The walls were very high; not the tallest Clydesdale horse could have looked over the top of those cobblestones. No living thing did he see till the second afternoon, when a small flock of starlings flew over. They wheeled round in the air, after the manner of starlings; and one bird flew back and alighted on the wall. It was Iky Shepster. He ran along the top of the wall, and sputtered and chittered with laughter. Pony Billy ate hay and pretended not to see him. Then, just as Iky Shepster spread his wings to rejoin the flight of starlings, Pony William remarked that he wished to see Sandy on particular business. ‘Is that so?’ said Iky Shepster. Pony Billy was left in uncomfortable doubt whether the message would be delivered or not.

In the meantime, Sandy had no suspicion but that Pony Billy was safe with the gypsy’s donkey, who spent the worst of winter eating mouldy hay and taed-pipes in an open-fronted shed on the marshes. It was a most unpleasant surprise when Iky Shepster flew in with the news that Billy was fast in the Pound. ‘Whose doing is that, I wonder?’ said Jenny Ferret. ‘He must have lost his fern seed. I shall have to get him out somehow,’ said Sandy. ‘Lost, stolen, or strayed,’ said Jenny Ferret. Paddy Pig suggested trying to borrow the key of the padlock from the Sergeant’s black Manx cat: but it was a doubtful expedient; and it would involve calling at the police station. ‘It would be simpler to pick the lock. If Mettle will only come with me we will soon have him out.’

Sandy waited till moonrise; then he scampered off to the smithy in the village. The Big Folk had all gone to bed, in the clear of the moon; but the forge was still working.

Mettle, the blacksmith’s yellow terrier, was doing a job on his own; opening the links in a dog chain. Another dog was blowing the bellows. They greeted Sandy, ‘Come along and warm yourself at the hearth, Sandy!’ ‘I’m in a hurry, I cannot wait. And you must come with me, Mettle. Poor old Billy is fast in the Pound.’ ‘Whew-w!’ whistled Mettle. He damped down the fire, gathered up some tools, and they hurried off together.

Pony Billy was dozing in the Pinfold. He was awakened by the sound of sniffing and scratching under the door; something was being done to the padlock. Within a few minutes he was free; trotting back towards the village with the dogs racing at his heels. When the constable came next morning, the mysterious pony had vanished. The Pinfold was empty.

‘So you see, Tuppenny,’ said Xarifa, ‘it is most important to carry fern seed when we go upon the roads, and pass near the Big Folks; and you must always take great care that it is not lost.’

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Chapter 5

The Misses Pussycats’ Shop

While the caravaners were encamped in the quarry, Sandy had gone shopping to the market town. It was an old-fashioned town with funny crooked streets and little old squares hidden away round corners; there were archways opening under houses, leading from square to square. Sandy made several small purchases at the grocer’s and at the saddler’s. But his most important piece of shopping was to buy something pretty to make a costume for Tuppenny, who was worthy of considerable outlay by way of dressing up.