He went on again, over the field and up to the tower. He looked at the map again-it showed a winding road from the tower and this road led to the drawing on the map that looked rather like a tent. Jack looked up from the map and recognized the winding road, going down the other side of the hill on which the tower stood. But what could the tent-like drawing be?
An old man sat on a bench, dozing. Jack went cautiously up to him and sat down. The old man opened an eye, saw the parrot and sat up at once.
‘Good. He’s awake,’ thought Jack, and pushed the map in front of him, pointing to the tent-like drawing, and trying to make the man understand that he wanted to get there.
‘Ahhhh,’ said the old fellow, in a hoarse voice. ‘Pikkatioratyforg. Ahhhhhh!’
‘Very helpful!’ thought Jack. The old man got up and tottered a little way down the path. Then he pointed with his stick.
‘Surkytalar,’ he said. ‘Surky.’
‘Surky,’ repeated Jack, and looked where he was pointing. Then he stared hard. He knew why the bicyclist had drawn the tent now! In a big field were crowds of tents and vans! It must be a circus of some kind-a travelling circus!
‘Of course! Surky-he means circus,’ thought Jack. ‘It’s a circus. That’s why that fellow on the bike directed me there. He thought I wanted the circus-thought I was trying to make my way to it, because I’d got a talking parrot. Well, well, well! I’ve solved that puzzle!’
He thanked the old man and thought he might as well make his way to the circus. Somebody there might possibly speak English. Circus people knew all kinds of languages. Anyway they were usually kindly folk, they might give him a meal and help him a bit.
So Jack, suddenly feeling very hungry again, went down the long winding road to the field where the circus was.
It took him about half an hour to reach it and when he got there he saw that it was packing up to move on. The tents were being taken down, horses were being put into some of the vans and there was a great deal of shouting and noise.
Jack leaned over the gate. A boy came by, carrying a load of boxes that looked very heavy. As he passed, the pile toppled over, and he dropped about four of them. Jack leapt over the gate and went to help.
The boy was about his own age, swarthy and black-eyed. He grinned at Jack, and said something he couldn’t understand. He said it again, in another language. Still Jack didn’t understand.
‘Merci beaucoup,’ said the boy, trying again this time in French. Ah-Jack understood that!
‘Ce n’est rien!’ he answered. The boy looked at Kiki and rattled off something in French again, asking Jack if he was a circus boy and had come to ask for a job there.
Jack answered as best he could, for his French was not really very good. ‘I should like a job,’ said Jack, in French. ‘Better still, I should like a meal!’
‘Come with me then,’ said the boy, again in French, and Jack followed him to a van. A woman sat there, peeling potatoes.
‘Ma!’ said the’ boy, in English. ‘Here’s a hungry kid. Got anything for him?’
Jack stared at the boy in astonishment. Why, he was speaking English! ‘Hey!’ said Jack, ‘why didn’t you speak English before? I’m English!’
‘My Dad’s English,’ said the boy, grinning. ‘My Ma’s Spanish. We don’t mind what language we speak, really. We’ve picked them all up in our wanderings around. Ma, give this boy something to eat. Do you think he can get a job with us? Where do you want to go?’ he asked Jack.
‘Well-is there a place called Borken anywhere about?’ asked Jack, hopefully.
‘Borken! Yes, we’re on the way there,’ said the boy, and Jack felt suddenly cheerful. ‘It’s a big town, and outside there’s the Castle of Borken on a hill.’
Jack drank all this in. A castle-would that be where the others had been taken? This was a bit of luck after all his set-backs. He would certainly go with this travelling circus if they would have him.
Ma gave him a meal. It was very rich and rather greasy, but Jack enjoyed it because he was so hungry. Then Ma said something commanding in Spanish and the boy nodded.
‘Got to take you to the Boss,’ he said. ‘And let him look you over. Got anyone to speak for you? Anyone’s name to give? The Boss will give you up to the police if you’ve run away from any kind of trouble.’
‘No, I don’t know anyone here who will speak for me,’ said Jack, anxiously. ‘I just want to get to Borken. I’ve got friends there.’
‘Oh, well-maybe they’ll speak for you,’ said the boy. ‘Look, my name’s Pedro. What’s yours?’
‘Jack,’ said Jack. He followed Pedro to a big motor caravan. Pedro rapped on the door, and a voice growled something from inside. They went in, and Jack saw a vast, enormously fat man sitting in a great chair. He had startlingly blue eyes, grey curly hair, and a beard that fell to his waist. He looked rather a terrifying kind of person.
‘You speak for me, Pedro,’ said Jack. ‘I shan’t be able to understand a word he says, unless he speaks English.’
‘I spik the English,’ said the old man, in his deep, growling voice. ‘English boys are good boys. Where you come from?’
‘Well-nowhere particularly,’ said Jack, wondering what to say. ‘Er-I’ve just been wandering about since I came to this country. But I’m hoping to meet my friends at Borken.’
The old man fired a question or two at Pedro. Pedro turned to Jack. ‘He wants to know if you’ve ever been in trouble with the police?’ he asked. This was awkward. Had he been in trouble with the Hessian police? Well, no, not really, Jack considered. So he shook his head.
‘He wants to know if you’ll make yourself useful here?’ said Pedro. ‘He can see you must be used to circuses because you’re carrying a talking parrot around with you. He says that if we stop here and there on the road to Borken, you can put your parrot on show if you like,’ and earn a bit of money by making it talk. He says, make it talk now.’
Jack rubbed Kiki’s soft neck. ‘Talk, Kiki,’ he said. ‘Make a noise!’
Kiki was always ready to talk. She raised her’ crest and began unexpectedly to sing at the top of her voice. ‘Humpty-dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty-dumpty fell down the well, ding-dong-ding-dong, pussy’s in the well, Fussy-Gussy, ha, ha, ha! Wipe your feet and shut the door, oh, you naughty boy, pop-pop-POP!’
Kiki ended with a loud sneeze and a hiccup which sent Pedro into fits of laughter. Kiki cackled too, and then went off into her express-train performance, which drew people from all over the field at once.
‘Ha! She is goot, fery, fery goot!’ said the old man, laughing, which made him appear as if an earthquake was shaking him. ‘Yes-yes-you may come with us, boy.’
‘I say! Your parrot’s a wonder, isn’t she?’ said Pedro, as they walked back to his van. ‘Would you like to sleep with me in my little van-look, the one behind Ma’s? There’ll be room for you if you don’t mind a squash.’
Jack didn’t mind at all! He would soon be on the way to Borken. Borken Castle! Would he find the others there? He’d get Bill over as soon as he could to rescue them-if only they were there!
Chapter 16
WITH THE CIRCUS
JACK liked Pedro very much. He was only a circus boy, with rough manners and ways, but he was sensitive enough to know that Jack did not want to talk about himself or what he was doing in Tauri-Hessia, wandering about with Kiki. So he asked him no questions, and Jack was very grateful.
He couldn’t have told him the truth, and he didn’t want to tell him lies! Perhaps when they were in Borken, and he knew Pedro better, he would be able to tell him a little-perhaps even get his help.
The circus went on the road that evening. The vans and lorries creaked out of the fields, and went clattering down the highway. It was a rough road, and the vans swayed about dangerously. Some of them had caged animals inside, and Jack watched them anxiously. What would happen if a van went over-would the animals escape? There were bears in one van, and two chimpanzees in another.
Kiki was a source of enormous amusement to everyone in the camp. Many of the circus-folk could speak a broken English-enough to make themselves understood, anyway! They laughed at everything Kiki said. They brought her all kinds of titbits, and when they found that she was fond of tinned pineapple they raided the shops they passed, and bought tins of it!