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

"Noises," said David.

"What sort?" asked Philip curiously. "We didn't hear any."

David made some surprising noises that sent Kiki sailing into the air and Snowy bounding away in fright. The children stared at David in astonishment.

By means of odd words and gestures David managed to convey to the children that he had gone to see if the donkeys were all right in the night, and had heard these noises near by where they were tethered.

"That explains why we didn't hear them, I suppose," said Jack. "David makes them sound like animal noises — fierce and savage!"

Lucy-Ann looked scared. "Oh! You don't think there are wild animals anywhere about here, do you, Jack? I mean, fierce wild animals?"

Jack grinned. "Well, if you are thinking of lions and tigers and panthers and bears, I think I can say you needn't be afraid of finding those here. But if, like Dinah, you include snakes, foxes, hedgehogs and so on in your list of fierce wild animals, then I should say, look out!"

"Don't be silly, Jack. Of course I don't mean those," said Lucy-Ann. "I don't quite know what I did mean. I just felt scared — and wondered what animal had made the noises David heard."

"Probably his own imagination," said Philip. "Or a bad dream. It wouldn't take much to scare him."

David did not seem to want to go any further. He kept pointing back over the way they had come. But the children were not going to let their trip come to such a disappointing end. They meant to go and find the Butterfly Valley, if it took them all week! There was a lot of flapping to make David understand this.

He turned sulky, but mounted his donkey to go with them. Jack now had the map, and examined it very carefully. It was annoying that the Butterfly Valley wasn't marked. Perhaps very few people knew about it.

They all set off across the valley and up into the mountains again. Perhaps the next valley would be the one they wanted, or the one after that. But although they travelled hopefully all the day, they did not find any valley full of butterflies. The children began to think it was all a fairy tale.

There was no track to follow now, though the boys kept a keen look-out in case they should come across one again. When they camped that night, they discussed what they had better do next.

"If we go on any further we shan't know our way back," said Jack. "David would, perhaps, because he was born and bred among mountains, and, like a dog, could follow his own trail well enough, if we had to go back. But he's so brainless that I don't like to trust to him too much. I wouldn't be surprised if he lost the way going back, if we take him much further!"

"Had we better go back then?" asked Lucy-Ann in disappointment.

"Or camp here for a few days," said Jack, looking round. "It's quite a good place."

They were halfway up a steep mountain that rose very sharply from where they were, and looked quite unclimbable.

"What a queer mountain!" said Dinah, gazing up. "I shouldn't think anyone ever climbed to the top. It's all crags and rocks and jutting-out bits."

"We'll camp here," decided Philip. "The weather looks quite settled. There's a spring nearby. We can mess about with our cameras and field-glasses."

They told David. He did not seem pleased, but went off to tether the donkeys for the night. They were all tired that evening, children and donkeys both, for they had had a very long day. They cut the big ham that Mrs. Evans had provided for them, afraid that it might go bad if they didn't eat it soon.

David looked as if he thought he would sleep in the tent again that night, for he cast various longing glances in that direction. However, the night was hot, and he felt he couldn't bear to be under cover. So he arranged himself under his rug in the open, fairly near to the two tents. The donkeys were some way away, tethered to trees by long ropes.

That night there was a snuffling around the camp. Lucy-Ann awoke suddenly and heard it. She went right down to the bottom of her sleeping-bag, frightened. What could it be? Was it the wild animal that David had heard?

Then she heard a howl! The boys heard it too and awoke. David, outside, was awake, having heard both the noises. He was shivering with fright, all kinds of fears coming into his peasant mind.

The moon was up and everything was silvery bright. David sat up and looked down the hill. What he saw made his hair rise straight up on his head.

Wolves! A pack of wolves! No, no, it couldn't be. He was dreaming! Wolves had not been known in the mountains for hundreds of years. But if those creatures were not wolves, what were they? And that noise of snuffling he had heard. That must have been a wolf too! No, not a wolf. It couldn't have been such a thing.