THE ADVENTURE OF THE RUNAWAY PONIES
The distance from Evesham to Elmley Castle, a little village under
Bredon Hill, is only five or six miles, and the Slowcoaches were
comfortably encamped in a field there by six o'clock, for at Evesham
they did no more than walk through the churchyard to the beautiful
square Bell Tower with its little company of spires on the roof. Mary
bought a guide at a shop at the corner of the market-place and read the
story.
This Bell Tower, with a gateway and a wall or so, is all that remains
of a Benedictine abbey which was built by the Bishop of Worcester in
the reign of Ethelred. The Bishop, it seems, had a swineherd named
Eoves, who one day, while wandering in the Forest of Arden ("In which
the scene of 'As You Like It' is laid, Hester, and which used to cover
all the ground where Evesham now stands"), was visited in a vision by
three radiant damsels. He returned at once and told the Bishop, who, on
being led to the same spot, after a preparation of fasting and prayer,
had the same vision, and at once recognized the damsels as the Virgin
Mary and two Angels.
At that time the meaning of such heavenly visitations was plain, and
the Bishop at once set about building an abbey on the spot. He
appointed himself the first abbot and named it after his swineherd
Eoves--Eoves'ham.
The abbey was large and prosperous, but the Danes destroyed it in one
of their raids, and it had to be rebuilt on a more splendid scale. Then
came Henry VIII. and his quarrel with the Church of Rome, and the abbey
was confiscated and given as a grant to Sir Philip Hoby, one of his
friends, who at once (being a man of the type of the Rev. Francis
Gastrell) raised what money he could on it by turning it into a quarry
for stones. And that is why so many old houses in this neighbourhood
have carved stones in their walls.
The party then returned to the marketplace and walked down to the
bridge, where they joined Kink and set out for their goal.
Elmley Castle is one street, with a ruined cross at one end and the
church at the other, and the great hill over all. The cottages are as
white as snowdrops, and they have heavy thatch roofs. The women wear
large blue Worcestershire sunbonnets. The only shop is a post-office
too, so that Robert was able to send his telegrams very easily.
After supper some of them walked through the churchyard (which has a
very curious sun-dial in it) to the meadows beyond, in search of the
castle, the site of which is mentioned on the map, but is quite
undiscoverable now; while Robert made friends with an old labourer
smoking his pipe outside the great tithe barn, and asked him about the
road up Bredon' as it was his project to sleep on the very top of the
hill the next night.
But the old man changed their plans completely; for he convinced Robert
that the Slowcoach would never get to the top without at least two more
horses to help, and even then it would be an unwise course to take,
because there was no proper road, and it might be badly shaken.
It was therefore arranged that the older and stronger children should
take their lunch to the top of the hill and eat it there, and that
Kink, with Hester and Gregory, should go round the hill? which rises
all alone from the plain like a great sleeping monster, on the flat
roads, and meet them on the other, or south side, at Beckford, in the
afternoon; and they should then go on for five or six miles farther to
their campingground near Oxenton.
The night was uneventful except for a rather startling visit from a
peacock, which stood just inside the boys' tent and uttered such sounds
as only a peacock can.
Both parties started early the next morning. Gregory and Hester, being
for the first time alone as owners of the Slowcoach, were very proud
and excited, and Gregory insisted upon Janet giving him two shillings
in case of any emergency, although Kink had plenty of money. The nice
old women in the Worcestershire sunbonnets came to see them start, and,
well supplied with stone gingerbeer from the Queen's Head--Queen
Elizabeth's head, as it happens--off they went, Gregory beside Kink,
and Hester inside reading Hans Andersen's story of the nightingale.
The others, after waving good-bye, set their feet bravely towards the
slopes of Bredon Hill--no small undertaking, for it is very steep and
the day was hot. But the pathway is pleasant, first passing by the
gardens of the great house, where, burning blue on the wall, they saw
their visitor of the night; and then through a deep lane to a hillocky
meadow, and so up to the turf of the higher slopes, where the views
begin, and where it is very agreeable to rest.
But Robert urged them on. "It is quite flat at the top," he said, "and
there is a tower at the very edge, and a perfect place for a picnic."
Here we will leave them, climbing pantingly up, and follow the
Slowcoach, as Moses drew it steadily along the lanes at the base of the
hill, between the high hedges. At first, as I said, Kink and Gregory
walked; but after a while they both sat in front, just over the shafts,
and Gregory held the reins (he called it driving), and they discussed
life--which means that Gregory asked a thousand questions and Kink did
his best to answer or ignore them.
"It's not true, is it, that when all the cows in a field stand up it's
going to rain?"
"Don't you think Bredon Hill would be a ripping place to start to fly
from?"
"Shall we stop and cook our dinner, or have cold things?"
"It's not true, is it, that whenever you see a white horse you see a
red-haired girl? I suppose that means only in London, where there are
so many people?"
"Do you know that you can't walk over London Bridge without seeing a
white horse?"
"Do you think that Moses is ever going to have a stone in his shoe so
that I can get it out with my knife? Couldn't we drive him over a very
stony place?"
"You can't really tell the time by dandelions, can you?"
And so forth, till Kink's head would have ached if he had not trained
it not to.
Gregory was rattling on in this way when suddenly they heard a
screaming and scrambling and thudding behind them, and a moment later a
chaise with a little girl in it, drawn by a pair of grey ponies, dashed
past at a fearful pace, only just avoiding the caravan, and disappeared
in a cloud of dust; and then after a minute or so came a tremendous
shattering crash, and all was still.
"It's a smash-up," said Kink, urging Moses into a trot. "We must help
them;" and at the same time Hester's white face appeared at the window
and implored Kink to drive faster.
In a minute or so they saw a moving mass at the side of the road, which
they knew to be the broken chaise, and a farm labourer holding the head
of the one pony that was on its feet. Kink tied Moses to a gate-post,
and ran to the man's help, telling the children to wait a moment. Both
were rather frightened, and they stood hand in hand by Moses and
watched.
They saw Kink lift something from the chaise and lay it on the grass.
Then they saw him hacking at the harness with his pruning-knife until
the pony was free, when the man led it to another gate-post and tied it
there. Then Kink hacked again, and drew the carriage away from the pony
that was lying on the ground; and then he and the man lifted the bundle
once more and came with it very carefully to the Slowcoach, Kink
calling out to Gregory to open the door and put some pillows on the
floor.
When Kink and the man reached the Slowcoach, Hester saw that they were
carrying a girl of about her own age, who was lying in their arms quite
still, with her eyes closed.
They placed her gently on the cushions, and Kink dashed a little water
on her face.
After a moment or so she opened her eyes and asked where she was.
"You're all right," said Hester. "You've had an accident. We're taking
care of you."
Then the little girl remembered. "The ponies!" she cried. "Are they
hurt?"
"I'm afraid one of them is," said Kink. "But never mind now. The great
thing is that you weren't thrown out. Keep quiet now, missie, and we'll
look after everything."
But the little girl would not be silenced.
"Which one is hurt?" she asked. "Which one? Is it Marshall or
Snelgrove?"
"I don't know," said Kink. "They're both alike."
"Oh, no, they're not," said the little girl. "Marshall has a white star
between his eyes. Oh, do say Marshall's all right! Marshall's my very
own."
"I'll go and see," said Gregory; and he ran off, and came back to say
that Marshall was the one that seemed to be all right, but Snelgrove
had broken his leg and couldn't move.
"Oh, I'm so glad about Marshall," said the girl; "but poor Tommy, how
sorry he'll be!"
"See if you can get up, missie," said Kink. "I want to know if you're
hurt anywhere."
The little girl sat up and then stood up. "I feel all right," she said,
"only very giddy."
Kink uttered a sigh of relief. "Drink this cold water," he said. "That
will make you much better. And now tell us all about the accident,
because we shall have to let your people know."
"Well," said the little girl, "mother and I were driving to Ashton to
see Aunt May; and mother had just got out to leave the _British
Workman_ at old Mr. Dimmock's, when the ponies took fright and ran
away. I held the reins as long as I could, and when I saw your caravan
in front I screamed to warn you, and then there was a terrible crash,
and I don't remember anything else."
"And what will your poor mamma be doing?" said Kink.
"Oh, poor mother!" said the little girl. "She'll be so nervous! But
she'll be coming after us as fast as she can, because she saw them
start off."
"Then I think," said Kink, "the best thing to do is for us to leave
this man here to mind the ponies and tell your mamma you're all right;
and we'll go on to Ashton as quick as we can, and send back some help.
We'll take you to your aunt's, missie, and the man will tell your mamma
when she comes up what we've done. I'm so glad you're not hurt."
So Hester and Gregory were left with the little girl, who told them her
name was Patricia Mordan, and she was ten, and they lived near
Fladbury, and she had a King Charles spaniel; while Kink urged Moses
towards Ashton, which was only a mile or so away.
Hester put the kettle on the Beatrice stove, thinking that tea was the
best thing, and Gregory sat down and looked at their guest, and thought
what a splendid adventure it was to tell the others about when they met
them later.
Patricia, who was now in a deck-chair, examined the caravan in a kind
of ecstasy. "What a lovely place it is!" she said. "Do you really live
here? How scrumptiously exciting!"
"My bed's over there," said Gregory.
"Where do you stop at night?" Patricia asked.
"I have to go to the farmers and get leave to camp on their land," said
Gregory.
"And is it just you two and the driver?" Patricia asked.
"Oh, no," said Gregory; "there are five others, but they are walking
over Bredon Hill. They said we could not walk so far, which is rot, of
course; but I'm glad we didn't, because then we shouldn't have been
here to save your life."
"Mother will be very grateful to you for being so kind," said Patricia.
"Poor mother! she'll be so frightened about me. And Tommy--how dreadful
for him to lose Snelgrove!"
"Who's Tommy?" Gregory asked.
"Tommy's my brother," said Patricia. "He's twelve. Aunt May gave
Snelgrove to him and Marshall to me last Christmas. They've never run
away before. I wish we had a caravan."
"Caravans are very jolly," said Gregory. "Things are always happening,
too."
"I'd rather have a sweet grey pony than a caravan," said Hester,
bringing a cup of tea.