Chapter 5 THE TRAVELLING CIRCUS

Chapter 5 THE TRAVELLING CIRCUS
Anne watched anxiously as Tinker went on and on over the field. There were now four caravanstrundling in, at the far gate, and behind them, in the lane, were vans - enormous vans - all withenormously large words painted on them.
TAPPER'S TRAVELLING CIRCUS
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'Hoo! I'll tell Mr. Tapper what I think of him, coming into my field!' said Tinker to himself.
Mischief³ the monkey was on his shoulder, jogging up and down as Tinker marched along, mutteringfuriously.
Four or five children from the caravans¹ looked at him curiously⁴ as he marched along. One small boyrushed up to him, shouting in delight to see the monkey.
'A monkey, look, a monkey!' he cried. 'Much smaller than our chimp⁵. What's he called, boy?'
'Mind your own business,' said Tinker. 'Where's Mr. Tapper?'
'Mr. Tapper? Oh, you mean our Grandad!' said the boy. 'He's over there, look, beside that big van.
Better not talk to him now, boy. He's that busy!'
Tinker walked over to the van and addressed the man there. He was rather fierce-looking and had along, bushy beard, enormous eye-brows that hung down over his eyes, a rather small nose, and onlyone ear. He looked inquiringly down at Tinker, and put out his hand to Mischief.
'My monkey might bite you,' said Tinker, at once. 'He doesn't like strangers.'
'I'm no stranger to any monkey,' said the man in a deep-down voice. 'There isn't a monkey in theworld, or a chimp either that wouldn't come to me if I called it. Nor a gorilla⁶, see?'
'Well, my monkey won't come to you,' said Tinker, angrily. 'But what I've come to say is...'
Before he could finish his sentence, the man made a curious noise in his throat - rather like Mischiefdid when he was pleased about anything. Mischief looked at the man in surprised delight - and thenleapt straight from Tinker's shoulder to his, nuzzling against his neck, making little crooning noises.
Tinker was so amazed that he stared without saying a word.
'See?' said the man. 'He's my little friend already. Don't gawp so, little fellow. I've trained the monkeyfamily all my life. You lend me this little chap and I'll teach him to ride a small tricycle in two days!'
'Come here, Mischief!' said Tinker, amazed and angry at the monkey's behaviour. But Mischiefcuddled down still farther into the big man's neck. The man hauled him out and handed him toTinker.
'There you are,' he said. 'Nice little fellow he is. What is it you wanted to say to me?'
'I've come to say that this field belongs to my father, Professor Hayling,' said Tinker. 'And you've noright to bring your caravans here. So please take them all out. I and my friends are planning to campout here.'
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'Well, I've no objection to that,' said the big man, good-temperedly. 'You choose your own corner,young sir. If you don't interfere⁷ with us, we shan't interfere with you!'
A boy of about Tinker's age came sidling up, and looked at Tinker and Mischief with interest. 'Is heselling you that monkey, Grandad?' he asked.
'No, I'M NOT!' almost shouted Tinker. 'I came to tell you and your caravans to clear out. This fieldbelongs to my family.'
'Ah, but we've an old licence to come here every ten years, and show our circus,' said the beardedman. 'And believe it or not, there's been a Tapper's circus in this field every ten years since the year1648. So you just run home and make no silly fuss, young man.'
'You're a fibber!' cried Tinker, losing his temper. 'I'll tell the police! I'll tell my father! I'll...'
'Don't you talk to my old Grandad like that!' shouted the boy, standing⁸ beside the old man. 'I'll hit youif you do!'
'I'll say what I like!' shouted Tinker, his temper now quite lost. 'And just you shut up!'
The very next moment Tinker found himself flat on his back on the grass. The boy had shot out hisfist and hit Tinker hard in the chest! He struggled to his feet, red in the face, quite furious.
The old man fended⁹ him away. 'Don't you be silly now, boy,' he said. 'This youngster is a Tapper,like me, and he'll never give in. You go home and be sensible. We ain't going to take notice of a hot-headed little kid like you. Our circus is coming in this here field, just like it has for years and years!'
He turned and walked to the nearest caravan². It was drawn¹⁰ by horses, and he clicked to them.
They strained forward and the caravan followed. Others behind began to move too. The circus boyput his tongue out at Tinker. 'Sucks to you!' he said. 'Nobody gets the better of my Grandad -or of me either! Still - it was plucky¹¹ of you to go for him. I enjoyed it.'
'Shut up!' said Tinker, alarmed to find himself very near to tears. 'You just wait till my Dad tells thepolice! You'll all go out much quicker than you came in - and one of these days I'll knock you down!'
He turned and ran back to the gate. He wondered what to do. He had so often heard his father say thatthe field behind their house belonged to him, and that he had let this or that farmer have the grazingrights for his horses or cattle. How DARE the Travelling Circus come into his father's field?
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'I'll tell Dad,' he said to Anne, who was waiting at the gate. 'He ought to turn them out! It's our fieldand I love it, especially just now when it's so green and beautiful, and the hedges are just going to becovered in white may. I'll tell Dad that boy knocked me down - shot out his fist just like that - anddown I went. I'd like to do the same to him!'
He went into the house, followed by a puzzled Anne. He looked into the sitting-room¹² and sawGeorge there.
'Tinker! That boy knocked you down!' said Anne, in a horrified¹³ voice. 'Why did he do that?'
'Oh - just because I told his Grandad to take his caravans away,' said Tinker, feeling rather grand.
'He didn't hurt me at all - just punched me on the chest. Still - I said what I had gone to say.'
'But will they take the caravans away out of the field?' asked Anne.
'I told them I'd tell the police,' said Tinker. 'So I bet they'll skedaddle. They haven't any right to bethere. It's our field!'
'Are you going to the police?' asked George, disbelievingly. 'I really don't see why you have to makesuch a fuss about it all, Tinker. They might make it difficult for us to go camping there.'
'But I tell you it's my field - Dad's always said so!' said Tinker. 'He said it wasn't any use to him, so Icould consider it my own. And I do. AND we're going to camp in it, whatever anyone says!
It's a travelling circus that's coming there, so the old man said.'
'Oh TINKER! How marvellous to have a circus at the bottom of the garden!' said George, her eyesshining, and Anne nodded too. Tinker glared at them.
'JUST like girls to say a thing like that!' he said. 'Would you want people trespassing¹⁴ all over a fieldthat belonged to you, with horses neighing and tigers and lions roaring, and bears grunting¹⁵, andchimpanzees stealing things - and nasty little circus boys being rude all the time, ready to knock youdown.'
'Oh Tinker! You do make it sound so exciting!' said George. 'Will there really be lions and tigers?
Suppose one escaped - what a thrill!'
'Well - I shouldn't like that,' said Anne, at once. 'I don't particularly want a lion peering in at mywindow, or a bear clomping round my bedroom!'
'Neither do I,' said Tinker, in a most decided¹⁶ voice. 'That's why I'm going to tell Dad about it.
He's got the old documents that set out our rights to that field. He showed me them one day. I'll askhim about them, and if he'll let me see them, I'll take them straight to the police and let them turn outthat rude old man and his horrible circus.'
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'How do you know it's horrible?' asked George. 'It might be awfully¹⁷ good. I'm sure they'd let us campin the corner nearest the garden, and we'd get an awfully good view of what's going on all the time.
Look - there's your father strolling down the path, smoking a pipe. He never does that if he's busy. Itwould be a good time to go and ask him about the document. He might even show it to us.'
'All right,' said Tinker, rather sulkily. 'But you'll see I'm right. Come on.'
However, Tinker proved to be quite, quite wrong! His father went to fetch the old, yellowed piece ofparchment at once. 'Ha! Here it is!' he said. 'It's pretty valuable too, because it's so old. It dates backquite a few centuries.'
He undid¹⁸ the rather dirty piece of ribbon round it and unrolled it. Neither the girls nor Tinker couldread the old-fashioned lettering.
'What does it all say?' asked Anne, with great interest.
'It says that the field known as 'Cromwell's Corner' is to be held by the Hayling Family for always,'
said Professor Hayling. 'It was given to them by Cromwell because our family allowed them to campin that field when they sorely needed a rest after battle. It's been ours ever since.'
'So NOBODY else is allowed to camp in it, or use it for grazing or anything, unless we say so!'
said Tinker, triumphantly¹⁹.
'Quite right,' said his father. 'But wait a minute - I seem to remember an odd clause that saidsomething about a travelling show - a show that had rights to camp in the field since about 1066.
Not even Cromwell could alter that - it was in the original deeds, long before Cromwell battled inthat district. Now let's see - that piece would come about the end, I expect.'
The two girls and Tinker waited while the Professor pored over the old and beautiful lettering.
He jabbed his finger on to three lines towards the end.
'Yes. There it is. I'll quote it. Listen! 'And let it be known that Ye Travelling Show so-named'Tapper's Travelling Show', which has always had camping rights, shall still have the right to claimthese once every ten years so long as the show travels the country ways - Given under my hand...' andso on and so on. Well - I don't expect that Tapper's Travelling Show is going now, all these years andyears after the document was drawn up and signed in the year 1648. See - here's the date - if you canread the old figures!'
The children stared at the date, and then glanced up at Tinker. He looked angry and very red in theface. 'You might have told me all that before, Dad,' he said.
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'Why?' asked his father, astonished. 'What possible interest can it have for you children?'
'Only that there's a circus called Tapper's Travelling Circus in that field this very minute,' said Anne.
'And the old man with it is called Tapper - and he said it was his right to be there, and...'
'He was rude to me and I want you to turn out this circus this very day!' said Tinker. 'We want tocamp there.'
'I'm sure Mr. Tapper would have no objection to you camping there,' said his father. 'Aren't you beingrather silly, Tinker? You weren't rude to any of the circus folk, were you?'
Tinker went very red, turned his back and stalked out of the room, Mischief clinging to his neck.
He rubbed his chest where the circus boy had punched him. 'Just you wait!' he said in a whisper.
'I'll punch you one day!'
'Anne, if you and the others want to camp in the field, I'll go and speak to Mr. Tapper,' said theProfessor, puzzled by Tinker's behaviour.
'Oh no - it's all right,' said Anne, hastily. 'He has already said that it didn't matter if we camped there.
Oh - there are the boys back again. I'll just go and see if they have brought back all our bicyclessafely. Thank you for showing us that marvellous old document, Professor!'
And away she went looking rather hot and bothered!

1 caravans   

（可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队）

参考例句：

• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles that are pulled by horses. 旧式的吉卜赛大篷车是由马拉的涂了颜色的木质车辆。
• Old-fashioned gypsy caravans are painted wooden vehicles. 旧时的吉普赛大篷车是涂了颜色的木质车辆。

2 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

3 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

4 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

5 chimp   

n.黑猩猩

参考例句：

• In fact,the color of gorilla and chimp are light-color.其实大猩猩和黑猩猩的肤色是较为浅的。
• The chimp is the champ.猩猩是冠军。

6 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。

7 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 fended   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的过去式和过去分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He neatly fended off a jab at his chest. 他利落地挡开了当胸的一击。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I fended off his sword thrust with my spear. 他一刀砍来，我拿枪架住。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 plucky   

adj.勇敢的

参考例句：

• The plucky schoolgirl amazed doctors by hanging on to life for nearly two months.这名勇敢的女生坚持不放弃生命近两个月的精神令医生感到震惊。
• This story featured a plucky heroine.这个故事描述了一个勇敢的女英雄。

12 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

13 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

14 trespassing   

[法]非法入侵

参考例句：

• He told me I was trespassing on private land. 他说我在擅闯私人土地。
• Don't come trespassing on my land again. 别再闯入我的地界了。

15 grunting   

咕哝的，呼噜的

参考例句：

• He pulled harder on the rope, grunting with the effort. 他边用力边哼声，使出更大的力气拉绳子。
• Pigs were grunting and squealing in the yard. 猪在院子里哼哼地叫个不停。

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

18 Undid   

v. 解开, 复原

参考例句：

• The officer undid the flap of his holster and drew his gun. 军官打开枪套盖拔出了手枪。
• He did wrong, and in the end his wrongs undid him. 行恶者终以其恶毁其身。

19 triumphantly   

ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

参考例句：

• The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
• Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。