26

the pedlar’s van

gussy looked shyly up at them, and then hid his face in ma’s lap, as if very overcome. that hadbeen mas idea, of course!

‘now, now!’ said ma, in tauri-hessian, tapping gussy. ‘sit up and answer the gentlemen, mylittle anna-maria!’ she turned to the soldiers.

‘you must pardon her,’ she said. ‘she is a silly little girl, and cannot say boo to a goose! sit up,my pet, and show these kind gentlemen what you are making.

gussy sat up, and held out a piece of embroidery to the two soldiers, keeping his head down asif very shy indeed. jack, looking in through the window, was amazed at gussy’s acting. and thatembroidery! how very very clever of ma to give gussy that to show to the soldiers! he had seenma working on it herself, night after night!

‘she is my favourite grandchild,’ ma prattled on. ‘the prettiest little thing and so good. talk tothe kind gentlemen, anna-maria! say how do you do.’

‘i cannot,’ said gussy, and hid his face in mas lap again.

‘don’t bother her,’ said one soldier. ‘i have a little girl at home as shy as she is. it’s better tohave them that way than bold and cheeky. how pretty her hair is! you must be proud of her, oldwoman.’

‘she is such a good little needlewoman,’ said ma, proudly, and patted gussy’s head. ‘sit up, mypet – the gentlemen won’t eat you!’

‘we’re going,’ said the first soldier. ‘here, give her this to spend. she really does remind me ofmy little girl at home.’

he threw a coin to ma and she caught it deftly and pocketed it at once. jack heaved anenormous sigh of relief when he saw the two men walking away. he poked his head in at thewindow.

‘it’s all right. they’ve gone. gussy, you were absolutely marvellous! talk about an actor! why,you’re a born actor! a shy little girl to the life.’

gussy lifted his head from ma’s lap. his eyes were bright and his face was red. he waslaughing.

‘it was ma’s idea, to behave like that,’ he said. ‘she said i must not show my face at all, i mustbe shy and put it into her lap.’

‘a really good idea,’ said jack, and grinned at ma’s smiling face. ‘honestly, gussy, icongratulate you – i never imagined you could act like that.’

‘i like acting,’ said gussy. ‘but not in girls’ clothes. i feel silly. still – it was a very good idea.

now – i am safe, is it not so?’

‘i think so,’ said jack, looking up the road. ‘the men are going back to their cars. they aregetting into them. yes – the first car is going off. whew! i was in a stew when those two fellowswalked into your van.’

as soon as three military cars had shot off down the road, philip left the bears’ van, and camerunning over to the others, grinning. they all collected round ma’s van, and heard jack’s recital ofgussy’s marvellous performance.

gussy was pleased. he was not often praised by the others, and it was very pleasant to havethem admiring him for once in a way. then he caught sight of himself in ma’s mirror, ribbons andall, and his face clouded.

‘i do not like myself,’ he said, staring in the mirror. ‘i will now dress in my own things again.’

‘oh no – not yet!’ said jack, quickly. ‘you don’t know who might recognize you suddenly ifyou did. you’ll have to be a girl until we get you to safety somewhere. go on, now, gussy – youlike acting. you’ll give a marvellous performance!’

the vans went on again. the excitement quickly died down, and everyone grew silent. theywere tired with their short night and the disturbances they had had. they stopped for a snack aboutsix o’clock and then went on again.

they were now on a lonely country road. the surface was bad, and the vans had to go slowly.

nobody minded that. circus folk were never in a hurry except when their show was about tobegin. then everyone fell into a tremendous rush, and raced about in excitement.

they camped that night in the hills. they all slept very soundly to make up for the lack of sleepthe night before. then they set out again, jogging on slowly, not really very certain where theywere going.

the boss suddenly decided that they had taken a wrong turning a few miles back. the vanswere turned round and back they all went, grumbling hard. they passed few people on the road,for they were now in a very lonely part.

‘i want shops,’ grumbled ma. ‘i need to buy things. we all need to buy things. we must go tosome place where there are shops. i will go to tell the boss.’

but she didn’t, because she was afraid of him. she just went on grumbling. she wanted newcotton reels. she wanted some tinned fruit. she wanted hairpins.

‘cheer up, ma – we may meet a travelling pedlar van,’ said pedro, getting tired of ma’sgrumbling.

‘what’s that?’ asked jack.

‘oh – a van that takes all kinds of things to lonely villages,’ said pedro. ‘i don’t expect we shallmeet one – but i’ve got to say something to keep ma quiet!’

the boss gave the order to camp early that night, and everyone was thankful. soon fires wereburning by the roadside and good smells came on the air.

just as it was getting dusk, a small van came labouring up the hill on the slope of which thecamp had been pitched. madame fifi saw it first and gave a shout.

everyone looked up. ‘ma! you’re in luck!’ called pedro. ‘here’s a pedlar’s van!’

the little black van drew up at the sight of the circus camp. two men sat in the front of it, in theusual tauri-hessian clothes, sunburnt fellows, one small, one big and burly.

‘better keep out of sight, gussy,’ said jack, suddenly. ‘you never know – this might be mensent to check over the camp again.’

‘oh dear!’ sighed lucy-ann. ‘don’t say they’re going to search all over again.’

the small man jumped out, went to the side of the van, and swung down half the wooden side,making a kind of counter. inside the van, on shelves, were goods of every conceivable kind! tinsof meat, sardines and fruit. tins of salmon and milk. skeins of wool, reels of cotton, rolls of lace,bales of cheap cotton cloth. safety-pins and hairpins. combs of all kinds. soap. sweets. really, itwas just like a little general shop seen in so many villages.

‘it sells everything!’ said pedro. ‘ma, do you want me to buy half the things for you?’

‘no. i’ll come myself,’ said ma, who enjoyed a bit of shopping. ‘stay here, anna-maria!’

‘can we go and have a look at the shop, do you think?’ asked dinah. ‘you’ve got some hessianmoney, haven’t you, jack? i do really want to buy some soap, and a few other things. surely thatvan is genuine – those men can’t be spies, sent to search the camp again!’

‘no. i don’t think they can be,’ said jack. ‘the van does seem quite genuine, as you say. allright – we’ll go and buy a few things. not gussy, though.’

so, while the others strolled off in the dusk to the little travelling shop, poor gussy was leftbehind in ma’s van. he was very cross.

the small man sold all the goods. the big man merely helped, handing down this and that, andwrapping up anything that needed it. he said nothing at all. the other man was a real talker. hechattered all the time, chaffed the women, and passed on little bits of news.

‘and what news have you got?’ he asked ma and old lucia, as he sold them hairpins andcombs. ‘you’ve come from the direction of borken, haven’t you? any news of the king there?

he’s not been found yet, you know!’

ma gave him her news, and described the clamour of the bells in the night. old lucia chimed inwith a few remarks too.

‘where’s little prince aloysius?’ she wanted to know. ‘they say he was sent to school inengland. if the king is dead, the little prince will have to be brought back, won’t he?’

‘we had soldiers searching our camp today,’ said madame fifi. ‘though what they expected tofind, i don’t know. the king perhaps!’

everyone laughed. the chattering and buying went on for some time, and the pedlars did verywell. jack went up to buy some sweets for the girls, kiki on his shoulder.

‘good morning, good night, good gracious!’ said kiki, conversationally, to the pedlar who wasserving. he laughed. but the other man didn’t. he turned round and looked very sharply at kikiindeed. jack felt uncomfortable. why did the second man look round like that? he tried to seewhat he was like, but it was now dark, and difficult to see inside the little van.

lucy-ann pointed to some toffee. ‘i’d like some of that,’ she said, in english. jack saw the manat the back of the van stiffen. he seemed to be listening for what lucy-ann might say next. hereached up to a shelf, took down a tin, and then stood still again, as lucy-ann spoke once more.

‘let’s have a tin of pineapple. kiki likes that.’

the man swung round. jack hurriedly pushed lucy-ann back into the darkness. this fellowwas a spy! he was sure of it! he took another look at him, but could not make out very much. ahead of black, curly hair, such as all the tauri-hessians had – a small black moustache – that wasabout all jack could see.

‘what’s up, jack?’ said lucy-ann, in astonishment as he hurried her away from the van, pullingdinah and philip with him too.

he told them hurriedly what he thought and they were very worried. they rushed back to ma’svan to see if gussy was all right. to their great relief, he was there, looking very cross. ‘thoughwhy we should think he wouldn’t be there, i don’t know,’ said jack. ‘gussy, get out yourembroidery. we’ve seen somebody suspicious. he heard lucy-ann talking in english, and kikitoo, and he was much too interested!’

‘well – we’ll hope he clears off soon,’ said philip. ‘i’ll go and watch, and tell you when they’regone.’

but the pedlar’s van didn’t go! the two men shut up the side of the van, safely locking up alltheir goods, and then sat outside with a little camp fire, cooking some kind of meal.

‘they’re staying the night,’ reported philip. ‘not too good, is it? and madame fifi told me thatthe small man has been asking questions about kiki – if the boy who owns her belongs to thecamp – and where his caravan is!’

‘blow!’ said jack. ‘what can we do? we can’t possibly run away. i’ve no idea at all where weare – miles away from anywhere, that’s certain! well – we can only hope for the best. we’ll sleepas usual under the girls’ van, and gussy can be with ma. after all, he’s the important one – we’renot really important, except that gussy escaped with us, and presumably the count will think thatwherever we are, gussy will be too!’

the girls went to their van and undressed to go to sleep. gussy was safely with ma. the threeboys lay on the rugs below the girls’ van as usual. pedro soon fell asleep, but jack and philip wereworried, and lay awake, whispering.

suddenly jack clutched philip. ‘i can hear someone,’ he whispered, in his ear. ‘someonecrawling near this van.’

jack sat up cautiously and felt for his torch. yes – someone was near the van, crawling quietlyon all fours. jack flicked on his torch at once.

a surprised face was caught in the light. a man was on hands and knees nearby. it was the bigpedlar from the little van! his black hair showed up plainly in the beam of the torch.

‘what do you want?’ said jack, fiercely. ‘what do you mean by crawling around like this? i’llraise the camp, and have them all after you!’