chapter 8 here come the barnies!

the two boys looked curiously at mr. penruthlan the next morning. it seemed strange to think of theirlittle adventure the night before with him, and he didn't even know it was they he had tried to catch!

he gave the curious little dry cough again, and julian nudged dick and grinned.

mrs. penruthlan was beaming at the head of the breakfast table as usual. 'did you sleep well, all ofyou?' she asked. 'the storm soon died down, didn't it?'

mr. penruthlan got up saying 'ah, ock, oooh!' or something that sounded like that, and went out.

'what did he say?' asked anne curiously. she could not think how anyone could possibly understandmr. penruthlan's extraordinary speech. julian had said that he thought he must talk in shorthand!

'he said he might not be back for dinner,' said mrs. penruthlan. 'i hope he'll get some somewhere. hehad his breakfast at half past six, and that's very early. i'm glad he came in and had a cup of yourbreakfast tea now. the poor man had a very bad night, i'm sorry to say.'

the boys pricked up their ears. 'what happened?' asked julian at once.

'oh, he had to get up and go and spend two hours with poor jenny,' said mrs. penruthlan. 'i wokewhen he left, but luckily benny didn't bark, and it wasn't till two hours later he came back, he'd beensitting with the horse all that time, poor man.'

julian and dick did not feel at all sympathetic. they knew quite well where mr. penruthlan had been,not with the horse, that was certain! anyway, jenny hadn't been ill when they had looked at her in thenight. what a lot of untruths!

they were puzzled. why should mr. penruthlan deceive his wife and tell her what wasn't true?

what had he been doing that he didn't even want her to know?

they told the girls everything immediately after breakfast, when they went to pick currants,raspberries and plums for a fruit salad. anne and george listened in surprise.

'you never told us you were going,' said george, reproachfully. 'i'd like to have come with you.'

'i always thought mr. penruthlan looked sort of strange and - and sinister,' said anne. 'i'm sure he'sup to no good. what a pity. his wife is so very nice.'

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they went on picking the endless red-currants. anne suddenly got the feeling that somebody washiding somewhere near. she looked round uncomfortably. yes, there was someone in the tallraspberry canes, she was sure! she watched.

it was yan, of course. she might have guessed! he flashed his smile at her and came towards her. heliked anne best of all! he held out his hand.

'no, i've no sweets,' said anne. 'how did you get on last night in the storm, yan? were youfrightened?'

yan shook his head. then he came nearer and spoke softly.

'i seen the light last night!'

anne stared at him, astonished. what light?

'you don't mean - the light that flashes in that old hidden tower?' she said.

he nodded. anne went quickly to julian and dick, who were picking white currants and eating justabout as many as they put into the basket!

'julian! dick! yan says he saw that light flashing last night, the one in the tower!'

'gosh!' said the boys together. they turned to yan, who had followed anne. 'you saw that light?'

said julian.

yan nodded. 'big light. very big,' he said. 'like - like a fire.'

'shining from the tower?' said dick, and yan nodded again.

'did your grandad see it?' asked dick.

yan nodded. 'he seen it, too.'

'are you telling the truth?' demanded julian, wondering how far he could believe yan.

yan nodded again.

'what time was this?' asked dick. but that yan couldn't tell him. he had no watch, and if he had had,he wouldn't have been able to use it. he couldn't tell the time.

'blow!' said julian to dick. 'we missed it. if yan's telling the truth we would have seen that light lastnight.'

'yes. well, we'll go tonight and watch for it,' said dick, determined. 'it's a wild enough day, all windand scurrying clouds. if that light is used at night in weather like this, we'll be able to see it again. buti'm blessed if i can understand why the wreckers' tower should be used nowadays. no ship wouldtake any notice of an odd light like that when they've got the lighthouse signalling hard all the time!'

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'i go, too,' nodded yan, who had overheard this.

'no, you won't,' said julian. 'you can stay with grandad. he'll wonder where you are if you're notthere.'

it began to rain. 'blow!' said george. 'i do hope the weather hasn't broken up. it's been so gorgeous.

it's quite cold today with this tearing wind. come on, let's go in, anne. we've got enough now to feedan army, i should think!'

they all went in, just as the rain came down properly. mrs. penruthlan greeted them in excitement.

'the barnies want our barn for tomorrow night!' she said. 'they're giving their first show in our barn,and after that they go to another place. would you like to help clear out the barn and get ready?'

'rather!' said julian. 'we'll go now. there's a lot of stuff to clear out. where shall we put it? in theother barn?'

the barnies arrived in about twenty minutes and went straight to the barn, which they had been lentseveral times before for their shows. they were pleased to see the children and were glad of theirhelp.

they were no longer dressed in fancy clothes, as they had been when the children had seen them onthe sunday evening. they were practically all dressed in slacks, the women, too, ready for the hardwork of clearing the barn and setting up a simple stage and background.

julian caught sight of a horse's head being carried in by a little nimble fellow who pranced along withit comically.

'what's that for?' he said. 'oh, is that clopper's head? the horse that can sit down and cross its legs?'

'that's right,' said the little fellow. 'i'm in charge of it. never let it out of my sight! guv'nor's orders!'

'who's the guv'nor?' asked julian. 'the fellow over there?' he nodded to a grim-faced man who wassupervising the moving of some bales of straw.

'that's him,' said the little man with a grin. 'his lordship himself! what do you think of my horse,chum!'

julian looked at the horse's head. it was beautifully made and had a most comical look in its eye.

its mouth could open and shut, and so could its big eyes.

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'i'm only the hind legs,' said the little man regretfully. 'but l work his tail, too. mr. binks over there ishis front legs, and works his head, the horse's head, i mean. you should see old clopper when heperforms! my, there isn't a horse like him in the world. he can do everything short of fly!'

'where are his back and front legs - and - er - his body part?' asked dick, coming up and looking withgreat interest at the horse's head.

'over there,' said the little man. 'by the way, my name's sid. what's yours, and how is it you're here?'

julian introduced himself and dick, and explained that they were helping because they were stayingat the farm. he caught hold of a bale of straw, thinking it was about time he did some work.

'like to give me a hand?' he asked.

sid shook his head.

'sorry. orders are i'm not to put this horse's head down anywhere. where i go, it goes! i can tell you,me and clopper are quite attached to one another!'

'why? is it so valuable?' asked dick.

'it's not so much that,' said sid. 'it's just that clopper's so popular, you know. and he's important.

you see, whenever we think the show's flopping a bit, we bring clopper on, and then we get thelaughs and the claps, and the audience is in a good temper. oh, clopper's saved the show timeswithout number. he's a jolly good horse is clopper.'

mr. binks came up. he was bigger than sid and much stronger. he grinned at the two boys.

'admiring old clopper?' he said. 'did sid tell you about the time clopper's head dropped off thewagon and we didn't miss him till we were miles away? my word, what a state the guv'nor was in!

said we couldn't give a show without clopper, and nearly gave us all the sack!'

'we're important, we are,' said sid, throwing out his chest and doing a funny little strut with thehorse's head in front of him. 'me and binks and clopper - no show without us!'

'don't you put that horse down even for a moment,' warned mr. binks. 'the guv'nor's got his eye onyou, sid. look, he's calling you.'

sid went over to the guv'nor, looking rather alarmed. he carried the horse's head safely under hisarm.

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the grim-faced man said a few sharp words and sid nodded. julian went up to him when he cameback. 'let me feel how heavy the horse's head is,' he said. 'i've often wondered, when i've seensomething like this on the stage.'

sid immediately put the horse under his other arm, and glared at julian, looking round quickly to seeif the guv'nor had heard.

'that's a fool thing to ask me,' he said. 'after i've told you i'm not allowed to put the horse down!

and didn't the guv'nor just this minute say to me ''keep away from those kids, you know what tricksthey're up to. they'll have that horse away from you if you're not careful.'' see? do you want me tolose my job?'

julian laughed. 'don't be silly. you wouldn't lose your job for that! when are you and mr. binksgoing to do a bit of practice? we want to see you!'

'oh well, we could manage that all right,' said sid, calming down. 'here, binks. bit of practicewanted. get the legs.'

binks and sid went to a cleared space in the big barn and proceeded to clothe themselves in thehorse's canvas skin and legs. sid showed the boys how he worked the tail with one of his hands whenhe wanted to.

binks put on the head and the front legs. his head only went into the neck of the horse, no farther. hewas able to use his hands for pulling strings to open the horse's mouth and work its rolling eyes.

sid got his legs in the horse's back legs, bent over and put his head and arms over towards binks, somaking the horse's back. somebody came up and zipped up the two halves of the horse's'skin'.

'oh! what a jolly good horse!' said dick, delighted. it looked a lively, comical, extremely supplebeast, and the two men inside at once proceeded to make it do ridiculous things. it marched -left-right, left-right, left-right. it did a little tap-dance with its front feet, which then remainedperfectly still, and then the back feet did the same little tap-dance.

the back feet got themselves entangled and fell over, and the horse's head looked round at itself inastonishment.

all four children were now watching, and yan was peeping in at the door. they roared with laughterat the ridiculous horse.

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it took its tail in its mouth and marched round and round itself. it stood up on its hind legs only.

it jumped like a kangaroo, and made peculiar noises. the whole company stood and watched andeven the grim-faced guv'nor had to smile.

then it sat down on its hind-legs and crossed its front ones in the air, looking round comically. it thengave an enormous yawn that showed dozens of large teeth.

'oh, don't do any more!' cried anne, who was weak with laughing. 'don't! oh, i can quite well seehow important you are, clopper! you'll be the best part of the show!'

it was a mad, gay morning, for the barnies were full of chatter and jokes and laughter. sid and binkstook off their horse garments, and sid thereupon went about as before, the horse's head, grinningcomically, tucked safely under his arm.

mrs. penruthlan called the children in to dinner. yan ran after julian, and caught hold of his arm.

'i seen that light,' he said, urgently. 'you come, see it tonight. don't forget. i seen that light!'

julian had forgotten it in the excitement of the morning. he grinned down at the small boy.

'all right, all right. i won't forget. we're coming along tonight, but you're not coming, yan, so getthat out of your head! look, here's a sweet for you. now, scoot!'