Читать книгу Hurrah for the Circus! - Enid blyton - Страница 6

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The circus camped before it got into Liverpool itself. The field was wet and muddy. It was hard work getting the tents up, and dragging the cages and caravans to their right places. Jumbo was very useful, but even his big feet slipped in the mud.

“The tigers aren’t here yet,” said Jimmy to Lotta, in disappointment.

“No, they are coming tomorrow,” said Lotta. “Mrs. Galliano told me.”

The children were wet through when at last everything was in order that night. They went into their cosy caravan, and Mrs. Brown made them take off their wet things and get into dry ones.

Jimmy rubbed Lucky dry too, but Lulu the spaniel did not need to be dried, for she had kept in the caravan in her basket all the time. She loved Mrs. Brown very much and liked to be near her.

Mrs. Brown had a fine-smelling stew in a pan on the stove. The children sniffed hungrily. Mr. Brown was pleased to smell it too when he came up the caravan steps to his supper.

He took off his wet coat, washed his hands and face, and sat down at the little table. Soon everyone was enjoying the delicious stew, the chunks of pineapple that followed, and the hot cocoa.

“Ooh, isn’t it cosy here,” said Jimmy. “Who would live in a house when they could live in a caravan!”

“Well, I’ve never really got used to a caravan,” said Mrs. Brown, pouring out the cocoa. “It still seems funny to me not to have an upstairs and a downstairs. But I must say this is a very fine roomy caravan, Jimmy; almost as good as Mr. Galliano’s.”

“I love it,” said Lotta, sipping her cocoa. “I miss my father and mother, Lal and Laddo, but I do love living with you and Brownie and Jimmy, Mrs. Brown.”

“And we love having you, Lotta,” said Mrs. Brown, smiling at the dark-haired little girl. “You are very useful to me in lots of ways—but you still haven’t learnt that your hair looks nicer when it is properly brushed, and that tooth-brushes are meant to be used!”

“Even Sammy the chimpanzee knows that,” said Jimmy, grinning. “You’d better take a lesson from him, Lotta.”

Lotta made a dreadful face at Jimmy, and gave him such a pinch that the little boy yelled and dropped a piece of pineapple out of his open mouth.

“And you’d better go and learn manners from Sammy,” said Lotta rudely. “Spitting out that nice pineapple!”

“I didn’t!” cried Jimmy indignantly. “You made me yell and it fell out of my mouth. I wonder where it went.”

“Lulu ate it,” said Mrs. Brown. “Now, no more faces and no more pinching, Lotta. You know I don’t like it.”

“I’ve had to get a lot of new bars and bolts,” said Mr. Brown. “Mr. Galliano wants me to make the tigers’ cage as strong as I can—the one they’ll perform in, I mean.”

“Ooh, the tigers!” said Jimmy eagerly. “I am longing to see them!”

The next day, as the children were practising in the ring with Lucky, ready for that night, they heard a strange new sound.

Lucky pricked up her ears and listened, then put her tail down and crept between Jimmy’s legs. Lulu ran out of the big tent and tore back to Mrs. Brown for safety. Jumbo pricked his big ears at the bellowing noise, and the four monkeys and Sammy sat still and listened.

“The tigers!” yelled Jimmy in delight. “I can hear them roaring! Come on, Lotta, let’s go and meet them!”

The two children rushed into the wet field. At the gate was a great travelling-box, shut in on all sides, but with air-holes in the roof. It was a powerful motor-van, and its wheels churned up the mud of the field.

“It’s stuck!” cried Jimmy. “No wonder the tigers are bellowing! They can’t understand what’s happening! Let’s go and tell Tonky, and perhaps old Jumbo will help to pull the van out of the mud. Hi, Mr. Tonks! Mr. Tonks!”

Mr. Tonks was already undoing Jumbo’s rope. Jumbo did not want to go near the van, for he disliked tigers, but he would do anything in the world for Mr. Tonks. So he followed his keeper, and easily pulled the travelling cage from the deep mud.

The cage, full of roaring tigers, was hauled to its place in the field. Two people were with the cage, one a great powerful man with strange eyes, and the other a boy about Jimmy’s age.

“Hallo,” said Jimmy. “What’s your name?”

“Fric,” said the boy, eyeing Jimmy carefully. “And that’s Roma over there, my uncle. I travel with him, and we manage the tigers together. What do you do?”

“I’m Jimmy, and I have a performing dog called Lucky,” said Jimmy proudly.

The boy looked interested. “I’ve heard of her,” he said. “She can walk the tight-rope and spell and count, can’t she? All a trick, I suppose?”

“No, she’s really very, very clever,” said Jimmy. “What do your tigers do? Can I make friends with them, do you think?”

“Don’t talk rubbish,” said the boy scornfully. “Nobody makes friends with tigers. They won’t let you. I advise you not to go near them. I’d like to see that dog of yours, though. I like dogs.”

Jimmy was pleased. It would be fun for him and Lotta to have another boy in the camp. They could do lots of things together. Lotta stood staring at the boy, but Fric took no notice of her.

“I’ve got to go and help feed the tigers now,” said Fric. “See you later!”

He went off. Lotta made a face. “I don’t like him,” she said.

“Why, you don’t even know him yet,” said Jimmy. “He says he likes dogs. It will be fun to have someone else to play with.”

“I don’t want any one else,” said Lotta sulkily. “I don’t like Fric.”

She went off by herself, but Jimmy waited about by the tigers’ van, wondering if he might see inside.

Soon one side was opened, and Jimmy saw the tigers. They were magnificent creatures, like enormous cats, with great white whiskers, beautiful gleaming eyes and shining coats. They were well-fed now, and lay peacefully against one another, two in each partition of the big cage. They blinked at Jimmy in silence.

“You lovely things,” said Jimmy, looking at their great green eyes. “I’d like to feel your furry coats!”

“Don’t you have anything to do with tigers,” said a warning voice nearby. “They are not to be trusted. A chimpanzee’s all right, and so is an elephant, and even a bear knows its friends—but tigers hate this circus life and won’t be friends.”

It was Mr. Wally, who had come up to see the tigers too. The two gazed through the bars at the quiet creatures. One tiger got up and paced to and fro on big silent paws.

“Just like the cat we used to have at home,” said Jimmy. “I’d like to go and pet it!”

“Aren’t you afraid of those great creatures?” asked Mr. Wally, in astonishment.

“No,” said Jimmy. “I’m not afraid of any animal, Mr. Wally. It’s not that I’m brave—it’s just that I seem to understand them and their feelings, and I want them to be friends with me.”

“Well, don’t try being friends with tigers, that’s all!” said Mr. Wally, and he went off to his caravan, thinking that Jimmy was the strangest boy he had ever known. All the animals in the circus loved that boy—ah, he was lucky, for that was a great gift, to be friends with animals of all kinds, wild or tame! Mr. Wally would like to have had Jimmy’s gift of friendliness—he could manage chimpanzees, but dogs he didn’t understand, and as for tigers, why, he didn’t even like the feel of them in the circus!

Jimmy stayed looking at the tigers. They looked back at him. One of them began to purr gently, just like a great cat.

“You’ll be friends of mine before long,” said the little boy in the low, gentle voice he kept for animals. “You just see! I’ll be feeding you soon—yes, and brushing those lovely coats of yours! You just see!”