Blyton, En

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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.
I do not like myself, he said, staring in the mirror. I will now dress in my own things again.
Oh no not yet! said Jack, quickly. You don t know who might recognize you suddenly if
you did. You ll have to be a girl until we get you to safety somewhere. Go on, now, Gussy you
like acting. You ll give a marvellous performance!
The vans went on again. The excitement quickly died down, and everyone grew silent. They
were tired with their short night and the disturbances they had had. They stopped for a snack about
six o clock and then went on again.
They were now on a lonely country road. The surface was bad, and the vans had to go slowly.
Nobody minded that. Circus-folk were never in a hurry except when their show was about to begin.
Then everyone fell into a tremendous rush, and raced about in excitement.
They camped that, night in the hills. They all slept very soundly to make up for the lack of sleep
the night before. Then they set out again, jogging on slowly, not really very certain where they
were going.
The Boss suddenly decided that they had taken a wrong turning a few miles back. The vans were,
turned round and back they all went, grumbling hard. They passed few people on the road, for they
were now in a very lonely part.
I want shops, grumbled Ma. I need to buy things. We all need to buy things. We must go to
some place where there are shops. I will go to tell the Boss.
But she didn t, because she was afraid of him. She just went on grumbling. She wanted new
cotton reels. She wanted some tinned fruit. She wanted hair-pins.
Cheer up, Ma we may meet a travelling pedlar-van, said Pedro, getting tired of Ma s
grumbling.
What s that? asked Jack.
Oh a van that takes all kinds of things to lonely villages, said Pedro. I don t expect we shall
meet one but I ve got to say something to keep Ma quiet!
The Boss gave the order to camp early that night, and everyone was thankful. Soon fires were
burning by the roadside and good smells came on the air.
Just as it was getting dusk, a small van came labouring up the hill on the slope of which the
camp had been pitched. Madame Fifi saw it first and gave a shout.
Everyone looked up. Ma! You re in luck! called Pedro. Here s a pedlar s van! [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Podstrony