“They could hide in the tower, and then quietly slip out from the castle one night, go down to the sea, and hire a fishing-boat!” cried Dick, taking the words out of Julian’s mouth. “They’d be across the Channel in no time.”

“Yes. That’s what I’d worked out too,” said Julian. “I rather think I’ll telephone Uncle Quentin about this. I’ll describe the face as well as I can to him. I feel this is all rather too important to manage quite on our own. Those men may have extremely important secrets.”

“It’s an adventure again,” said Jo, her face serious, but her eyes very bright. “Oh — I’m glad I’m in it too!”

Chapter Fifteen

An interesting day

Everyone began to feel distinctly excited. “I think I’ll catch the bus into the next town,” said Julian. “The telephone-box here is too easily overheard. I’d rather go to a kiosk somewhere in a street, where nobody can hear what I’m saying.”

“All right. You go,” said Dick. “We’ll do some shopping and go back to the caravans. I wonder what Uncle Quentin will say!”

Julian went off to the bus-stop. The others wandered in and out of the few village shops, doing their marketing. Tomatoes, lettuces, mustard and cress, sausage rolls, fruit cake, tins of fruit, and plenty of creamy milk in big quart bottles.

They met some of the fair-folk in the street, and everyone was very friendly indeed. Mrs. Alfredo was there with an enormous basket, nearly as big as herself. She beamed and called across to them.

“You see I have to do my shopping myself! That big bad man is too lazy to do it for me. And he has no brains. I tell him to bring back meat and he brings fish, I tell him to buy cabbage and he brings lettuce. He has no brains!”

The children laughed. It was strange to find great big Alfredo, a real fire-eater, ordered about and grumbled at by his tiny little wife.

“It’s a change to find them all so friendly,” said George, pleased. “Long may it last. There’s the snake-man, Mr. Slither — he hasn’t got his snakes with him, though.”

“He’d have the whole village to himself if he did!” said Anne. “I wonder what he buys to feed his snakes on.”

“They’re only fed once a fortnight,” said Jo. “They swallow…”

“No, don’t tell me,” said Anne, hastily. “I don’t really want to know. Look, there’s Skippy.”

Skippy waved cheerily. She carried bags filled to bursting too. The fair-folk certainly did themselves well.

“They must make a lot of money,” said Anne.

“Well, they spend it when they have it,” said Jo. “They never save. It’s either a good time for them or a very bad time. They must have had a good run at the last show-place — they all seem very rich!”

They went back to the camp and spent a very interesting day, because the fair-folk, eager to make up for their unfriendly behaviour, made them all very welcome. Alfredo explained his fire-eating a little more, and showed how he put wads of cotton wool at the hook-end of his torches, and then soaked them in petrol to flare easily.