They said good-bye to the watching grown-ups and climbed excitedly into the car. Mr. Luffy started up his engine and put the lever into first gear with a frightful noise.

“Good-bye!” called all the grown-ups, and Julian’s mother added a last word. “DON’T get into any awful adventure this time!”

“Of course they won’t!” called back Mr. Luffy cheerfully. “I’ll see to that. There are no adventures to be found on a wild and deserted moor. Good-bye!”

Off they went, waving madly, and shouting good-bye all the way down the road. “Good-bye! Good-bye-eeeee! Hurrah, we’re off at last!”

The car raced down the road, the trailer bumping madly after it. The holiday had begun!

Chapter Two

Up on the moors

Mr. Luffy was not a very good driver. He went too fast, especially round the corners, and many times Julian looked behind at the trailer in alarm, afraid that everything would suddenly leap off it at some sharp bend.

He saw the bundle of sleeping-bags jump high into the air, but fortunately they remained on the trailer. He touched Mr. Luffy on the shoulder.

“Sir! Could you go a bit slower, please? The trailer will be empty by the time we arrive, if the luggage leaps about on it much more.”

“My word! I forgot we had a trailer,” said Mr. Luffy, slowing down at once. “Remind me if I go over thirty-five miles an hour, will you? Last time I took the trailer with me, I arrived with only half the goods on it. I don’t want that to happen again.”

Julian certainly hoped it wouldn’t. He kept a sharp eye on the speedometer, and when it veered towards forty he tapped Mr. Luffy on the arm.

Mr. Luffy looked supremely happy. He didn’t like term time, but he loved holidays. Term time interfered with the study of his beloved insect-world. Now he was off with four nice children he liked, for a holiday on a moorland he knew was alive with bees, beetles, butterflies and every other kind of insect he wanted. He looked forward to teaching the four children quite a lot. They would have been horrified if they had guessed this, but they didn’t.

He was an odd-looking fellow. He had very untidy, shaggy eyebrows over kind and gentle brown eyes that always reminded Dick of a monkey’s. He had a rather large nose, which looked fiercer than it was because, unexpectedly, it had quite a forest of hairs growing out of the nostrils. He had an untidy moustache, and a round chin with a surprising dimple in the middle of it.

His ears always fascinated Anne. They were large and turned rather forward, and Mr. Luffy could waggle the right one if he wanted to. To his great sorrow he had never been able to waggle the left one. His hair was thick and untidy, and his clothes always looked loose, comfortable and rather too big for him.