“Going off to shop,” said Anne. “That’s what I ought to do. Coming George? There’s a bus that goes down to the village in about ten minutes. We can easily clear up when we come back.”

“Right,” said George, and got up too. “What are the boys going to do while we’re gone?”

“Oh, fetch more water, find sticks for the fire, and see to their own bunks,” said Anne, airily.

“Are we really?” said Dick, grinning. “Well, we might. On the other hand, we might not. Anyway, you two go, because food is getting rather low. A very serious thought, that! Anne, get me some more tooth-paste, will you? And if you can spot some of those doughnuts at the dairy, bring a dozen back with you.”

“Yes — and see if you can get a tin of pineapple,” said Julian. “Don’t forget we want milk too.”

“If you want many more things you’ll have to come and help us carry them,” said Anne. “Anything else?”

“Call at the post office and see if there are any letters,” said Dick. “And don’t forget to buy a paper. We may as well find out if anything has happened in the outside world! Not that I feel I can take much interest in it at the moment.”

“Right,” said Anne. “Come on, George — we shall miss that bus!” And off they went with Timmy at their heels.

Chapter Six

Unfriendly folk

The two boys decided they would fetch the water and stack up some firewood while the girls were gone. They ‘made’ their bunks too, by the simple process of dragging off all the clothes and bundling them on the shelf, and then letting down the bunks against the wall.

That done there didn’t seem much else to do except wait for the girls. So they took a walk round the field. They kept a good distance from the snake-man, who was doing something peculiar to one of his pythons.

“It looks as if he’s polishing it, but he surely can’t be,” said Julian. “I’d like to go near enough to watch but he’s such a hot-tempered little fellow he might quite well set one of those enormous pythons on to us!”

The snake-man was sitting on a box, with one snake spread over his knee, some of its coils round one of his legs, the other coils round his waist. The head appeared to be under his arm-pit. The man was rubbing away hard at the snake’s scaly body, and it really seemed as if the python was enjoying it!

Bufflo was doing something with a whip. It had a magnificent handle, set with semi-precious stones that caught the sun and glittered in many colours.

“Look at the lash,” said Julian. “Yards and yards long! I’d like to see him crack it!”

Almost as if he heard him, Bufflo got to his feet, and swung the great whip in his hand. Then he raised it — and a moment later there was a sound exactly like a pistol-shot! The lash cracked as it was whipped through the air, and the two boys jumped, not expecting such a loud noise.