Part 3 (1/2)

'Oh TINKER! How marvellous to have a circus at the bottom of the garden!' said George, her eyes s.h.i.+ning, and Anne nodded too. Tinker glared at them.

'JUST like girls to say a thing like that!' he said. 'Would you want people trespa.s.sing all over a field that belonged to you, with horses neighing and tigers and lions roaring, and bears grunting, and chimpanzees stealing things - and nasty little circus boys being rude all the time, ready to knock you down.'

'Oh Tinker! You do make it sound so exciting!' said George. 'Will there really be lions and tigers? Suppose one escaped - what a thrill!'

'Well - I shouldn't like that,' said Anne, at once. 'I don't particularly want a lion peering in at my window, or a bear clomping round my bedroom!'

'Neither do I,' said Tinker, in a most decided voice. 'That's why I'm going to tell Dad about it. He's got the old doc.u.ments that set out our rights to that field. He showed me them one day. I'll ask him about them, and if he'll let me see them, I'll take them straight to the police and let them turn out that rude old man and his horrible circus.'

'How do you know it's horrible?' asked George. 'It might be awfully good. I'm sure they'd let us camp in the corner nearest the garden, and we'd get an awfully good view of what's going on all the time. Look - there's your father strolling down the path, smoking a pipe. He never does that if he's busy. It would be a good time to go and ask him about the doc.u.ment. He might even show it to us.'

'All right,' said Tinker, rather sulkily. 'But you'll see I'm right. Come on.'

However, Tinker proved to be quite, quite wrong! His father went to fetch the old, yellowed piece of parchment at once. 'Ha! Here it is!' he said. 'It's pretty valuable too, because it's so old. It dates back quite a few centuries.'

He undid the rather dirty piece of ribbon round it and unrolled it. Neither the girls nor Tinker could read the old-fas.h.i.+oned lettering.

'What does it all say?' asked Anne, with great interest.

'It says that the field known as ”Cromwell's Corner” is to be held by the Hayling Family for always,' said Professor Hayling. 'It was given to them by Cromwell because our family allowed them to camp in that field when they sorely needed a rest after battle. It's been ours ever since.'

'So n.o.bODY else is allowed to camp in it, or use it for grazing or anything, unless we say so!' said Tinker, triumphantly.

'Quite right,' said his father. 'But wait a minute - I seem to remember an odd clause that said something about a travelling show - a show that had rights to camp in the field since about 1066. Not even Cromwell could alter that - it was in the original deeds, long before Cromwell battled in that district. Now let's see - that piece would come about the end, I expect.'

The two girls and Tinker waited while the Professor pored over the old and beautiful lettering. He jabbed his finger on to three lines towards the end.

'Yes. There it is. I'll quote it. Listen! ”And let it be known that Ye Travelling Show so-named 'Tapper's Travelling Show', which has always had camping rights, shall still have the right to claim these once every ten years so long as the show travels the country ways - Given under my hand...” and so on and so on. Well - I don't expect that Tapper's Travelling Show is going now, all these years and years after the doc.u.ment was drawn up and signed in the year 1648. See - here's the date - if you can read the old figures!'

The children stared at the date, and then glanced up at Tinker. He looked angry and very red in the face. 'You might have told me all that before, Dad,' he said.

'Why?' asked his father, astonished. 'What possible interest can it have for you children?'

'Only that there's a circus called Tapper's Travelling Circus in that field this very minute,' said Anne. 'And the old man with it is called Tapper - and he said it was his right to be there, and...'

'He was rude to me and I want you to turn out this circus this very day!' said Tinker. 'We want to camp there.'

'I'm sure Mr Tapper would have no objection to you camping there,' said his father. 'Aren't you being rather silly, Tinker? You weren't rude to any of the circus folk, were you?'

Tinker went very red, turned his back and stalked out of the room, Mischief clinging to his neck. He rubbed his chest where the circus boy had punched him. 'Just you wait!' he said in a whisper. 'I'll punch you one day!'

'Anne, if you and the others want to camp in the field, I'll go and speak to Mr Tapper,' said the Professor, puzzled by Tinker's behaviour.

'Oh no - it's all right,' said Anne, hastily. 'He has already said that it didn't matter if we camped there. Oh - there are the boys back again. I'll just go and see if they have brought back all our bicycles safely. Thank you for showing us that marvellous old doc.u.ment, Professor!'

And away she went looking rather hot and bothered!

Chapter Six

GETTING READY FOR CAMPING OUT

d.i.c.k and Julian were most interested to hear about Tinker and the Travelling Circus - and the old, old doc.u.ment.

'You made a bit of a fool of yourself,' said Julian, looking at Tinker. 'Still, there's no harm done, apparently. I vote we go and see where we can put up our tents. Personally, I shall be thrilled to see a bit of circus life so close to me! I wonder how they'll manage to put on a show. I suppose they've everything with them, and can put up a circus ring and a marquee and anything else necessary.'

'There are a lot of big vans,' said Anne. 'I went down to have a look about half an hour ago. The field is almost full now, except for one corner near our hedge that I suppose they have left for our tents.'

'I saw the posters about the circus as we cycled back,' said d.i.c.k. 'Dead-Shot d.i.c.k - Chimpanzee that plays Cricket - the Boneless Man - Madelon and her Beautiful Horses - Monty and Winks the clowns - the Dancing Donkey - Mr Wooh, the Wonder Wizard - gosh, it sounded quite a circus. I'm glad we can camp in the same field - we shall really see behind the scenes, then.'

'Don't forget there was Charlie the Chimp, and the Bonzo Band,' said Julian. 'What fun if the chimp got loose and peeped in at the kitchen window!'

'It wouldn't be at all funny,' said Anne. 'Jenny would run for miles! So would Tinker's monkey!'

'What about putting up our own tents after tea?' said d.i.c.k. 'The carrier said he'd have them here by tea-time. It's hotter than ever today. I don't feel I can do much at the moment. I just want to laze.'

'Woof,' said Timmy, who was lying down with his head on his paws, panting.

'You feel the same, old chap, don't you?' said Julian, poking him with his toe. 'You're tired out with your long run to Kirrin and back again, aren't you?'

'The roads were so dusty!' said d.i.c.k. 'He kept sneezing whenever a car pa.s.sed us, because the dust got up his nose. Poor old Tim. You really are tired out with that long, long run!'

'Woof!' said Tim, suddenly sitting up straight and pawing vigorously at George. Everyone laughed.

'He says he's not at all tired, he wants a walk,' chuckled d.i.c.k.

'Well, if he's not tired, I am,' said Julian. 'It really was a job sorting out all our things at Kirrin - and cycling there and back. No, Timmy - I am NOT going to take you for a walk!'

Timmy whined, and at once Mischief the monkey leapt down from Tinker's shoulder and went to cuddle against the big dog, making small comforting noises. He even put his thin little arms round Timmy's neck!

'You're just being a little bit soppy, Mischief,' said Tinker, but Mischief didn't care. His big friend was sad about something, or he wouldn't have whined. Timmy put out a big red tongue and licked the little creature delicately on his nose. Then he suddenly p.r.i.c.ked up his ears, and sat straight up, He had heard a noise from somewhere. So had all the others.

'It's music of some kind,' said Anne. 'Oh - I believe I know what it is!'

'What?' said the others.

'It must be Tapper's Travelling Circus Band practising for opening night,' said Anne.