Part 5 (1/2)

Seventeen.

Back at the circus field.

THE key turned in the lock and the door of the caravan was pushed open. A powerful torch was switched on, and the beam flashed round the inside of the van.

The boys were under the bunks and could not be seen. But the man was so certain that somebody was inside the van that he pulled aside the draperies that hung over the side of the bunk where Peter was hiding. At once he saw the boy.

He shouted angrily and dragged poor Peter out. He shook him so hard that the boy yelled. Out came Colin at once to his rescue!

”Ah-so there are two of you!” said the man. ”What are you doing here? How long have you been in this van?”

”Not long,” said Peter. ”We came in by mistake. We wanted to get into another van-but in the dark we missed our way.”

”A pretty poor sort of story!” said the man, angrily. ”Now I'm going to give you each a good hiding-that will teach you to get into other people's caravans.”

He put down his torch on a shelf, so that its beam lighted the whole caravan. He pushed back his coat sleeves and looked very alarming indeed.

Colin suddenly kicked up at the torch. It jerked into the air and fell to the floor with a crash. The bulb was broken and the light went out. The caravan was in darkness.

”Quick, Peter, go for his legs!” yelled Colin, and dived for the man's legs. But in the darkness he missed them, shot out of the door, and rolled down the steps, landing with a b.u.mp on the road below.

Peter got a slap on the side of his head and dodged in the darkness. He, too, dived to get hold of the man's legs and caught one of them. The man hit out again arid then staggered and fell. Peter wriggled away, half fell down the steps and rolled into the hedge.

At the same moment the horse took fright and galloped off down the road with the caravan swinging from side to side behind it in a most alarming manner. The man inside must have been very very surprised indeed!

”Colin! Where are you?” shouted Peter. ”Come on, quickly. The horse has bolted with the caravan and the man inside it. Now's our chance!”

Colin was hiding in the hedge, too. He stepped out to join Peter, and the two set off down the road as fast as they could, running at top speed, panting loudly.

”Every single thing in this adventure goes wrong,” said Colin at last, slowing down. ”We can't even get into the right caravan when we want to-we have to choose the wrong one.”

”Well, we learnt quite a bit,” said Peter. ”And we know the thief is wearing those socks now, even if we still don't know who he is. Funny thing is-I seem to know his voice.”

”Have you any idea at all where we are?” asked Colin. ”I mean-do you suppose we're running towards home, or away from it? As this is a most contrary adventure, I wouldn't be surprised if we're running in the wrong direction as fast as ever we can!”

”Well, we're not,” said Peter. ”I know where we are all right. In fact, we'll soon be back at the circus field. I say-should we slip into the field again and just have a squint round for the man who's wearing the socks? I feel as if I simply must find out who he is!”

Colin didn't want to. He had had enough adventure for one night. But he said he would wait for Peter outside the gate if he badly wanted to go into the field again.

So Peter slipped over the fence and made his way to where he saw many lights. The show was over, and the people had gone home. But the circus folk were now having their supper, and the light from lanterns and fires looked very bright and gay.

Peter saw some children playing together. One of them appeared very tall indeed-and Peter saw that she was walking on stilts, just as the stilt-walkers did in the ring. It was the rude little girl who had told him there was no one-legged man in the circus. She came walking over to where he stood by a caravan, but she didn't see him. She was absorbed in keeping her balance on the stilts.

She came and went-and Peter stared at something showing on the ground. Where the child had walked, her stilts had left peculiar marks pitted in the ground-regular, round marks-just like the ones by the wall round Milton Manor! There they were, showing clearly in the damp ground, lit by the flickering light of a nearby lantern!

”Look at that!” said Peter to himself. ”We were blind I Those marks weren't made by a one-legged man-they were made by a stilt-walker! Why ever didn't we think of it before?”

Eighteen.

Peter tells his story.

PETER gazed down at the number of queer round marks. He looked over at the child who was stilt-walking-yes, everywhere she went, her stilts left those round marks on the ground. Now another bit of the jigsaw had fitted into place.

”The thief was a stilt-walker,” said Peter to himself. ”He took his stilts with him to help him to get over the wall. I must find Colin and tell him!”

He ran over to where Colin was waiting for him. ”Colin, I've discovered something exciting!” he said. ”I know what makes those peculiar round marks-and they're nothing to do with a one-legged man!”

”What makes them then?” asked Colin, surprised.

”Stilts!” said Peter. ”The ends of stilts! The thief was on stilts-so that he could easily get over that high wall. What a very clever idea!”

”But how did he do it?” said Colin, puzzled. ”Come on, let's go home, Peter. I shall get into an awful row, it's so late. I'm terribly tired, too.”

”So am I,” said Peter. ”Well, we won't discuss this exciting evening any more now-we'll think about it and have a meeting tomorrow morning. I'll send Janet round for the others first thing. As a matter of fact, I haven't quite worked out how the thief did climb over the wall with stilts.”

Colin yawned widely. He felt that he really could not try to think out anything. He was bruised from his fall out of the caravan, he had banged his head hard, and he felt rather dazed. All he wanted to do was to get into bed and go to sleep!

Janet was fast asleep when Peter got home, so he didn't wake her. He got into bed, meaning to think everything out carefully-but he didn't, because he fell sound asleep at once!

In the morning he wouldn't tell Janet a word about the night's adventures. He just sent her out to get the others to a meeting. They came, wondering what had happened. One by one they hissed the pa.s.sword-'Adventure!”-and pa.s.sed through the door. Colin was last of all. He said he had overslept!

”What happened last night? Did you find the pearls? Do you know who the thief is?” asked Pam, eagerly.

”We didn't find the pearls-but we know everything else!” said Peter, triumphantly.

”Do we?” said Colin, surprised. ”You may, Peter-but I don't. I still feel sleepy!”

”Peter, tell us,” said George. ”Don't keep us waiting. Tell us everything!”

”Come on up to Little Thicket and I'll show you exactly how the thief got over that wall,” said Peter, suddenly deciding that that would be a very interesting way of fitting all the bits of the jigsaw together.

”Oh-you might tell us now!” wailed Janet, bitterly disappointed.

”No. Come on up to Little Thicket,” said Peter. So they all went together to Little Thicket, and walked over to the big gates of Milton Manor. Johns the gardener was there again, working in the front beds of the drive.

”Johns! May we come in again?” shouted Peter. ”We won't do any harm.”

Johns opened the gates, grinning. ”Discovered anything yet?” he asked as the children crowded through.

”Yes, lots,” said Peter, and led the way to the place where the thief had climbed over the wall. ”Come along with us and I'll tell you what we've discovered, Johns!”

”Right-but I'll just let this car in at the gates first,” said Johns, as a big black car hooted outside.