23

beware the bears!

jack hurried the girls and gussy to pedro’s van. he hadn’t reckoned on arriving back with them inthe middle of a disturbance like this! all the circus folk were out of their vans; they were dressedin all kinds of shawls, coats and macs, hastily pulled over their night things, and were gatheringtogether in frightened groups to talk.

it was just about the very worst time to bring gussy to the camp. suppose anyone recognizedhim? he would certainly have to be disguised at once.

pedro realized this too. he knew, much better than jack, what trouble the circus folk would getinto if it was discovered that they were harbouring the prince himself! they would all be clappedinto prison at once. pedro was very very worried.

‘jack! i’ll have to tell ma,’ he said, desperately. ‘i’ll have to! she can hide gussy better thananyone. let me tell her. she’ll help us.’

there was nothing for it but to say yes. jack watched pedro go up to his mother and saysomething urgently. then they disappeared up the steps of ma’s caravan, and shut the door. jacklooked at philip, who was feeling bewildered at this sudden transition from confinement in thetower room to the excited turmoil of the circus camp.

the girls and gussy were now safely in pedro’s own caravan – trying to peer out of thewindows to see what was going on. kiki had gone with them. lucy-ann almost wished she wasback in the peace of the tower room! she couldn’t understand exactly what was happening. wherewas jack? why didn’t he come and tell her?

pedro came out of his mother’s caravan and went straight over to jack. ‘it’s all right,’ he said.

‘ma’s taken command! she’s not a bit afraid of hiding the prince – actually she rather enjoyssomething like this. she’ll get him some girl’s clothes, put a ribbon on that long hair of his, andkeep him close to her. she says she’ll tell everyone he’s her little granddaughter, come to stay fora few days.’

jack gave a chuckle at the thought of gussy as a girl. ‘he’ll hate it,’ he said. ‘he’ll kick up noend of a fuss.’

‘ma won’t take any notice,’ said pedro, with a grin. ‘she’s quite likely to give him a few hardslaps, and my word, she’s got a bony hand! i’ll get him and take him to her. no one will recognizeprince aloyisus when she’s finished with him.’

pedro went off, and jack turned to philip, who grinned at him. ‘poor old gussy! that’s awonderful idea though – gussy will make a beautiful girl!’

there came a sudden shouting from the other end of the camp – then screams. people began tostream away towards the two boys, shouting in fear.

‘the bears! the bears! they’re out!’

toni came bounding up to jack. ‘where’s that friend of yours you said could manage animals?

oh, there he is. the bears are loose – they’ve broken three of the bars of their cage. see if yourfriend can help. fank can’t even get out of bed.’

philip knew nothing about the bears, of course, and jack hurriedly told him the details as theyran to the other end of the field. ‘i hope you can do something with them, philip. toni helped meto rescue you on the chance that you could help. it will be a terrible loss to the circus if the bearsget loose and have to be shot.’

one bear was still in the broken cage, afraid to go out because of the crowds. he was making aterrible noise. no one dared to go near. in a nearby cage feefo and fum, the two chimpanzees,were wailing in fright. madame fifi made sure they were safely locked in and ran over to jack.

‘don’t go near that bear, you two boys. he’s dangerous. and look out for the others. they’reloose.’

‘can’t someone block up those broken bars?’ said philip. ‘he’ll be out soon.’

‘nobody dares,’ said toni. but little madame fifi dared! she ran to a brilliant flaring torch,stuck in a holder nearby, plucked it out and ran back to the cage. she thrust the pointed bottom endof the torch into the ground, just in front of the cage. the bear shrank back at the bright light andcrouched down in a corner. he was afraid of the brilliance.

‘that settles him,’ said philip, pleased. ‘he won’t attempt to come out while that light is there.

now – where are the others?’

‘over there – sniffing round the boss’s caravan,’ said jack, pointing to two dark shapes. ‘i betthe boss is shivering in his shoes inside the van!’

‘where can i get some meat?’ panted philip as they ran across the field towards the bears. ‘orbetter still, can i get honey anywhere – or treacle?’

‘treacle! yes, ma’s got a whole jar of it,’ said jack, remembering. ‘i’ll get it.’

he raced off to ma’s caravan, burst in and demanded the treacle. gussy was there, standing insilken vest and pants, protesting loudly. ma was evidently getting to work on him! she didn’tseem to be at all surprised at jack bursting in to ask for treacle.

‘on the shelf,’ she said, and went on brushing out gussy’s hair.

jack found the big stone jar and fled back to philip with it. philip had now gone close to thebears, who turned to look at him suspiciously.

‘they’ve already injured one man,’ said jack, in a low voice. ‘look out, won’t you, philip?’

‘i’ll be all right,’ said philip. ‘keep out of sight, jack.’ he took the jar of treacle, dipped hishands in it and smeared them up to the wrists with the thick, sweet syrup.

then he walked towards the bears, pouring a little of the syrup out on the grass as he went. thebears growled warningly. philip turned and went back again. he sat down with the jar of treacleand waited.

by now many people were watching. who was this boy? what was he doing, meddling withtwo dangerous bears? they watched in fearful curiosity, ready to run at any moment.

jack stood out of sight – but near enough to run to philip’s help if necessary! he didn’t think itwould be necessary; he had absolute faith in philip’s ability to manage any animal.

the bears soon smelt the syrup that philip had spilt here and there on the grass. they loved thesweetness of treacle. fank sometimes gave it to them for a treat – and there was nothing they likedbetter than to have an empty syrup tin given to them, and to be allowed to lick it, and put theirgreat paws inside.

they sniffed, and went towards the first spots of treacle on the ground. one bear found themand licked eagerly. the second bear growled at him and tried to push him aside – but suddenlysmelt another few spots of treacle further on! he lumbered on clumsily and licked eagerly.

as soon as the bears realized that there was treacle about, they began to grunt excitedly. theyhad refused food for two days now, and they were hungry. they sniffed eagerly for more treacle.

the watching people held their breath as they saw the two great clumsy creatures getting nearerand nearer to the boy sitting on the ground. surely he was in danger?

‘who is he? he ought to be warned!’ they said. but toni and bingo hushed them.

‘be quiet! he is jack’s friend, a wonder with animals! give him a chance! he can run if thebears threaten him!’

the first bear was now quite near philip, his head close to the ground as he sniffed about formore treacle. philip put his hand into the jar he held, and took it out, waving it slowly in the air sothat the bear could get the full scent of it.

the bear raised his head and saw philip. he backed away a little and gave an angry grunt. whowas that sitting on the ground? his eyes gleamed an angry red in the light from a nearby lamp. alittle sigh of fear went through the anxious crowd.

and then philip spoke. he spoke in what jack called his ‘special’ voice – the voice he alwayskept for animals. it was a low, monotonous voice, a gentle, kindly voice, but somehow it was avoice that had to be listened to. ‘a sort of hypnotizing voice,’ thought jack, as he stood watching.

the bear listened. he grunted again, and backed away, bumping into the second bear. but stillphilip’s voice went on. what was he saying? jack couldn’t hear. how did he know how to talk toanimals like this? and why did they all listen? the watching circus folk knew that most animaltrainers used a special tone of voice when they petted their animals – but here was a strange boytalking to frightened and suspicious bears – and yet they listened.

the second bear came a little nearer, his ears pricked. he sniffed. he sniffed not only thetreacle, but philip’s own particular smell. he liked it. it was a friendly smell. the bears alwayssorted out people into two kinds – those whose smell they liked and those they didn’t.

he lumbered right up to philip and sniffed at him, ready to strike if the boy moved. a littlescream came from someone in the crowd, but the bear took no notice.

philip went on talking, and now his voice was so honeyed and persuasive that even the crowdbegan to feel his spell. the bear licked philip’s hand, which was covered in treacle. philip did notmove. the bear went on licking, quite unafraid.

the other bear came up, and, seeing how unafraid his brother was, he took a quick lick atphilip’s other hand. in two or three seconds both bears were grunting in delight at so much treacle.

this boy was a friend! they didn’t know who he was, but they were quite sure he was a friend.

philip talked all the time, monotonously and kindly. he thought he could now dare to move, sohe lifted one hand slowly, put it into the jar beside him, and then took it out covered with treacleagain.

one bear lay down beside him to lick in comfort. another sigh at once went through the tensecrowd. philip gave the jar to the other bear, and then with his free hand began to fondle the bearlying beside him. it grunted in pleasure.

now the bears were happy and at peace. they had found someone they liked and trusted. philipknew that he had them under control – if only the crowd didn’t do something silly – make asudden noise, or come surging towards him. but the circus folk knew better than that. they wereused to animals.

philip stood up, doing nothing quickly – all his movements were smooth and slow. he pickedup the jar, and with his other hand on one bear’s neck, began to walk to the cage. the bearsfollowed, shambling along quietly, licking their lips.

philip took them right to the cage, undid the door and let them shuffle in. he put the treacle jarinside, shut the door, and went quietly outside.

and then how the people cheered! ‘he’s a wonder! who is he? tell fank the bears are safe.

who is this boy?’