They came to the field-gate and Anne opened it. In went the horses, straining now, because they were going uphill, and the vans were heavy. At last they arrived in the corner where the vans had stood before. Julian backed them over the same bit of ground.

He unhitched the horses, and threw the reins of the second horse to Dick. “We’ll take them back ourselves,” he said.

So the two boys walked the horses over to Alfredo, who was pegging up some washing on a line. It seemed a most unsuitable thing for a fire-eater to do, but Alfredo didn’t seem to mind.

“Mr. Alfredo, thank you for lending us the horses,” said Julian, in his politest tones. “Shall we tie them up anywhere, or set them loose?”

Alfredo turned round, and took some pegs out of his large mouth. He looked rather ashamed.

“Set them loose,” he said. He hesitated before he put the pegs back into his mouth. “We didn’t know you were friends with my niece,” he said. “She told us all about you. You should have told us you knew her.”

“And how could he do that when he didn’t know she was your niece?” shouted Mrs. Alfredo from the caravan door. “Fredo, you have no brains, not a single brain do you have. Ahhhhhh! Now you drop my best blouse on the ground!”

She ran out at top speed, and Alfredo stared in alarm. Fortunately she had no saucepan with her this time. She turned to the two amused boys.

“Alfredo is sorry he took your caravans away,” she said, “are you not, Fredo?”

“Well! It was you who…” began Alfredo, with a look of astonishment. But he wasn’t allowed to finish. His dark little wife gave him a violent nudge, and spoke again herself, her words tumbling over one another.

“Pay no attention to this big bad man! He has no brains. He can only eat fire, and that is a poor thing to do! Now Jo, she has brains. Now, are you not glad that you are back again in your corner?”

“I should have felt gladder if you had all been friendly to us,” said Julian. “I’m afraid we don’t feel like stopping here any longer, though. We shall probably leave tomorrow.”

“Now there, Fredo, see what you have done! You have chased away these nice children!” cried Mrs. Alfredo. “They have manners, these boys, a thing you know nothing about, Fredo. You should learn from them, Fredo, you should…”

Fredo took some pegs from his mouth to make an indignant answer, but his wife suddenly gave a shriek and ran to her caravan. “Something burns! Something burns!”

Alfredo gave a hearty laugh, a loud guffaw that surprised the boys. “Ha! She bakes today, and burns her cake! She has no brains, that woman! No brains at all!”

Julian and Dick turned to go. Alfredo spoke to them in a low voice. “You can stay here now, here in this field. You are Jo’s friend. That is enough for us.”