Five Go Off In A Caravan Chapter Fourteen A VERY GOOD HIDING-PLACE

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Chapter Fourteen A VERY GOOD HIDING-PLACE

They went down the hill with Timmy. Julian gave Dick some instructions. 'Have a meal in the town,' he said. 'Keep away for the day, so as to give the men a chance to come up the hill. Go to the post office and see if there are any letters for us - and buy some tins of fruit. They'll make a nice change.'

'Right, Captain!' said Dick. 'And just you be careful, old boy. These men will stick at nothing  -

bad-tempered¹ brutes² they are.'

'Look after the girls,' said Julian. 'Don't let George do anything mad!'

Dick grinned. 'Who can stop George doing what she wants to? Not me!'

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They were now at the bottom of the hill. The circus camp lay nearby. The children could hear the barking of the dogs and the shrill³ trumpeting⁴ of Old Lady.

They looked about for Nobby. He was nowhere to be seen. Blow! It wouldn't be any good setting off to the town and laying such a good plan if they couldn't tell Nobby they were going!

Nobody dared to  go into the camp. Julian thought  of the two red cloths  that  Nobby  and Pongo had waved. Double-danger! It would be wise not to go into the camp that morning. He stood still, undecided what to do.

Then he opened his mouth and yelled: 'Nobby! NOBBY!'

No  answer  and  no  Nobby.  The  elephant  man  heard  him  shouting  and  came  up.  'Do  you  want Nobby? I'll fetch him.'

Thanks,' said Julian.

The little man went off, whistling. Soon Nobby appeared from behind a caravan⁶, looking rather scared. He didn't come near Julian, but stood a good way away, looking pale and troubled.

'Nobby! We're going into the town for the day,' yelled Julian at the top of his voice. 'We're . . .'

Tiger Dan suddenly appeared behind Nobby and grabbed his arm fiercely. Nobby put up a hand to protect his face, as if he expected a blow. Julian yelled again:

'We're  going  into  the  town,  Nobby!  We  shan't  be  back  till  evening.  Can  you  hear  me? WE'RE

GOING TO THE TOWN!'

The whole camp must have heard Julian. But he was quite determined⁷ that, whoever else didn't hear, Tiger Dan certainly should

Nobby tried to shake off his uncle's hand, and opened his mouth to yell back something. But Dan roughly put his hand across Nobby's mouth and hauled him away, shaking him as a dog shakes a rat.

'HOW'S BARKER?' yelled Julian. But Nobby had disappeared, dragged into his uncle's caravan by Dan. The little elephant man heard, however.

'Barker's bad,' he said. 'Not dead yet. But nearly. Never saw a dog so sick in my life. Nobby's fair upset!'

The children walked off with Timmy. George had had to hold his collar all the time, for once he saw Dan he growled⁸ without stopping, and tried to get away from George.

Thank goodness Barker isn't dead,' said Anne. 'I do hope he'll get better.'

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'Not much chance,' said Julian. 'That meat must have been chockful of poison. Poor old Nobby.

How awful to be under the thumb of a fellow like Tiger Dan.'

'I just simply can't imagine him as a clown - Tiger Dan, I mean,' said Anne. 'Clowns are always so merry and gay and jolly.'

'Well, that's just acting,' said Dick. 'A clown needn't be the same out of the ring as he has to be when  he's  in  it.  If  you  look  at  photographs  of  clowns  when  they're  just  being  ordinary  men, they've got quite sad faces.'

'Well,  Tiger  Dan  hasn't  got  a  sad  face.  He's  got  a  nasty,  ugly,  savage,  cruel,  fierce  one,'  said Anne, looking quite fierce herself.

That  made  the  others  laugh.  Dick  turned  round  to  see  if  anyone  was  watching  them  walking towards the bus-stop, where the buses turned to go to the town.

'Lou the acrobat⁹ is watching us,' he said. 'Good! Can he see the bus-stop from where he is, Ju?'

Julian turned round. 'Yes, he can. He'll watch to see us all get into the bus - so I'd better climb in, too, and I'll get out at the first stop, double back, and get into the hills by some path he won't be able to see.'

'Right,'  said  Dick,  enjoying  the  thought  of  playing  a  trick  on  Lou.  'Come  on.  There's  the  bus.

We'll have to run for it.'

They all got into the bus. Lou was still watching, a small figure very far away. Dick felt inclined to wave cheekily to him, but didn't.

The bus set off. They took three tickets for the town and one for the nearest stop. Timmy had a ticket, too, which he wore proudly in his collar. He loved going in a bus.

Julian got out at the first stop. 'Well, see you this evening!' he said. 'Send Timmy on ahead to the caravans¹⁰ when  you come back - just in case the men are anywhere about. I may not be able to warn you.'

'Right,' said Dick. 'Good-bye - and good luck!'

Julian waved and set off back down the road he had come. He saw a little lane leading off up into the hills and decided⁵ to take it. It led him not very far from Mrs Mackie's farm, so he soon knew where he was. He went back to the caravans, and quickly made himself some sandwiches and cut some cake to take to his hiding-place. He might have a long wait!

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'Now - where shall I hide?' thought the boy. 'I want somewhere that will give me a view of the track so that I can see when the men come up it. And yet it must be somewhere that gives me a good view of their doings, too. What would be the best place?'

A tree? No, there wasn't one that was near enough or thick enough. Behind a bush? No, the men might  easily  come  round  it  and  see  him.  What  about  the  middle  of  a  thick  gorse  bush?  That might be a good idea.

But Julian gave that up very quickly, for he found the bush far too prickly to force his way into the middle. He scratched his arms and legs terribly.

'Blow!' he said. 'I really must make up my mind, or the men may be here before I'm in hiding!'

And then he suddenly had a real brainwave, and he crowed in delight. Of course! The very place!

'I'll climb up on to the roof of one of the caravans!' thought Julian. 'Nobody will see me there  -

and certainly nobody would guess I was there! That really is a fine idea. I shall have a fine view of the track and a first-rate view of the men and where they go!'

It wasn't very easy to climb up on to the high roof. He had to get a rope, loop it at the end, and try to lasso the chimney in order to climb up.

He managed to lasso the chimney, and the rope hung down over the side of the caravan, ready for him to swarm¹¹ up. He threw his packet of food up on to the roof and then climbed up himself.

He pulled up the rope and coiled it beside him.

Then he lay down flat. He was certain that nobody could see him from below. Of course, if the men went higher up the hill and looked down on the caravans, he could easily be spotted¹² - but he would have to chance that.

He lay there quite still, watching the lake, and keeping eyes and ears open for anyone coming up the hillside. He was glad that it was not a very hot sunny day, or he would have been cooked up on the roof. He wished he had thought of filling a bottle with water in case he was thirsty.

He saw spires¹³  of smoke  rising from  where the circus camp  lay,  far below. He saw  a couple of boats  on  the  lake,  a  good  way  round  the  water  -  people  fishing,  he  supposed.  He  watched  a couple of rabbits come out and play on the hillside just below.

The  sun  came  out  from  behind  the  clouds  for  about  ten  minutes  and  Julian  began  to  feel uncomfortably hot. Then it went in again and he felt better.

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He  suddenly  heard  somebody  whistling  and  stiffened  himself  in  expectation  -  but  it  was  only someone belonging to the farm, going down the hill some distance away. The whistle had carried clearly in the still air.

Then he got bored. The rabbits went in, and not even a butterfly sailed by. He could see no birds except a yellow-hammer that sat on the topmost spray of a bush and sang: ' Little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese', over and over again in a most maddening manner.

Then it gave a cry of alarm and flew off. It had heard something that frightened it.

Julian heard something, too, and glued his eyes to the track that led up the hill. His heart began to beat. He could see two men. Were they Lou and Dan?

He did  not  dare to  raise his  head to  see them  when they came nearer in  case they spotted him.

But he knew their voices when they came near enough!

Yes - it was Lou and Tiger Dan all right. There was no mistaking those two harsh, coarse voices.

The men came right into the hollow, and Julian heard them talking.

'Yes,  there's  nobody  here.  Those  kids  have  really  gone  off  for  the  day  at  least  -  and  taken  that wretched dog with them!'

'I saw them get on the bus, dog and all, I told you,' growled Lou. 'There'll be nobody here for the day. We can get what we want to.'

'Let's go and get it, then,' said Dan.

Julian waited to see where they would go to. But they didn't go out of the hollow. They stayed there, apparently¹⁴ beside the caravans. Julian did not dare to look over the edge of the roof to see what they were up to. He was glad he had fastened all the windows and locked the doors.

Then  there  began  some  curious  scuffling  sounds,  and  the  men  panted.  The  caravan  on  which Julian was lying began to shake a little.

'What are they doing?' thought Julian in bewilderment. In intense curiosity he slid quietly to the edge of the caravan roof and cautiously peeped over, though he had firmly made up his mind not to do this on any account.

He looked down on the ground. There was nobody there at all. Perhaps the men were the other side. He slid carefully across and peeped over the opposite side of the caravan, which was still shaking a little, as if the men were bumping against it.

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There  was  nobody  the  other  side  either!  How  very  extraordinary!  'Golly!  They  must  be underneath¹⁵ the caravan!' thought Julian, going back to the middle of the roof. 'Underneath! What in the wide world for?'

It was quite impossible to see underneath the caravan from where he was, so he had to lie quietly and wonder about the men's doings. They grunted¹⁶ and groaned¹⁷, and seemed to be scraping and scrabbling  about,  but  nothing  happened.  Then  Julian  heard  them  scrambling  out  from underneath, angry and disappointed.

'Give us a cigarette,' said Lou in a disagreeable voice. 'I'm fed up with this. Have to shift this van.

Those tiresome¹⁸ brats¹⁹! What did they want to choose this spot for?'

Julian heard a match struck and smelt²⁰ cigarette smoke. Then he got a shock. The caravan he was on  began  to  move!  Heavens!  Were  the  men  going  to  push  it  over  the  ledge  and  send  it  rolling down the hillside?