CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ANOTHER VISIT FROM LOU AND DAN

n.o.body disturbed the children that night, and Timmy did not bark once. n.o.bby slept on a pile of rugs in the boy's caravan, and Pongo cuddled up to him. The chimpanzee seemed delighted at staying with the caravanners. Timmy was rather jealous that another animal should be with them, and wouldn't take any notice of Pongo at all.

The next morning, after breakfast, the children discussed who was to go down to the town. 'Not n.o.bby and Pongo, because they wouldn't be allowed in the bus together,' said Julian. 'They had better stay behind.'

'Not by ourselves?' said n.o.bby, looking alarmed. 'Suppose Lou and Uncle Dan come up? Even if I've got Pongo I'd be scared.'

'Well, I'll stay here, too,' said d.i.c.k. 'We don't all need to go to buy torches. Don't forget to post that letter to Daddy and Mother, Julian.'

They had written a long letter to their parents, telling them of the exciting happenings. Julian put it into his pocket. 'I'll post it all right,' he said. 'Well, I suppose we might as well go now. Come on, girls. Keep a look-out, d.i.c.k, in case those rogues come back.'

George, Timmy, Anne and Julian went down the hill together, Timmy running on in front, his tail wagging nineteen to the dozen. Pongo climbed up to the roof of the red caravan to watch them go. n.o.bby and d.i.c.k sat down in the warm sun on the ledge, their heads resting on springy clumps of heather.

'It's nice up here,' said n.o.bby. 'Much nicer than down below. I wonder what everyone is thinking about Pongo and me. I bet Mr Gorgio, the head of the circus, is wild that the chimpanzee's gone. I bet he'll send up to fetch us.'

n.o.bby was right. Two people were sent up to get him - Lou and Tiger Dan. They came creeping up through the bracken and heather, keeping a sharp eye for Timmy or Pongo.

Pongo sensed them long before they could be seen and warned n.o.bby. n.o.bby went very pale. He was terrified of the two scoundrels.

'Get into one of the caravans,' said d.i.c.k in a low voice. 'Go on. I'll deal with those fellows - if it is them. Pongo will help me if necessary.'

n.o.bby scuttled into the green caravan and shut the door. d.i.c.k sat where he was. Pongo squatted on the roof of the caravan, watching.

Lou and Dan suddenly appeared. They saw d.i.c.k, but did not see Pongo. They looked all round for the others.

'What do you want?' said d.i.c.k.

'n.o.bby and Pongo,' said Lou with a scowl. 'Where are they?'

'They're going to stay on with us,' said d.i.c.k.

'Oh, no, they're not!' said Tiger Dan. 'n.o.bby's in my charge, see? I'm his uncle.'

'Funny sort of uncle,' remarked d.i.c.k. 'How's that dog you poisoned, by the way?'

Tiger Dan went purple in the face. He looked as if he would willingly have thrown d.i.c.k down the hill.

'You be careful what you say to me!' he said, beginning to shout.

n.o.bby, hidden in the caravan, trembled when he heard his uncle's angry yell. Pongo kept quite still, his face set and ugly.

'Well, you may as well say good-bye and go,' said d.i.c.k in a calm voice to Dan. 'I've told you that n.o.bby and Pongo are staying with us for the present.'

'Where is n.o.bby?' demanded Tiger Dan, looking as if he would burst with rage at any moment. 'Wait till I get my hands on him. Wait ...'

He began to walk towards the caravans - but Pongo was not having any of that! He leapt straight off the roof on to the horrified man, and flung him to the ground. He made such a terrible snarling noise that Dan was terrified.

'Call him off!' he yelled. 'Lou, come and help.'

'Pongo won't obey me,' said d.i.c.k still sitting down looking quite undisturbed. 'You'd better go before he bites big pieces out of you.'

Dan staggered to the rock ledge, looking as if he would box d.i.c.k's ears. But the boy did not move, and somehow Dan did not dare to touch him. Pongo let him go and stood glowering at him, his great hairy arms hanging down his sides, ready to fly at either of the men if they came near.

Tiger Dan picked up a stone - and as quick as lightning Pongo flung himself on him again and sent the man rolling down the hill. Lou fled in terror. Dan got up and fled, too, yelling furiously as he went. Pongo chased them in delight. He, too, picked up stones and flung them with a very accurate aim, so that d.i.c.k kept hearing yells of pain.

Pongo came back, looking extremely pleased with himself. He went to the green caravan, as d.i.c.k shouted to n.o.bby.

'All right, n.o.bby. They've gone. Pongo and I won the battle!'

n.o.bby came out. Pongo put his arm round him at once and chattered nonsense in his ear. n.o.bby looked rather ashamed of himself.

'Bit of a coward, aren't I?' he said. 'Leaving you out here all alone.'

'I enjoyed it,' said d.i.c.k truthfully. 'And I'm sure Pongo did!'

'You don't know what dangerous fellows Lou and Dan are,' said n.o.bby, looking down the hillside to make sure the men were really gone. 'I tell you they'd stick at nothing. They'd burn your caravans, hurl them down the hill, poison your dog, and do what harm they could to you, too. You don't know them like I do!'

'Well, as a matter of fact, we've had some pretty exciting adventures with men just as tough as Dan and Lou,' said d.i.c.k. 'We always seem to be falling into the middle of some adventure or other. Now, last hols we went to a place called Smuggler's Top - and, my word, the adventures we had there! You wouldn't believe them!'

'You tell me and Pongo,' said n.o.bby, sitting down beside d.i.c.k. 'We've plenty of time before the others come back.'

So d.i.c.k began to tell the tale of all the other thrilling adventures that the five of them had had, and the time flew. Both boys were surprised when they heard Timmy barking down the track, and knew that the others were back.

George came tearing up with Timmy at her heels. 'Are you all right? Did anything happen while we were away? Do you know, we saw Lou and Tiger Dan getting on the bus when we got off it! They were carrying bags as if they meant to go away and stay somewhere.'

n.o.bby brightened up at once. 'Did you really? Good! They came up here, you know, and Pongo chased them down the hill. They must have gone back to the camp, collected their bags, and gone to catch the bus. Hurrah!'

'We've got fine torches,' said Julian, and showed d.i.c.k his. 'Powerful ones. Here's one for you, d.i.c.k - and one for you, n.o.bby.'

'Oooh - thanks,' said n.o.bby. Then he went red. 'I haven't got enough money to pay you for such a grand torch,' he said awkwardly.

'It's a present for you,' said Anne at once, 'a present for a friend of ours, n.o.bby!'

'Coo! Thanks awfully,' said n.o.bby, looking quite overcome. 'I've never had a present before. You're decent kids, you are.'

Pongo held out his hand to Anne and made a chattering noise as if to say: 'What about one for me, too?'

'Oh - we didn't bring one for Pongo!' said Anne. 'Why ever didn't we?'

'Good thing you didn't,' said n.o.bby. 'He would have put it on and off all day long and wasted the battery in no time!'

'I'll give him my old torch,' said George. 'It's broken, but he won't mind that!'

Pongo was delighted with it. He kept pressing down the k.n.o.b that should make the light flash - and when there was no light he looked all about on the ground as if the light must have dropped out! The children roared at him. He liked them to laugh at him. He did a little dance all round them to show how pleased he was.

'Look here - wouldn't it be a jolly good time to explore underground now that we know Lou and Dan are safely out of the way?' asked Julian suddenly. 'If they've got bags with them, surely that means they're going to spend the night somewhere and won't be back till tomorrow at least. We'd be quite safe to go down and explore.'