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

He was shooed down and ran out indignantly, followed by a cackle of laughter from Kiki. Effans held his sides and laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks.

"That is a fine bird, look you!" he said to Jack, quite losing his heart to Kiki. "Let her help herself to the raspberries again."

"She's had enough, thank you very much," said Jack, pleased at Effans' praise of Kiki. People didn't always like the parrot, and when she went away with him Jack was always anxious in case anyone should object to her.

They all wandered out into the golden evening air, happy and well satisfied. Bill and Mrs. Mannering sat on an old stone wall, watching the sun sink behind a mountain in the west. The four children went round the farmhouse and its buildings.

"Pigs! And what a marvellous clean pig-sty," said Dinah. "I've never seen a clean pig before. Look at this one, fat and shining as if it's been scrubbed."

"It probably has, in preparation for our coming!" said Philip. "I love these little piglets too. Look at them routing round with their funny little snouts."

"Kiki will soon have a wonderful collection of noises," said Lucy-Ann, hearing the parrot giving a very life-like grunt. "She'll be able to moo and bellow and grunt and crow and cluck . . ."

"And gobble like a turkey!" said Dinah, seeing some turkeys near by. "This is a lovely farm. They've got everything. Oh, Philip — look at that kid!"

There were some goats on the mountainside not far off, and with them was a kid. It was snow-white, dainty and altogether lovely. Philip stood looking at it, loving it at once.

He made a curious little bleating noise and all the goats looked round and stopped eating. The kid pricked up its little white ears, and stood quivering on its slender legs. It was very young and new.

Philip made the noise again. The kid left its mother and came leaping to him. It sprang right into his arms and nestled there, butting its soft white head against Philip's chin.

"Oh, Philip — isn't it sweet!" said the girls, and stroked the little thing and rubbed their cheeks against its snow-white coat.

"I wish animals came to me like they come to you, Philip," said Lucy-Ann enviously. It was amazing the attraction that Philip had for creatures of any kind. Even a moth would rest contentedly on his finger, and the number of strange pets he had had was unbelievable. Hedgehogs, stag-beetles, lizards, young birds, mice, rats — you never knew what Philip would have next. All creatures loved him and trusted him, and he in turn understood them and loved them too.

"Now this kid will follow at his heels like a dog the whole time we're here," said Dinah. "Well, I'm glad it will be a kid, not a cow! Do you remember that awful time when Philip went into a field with a herd of cows, and they all went to him and nuzzled him and followed him about like dogs. They even tried to get over the gate and through the hedge when he went out. I was awfully scared they would."

"You ought to be ashamed of being afraid of cows at your age," said Philip, fondling the kid. "It's silly at any age, of course — but you don't seem to learn sense as you get older, Di. It's surprising you're not afraid of this kid. I bet you'd run if the goats came near."

"I shouldn't," said Dinah indignantly, but all the same she moved off hurriedly when the herd of goats, curious at seeing the kid in Philip's arms, began to come nearer to the children.

Soon they were all round Philip, Lucy-Ann and Jack. Dinah watched from a distance. The kid bleated when it saw its mother, but as soon as Philip put the little thing down to run to her, it leapt straight back into his arms!

"Well! You'll have to take it to bed with you tonight, there's no doubt about that," said Jack, grinning. "Come on — let's go and see the horses. They're the kind with shaggy hooves — I just love those!"

The goats were shooed off, and the children went to look at the great horses standing patiently in the field. There were three of them. They all came to Philip at once of course.

He had put down the little kid, and now it followed so close to his heels that, every time he stopped, it ran into his legs. At the first possible chance it sprang into his arms again. It followed him into the farm-house too.

"Oh! You have found little Snowy!" said Mrs. Evans, looking round from her oven with a face redder than ever. "She has not left her mother before, look you!"

"Oh, Philip, don't bring the kid in here," said Mrs. Mannering, seeing at once that yet another animal had attached itself to Philip. She was afraid that Mrs. Evans would object strongly to the kid coming indoors with Philip — and once it had felt the boy's attraction nothing would stop it from following him anywhere — even upstairs!

"Oh, it iss no matter if a kid comes into the house," said Mrs. Evans. "We haff the new-born lambs in, and the hens are always in and out, and Moolie the calf used to come in each day before she was put in the field."

The children thought it was a wonderful idea to let creatures wander in and out like that, but Mrs. Mannering thought differently. She wondered if she would find eggs laid in her bed, or a calf in her bedroom chair! Still, it was a holiday, and if Mrs. Evans liked creatures wandering all over her kitchen, the children would like it too!

Lucy-Ann gave an enormous yawn and sank down into a big chair. Mrs. Mannering looked at her, and then at the grandfather clock ticking in a corner.