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　　Up to the castle!
　　Jack¹ went stealthily out of the camp. All was quiet. There was no lamp or candle alight in any ofthe vans. The circus folk were tired out with setting up camp again, and had gone to bed early, inreadiness for their grand opening the next day.
　　It was a starry² night, with no moon, so there was not much light. It was not pitch dark, however,and Jack did not need to use his torch, once his eyes had got used to the darkness. The stars gave afaint light, just enough for him to avoid falling over anything.
　　He went up to the slope of the hill where the camp was placed. He came to a low castle wall. Heshone his torch here and there, and found a place he thought he could climb, where the stoneswere rough and uneven³.
　　His rubber shoes helped him a good deal. He wished he had rubber gloves on his hands, too, sothat his fingers would not slip on the stones as he tried to grasp them!
　　He was over at last. He looked round cautiously, not daring to put on his torch. He seemed to bein a small courtyard. He strained his eyes. He could make out the great bulk of the castle easily. Itrose up high, towering about him, solid and strong. He despaired of ever getting inside – or evenof getting in touch with Philip and the others!
　　He crept quietly over the courtyard, stumbling now and again over an uneven stone. Hesuddenly walked into something that scared him tremendously, and made Kiki give a frightenedsquawk.
　　Something wrapped itself round his head! What was it? In a panic Jack tore at it, and ranforward. But something flapped at him again, and covered his whole face. Desperately⁴ Jackswitched his torch on and off for a moment, to see what was attacking him.
　　When he saw what it was, he gave a laugh of relief, and felt very silly. He had walked into aline of washing! A sheet had ‘attacked’ him, that was all – and the thing that had wrapped itselfround his head was a jersey⁵.
　　A jersey! Jack stopped. A jersey – such things were not worn in Tauri-Hessia. He stepped backand flashed his torch on again. Yes – it was either Lucy-Ann’s or Dinah’s. There was no doubt ofit. So they definitely were there. Good, good, good! They were quite near him, somewhere. Ifonly, only he could get to them.

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