The Circus of Adventure by Enid Blyton Page B

very wise. ‘Send for the doctor. Put the kettle on.’
    Jack went on looking out of the window. It seemed to him that everyone had walked off to a little wooden building at one end of the airfield—to get refreshments, perhaps? Jack felt that he would like some too!
    He went cautiously into the other part of the plane. Not a soul was there. In fact, not a soul was to be seen anywhere, even on the field or in the distance.
    ‘I think the time has come for us to go, Kiki,’ said Jack. ‘Ready for a sprint? I hardly think we’ll get away without being noticed—but at any rate we’ll have a good start, if the men have to come from that wooden building right over there.’
    He went to the landing-steps and ran down them. Then he sprinted at top speed across the field to the entrance. Nothing happened for a minute or two, and then two men appeared at the door of the distant building. They shouted loudly, and then began to run after Jack.
    But he had a wonderful start, and the men gave up almost at once, and returned to the building. ‘Just a boy longing for a close look at an aeroplane!’ they said to one another.
    Jack ran out of the entrance and found himself on a wide, deserted road. No one was in sight. He could not even see any houses. This must be a very lonely airfield! He began to walk along the road, Kiki on his shoulder. He was very hungry indeed by now.
    ‘Why isn’t anyone about?’ he thought. ‘Not a car to be seen so I can’t get a lift. I wonder where the others are by now? Wish I was with them!’
    He suddenly remembered that it was very early in the morning. Of course no one would be about yet. The sun had only just risen. Possibly he might meet a workman or two soon.
    He met a man cycling along the road after a while and held up his hand to stop him. The man put one foot on the road, and stopped his bicycle.
    ‘Eglinoota?’ he said. At least, that is what it sounded like to Jack. He looked astonished to see Kiki.
    ‘I’m English,’ said Jack, trying to speak slowly and clearly. ‘Where is the police station?’
    ‘Eglinoota?’ said the man again, looking bewildered. ‘Oota? Oota?’
    ‘Parp-parp,’ said Kiki, suddenly. ‘Parp-parp!’ It sounded exactly like the hooter of a car! Jack laughed.
    ‘Did you think the man kept saying “hooter “?’ he asked Kiki. ‘Well, he wasn’t. Goodness knows what he was saying! I wish I knew what “food” was in the Hessian language!’
    ‘Powkepotoplink?’ said the man, trying again. He pointed to the parrot. ‘Powkepotoplink? Ai, ai!’
    He suddenly took out a notebook and a pencil and began drawing something on a page. Jack wondered what it was. The man tore out the page and gave it to him.
    The drawing looked like a small map showing various roads. There was something that looked like a pond also, and something else that looked like a church spire. At the bottom of the map the man had drawn what looked like a tent. He jabbed at it with his pencil.
    ‘Powkepototplink,’ he said again, very loudly, as if that might help Jack to understand.
    ‘Plink-plonk, plink-plonk,’ said Kiki, at once, and went off into a cackle of laughter. The man looked at her in admiration. He undid a bag and took out a small sugared cake. He presented it to Kiki, who took it with her right foot, making a sudden clucking noise like a hen.
    Jack looked at it with hungry eyes and the man noticed the look. He delved in his bag again and brought out an enormously thick sandwich with some kind of bright red meat in it. He presented this to Jack, who was thrilled.
    ‘Thank you,’ said the boy. ‘Thank you very much.’
    ‘Cheepalikkle,’ said the man, incomprehensibly, and rode off, waving. Jack walked on, munching the huge sandwich. Kiki put out her parrot-tongue and licked the cake. She didn’t like it and gave it to Jack. In return he gave her some of her favourite sunflower seeds, of which he always kept a supply in his pocket. She sat happily on his