t risen and opened the door and let in a whiff of cold
air. As Jimmy sat up in the dark and rubbed his eyes, he thought at
first that he must be in a boat, because whatever he might be in, it
rolled about from side to side. Remembering presently where he really
was, he got off the bed, and peeped into the other half of the van.
Seeing that Nan was not there, he went to the door, the upper half of
which she had left open. The rain had quite left off, and the night was
very beautiful. A great many stars shone in the sky; Jimmy had never
looked out so late before, he had never seen the heavens such a dark
blue nor the stars so large and bright. It was four o'clock in the
morning, the air felt very cold, and he could see that they were going
slowly along a country road.

About a yard from the back of his own van, a grey horse jogged along
between the shafts of another van, with a rough brown pony tied beside
it. Feeling curious to see as much as he could, Jimmy opened the door,
and climbed carefully down the steps. Then he ran to the side of the
road, although he always took care to keep close to the clown's van.

In front he saw ever so many carts and vans, and behind there were as
many more. There were horses in groups of five or six, and men walking
sleepily along by the hedge. Now and then the lion roared, but not very
loudly; now and then one of the men spoke to his horses; now and then a
match was struck to light a pipe. But for the most part it seemed
strangely silent as the long line wound slowly along the country road.
For a good while Jimmy scarcely heard a sound, but presently, after he
had been in the road a few minutes, he did hear something, and that was
the clown's voice.

'Hullo,' it said, 'what are you doing out here? Just you get inside
again'; and Jimmy scampered away and ran up the steps and lay down on
the bed. He was soon asleep again, and when he re-opened his eyes it was
broad daylight. He found that the caravan had come to a standstill, but
when he looked out at the door everything seemed as quiet as when they
were on the march. It was not so quiet inside the house, for the clown
lay on the bed which Nan had occupied earlier, and he was snoring
loudly. Jimmy wondered where Nan had gone, but whilst he stood shivering
by the door he saw her carrying a wooden pail full of water.

'Is that for me to wash in?' asked Jimmy, for he was surprised to find
that there were no basins and towels in the van.