Kiki was intensely interested with this string of what sounded like gibberish. She sat herself on Jack’s shoulder, near to the angry Gus, and listened intently. When he stopped for breath, she continued on her own.
‘Gibberollydockeryblowykettlefussy-gussy,’ she began, and poured out strings of nonsense into which she wove many of the words she knew, mixed up with ones she didn’t! Everyone roared. It sounded exactly as if Kiki was talking to Gus in his own language.
Gus was silenced. He stared at Kiki, amazed. ‘Does she spik English now?’ he demanded. ‘What does she spik?’
‘She’s spikking a lot of nonsense, like you!’ said Jack. ‘Be quiet, Kiki. Don’t show off!’
Bill and Mrs. Cunningham had already set off down the hill. The girls followed, giggling. Gus was annoying but he really did provide them with a lot of amusement.
Gus followed them at last, shaking back his long hair defiantly. He spat now and again as if he still had grass in his mouth, and Kiki copied him with joy, going off into cackles of laughter every now and again.
It was about half-past five when they got back to Quarry Cottage. ‘If any of you want tea after that enormous lunch, will you please get yourself a glass of milk, and some biscuits?’ said Mrs. Cunningham. ‘Or a bit of fruitcake if you feel real pangs of hunger?’
All the five children apparently felt real pangs, for they raided the larder and reduced the fruitcake to a mere fragment of itself. They also drank all the milk, much to Mrs. Cunningham’s dismay.
‘Now we’ve none for your cocoa tonight or for breakfast tomorrow!’ she said.
‘I’ll get some at the farm when I slip up this evening,’ said Bill. ‘It will be a good excuse to go up and ask a few questions.’
‘Any mystery on?’ enquired Dinah. ‘I’m never sure about you, Bill! Even in the middle of a holiday I always wonder if you’ve got a hush-hush job on as well.’
‘Mystery or not, Bill always keeps his eyes open!’ said Philip. ‘It’s part of your job, isn’t it, Bill?’
‘Let’s play a game,’ said Dinah. ‘Where are the cards? Let’s play Racing Demon. Do you play it, Gus?’
‘I play it,’ said Gus. ‘I played it at school last term. I am good with this game. Very good. I go as fast as this.’
He pretended to be putting cards down, and was so vigorous that his hair fell over his eyes. He pushed it back. He was always doing that, and it got on Dinah’s nerves.
‘Your awful hair!’ she said. ‘You ought to be a girl.’
‘Now don’t start anything,’ said Jack. ‘A spark is enough to set him off. Talk about being touchy! Don’t glare like that, Gus, you make me shake at the knees!’
‘Poof!’ said Gus, rudely.
‘Poof!’ said Kiki at once. ‘Poof, poof, poof!’
‘That’ll do,’ said Jack. ‘One poofer is quite enough in the family. Got the cards, Di? Oh, good!’
They were soon sitting in a ring on the floor, playing Racing Demon. Kiki couldn’t understand the game at all and wandered off into a corner because Jack wouldn’t let her pick up any of the cards.
‘Poof!’ they heard her say to herself quietly. ‘Poof!’
Surprisingly enough Gussy was good at Racing Demon. He was very deft with his cards, and very sharp to see which pile he could put them on. He got very excited, and panted loudly. His hair fell over his eyes, and he pushed it back. Jack calmly put a card on a pile that Gus was just about to put one on, and Gus exclaimed in annoyance.
‘I was going to put mine there-but my hair fell over me!’
‘Why do you have hair like that then?’ said Dinah. ‘You look like a girl. Why don’t you get it cut?’
‘Yes, that’s a good idea,’ said Philip, putting a card down. ‘We’ll go into the village tomorrow and see if there’s a barber. He’ll cut it nice and short for you, Gus. You’ll get a crick in your neck, tossing your hair about like that!’
‘Yes. Good idea! We’ll have it cut tomorrow,’ said Jack, grinning at Gus.
Gus surprised them. He flung down his cards, stood up, and went scarlet in the face. ‘Short hair is for boys like you,’ he said, scornfully. ‘It is not for me. Never must I have my hair short. In my country always it is the custom for such boys as me to wear their hair long!’
‘Such boys as you!’ echoed Jack. ‘What do you mean? You’ve got a very high opinion of yourself, my lad. You may come from a rich family, but you act like royalty, and it won’t do. You’re not a Prince, so don’t try and act like one. It only makes you ridiculous.’
Gus drew himself up to his last inch. He threw back his hair once more. ‘I am a Prince!’ he said, dramatically. ‘I am the Prince Aloysius Gramondie Racemolie Torquinel of Tauri-Hessia!’
Chapter 8
BILL EXPLAINS
THERE was a dead silence after this dramatic announcement. Nobody said a word, not even Kiki. They all stared in astonishment at Gus, not knowing whether to believe a word of what he had said.
Then his lips began to shake, and he tried to press them together firmly. Lucy-Ann was sure he wanted to cry again!
‘I have broke my word!’ suddenly wailed Gus. ‘I am a Prince and I have broke my word!’
A voice came from behind them. It was Bill’s.
‘Yes, you have broken your word, Aloysius Gramondie Racemolie Torquinel. And your uncle told me you would never do that. How am I to keep you safe if you break your word?’
Bill came forward, his face stern. Everyone stared at him in alarm. Whatever was up?
‘Bill-he’s not really a Prince, is he?’ said Jack.
‘Believe it or not, he is,’ said Bill. ‘His uncle is the King of Tauri-Hessia.’
‘Well! That explains his peculiar behaviour,’ said Dinah. ‘His ordering people about-and his high-and-mighty airs-and all his money and boasting.’
‘And his long hair too,’ said Bill. ‘The Princes in his country never have their hair cut short as ours do. They wear it a certain length, as you see. It’s bad luck on him, really, because he gets teased. Still, the boys at his school knew who he was and knew he couldn’t help it, and he didn’t have too bad a time.’
There was a pause while the four took a look at Prince Aloysius. He shook back his hair and Dinah groaned.
‘I wish you wouldn’t do that, Gussy. I can’t call you Ally-Ally-something or other. You’ll have to go on being Gussy.’
‘Oh, he must,’ said Bill, at once. ‘I gave him the name of Gustavus Barmilevo for a special reason. Things-rather serious things-are happening in his country at the moment, and it’s essential that he should go under another name here.’
‘What serious things are happening?’ said Jack. ‘Revolts or something?’
‘Well, I’ll tell you,’ said Bill. ‘His uncle is King, and as he has no children, Gussy is the heir to the throne. Now there are certain people in Tauri-Hessia who don’t like his uncle or the firm way in which he governs the country. Incidentally he governs it very well, and our own Government think him a very sound ruler.’
‘I can guess what’s coming,’ said Jack. ‘Those who don’t like the strong uncle think it would be a good thing to get a weak youngster, who’ll have to do what they tell him, and put him on the throne. Then they can do as they like!’
‘Exactly,’ said Bill. ‘And so they are on the look-out for Gussy here. If they can get hold of him and put him on the throne, he will have to do exactly what he’s told. His uncle will be imprisoned or killed.’
‘And Gussy knows all this, does he?’ asked Philip.
‘He knows all right!’ said Bill. ‘Everything was explained to him. He’s fond of his uncle; he doesn’t want to be used as a kind of pawn by his uncle’s enemies-and so he was put in my keeping, and told to be merely a foreign schoolboy called Gustavus. And here he is.’
‘I have broke my word to you,’ said Gussy, sounding very doleful. ‘Mr. Bill, I ask you to pardon me.’
‘Well, don’t do it again, that’s all,’ said Bill. ‘Nobody here is likely to give you away, fortunately-we are all your friends-or would like to be if only you’d behave yourself a bit better.’
‘I behave better at once immediately,’ said Gussy, emphatically.
‘Hm. Well, we’ll see,’ said Bill, drily. ‘It would help considerably if you could try to behave like the others so that if any stranger comes hanging round he’ll think you are an ordinary schoolboy staying with friends. At present I think you’re behaving like a spoilt baby, not like a Prince at all. In fact, if I were a Tauri-Hessian citizen, I’d be sorry to think I’d have you as a King when you grew up.’