Five Are Together Again (4 page)

Off went Julian and Dick, leaving Tinker and the girls to help Jenny. But Jenny soon sent Tinker off afraid that he would drop things and break them.

„You go and be a nice, quiet, purring Rolls Royce at the bottom of the garden," she said.„And when you think you"ve done thirty miles or so, come back for petrol."

„Lemonade, you mean!" said Tinker, with a grin. „Al right. I haven"t been a Rol s Royce for a long time. Dad won"t hear me right at the bottom of the garden!"

Off he went, and Jenny and the girls finished the washing-up. Mischief was a nuisance and went off with the teaspoons. He leapt to the top of a high cupboard, and dropped them there.

Tinker suddenly put his head in at the window. „Come on out in the field, where we"re going to put up our tents," he called to Anne and George. „We"ll choose a nice sheltered spot. Buck up! You must have finished washing-up by now. I"m tired of being a Rolls Royce!"

„You go with him, Anne," said George. „I don"t feel like it just now."

So down the garden went the two children and out through a gate at the bottom into a big field.

„Good gracious!" said Tinker, staring. „Look at all those caravans coming in at the gate the other end of the field. I"l soon send them off. It"s OUR field!" And away he marched to the gate in the distance.

„Come BACK, Tinker," shouted Anne. „You"l get into trouble if you interfere. COME BACK!"

But Tinker marched on, his head held high. Ha - he"d soon tell the caravan-folk it was HIS

field!

Anne watched anxiously as Tinker went on and on over the field. There were now four caravans trundling in, at the far gate, and behind them, in the lane, were vans -

enormous vans - al with enormously large words painted on them.

TAPPER"S TRAVELLING CIRCUS

„Hoo! I"l tel Mr Tapper what I think of him, coming into my field!" said Tinker to himself.

Mischief the monkey was on his shoulder, jogging up and down as Tinker marched along, muttering furiously.

Four or five children from the caravans looked at him curiously as he marched along. One small boy rushed up to him, shouting in delight to see the monkey.

„A monkey, look, a monkey!" he cried. „Much smaller than our chimp. What"s he called, boy?"

„Mind your own business," said Tinker. „Where"s Mr Tapper?"

„Mr Tapper? Oh, you mean our Grandad!" said the boy. „He"s over there, look, beside that big van. Better not talk to him now, boy. He"s that busy!"

Tinker walked over to the van and addressed the man there. He was rather fierce-looking and had a long, bushy beard, enormous eye-brows that hung down over his eyes, a rather smal nose, and only one ear. He looked inquiringly down at Tinker, and put out his hand to Mischief.

„My monkey might bite you," said Tinker, at once. „He doesn"t like strangers."

„I"m no stranger to any monkey," said the man in a deep-down voice. „There isn"t a monkey in the world, nor a chimp either that wouldn"t come to me if I called it. Nor a gorilla, see?"

„Well, my monkey won"t come to you," said Tinker, angrily. „But what I"ve come to say is..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the man made a curious noise in his throat - rather like Mischief did when he was pleased about anything. Mischief looked at the man in surprised delight - and then leapt straight from Tinker"s shoulder to his, nuzzling against his neck, making little crooning noises. Tinker was so amazed that he stared without saying a word.

„See?" said the man. „He"s my little friend already. Don"t gawp so, little fel ow. I"ve trained the monkey family all my life. You lend me this little chap and I"l teach him to ride a smal tricycle in two days!"

„Come here, Mischief!" said Tinker, amazed and angry at the monkey"s behaviour. But Mischief cuddled down stil farther into the big man"s neck. The man hauled him out and handed him to Tinker.

„There you are," he said. „Nice little fel ow he is. What is it you wanted to say to me?"

„I"ve come to say that this field belongs to my father, Professor Hayling," said Tinker. „And you"ve no right to bring your caravans here. So please take them al out. I and my friends are planning to camp out here."

„Well, I"ve no objection to that," said the big man, good-temperedly. „You choose your own corner, young sir. If you don"t interfere with us, we shan"t interfere with you!"

A boy of about Tinker"s age came sidling up, and looked at Tinker and Mischief with interest. „Is he selling you that monkey, Grandad?" he asked.

„No, I"M NOT!" almost shouted Tinker. „I came to tell you and your caravans to clear out.

This field belongs to my family."

„Ah, but we"ve an old licence to come here every ten years, and show our circus," said the bearded man. „And believe it or not, there"s been a Tapper"s circus in this field every ten years since the year 1648. So you just run home and make no sil y fuss, young man."

„You"re a fibber!" cried Tinker, losing his temper. „I"l tel the police! I"l tell my father! I"l ..."

„Don"t you talk to my old Grandad like that!" shouted the boy, standing beside the old man. „I"l hit you if you do!"

„I"l say what I like!" shouted Tinker, his temper now quite lost. „And just you shut up!"

The very next moment Tinker found himself flat on his back on the grass. The boy had shot out his fist and hit Tinker hard in the chest! He struggled to his feet, red in the face, quite furious.

The old man fended him away. „Don"t you be sil y now, boy," he said. „This youngster is a Tapper, like me, and he"ll never give in. You go home and be sensible. We ain"t going to take notice of a hot-headed little kid like you. Our circus is coming in this here field, just like it has for years and years!"

He turned and walked to the nearest caravan. It was drawn by horses, and he clicked to them. They strained forward and the caravan followed. Others behind began to move too. The circus boy put his tongue out at Tinker. „Sucks to you!" he said. „Nobody gets the better of my Grandad - or of me either! Stil - it was plucky of you to go for him. I enjoyed it."

„Shut up!" said Tinker, alarmed to find himself very near to tears. „You just wait til my Dad tells the police! You"l al go out much quicker than you came in - and one of these days I"l knock you down!"

He turned and ran back to the gate. He wondered what to do. He had so often heard his father say that the field behind their house belonged to him, and that he had let this or that farmer have the grazing rights for his horses or cattle. How DARE the Travel ing Circus come into his father"s field?

„I"l tel Dad," he said to Anne, who was waiting at the gate. „He ought to turn them out!

It"s our field and I love it, especially just now when it"s so green and beautiful, and the hedges are just going to be covered in white may. I"l tell Dad that boy knocked me down

- shot out his fist just like that - and down I went. I"d like to do the same to him!"

He went into the house, followed by a puzzled Anne.

He looked into the sitting-room and saw George there.

„Tinker! That boy knocked you down!" said Anne, in a horrified voice. „Why did he do that?"

„Oh - just because I told his Grandad to take his caravans away," said Tinker, feeling rather grand. „He didn"t hurt me at all - just punched me on the chest. Stil - I said what I had gone to say."

„But wil they take the caravans away out of the field?" asked Anne.

„I told them I"d tel the police," said Tinker. „So I bet they"l skedaddle. They haven"t any right to be there. It"s our field!"

„Are you going to the police?" asked George, disbelievingly. „I real y don"t see why you have to make such a fuss about it al , Tinker. They might make it difficult for us to go camping there."

„But I tel you it"s my field - Dad"s always said so!" said Tinker. „He said it wasn"t any use to him, so I could consider it my own. And I do. AND we"re going to camp in it, whatever anyone says! It"s a travelling circus that"s coming there, so the old man said."

„Oh TINKER! How marvellous to have a circus at the bottom of the garden!" said George, her eyes shining, and Anne nodded too. Tinker glared at them.

„JUST like girls to say a thing like that!" he said. „Would you want people trespassing al over a field that belonged to you, with horses neighing and tigers and lions roaring, and bears grunting, and chimpanzees stealing things - and nasty little circus boys being rude all the time, ready to knock you down."

„Oh Tinker! You do make it sound so exciting!" said George. „Wil there really be lions and tigers? Suppose one escaped - what a thril !"

„Well - I shouldn"t like that," said Anne, at once. „I don"t particularly want a lion peering in at my window, or a bear clomping round my bedroom!"

„Neither do I," said Tinker, in a most decided voice. „That"s why I"m going to tell Dad about it. He"s got the old documents that set out our rights to that field. He showed me them one day. I"l ask him about them, and if he"ll let me see them, I"l take them straight to the police and let them turn out that rude old man and his horrible circus."

„How do you know it"s horrible?" asked George. „It might be awful y good. I"m sure they"d let us camp in the corner nearest the garden, and we"d get an awful y good view of what"s going on al the time. Look - there"s your father strol ing down the path, smoking a pipe. He never does that if he"s busy. It would be a good time to go and ask him about the document. He might even show it to us."

„Al right," said Tinker, rather sulkily. „But you"l see I"m right. Come on."

However, Tinker proved to be quite, quite wrong! His father went to fetch the old, yellowed piece of parchment at once. „Ha! Here it is!" he said. „It"s pretty valuable too, because it"s so old. It dates back quite a few centuries."

He undid the rather dirty piece of ribbon round it and unrol ed it. Neither the girls nor Tinker could read the old-fashioned lettering.

„What does it all say?" asked Anne, with great interest.

„It says that the field known as “Cromwel "s Corner” is to be held by the Hayling Family for always," said Professor Hayling. „It was given to them by Cromwell because our family allowed them to camp in that field when they sorely needed a rest after battle. It"s been ours ever since."

„So NOBODY else is allowed to camp in it, or use it for grazing or anything, unless we say so!" said Tinker, triumphantly.

„Quite right," said his father. „But wait a minute - I seem to remember an odd clause that said something about a travel ing show - a show that had rights to camp in the field since about 1066. Not even Cromwel could alter that - it was in the original deeds, long before Cromwel battled in that district. Now let"s see - that piece would come about the end, I expect."

The two girls and Tinker waited while the Professor pored over the old and beautiful lettering. He jabbed his finger on to three lines towards the end.

„Yes. There it is. I"l quote it. Listen! “And let it be known that Ye Travelling Show so-named

„Tapper"s Travel ing Show", which has always had camping rights, shall stil have the right to claim these once every ten years so long as the show travels the country ways - Given under my hand...” and so on and so on. Well - I don"t expect that Tapper"s Travel ing Show is going now, all these years and years after the document was drawn up and signed in the year 1648. See - here"s the date - if you can read the old figures!"

The children stared at the date, and then glanced up at Tinker. He looked angry and very red in the face. „You might have told me al that before, Dad," he said.

„Why?" asked his father, astonished. „What possible interest can it have for you children?"

„Only that there"s a circus cal ed Tapper"s Travelling Circus in that field this very minute,"

said Anne. „And the old man with it is cal ed Tapper - and he said it was his right to be there, and..."

„He was rude to me and I want you to turn out this circus this very day!" said Tinker. „We want to camp there."

„I"m sure Mr Tapper would have no objection to you camping there," said his father.

„Aren"t you being rather sil y, Tinker? You weren"t rude to any of the circus folk, were you?"

Tinker went very red, turned his back and stalked out of the room, Mischief clinging to his neck. He rubbed his chest where the circus boy had punched him. „Just you wait!" he said in a whisper. „I"l punch you one day!"

„Anne, if you and the others want to camp in the field, I"l go and speak to Mr Tapper,"

said the Professor, puzzled by Tinker"s behaviour.

„Oh no - it"s all right," said Anne, hastily. „He has already said that it didn"t matter if we camped there. Oh - there are the boys back again. I"l just go and see if they have brought back all our bicycles safely. Thank you for showing us that marvel ous old document, Professor!"

And away she went looking rather hot and bothered!

Dick and Julian were most interested to hear about Tinker and the Travel ing Circus - and the old, old document.

„You made a bit of a fool of yourself," said Julian, looking at Tinker. „Stil , there"s no harm done, apparently. I vote we go and see where we can put up our tents. Personally, I shall be thril ed to see a bit of circus life so close to me! I wonder how they"l manage to put on a show. I suppose they"ve everything with them, and can put up a circus ring and a marquee and anything else necessary."

„There are a lot of big vans," said Anne. „I went down to have a look about half an hour ago. The field is almost full now, except for one corner near our hedge that I suppose they have left for our tents."

„I saw the posters about the circus as we cycled back," said Dick. „Dead-Shot Dick -

Chimpanzee that plays Cricket - the Boneless Man - Madelon and her Beautiful Horses -

Monty and Winks the clowns - the Dancing Donkey - Mr Wooh, the Wonder Wizard - gosh, it sounded quite a circus. I"m glad we can camp in the same field - we shall real y see behind the scenes, then."