chapter 16 jo!

dick and julian went back to kirrin cottage with the two disconsolate dogs. they showed anne thethings they had found, and she too puzzled over the word gringo.

'we'll have to tell the police what you have discovered,' she said. 'they might trace the car, and theymight know who or what gringo is.'

'i'll telephone them now,' said julian. 'dick, you go down to the garage with this sketch of the tyre-mark, and see if it's an american design.'

the police were interested but not helpful. the sergeant said he would send his constable up toexamine the place where the car had stood in the clearing, and gave it as his opinion that the bit ofpaper wasn't much use, as the boys had found it some way from the turning-place of the car.

'your cousin wouldn't be able to throw it out of the window once the car was going,' he said.

'there would be sure to be someone in the back with her. the only reason she could throw things outat the clearing would be because the second fellow - and there would certainly be two -would be guiding the other man in the turning of the car.'

'the wind might have blown the note along the path,' said julian. 'anyway, i've given you theinformation.'

it was a very miserable day, although the sun shone down warmly, and the sea was blue and mostinviting. but nobody wanted to bathe, nobody really wanted to do anything but talk and talk aboutgeorge and what had happened, and where she could be at that moment!

joan came back in time to get their lunch, and was pleased to find that anne had done the potatoesand prepared a salad, and that dick had managed to pick some raspberries. they were very glad tosee joan. she was someone sensible and comforting and matter-of-fact.

'well, miss jane is now safely in my cousin's cottage,' she said. 'she was very miserable but i told hershe must smile and play about, else the neighbours would wonder about her. i put her into some ofjo's clothes - they fitted her all right. hers are too expensive-looking, and would make people talk!'

they told joan what they had discovered in the clearing that morning. she took the note and lookedat it. 'gringo!' she said. 'that's a queer word - sounds like a gypsy word to me. it's a pity jo isn't here- she might tell us what it means!'

71

'did you see jo?' asked dick.

'no. she was out shopping,' said joan, lifting the lid to look at the potatoes. 'i only hope she gets onwith miss jane all right. really, it's getting very difficult to remember that child's change of names!'

the only fresh news that day was a worried telephone-call from aunt fanny. she was shocked andamazed at the news she had heard. 'your uncle has collapsed!' she said. 'he has been working veryhard, you know, and now this news of george has been quite the last straw. he's very ill. i can't leavehim at the moment - but anyway we couldn't do anything! only the police can help now. to thinkthose horrible men took george by mistake!'

'don't worry too much, aunt fanny,' said julian. 'we've hidden berta away safely, and i expect themen will free george as soon as she tells them she's the wrong girl.'

'if she does tell them!' said dick, under his breath. 'she might not, for berta's sake, for a few days atany rate!'

everyone went miserable to bed that night. anne took timmy and sally with her, for both were soforlorn that she couldn't bear to do anything else. timmy wouldn't eat anything at all, and anne wasworried about him.

julian could not go to sleep. he tossed and turned, thinking about george. hot-tempered, courageous,impatient, independent george! he worried and worried about her, wishing he could do something!

a small stone suddenly rattled against his window! he sat up, alert at once. then something fell rightinto the room, and rolled over the floor. julian was at the window in a trice. who was throwingpebbles at his window?

he leaned out. a voice came up to him at once. 'is it you, dick?'

'jo! what are you doing here?' said julian, startled. 'it's julian speaking. dick's asleep. i'll wake him,and let you in.'

but he did not need to go down and let jo in. she was up a tree outside the window and across someivy and on his window-sill before he had even shaken dick awake!

she slid into the room. julian switched on his light. there was jo, sitting at the end of dick's bed, thefamiliar cheeky grin on her face! she was very brown, but still showed her freckles, and her hair wasas short and curly as ever.

72

'i had to come,' she said. 'when i got home from shopping, there was this girl jane! she told me allabout how george had been captured in mistake for her - and when i said to her, 'you gostraightaway and say you're safe and sound, and it's all a mistake, and george has got to be set free!'

she wouldn't! she just wouldn't! all she did was to sit and cry. little coward!'

'no, no, jo,' said dick, and tried to explain everything to the indignant girl. but he could not convinceher.

'if i was that girl jane i wouldn't let someone stay kidnapped because of me,' she said. 'i don't likeher, she's silly. and i'm supposed to keep an eye on her! phoo! not me! i'd like her to be kidnapped,the way she's behaving about george.'

julian looked at jo. she was very, very loyal to the five, and proud of being their friend. she hadbeen in two adventures with them now, an artful little gypsy girl, but a very loyal friend. her fatherwas in prison, and she was living with a cousin of joan's, and, for the first time in her life, going toschool to learn lessons!

'listen, jo - we've found out a few more things since berta - i mean lesley - no, i don't, i meanjane...'

'what do you mean?' said jo, puzzled.

'i mean jane,' said julian. 'we've found out something else since joan parked jane with her cousinthis morning.'

'go on, tell me,' said jo. 'have you found out where george is? i'll go and break in and get her out, ifyou do!'

'oh jo - it's no use just being fierce,' said dick. 'things are not so easy as all that!'

'george threw out a bit of paper with this written on it,' said julian, and he put it before jo. 'see?

just that one word - 'gringo'. does it mean anything to you?'

'gringo?' said jo. 'that rings a bell! let's see now - gringo!'

she frowned as she thought hard. then she nodded. 'oh yes, i remember now. a fair came to thetown a few weeks back - the big town not far from our village. it was called gringo's great fair.'

'where did it go?' asked dick, eagerly.

'it was going to fallenwick, then to granton,' said jo. 'i made friends with the boy whose fatherowned the roundabout, and gosh, i had about a hundred free rides.'

'you would!' said both boys together, and jo grinned.

73

'do you suppose this gringo, who runs the fair, could be anything to do with the name gringo thatgeorge wrote on this paper?' said julian.

'i dunno!' said jo. 'but if you like i can go and find the fair and get hold of spiky - that's theroundabout boy - and see if i can find out anything. i know spiky said gringo was a real horror towork for, and thought himself as good as a lord!'

'had he a car - a big car?' asked dick, suddenly.

'i dunno that either,' said jo. 'i can find out. here - i'll go now! you lend me a bike and i'll bike togranton?'

'certainly not,' said julian, startled at the idea of jo biking the twelve miles to granton in the middleof the night.

'all right,' said jo, rather sulkily. 'i just thought you'd like me to help. it might be that this gringo hasgot george somewhere. he was the kind of fellow who was a go-between, if you know what i mean.'

'how?' asked dick.

'well, spiky said that if anyone wanted something dirty done, this gringo just held out his hand, andif a wad of notes was put into it, he'd do it, and nothing said!' said jo.

'i see,' said julian. 'hm - it sounds as if kidnapping would be right up his street, then.'

jo laughed scornfully. 'that would be nothing to him - chicken-feed. come on, julian - let me have alend of your bike.'

'no,' said julian. 'thanks very, very much, but i'm not letting anyone ride to a fair in the middle ofthe night to find out if a fellow called gringo has anything to do with george. i can't believe he has,either - it's too far-fetched.'

'all right. but you asked me if the name meant anything to me,' said jo, sounding offended.

'anyway, it's a common enough nickname in the circus world and the fair world too. there'sprobably a thousand gringos about!'

'it's time you went back home,' said julian, looking at his watch. 'and be decent to berta - i meanjane - please, jo. you can come over tomorrow to see if there's any more news. how did you get heretonight, by the way?'

'walked,' said jo. 'well - ran, i mean. not by the roads, though - they take too long. i go like the birdsdo - as straight as i can, and it's much shorter!'

74

dick had a sudden picture of the valiant little jo speeding through woods and fields, over hills andthrough valleys, as straight as a crow flying homewards. how did she find her way like that?

he knew he would never be able to!

jo slipped out over the window-sill, and down the tree, as easily as a cat. 'bye!' she said. 'see yousoon.'

'give our love to jane,' whispered dick.

'shan't!' said jo, much too loudly, and disappeared.

julian switched out the light. 'whew!' he said, 'i always feel as if i've been blown about by a strong,fresh wind when i see jo. what a girl! fancy wanting to ride all the way to granton tonight, afterrunning all the way here from berta's!'

'yes. i'm jolly glad you wouldn't let her take your bike,' said dick. 'it's a good thing she wouldn't dareto disobey you!'

he got into bed - and just at that very moment the two boys heard a loud ringing noise. dick sat upstraightaway.

'well i'm blowed!' he said. 'the little wretch!'

'what's up?' said julian, and then he too realised what the ringing was - a bicycle bell. yes, a bellrung loudly and defiantly by someone cycling swiftly along the sea-road towards granton!

'it's jo!' said dick. 'and she's taken my bike! i know its bell. gosh, won't i rub her face in the mudwhen i get hold of her!'

julian gave a loud guffaw. 'she's a monkey, a gallant, plucky, loyal, aggravating monkey. what acheek she's got! she didn't dare to take my bike when i'd said no - so she took yours. well - we can'tdo a thing about it now. what that roundabout boy is going to think when he's awakened in themiddle of the night by jo, i cannot imagine.'

'he's probably used to her,' said dick. 'well, let's go to sleep. i wonder if george is asleep or awake?

i hate to think of her a prisoner somewhere.'

'i bet timmy hates it more than we do,' said dick, hearing a long-drawn whimper from the nextroom. 'poor old tim. he can't go to sleep either!'

dick and julian managed to go to sleep at last, both thinking of a speedy little figure on a bicycle,racing through the night to ask questions of a roundabout boy called spiky!