Читать книгу Boys' and Girls' Circus Book - Enid blyton - Страница 8

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Pip and Susy-Ann were glad when the circus came to a stop again. They were very tired and very hungry. It was still not dark, for the May evenings were long and light.

With a great deal of shouting all the caravans and cages were settled on the side of a common for the night. Not far off ran a clear stream. Soon the circus folk were busy getting water, cooking meals, and settling in for the night.

It was dark in the old caravan. Susy-Ann leaned against Pip, very sleepy. Pip wished that he could get out and stretch his legs. They felt stiff.

Jerry was nowhere to be seen. He was doing his usual jobs. But he had had time to shout to his mother.

“Mother! Cook me three times as much as usual! I can do with it!”

His mother laughed. She was used to Jerry’s enormous appetite. She set to work to make a fire on the common, frying sausages and bacon over it in a pan. All the other folk were doing the same, and a very nice smell blew away on the air.

By the time that the camp was settled in, it was dark. Susy-Ann was half asleep when she and Pip heard Jerry’s voice whispering outside the door.

“Hie, you two! It’s dark now, and I’ve put your caravan so that it backs on to a bush. I’m going to open the door, and you can slip out and run round the bush.”

The door opened. Pip and Susy-Ann ran quietly down the steps, round the big gorse bush, and waited for Jerry, who had disappeared again.

Back he came, carrying a big dish that smelt delicious.

“Come on, this way,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t speak yet.”

With Mister Binks at their heels the three children slipped farther on to the common, where great gorse bushes and slender birch trees stood in the dark. The moon was just coming up, and there was enough of its faint light to see where the bushes were.

“Let’s sit here,” said Jerry, and they all sat down on the dry, springy heather.

“Well, that was an exciting day!” said Pip, sniffing at Jerry’s dish. “Oh, Jerry! What have you got there? It does smell good!”

“It is good,” said Jerry. “It’s sausages and bacon and mashed potatoes! And I’ve got cake too, and some barley sugar in a tin!”

It was a queer meal but a most delicious one! Jerry had brought knives and forks, and the three of them dug into the big dish and ate whatever came up on their forks! How they enjoyed it!

Black bats flew over their heads, and brown owls hooted solemnly in their beautiful trembling voices. Something nearby smelt delicious. It was wild thyme that the children had trodden on and bruised. It sent its sweet smell all around them.

“I do feel happy,” said Pip, leaning back against a birch tree and eating a large piece of ginger cake.

“So do I,” said Susy-Ann, sucking barley sugar. “This is the nicest part of to-day. Oh, Jerry, we’ve really escaped, haven’t we?”

“I hope so,” said Jerry. “I expect people will begin to look for you soon, though, you know. Those people who were expecting you to go to their Homes for Poor Children will wonder what has become of you. And so will Mrs. Jones who was going to take you to the bus.”

“Well, I can’t worry about that now,” said Pip, dreamily. “I wish to-night could go on for ever and ever and ever.”

“Jerry! Could we sleep out here?” said Susy-Ann. “It’s so stuffy and smelly and dark in that old caravan. It’s so beautiful out here.”

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t,” said Jerry. “I often do in the summer. But my mother makes me use a rubber sheet on the ground. Wait—I’ll go and tell her I want to sleep out.”

He disappeared like a shadow round the gorse bushes. Susy-Ann was almost asleep. She had eaten a big supper; she was warm, and she was happy. She snuggled against Pip. Mister Binks lay down peacefully beside them. He had eaten a great deal of wild thyme and his breath smelt sweet.

Jerry came slipping back with a big rubber sheet and a blanket. “Here you are!” he said. “Mother says I can sleep out, but she says I must have the blanket in case it turns cold at dawn. You can share it. It’s big enough for us all.”

Susy-Ann was asleep! The boys had to shake her and wake her.

“Get up, lazy-bones,” said Jerry. “I want to put this sheet under you.”

Soon they were all lying down together, the soft heather beneath them. Jerry pulled the blanket across them, but they did not really need it for the night was very warm.

“We’ll have to be up before anyone else is,” said Jerry, sleepily. “Else you will be seen when you get into your caravan again. Good-night!”

“Jerry, I do hope Mister Binks won’t eat the blanket,” said Pip, half-worried, but so sleepy that he really couldn’t get up and tie the goat a safe distance away.

He didn’t hear if Jerry answered—for his eyes closed and he slept. Susy-Ann slept too, and Jerry lay dreaming of the long white roads he had travelled that day. Mister Binks lay peacefully beside them, snoring just a little.

But Snowball the mouse was wide awake! She ran from Pip’s sleeve and sat up in the moonlight, her little nose twitching. Then off she went into the grass, sniffing and snuffling, happy to smell the heather and the thyme and the blades of green grass.

Not until the moon began to sink once more in the sky did Snowball creep back into Pip’s sleeve to sleep.

The stars shone down on the children. When dawn was near a little wind blew up over the common. It crept round the gorse bush behind which the children slept, and blew over them. Susy-Ann was cold and crept nearer to Pip in her sleep. Jerry awoke and pulled the blanket closer over them. Then he slept again whilst the stars grew pale and a clear light shone in the eastern sky.

Dawn was coming. The sky grew silvery. The stars went out. And now a golden glow crept over the eastern sky, for the sun was coming.

Susy-Ann awoke. She wondered where she was. She sat up, amazed to see the sky above her instead of the dirty ceiling of her bedroom. She saw the golden light in the east, and she stared in wonder for she had never before seen the sun rise.

Some clouds overhead suddenly turned pink. The sun showed a golden rim over the edge of the world and everything at once shone with a pure yellow light. It was wonderful. A little yellow-hammer bird nearby began to sing at the top of his voice, “Little bit of bread and no cheese! Little bit of bread and no cheese!” Then some young sparrows began to chirp loudly. The day had begun!

“Pip! Jerry! Wake up and look!” said Susy-Ann, in a hushed voice. “Everything is so new and clean!”

The boys awoke. They lay looking at the pink clouds, the golden sky, and the shining common. It was just as Susy-Ann had said ... the world looked fresh and clean and new.

“Just as if it’s washed itself and cleaned its teeth!” said Pip, sitting up. “My goodness, it’s a beautiful day!”

“Yes, and it’s time you two crept into your caravan before anyone else gets up,” said Jerry. “We shall be off fairly early to-day. You’d better get along. I shall stay here and finish out my sleep.”

The two children quietly crept round the bushes. They saw their caravan in the distance, its door facing a big bush. Nobody was about. Not the tiniest thread of smoke came from any caravan. The circus camp slept.

Pip and Susy-Ann went quietly into their dark and musty caravan. They shut the door—just in time, too, for Mister Binks had awoken and followed them, and was coming up the steps behind them!

Pip pulled some sacks about till they made a comfortable bed, and then they lay down, dozing, till the camp awoke and they could hear the calls and shouts as the men and women of the caravans went about their jobs.

“I hope Jerry brings us some breakfast!” said Pip, peeping out of a window. “I feel hungry all over again!”