"Blyton, Enid - Adv 03 - Valley of Adventure" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

Enid Blyton: The Valley of Adventure (Adventure #3)





Chapter 1

UP IN BILL'S AEROPLANE



KIKI the parrot was annoyed. She had been left all alone for a day, and she talked angrily to herself.

"What a pity, what a pity, what a pity, poor, poor Polly! Ding-dong bell, Polly's down the well, good morning, good morning!"

Mrs. Mannering put her head in at the door of the room where Kiki was sitting.

"Kiki, don't be so absurd! Talking away to yourself all day like that! The children will soon be back."

"Ding-dong bell," said Kiki mournfully, and made a cracking noise with her beak.

"I suppose you miss Jack," said Mrs. Mannering, coming into the room and shutting the door carefully behind her. "He won't be long now, Kiki. You'll hear him and the others any minute. Now be a good bird and don't make any more noise."

Kiki opened her beak, swelled up her throat and gave her famous imitation of an express train screeching on entering a tunnel. Mrs. Mannering put her hands to her ears.

"Naughty Kiki, naughty! How many times have we told you not to do that?"

"How many times have I told you to shut the door, shut the door, shut the door," answered back Kiki, and ruffled up her feathers so cheekily that Mrs. Mannering gave her a tap on her beak.

"Funny old bird," she said. "Ah, listen — that sounds like the children coming back. They've been up in an aeroplane, Kiki! Fancy that! That's why you had to be left alone all day!"

"Jack, Jack, Jack!" screamed Kiki, hearing the voice of her owner. Four children burst into the room, their faces red with excitement.

"Hallo, all of you!" said Mrs. Mannering. "How did you like it? Was it fun being so high up in the air?"

"Oh, Mother! It was the greatest fun in the world!"

"Aunt Allie, I shall buy an aeroplane of my own as soon as ever I'm grown up."

"Mother, you ought to have come. Bill piloted the plane and he was marvellous."

"I wasn't air-sick, Aunt Allie, though Bill gave me a paper bag to be sick in."

Mrs. Mannering laughed. All the four spoke at once, and she had hard work to make out what they said. Kiki gave a loving screech and flew to Jack's shoulder.

The four children sank into chairs and prepared to relate their day's adventure. There were Philip and Dinah, Mrs. Mannering's children, dark-eyed, dark-haired just as she was, and both with queer tufts of hair that insisted on sticking up in front. Both Dinah and Philip were called Tufty at school. Then there were the other two, Jack and Lucy-Ann, brother and sister, who had no mother and father, and lived with "Aunt Allie," as they called Mrs. Mannering. All four were like one family.

Jack and Lucy-Ann Trent were very alike. They both had red hair and green eyes, and were so covered with freckles that it was quite impossible to find a bit of pink skin on their faces, arms or legs. It was not surprising that Jack was so often called Freckles.