Blyton, Enid – Famous Five 14 – Five Have Plenty of Fun

‘Well, you monkey!’ said Joan to Jo. ‘Up to tricks as usual, I hear. Throwing stones at people’s windows in the middle of the night. You just try that on my window and see what happens to you! Now, put on that apron, and help round a bit. How’s Miss Jane?

Joan was most excited to hear about the boys’ latest ideas as to where George might be. Julian gave her a warning.

‘But no ringing up the police behind our backs this time, Joan,’ he said. ‘This is something best done by Dick and me.’

‘Can’t I come with Sally?’ asked Anne.

‘We can’t possibly take Sally,’ said Dick, ‘in case Gringo’s about and recognises her. So you’d better stay and look after her, and we’ll take Timmy. He would be sure to smell where George is, if she’s hidden anywhere in the camp. But I think she’s probably in Gringo’s own caravan.’

Timmy pricked up his ears every time he heard George’s name mentioned. He was a very miserable dog indeed, and kept running to the front gate, hoping to see George coming along. Whenever they missed him, they knew where to find him – lying mournfully on George’s empty bed – probably with an equally mournful Sally beside him!

The boys and Jo set off to the Fair about half past three, on their bicycles. Jo rode Anne’s this time, and Timmy ran valiantly beside them. Jo glanced at Dick’s bicycle from time to time, proud of its brilliant look – how well she had cleaned it that morning!

They came to the Fair. ‘You can put your bikes up against Spiky’s caravan,’ said Jo. ‘They’ll be safe there. Will you pay, and then we’ll get in straightaway? You needn’t pay for me – I’m going through the gap in the hedge. I’m Spiky’s friend, so it’s all right.’

She gave Dick her bicycle and disappeared. Julian paid and went in at the gate. They saw Jo waving wildly to them from the side of the big field and wheeled the three bicycles over to her, Timmy following closely at their heels.

‘Hallo!’ said Spiky, appearing suddenly. ‘See you soon! I’ve got to go and ’tend to the roundabout. I’ve got a bit of news, but not much. That’s Gringo’s caravan over there, the double-one, big van in front, little van behind.’

He nodded his head to where a most magnificent caravan stood, right away from the rest of the camp. There were people milling about all round the other vans, but there was nobody at all by Gringo’s. Evidently no one dared to go too near.

‘I vote we buy a ball at one of the stands, and then go and play near Gringo’s caravan,’ said Dick, in a low voice. ‘Then one of us will throw the ball too hard and it will go near the van – and we’ll somehow manage to get a peep inside. Timmy can go sniffing round while we play. If George is there he’ll bark the place down.’

‘Jolly good idea!’ said Julian. ‘Come on, Jo! And keep your eyes open all the time in case you’ve got to warn us of danger.’

Chapter Eighteen

SPIKY IS VERY HELPFUL

The two boys and Jo, with Timmy at their heels, wandered round the Fair to find somewhere to buy a ball. There seemed to be none for sale, so they had a go at a Hoopla stall, and Julian managed to get a ring round a small red ball. Just the thing!

It was a big and noisy Fair, and hundreds of people from the near-by towns had come on this shops’ closing day to enjoy the fun. The roundabout played its loud, raucous music all the time, swings went to and fro, the dodgem cars banged and bumped one another as usual, and men went round shouting their wares.

‘Balloons! Giant balloons! Three pence each!’

‘Ice-cream! All flavours.’

‘Tell your fortune, lady? I’ll tell it true as can be!’

Jo was very much at home in the Fair. She had been brought up in one, and knew all the tricks of the trade. Timmy was rather amazed at the noise, and kept close to the boys, his tail still down because he could not forget that George was missing.

‘Now let’s play our little game of ball,’ said Julian. ‘Come on, Tim – and if we get into any trouble, just growl and show your teeth, see?’

The three of them, with Timmy, went to the clear space of field that separated the magnificent caravan from the rest of the Camp. A man at a near-by stall called to them.

‘Hey! You’ll get into trouble if you play there!’ But they took no notice and he shrugged his shoulders and began to shout his wares.

They threw the ball to one another, and then Julian flung it so wildly that it ran right up to the wheels of the front caravan of the pair. In a trice Dick and Jo were after it. Jo leapt up on a wheel and looked in at the big window, while Dick ran to the small van that was attached behind the big one.

A quick glance assured Jo that the big caravan was empty. The interior was furnished in a most luxurious way and looked like a very fine bed-sitting-room. She leapt down.

Dick peered into the window of the smaller van. At first he thought there was no one there – and then he saw a pair of very fierce, angry eyes looking at him – the eyes of a small, bent old woman with untidy hair. She looked rather like a witch, Dick thought. She was sitting sewing in a bunk, and, as he looked in, she shook her fist at him and called out something he couldn’t hear.

He jumped down and joined the others. ‘No one at all in the big van,’ said Jo.

‘Only a witch-like old woman in the other,’ reported Dick, in deep disappointment. ‘Unless George is pushed under a bunk or squashed into a cupboard, she’s certainly not there!’

‘Timmy doesn’t seem interested in the caravans at all, does he?’ said Julian. ‘I’m sure if George really was in one of those caravans, he’d bark and try to get inside.’

‘Yes – I think he would,’ said Dick. ‘Hallo, there’s somebody coming out of the second van. It’s the old lady! She’s in a fine old temper!’

So she was! She came down the steps to the van, shouting and shaking her fist at them. ‘Tim – go and find, go and find – in that van!’ said Julian, suddenly, as the old woman came towards them.

The three of them stood their ground as the old woman came right up. They couldn’t understand a word she said, partly because she had no teeth, and partly because she spoke a mixture of many languages. Anyway, it was quite obvious that she was ticking them off for daring to play near the two vans.

Timmy had understood what Julian had said, and had slipped inside the second van. He was there for half a minute, and then he barked. The boys jumped, and Dick made a move towards the van.

Then Timmy appeared, dragging something behind him with his teeth. He tried to bark at the same time, but he couldn’t. He dragged the coat-like thing right down to the ground before the old woman was on him, screaming in a high voice, and hitting him. She pulled the garment away and went up the steps, kicking out at the surprised Timmy as he tried to pull it away. The door slammed.

‘If that old woman hadn’t been old, Timmy would have soon shown her he was top dog!’ said Dick. ‘Whatever was he pulling out of the van?’

‘Come over here, out of sight of the van,’ said Julian, urgently. ‘Didn’t you recognise it, Dick? It was George’s dressing-gown!’

‘My word!’ said Dick, stopping in surprise. ‘Yes, you’re right – it was. Whew! What does that mean exactly? George certainly isn’t in those vans, or Timmy would have found her.’

‘I sent him in to see if he could smell that George had been hidden there,’ said Julian. ‘I thought he would bark excitedly if he smelt her scent anywhere – on the bunk, perhaps. I never guessed he’d find her dressing-gown and drag it out to show us!’

‘Good old Timmy! Clever old Timmy!’ said Dick, patting the dog, whose tail was now at half-mast instead of right down. He had at least found George’s dressing-gown – but how surprising to find it in that caravan!

‘Why on earth didn’t they take the dressing-gown with them, when they took George off?’ wondered Julian. ‘There’s no doubt that she has been in that caravan – she was taken straight there the night before last, I expect. Where is she now?’

‘She must have been dressed differently,’ said Dick. ‘They must have had to dress her properly, when they took her somewhere else. After all, she was only in pyjamas and dressing-gown.’