Timmy licked his mistress soberly. The others stood round, staring, not knowing what to think. Poor Barker! Would he die? Suppose it had been old Timmy? They had left him all alone, and he might have eaten the meat and died.
"I"ll never, never leave you up here alone again!" said George.
"Who threw him the poisoned meat, do you think?" said Anne, in a small voice.
"Who do you suppose?" said George, in a hard, scornful voice. "Lou and Tiger Dan!"
"They want to get us away from here, that"s plain," said d.i.c.k. "But again - why?"
"What can there be about this place that makes the men want to get rid of us all?" wondered Julian. "They"re real rogues. Poor n.o.bby. He must have an awful life with them. And now they"ve gone and poisoned his dog."
n.o.body felt like eating very much that evening. Anne got out the bread and the b.u.t.ter and a pot of jam. George wouldn"t eat anything. What a horrid end to a lovely day!
They all went to bed early, and n.o.body objected when Julian said he was going to lock both the caravans. "Not that I think either Lou or Dan will be up here tonight," he said. "But you never know!"
Whether they came or not the children didn"t know, for although Timmy began to bark loudly in the middle of the night, and sc.r.a.ped frantically at the shut door of George"s caravan, there was nothing to be seen or heard when Julian opened his door and flashed on his torch.
Timmy didn"t bark any more. He lay quite quietly sleeping with one ear c.o.c.ked. Julian lay in bed and thought hard. Probably Lou and Dan had come creeping up in the dark, hoping that Timmy had taken the meat and been poisoned. But when they heard him bark, they knew he was all right, and they must have gone away again. What plan would they make next?
"There"s something behind all this," Julian thought, again and again. "But what can it be? Why do they want us out of this particular spot?"
He couldn"t imagine. He fell asleep at last with a vague plan in his mind. He would tell it to the others tomorrow. Perhaps if he could make Lou and Dan think they had all gone off for the day - with Timmy - but really, he, Julian, would be left behind, in hiding - maybe he could find out something, if Lou and Dan came along ...
Julian fell asleep in the middle of thinking out his plan. Like the others, he dreamt of elephants squirting him with water, of Pongo chasing the monkeys, of the dogs playing football with excited yaps - and then into the dream came lumps of poisoned meat! Horrid.
Anne woke with a jump, having dreamt that someone had put poison into the hard-boiled eggs they were going to eat. She lay trembling in her bunk, and called to George in a small voice.
"George! I"ve been having an awful dream!"
George woke up, and Timmy stirred and stretched himself. George switched on her torch.
"I"ve been having beastly dreams, too," she said. "I dreamt that those men were after Timmy. I"ll leave my torch on for a bit and we"ll talk. I expect that with all the excitement we"ve had today, and the horrid end to it this evening, we"re just in the mood for horrid dreams! Still - they are only dreams."
"Woof," said Timmy, and scratched himself.
"Don"t," said George. "You shake the whole caravan when you do that, Timmy. Stop it."
Timmy stopped. He sighed and lay down heavily. He put his head on his paws and looked sleepily at George, as if to say, "Put that torch out. I want to go to sleep."
The next morning was not so warm, and the sky was cloudy. n.o.body felt very cheerful, because they kept thinking of n.o.bby and poor Barker. They ate their breakfast almost in silence, and then Anne and George began to stack the plates, ready to take them to the spring to rinse.
"I"ll go to the farm this morning," said Julian. "You sit on the ledge and take the field-gla.s.ses, d.i.c.k. We"ll see if n.o.bby goes out in his boat and waves. I"ve an idea that he won"t want us down in the camp this morning. If he suspects his Uncle Dan and Lou of putting down the meat that poisoned Barker, he"ll probably have had a frightful row with them."
He went off to the farm with two empty baskets. Mrs Mackie was ready for him, and he bought a further supply of delicious-looking food. Her present this time was a round ginger cake, warm from the oven!
"Do the circus folk come up here often to buy food?" asked Julian, as he paid Mrs Mackie.
"They come sometimes," said Mrs Mackie. "I don"t mind the women or the children - dirty though they are, and not above taking one of my chickens now and again - but it"s the men I can"t abide. There were two here last year, messing about in the hills, that my husband had to send off quick."
Julian p.r.i.c.ked up his ears. Two men? What were they like?"
"Ugly fellows," said Mrs Mackie. "And one had the yellowest teeth I ever saw. Bad-tempered chaps, both of them. They came up here at night, and we were afraid our chickens would go. They swore they weren"t after our chickens - but what else would they be up here at night for?"
"I can"t imagine," said Julian. He was sure that the two men Mrs Mackie spoke of were Lou and Tiger Dan. Why did they wander about in the hills at night?
He went off with the food. When he got near the camping-place, d.i.c.k called to him excitedly.
"Hey, Julian! Come and look through the gla.s.ses. n.o.bby"s out in his boat with Pongo, and I simply can"t make out what it is they"re both waving."
Julian took the gla.s.ses and looked through them. Far down the hill, on the surface of the lake, floated n.o.bby"s little boat. In it was n.o.bby, and with him was Pongo. Both of them were waving something bright red.
"Can"t see what they"re waving - but that doesn"t matter," said Julian. The thing is - what they"re waving is red, not white. Red for danger. He"s warning us."
"Golly - I didn"t think of that. What an idiot I am!" said d.i.c.k. "Yes - red for danger. What"s up, I wonder?"
"Well, it"s clear we"d better not go down to the camp today," said Julian. "And it"s also clear that whatever danger there is, is pretty bad - because both he and Pongo are waving red cloths - doubly dangerous!"
"Julian, you"re jolly sharp," said George, who was listening. "You"re the only one of us who tumbled to all that. Double-danger. What can it be?"
"Perhaps it means danger down at the camp, and danger here too," said Julian, thoughtfully. "I hope poor old n.o.bby is all right. Tiger Dan is so jolly beastly to him. I bet he"s had a beating or two since last night."
"It"s a shame!" said d.i.c.k.
"Don"t tell Anne we think there is double-danger about," said Julian, seeing Anne coming back from the spring. "She"ll be scared. She was hoping we wouldn"t have an adventure these hols - and now we seem to be plunged into the middle of one. Golly, I really think we ought to leave these hills and go on somewhere else."
But he only said this half-heartedly, because he was burning to solve the curious mystery behind Lou"s behaviour and Dan"s. The others pounced on him at once.
"We can"t leave! Don"t be a coward, Ju!"
"I won"t leave. Nor will Timmy."
"Shut up," said Julian. "Here comes Anne."
They said no more. Julian watched n.o.bby for a little while longer. Then the boy and the chimpanzee drew in to the sh.o.r.e and disappeared.
When they were all sitting together on the ledge, Julian proposed the plan he had been thinking out the night before.
"I"d like to find out what there is about this place that attracts Lou and Dan," he said. There is something not far from here that makes the men want to get rid of us. Now suppose we four and Timmy go off down the hill and pa.s.s the camp, and yell out to n.o.bby that we"re all - all of us - going to the town for the day - and you three do go, but I slip back up the hill - maybe Lou and Dan will come up here, and if I"m in hiding I shall see what they"re up to!"
"You mean, we"ll all four pretend to go to town - but really only three of us go, and you get back and hide," said d.i.c.k. "I see. It"s a good idea."
"And you"ll hide somewhere and watch for the men to come," said George. "Well, for goodness" sake don"t let them see you, Julian. You won"t have Timmy, you know! Those men could make mincemeat of you if they wanted to."
"Oh, they"d want to all right. I know that," said Julian grimly. "But you can be sure I"ll be jolly well hidden."
"I don"t see why we can"t have a good look round and see if we can"t find the cave or whatever it is the men want to come to," said d.i.c.k. "If they can find it, we can, too!"
"We don"t know that it is a cave," said Julian. "We haven"t any idea at all what attracts the men up here. Mrs Mackie said they were up here last year, too, and the farmer had to drive them away. They thought the men were after the chickens - but I don"t think so. There"s something in these hills that makes the men want to get us away."