pale.

He was terrified of the two scoundrels.

'Get into one of the caravans,' said Dick in a low voice. 'Go on. I'll deal with those fellows - if it is them. Pongo will help me if necessary.'

Nobby scuttled into the green caravan and shut the door. Dick sat where he was. Pongo squatted on the roof of the caravan, watching.

Lou and Dan suddenly appeared. They saw Dick, but did not see Pongo. They looked all round for the others.

'What do you want?' said Dick.

'Nobby and Pongo,' said Lou with a scowl. 'Where are they?'

'They're going to stay on with us,' said Dick.

'Oh, no, they're not!' said Tiger Dan. 'Nobby's in my charge, see? I'm his uncle.'

'Funny sort of uncle,' remarked Dick. 'How's that dog you poisoned, by the way?'

Tiger Dan went purple in the face. He looked as if he would willingly have thrown Dick down the hill.

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'You be careful what you say to me!' he said, beginning to shout.

Nobby, hidden in the caravan, trembled when he heard his uncle's angry yell. Pongo kept  quite still, his face set and ugly.

'Well, you may as well say good-bye and go,' said Dick in a calm voice to Dan. 'I've told you that Nobby and Pongo are staying with us for the present.'

'Where is Nobby?' demanded Tiger Dan, looking as if he would burst with rage at any moment.

'Wait till I get my hands on him. Wait . . .'

He began to walk towards the caravans - but Pongo was not having any of that! He leapt straight off  the  roof  on  to  the  horrified  man,  and  flung  him  to  the  ground.  He  made  such  a  terrible snarling noise that Dan was terrified.

'Call him off!' he yelled. 'Lou, come and help.'

'Pongo won't obey me,'  said  Dick still sitting down looking quite undisturbed.  'You'd better  go before he bites big pieces out of you.'

Dan  staggered  to  the  rock  ledge,  looking  as  if  he  would  box  Dick's  ears.  But  the  boy  did  not move,  and  somehow  Dan  did  not  dare  to  touch  him.  Pongo  let  him  go  and  stood  glowering  at him, his great hairy arms hanging down his sides, ready to fly at either of the men if they came near.

Tiger Dan picked up a stone - and as quick as lightning Pongo flung himself on him again and sent the man rolling down the hill. Lou fled in terror. Dan got up and fled, too, yelling furiously as he went. Pongo chased them in delight. He, too, picked up stones and flung them with a very accurate aim, so that Dick kept hearing yells of pain.

Pongo  came  back,  looking  extremely  pleased  with  himself.  He  went  to  the  green  caravan,  as Dick shouted to Nobby

'All right, Nobby. They've gone. Pongo and I won the battle!'

Nobby came out. Pongo put his arm round him at once and chattered nonsense in his ear. Nobby looked rather ashamed of himself

'Bit of a coward, aren't I?' he said. 'Leaving you out here all alone.'

'I enjoyed it,' said Dick truthfully. 'And I'm sure Pongo did!'

'You  don't  know  what  dangerous  fellows  Lou  and  Dan  are,'  said  Nobby,  looking  down  the hillside  to  make  sure  the  men  were  really  gone.  'I  tell  you  they'd  stick  at  nothing.  They'd  burn 78

your caravans, hurl them down the hill, poison your dog,  and do what harm they could to  you, too. You don't know them like I do!'

'Well, as a matter of fact, we've had some pretty exciting adventures with men just as tough as Dan  and  Lou,'  said  Dick.  'We  always  seem  to  be  falling  into  the  middle  of  some  adventure  or other. Now, last hols we went to a place called Smuggler's Top - and, my word, the adventures we had there! You wouldn't believe them!'

'You tell me and Pongo,' said Nobby, sitting down beside Dick. 'We've plenty of time before the others come back.'

So Dick began to tell the tale of all the other thrilling adventures that the five of them had had, and  the  time  flew.  Both  boys  were  surprised  when  they  heard  Timmy  barking  down  the  track, and knew that the others were back.

George came tearing up with Timmy at her heels. 'Are you all right? Did anything happen while we were away? Do you know, we saw Lou and Tiger Dan getting on the bus when we got off it!

They were carrying bags as if they meant to go away and stay somewhere.'

Nobby brightened up at once. 'Did you really? Good! They came up here, you know, and Pongo chased  them  down  the  hill.  They  must  have  gone  back  to  the  camp,  collected  their  bags,  and gone to catch the bus. Hurrah!'

'We've  got  fine  torches,'  said  Julian,  and  showed  Dick  his.  'Powerful  ones.  Here's  one  for  you, Dick - and one for you, Nobby.'

'Oooh - thanks,' said Nobby. Then he went red. 'I haven't got enough money to pay you for such a grand torch,' he said awkwardly.

'It's a present for you,' said Anne at once, 'a present for a friend of ours, Nobby!'

'Coo!  Thanks  awfully,'  said  Nobby,  looking  quite  overcome.  'I've  never  had  a  present  before.

You're decent kids, you are.'

Pongo held out his hand to Anne and made a chattering noise as if to say: 'What about one for me, too?'

'Oh - we didn't bring one for Pongo!' said Anne. 'Why ever didn't we?'

'Good thing you didn't,' said Nobby. 'He would have put it on and off all day long and wasted the battery in no time!'

'I'll give him my old torch,' said George. 'It's broken, but he won't mind that!'

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Pongo was delighted with it. He kept pressing down the knob that should make the light flash  -

and when there was no light he looked all about on the ground as if the light must have dropped out! The children roared at  him. He liked them to laugh at  him. He did  a little dance all round them to show how pleased he was.

'Look here - wouldn't it be a jolly good time to explore underground now that we know Lou and Dan are safely out of the way?' asked Julian suddenly. 'If they've got bags with them, surely that means they're going to spend the night somewhere and won't be back till tomorrow at least. We'd be quite safe to go down and explore.'

'Yes, we could,' said George eagerly, 'I'm longing to get down there and Make Discoveries!'

'Well, let's have something to eat first,' said Dick. 'It's long past our dinner-time. It must be about half-past one. Yes, it is!'

'George and I will get  you a meal,' said Anne. 'We called at the farm on our way up and got a lovely lot of food. Come on, George.'

George  got  up unwillingly. Timmy  followed her, sniffing  expectantly. Soon the two girls  were busy getting a fine meal ready, and they all sat on the rocky ledge to eat it.

'Mrs Mackie gave us this enormous bar of chocolate for a present today,' said Anne, showing a great slab to Dick and Nobby. 'Isn't it lovely? No, Pongo, it's not for you. Eat  your sandwiches properly, and don't grab.'

'I vote we take some food down into the hill with us,' said Julian. 'We may be quite a long time down there, and we shan't want to come back at tea-time.'

'Oooh - a picnic inside the hill!' said Anne. That would be thrilling. I'll soon pack up some food in the kitbag. I won't bother to make sandwiches. We'll take a new loaf, butter, ham and a cake, and cut what we want. What about something to drink?'

'Oh, we can last out till we get back,' said Julian. 'Just take something to eat to keep us going till we have finished exploring.'

George  and  Nobby  cleared  up  and  rinsed  the  plates.  Anne  wrapped  up  some  food  in  greased paper,  and  packed  it  carefully  into  the  kitbag  for  Julian  to  carry.  She  popped  the  big  bar  of chocolate into the bag, too. It would be nice to eat at odd moments.

At last they were all ready. Jimmy wagged his tail. He knew they were going somewhere.

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The five of them pushed the caravan back a few feet to expose the hole. They had all tugged the van back into place the night before, in case Lou and Dan came to go down the hole again. No one could get down it if the caravan was over it.

The boards had been laid roughly across the hole and the boys took them off, tossing them to one side. As soon as Pongo saw the hole he drew back, frightened.

'He's  remembered  the  darkness  down  there,'  said  George.  'He  doesn't  like  it.  Come  on,  Pongo.

You'll be all right. We've all got torches!'

But nothing would persuade Pongo to go down that hole again. He cried like a baby when Nobby tried to make him.

'It's no good,' said Julian. 'You'll have to stop up here with him.'

'What - and miss all the excitement!' cried Nobby indignantly. 'I jolly well won't. We can tie old Pongo up to a wheel of the van so that he won't wander off. Lou and Dan are away somewhere, and no one else is likely to tackle a big chimp like Pongo. We'll tie him up.'

So Pongo was tied firmly to one of the caravan wheels. 'You stay there like a good chimp till we come back,' said Nobby, putting a pail of water beside him in case he should want a drink. 'We'll be back soon!'

Pongo was sad to see them go - but nothing would have made him go down that hole again! So he sat watching the children disappear one by one. Timmy jumped down, too, and they were all gone. Gone on another adventure. What would happen now?