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

David sat there, hugging his knees, his mind going round and round — wolves or not? Wolves or not? What were they doing near the donkeys?

Another howl came — half a howl, half a bark, a horrible noise. David shot into the boys' tent and gave them a terrible start.

He stammered something in Welsh, and then in English, "Wolves!"

"Don't be silly," said Jack at once, seeing that the man was scared to death. "You've had a bad dream."

David dragged him to the tent opening and pointed with a trembling finger to where the pack of snuffling animals stood, not far from the donkeys.

The boys stared as if they could not believe their eyes. They certainly looked like wolves! Jack felt a cold shiver down his back. Good gracious! Was he dreaming? Those creatures were more like wolves than anything else!

Snowy the kid was trembling as much as David was. His trembling somehow made the boys feel scared too. The only person who was not in the least scared was Kiki.

In the bright moonlight, 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 mountainside.

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, 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 scream, 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 scream 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 mountainside for some time. The other donkeys looked doubtfully at one another, and then, to the boys' dismay, trotted after David!

"Hi! Come back, you!" 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 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!"