He grinned. He didn’t look fourteen. He seemed more like twelve by his size. Then he looked solemn again.
‘Reckon I won’t go down to the camp today,’ he said. ‘I’ll be proper set on by them all about you going there and snooping round like. And Mr Gorgio, he won’t like losing his best clown and best acrobat!’
‘You can stay with us as long as you like,’ said Julian. ‘We’ll be here a bit longer, anyway.’
But he was wrong. Just after the Inspector had left, taking his policeman with him, Mrs Mackie came hurrying up to them with a little orange envelope in her hand.
‘The telegraph boy’s just been up,’ she said. ‘He was looking for you. He left this telegram for you. I hope it’s not bad news.’
Julian tore the envelope open and read the telegram out loud.
‘AMAZED TO GET YOUR LETTER ABOUT THE EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENINGS YOU DESCRIBE. THEY SOUND DANGEROUS. COME HOME AT ONCE. DADDY.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Anne. ‘Now we shall have to leave. What a pity!’
‘I’d better go down to the town and telephone Daddy and tell him we’re all right,’ said Julian.
‘You can ‘phone from my house,’ said Mrs Mackie, so Julian thought he would. They talked as they went along and suddenly a bright idea struck Julian.
‘I say I suppose Farmer Mackie doesn’t want anyone to help him with his horses, does he?’ he asked. ‘He wouldn’t want a boy who really loves and understands them and would work hard and well?’
‘Well, now, I dare say he would,’ said Mrs Mackie. ‘He’s a bit short-handed now. He was saying the other day he could do with a good lad, just leaving school.’
‘Oh, do you think he’d try our friend Nobby from the circus camp?’ said Julian. ‘He’s mad on horses. He can do anything with them. And he’s been used to working very hard. I’m sure he’d do well.’
Before Julian had left the farmhouse after telephoning to his amazed parents, he had had a long talk with Farmer Mackie and now he was running back with the good news to the caravans.
‘Nobby!’ he shouted as he got near. ‘Nobby! How would you like to go and work for Farmer Mackie and help with the horses? He says you can start tomorrow if you like and live at the farm!’
‘Jumping Jiminy!’ said Nobby, looking startled and disbelieving. ‘At the farm? Work with the horses? Coo I wouldn’t half like that. But Farmer Mackie wouldn’t have the likes of me.’
‘He will. He says he’ll try you,’ said Julian. ‘We’ve got to start back home tomorrow, and you can be with us till then. You don’t need to go back to the camp at all.’
‘Well but what about Growler?’ said Nobby. ‘I’d have to have him with me. He’s my dog. I expect poor old Barker’s dead. Would the farmer mind me having a dog?’
‘I shouldn’t think so,’ said Julian. ‘Well, you’ll have to go down to the camp, I suppose, to collect your few things and to get Growler. Better go now, Nobby, and then you’ll have the rest of the day with us.’
Nobby went off, his face shining with delight. ‘Well, I never!’ he kept saying to himself. ‘Well, I never did! Dan and Lou gone, so they’ll never hurt me again and me not going to live in the camp any more and going to have charge of them fine farm horses. Well, I never!’
The children had said good-bye to Pongo because he had to go back with Nobby to the camp. He belonged to Mr Gorgio, and Nobby could not possibly keep him. Anyway, it was certain that even if he could have kept him, Mrs Mackie wouldn’t have let him live at the farm.
Pongo shook hands gravely with each one of them, even with Timmy. He seemed to know it was good-bye. The children were really sorry to see the comical chimpanzee go. He had shared in their adventure with them and seemed much more like a human being than an animal.
When he had gone down the hill a little way he ran back to Anne. He put his arms round her and gave her a gentle squeeze, as if to say: ‘You’re all nice, the lot of you, but little Anne’s the nicest!’
‘Oh, Pongo, you’re really a dear!’ said Anne, and gave him a tomato. He ran off with it, leaping high for joy.
The children cleared up everything, put the breakfast things away, and cleaned the caravans, ready for starting off the next day. At dinner-time they looked out for Nobby. Surely he should be back soon?
They heard him whistling as he came up the track. He carried a bundle on his back. Round his feet ran two dogs. Two!
‘Why one of them is Barker!’ shouted George in delight. ‘He must have got better! How simply marvellous!’
Nobby came up, grinning. They all crowded round him, asking about Barker.
‘Yes, it’s fine, isn’t it?’ said Nobby, putting down his bundle of belongings. ‘Lucilla dosed him all right. He almost died then he started to wriggle a bit, she said, and the next she knew he was as lively as could be bit weak on his legs at first but he’s fine this morning.’
Certainly there didn’t seem anything wrong with Barker. He and Growler sniffed round Timmy, their tails wagging fast. Timmy stood towering above them, but his tail wagged, too, so Barker and Growler knew he was friendly.
‘I was lucky,’ said Nobby. ‘I only spoke to Lucilla and Larry. Mr Gorgio has gone off to answer some questions at the police station, and so have some of the others. So I just told Larry to tell Mr Gorgio I was leaving, and I got my things and hopped it.’
‘Well, now we can really enjoy our last day,’ said Julian. ‘Everybody’s happy!’
And they did enjoy that last day. They went down to the lake and bathed. They had a fine farmhouse tea at Mrs Mackie’s, by special invitation. They had a picnic supper on the rocky ledge, with the three dogs rolling over and over in play. Nobby felt sad to think he would so soon say good-bye to his ‘posh’ friends but he couldn’t help feeling proud and pleased to have a fine job of his own on the farm with the horses he loved so much.
Nobby, Barker, Growler, Farmer Mackie and his wife all stood on the cart-track to wave good-bye to the two caravans the next morning.
‘Good-bye!’ yelled Nobby. ‘Good luck! See you again some time!’
‘Good-bye!’ shouted the others. ‘Give our love to Pongo when you see him.’
‘Woof! woof!’ barked Timmy, but only Barker and Growler knew what that meant. It meant, ‘Shake paws with Pongo for me!’
Good-bye, five caravanners … till your next exciting adventure!