"Nope," said the man again. "I don't give addresses to little busybodies. You go away and mind your own business."
Fatty came up when he saw Pip talking to the man. "Is this Jake?" he said to Pip. Pip nodded.
"But he says he hasn't seen Luke for weeks," said Pip.
"We're his friends," said Fatty earnestly. "Please believe us. We just want to talk to him."
"I've told you I don't know where he is," said the man. "Now you get out of this field; and just remember what I say, I haven't seen Luke for weeks."
Bets stood by the bicycles, watching the others wandering about the camp. She kept an eye open for old Clear-Orf, and hoped he wouldn't stop and ask her what she was doing there if he came by. She decided to creep through to the other side of the hedge, where she would be hidden from any passer-by.
So she crept through and settled herself comfortably there. She was near a bright-red caravan. She looked up at it, and saw something that gave her an enormous surprise. Somebody was peeping at her from behind the little lace curtain — and that somebody was Luke!
Luke Again.
Bets sat quite still, holding her breath. The curtain was then drawn a little farther, and the window was quietly opened. Luke put his head out.
"Hallo, little Bets!" he said in a cautious voice. "Why are you here? Have you come to see the circus?"