A small man came up. He had bright eyes that shone as if they had been polished, and a very wide grin. "Good morning," he said. "How do you like my Old Lady? Like to see her play cricket?"
"Oh, yes!" said everyone, and the small man produced a cricket bat and held it out to Old Lady. She took it in her trunk and waved it about. n.o.bby slipped deftly off her head to the ground.
"I"ll play with her, Larry," he said, and took the ball from the small man. He threw it to Old Lady and she hit it smartly with the bat. It sailed over their heads!
Julian fetched the ball. He threw it at the elephant, and again the great creature hit the ball with a bang. Soon all the children were playing with Old Lay and enjoying the game very much.
Some small camp children came up to watch. But they were as scared as rabbits as soon as Julian or George spoke to them and scuttled of to their caravans at once. They were dirty and ragged, but most of them had beautiful eyes and thick curly hair, though it wanted brushing and washing.
n.o.bby went to fetch Pongo, who was dancing to and fro in his cage, making anguished sounds, thinking he was forgotten. He was simply delighted to see the children again, and put his arm right round Anne at once. Then he pulled George"s hair and hid his face behind his paws, peeping out mischievously.
"He"s a caution, aren"t you, Pongo?" said n.o.bby. "Now you keep with me, Pongo, or I"ll put you back into your cage, see?"
They went to see the dogs and let them all out. They were mostly terrier dogs, or mongrels, smart, well-kept little things who jumped up eagerly at n.o.bby, and made a great fuss of him. It was clear that they loved him and trusted him.
"Like to see them play football?" asked n.o.bby. "Here, Barker - fetch the ball. Go on, quick!"
Barker darted off to n.o.bby"s caravan. The door was shut, but the clever little dog stood on his hind legs and jerked the handle with his nose. The door opened and in went Barker. He came out dribbling a football with his nose. Down the steps it went and into the camp field. All the dogs leapt on it with howls of delight.
"Yap-yap-yap! Yap-yap!" They dribbled that football to and fro, while n.o.bby stood with his legs open to make a goal for them.
It was Barker"s job and Growler"s to score the goals, and the task of the other dogs to stop them. So it was a most amusing game to watch. Once, when Barker scored a goal by hurling himself on the ball and sending it rolling fast between n.o.bby"s arched legs, Pongo leapt into the fray, picked up the ball and ran off with it.
"Foul, foul!" yelled n.o.bby and all the dogs rushed after the mischievous chimpanzee. He leapt on to the top of a caravan and began to bounce the ball there, grinning down at the furious dogs.
"Oh, this is such fun!" said Anne, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. "Oh, dear! I"ve got such a pain in my side from laughing."
n.o.bby had to climb up to the roof of the caravan to get the ball. Pongo jumped down the other side, but left the ball balanced neatly on the chimney. He was really a most mischievous chimpanzee.
Then they went to see the beautiful horses. All of them had shining satiny coats. They were being trotted round a big field by a slim, tall young fellow called Rossy, and they obeyed his slightest word.
"Can I ride Black Queen, Rossy?" asked n.o.bby eagerly. "Do let me!"
"Okay," said Rossy, his black hair shining like the horses" coats. Then n.o.bby amazed the watching children, for he leapt on to a great black horse, stood up on her back and trotted all round the field like that!
"He"ll fall!" cried Anne. But he didn"t, of course. Then he suddenly swung himself down on to his hands and rode Black Queen standing upside down.
"Good, good!" cried Rossy. "You are good with horses, young one! Now ride Fury!"
Fury was a small, fiery-looking little horse, whose gleaming eyes showed a temper. n.o.bby ran to her and leapt on her bare-backed. She rose up, snorting and tried to throw him off. But he wouldn"t be thrown off. No matter what she did, n.o.bby clung on like a limpet to a rock.
At last Fury tired of it and began to canter round the field. Then she galloped - and suddenly she stopped absolutely dead, meaning to fling n.o.bby over her head!
But the boy was waiting for that trick and threw himself backwards at once. "Good, good!" cried Rossy. "She will soon eat out of your hand, n.o.bby! Good boy."
"n.o.bby, n.o.bby, you"re terribly clever!" yelled Anne. "Oh, I wish I could do the things you do! I wish I could."
n.o.bby slid off Fury"s back, looking pleased. It was nice to show off a little to his "posh" friends. Then he looked round and about. "I say - where"s that chimp? Up to some mischief, I"ll be bound! Let"s go and find him."
CHAPTER TWELVE
A LOVELY DAY - WITH A HORRID END
They soon saw Pongo. He was coming round one of the caravans, looking exceedingly pleased with himself. He went to Anne and held out his paw to her, making little affectionate noises.
Anne took what he held. She looked at it. It"s a hard-boiled egg! Oh, n.o.bby, he"s been at the picnic baskets!"
So he had! Two of the eggs were gone, and some of the tomatoes! n.o.bby smacked the chimpanzee and took him back to his cage. He was very sad and made a noise as if he was crying, hiding his face in his paws. Anne was upset.
"Is he really crying? Oh, do forgive him, n.o.bby. He didn"t mean to be naughty."
"He"s not crying. He"s only pretending," said n.o.bby. "And he did mean to be naughty. I know him!"
The morning soon went in visiting the circus animals. It was dinner-time before they had had time to see the monkeys. "We"ll see them afterwards," said n.o.bby. "Let"s have a meal now. Come on. We"ll go and have it by the lake."
The children hadn"t seen Lou or Tiger Dan at all, much to their joy. "Where are they?" asked Julian. "Gone out for the day?"
"Yes, thank goodness," said n.o.bby. "Gone out on one of their mysterious jaunts. You know, when we"re on the road, going from place to place, my uncle sometimes disappears at night. I wake up - and he"s not there."
"Where does he go?" asked George.
"I wouldn"t dare to ask," said n.o.bby. "Anyway, he and Lou are out of the way today. I don"t expect they"ll be back till night."
They had their meal by the lake. It glittered at their feet, calm and blue, and looked very inviting.
"What about a swim?" asked d.i.c.k when they had eaten as much as they could. Julian looked at his watch.
"Can"t swim directly after a good meal," he said. "You know that, d.i.c.k. We"ll have to wait a bit."
"Right," said d.i.c.k, and lay down. "I"ll have a snooze - or shall we go and see the monkeys?"
They all had a short nap and then got up to go and see the monkeys. When they got back to the camp they found it alive with people, all excited and yelling.
"What"s up?" said n.o.bby. "Jumping Jiminy, the monkeys are all loose!"
So they were. Wherever they looked the children saw a small brown monkey, chattering to itself, on the roof of a caravan or tent!
A brown-faced woman with sharp eyes came up to n.o.bby. She caught him by the shoulder and shook him. "See what that chimp of yours has done!" she said. "You put him in his cage and couldn"t have locked it properly. He got out and let all the monkeys loose. Drat that chimp - I"ll take a broomstick to him if ever I catch him!"
"Where"s Lucilla then?" asked n.o.bby, dragging himself away from the cross woman. "Can"t she get them in?"
"Lucilla"s gone to the town," scolded the woman. "And fine and pleased she"ll be to hear this when she comes back!"
"Aw, let the monkeys be!" said n.o.bby. "They won"t come to any harm. They"ll wait for Lucilla all right!"