chapter 10 sniffer's patrins

it was fun in the smithy, working the bellows, seeing the fire glow, and watching the red-hot shoesbeing shaped. jim was quick and clever, and it was a pleasure to watch him.

'you been hearing grandad's old stories?' he said. 'it's all he's got to do now, sit there and remember,though when he wants to he can make a horse-shoe as well as i can! there, that's the last one. standstill, sultan. that's right!'

the five children were soon on their way back again. it was a lovely morning, and the banks andditches they passed were bright gold with thousands of celandines.

'all beautifully polished!' said anne, picking two or three for her button-hole. it did look as ifsomeone had polished the inside of each petal, for they gleamed like enamel.

'what a queer tale the old man told,' said julian. 'he told it well!'

'yes. he made me feel i don't want to go up on the moor again!' said anne.

'don't be feeble!' said george. 'it all happened ages ago. jolly interesting too. i wonder if the gypsieswho are there now know the story. may be their great-grand-parents were the ones who set on thebartles that misty day!'

'well, sniffer's father looked sly enough to carry out a plan like that,' said henry. 'what about ushaving a shot at following the way they went, and seeing if we can make out the patrins that sniffertold george he would leave?'

'good idea,' said julian. 'we'll go this afternoon. i say, what's the time? i should think it must be half-past dinner-time!'

they looked at their watches. 'yes, we're late, but we always are when we get back from theblacksmith,' said george. 'never mind, i bet mrs. johnson will have an extra special meal for us!'

she had! there was an enormous plate of stew for everyone, complete with carrots, onions, parsnipsand turnips, and a date pudding to follow. good old mrs. johnson!

'you three girls must wash up for me afterwards,' she said. 'i've such a lot to do today.'

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'why can't the boys help?' said george at once.

'i'll do all the washing-up,' said anne with a sudden grin. 'you four boys can go out to the stables!'

dick gave her a good-natured shove. 'you know we'll help, even if we're not good at it. i'll dry. i hatethose bits and pieces that float about in the washing-bowl.'

'will it be all right if we go up on the moors this afternoon?' asked george.

'yes, quite all right. but if you want to take your tea, you'll have to pack it yourselves,' said mrs.

johnson. 'i'm taking the small children out for a ride, and there's one on the leading-rein still, as youknow.'

they were ready to set off at three o'clock with their tea packed and everything. the horses werecaught in the field and got ready too. they set off happily.

'now we'll see if we are as clever as we think we are, at reading gypsy patrins!' said george.

'timmy, don't chase every rabbit you see, or you'll be left behind!'

they cantered up on to the moor, passing the place where the caravans had stood. they knew thedirection they had taken, and here and there they saw wheel-marks. it was fairly easy to follow theirtrail, because five caravans made quite a path to follow.

'here's where they camped first,' said julian, riding up to a blackened spot that showed where a firehad been lighted. 'we ought to find a message left somewhere here.'

they searched for one. george found it. 'it's here, behind this tree!' she called. 'out of the wind.'

they dismounted and came round george. on the ground was the patrin, the shape of a cross, thelong stick pointing forwards, in the direction they were going. other single sticks lay there, to showthat a caravan had gone that way, and beside them were the large and the small leaf, weighted withtiny stones.

'what did those leaves show now, oh yes, sniffer and his dog!' said dick. 'well, we're on the rightway, though we'd know that anyhow, by the fire!'

they mounted again and went on. it proved quite easy to find and follow the patrins. only once didthey find any difficulty and that was when they came to a place, marked by two trees, where therewas no apparent sign in the heather of any caravan marks.

'the heather's so jolly thick here that it's taken the caravans as if it were a feather-bed, springing upwhen they had gone, and giving no sign of where they had passed,' said julian. he dismounted andhad a good look round. no, there was no sign.

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'we'll go on a little way,' he said. 'we may come to a camping place, then we'll know.'

but they came to no old camping place, and stopped at last in bewilderment. 'we've lost the trail,'

said dick. 'we're not such good gypsies after all!'

'let's go back to those two trees,' said george. 'we can still just see them. if it's so easy to lose theway there, there might be a patrin, although there are no camp-marks. after all, a patrin is left toshow the way, in case the ones following take the wrong route.'

so back they rode to the two trees, and there, sure enough, was sniffer's patrin! henry found it setcarefully between the trees, so that nothing could disturb it.

'here's the cross, and the single sticks, and the leaves!' she said. 'but look, the long stick of the crosspoints to the east and we went off to the north. no wonder we found no signs of the caravans!'

they set off to the east this time, across the thick, springy heather, and almost at once found signs ofthe passing of caravans, twigs broken off the bushes, a wheel rut on a soft piece of ground.

'we're right now,' said julian, pleased. 'i was beginning to think it was all too easy for words!

but it isn't!'

they rode for two hours, and then decided to have tea. they sat down in a little glade of silverbirches, with an unexpected copse of pale primroses behind. timmy had to make up his mind whichto choose, a rabbit-chase, or titbits from the children's tea!

he chose both, racing after an imaginary rabbit, and then coming back for a sandwich!

'you know, it's a lot better for us when mrs. johnson makes sandwiches of tomato or lettuce orsomething like that,' said henry. 'we do get them all then, but when we have meat or sardine or eggsandwiches timmy gets as much as we do!'

'well, surely you don't mind that, henrietta,' said george at once. 'you make timmy sound verygreedy. after all, you don't need to give him any of your sandwiches!'

'now, georgina!' murmured dick, in her ear.

'sorry, georgina,' said henry, with a grin. 'i just can't help giving him a sandwich or two when hecomes and sits down and looks at me so longingly.'

'woof,' said timmy, and at once sat down in front of henry, his tongue out, and his eyes fixedunblinkingly on her.

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'he sort of hypnotizes me,' complained henry. 'make him go away, george. i shan't be able to keep asingle sandwich or bit of cake for myself. go and stare at someone else, timmy, for goodness' sake!'

julian looked at his watch. 'i don't think we ought to spend too long over tea,' he said. 'i know we'vegot summertime now, and the evenings are nice and light, but we haven't reached the gypsy campyet, and after that we've got to go all the way back. what about starting off again?'

'right,' said everyone and remounted their horses. they set off through the heather. soon they foundit unexpectedly easy to follow the caravan route, because the soil became sandy, and there were manybare patches on which the marks of the wheels could plainly be seen.

'goodness, if we go to the east much more, we'll come to the sea!' said dick.

'no, it's still some miles away,' said julian. 'hallo, there's a little hill or something in the distance.

first time we've seen anything but complete flatness!'

the wheel-marks led steadily towards the little hill, which, as they came near, seemed to growconsiderably bigger. 'i bet the caravans are there,' said george. 'that hill would give a nice bit ofshelter from the wind that came from the sea. i believe i can see one!'

george was right. the caravans were there. they showed up well against the hill, in their brightcolours.

'they've even got up a washing-line as usual!' said anne. 'clothes flapping in the wind!'

'let's go and ask if clip is all right,' said julian. 'it will be a very good excuse for going right up to thecamp.'

so they cantered straight up to the little group of five caravans. four or five men appeared as soon asthey heard the sound of hooves. they looked silent and rather forbidding. sniffer ran out and shouted.

'hallo! clip's fine! quite all right again!'

his father gave him a push and said something sharp to him. he disappeared under the nearestcaravan.

julian rode up to sniffer's father. 'did i hear sniffer say that clip was quite all right?' he asked.

'where is he?'

'over there,' said the man, with a nod of his head. 'no need for you to see him. he's mended fine.'

'all right, all right! i'm not going to take him away from you!' said julian. 'this is a nice shelteredplace you've got, isn't it? how long are you staying?'

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'what's that to do with you?' said an old gypsy, unpleasantly.

'nothing,' said julian, surprised. 'just a polite question, that's all!'

'how do you get water?' called george. 'is there a good spring here?'

there was no reply at all. the four or five men had now been joined by others, and there were threemangy-looking dogs growling round. timmy was beginning to growl back.

'you'd better go before our dogs get at you,' said sniffer's father, sourly.

'where's liz?' said george, remembering sniffer's dog, but before she got an answer the three dogssuddenly made an attack on timmy! they pounced on him and he had hard work to keep them off.

he was far bigger than they were, but they were nippy little things.

'call off those dogs!' yelled julian, seeing that george was dismounting to go to timmy's help.

she would get bitten. 'do you hear me? call off those dogs.'

sniffer's father whistled. the three dogs reluctantly left timmy and went over to the men, their tailsdown. george had reached tim and had now got her hand on his collar to stop him from chasing theother three dogs.

'mount your horse, whistle timmy, and we'll go,' shouted julian, not at all liking the silent, sour-looking gypsies. george did as she was told. timmy ran beside her, and they all cantered away fromthe unpleasant camp.

the men stood watching them in complete silence. 'what's up with them?' said dick puzzled.

'anyone would think they were planning another bartle affair!'

'don't!' said anne. 'they're planning something, all alone out here, far away from anywhere! i shan'tgo near them again.'

'they thought we were prying and spying,' said dick. 'that's all. poor old sniffer. what a life he has!'

'we couldn't even tell him that we found his patrins useful,' said george. 'oh well, there's probablynothing in it, not even an adventure!'

was she right or wrong? julian looked at dick and dick looked back, his eyebrows raised. theydidn't know. oh well, time would tell!