Five Go to Billycock Hill (7 page)

Everyone went with him to the gate, Timmy and Binky as well, and Benny awoke his little pig and carried him to the gate too, squealing and kicking. They all watched the tall, sturdy young airman striding away round the hil .

„Do you like him?" asked Toby proudly. „Isn"t he super? I"m awful y proud of him. He"s supposed to be one of the cleverest flying men in the kingdom - did you know?"

„No, we didn"t," said Dick. „But I"m not surprised. He"s got eyes as keen as a hawk"s, and he"s heart and soul in his work! How lucky for you that he is stationed so near!"

„We"d better get back to our camp when the girls have helped your mother to clear away and wash-up," said Julian, anxious not to outstay his welcome at the farm. „Toby, can you pack us up a bit more food in case we don"t see you tomorrow?"

„Right," said Toby, and went off, whistling.

Benny appeared again with Curly running round his feet.

„Hal o!" said Dick with a grin, „is that pigling of yours running away again?"

Benny grinned back. „If he runned away to your camp, would you be cross?" he asked, looking most innocently up at Dick.

„He mustn"t do that," said Dick seriously, guessing what was in the little boy"s mind; he meant to go to find the camp himself, and then say that it was Curly who had „runned away" there! „You see, you might lose your way if you went so far."

Benriy said no more, but wandered off with his comical pet running in front of him. The boys went to find Toby to see if they could help him to pack food into a basket. „We must pay his bill, too," said Julian, feeling for his purse. „It was a good idea of his to save up the money to buy his mother a present. She really is a darling."

Soon the Five were on their way back to their camp again. Toby was left behind to do his usual jobs of col ecting the eggs, washing them and grading them into sizes for the market. „I"l be up tomorrow!" he cal ed after them. „We"ll plan something good to do -

maybe visit the caves if you like!"

The four children went up the steep slope of Bil ycock Hil , talking, while Timmy ranged in front, sniffing everywhere as usual. And then suddenly a large butterfly sailed through the air, and came to rest on a flower of a blossoming elder bush, just in front of George - a butterfly that none of them had ever seen before.

„Look at that! What is it?" cried Anne in delight. „Oh, what a beauty! Julian, what is it?"

„I"ve absolutely no idea!" said Julian, astonished. „It may be an unusual Fritil ary, though it"s early in the year for those. That Butterfly Man - what"s his name now? - Mr Gringle - said that this hil was famous for rare butterflies, and I imagine this is pretty uncommon. It is a beauty, isn"t it?"

They watched the butterfly opening and shutting its magnificent wings on the white blossom. „We ought to try and catch it," said Dick. „I"m sure that Mr Gringle would be thril ed. It might lay eggs for him and start a whole breed of uncommon butterflies in this country."

„I"ve got a very thin hanky," said Anne. „I think I can catch it without harming its wings -

and we"ll put it into the little box that Toby fil ed with sugar lumps for us. Get it and empty it, Dick."

In half a minute the butterfly was inside the box, quite unharmed, for Anne had been very deft in catching it.

„What a magnificent creature!" said Dick, shutting the box. „Now come on - we"ll give Mr Gringle a surprise!"

„What about that witch woman - you know, Mrs Janes, who looks exactly like a witch?"

said Anne. „I don"t want to meet her again."

„I"l tel her to jump on her broomstick and fly away!" said Julian with a laugh. „Don"t be sil y, Anne - she can"t hurt you."

They went off round the hil , taking the little path down which Mr Gringle had guided them. Soon they saw the reflection of the sun glittering on the glass-houses. Anne and George hesitated as they came near, and Timmy stopped, too, his tail down.

„Well, stay there, then," said Dick, impatiently. „Ju and I won"t be long!" And off went the two boys together, while George and Anne waited in the distance.

„I hope they won"t be long!" said Anne, worried. „I don"t know why I feel creepy here, but I do!"

Dick and Julian went to the glass-houses where the butterflies and caterpillars lived. They peered through the panes, but could see nobody there.

„Mr Gringle must be in the cottage," said Julian. „Let"s stand outside and cal - he"ll come out then. I don"t much like Mrs Janes."

So they stood outside the tumble-down cottage and shouted: „Mr Gringle! Mr Gringle!"

Nobody answered. No Mr Gringle came out, but somebody pul ed aside the corner of a window curtain upstairs and peeped out. The boys shouted again, waving at the window.

„Mr Gringle! We"ve got a rare butterfly for you!'

The window opened and old Mrs Janes looked out, seeming more witch-like than ever.

„Mr Gringle"s away!" she mumbled.

„What about his friend Mr Brent - the one we didn"t see?" shouted Dick. „Is he in?"

The old woman stared at them, mumbled something else, and then disappeared very suddenly indeed from the window.

Dick looked at Julian in surprise.

„Why did she go so suddenly? Almost as if somebody pul ed her roughly away? Julian, I don"t like it."

„Why? Do you think that son of hers is here - the one she said was cruel to her?" asked Julian, who was puzzled, too.

„I don"t know," said Dick. „Let"s snoop round a bit. Perhaps Mr Gringle is somewhere about, whatever old Mrs Janes says!"

They went round the corner of the house and peered into a shed. Nobody there. Then they heard footsteps and turned round hurriedly. A man was coming towards them, smal and thin, with a pinched-looking face, and dark glasses. He carried a butterfly net, and nodded at the two boys.

„My friend Gringle is away," he said. „Can I do anything for you?"

„Oh - you"re Mr Brent, then?" said Dick. „Look - we"ve found a rare butterfly. That"s why we came!"

He undid the box in which the butterfly was peaceful y resting, having found a tiny grain of sugar to feed on. Mr Brent looked at it through his dark glasses.

„Hm! Hm!" he said, peering closely at it. „Yes, very fine indeed. I"l buy it off you for five shil ings."

„Oh, you can have it for nothing," said Dick. „What is it?"

„Can"t say without examining it closely," said Mr Brent, and took the box and put the lid on again.

„But isn"t it some kind of Fritil ary?" asked Julian. „We thought it was."

„Quite likely," said Mr Brent, and suddenly produced two half-crowns and shoved them at Dick. „Here you are. Much obliged. I"l tel Mr Gringle you came."

He turned abruptly and went off, his butterfly net stil over his shoulder. Dick stared at the two half-crowns in his hand, then at the receding back of Mr Brent. „What a queer fel ow!"

he said. „Well, I must say that he and Mr Gringle are a pair! What are we to do with this five shil ings, Julian? I don"t want it!"

„Let"s see if we can give it to that poor Mrs Janes," said Julian, always generous. „She looks as if they paid her only about a shil ing a week, poor soul!"

They went round to the front of the house, hoping to fmd the old woman, and after a little hesitation knocked at the door. It opened and she stood there, mumbling as before.

„You go away! My son"s coming back. He"l hit me. He don"t like strangers. You go away, I say!"

„Al right," said Dick. „Look - here"s something for you," and he pressed the two half-crowns into her claw-like hand. She looked at them as if she couldn"t believe her eyes, and then, amazingly quickly, she slipped the money into one of her broken-down shoes. When she stood up her eyes were full of tears.

„You"re kind," she whispered, and gave them a little push. 'Yes, you"re kind. Keep away from here. My son"s a bad man. Keep away!"

The boys went off silently, not knowing what to make of it. After all, Toby knew the son -

they had employed him at the farm. Why did the old woman keep saying he was bad and cruel? She must be at least a little mad to talk like that!

„It must be a queer household," said Julian as they went to join the waiting girls. „Two Butterfly Men, both rather peculiar. One old witch-like woman, very peculiar. And a son who seems to terrify her out of her wits! I vote we don"t go there again."

„So do I," said Dick. „Hal o, you two - did we keep you waiting long?"

„You did rather," said Anne. „We were just about to send Timmy to look for you! We thought you might have been turned into mice, or something!"

The boys told the two girls about Mr Brent and the five shil ings and old Mrs Janes. „A funny household, altogether," said Dick. „We think we"ll give it a miss now, however many rare butterflies we spot! I"m pretty certain that the one we found was a kind of Fritil ary, aren"t you, Julian?"

„Yes, I was surprised Mr Brent didn"t say so," said Julian. „I have a feeling that Mr Gringle is the expert of the two. Mr Brent probably does the donkey-work - sees to the caterpil ars and so on."

They came to their camp at last, and Timmy at once went to the „larder". But Anne shook her head. „No, Tim - it"s not nearly supper-time, Bad luck!"

„What shall we do?" asked Dick, flinging himself down on the heather. „It"s another heavenly evening!"

„Yes - but I don"t much like the look of the sky over to the west tonight," said Julian. „See those clouds there, coming up slowly against the wind? It looks like rain tomorrow to me!"

„Blow!" said George. „The weather might have lasted for just one week! Whatever shall we do if it pours? Sit in our tents all day, I suppose!"

„Cheer up - we could go and see the caves," said Dick. „I know what we"ll do now! We"ll get out our portable radio and turn it on. If there"s some decent music, it wil sound glorious up here!"

„Al right. But for goodness" sake have it on softly," said Anne. „I loathe people who take radios out into the country with them, and switch them on loudly, so that it spoils the peace and quiet for everyone else. I could go and kick their radios to pieces!"

„Gracious, Anne - you do sound fierce!" said George, looking at her cousin in surprise.

„You don"t know our quiet sister Anne quite as well as we do, George," said Julian, with a twinkle in his eyes. „She can be real y fierce if she thinks anyone is spoiling things for others.

I had to stop her once from going up to scold people at a picnic - they actually had a gramophone going ful -pelt, in spite of the angry looks from people all round. I do believe she meant to take off the gramophone record and break it over somebody"s head!"

„Oh, Julian! How can you say such a thing!" said Anne. „I did feel like it - but I didn"t do it."

„Al right, young Anne!" said Julian affectionately, and patted her head. Both he and Dick thought the world of their quiet, kind little sister and looked after her well. She smiled at them.

„Well - let"s have some music, then," she said. „There"s the Pastoral Symphony on sometime this evening, I know, because I made a note of it. It would sound beautiful out here in this lovely countryside with that view spreading for miles in front of us. But softly, please."

Julian fetched the little radio set and took it out of its waterproof case. He switched on, and a voice came loudly from the set. Julian lowered the volume to make it softer. „It"s the seven o"clock news," he said. „We"ll hear it, shall we?"

But it was almost the end of the news, and the voice soon stopped to give way to an announcer. Yes - it was going to be the Pastoral Symphony now. Soon the first notes came softly from the little radio, and it seemed to set the countryside around to music. The four settled down in the heather to listen, lying half-propped up to watch the changing colours of the view in front of them as the sun sank lower.

The bank of cloud on the horizon was higher now, and the sun would soon slip behind it, for it was coming up fast. What a pity!

And then, cutting across the music, came another sound - the sound of an aeroplane.

R-r-r-r-r-r-r! R-r-r-r-r-r-r! R-r-r-r-r-r-r!

It sounded so very loud that Dick and Julian leapt to their feet, and Timmy began to bark loudly.

„Where is it?" said Dick, puzzled. „It sounds so jolly near. I wonder if it"s Cousin Jeff"s!"

„There it is - coming up over the back of the hil !" said Julian, and as he spoke a small aeroplane appeared over the brow of the hil , and circled once before it flew down to the airfield.

The four children could plainly see the number painted underneath. „5 - 6 - 9," began Julian, and Dick gave a shout.

„It"s Jeff"s plane! It is - that"s his number! Wave, everybody, wave!"

So they all waved madly, though they felt sure that Jeff wouldn"t see them, tucked away in their camp on the hil -side. They watched the plane fly down to the airfield, circle round, and land neatly on the runway. It came to a stop.

Julian looked through his glasses and saw a small figure leap from the plane. „I bet it"s Jeff," he said. „Gosh - I do wish I had a plane to fly over the hil s and far away!"

The Five soon began to prepare for their evening meal, and Timmy trotted about pretending to help, always hopeful of being allowed to carry a loaf of bread or piece of cold ham in his mouth. But he was never lucky!

As they sat eating their meal, Julian glanced uneasily at the western sky again. „The rain"s certainly coming," he said. „That cloud has covered half the sky now, and swallowed up the evening sun. I think we ought to put up the tents."

„Blow! I suppose we ought," said George.

„And we"d better do it quickly," said Dick. „I distinctly felt a nasty cold wind just then - the first real y cold air since we came here. We shall certainly want to roll up in our rugs tonight!"

„Well, let"s get the things out from under the old gorse-bush," said Julian. „It won"t take long to put up the tents if we all get to work."

In three-quarters of an hour the tents were up, set nicely in the shelter of the giant gorse-bush. „A good, business-like job," said Dick, pleased. „It would take a hurricane to blow the tents away - we"ll be quite al right here. Let"s pul up some more heather and pile it in the tents. We shall want our rugs to wrap ourselves in, not to lie on tonight, so we might as well make our beds as soft as possible."