She too had caught sight of the wolves. She sailed out of the tent at top speed to go and investigate. Anything unusual always interested Kiki. She flew above the animals, whose eyes gleamed green as they turned at her coming.
‘Wipe your feet!’ screamed Kiki, and made a noise like a mowing-machine cutting long grass. It sounded really terrible in the still night air of the mountain-side.
The wolves started in fright. Then with one accord they all galloped away down the hillside into the night. Kiki shouted rude remarks after them.
‘They’ve gone,’ said Jack. ‘Gosh, were they real? I can’t understand it!’
When it was dawn, David got up to see if the donkeys were all right. Neither he nor the boys had slept again that night. David had been too scared to, and the boys had been too puzzled.
Daylight was almost on the mountain. David crept down quietly to the donkeys. They were all there, safe and sound but uneasy. David untethered them to take them to the stream to drink.
The boys were looking out of their tent, down the hillside to watch. There was no sign of any wolf now. Birds sang a little, and a yellow-hammer cried out for a little bit of bread and no cheese.
Suddenly something happened. David, who was taking the donkeys in a line to the stream, gave a terrified yell and fell to the ground, covering his face. The boys, holding their breath, thought they saw something moving in the bushes, but they couldn’t see what.
David gave another yell and got to his feet. He mounted a donkey and rode at top speed up to the tent.
‘Come!’ he cried in Welsh, and then in English. ‘Black, black, black!’
The boys had no idea at all what he meant. They stared at him in amazement, thinking he must have gone mad. He made a violent gesture to them, pointed to the following donkeys as if to tell the boys to mount and follow him, and then galloped off at breakneck speed.
They heard the hooves of his donkey echoing on the mountain-side for some time. The other donkeys looked doubtfully at one another, and then, to the boys’ dismay, trotted after David!
‘Hi! Come back, David!’ yelled Jack, scrambling out of the tent. ‘Hi, hi!’
One donkey turned and made as if to come back, but he was pushed on by the others behind. In a trice they had all disappeared, and the sound of their hooves grew fainter and fainter as they galloped away after David and his mount.
The two boys sat down suddenly. They felt faint. Jack turned pale. He looked at Philip and bit his lip. Now they were in a terrible fix.
They said nothing for a moment or two, and then the girls’ two scared faces looked out from their tent.
‘What’s happened? What’s all the yelling? Was that David galloping away? We didn’t dare to look!’
‘Yes – it was David – running away from us – and all the donkeys have gone after him,’ said Philip bitterly. ‘We’re in a pretty fix now!’
Nobody said anything. Lucy-Ann looked really alarmed. No David! No donkeys! What were they going to do?
Jack put his arm round her as she came and sat down beside him. ‘It’s all right! We’ve been in worse fixes than this! At the worst it only means a few days here, because as soon as he gets back to the farm, Bill will come and look for us.’
‘Good thing we unloaded the donkeys and have got plenty of food,’ said Philip. ‘And our tents and sleeping-bags. Blow David! He’s a nuisance.’
‘I wonder what he saw to make him gallop off like that,’ said Jack. ‘All I could make out was “Black, black, black!”’
‘Black what?’ asked Dinah.
‘Black nothing. Just black,’ said Jack. ‘Let’s go down to the place where he got his fright and see if we can see anything.’
‘Oh no!’ said the girls at once.
‘Well, I’ll go, and Philip can stay here with you,’ said Jack, and off he went. The others watched him, holding their breath. He peered all round and then turned and shook his head and shouted.
‘Nothing here! Not a thing to see! David must have been seeing things! His bad night upset him.’
He came back. ‘But what about those animals in the night?’ said Philip, after a pause. ‘Those wolves. We both saw those. They seemed real enough!’
Yes – what about those wolves!
11
A strange happening
It wasn’t long before Dinah suggested having something to eat, and went to the big panniers that had been unloaded from the donkeys the night before. She pulled out some tins, thinking it would be a change to have sardines, and tinned peaches, or something like that. Anything to take their minds off David’s flight, and the disappearance of the donkeys!
They sat down rather silently. Lucy-Ann kept very close to the boys. What with wolves and David’s fright she felt very scared herself!
‘I hope this won’t turn into one of our adventures,’ she kept saying to herself. ‘They always happen so suddenly.’
Snowy the kid bounded up to Philip and knocked a tin flying from his hand. He nuzzled affectionately against him and then butted him. Philip rubbed the furry little nose and then pushed the kid away.
‘I’m glad you didn’t go off with the donkeys too!’ he said. ‘I’ve got used to having you around now, you funny aggravating little thing. Take your nose out of that tin! Lucy-Ann, push him off – he’ll eat everything we’ve got!’
Kiki suddenly flew at Snowy, screaming with rage. She had had her eye on that tin of sliced peaches, and to see Snowy nosing round it was too much for her. She gave him a sharp peck on the nose, and he ran to Philip, bleating. Everyone laughed and felt better.
They sat there, eating by the tents, occasionally glancing up at the mountain that towered up so steeply above them. It had no gentle slope up to the summit, as most of the mountains around had, but was steep and forbidding.
‘I don’t much like this mountain,’ said Lucy-Ann.
‘Why?’ asked Dinah.
‘I don’t know. I just don’t like it,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I’ve got one of my “feelings” about it.’
The others laughed. Lucy-Ann often had ‘feelings’ about things, and really believed in them. It was just like her to start having ‘feelings’ about the mountain, when everyone was also having uncomfortable ideas about wolves and other things.
‘Well, you needn’t have any “feelings” about mountains,’ said Philip. ‘Mountains are all the same – just tops, middles and bottoms, sometimes with sheep on and sometimes without!’
‘But not many have wolves,’ said Lucy-Ann seriously, and that made the others feel uncomfortable again.
‘What are we going to do today?’ asked Jack, when they had finished their meal. ‘I suppose we must stay here till Bill comes to find us. We can’t try to walk back home, because for one thing we don’t know the way, and for another we’d never be able to carry enough food to get there without starving.’
‘We’d far better stay here,’ said Philip at once. ‘It’s ten chances to one David will know his way back here all right, and can bring Bill and the donkeys. Whereas if we start moving about, they’ll never find us.’
‘Yes – it does seem the most sensible thing to do,’ said Jack. ‘We’ve got our camp here – tents set up and everything – so we might as well make the best of it, and enjoy the camping. I wish there was somewhere to bathe though. It’s so jolly hot. That little stream’s too small to do anything but paddle in.’
‘Let’s all keep together,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘I mean – we could frighten those wolves away perhaps if we all screamed at them – but one of us alone might be – might be . . .’
‘Gobbled up!’ said Jack, and laughed. ‘What big eyes you’ve got, Granny! And, oh, what big TEETH you’ve got!’
‘Don’t tease her,’ said Philip, seeing Lucy-Ann’s alarmed face. ‘It’s all right, Lucy-Ann. Wolves are only really hungry in the winter-time and it’s summer now.’
Lucy-Ann looked relieved. ‘Well – I suppose if they’d been really hungry they would have attacked the
donkeys, wouldn’t they?’ she said. ‘Oh dear – I do think it’s most extraordinary to find wolves here.’
They were just about to get up and clear away the picnic things when something curious happened that froze them to the ground.
First of all there was a grumbling, rumbling noise that seemed to come from the heart of the mountain itself – and then the ground shook a little. The four children distinctly felt it quivering beneath them, and they clutched at one another in alarm. Kiki flew straight up into the air, screaming. Snowy leapt to a high rock and stood there, poised on his four little legs as if to take off in the air like a plane.
The ground stopped shaking. The noise died away. But almost imediately the rumbling began again, a little louder, but very muffled as if great depths of rock separated it from the listeners. The ground quivered once more and Snowy took a flying leap into the air, landing on another rock. He was really terrified.
So were the four children. Lucy-Ann, very pale, clung to Jack and Philip. Dinah, forgetting all about the slow-worm, held on to Philip too.
There were no more rumblings, and the earth beneath them stayed still. The birds, which had stopped singing and calling, began to chirp again, and a yellow-hammer gave his familiar cry.
Snowy recovered himself and came bounding up to the others. Kiki landed on Jack’s shoulder. ‘God save the Queen,’ she said, in a relieved voice.
‘What in the world was that?’ said Philip at last. ‘An earthquake? Gosh, I was scared!’
‘Oh, Philip! This mountain isn’t a volcano, is it?’ said Lucy-Ann, gazing up at it fearfully.
‘Of course not! You’d know a volcano all right if you saw one!’ said Jack. ‘This is a perfectly ordinary mountain – and goodness knows why it should have rumbled like that, and trembled beneath us. It gave me a horrible feeling.’
‘I told you I had one of my “feelings” about this mountain,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Didn’t I? I feel very peculiar about it. I want to go back to the farmhouse and not stay here.’
‘So do we all,’ said Philip. ‘But we shouldn’t know the way, Lucy-Ann. It isn’t as if we’d followed a track – we left the track as you know, and part of the way we were in thick mist – we shouldn’t have the faintest idea of the way.’
‘I know you’re right,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘But I don’t like. this mountain – especially when it starts to rumble and shake! What made it?’
Nobody knew. They got up, cleared away the meal and went to splash in the little stream. The wind suddenly began to blow rather chilly, and, looking up, the children saw that big clouds were coming up from the south-west.
‘Looks like rain,’ said Jack. I hope the wind doesn’t get up much more, or it will blow our tents away. Do you remember how they were blown clean away from over us on our last adventure – on the Island of Birds? That was an awful feeling.’
‘Well,’ said Philip, ‘if you really think the tents might blow away, Jack, we’d better find a better place to camp than this – somewhere not too far, though, because we don’t want to miss seeing Bill and David when they come for us. A copse of trees or a cave or somewhere like that – right out of the wind.’
‘Let’s look now,’ said Dinah, pulling on her coat. It was extraordinary how cold it got as soon as the sun went in and the wind blew up the mountain. ‘We’d better take Snowy with us, or he’ll eat everything we’ve left!’
Snowy had every intention of coming with them. He capered along by Philip and Jack, as mad as ever. He was now very annoyed with Kiki, and leapt at her whenever she came within reach, wanting to pay her back for nipping his nose.
When the girls had been left a little way behind, Philip spoke in a low voice to Jack. ‘We’d better find a cave, I think, Jack – I don’t like the idea of those animals prowling around us at night – wolves, or whatever they are. If we were in a cave we could light a fire at the entrance and that would keep any animal off.’
‘Yes. That’s quite a good idea,’ agreed Jack. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. I can’t say I like the idea either of wolves nosing round our tents when we’re asleep at night! I’d feel much safer in a cave!’
They hunted about for some kind of rocky shelter or cave, but there seemed none to be found. The mountain was so steep that it really was difficult to climb, and Lucy-Ann was afraid of slipping and falling.
Snowy leapt ahead of them, as sure-footed as ever. The boys wished heartily that it was as easy for them to leap about the mountain as it was for the kid.
‘Look at him up there, standing on that rock!’ said Jack, feeling exasperated and far too hot with his climbing. ‘Hey, Snowy, come and give us a leg up! If only we had four springy legs like yours!’
Snowy stood there, whisking his little tail, and then ran back and disappeared. ‘Where’s he gone?’ said Jack. ‘Oh, there he comes again. Philip, there must be a cave or overhanging rock up where he is – he keeps going back and disappearing into it, whatever it is!’
They climbed up to where Snowy was, and sure enough, just at the back of the overhanging rock was a long low cave, its roof made out of another overhanging rock, its opening fringed with ferns of all kinds.
‘This would do awfully well for us,’ said Jack, going down on hands and knees and looking in. ‘We could light a fire on the rock outside – the one Snowy stood on – and feel quite safe tonight. Clever little Snowy! You found us just what we wanted!’
‘But how in the world are we going to get everything up here?’ said Philip. ‘It was such a climb. It’s not as if we are donkeys or goats, able to scramble up steep places quite easily, even with a load to carry. We need our hands to help us.’
This was certainly a problem. The boys hailed the girls and helped them up on to the rock where Snowy stood. ‘Look,’ said Jack, ‘here’s a good place to sleep in tonight. We can quite well see from here if Bill and David come – see what a good view we have from this rock – and we’d be safe from the wolves if we lighted a fire at the entrance to the cave.’
‘Oh, yes!’ said Lucy-Ann, pleased. She went into the cave. She had to bend her head at the opening, but inside the roof grew higher. ‘It’s not really a cave!’ she said. ‘It’s just a space under that big jutting-out rock – but it will do awfully well.’
They all sat down on the rock, wishing the sun would come out. Snowy lay down beside them and Kiki sat on Jack’s shoulder.
But suddenly she rose up into the air and screeched loudly. Snowy leapt up and stood looking downwards. What was the matter?
‘Is it the wolves again?’ asked Lucy-Ann in alarm. They listened. They could hear a noise of some animal or animals down below in the thick bushes, under the birch-trees.
‘Get back into the cave,’ said Jack to the girls. ‘And keep quiet.’
The two girls went silently back into the darkness of the cave. The boys listened and watched. What animal was it down there? It must be big, by the noise it made!
12
Wolves in the night!
Snowy suddenly bleated loudly and took a flying leap off the rock before Philip could stop him. He disappeared into the bushes below – and then a loud and welcome sound filled the air.
‘Ee-ore! Ee-ore! Ee-ore!’
‘Goodness! It’s a donkey!’ cried Jack and scrambled down to see. ‘Have they come back? Is David with them?’
They soon found what they were looking for. Dapple the donkey was in the bushes, nuzzling Snowy, evidently full of delight at seeing him again. But there was no sign at all of the other donkeys or of David.
‘Dapple! You darling!’ said Lucy-Ann, running up to him in joy. ‘You’ve come back to us.’
‘Come back to Snowy, you mean!’ said Philip. ‘He was always fond of Snowy, weren’t you, Dapple? So you came back to find him. Well, we’re very very glad to see you, because you will solve a very knotty problem for us – how to get all our goods up to that cave!’
Dapple had come back to see Snowy, but he was also very pleased to see the children ag
ain. He was a quiet, stout little donkey, hard-working and patient. He kept close to the children, and had evidently made up his mind he was going to stay with them. Snowy was sweet with him, and trotted by his side all the time.
‘Here, Dapple!’ called Philip. ‘Come and help us with these things, there’s a good fellow.’
Dapple stood obediently whilst the boys strapped things on to his back. He took all the bedding up to the cave first, scrambling up the steep bits with difficulty, but managing very well indeed. Then he took up the panniers of food.
‘Thanks, Dapple,’ said Jack, giving him a pat. ‘Now come and have a drink!’
They all went to the stream and drank and splashed. The sun had come out again and immediately it was very hot. The children flung off their coats and lay about, basking.
‘We must collect wood for the fire tonight,’ said Jack. ‘We shall need a good lot if we’re going to keep the fire going all night long. We’ll stack it in the big panniers and get Dapple to take it up for us.’
‘Good old Dapple!’ said Dinah.
They collected as much wood as they could, and soon it was all piled up on the rock outside the cave. The boys made a fire but did not light it. There was no need to do that till night.
The day soon went, and the sun sank behind the mountains in a blaze of crimson. As soon as darkness fell on the mountain-side, the children retired into the cave. The thought of wolves kept coming into their minds, and David’s scream of terror, when he had seen something in the bushes, ‘Black, black, black!’ What could he have seen?
The children hadn’t thought much of these things during the bright daylight, but they came back into their minds now it was dark. They debated whether or not to have Dapple in the cave with them.
But Dapple settled that idea by firmly refusing to go under the overhanging rock. He just stood outside stubbornly, his four legs set firmly on the ground, and no amount of pushing or pulling made the slightest difference. He was not going into that cave!
‘All right, Dapple,’ said Jack crossly. ‘Stay outside and be eaten by wolves if you want to!’