There was just enough room for everyone to fit in the pond, although it was a bit of a squeeze. The pigs and Tara were soon covered in sticky mud, helped in part by Tara squirting it over herself and them. Harvey sat on the bank – he wasn’t tempted to have a mud bath.

  Bathtime over, the piglets ran in and out of the trees and around Tara while Harvey and the mother pig lay down under a tree in the afternoon sun. Tara seemed to have a little less energy with every day that passed now. But she joined in the piglets’ game with enthusiasm. However, she didn’t last as long as the piglets did and she soon needed to lie down under a tree and have a sleep. It was five days since she and Harvey had run away from the circus, and Tara was really starting to suffer without her mother’s milk now.

  Harvey wagged his tail when he saw two much larger and heavier dogs running across the pig field towards him. He lay down to show them that he wasn’t a threat, but they came straight at him, slathering and snarling.

  Harvey might, in his younger days, have been able to take on one of the dogs. But not two of them at once, and certainly not now he was old and hungry.

  He curled into a ball to protect his belly and throat as the dogs attacked him.

  Tara saw the dogs coming too, and got up from under her tree. When they started hurting her friend she shook her head in a display of intimidation then charged at them. From somewhere deep within her came a threatening deep trumpeting roar rather than her normal happy squee.

  The dogs ran away from the angry elephant, leaving Harvey bitten and bleeding. He hobbled out of the field whimpering in pain with Tara beside him. But neither he nor Tara were strong enough to go far any more. Harvey was bleeding badly and the fight and playing with the pigs had used up all of Tara’s strength. They eventually stopped and lay down under some bushes not far from the farm.

  Tara nuzzled her head against her friend and Harvey finally fell asleep. When he woke up a little later, crying out in pain, Tara gently laid her trunk over the old dog to comfort him, and they both slept.

  Every summer for as long as he could remember in all his eleven years, Ezra, and his sister Sadie, younger by two years, had travelled to the Appleby Horse Fair with their grandmother in their caravan. Not that they had any horses to sell this year. The army had requisitioned all the single-colour horses and they needed Tilly, the piebald, to pull the caravan. Tilly would probably have been taken too, only the cavalry officers didn’t want to ride a black-and-white horse. Ezra was very glad about that because he didn’t think Tilly would like going off to war, not one little bit.

  Ezra’s older brother, Gregor, was fighting in France. He’d signed up almost as soon as the first call for men to enlist had gone out. People said gypsy men wouldn’t join the fight. But they were wrong about that. Ezra hadn’t heard from Gregor in a long time now. His grandmother told Ezra and his sister not to worry, and Ezra tried not to, but he couldn’t help it. And he was sure his grandmother was worried too. She just wouldn’t say so because that’s what his grandmother was like.

  This year they’d stayed in the local area after the fair for far longer than usual. There didn’t seem to be a reason for rushing away any more and they were only just starting to make their way back across the country now.

  It was a very hot day again and Ezra was giving Tilly a bath in the river to cool her off when he heard a high-pitched sound. He looked round and was amazed to see a baby elephant coming through the trees accompanied by a black-and-white dog that was limping. The little elephant splashed its way into the river and had a long drink while the injured dog lay on the riverbank and watched.

  Ezra looked behind them to see who they were with, but he couldn’t see anyone.

  Tilly was a bit spooked by the elephant because she’d never met one before. Ezra stroked her nose to soothe her. ‘It’s OK, it’s OK, my lovely,’ he said, as he headed towards the baby elephant, but not too close. He’d never met one before either.

  Harvey gave a bark of warning to Tara followed by a whine because even barking hurt him now. Tara rolled over in the water until she was completely submerged apart from her trunk sticking out.

  Ezra let go of Tilly who immediately headed out of the river and went over to sniff at the dog, who sniffed back at her and tried to wag his tail.

  ‘Hello,’ Ezra said to Tara, holding out his hand to her. Tara poked her head up out of the water and stretched out her trunk to him. She followed him out of the river to sit on the bank in the warm sun. Harvey pushed his head under Ezra’s hand to encourage him to stroke him and Ezra happily obliged.

  ‘You’re a good dog you are,’ he said, as Harvey looked up at the boy with dark hair and even darker eyes, his skin tanned by the long summer days. A good dog, who could do with his help, Ezra decided. He could see the dog’s wounds needed cleaning and suspected a good meal wouldn’t do him any harm either.

  Tara put her trunk in Ezra’s pocket to see if he had any treats.

  ‘You hungry too?’ Ezra asked her. He decided to take the elephant and dog back to the caravan and give the baby elephant some milk from Rosie, their cow.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, taking Tilly’s reins, and the elephant and dog followed him as he led Tilly back to the caravan. He was disappointed when he saw that his sister wasn’t there and his gran was fast asleep. He knew better than to disturb her when she was napping.

  Ezra grabbed the metal bucket they used for milking while Tara and Harvey lay down to watch him and Tilly cropped the long grass at the side of the road.

  It wasn’t Rosie’s usual time for milking.

  ‘Please, Rosie, just a little bit of milk,’ Ezra said. ‘It’s for a hungry baby elephant.’

  He was just about to give the milk he’d collected to Tara when his grandmother’s sharp bony fingers grabbed his wrist.

  ‘No, Ezra! Cow’s milk will kill it,’ she told him. ‘Baby elephants should never be given cow’s milk. Just like foals shouldn’t.’

  ‘So what can she have to drink?’ Ezra said. He felt angry with his gran for telling him off and scared that he’d nearly hurt the little elephant by trying to help her.

  ‘No milk other than elephant’s milk, or maybe a little coconut milk. Yes, I’m sure I’ve heard coconut can be good, and honey. I’ve heard of people giving an elephant some honey. And vegetables and fruit, lots of vegetables and fruit.’

  ‘Right,’ Ezra said, he knew how to get honey. But as for coconuts …

  ‘In the meantime I’ll make it some hay mash. You see if you can catch some rabbits for that hungry-looking dog and gather some moss for his wounds. And then you can tell me where you found these two.’

  Ezra hurried off while his grandmother poured water and hay and honey and herbs into the cooking pot on the fire.

  Sadie could hardly believe it when she came back from selling pegs to find an elephant in their small camp.

  ‘A real-life elephant,’ she said, as she stroked Tara’s trunk. ‘Can we keep her?’

  But her grandmother shook her head. ‘An elephant needs to be with other elephants,’ she said.

  When the hay porridge was cool Ezra poured it into a bucket for Tara, and Tara put her trunk in the bucket and lifted the mash to her mouth and ate a little of it while the children and their grandmother watched.

  ‘Good,’ Ezra’s grandmother said. ‘Very good.’

  And then she turned back to the fire to make rabbit stew for them and Harvey. Harvey had two bowls full and licked them clean. Only then did Ezra’s grandmother carefully clean his wounds and bandage his paw. Harvey knew he could trust the wrinkled old woman’s experienced hands, and he let her treat him even though some of his wounds were very painful. When she touched a particularly sensitive spot he made a little sucking sound and the old woman nodded as if she knew exactly what he meant.

  ‘Looks like you found them in the nick of time,’ Ezra’s grandmother told him. ‘Lucky you saw them and brought them here.’

  Ezra smiled. The flames from the fire made flickering shadows across Tara’s face as they all sat round it. Ezra’s grandmother had put a colourful warm blanket round the little elephant, for comfort more than anything else.

  ‘She should be with her mother,’ Sadie said.

  Their grandmother poked at the fire. ‘She should,’ she agreed.

  ‘Do you think … do you think her mother is dead?’ Ezra asked.

  His grandmother used a stick from the flames to light the pipe she liked to smoke in the evenings before replying. ‘An elephant’s bond with its family is as strong as our gypsy bond. Her mother would never willingly have let her go and this little one would never have run from her unless something very bad happened.’

  ‘So do you think –’

  But his grandmother didn’t let him finish.

  ‘At least she has the dog to watch out for her. He’s a good friend.’

  Tara’s eyelids were drooping and a moment later she’d fallen fast asleep and was making snuffling sounds as she dreamt.

  Harvey lay beside her, trying to stay awake but his eyelids were drooping too. The warmth of the fire and the comfort of the blanket that he shared with Tara, together with his full belly, coupled with the soft kind voices around him, made Harvey drift off to sleep too, lying close to his friend. Safe at last.

  When Ezra picked up the violin and began to play, the lilting music didn’t wake Harvey, but it drifted into Tara’s dream and her eyes flickered open and her trunk swayed from side to side almost as if it were dancing.

  ‘She likes it,’ Ezra said.

  ‘Most animals love music,’ his grandmother told him as she looked over at Tilly and Rosie who had turned to watch him play. ‘Let the little elephant sleep now. Tomorrow you will play again.’

  Ezra put down the violin and Tara was soon in a deep sleep once more.

  Chapter 15

  The next morning Tara woke to find herself snuggled up in a soft knitted blanket that felt almost like being hugged.

  Harvey was already awake and having his wounds checked by Ezra’s grandmother.

  ‘Looking good,’ she said, nodding at Harvey. ‘Good healing power for an old dog.’

  Harvey licked the old woman’s liver-spotted hand.

  For breakfast there was more warm hay-and-honey mash for Tara and leftover stew from the night before for Harvey. Once that was eaten, Tara headed to the river, followed by the children and Harvey, who was never far from the little elephant’s side.

  Soon Ezra, Sadie and Tara were in the middle of a wild game with Ezra and Sadie splashing the water at Tara and Tara squirting water back at them with her trunk.

  Harvey looked from one of them to the other as Tara gave her distinctive happy squee trumpet sound and the children laughed and squealed.

  Back at the caravan later, Sadie practised her scarf dance for the next gypsy gathering while Ezra accompanied her on his violin. Tara watched as the scarf floated and twirled through the air. It had tiny thin fake coins sewn round the edges, which made jingling sounds as the scarf moved. Tara was desperate to join in and kept trying to pluck the scarf away from Sadie with her trunk.

  ‘No, little elephant!’ Sadie laughed, skipping away from her. But that only made Tara want the scarf even more.

  Finally their grandmother found another scarf for Tara and the little elephant tossed it up in the air and caught it and twirled it in circles with her trunk as she’d once done with the yellow ribbon in the circus ring. Ezra played a new tune and Tara made the scarf swirl back and forth as Sadie danced around her.

  After lunch they hitched the caravan up to Tilly. It was time to move on.

  Harvey rode with Ezra and Sadie’s grandmother at the front of the caravan and Tara walked with the children. She still had the scarf and wouldn’t give it back when Sadie went to take it from her. Now she held it in her trunk or laid it on her back as if it were a cloak.

  ‘There might be a coconut shy at Mardale village fete,’ Sadie said, as they passed a handwritten sign stuck to a post in the ground. ‘We could try and win one for Tara.’

  ‘Gypsies aren’t welcome in Mardale,’ their gran said.

  But Ezra badly wanted to win a coconut for Tara.

  ‘Please, Gran,’ he said. ‘We’ll be in and out of the fete before anyone realizes what we are.’

  His grandmother sighed loudly, but turned the caravan down the road for Mardale.

  ‘I’ll wait for you here by the trees,’ she said. ‘But be quick and be careful.’ She held out the few coins she had and Ezra took them.

  ‘Thanks, Gran.’

  ‘Just don’t get into any trouble.’

  ‘I won’t.’

  Tara tried to follow Ezra and Sadie.

  ‘No, little elephant, you wait here,’ their grandmother said and offered Tara some windfall apples. She was soon busy eating them and the children hurried off.

  The fete was being held on the village green and there were lots of people there. Ezra and Sadie passed the bowling-for-a-pig stall, a Punch and Judy show, a small woodwind orchestra that was playing off-key, a ferret race and people knocking over skittles.

  ‘Can you see the coconut shy?’ Ezra said.

  ‘No … Yes! … Over there!’

  They hurried over to the stall at the far side of the fete.

  It had eight coconuts balanced on top of wooden posts and a queue of people wanting to pay their money and be given three goes to try and knock one of them off. Ezra and Sadie joined the end of the queue as a boy and a girl took it in turns to throw the hard balls at the coconuts.

  In front of Ezra and Sadie was a young red-headed soldier.

  ‘There you are, sir,’ said the stallholder handing the soldier three wooden balls when his turn came. ‘Best of luck to you.’

  The soldier took careful aim with each ball, but he didn’t manage to knock a coconut off.

  ‘Another go,’ he said, handing over more money and getting more balls.

  But even though he had two more goes, and did seem to hit a couple of the coconuts right in the centre, none of them fell to the ground.

  ‘The coconuts look like they’re stuck on those posts,’ Sadie whispered.

  Ezra nodded. But he handed over the money to the stallholder anyway and was given three hard balls.

  His first ball struck hard, right in the centre of a coconut.

  ‘A direct hit!’

  ‘Good shot!’ said the soldier, who’d stayed to watch.

  But although the post wobbled and the coconut looked as if it should have fallen, it didn’t drop.

  ‘I told you,’ Sadie said. ‘They’re stuck on!’

  ‘How dare you!’ the stallholder shouted, sounding really angry and going red in the face. ‘Go on – be off with you. Gypsies like you shouldn’t be allowed here anyway.’ He clenched his fist.

  ‘Steady on now,’ said the soldier.

  Ezra desperately wanted to win a coconut for Tara.

  ‘But I still have two more balls to throw,’ he said, holding them out for the stallholder to see.

  ‘No – no more goes for you!’

  ‘Please …’

  But the stallholder turned away from him.

  ‘Let me have another go, then,’ said the soldier, and he winked at Ezra.

  The stallholder took his money and handed him three balls. But even though the soldier hit one of the coconuts as hard as he could it still didn’t fall off its stand.

  By this time there was quite a crowd, and more people noticed how hard it was to knock down the coconuts. At first there were quiet grumbles about it not being fair, but soon the grumbles grew louder.

  ‘It’s your fault,’ the stallholder growled at Ezra. ‘Thieves and troublemakers the lot of you. Go on, be off now.’

  Wherever they went there were some people who hated them because of the lives they led.

  Ezra didn’t want to leave the coconut shy, but his grandmother had warned them not to get in any trouble. Sadie took his hand.

  ‘Come on,’ she said.

  They passed a poster advertising ‘Cullen’s Circus Extravaganza coming to Whitehaven soon’ and had almost left Mardale village fete when there was a shout.

  ‘Hey, gypsy boy!’

  Ezra stopped, his heart thumping fast. Sadie’s face went pale.

  ‘This is for you,’ the soldier said, catching up with them. He handed Ezra a coconut.

  ‘It should have been yours. You won it fair and square.’

  Ezra couldn’t believe it. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Thank you very much indeed.’ He’d expected trouble, but for once had met kindness instead.

  ‘You must really like coconuts,’ the soldier grinned.

  ‘Never even tasted one,’ Ezra said. ‘And I doubt I’ll taste this one either.’

  ‘Is it for you then?’ the soldier asked Sadie.

  Sadie shook her head. ‘It’s for a baby elephant,’ she said, before she saw Ezra’s warning look and clamped her mouth shut.

  ‘Like the missing one in the newspaper? The one with the cartoon strip?’ the soldier asked them.

  ‘Got to go,’ Ezra said, and the two of them ran off as fast as they could, back to the caravan with the coconut.

  Chapter 16

  Tara made her squee trumpet noise when she saw Ezra and Sadie heading towards the caravan and Harvey wagged his tail.

  ‘Here, little elephant, look what we got for you,’ Ezra said, as he broke the coconut with a hammer and collected the flesh and milk in a bowl.

  Tara picked up a piece with her trunk and took it to her mouth, but then dropped it on the ground.

  ‘Go on, Tara, it’s good,’ they encouraged her. But Tara didn’t want to eat.

  ‘Please, little elephant,’ Ezra begged. ‘Just drink the milk.’ He tried breaking the coconut up into smaller pieces, but still she wouldn’t touch it and that night she wouldn’t eat the hay porridge either.

  ‘It’s like she’s given up,’ said Sadie when Tara refused to eat anything and only drank a little water the next morning.