Five Go to Mystery Moor by Enid Blyton Read Free Book Online Page A

got a hanky, Sniffer?
    I never on my life heard anyone sniff as often as you do."
    Sniffer rubbed his sleeve across his nose. „I never had no hanky," he said. „But I"ve got my sleeve, see?"
    „I think you"re quite disgusting," said George. „I"m going to give you one of my own hankies, and you"re to use it. You"re not to keep sniffing like that."
    „Didn"t know I did," said Sniffer, half sulkily. „What"s it matter, anyway?"
    But George had gone indoors and up the stairs. She chose a large hanky, in red and white stripes. That would do nicely for Sniffer! She took it down to him. He looked at it in surprise.
    „That"s a scarf for my neck!" he said.
    „No, it isn"t. It"s a hanky for your nose," said George. „Haven"t you a pocket to put it in?
    That"s right. Now, use it instead of sniffing, for goodness" sake!"
    „Where are the others?" asked Sniffer, putting the hanky careful y into his pocket, almost as if it were made of glass.
    „Gone riding," said George, shortly.
    „They said they would come and see my caravan," said Sniffer. „They said so!"
    „Well, they won"t be able to today," said George. „They"l be back too late, I expect. I"l come and see it, though. There"s nobody in it, is there?"
    George was not keen on meeting Sniffer"s father or any other of his relations! He shook his head. „No, it"s empty. My father"s gone, I told you, and my aunt and my grandma too."
    „What do you do on the moor?" asked George, as she followed Sniffer across the field and up the hil to where the caravans had stood. Now only one was left - Sniffer"s.
    „Play around," said Sniffer, and gave an enormous sniff. George gave him a shove in the back.
    „Sniffer! What did I give you the hanky for? Don"t do that! It gets on my nerves!"
    Sniffer used his sleeve at once, but fortunately George didn"t notice. She had now come to the caravan and was staring at it. She thought of Sniffer"s answer to her question a minute or two back.
    „You said you just played around on the moor. But what does your father do, and your uncle and grandad and all the rest of the men? There"s nothing to do there at all, as far as I can see, and no farmhouse to beg eggs or milk or anything from."
    Sniffer shut up like a clam. He was just about to sniff and thought better of it. He stared at George, his mouth set in an obstinate line.
    George looked at him impatiently. „Captain Johnson said you and your caravans went there every three months," she said. „What for? There must be some reason?"
    „Well," said Sniffer, looking away from her, „we make pegs, and baskets, and..."
    „I know that! Al gypsies make things to sel ," said George. „But you don"t need to go into the middle of a deserted moor to make them. You can do them just as well in a vil age, or sitting in a field near a farmhouse. Why go to such a lonely place as the moor?"
    Sniffer said nothing, but bent over a queer little arrangement of sticks set on the path beside his caravan. George saw them and bent over them too, her question forgotten.
    „Oh! Is that a patrin? A gypsy message! What does it mean?"

    There were two sticks, one long and one short, neatly arranged in the shape of a cross. A little farther up on the path were a few single, straight sticks, all pointing in the same direction.
    „Yes," said Sniffer, very glad to have the subject changed. „It"s our way of telling things to those who may come after us. See the sticks in the shape of the cross? That"s a patrin that says we"ve been along this way and we"re going in the direction that the long stick points."
    „I see," said George. „How simple! But what about these four straight sticks, all pointing the same way too. What do they mean?"
    „They mean that the travel ers went in caravans," said Sniffer, giving a sudden sniff. „See, four sticks, four caravans, going that way!"
    „I see," said George, making up her mind that she herself would evolve quite a few
    „patrins" for use at school when they went for