14
jack is on his own
the sun was up, just above the horizon, when the plane landed gently on the runway. the sky wasgolden, and in the distance small whitewashed houses gleamed brightly.
jack awoke when the engines stopped. he lifted up the lid of his box slightly, listening. hadthey arrived? then he heard gussy’s voice. ‘tauri-hessia!’
‘so we’ve arrived,’ thought jack. ‘now – what do i do next? it’s daylight – though i shouldguess it’s only just sunrise.’
the four children in front were hustled out. the little airfield was completely deserted exceptfor a few mechanics. a large car stood waiting. the children were pushed into it without amoment’s pause. obviously they were to be hurried somewhere secret as fast as possible.
jack got out of the box and made his way cautiously to a window. he saw the children justbelow, getting into a big car. the man with the eyeglass appeared to be in command, and gave anorder to the chauffeur as he got in. the man was holding open the door and bowed. he saluted too,and repeated something after the man with the eyeglass.
‘borken!’
then he got into the driving-seat and drove swiftly off the field to a large gate in the distance.
‘borken!’ said jack to himself. ‘now would that be the name of a place – or just a hessian wordfor “thank you” or something? well – they’ve gone. kiki, you and i are on our own in a strangeland whose language we don’t know. and we have only got a few english coins in our pocket – sowhat do you suppose is the best thing to do?’
‘send for the doctor,’ said kiki, putting up her crest and looking very wise. ‘send for thedoctor. put the kettle on.’
jack went on looking out of the window. it seemed to him that everyone had walked off to alittle wooden building at one end of the airfield – to get refreshments, perhaps? jack felt that hewould like some too!
he went cautiously into the other part of the plane. not a soul was there. in fact, not a soul wasto 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’llget away without being noticed – but at any rate we’ll have a good start, if the men have to comefrom that wooden building right over there.’
he went to the landing steps and ran down them. then he sprinted at top speed across the fieldto the entrance. nothing happened for a minute or two, and then two men appeared at the door ofthe 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 theroad, kiki on his shoulder. he was very hungry indeed now.
‘why isn’t anyone about?’ he thought. ‘not a car to be seen so i can’t get a lift. i wonder wherethe 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 beabout 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 manput 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 seekiki.
‘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! jacklaughed.
‘did you think the man kept saying “hooter”?’ he asked kiki. ‘well, he wasn’t. goodnessknows 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. jackwondered 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 lookedlike a pond also, and something else that looked like a church spire. at the bottom of the map theman had drawn what looked like a tent. he jabbed at it with his pencil.
‘powkepotoplink,’ 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 manlooked at her in admiration. he undid a bag and took out a small sugared cake. he presented it tokiki, 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 andbrought out an enormously thick sandwich with some kind of bright red meat in it. he presentedthis 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 itand gave it to jack. in return he gave her some of her favourite sunflower seeds, of which healways kept a supply in his pocket. she sat happily on his shoulder, cracking them.
jack looked at the map. what did it mean? why had that man drawn it? he must have thoughtthere was some particular place jack wanted to go to – but jack himself didn’t know of any placein tauri-hessia that he wanted to find, except the place where the others had gone. and that mightbe borken and it might not. borken might mean anything in this unknown hessian language!
he walked on and on for miles, feeling much better for the sandwich. he decided that he mustlook for a police station if ever he came to the end of this wide, deserted road. it looked as if it hadonly been built to lead to the airfield! except for the man on the bicycle he met nobody at all.
but at last he saw houses in the distance. ah – he was coming to a village – no, a town, becauseas he came nearer he saw that it was far too big to be called a village.
‘if i could just find somebody who spoke english, it would be such a help,’ thought jack. ‘icould ask for a police station then, and get a telegram – or a cable – sent to bill. i wish he’d comeout here and help. i wonder what happened to him. i bet those fellows knocked him out.’
he came into the town and looked around him with interest. the shops were small and dark, thehouses were whitewashed or pink-washed, and seemed to run to curls and squiggles and muchdecoration – rather ‘fretworky’, jack decided. curly roofs, squiggly bits of woodwork here andthere, and windows whose sills were covered with decorated flower boxes.
the people looked like farmers and were dressed in bright, simple clothes. no woman wore ahat, but many wore shawls. the men wore rather tight trousers, and had some kind of sash roundtheir waists. their waistcoats were gaily embroidered, and somehow they reminded jack of bullfighters though he didn’t quite know why.
the children were very thin, and simply dressed. even the little girls wore long, rather raggedyskirts, and the boys wore tight trousers like their fathers but had no embroidered waistcoats.
instead they had very bright red, blue or yellow shirts.
they soon saw jack, and ran to him. the parrot fascinated them.
‘powke, powke!’ they yelled, pointing at kiki, who was delighted at being the centre ofattention. she put up her crest and lowered it, and even did a little hoppity dance on jack’sshoulder.
‘powke – that must mean parrot,’ thought jack. ‘hey, you kids – where’s the police station?’
they didn’t understand a word, of course. they followed jack, talking together, still entertainedby kiki, who was showing off tremendously.
then a small boy with a little wooden gun ran up. he pointed it at jack, and shouted ‘pop-pop-pop!’
that was quite enough for kiki. she stood up on her toes and shouted at the top of her voice.
‘pop! pop ! bang-bang-bang ! pop goes the weasel! powke, powke, powke.’
there was an awed silence after this effort of kiki’s. everyone stared, still trotting after jack.
kiki went off into one of her idiotic bouts of laughter, and the children all began to laugh too.
‘wipe your feet, blow your nose!’ shouted kiki, and then made a noise like an express train in atunnel.
this made a tremendous impression. the children fell back a little, startled. but they sooncaught up again, yelling ‘powke, powke, powke’, and soon the crowd was considerably bigger,and jack began to feel like the pied piper of hamelin with so many children following him.
then an official-looking person stopped him at a crossroads, and addressed him quite sternly,pointing to the crowd that had now gathered round him. jack didn’t understand a word.
‘i am english,’ he said. ‘english. you speak english? yes? no?’
‘ha! ingleeeeesh!’ said the person, and took out a black notebook which immediately told jackwhat he was. of course – a hessian policeman!
‘you speak english?’ said jack, hopefully.
the policeman rattled off something at him, and held out his hand. he still had the notebook inthe other one. jack hadn’t the faintest idea what he wanted. he shook his head, puzzled. thepoliceman grew annoyed. he slapped his hand with the notebook and shouted again.
jack shook his head once more. kiki shouted back at the policeman. ‘pop goes the weasel, putthe kettle on, pop!
all the children laughed. there were a good many grown-ups around now, watching. onesuddenly put his hand into his pocket and drew out a worn, doubled-over card. he showed it tojack, and made him understand that that was what the policeman was asking him for.
jack saw that it was a kind of passport or identity card. he hadn’t got one on him, of course, soonce more he shook his head. kiki shook hers, too, and the children roared.
the policeman shut his notebook with a snap and put his hand on jack’s shoulder. he fired asentence at him in sharp hessian and pushed him in front of him smartly.
‘now where do we go?’ thought jack. ‘what a colourful policeman – blue trousers, red shirt,blue sash, an imposing kind of flower-pot helmet – really!’
but he didn’t think things were quite so happy when he saw where the policeman was takinghim. there was no doubt about it at all. it was a police station, a small, square, whitewashed place,sober-looking and severe, with a good many more stern-faced policemen standing about.
‘look here! you can’t put me into prison!’ cried jack, struggling away. ‘i’ve done nothingwrong! you let me go!’
