The Circus of Adventure

‘Look here,’ he said fiercely to the two men there. ‘You know that the British Government and your own Government won’t let you make Gussy King. You’ll get into trouble with our Government, you know. You’ll be clapped into prison either here or in your own country.’

  The men, joined by the other two below, had a quick conference. Philip didn’t understand a word. Then the tall man with the eyeglass bowed slightly to Philip.

  ‘You too will come with us,’ he said, ‘and the other children as well. You will – er – be companions for our little Prince – and we do not think your Government will be too angry when they know we hold you also!’

  ‘Oh! So you think you’ll take us and make us a kind of hostage, do you?’ said Philip, quite beside himself with rage. ‘You think you can bargain with our Government just because you’ll hold us prisoners! My word, you don’t know the British people. You’ll be sorry for this! Holding us to ransom! I never heard such a fatheaded idea in my life. You aren’t living in the Middle Ages, you know!’

  The man heard him out to the end, quite politely. Then he made a motion with his hand, and two of the men pounced on Philip and Gussy and held them in such a vice-like grip that it was quite hopeless to get away.

  ‘Run, you two – run!’ yelled Philip at the top of his voice, hoping that Dinah and Lucy-Ann would have the sense to rush into the woods and get away. But although they did manage to tear downstairs, they found a man in the hall, and he was quite able to hold the two kicking, yelling girls until yet another fellow came to his help.

  Sharp orders were given by the man with the eyeglass, who seemed to be in command. One man detached himself and went upstairs. He came down with an assortment of clothes for the girls and Gussy, who was, of course, still in his beautiful silk pyjamas. The girls were in pyjamas and dressing gowns, but had no slippers on. The man was sent back to fetch shoes.

  ‘Where’s Bill?’ said Lucy-Ann, with chattering teeth. ‘I want Bill. What have they done with him? And where’s Aunt Allie?’

  ‘Don’t be frightened,’ said the man with the eyeglass, patting her. ‘We shall treat you very kindly. We shall not hurt you. It will be nice for the little Prince Aloysius to have his friends with him. You will have a fine time in Tauri-Hessia.’

  Lucy-Ann suddenly realized that Jack was missing. She looked round wildly for him. ‘Where’s Jack? What have you done with Jack?’

  ‘Ah, yes – there was another boy. I remember now,’ said the chief man. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘Out bird-watching,’ said Philip, sullenly. His only hope now was that Jack would see and hear this disturbance and go to fetch help before they were all whisked away. He had given up struggling. What was the use? He would only get hurt, and he could see that if the girls were going to be captured, he certainly must go with them to look after them as best he could.

  ‘Bird-watching! At this time of night!’ said the man. ‘What strange habits you Britishers have! We will not wait for this boy Jack. We do not need him.’

  They opened the front door again, and pushed the four children out in front of them, holding their arms tightly.

  ‘It is of no use to scream,’ said the chief, still very politely.

  ‘There is no one to hear you – and we should gag you if you did scream.’

  ‘Philip – what shall we do?’ asked Dinah, scarlet with rage at being captured like this.

  ‘Nothing,’ said Philip. ‘Just – er – hope for the best.’

  Dinah guessed what he meant. Perhaps even at this very minute Jack was bringing help!

  Lucy-Ann stumbled along miserably in her dressing gown. She had been allowed to put on her shoes, and so had the others. She was worried about Bill and her aunt, and very very worried about Jack. Would she be taken off to Tauri-Hessia and have to leave Jack for months and months? Where was Jack?

  Jack was down in the quarry with Kiki. He had found plenty of owls hooting and screeching there, for, as the old farm hand had said, it was a wonderful hunting place for owls of all kinds.

  Kiki had been having the time of her life. She had hooted and screeched and twitted, and had brought a crowd of owls almost down to Jack’s shoulders. One owl, a barn owl, had screeched deafeningly in his ear, and had struck him with a wing.

  Jack decided that he was too easily seen where he stood. He must get under a bush somewhere, or else the next owl might scratch his face with a sharp talon or two!

  He moved to the other side of the quarry and made his way to a big hedge there. As he drew near, the moonlight glinted on something under the hedge. Something that shone brightly. Jack stopped. What could it be?

  He went cautiously forward, and saw that something dark and long and very big was under the tall hedge, as close to it as possible. The moonlight caught its polished surface here and there.

  ‘Gosh! It’s a car!’ said Jack, in the greatest astonishment. ‘A car exactly like the one the couple have at the farm – it must be the same one. What’s it doing here?’

  He went over to it. It was empty. Nobody was in it at all. The key had been taken out so that it could not be driven away.

  ‘Has somebody parked it here to go and spy round Quarry Cottage?’ wondered Jack. He went to the back of the car. It had an enormous luggage boot. Jack opened it and peered inside. It was empty except for an extra inner tube and a few tools.

  Kiki hooted again, and an owl answered her. ‘Be quiet now, Kiki,’ said Jack. ‘We’ve got to do a bit of spying. We’ll creep back to Quarry Cottage and see if there’s anyone snooping round there.’

  But before he could do that, he heard the sound of footsteps coming into the quarry, and he dived into some bushes.

  The footsteps made quite a lot of noise, because there were eight people coming into the deserted quarry, where the car had been parked. Jack peered out of his bush and saw, to his great alarm, that Philip, Dinah, Lucy-Ann and Gussy were all being held very firmly indeed! He stared, bewildered, unable to think what to do.

  Kiki suddenly screeched – but it was not an owl screech, it was a real parrot screech – and Philip recognized it at once. It was Kiki! Then Jack must be somewhere in the quarry still!

  He gave a shout. ‘They’re taking us away! Tell Bill!’

  The man holding him gave him a shove. ‘You were told not to shout! What’s the use of shouting here? There’s no one to hear you!’

  But there was, of course. There was Jack. But what was Jack to DO?

  13

  The extra passenger

  Jack stared in distress at the four children being bundled into the car – Philip and Dinah at the back with three men, and Gussy and Lucy-Ann in front with the driver. What a crowd! If anyone saw the car going along with such a number of people in, surely it would be noticed and stopped?

  ‘Yes, it would,’ thought Jack, ‘so that means they can’t be going very far – they will arrive at their destination before daylight. Are they going to take them to some hiding place fairly near then? Why in the world have they got Philip and the girls as well as Gussy?’

  Everyone was now in the car. The doors were shut as quietly as possible. The engine was started up – and just at that very moment Jack had an idea!

  He ran, crouching, to the back of the car. He hadn’t had time to shut the luggage boot properly when he had opened it to look inside. Could he get into it before the car drove off? It was such a fine big one.

  The car began to move very slowly out of the quarry, bumping over rough places. Jack flung himself at the back of it, and clambered up on to the luggage boot. It swung right open, and Jack half-fell into it. Kiki was astounded, and flew off his shoulder at once. Jack stared at her anxiously. He dared not call her back.

  But, as soon as she saw Jack settled in the boot, she flew down again, and found his shoulder. She talked solemnly into his ear, in a very low voice, trying to tell him in parrot language that she thought these goings-on were extremely peculiar, but that so long as Jack approved of them, she did too – and she was comi
ng with him, even in this dark, smelly car boot!

  Jack felt comforted to have her. He puzzled over everything. Where was Bill? And Aunt Allie? How was it these fellows had been able to get into Quarry Cottage so easily and capture everyone? But what had they done with Bill? Was he lying knocked out in the cottage? Ought Jack to have gone to see, instead of climbing into the boot?

  The car had now gathered speed and was going down country lanes very fast. It drew up once, at some dark little house, where a man came out. There was another car there and one of the men in the first car thankfully got out and went to the second car. This went on ahead, as if guiding the other. Jack was glad. He didn’t want bright head lights behind him, showing him sitting in the boot!

  ‘I ought to close the boot and shut myself in. But suppose I can’t get it open again?’ he thought. ‘I simply must see what place they’re taking the others to. If I can do that, I can soon raise the alarm, have the place surrounded, and everyone rescued! I hope no one sees me here.’

  Another hour’s run in the smooth-running powerful car – then it stopped. There was a sharp exchange of words, a light flashed, and a gate creaked open.

  ‘Hallo! We’re here already, wherever that may be!’ thought Jack. ‘Had I better get out now, while the car has stopped? Blow – it’s too late. They’re going on again.’

  The car bumped over a dark field. And then suddenly a strange, extraordinarily loud noise started up not far ahead. Jack jumped violently, and Kiki gave a loud screech, which fortunately couldn’t possibly be heard in the enormous noise going on.

  ‘An aeroplane!’ said Jack. ‘So that’s what they’ve planned. They’re going off to Tauri-Hessia! They must be. And they’ll hide Gussy somewhere till their plans are all ready, and the girls and Philip with him. Nobody will know where they are.’

  He felt the car come to a stop with a bump. He crawled out of the boot at once, and ran to a big shape looming up nearby. It was a lorry. Jack crouched beside it, watching.

  He saw an aeroplane not far off, its propellers whirring. It hadn’t all its lights on yet, but men were round it with lamps. It was obviously soon going to take off.

  What was this place? A private airfield? Jack had no idea at all. He watched all the passengers in the big black car tumbling out, one after the other. He thought he heard Lucy-Ann crying, and his heart sank. She would hate all this! She wasn’t tough, like Dinah. Where would she be tomorrow?

  Everyone was hurried towards the plane. Jack left his hiding place and hurried too. He had had another idea! Could he hide in the plane? He had hidden in the car, and no one had suspected it. Would there be any place to hide in the plane?

  He thought of the planes he had flown in. The luggage-space would be the only place. There probably wouldn’t be much there. It was a risk, but he’d take it. If he was discovered, well, at least he’d be with the others.

  ‘But I mustn’t be discovered!’ he thought desperately. ‘If I am I’ll be hidden away somewhere too – and I simply must find out where the others are being taken, so that I can somehow get word to Bill.’

  Kiki came to his help, quite unexpectedly. She didn’t see why she shouldn’t talk to the others, whose voices she had recognized as soon as she heard them getting out of the car. She left Jack’s shoulder and flew towards Lucy-Ann.

  ‘Pop goes the weasel!’ she cried. ‘God save the King! Send for the doctor!’

  The four children in front turned round in utter amazement. ‘Kiki! KIKI! How did you get here?’

  The men pushing them forward stopped at once. They had no idea that Kiki was only a parrot, and had not even spotted her in the darkness. They thought she must be someone coming after the children, on the airfield, someone quite unexpected, who had followed them!

  Orders were shouted. Lamps flashed here and there. Kiki was frightened and flew back to Jack.

  ‘Wipe your feet!’ she called, much to the amazement of the men with the lamps.

  Jack ran round the other side of the lorry, for the men were coming too near him. Then he saw his chance. Everyone’s attention was on the men who were searching the field with lamps. Nobody was watching the plane.

  Jack ran to it in the darkness, stumbling as he went. Thank goodness the moon had conveniently gone behind a remarkably black cloud! He felt a drop of rain. Perhaps the moon wouldn’t come out till he was safely in the plane.

  He reached the plane, and thankfully saw the steps up to it. He ran up and found himself in the plane. No one was there. He groped his way to the back, where he hoped to find the luggage-space. He felt something that was shaped like a crate. Yes – this must be where they put the luggage! He felt round again, and came across a box. It had a lid, and he lifted it up, hoping that the box was empty.

  It wasn’t. It was full of something soft, that might be clothes, or material of some kind. It felt like silk. Jack pulled most of it out and stuffed in into a corner, behind the big crate.

  Then he hurriedly got into the box and pulled the lid down. Only just in time! Kiki was with him, of course, silent and astonished. Jack had tapped her beak to tell her she must be absolutely quiet.

  He heard the sound of voices and the noise of feet going up the steps into the plane. He heard shouts, and bangs and whirs. The propellers, which had stopped, were started up again, and the aeroplane shook violently.

  The wheels bumped very slowly over the field and then the bumping stopped.

  ‘We’ve taken off,’ thought Jack, thankfully. ‘And I’m here with the others, though they don’t know it. Now will my luck hold? Shall I get to wherever they’re going without being discovered? I do hope so! If only I can find out where they will be hidden, things will be easy.’

  It was uncomfortable in the box, but as Jack had left some of the soft material at the bottom, at least he had something soft to crouch on. Kiki didn’t like it at all. She grumbled in his ear, and then suddenly produced a tremendous sneeze.

  It sounded very loud indeed to Jack. He sat as quiet as a mouse, waiting for someone to come and look round the luggage-space. But nobody did. The noise of the engines was too loud for Kiki’s sneeze to be heard. It was a real sneeze, not a pretend one, and Kiki was just as surprised as Jack was when it came.

  The children in the front of the plane talked in low voices, sure that the engines would drown what they were saying. It seemed queer to be sitting in a plane dressed in night clothes – all but Philip, of course.

  ‘Was that Kiki we heard out on the field?’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘It must have been. I’m sure I heard “Pop goes the weasel”!’

  ‘I believe it was,’ said Philip. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if old Jack hung on to that car somehow. After all, we know he was in that quarry – he probably saw what was happening, and managed to hang on behind somewhere.’

  ‘I wish he was with us now,’ sighed Lucy-Ann. ‘I shan’t like being without him. Where are we going, I wonder? To some horrid old castle – or perhaps a palace? Gussy, have you got a palace?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Gussy. ‘But only a small one. We shan’t go there, because the people know me. They would see me. I have heard these men talking, and they do not want me to be seen yet. First they must deal with my uncle. I hope they will not kill him. He is nice, my uncle.’

  ‘I sincerely hope they won’t do anything of the sort,’ said Philip. ‘You’d have to be King then, Gussy. How I’d hate to be a King! Always having to be on my best behaviour, never to lose my temper or do a thing that was wrong or impolite, having to be nice to people I hated, and . . .’

  ‘Why isn’t your father King?’ asked Dinah. ‘Why are you the heir to the throne?’

  ‘My father is dead,’ said Gussy. ‘There is only my mother, and in our country women are not allowed to rule. So one day I must be King. I shall like it.’

  ‘Well – you like ordering people about, and showing off,’ said Dinah. ‘So I suppose it’ll suit you. But I can’t say you’re my idea of a King. Oh dear – I wish this hadn’t happene
d. All our Easter hols spoiled!’

  ‘I hate all this,’ said Lucy-Ann, dismally. ‘I’m cold, and now I’m sleepy.’

  ‘Cuddle up to me,’ said Dinah. After all, it’s the middle of the night, so we ought to feel sleepy. I do too. Let’s go to sleep. It will make the night seem shorter.’

  ‘I could go to sleep at once if I didn’t keep thinking of Bill and Aunt Allie,’ said Lucy-Ann, shutting her eyes, and getting close to Dinah for warmth. ‘I keep on thinking about – about – I keep on . . .’

  Philip smiled at Dinah over Lucy-Ann’s head. She was asleep already, in spite of her ‘thinking’. Poor Lucy-Ann – she fell into adventures as readily as the others, but she didn’t enjoy them nearly so much!

  Jack fell into an uncomfortable sleep too, in his box in the luggage-space. Kiki tucked her head under her wing and slept peacefully. The plane went on and on in the night, through a rain-storm, and then out into clear weather again, with a moon still bright in the sky.

  None of the children saw that it was flying over the brilliant, moonlit sea. None of them gazed down to see the towns that looked like toy villages far below. The engines droned on and on, and the rhythm lulled the sleepers for mile upon mile.

  And then the plane began to circle over a small airfield. It had arrived! Philip woke in a hurry and shook the girls. Gussy woke too and looked down from the window.

  ‘Tauri-Hessia!’ he said, proudly. ‘My country, Tauri-Hessia!’

  14

  Jack is on his own

  The sun was up, just above the horizon, when the plane landed gently on the runway. The sky was golden, and in the distance small whitewashed houses gleamed brightly.

  Jack awoke when the engines stopped. He lifted up the lid of his box slightly, listening. Had they arrived? Then he heard Gussy’s voice. ‘Tauri-Hessia!’

  ‘So we’ve arrived,’ thought Jack. ‘Now – what do I do next? It’s daylight – though I should guess it’s only just sunrise.’

  The four children in front were hustled out. The little airfield was completely deserted except for a few mechanics. A large car stood waiting. The children were pushed into it without a moment’s pause. Obviously they were to be hurried somewhere secret as fast as possible.