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and vowed it was just as nice as lemonade.
"David! Shall we get to the Vale of Butterflies today?" asked Jack,
and then repeated it again slowly, flapping his arms to show David that
he was talking about butterflies. It took David a minute or two to realise
this. Then he shook his head.
"Tomorrow?" asked Philip, and David nodded. He went to strap the packs
on the donkeys again and to put on the big pannier baskets. All the
little grey creatures were waiting impatiently to set off. Already the
sun was getting well above the mountains, and, for David and the donkeys
at any rate, it was late!
They set off at last, though Jack had to gallop back to get his
field-glasses which he had left behind, hanging from a tree-branch.
Then they were all in a line, one donkey behind the other, ambling over
the mountains with the wind in their hair.
Jack felt sure he saw a couple of buzzards that day and rode most
of the time with his field-glasses in his hand, ready to clap them to
his eyes at the first sight of specks in the sky. The others saw red
squirrels, shy but tame, among the trees they passed. One shared the
children's lunch, darting up for tit-bits, but keeping a wary eye for
Kiki and Snowy.
"It wants to come with you, Philip," said Lucy-Ann, amused when the
red squirrel put a paw on Philip's knee.
Philip stroked the pretty little thing gently. It quivered, half
frightened, but did not bound away. Then Kiki swooped down and the
squirrel fled.
"You would spoil things, you jealous bird!" said Philip. "Go away.
I don't want you. Go to Jack, and let the squirrels come to me."
Swallows flew round them once again, not attracted by the food, but
by the flies that pestered the donkeys. The children could hear the
snapping of their beaks as they caught the flies. "We ought to get Jack
to tame a few swallows and take them with us to catch the flies," said
Lucy-Ann, slapping at a big one on her leg. "Horrid things! I've been
bitten by something already. You wouldn't think there'd be any as high
up as this, would you?"
Sally the slow-worm came out to eat the fly that Lucy-Ann had killed.
She was getting much too tame for Dinah's liking. She lay in the sun,
gleaming like silver, and then slid under Philip as Snowy came up
enquiringly.
"Keep your nose out of things," said Philip, pushing the kid away
as it tried to nose under him to find the slow-worm. Snowy butted him
hard and then tried to get on his lap.
"Too hot, too hot," said Philip. "Why did we ever bring a little pest
like you, Snowy? You breathed down my neck all night!"
Lucy-Ann giggled. She loved Snowy. They all did. The kid was
mischievous, given to butting, and didn't mind treading on anyone 
but he was so lively, so full of spring and bounce, so affectionate
that it was impossible to be cross with him for long.
"Come on," said Philip at last. "David's clearing his throat as if
he's going to tell us we're too lazy for words."
David had a habit of clearing his throat about a dozen times before
he spoke. It was a nervous habit which Kiki copied to perfection. She
would sit near him, and make a noise as if she was clearing her throat
every time he did the same thing. Then she would go off into a cackle
of laughter. David was rather scared of her.
They travelled well that second day, and went a long way. When the
time came to camp again, David looked earnestly over the mountains as
if he was searching for something.
"Lost your handkerchief, old chap?" said Jack, and everyone laughed.
David looked solemnly at him, not understanding. Then he suddenly began
to flap his arms like wings, and to say a few words in Welsh.
He looked comical standing there, flapping like that. The children
had to turn away, trying not to laugh. "He says tomorrow we shall see
the butterfly valley," said Jack. "Good! It ought to be a real sight,
if it's anything like I imagine it to be!"
They had a meal and prepared to camp out again. The evening was not
so fine as the day. It had clouded over and there was no sunset to watch,
and no stars to come gleaming out, one by one.
"If it rains, you'll get wet, David," said Jack. David shrugged his
shoulders and said something in his singsong voice, then wrapped himself
in his rug on the bare ground.
"It won't rain," said Philip, looking at the sky. "But it's much colder.
Brrrrr! I'll be glad of my sleeping-bag tonight."
"Good night!" called the girls. "Sleep well."
"Good night! It will be a lovely day again tomorrow! You just see!"
called back Philip, who thought himself a good weather forecaster.
But he was wrong. When they awoke the next morning, they looked out
on a completely different world!
Chapter 9
A DIFFERENT WORLD
LUCY-ANN awoke first. She was cold. She snuggled down into her
sleeping-bag, and then opened her eyes. She stared out of the open
tent-flap, expecting to see the green mountainside, and the distant
mountains towering up into the sky.
But they weren't there! Instead, a white mist swirled past the
tent-flap, some of it putting thin cold fingers into the tent itself.
There was nothing to see at all except the mist. The mountains had
gone, the trees by the camp were blotted out, even the donkeys couldn't
be seen.
"What's happened?" said Lucy-Ann, astonished. "Golly! It's a thick
mist come up!"
She awoke Dinah and the girls peered out in dismay at the misty
mountainside. Now and again a tiny bit of view could be seen as the
mist thinned a little  but it grew thick again at once.
"It's a cloud," said Dinah. "You know how we see clouds resting on
mountain-tops  well, this is one. It's resting on us! It's like a thick
fog we can't see through. Blow!"
The boys woke up then and the girls could hear their dismayed voices.
They called to them.
"Jack! Philip! Isn't this sickening! We can't see a thing!"
"It may clear when we've had breakfast," said Philip cheerfully,
appearing out of the mist with Snowy at his heels. "Gosh, it's chilly!
I'm going to put on a warm jersey."
David also appeared, looking very doleful. He swung his arm out
towards the valley and poured out a torrent of Welsh.
"He's quite excited about it, isn't he?" said Jack. "I wish I could
follow him when he talks like that. I just don't understand a word."
They decided to have breakfast in one of the tents because the mist
made everything damp and chilly. David preferred to stay outside. Dinah
didn't want to come into the tent because of Sally, and only agreed
to if she were allowed to sit in the doorway, ready to escape if the
slow-worm appeared.
It was not so cheerful a meal as usual. The children missed the
magnificent view they had been used to, and were afraid that David
wouldn't take them on their way that day. But the mist cleared a little
in an hour's time, and David seemed quite willing to go.
They loaded up the donkeys, mounted and set off down the track. They
could see some way ahead of them now, for the sun was rising higher,
and trying to dissolve the mist with its heat.
"It'll be all right," said Jack. "I almost caught sight of the sun
then!"
But the mist came down again and it was only just possible to see
the donkey in front.
"I feel as if I ought to hold your donkey's tail, in case you disappear
in the mist!" shouted Jack to Dinah. "You know  like elephants do in
circuses when they come into the ring all holding on to one another's
tails!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]