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heard the clippity-clop-clippity-clop of the hooves and peeped out of the window again.
    They were going after all! She hadn"t thought they real y would go without her. She was horrified.
    Why did I behave like that? I"ve put myself in the wrong! thought poor George. Now Henrietta wil be with them all day and wil be as nice as possible, just to show me up.
    What an ass I am! „Timmy, I"m an ass and an idiot, and a great big fathead! Aren"t I?"
    Timmy didn"t think so. He had been puzzled to hear the others going off without him and George, and had gone to the door and whined. Now he came back to George and put his head on her knee. He knew George was not happy.
    „You don"t care how I behave, do you, Tim?" said George, stroking the soft, furry head.
    „That"s the best of a dog! You don"t care if I"m in the wrong or not, you just love me all the same, don"t you? Well, you shouldn"t love me today, Tim. I"ve been an idiot!"
    There was a knock at her door. It was Wil iam again. „George! Mrs Johnson says, if your headache is bad, undress and get into bed. But if it"s better, come down and help with Clip, the gypsy"s horse."
    „I"l come down," said George, flinging away her sulks at one go. „Tel Mrs Johnson I"l go to the stable at once."
    „Al right," said the stolid Wil iam, and trotted off like a reliable little pony.

    George went downstairs with Timmy, and into the yard. She wondered how far the others had gone. She couldn"t see them in the distance. Would they have a good day together, with that horrid Henry? Ugh!
    The others were almost a mile away, cantering easily. What fun! A whole day before them, on Mystery Moor!

Chapter Six
A GRAND DAY

    I think it"s got a jol y good name, Mystery Moor," said Dick, as the four of them went along.
    „Look at it stretching for miles, all blazing with gorse."
    „I don"t think it looks at all mysterious," said Henry, surprised.
    „Well, it"s got a sort of quietness and broodiness," said Anne. „As if something big happened long ago in the past and it"s waiting for something to happen again."
    „Quiet and broody? It sounds like one of the farmyard hens sitting on her eggs!" said Henry with a laugh. „I think it might be a bit frightening and mysterious at night, but it"s just an ordinary stretch of country in the day-time, fine for riding over. I can"t think why it"s called Mystery Moor."
    „We"ll have to look it up in some book that tel s about this part of the country," said Dick. „I expect it was cal ed that because of some queer happenings or other, hundreds of years ago, when people believed in witches and things like that."
    They followed no road or path, but rode where they pleased. There were great stretches of wiry grass, masses of heather springing up afresh, and, blazing its gold everywhere on this lovely April day, was the gorse.
    Anne sniffed continual y as they rode past the gorse bushes. Dick looked at her.
    „You sound like Sniffer!" he said. „Have you got a cold?"
    Anne laughed. „No, of course not. But I do so love the smel of the gorse. What does it smell of? Vanil a? Hot coconut? It"s a lovely warm smel !"
    „Look! What"s that moving over there?" said Julian, suddenly reining in his horse. They al strained their eyes to see.
    „Why, it"s caravans!" said Julian, at last. „Of course! They were setting out today, weren"t they? Well, they must find it very rough going, that"s all I can say. There"s no real road anywhere, as far as I can see."
    „Where can they be going?" wondered Anne. „What"s over in that direction?"
    „They"l come to the coast if they keep on the way they are going," said Julian, considering. „Let"s ride over and have a look at them, shall we?"
    „Yes. Good idea!" said Dick. So they turned their horses" heads to the right, and rode towards the faraway caravans. These made quite a splash of colour as they went along.
    There were four of them - two red ones, a blue one and a yellow one. They went very slowly indeed, each pulled