Enid Blyton (5 page)

Pink-Whistle went back home. He called Sooty, his cat, and told her about Robin. "Go to the farm and speak to the farm cats," he said. "They will have noticed these two men and have seen if Buddy was taken away by them. Find out all you can."

Sooty ran off, tail in air. She soon came back with news. "Yes, Master! The farm cats say that the men came back that evening, threw down meat for Buddy and then went away. Buddy ate it and fell asleep.

Then the men came back and put him into a sack. They had a wagon drawn by a horse called Rip, who told the cats that his masters went to Ringdown Market every Thursday. You will find them there."

"Thank you, Sooty," said Pink-Whistle. "That's all I want to know."

The next day was Thursday. Pink-Whistle set off to Ringdown Market. It was a long way away, but he got there at last. What a babel of sound there was! Horses whinnying, sheep baaing, hens clucking, ducks quacking, turkeys gobbling, geese hissing and cackling!

Pink-Whistle looked for a golden spaniel. There were three for sale at the market. Which was Robin's? Mr. Pink-Whistle decided to make himself invisible. This was a gift he sometimes used, and he used it now!

One moment there was a kindly little man walking about—the next moment he wasn't there at all! An old woman selling eggs was most astonished. She blinked her eyes in wonder and then forgot about it. Pink-Whistle went up to a golden spaniel. "Buddy!" he whispered. "Buddy!"

The dog took no notice. So that one wasn't Robin's dog. Pink-Whistle went up to the second spaniel and whispered. But he wasn't Robin's dog either.

"Buddy!" whispered Pink-Whistle to the third spaniel, who was lying miserably on some sacks behind two men selling hens. "Buddy!"

The dog sprang up at once, his tail wagging. He looked all round.

Who had called him by his name? One of the men turned round sharply.

"Lie down, you!" he said, and kicked him. Pink-Whistle felt very angry indeed. Ah! These fellows wanted punishing. They wanted frightening. Well, he would have a fine game and give them a wonderful punishment.

He began to bark like a dog and Buddy pricked up his ears at once.

Then Pink-Whistle pretended that Buddy was speaking.

"Hens, peck these men!" he cried; And then it seemed to the men as if a whole flock of invisible hens were all round them, pecking hard —but really, of course, it was Mr. Pink-Whistle jabbing at them with his hard little forefinger—peck-peck-peck!

The men cowered back, squealing. Everyone came to see what the matter was. Pink-Whistle began to cluck and that made the men think there really were invisible hens pecking at them.

Then Pink-Whistle called out again in a barking sort of voice, so that it seemed as if Buddy was talking: "Geese, attack these men!"

And dear me, what a cackling there was from old Pink-Whistle then, what a hissing—and what a jab-jab-jabbing from top to bottom of the scared men. Everyone stared, amazed. WHAT was happening? Where did the cackling and hissing come from? Who was jabbing at the men?

"Serves them right," said somebody. "I never did like those two."

And then, oh dear, Pink-Whistle decided to be a butting goat! What fun he was having—and what a wonderful punishment he was giving the two men!

"Goat, butt them!" he cried, and the men looked everywhere, scared, wondering if an invisible goat was coming at them.

Biff! Pink-Whistle ran first at one man and then at another. Biff!

Bang! Biff! The men felt exactly as though a big, rather solid goat was butting them back and front. Pink-Whistle butted one man right over and he rolled on top of Buddy. Buddy promptly snapped at him and growled.

Pink-Whistle immediately growled, too, and talked in his growling.

"Bull, toss these men!"

The men gave a loud howl. Hens had pecked them, geese had jabbed them, a goat had butted them! Surely, surely they were not going to be tossed by a bull, and an invisible one, too, coming at them from any side!

"Run for it!" yelled one man, and he ran for his life. The other followed.

" BUDDY I DO WISH I COULD SAY A BIG THANK YOU TO MR. PINK-WHISTLE !" SAID ROBIN.

Pink-Whistle galloped after them, making his feet sound like a bull's hooves—clippitty-clippitty-clop. How the men howled!

Pink-Whistle couldn't follow them very far because he laughed so much. How he laughed! People were really very puzzled to hear loud chuckles and not to see anyone there.

"Well, I don't know what's upset those two fellows," said a burly farmer, "but I'm glad to see the back of them. Rascals, both of them!"

Pink-Whistle went back to where the dog Buddy lay on the sacks, puzzled and frightened. Buddy suddenly heard a quiet, kindly voice talking to him, and invisible fingers undid the knot of rope that tied him to a rail.

"Come with me, Buddy," said the voice, and Buddy went obediently.

He sniffed at Mr. Pink-Whistle's invisible legs. How very peculiar to smell legs that didn't seem to be there! Buddy couldn't understand it—but then, he didn't really understand anything that had happened since he had left Robin, His world seemed quite upside-down and not at all a nice place.

It was a long way to the farm where Robin lived—but as they got nearer to it Buddy became very excited indeed. His nose twitched. He pulled against the hand on his collar.

"Not so fast, Buddy," said Mr. Pink-Whistle. "I want to come with you."

Buddy took another sniff at the invisible legs. Well, they smelt all right, so the person with them ought to be all right, too. He trotted along obediently, getting more and more excited.

It was dark when at last they came to the farm. Buddy was now so excited that he pulled and pulled at Pink-Whistle's hand. The little man led him to his kennel. "Get in there and wait," he ordered. "And bark. Bark loudly!"

Buddy crept in and then he barked. How loudly he barked. "WufT-wuff-wuff, WUFF-WUFF. Robin, I'm back, where are you? WUFF-WUFF!"

And Robin heard, of course. He would know Buddy's bark anywhere! He sprang up at once, his face shining. "Mother! That's Buddy's bark! He's back!" he cried, and raced out of the house to the yard. He came to the kennel, calling joyfully.

"Buddy! BUDDY! I'm here!"

And, before Buddy could squeeze past the invisible Mr. Pink-Whistle, there was Robin, squeezing into the kennel! He got right in, and then you really couldn't tell which was boy and which was dog, they hugged and licked and rolled and patted, and yelped and shouted so joyfully together!

At last, tired out, they sat peacefully together in the kennel, Buddy's nose on Robin's knee and Robin's arm round Buddy's neck. Only Buddy's tongue was busy, lick-lick-licking at Robin's hand.

"Buddy! I do wish I could say a big thank you to Mr. Pink-Whistle!"

said Robin. "I don't even know where he lives, though. I'd say, Mr. Pink-Whistle, I'm your friend for ever and ever!"

Pink-Whistle heard it all. He was peering in at the kennel, as happy as could be. He had put a lot of wrong things right in his life, but surely this was one of the very best! He stole away in the darkness, a very happy little man indeed.

MR. PINK-WHISTLE LAUGHS!

MR. PINK-WHISTLE had been to see an old friend of his, .and had just said good-bye.

"I must catch the bus!" he said. "I shall be late for dinner if I don't, and Sooty, my cat, won't be very pleased!"

But just as he reached the corner where the bus-stop was, he saw the bus rumbling away down the road. He had missed it!

"Never mind—I'll buy some sandwiches and go and eat them in this park," he thought, and off he went to get some tomato and sardine sandwiches. Then he made his way to the park, and sat down on a seat.

It was sunny and warm, and Mr. Pink-Whistle felt happy. He sat there eating his sandwiches, throwing crumbs to the sparrows and chaffinches around. And then he felt sleepy.

He closed his eyes and nodded a little. Soon he was dreaming— and in his dream he heard someone crying.

"Don't! Don't!" he heard, and woke up with a jump. A little girl was coming down the path, with tears running down her cheeks. Mr. Pink-Whistle sat up straight at once. Was there something here that he could put right?

"Hallo, hallo!" said Pink-Whistle, as the little girl came by. "What's wrong?"

"He's taken my biscuits," said the little girl. "And he's eaten them!"

"Dear me—
who
has?" said Pink-Whistle, wishing that he hadn't eaten all his sandwiches, so that he could offer the little girl some.

"That boy—the boy who rushes out at us," said the little girl, crying again. "I don't know his name. He hides in the bushes while we're playing—and then he rushes out and takes our things. There's another boy, too, this morning. They took Fred's ball, and Nora's balloon."

HE'S TAKEN MY BISCUITS," SAID THE LITTLE GIRL.

"Look, here's a sixpenny-bit to buy some more biscuits," said Pink-Whistle. "Don't cry any more. I'll see to these boys."

"Oh, thank you!" said the small girl, and she scrubbed her wet cheeks with her hanky. "They're up there, look—by the children's playground. But you'd better be careful. They might knock off your hat and run away with it!"

"Good gracious me!" said Pink-Whistle, astonished. He thought he would go over to the children's playground and watch for these two boys.

"I'll make myself invisible," he thought. "Then there won't be any chance of my hat being knocked off. So that's the kind of boys they’re, is it? Aha—they certainly want someone to deal with them!"

He muttered a few magic words under his breath, and hey presto, he was gone! Not a bit of him was to be seen; he was quite invisible.

He set off up the path towards the children's playground, listening to the calls and shouts that came from there. It sounded as if quite a lot of children were playing games.

He came to a seat just by the playground and sat down. There were swings and seesaws there, there were children playing with bats and balls, there was even a pond where some were sailing little boats.

Pink-Whistle watched. He couldn't see any bad boys at all. Everyone seemed to be playing happily. Then he saw a boy coming up the path to go to the pond, carrying a fine little ship with a sail. Pink-Whistle was watching him when there came a rustle in the bushes just behind him, and out leapt a big boy, making Pink-Whistle jump almost out of his skin.

He pushed the small boy over, snatched his ship, and leapt back into the bushes. There was the sound of giggling and whispering, and Pink-Whistle guessed the second boy was there too.

The other boy sat up, dazed, for he had knocked his head hard on the path. "Where's my ship?" he shouted. "Give it me back!"

But nobody came to give it back, and he went mournfully to the playground, looking everywhere for someone with his ship. Then out came the two boys from the bushes, nudging one another and giggling. One of them had the ship. They walked boldly over to the pond and set the boat on the water.

The boy who owned the ship came up at once. "That's mine!" he said. "You snatched it from me just now. You give it back."

"Ooh, you fibber! It's
ours"
said the two boys together. "You just try and get it from us. We'll knock you over!"

Other children came round. "I bet you took his ship!" cried a small girl with a pram. "You took my brother's cap the other day. I saw you!"

One of the big boys reached over to the pram, took out the doll that sat there and threw it into the water—splash! The little girl screamed. But nobody dared to do anything to the two big boys. Another boy waded into the water and brought back the doll for the little girl—but just as he handed it to her, the second big boy snatched it and once again the poor doll was thrown into the water.

And then, to Pink-Whistle's delight, up came the park-keeper! "Now now!" he said. "What's all this? Are you making nuisances of yourselves again, you boys? Clear off at once!"

The park-keeper was a little man, and the two boys laughed at him.

One gave him a push that almost sent him into the pond, and the other knocked off his peaked cap. All the children watched in silence.