"Blyton, Enid - Adv 05 - Mountain of Adventure" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

"Yes. We shall see heaps of birds and animals anyway," said Jack, feeling that Philip was right. "Come on, David! Let's go!"

The timid David leapt onto his donkey at once. He called good-bye to Trefor, and the little company set off once more along the mountainside, taking a narrow path that went neither very far up, nor very far down.

It was glorious riding there, so high, looking down on the valley far below. It was partly in the sun and partly in the shadow, for the sun was not yet high. Swallows flew round them catching flies, their steel-blue wings gleaming in the sun. Kiki watched them out of her sharp eyes. She had often tried fly-catching herself, but she knew she was no good at it. Anyway, flies didn't taste as good as fruit!

They ambled on until everyone felt hungry and thirsty, and they came to a copse of birch-trees with a small stream nearby.

"Let's picnic here in the shade of those trees," said Philip, sliding off his donkey. I'm absolutely cooked with the sun."

David saw to the donkeys, taking them to the stream for water. He then let them wander free, for they came most obediently at his call, and could be trusted not to go far away. They went to the shade of the trees and stood there, swishing their long grey tails, enjoying the rest.

Snowy ran to them, and behaved like a spoilt child, letting the donkeys fuss him and stare at him. Dapple put down his big head to the little kid, and nuzzled him in the neck. When Snowy ran to the next donkey Dapple followed him.

"Dapple wants to be friends with Snowy," said Dinah, unpacking the lunch parcel from one of the enormous panniers. "Here, Lucy-Ann — take this tin and fill it with water from the stream. It must be absolutely pure, I should think. We can put some of this lemonade essence with it. I'm so dreadfully thirsty!"

David was drinking at the stream, so the children felt that it must be all right. It gurgled along, fresh and clear, running through the pebbles and down the hillside at top speed. Lucy-Ann went to fill the tin.

There was a lovely lunch. The children had to call David to share it because he suddenly seemed shy. He came and sat down a little way away from them.

"No, David. Come here with us," called Jack, patting the ground. "We want to learn Welsh! Come and talk to us!"

But the little Welshman was very shy, and it was as much as the children could do to persuade him to eat his share of the lunch. It was such a good lunch too!

There were five different kinds of sandwiches, fresh lettuce wrapped in a damp cloth, hard-boiled eggs to nibble, and great slices of jam tart. Washed down with cold lemonade it was the finest lunch anyone could wish.

"Nobody in the whole world, not even the very richest king, can possibly have a nicer lunch than this," said Lucy-Ann, munching a chicken sandwich.

"Or a nicer place to eat it in," said Philip, waving his sandwich at the magnificent view before them. "Look at that! No king could have a better view from his palace — valleys and mountains, and yet more mountains, and then the clear blue sky! Marvellous!"

They all gazed at the unbelievable view that lay in front of them. A rustle of paper made them look round.

"Snowy! You greedy little kid! Look here, he's eaten the rest of the chicken sandwiches!" cried Jack indignantly, forgetting all about the lovely view. "Philip, smack him. We can't let him do that or our food won't last out. He can jolly well eat the grass."

Philip gave Snowy a smart tap on the nose. The kid retreated in a huff, taking with him a mouthful of sandwich papers, which he proceeded to eat with apparent enjoyment. But soon he was back with Philip, pressing against him affectionately, anxious to be back in his good books. Dapple the donkey moved over to Philip too, to be near the kid. He lay down beside him, and Philip at once leaned back against him.

"Thanks, old man! Very nice! Just what I wanted!" said Philip, and everyone laughed as he settled himself against the donkey's side.

"Have another sandwich, David?" asked Lucy-Ann, holding out a packet to him. David had not eaten nearly as much as they had, either through shyness or because he hadn't such an enormous appetite. He shook his head.

"Let's have a bit of rest now," said Philip sleepily. "There's no hurry. We can take all the time we like to get anywhere."

Jack began to ask David the names of things in Welsh. It was silly not to be able to talk to David. David apparently understood more English than he spoke, but even the few English words he said were pronounced so queerly that the children found it hard to puzzle out what he was saying.

"Come on, David, talk," said Jack, who did not feel as sleepy as the others. "What's this in Welsh?" He held out his hand.

David began to realise that Jack wanted a lesson in Welsh, and he brightened up a little. He was a trifle embarrassed by Kiki, who insisted on repeating all the words he said too, and added a few nonsense words of her own for good measure.

The girls and Philip fell asleep in the shade, Lucy-Ann sharing Philip's donkey to lean against. Dinah would have liked to do the same but she was afraid that Sally the slow-worm might come out of Philip's pocket if she did, and nothing would make Dinah go near the silvery creature!