The Boss looked surprised. He was sitting in his great chair inside his van. ‘I do not know what you mean,’ he said. ‘Search my vans! You are welcome!’
The Boss thought that the soldiers were looking for a deserter, a young man, perhaps. He did not know they were hunting for a small boy, and certainly had no idea they were after the little Prince Aloysius!
The captain gave a sharp command. His soldiers marched down the sides of the vans, keeping a watch for anyone who might try to hide in the wayside bushes. Then they began to search carefully, probing each van, lifting up piles of rugs or clothes to see if anyone could be hidden there.
They stopped at the sight of Philip. They had been told that although they must at all costs find Gussy, there were three other children, too, to look for. Children whose presence in the camp would tell them the Prince was somewhere about too.
They came up to the bears’ van, their heels clicking sharply. Their loud voices angered the three bears, and they growled and flung themselves at the bars.
Toni came up and spoke to them, telling them to keep out of sight of the bears.
‘We had trouble with them yesterday,’ he said, ‘and this boy, who helps the trainer, only just managed to keep them under control. As you see, the bars of the cage were broken and had to be mended. Keep out of sight, please, or they will break the bar’s again.’
Philip didn’t understand what Toni was saying, but guessed. He decided that the best thing he could do to avoid being questioned was to get inside the bears’ cage, and pretend to quieten them. So in he went, and the bears fawned round him in delight.
The soldiers watched from a safe distance. The captain was satisfied. Obviously this boy belonged to the circus, and travelled as a helper with the bears. He could not be one of the boys they had been told to look out for. They went, on to the next van, and Toni winked at Philip.
‘Good!’ he said. ‘Keep there. You are safer with the bears than anywhere else!’
The soldiers went from van to van. They hardly glanced at Dinah or Lucy-Ann, who, with Pedro’s arms round them, were standing watching the two chimpanzees. Madame Fifi had taken the opportunity of giving them a little airing.
The captain, however, glanced sharply at Pedro. Could he be one of the boys they sought? He beckoned to him. Pedro came over, still with the girls, smiling, and at ease.
The captain snapped something at him in Tauri-Hessian. Pedro answered smoothly, pointing to his mother’s van. He was saying that he travelled with his mother, and his little cousin, Anna-Maria.
‘And these two girls?’ said the captain, sharply.
‘They are with the circus too,’ said Pedro. ‘They belong to the boy who manages the bears-you have seen him. They are Jabberwockians, and speak very little Hessian. But they speak French if you would like to ask them anything.’
Dinah heard Pedro say the word ‘Jabberwockians’ and guessed that he was saying that she and Lucy-Ann belonged to Jabberwocky! Dinah immediately poured out a string of utter gibberish to the captain, waving her hands about, and smiling broadly. Lucy nodded her head now and again as if she agreed with her sister!
‘All right, all right,’ said the captain, in his own language. ‘It’s all nonsense to me, this. I can’t understand a word! What is she saying?’
Pedro grinned. He told the Captain that Dinah thought him very magnificent, much grander than captains in Jabberwocky. He was pleased. He saluted the two smiling girls smartly, and went away, satisfied that they were certainly not English. He really must find out where the Land of Jabberwocky was-he didn’t seem to have heard of it. These circus-folk came from queer places!
And now the soldiers had reached Ma’s caravan. Jack was still sitting in the driver’s seat, Kiki on his shoulder. He had warned her not to talk, because he was afraid her English words might give them away. ‘But you can make noises,’ he told her, and Kiki understood perfectly.
She raised her crest as the men came near and coughed loudly. The soldiers looked at her in surprise.
‘Powke,’ said Jack, patting Kiki. ‘Powke, arka powke.’ He knew that this meant ‘Clever parrot,’ because the people who had come to marvel at Kiki when she had been on show, had so often said those two words. ‘Arka powke!’ Clever parrot!
Kiki gave a loud hiccup, and then another. The soldiers were tickled, and roared with laughter. Then Kiki ducked like a hen laying eggs, and that amused them even more.
This was the kind of thing Kiki liked. It gave her a wonderful opportunity for showing off. She put down her head, looked wickedly at the soldiers, and gave them the full benefit of her aeroplane-in-trouble noise.
They were extremely startled, and stepped back at once. Kiki cackled idiotically, laughing till the soldiers and Jack were laughing helplessly too!
A sharp voice came from behind them. It was their captain. They jumped to attention at once.
‘Why waste time on this boy?’ said the captain. ‘You can see he is a circus boy, with a parrot like that! Search the van!’
Jack knew enough of the Hessian language now to understand roughly what the captain had said. He wasn’t suspected then-and it was obvious that none of the soldiers suspected Philip or the girls. Now there was only Gussy left. Would he play up and be sensible?
Two soldiers went into Ma’s van. They saw Gussy at once, sitting beside Ma. ‘Who’s this?’ they said, sharply. ‘What’s her name?’
Chapter 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 had been Ma’s idea, of course!
‘Now, now!’ said Ma, in Tauri-Hessian, tapping Gussy. ‘Sit up and answer the gentlemen, my little 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 as if very shy indeed. Jack, looking in through the window, was amazed at Gussy’s acting. And that embroidery! How very very clever of Ma to give Gussy that to show to the soldiers! He had seen Ma working on it herself, night after night!
‘She is my favourite grandchild,’ Ma prattled on. ‘The prettiest little thing and so good. Talk to the kind gentlemen, Anna-Maria! Say how-do-you-do.’
‘I cannot,’ said Gussy, and hid his face in Ma’s lap again.
‘Don’t bother her,’ said one soldier. ‘I have a little girl at home as shy as she is. It’s better to have them that way than bold and cheeky. How pretty her hair is! You must be proud of her, old woman.’
‘She is such a good little needlewoman,’ said Ma, proudly, and patted Gussy’s head. ‘Sit up, my pet-the gentlemen won’t eat you!’
‘We’re going,’ said the first soldier. ‘Here, give her this to spend. She really does remind me of my little girl at home.’
He threw a coin to Ma and she caught it deftly and pocketed it at once. Jack heaved an enormous sigh of relief when he saw the two men walking away. He poked his head in at the window.
‘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 was laughing.
‘It was Ma’s idea, to behave like that,’ he said. ‘She said I must not show my face at all, I must be shy and put it into her lap.’
‘A really good idea,’ said Jack, and grinned at Ma’s smiling face. ‘Honestly, Gussy, I congratulate 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 are getting into them. Yes-the first car is going off. Whew! I was in a stew when those two fellows walked into your van.’
As soon as the three military cars had shot off down the road, Philip left the bears’ van, and came running over to the others, grinning. They all collected round Ma’s van, and heard Jack’s recital of Gussy’s marvellous performance.
Gussy was pleased. He was not often praised by the others, and it was very pleasant to have them admiring him for once in a way. Then he caught sight of himself in Ma’s mirror, ribbons and all, and his face clouded.