him.

"Hullo! hullo!" cried a gruff voice that certainly did not belong to
any of the girls. "What the dickens do you want?"

Robert nearly fell off the steps in his surprise. "Please," he said, "I
want the Slowcoach."

For answer the door opened, and a big head and beard and a pyjama arm
were pushed out.

"Slowcoach?" the head said. "What Slowcoach? There's no Slowcoach here."

"The Slowcoach is the name of our caravan," said Robert.

"Oh, it is?" said the head. "Then it's over there. I saw it as I came
in. This is the Snail."

"Thank you very much," said Robert, who had quite recovered his
composure. "How late are you going to stay here in the morning?"

"I don't know," said the head, yawning vastly. "It depends on the
country. I shan't go till after breakfast, anyhow. But I'm much too
tired to talk now. Goodnight, Slowcoach."

"Good night, Snail," said Robert.

And that is how the Avories came to know the great Hamish MacAngus; for
when Robert led them round to visit him the next morning ("And it is
right for us to call first," said Janet, "since we have lived here
longer"), they found that the owner of the Snail was nothing less than
the famous--But I must tell you in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 11

THE WAYSIDE FRIEND

Mr. MacAngus had just finished his ham and eggs, and was lighting his
pipe.

"Good morning, Slowcoaches," he said. "I'm very pleased to see you. Sit
down wherever you like. Furniture by Dame Nature; everything as nice as
Mother makes it. This is a friendly, reasonable hour to meet. That
young brother of yours--I suppose he is your brother"--pointing to
Robert--"pays calls in the middle of the night. He seems to think every
caravan in the world belongs to him. How a man who lives in a London
terrace knows his house I never could understand, but to recognize
one's own caravan ought to be quite easy."

Mr MacAngus, you must understand, did not say all this in one breath,
for he was a slow man. But it reads as if he did, because none of the
others uttered a word. It was all too bewildering and also too amusing.
He was so big and so strange, and he had such a twinkle in his eye,
that they preferred to let him go on, knowing that whatever he said
would be entertaining.

"Well," he said at last, "now we must stop talking nonsense and
introduce ourselves. But first I should like you all to guess who I am
and what I do for a living. You first," he said, pointing to Janet.

"I think y