Five Go to Billycock Hill (5 page)

„Yes. I told you we breed butterflies and moths," said Mr Gringle, and he opened the end of one of the muslin bags, so that the visitors could see the caterpil ars better. „These are the caterpil ars of one kind of butterfly; they feed on this particular plant."

The children gazed at scores of green caterpil ars, marked with red and yellow spots, al eating greedily on the leaves of the twig enclosed there. Mr Gringle undid another of the muslin bags and showed them some huge caterpillars, each of them green, with purple stripes on the side and a curious black horn on the tail end.

„Privet-Hawk Moth Caterpil ars," said Mr Gringle, and Julian and Dick nodded. They knew these big green caterpillars quite well.

„Why is the moth called Privet-Hawk?" asked Anne. „There are so many different Hawk-moths, I know. I"ve often wondered why they are al cal ed Hawk."

Mr Gringle beamed at Anne, evidently thinking that this was a quite intelligent question,

„Haven"t you ever seen a Hawk Moth flying?" he said. „No? Well, it flies very strongly indeed. Oh, a most striking flight - like the flight of the bird cal ed a hawk, you know."

„You"re not feeding the caterpil ars on privet, though," said George. „But you said they were privet-hawks."

„There isn"t any privet growing near here," said Mr Gringle. „So I give them elder - this is an elder bush which I planted in the glass-house. They like it just as much."

The Butterfly Farm was certainly interesting, and the children wandered about the glass-house watching caterpillars of all kinds, admiring the lovely specimens of butterflies, and marvel ing at the col ection of curious-shaped chrysalides and cocoons that Mr Gringle kept carefully in boxes, waiting for the perfect insect, moth or butterfly, to emerge.

„Like magic," he said in an awed voice, his eyes shining behind his glasses. „Sometimes, you know, I feel like a magician myself - and my butterfly net is a wand!"

The children felt rather uncomfortable as he said this, waving his butterfly net to and fro like a wand. He really was rather a queer person.

„It"s terribly hot in here," said Julian suddenly. „Let"s get into the fresh air. I"ve had enough.

Good-bye, Mr Gringle, and thank you!"

Out they all went and drew in deep breaths of fresh air. And then they heard a croaking voice behind them.

„Get out of here!" said the voice. „Get out!"

Timmy growled, and so did Binky. The children swung round and saw the old witch-like woman standing there, her wispy grey hair hanging over her face.

„What"s the matter, Mrs - er - Mrs Janes?" said Julian, fortunately remembering the name Mr Gringle had told him. „We"re not doing any harm."

„My son don"t like strangers here," said Mrs Janes, mumbling so much that the children could hardly understand what she was saying.

„But this place belongs to Mr Gringle surely, and his friend," said Dick, puzzled.

„I tel "ee my son don"t hold with strangers here," mumbled the old woman again and shook her fist at them.

Timmy didn"t like this, and growled. She at once pointed her finger at him and muttered a long string of such queer-sounding words that Anne shrank back, afraid. Really, Mrs Janes did look exactly like a witch - and sounded like one, too.

Timmy acted strangely. He put his tail down, stopped growling and crept close to George. She was most astonished.

„It looks as if she"s trying to put a spel on old Tim," said Dick, half laughing, but that was too much for Anne and George.

Taking Timmy by the collar, George rushed off quickly with Anne following. The boys laughed. Binky ran after Timmy, and Toby spoke boldly to the queer old woman.

„Your son isn"t even here - so what business is it of his to tell you to give orders to visitors?"

Tears suddenly began to pour down the old woman"s face and she wrung her bony hands together. „He"l hit me," she wept. „He"l twist my arm! Go away! Do go away! If he comes, he"ll chase you off. He"s a bad man, my son is!"

„She"s mad, poor old thing," said Toby, feeling sorry for old Mrs Janes. „Our cook often says so, though she"s harmless enough. Her son"s not too bad - he"s quite handy at repairs, and we used to have him come to the farm to mend roofs and things like that. But he"s not so good as he used to be. Come on - let"s go. Mr Gringle"s a bit queer, too, isn"t he?"

They went off after the two girls, Julian stil feeling uncomfortable and distressed.

„What"s Mr Gringle"s friend like - the one who helps him?" asked Julian.

„I don"t know. I"ve never seen him," said Toby. „He"s away mostly, doing the business side, I think - sel ing specimens of eggs, caterpil ars and so on - and the perfect moths and butterflies, too, of course."

„I"d like to see that Butterfly House again, but Mr Gringle gets on my nerves," said Dick.

„Those bril iant eyes behind those thick glasses. You"d think that if they were as bright and piercing as that he wouldn"t need to wear any glasses at all!"

„Hey, George - Anne!" shouted Julian. „Wait for us - we"re just coming." They caught up the girls and Julian grinned at George.

„You thought old Timmy was going to be changed into a black beetle or something, didn"t you?" he said.

„No, of course not," said George, going red. „I just didn"t like her very much - pointing her finger like that at Timmy. No wonder he growled."

„You didn"t hear what she said about her son," said Dick. „She began to cry like anything after you"d gone, and say that her son would beat her and twist her arm if we didn"t go -

and he"s not even there!"

„She"s mad," said George. „I don"t want to go there again. What are we going to do now?"

„Go up to our camping-place and have our lunch," said Julian promptly. „Come with us, Toby - or have you got jobs to do at the farm?"

„No. I"ve done them al ," said Toby. „I"d love to have a meal with you up on the hil ."

It wasn"t very long before they were back at their camping-place. Everything was as they had left it - macs neatly under the gorse bush with the rugs and other little things - and the food in Anne"s „larder" waiting for them.

The meal was very hilarious, as Toby was in one of his sil y moods, and produced some idiotic jokes. The most successful one was a large imitation spider with shaky legs, which, while Anne and George had gone to get the food, he hung by a thin nylon thread to a spray on the nearby gorse bush. Dick grinned broadly.

„Wait til Anne sees that!" he said. „George always says she doesn"t mind spiders, but a big one like that is distinctly creepy."

It certainly was. Anne didn"t spot it until she was eating her strawberries, covered with some of the cream that Toby"s mother had generously sent. Then she suddenly spied it, shaking slightly in the breeze, hanging by its thread just over George"s head.

„Ooooooooh!" she squealed. „Ooooh, George - be careful! There"s a MONSTER spider just over your head!"

„What - is George scared of spiders?" cried Toby at once. „Just like a girl!"

George glared at him. „I don"t mind them at all," she said coldly.

„I"m glad you aren"t scared of them," said Toby. „I"d have to call you Georgina if you were. That"s your right name, isn"t it?"

„George - do move!" cried Anne, upsetting her strawberries in her anxiety. „It"s almost on your head, I tell you - its legs are wobbling as if they are going to settle on your hair.

George, it"s an ENORMOUS one! It might even be one of those foreign things - a tarantula or something!"

The wind blew a little just then and the spider moved about on the thread most realistically. Even Dick was glad it wasn"t alive!

George couldn"t resist looking up, pretending to be quite unmoved - but when she saw the enormous creature just above her she shot straight out of her place and landed on Toby"s legs, making him spill his strawberries and cream.

„Now, now, Georgina," said the annoying Toby, picking up his strawberries. „You said you didn"t mind spiders. I"l remove it for you, and you can go back to your place."

„No, no - don"t touch it - ugh!" cried Anne. But Toby, putting on a very brave face, leaned over and neatly took the spider off the gorse-bush, stil swinging by its thread. He swung it near to Anne, who scrambled up at once,

Then he made it „walk" over Dick"s knee, and Timmy came to investigate at once. Binky came too, and snapped at it, breaking the nylon thread that held it.

„Ass!" said Toby, giving him a smack. „My beautiful spider - my spinner of webs - my tame catcher of flies!"

„What - is it a tame one?" said Anne in horror.

„More or less," said Toby, and put it careful y into his pocket, grinning all over his round face.

„That"s enough, Toby," said Julian. „Joke"s finished."

George stared at Toby, her face growing crimson. „A joke? A JOKE! You wait til I pay you out, Toby! I don"t call that a joke. I cal it a mean trick. You knew Anne hated spiders."

„Let"s change the subject," said Dick hastily. „What are we going to do this afternoon?"

„I know what I"d like to do," said Julian longingly. „I"d like a bathe. It"s so jolly hot. If we were at Kirrin I"d be in the sea al the afternoon."

„I wish we were at Kirrin," said George sulkily.

„Well - if you really do want a bathe, I can take you to a pool," said Toby, anxious to get into everyone"s good books again.

„A pool? Where?" said Dick eagerly.

„Well - see that airfield down there?" said Toby, pointing. „And see this spring here, where you get your water? It goes on and on running down the hil , joins two or three more little rivulets, and ends in a smashing pool not far from the airfield. Cold as ice it is, too. I"ve often bathed there."

„It sounds jol y good," said Julian, pleased. 'Well, we can"t bathe immediately after a meal. The girls wil want to do their bit of washing-up, and put the rest of the food away.

We"ll sit here and wait til they"ve finished, have a bit of a rest, and then go and find this pool."

Everyone agreed to this, and the girls hurried off to the little spring.

„If Toby has any more idiotic tricks like that I"l play a few on him!" said George. „In fact I"ve a good mind to pul him under in the pool."

„He"s all right, George," said Anne. „He"s just like that at school, Dick says. He must drive the masters mad!"

They soon joined the boys and had a short rest, while Timmy and Binky went off amiably together to do a little hunting - sniping down holes and under bushes, looking very serious indeed. They came back immediately George whistled.

„We"re going, Timmy," said George. „Here"s your swim-suit, Dick, and yours, Julian. Good thing we brought them with us!"

„What about you, Toby? You haven"t a swim-suit with you," said Julian.

„We have to pass fairly near the farm," said Toby. „I"l leave you when we"re near there and get mine - it won"t take more than five minutes if I run all the way back."

They set off down the hil towards the airfield. Except for the planes they had heard that morning, they had heard and seen none. It seemed a very quiet airfield.

„Wait til they start experimenting with the new fighter planes my cousin told me about!"

said Toby. „You"l hear a noise then - they"re so fast they break the sound-barrier every time they go up!"

„Would your cousin let us look over the airfield one day?" asked Julian. „I"d like to do that.

It wouldn"t interest the girls, but Dick and I would love it."

„I should certainly like to go," said George at once. „It would interest me as much as you!"

„But you"re a girl," said Toby. „Girls don"t understand the first thing about aeroplanes or motor-cars or ships - or spiders either, come to that! I really don"t think you"d be interested, Georgina dear,"

„My name is not Georgina," said George furiously. „And don"t call me “dear”."

„Shut up, you two!" said Julian. „It"s too nice an afternoon to begin an argument. Look -

isn"t that your farm, Toby? We"ve got here jol y quickly - but it"s all downhil , of course."

„Yes," said Toby. „Come on, Binky - race you home and back. Shan"t be long, Julian! Keep straight ahead, and walk towards that big pine-tree you can see in the distance. I"l be with you by the time you"re there."

He raced off at top speed, while the others went on slowly towards the pine-tree in the distance. It would be heavenly to bathe in a cold pool!

Toby was certainly a fast runner! Just before they reached the pine-tree he came up behind them, his swimsuit over his shoulder, so out of breath that he could hardly speak!

„It"s over there," he panted. 'Look - the pool!"

And sure enough, there was the pool - deep blue, cool and as smooth as glass. Trees surrounded it on one side, and heather grew right down to the edge.

The five children went towards it gladly - but suddenly they came to a big notice, nailed to a tree:

KEEP OUT

DANGER

CROWN PROPERTY

„I say - what does that mean?" said Dick in dismay. „We can"t bathe after al !"

„Oh, take no notice of that," said Toby. 'It doesn"t mean a thing!"

But it did as they were very soon to find out!

„What do you mean by saying that the notice doesn"t mean a thing?" said Julian.“Why put it up, then?"

„Oh, there are notices like that al round the airfield," said Toby airily. „Telling you to KEEP

OUT, there"s DANGER. But there isn"t. Only aeroplanes are here, no guns, no bombs, nothing. It"s a jolly lonely place, too, tucked away at the foot of this hil ."

„Why don"t you ask your cousin why they put up the notices?" asekd Dick. „There must be some reason!"

„I tel you those notices have been up for ages," said Toby, sounding cross. „Ages! They might have been some use at some time or other, but not now. We can bathe here and do what we like."

„Al right - but I hope you know what you"re talking about," said Julian. „I must say I can"t see any sense myself in putting notices here - there"s no wire or fencing to keep anyone out."