chapter 4 down in the cove

the first three days at tremannon farm were lazy, uneventful days, full of sunshine, good food, dogs- and of little yan.

he really was a perfect nuisance. the four children seemed to have a real fascination for him, and hetrailed them everywhere, following them bare-footed. he turned up behind hedges, along lanes, attheir picnicking places, his dark eyes watching them intently.

'what's the good of telling him to go?' groaned julian. 'he disappears behind one hedge and appearsout of another. you'd think he'd get bored, doing this shadowing business all the time.

what's the point of it, anyway?'

'no point,' said george. 'just curiosity. what i can't understand is why timmy puts up with him.

you'd think he'd bark or growl or something, but he's quite silly with yan, lets him play with him,and roll him over as if he was a mad puppy.'

'well, i'm going to find this great-grandad of his tomorrow, and tell him to keep yan with him,'

said julian. 'he's maddening. i feel i want to swot him like a gnat, always buzzing round us.

gosh, there he is again!'

so he was. a pair of dark eyes were gazing round a tree-trunk, half hidden by a sheaf of leaves.

timmy bounded up to him in glee, and made such a fuss of yan that george was quite disgusted.

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'timmy! come here!' she called, imperiously. 'don't you understand that you ought to chase yanaway when he comes and not encourage him? i'm ashamed of you!'

timmy put his tail down and went to her. he sat down beside her with a bump. dick laughed.

'he's sulking! he won't look at you, george! he's turning his head away on purpose!'

julian chased yan away, threatening him with all sorts of things if he caught him, but the boy was asfast as a hare, and seemed suddenly to disappear into thin air. he had a wonderful way of vanishing,and an equally remarkable way of appearing again.

'i don't like that kid,' said julian. 'he makes me shiver down my back whenever i see him suddenlypeeping somewhere.'

'he can't be a bad kid, though, because timmy likes him so much,' said anne, who had great faith intimmy's judgment. 'timmy never likes anyone horrid.'

'well, he's made a mistake this time, then,' said george, who was cross with timmy. 'he's being verystupid. i'm not pleased with you, timmy!'

'let's go down to the sea and bathe,' said dick. 'we'll go on our bikes and yan won't be able to popup and watch us there.'

they took their bicycles and rode off to the coast. mrs. penruthlan made them sandwiches and gavethem fruit cake and drinks to take with them. they saw yan watching them from behind a hedge asthey went.

they took the road to the sea. it was no more than a narrow lane, and wound about like a stream,twisting and turning so that they couldn't get up any speed at all.

'look - the sea!' cried dick, as they rounded one last bend. the lane had run down between two high,rocky cliffs, and in front of them was a cove into which raced enormous breakers, throwing sprayhigh into the air.

they left their bicycles at the top of the cove, and went behind some big rocks to change into bathingthings. when they came out, julian looked at the sea. it was calm beyond the rocks, but over thesethe waters raged fiercely and it was impossible to venture in.

they walked a little way round the cliffs, and came to a great pool lying in a rocky hollow. 'just thething!' cried george and plunged in. 'gosh, it's cold!'

it should have been hot from the sun, but every now and again an extra large wave broke right intothe pool itself, bringing in cooler water. it was fun when that happened. the four of them swam totheir hearts' content, and timmy had a fine time too.

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they picnicked on the rocks, with spray flying round them, and then went to explore round the footof the cliffs.

'this is exciting,' said george. 'caves, and more caves, and yet more caves! and cove after cove, allas lovely as the one before. i suppose when the tide's in, all these coves are shoulder-high in water.'

'my word, yes,' said julian, who was keeping a very sharp eye indeed on the tide. 'and a good manyof these caves would be flooded too. no wonder mrs. penruthlan warned us so solemnly about thetides here! i wouldn't want to try and climb up these cliffs if we were caught!'

anne looked up and shivered. they were so very steep and high. they frowned down at her as if tosay 'we stand no nonsense from anyone! so look after yourself!'

'well, i'm blessed! look there, isn't that that tiresome little wretch of a yan?' said dick, suddenly. hepointed to a rock covered with seaweed. peeping from behind it was yan!

'he must have run all the way here, and found us,' said julian, in disgust. 'well, we'll leave him here.

it's time we went. the tide's coming in. it'll serve him right to find us gone as soon as he arrives. hemust be mad!'

'do you think he knows about the tide?' said anne, looking worried. 'i mean, knows that it's comingin and might catch him?'

'of course he knows!' said julian. 'don't be silly. but we'll wait and have our tea at the top part of thecove, if you like. that's the only way back, if he wants to escape the tide, short of climbing the cliff,which no one would be mad enough to try!'

they had put aside some cake and biscuits for their tea, and they found a good picnicking place at thetop of the cove where they had left their bicycles. they settled down to munch the solid fruit cakethat mrs. penruthlan had given them. there was no doubt about it, she was a wonderful cook!

the tide swept in at a great rate, and soon the noise of enormous waves pounding on the rocks grewlouder. 'yan hasn't appeared yet,' said anne. 'do you think he's all right?'

'he must be having a good old wetting if he's still there,' said dick. 'i think we'd better go and see.

much as i dislike him i don't want him to be drowned.'

the two boys went down the cove as far as they could, peering round the cliff to where they had seenyan hiding. but how different it all looked now!

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'gosh, the beach is gone already!' said julian, startled. 'i can see how easily anyone could get caughtby the tide now, see that last wave, it swept right into that cave we explored!'

'what's happened to yan?' said dick. 'he's nowhere to be seen. he didn't come out of the cove; we'vebeen sitting there all the time. where is he?'

dick spoke urgently, and julian began to feel scared too. he hesitated. should they wade over therocks a little way? the next wave decided him. it would be folly to do any such thing!

another wave like that and both he and dick would be flung off the rock they were standing on!

'look out, here comes an even bigger one!' yelled julian, and the two boys leapt off their rock andraced back up the cove. even so, the wave lapped right up to their feet.

they went back to the girls. 'can't see him anywhere,' said julian, speaking more cheerfully than hefelt. 'the whole beach is covered with the tide now, more than covered. the lower caves are full too.'

'he - he won't be drowned, will he?' said anne, fearfully.

'oh, i expect he can look after himself,' said julian. 'he's used to this coast. come on, it's time wewent.'

they all rode off, timmy running beside their bicycles. nobody said anything. they couldn't helpfeeling worried about yan. whatever could have happened to him?

they arrived at the farm and put their bicycles away. they went in to find mrs. penruthlan. they toldher about yan, and how he had disappeared.

'you don't think he might have been swept off his feet and drowned, do you?' asked anne.

mrs. penruthlan laughed. 'good gracious, no! that boy knows his way about the countryside and theseashore blindfold. he's cleverer than you think. he never misses anything! he's a poor little thing,but he looks after himself all right!'

this was rather comforting. perhaps yan would turn up again, with his dark eyes fixed unblinkinglyon them!

after a high-tea as good as any they had had, they went for a walk down the honeysuckle-scentedlanes, accompanied as usual by the five dogs. they sat on a stile, and dick handed round somebarley-sugar.

'look!' said george suddenly. 'do you see what i see? look!' she nodded her head towards an oaktree in the hedge, not far off. the others stared up into it.

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two dark eyes stared back. yan! he had followed them as usual, and had hidden himself to watchthem. anne was so tremendously relieved to see him that she called to him in delight.

'oh, yan! have a barley-sugar?'

yan slithered down the tree at top speed and came up. he held out his hand for the barley-sugar.

for the first time he smiled, and his dirty, sullen face lighted up enchantingly. anne stared at him.

why, he was a dear little fellow! his eyes shone and twinkled, and a dimple came in each cheek.

'here you are, here's a couple more sweets for you,' dick said, very glad to see that the small boyhadn't been drowned. yan almost snatched them from him! it was plain that he very, very seldom hadany sweets! timmy was making a fuss of him as usual. he lay down on his back and rolled overyan's feet. he licked his bare knees and arms, and jumped up at him, almost knocking the boy down.

yan laughed, and fell on timmy, rolling over and over with him. julian, dick and anne watched andlaughed.

but george was not pleased. timmy was her dog, and she didn't like him to make a fuss of anyoneshe disapproved of. she was glad that yan was safe but she still didn't like him! so she scowled, andjulian nudged dick to make him see the scowl. george saw him and scowled worse than ever.

'you'll be sorry you gave him sweets,' she said. 'he'll be round us worse than ever now.'

yan came up after a minute or two, sucking all three sweets at once, so that his right cheek was veryswollen indeed.

'come, see my grandad,' he said, earnestly, talking even worse than usual because of the sweets.

'i tell him 'bout you all. he tell you many things.'

he stared at them all seriously. 'grandad likes sweets too,' he added, solemnly. 'iss. iss, he do.'

julian laughed. 'all right. we'll come and see him tomorrow afternoon. now you clear off or youwon't get any more sweets. understand?'

'iss,' said yan, nodding his head. he took the three sweets out of his mouth, looked at them to seehow much he had sucked them, and then put them back again.

'clear off now,' said julian again. 'but wait a bit, i've just thought; how did you get away from thatbeach this afternoon? did you climb that cliff?'

'no,' said yan, shifting his sweets to the other cheek. 'i came the wreckers' way. my grandad learntit me.'

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he was off and away before anyone could ask him another question. the four looked at one another.

'did you hear that?' said julian. 'he went the wreckers' way. what's that, do you suppose? we musthave been on one of the beaches the wreckers used long, long ago.'

'yes. but how did he get off that beach, and away into safety?' said dick. 'i'd like to know more aboutthe wreckers' way! i certainly think we'd better pay a visit to old great-grandad tomorrow. hemight have some very interesting things to tell us.'

'well, we'll go and see him,' said george, getting up. 'but just you remember what i said. yan willpester us more than ever now we've encouraged him.'

'oh well, he doesn't seem such a bad kid after all,' said dick, remembering that sudden smile and theeager acceptance of a few sweets. 'and if he persuades grandad to let us into the secret of wreckers'

way, we might have some fun doing a bit of exploring. don't you think so, ju?'

'it might even lead to an adventure,' said julian, laughing at anne's serious face. 'cheer up, anne.

i can't even smell an adventure in tremannon. i'm just pulling your leg!'

'i think you're wrong,' said anne. 'if you can't smell one somewhere, i can. i don't want to, but i can!'