valley was a little white figure scurrying along by the stream. But it wasn’t Betsy, it was Absolom. ‘It’s Absolom, our dog,’ said Nan, and she and the tramp climbed down the steps to the valley.
Absolom came bounding to meet them, his tongue out and his ears flapping, very proud of himself that he had found Nan. He had a bit of paper fastened to his collar with a piece of gardener’s bast and Nan took it and read it. On one side of it, in Uncle Ambrose’s beautiful handwriting, was a list of the groceries that Ezra had bought and the children had found in the trap and eaten, and on the other side crookedly printed words had been inscribed so painfully and laboriously that in places the pencil point had dug through the paper.
Dear maid come back I can’t get up them rocks on wooden leg nor couldn’t the little un get up em no harm in
Daft Davie but your uncle wouldn’t like it dear maid come back now respectfully
Ezra Oake.
Nan was glad she had not read the message aloud because of the word daft. If this man was Daft Davie he was not daft and she felt hot with anger that anyone should call him so.
‘It is Ezra,’ she said, ‘and he’s down below in the wood and he is anxious about me, but he can’t come up because of his wooden leg. So as Betsy isn’t here I must go back.’
Daft Davie looked very bewildered and so Nan told him how they had come to live with Uncle Ambrose for always, and so she would see him again. Then she said goodbye and ran off down the valley with Absolom. Just before she climbed up over the Lion’s paw she turned and looked back and there was Daft Davie at the top of the steps, just outside the entrance to his cave. Hewas watching her go away and he looked very sad. She waved to him, and she felt sad too, but she knew she would see him again, and his wonderful home inside the Lion’s head. Ezra was waiting for her and Absolom at the foot of the cliff and he was pleased to see them again, for he had been anxious. He was also annoyed. ‘Give I the slip like that again, maid,’ he said, ‘an’ I’ll tell on you to your uncle.’
‘But I had to go,’ said Nan. ‘The bees said so. There were four of them turning round and round in the sunbeam and they led me on.’
‘Well now,’ said Ezra, astonished, ‘what were they thinkin’ on? The little ’un wasn’t up there.’
‘I must have had to go there,’ said Nan, ‘or the bees wouldn’t have said so.’
‘That they wouldn’t,’ agreed Ezra. ‘Don’t know, I’m sure. Well, us better be gettin’ back to Manor. You’ve been gone nigh an hour an’ we ’aven’t found the little ’un.’
As they went Nan said, ‘I like Daft Davie and I like his house. Who is he?’
‘Used to live over to Pizzleton village down on t’other side of Lion Tor. Worked for the blacksmith there. But the village boys laughed at ’im, bein’ dumb an’ peculiar , as you might say, an’ threw stones an’ that, an’ ’e ran away an’ ’e’s lived on Lion Tor ever since. ’E earns a bit now and again, ’elpin’ with the lambin’ an’ the ’arvestin’, an’ he’s clever with ’is ’ands. But daft, poor chap. No ’arm in ’im.’
They were back again in the yard by the well, but there were no signs of the others and no signs of Betsy.
chapter six
the garden of the fountain
The second search-party, Timothy, Robert, and Moses put Rob-Roy in the stable and set out for the garden.
‘Where do the best flowers grow?’ asked Robert.
‘In the garden of the fountain to the west of the house,’ said Moses. ‘There’s wallflower and sweet briar there, and come the summer there’ll be night-scented stock and mignonette. I plant there all things that be sweet to smell beneath the moon.’
‘Don’t they smell sweet beneath the sun too?’ asked Timothy.
‘They do, young master, but it be below the moon that milady paces the garden of the fountain upon my arm.’
‘Does Lady Alicia only go out at night?’
Absolom came bounding to meet them, his tongue out and his ears flapping, very proud of himself that he had found Nan. He had a bit of paper fastened to his collar with a piece of gardener’s bast and Nan took it and read it. On one side of it, in Uncle Ambrose’s beautiful handwriting, was a list of the groceries that Ezra had bought and the children had found in the trap and eaten, and on the other side crookedly printed words had been inscribed so painfully and laboriously that in places the pencil point had dug through the paper.
Dear maid come back I can’t get up them rocks on wooden leg nor couldn’t the little un get up em no harm in
Daft Davie but your uncle wouldn’t like it dear maid come back now respectfully
Ezra Oake.
Nan was glad she had not read the message aloud because of the word daft. If this man was Daft Davie he was not daft and she felt hot with anger that anyone should call him so.
‘It is Ezra,’ she said, ‘and he’s down below in the wood and he is anxious about me, but he can’t come up because of his wooden leg. So as Betsy isn’t here I must go back.’
Daft Davie looked very bewildered and so Nan told him how they had come to live with Uncle Ambrose for always, and so she would see him again. Then she said goodbye and ran off down the valley with Absolom. Just before she climbed up over the Lion’s paw she turned and looked back and there was Daft Davie at the top of the steps, just outside the entrance to his cave. Hewas watching her go away and he looked very sad. She waved to him, and she felt sad too, but she knew she would see him again, and his wonderful home inside the Lion’s head. Ezra was waiting for her and Absolom at the foot of the cliff and he was pleased to see them again, for he had been anxious. He was also annoyed. ‘Give I the slip like that again, maid,’ he said, ‘an’ I’ll tell on you to your uncle.’
‘But I had to go,’ said Nan. ‘The bees said so. There were four of them turning round and round in the sunbeam and they led me on.’
‘Well now,’ said Ezra, astonished, ‘what were they thinkin’ on? The little ’un wasn’t up there.’
‘I must have had to go there,’ said Nan, ‘or the bees wouldn’t have said so.’
‘That they wouldn’t,’ agreed Ezra. ‘Don’t know, I’m sure. Well, us better be gettin’ back to Manor. You’ve been gone nigh an hour an’ we ’aven’t found the little ’un.’
As they went Nan said, ‘I like Daft Davie and I like his house. Who is he?’
‘Used to live over to Pizzleton village down on t’other side of Lion Tor. Worked for the blacksmith there. But the village boys laughed at ’im, bein’ dumb an’ peculiar , as you might say, an’ threw stones an’ that, an’ ’e ran away an’ ’e’s lived on Lion Tor ever since. ’E earns a bit now and again, ’elpin’ with the lambin’ an’ the ’arvestin’, an’ he’s clever with ’is ’ands. But daft, poor chap. No ’arm in ’im.’
They were back again in the yard by the well, but there were no signs of the others and no signs of Betsy.
chapter six
the garden of the fountain
The second search-party, Timothy, Robert, and Moses put Rob-Roy in the stable and set out for the garden.
‘Where do the best flowers grow?’ asked Robert.
‘In the garden of the fountain to the west of the house,’ said Moses. ‘There’s wallflower and sweet briar there, and come the summer there’ll be night-scented stock and mignonette. I plant there all things that be sweet to smell beneath the moon.’
‘Don’t they smell sweet beneath the sun too?’ asked Timothy.
‘They do, young master, but it be below the moon that milady paces the garden of the fountain upon my arm.’
‘Does Lady Alicia only go out at night?’
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