Part 11 (1/2)

CHAPTER TEN

A CURIOUS CHANGE OF MIND

n.o.bby felt very much tempted to go and have a meal up in the hills with the children. But he was afraid of meeting Lou and his uncle coming back from their walk.

'We can easily look out for them and warn you if we see or hear them,' said d.i.c.k, 'and you can flop under a bush and hide till they go past. You may be sure we'll be on the look-out for them ourselves, because we don't want to meet them either!'

'Well, I'll come,' said n.o.bby. 'I'll take Barker and Growler too. They'll like to see Timmy.'

So all five of them, with the two dogs, set off up the hill. They climbed up short cuts at first, but they were soon panting, and decided to take the track, which, although longer, was easier to follow.

They all kept a sharp look-out for the two men, but they could see no sign of them. 'We shall be at our caravans soon,' said Julian. Then he heard Timmy barking in the distance. 'Hallo! What's old Tim barking for? I wonder if those fellows have been up to our caravans?'

'Good thing we left Timmy on guard if so,' said d.i.c.k. 'We might have missed something if not.'

Then he went red, remembering that it was n.o.bby's uncle he had been talking of. n.o.bby might feel upset and offended to hear someone speaking as if he thought Tiger Dan would commit a little robbery.

But n.o.bby wasn't at all offended. 'Don't you worry about what you say of my uncle,' he said, cheerfully. 'He's a bad lot. I know that. Anyway, he's not really my uncle, you know. When my father and mother died, they left a little money for me - and it turned out that they had asked Tiger Dan to look after me. So he took the money, called himself my uncle, and I've had to 'be with him ever since.'

'Was he in the same circus, then?' asked Julian.

'Oh yes. He and my father were both clowns,' said n.o.bby. 'Always have been clowns, in my family. But wait till I'm old enough, and I'll do a bunk - clear off and join another circus, where they'll let me look after the horses. I'm mad on horses. But the fellow at our circus won't often let me go near them. Jealous because I can handle them, I suppose!'

The children gazed at n.o.bby in wonder. He seemed an extraordinary boy to them - one who walked about with a tame chimpanzee, exercised hordes of performing dogs, lived with the chief clown in the circus, could turn the most marvellous cart-wheels, and whose only ambition was to work with horses! What a boy! d.i.c.k half-envied him.

'Haven't you ever been to school?' he asked n.o.bby.

The boy shook his head. 'Never! I can't write. And I can only read a bit. Most circus folk are like that, so n.o.body minds. Jumping Jiminy, I bet you're all clever, though! I bet even little Anne can read a book!'

'I've been able to read for years,' said Anne. 'And I'm up to fractions now in numbers.'

'Coo! What's fractions?' said n.o.bby, impressed.

'Well - quarters and halves and seven-eighths, and things like that,' said Anne. 'But I'd rather be able to turn a cart-wheel like you can, n.o.bby, than know how to do fractions.'

'Whatever is Timmy barking for?' said George as they came near the clump of birch trees. Then she stopped suddenly, for she had seen two figures lying down in the gra.s.s below the trees. Lou - and Tiger Dan!

It was too late for n.o.bby to hide. The men saw him at once. They got up and waited for the children to come near. George felt thankful that Timmy was within whistling distance. He would come at the first call or whistle, she knew.

Julian looked at the men. To his surprise they appeared to be quite amiable. A faint scowl came over Tiger Dan's face when he caught sight of n.o.bby, but it pa.s.sed at once.

'Good evening,' said Julian curtly, and would have pa.s.sed on without another word, but Lou stepped up to him.

'We see you're camping up by here,' said Lou, and smiled showing yellow teeth. 'Ain't you going over the hill?'

'I don't need to discuss my affairs with either you or your friend,' said Julian, sounding extremely grown-up. 'You told us to clear out from down below, and we have. What we do now is nothing to do with you.'

'Ho yes, it is,' said Tiger Dan, sounding as if he was being polite with great difficulty. 'We come up here tonight to plan a place for some of our animals, see? And we don't want you to be in no danger.'

'We shan't be,' said Julian, scornfully. 'And there is plenty of room on these hills for you and your animals and for us, too. You won't scare us off, so don't think it. We shall stay here as long as we want to - and if we want help there's the farmer and his men quite near by - to say nothing of our dog.'