Five Have a Wonderful Time (8 page)

"Of course not," said Dick, thinking that nobody could possibly forget this wild little gypsy girl, with her mad ways and her staunch affection.

Then for the first time Jo realized that something was going on! What was this crowd doing round Julian and Dick?

She looked round, and immediately sensed that the fair people were not friendly to the two boys — although the main expression on their faces now was one of astonishment!

How did Jo know these boys? they wondered. How was it she was so very friendly with them? They were puzzled and suspicious.

"Uncle Alfredo, where are you?" demanded Jo, looking all round. "Oh, there you are! Uncle, these are my very best friends — and so are the girls too, wherever they are. I'll tell you all about them, and how nice they were to me! I'll tell everybody!"

"Well," said Julian, feeling rather embarrassed at what Jo might reveal, "well, you tell them, Jo, and I'll just pop back and break the news to George and Anne. They
will
be surprised to find you are here — and that Alfredo is your uncle!"

The two boys and Timmy turned to go. The little crowd opened to let them pass. It closed up again round the excited Jo, whose high voice the boys could hear all the way across the field.

"Well, well, well!" said Dick, as they got through the hedge. "What an astonishing thing! I couldn't believe my eyes when young Jo appeared, could you? I hope George won't mind. She was always rather jealous of Jo and the things she could do."

The two girls were amazed at the boys' news. George was not too pleased. She preferred Jo at a distance rather than near. She liked and admired her but rather unwillingly. Jo was too like George herself for George to give her complete friendliness!

"Well, fancy
Jo
, Jo herself being here!" said Anne, smiling. "Oh, Julian — it was a good thing she arrived when she did! I don't like that bit about Bufflo cracking his whip at you. He might have made you bald on the top!"

"Oh, it was only a few hairs," said Julian. "But it gave me quite a shock. And I think it gave the fair people a shock too when Jo arrived like a little hurricane, yelling at the top of her voice, and flinging herself on poor old Dick. She almost knocked him over!"

"She's not a bad kid," said Dick, "but she never stops to think. I wonder if the people she stays with know where she's gone. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she just disappeared without a word."

"Like the two scientists," said Julian, with a grin. "Gosh, I can't get over it! Jo was the very last person I would expect here."

"Well, not really, if you think a bit," said Anne. "Her father is a gypsy, isn't he — and her mother was in a circus, she told us so. She trained dogs, don't you remember, Julian? So it's quite natural for Jo to have relations like the fair people. But just fancy having a fire-eater for an uncle!"

"Yes — I'd forgotten that Jo's mother was in a circus," said Julian. "I expect she's got peculiar relations all over the country! I wonder what she's telling them about us."

"She's singing
Dick's
praises anyway," said George. "She always thought the world of Dick. Perhaps the fair people won't be
quite
so unfriendly if they know that Jo is fond of us."

"Well, we're in a bit of a fix," said Dick. "We can't stay in this field, or the farmer will be after us again —

and I can't see the fair people lending us their horses — and without horses we can't leave this field!"

"We could ask the farmer to lend us his horses," suggested Anne.

"We'd have to pay him, though, and I don't see why we should," said Julian. "After all, it isn't
our
fault that our caravans were moved here."

"I think this is a horrid and unfriendly place," said Anne. "And I don't want to stay here another day. I'm not enjoying it a bit."

"Cheer up!" said Dick. "Never say die!"

"Woof," said Timmy.

"Look — someone's coming through that gap in the hedge down there by the lane," said George, pointing. "It's Jo!"

"Yes — and my goodness me, she's got a couple of horses with her!"

cried Dick. "Good old Jo! She's got Alfredo's horses!"

Contents -
Prev/
Next

THE four of them, with Timmy capering behind, ran to meet Jo. She beamed at everyone.

"Hallo, Anne, hallo, George! Pleased to meet you again! This isn't half a surprise!"

"Jo! How did you get those horses?" said Dick, taking one by the bridle.

"Easy," grinned Jo. "I just told Uncle Fredo all about you — what wonders you were — and all you did for me — and wasn't I shocked when I heard they'd turned you out of your field! I let go then! I told them just what I thought of them, treating my best friends like that!"

"Did you really, Jo?" said George, doubtfully.

"Didn't you hear me?" demanded Jo. "I yelled like anything at Uncle Fredo, and then his wife, my Aunt Anita, she yelled at him too — and then we both yelled at everyone."

"It must have been quite a yelling match," said Julian. "And the result was that you got your way, and got the horses to take back our caravans, Jo?"

"Well, when Aunt Anita told me they'd taken your caravans into the next field and left them there, and wouldn't lend you horses to bring them back, I told them all a few things," said Jo. "I said — no, I'd better not tell you what I said. I wasn't very polite."

"I bet you weren't" said Dick, who had already had a little experience of Jo's wild tongue the year before.

"And when I told them how my father went to prison, and you got me a home with somebody nice who looks after me, they were sorry they'd treated you roughly," said Jo. "And so I told Uncle Fredo I was going to catch two horses and bring your caravans back into the field again."

"I see," said Julian. "And the fair-folk just let you?"

"Oh, yes," said Jo. "So let's hitch them in, Julian, and go back at once. Isn't that the farmer coming over there?"

It was, and he looked pretty grim. Julian hurriedly put one horse into the shafts of the girls' caravan, and Dick backed the other horse into the shafts of the second caravan. The farmer came up and watched.

"So you thought you'd get horses after all, did you?" he said. "I thought you would. Telling me a lot of poppycock about being stranded here and not being able to get away!"

"Grrrrrrrr," said Timmy at once, but he was the only one who made any reply!

"Gee-up!" said Jo, taking the reins of the horse pulling the girls" caravan. "Hup there! Git along, will you?"

The horse got along, and Jo wickedly drove him so near to the farmer that he had to move back in a hurry.

He growled something at her. Timmy, appearing round the caravan, growled back. The farmer stood back further, and watched the two caravans going down the hillside, out through the wide gap in the hedge, and down the lane.

They came to the field-gate and Anne opened it. In went the horses, straining now, because they were going uphill, and the vans were heavy. At last they arrived in the corner where the vans had stood before. Julian backed them over the same bit of ground.

He unhitched the horses, and threw the reins of the second horse to Dick. "We'll take them back ourselves,"

he said.

So the two boys walked the horses over to Alfredo, who was pegging up some washing on a line. It seemed a most unsuitable thing for a fire-eater to do, but Alfredo didn't seem to mind.

"Mr. Alfredo, thank you for lending us the horses," said Julian, in his politest tones. "Shall we tie them up anywhere, or set them loose?"

Alfredo turned round, and took some pegs out of his large mouth. He looked rather ashamed.

"Set them loose," he said. He hesitated before he put the pegs back into his mouth. "We didn't know you were friends with my niece," he said. "She told us all about you. You should have told us you knew her."

"And how could he do that when he didn't know she was your niece?" shouted Mrs. Alfredo from the caravan door. "Fredo, you have no brains, not a single brain do you have. Ahhhhhh! Now you drop my best blouse on the ground!"

She ran out at top speed, and Alfredo stared in alarm. Fortunately she had no saucepan with her this time.

She turned to the two amused boys.

"Alfredo is sorry he took your caravans away," she said, "are you not, Fredo?"

"Well! It was
you
who…" began Alfredo, with a look of astonishment. But he wasn't allowed to finish. His dark little wife gave him a violent nudge, and spoke again herself, her words tumbling over one another.

"Pay no attention to this big bad man! He has no brains. He can only eat fire, and that is a poor thing to do!

Now Jo, she has brains. Now, are you not glad that you are back again in your corner?"

"I should have felt gladder if you had all been friendly to us," said Julian. "I'm afraid we don't feel like stopping here any longer, though. We shall probably leave tomorrow."

"Now there, Fredo, see what you have done! You have chased away these nice children!" cried Mrs.

Alfredo. "They have manners, these boys, a thing you know nothing about, Fredo. You should learn from them, Fredo, you should…"

Fredo took some pegs from his mouth to make an indignant answer, but his wife suddenly gave a shriek and ran to her caravan. "Something burns! Something burns!"

Alfredo gave a hearty laugh, a loud guffaw that surprised the boys. "Ha! She bakes today, and burns her cake! She has no brains, that woman! No brains at all!"

Julian and Dick turned to go. Alfredo spoke to them in a low voice. "You can stay here now, here in this field. You are Jo's friend. That is enough for us."

"It may be," said Julian. "But it's not quite enough for
us
, I'm afraid. We shall leave tomorrow."

The boys went back to the caravans. Jo sat on the grass with George and Anne, eagerly telling them of her life with a very nice family. "But they won't let me wear shorts or be a boy," she ended sadly. "That's why I wear a skirt now. Could you lend me some shorts, George?"

"No, I couldn't," said George, firmly. Jo was quite enough like her as it was, without wearing shorts! "Well, you seem to have turned over a new leaf, Jo. Can you read and write yet?"

"Almost," said Jo, and turned her eyes away. She found lessons very difficult, for she had never been to school when she lived with her gypsy father. She looked back again with bright eyes. "Can I stay with you?"

she said. "My foster-mother would let me, I know — if it was you I was with."

"Didn't you tell her you were coming here?" said Dick. "That was unkind, Jo."

"I never thought," said Jo. "You send her a card for me, Dick."

"Send one yourself," said George at once. "You said you could write."

Jo took no notice of that remark. "
Can
I stay with you?" she said. "I won't sleep in the caravans, I'll doss down underneath. I always did that when the weather was fine, and I lived with my Dad in his caravan. It would be a change for me now not to live in a house. I like lots of things in houses, though I never thought I would —

but I shall always like sleeping rough best."

"Well — you
could
stay here with us, if we were going to stay," said Julian. "But I don't much feel inclined to, now we've had such an unfriendly welcome from everyone."

"I'll tell everyone to be kind to you," said Jo at once, and got up as if she meant to go then and there to force everyone into kindness!

Dick pushed her down. "No. We'll stay here one more day and night, and make up our minds tomorrow.

What do you say, Julian?"

"Right," said Julian. He looked at his watch. "Let's go and celebrate Jo's coming with a few ice-creams. And I expect you two girls have got some shopping to do, haven't you?"

"Yes," said Anne, and fetched the shopping bags. They set off down the hill, the five of them and Timmy.

As they passed the snake-man he called out cheerily to them: "Good morning! Nice day, isn't it?"

After the surliness and sulkiness the children had got from the fair-folk up till then, this came as a surprise.

Anne smiled, but the boys and George merely nodded and passed by. They were not so forgiving as Anne!

They passed the rubber-man, bringing back water. Behind him came the rope-man. Both of them nodded to the children, and the sad-looking rubber-man actually gave a brief grin.

Then they saw Bufflo, practising with his whip — crack-crack-crack! He came over to them. "If you'd like a crack with my whip, you're welcome any time," he said to Julian.

"Thanks," said Julian, politely but stiffly. "But we're probably leaving tomorrow."

"Keep your hair on!" said Bufflo, feeling snubbed.

"I would if you'd let me," said Julian at once, rubbing his hand over the top of his head where Bufflo had stripped off a few up-standing hairs.

"Ho, ho!" guffawed Bufflo and then stopped abruptly, afraid he had given offence. Julian grinned at him. He rather liked Bufflo, with his mop of yellow hair and lazy drawl.

"You stay on with us," said Bufflo. "I'll lend you a whip."