3 settling in at spring cottage
the first day or two were very happy days indeed. the four children and kiki wandered about asthey pleased, and jack found so many hundreds of nests that he marvelled to see them. he wasmad on birds, and would spend hours watching them, if the others let him.
he got very excited one day because he said he saw an eagle. ‘an eagle!’ said dinahdisbelievingly. ‘why, i thought eagles were extinct, and couldn’t be found any more – like thatgreat auk you always used to be talking about.’
‘well, eagles aren’t extinct,’ said jack scornfully. ‘that just shows how little you know. i’msure this was an eagle. it soared up and up and up into the air just as eagles are said to do. i believeit was a golden eagle.’
‘is it dangerous?’ said dinah.
‘well, i suppose it might attack you if you went too near its nest,’ said jack, ‘golly – i wonderif it is nesting anywhere near here!’
‘well, i’m not going eagle-nesting,’ said dinah firmly. ‘anyway, jack, you’ve found about ahundred nests already – surely that’s enough for you without wanting to see an eagle’s nest aswell.’
jack never took birds’ eggs, nor did he disturb the sitting birds at all. no bird was ever afraid ofhim, any more than any animal was ever afraid of philip. if lucy or dinah so much as looked at anest, the sitting bird seemed frightened and flew off – but she would allow jack to stroke her,without moving a feather! it was very odd.
kiki always came with them on their excursions, sitting on jack’s shoulder. he had taught hernot to make a sound when he wanted to watch any bird, but kiki seemed to object to the rooks thatlived around. there was a large rookery in one clump of trees not far off, and kiki would often goto sit on a nearby branch and address rude remarks to the astonished rooks.
‘it’s a pity they can’t answer her back,’ said philip. ‘but all they say is “caw-caw-caw.”’
‘yes, and kiki says it too, now,’ said jack. ‘she goes on cawing for ages unless i stop her.
don’t you, kiki?’
kiki took jack’s ear into her sharp curved beak and fondled it gently. she loved jack to talk toher. she made a cracking noise with her beak, and said lovingly, ‘caw-caw-caw-caw-caw . . .’
‘all right, that’s enough,’ said jack. ‘go and listen to a nightingale or something and imitatethat! a rooks caw isn’t anything to marvel at. stop, kiki!’
kiki stopped, and gave a realistic sneeze. ‘where’s your hanky, where’s your hanky?’ she said.
to lucy-ann’s delight, jack gave her a hanky, and kiki spent the next minute or two holding itin her clawed foot and dabbing her beak with it, sniffing all the time.
‘new trick,’ explained jack, with a grin. ‘good, isn’t it?’
there were gorgeous walks around the cottage. it was about three miles to the little village, andexcept for the few houses and the one general shop there, there were no other houses save for afarm or two, and a lonely farm cottage here and there in the hills.
‘we’re not likely to have any adventures here,’ said philip. ‘it’s all so quiet and peaceful. thevillage folk have hardly a word to say, have they? they say “ah, that’s right” to everything.’
‘they’re amazed by kiki,’ said dinah.
ah, that’s right,’ said jack, imitating the speech of the villagers.
kiki immediately did the same. ‘do you remember when kiki got locked up in a caveunderground, and the man who locked her up heard her talking to herself, and thought she wasme?’ said jack, remembering the adventure of the summer before. ‘my word, that was anadventure!’
‘i’d like another adventure, really,’ said philip. ‘but i don’t expect we’ll have another all ourlives long.’
‘well, they say adventures come to the adventurous,’ said jack. ‘and we’re pretty adventurous,i think. i don’t see why we shouldn’t have plenty more.’
‘i wish we could go up and explore that strange castle,’ said dinah longingly, looking up towhere it towered on the summit of the hill. ‘it looks such an odd place, so deserted and lonely,standing up there, frowning over the valley. mother says something horrid once happened there,but she doesn’t know what.’
‘we’ll try and find out,’ said jack promptly. he always liked hair-raising tales. ‘i expect peoplewere killed there, or something.’
‘oooh, how horrid – i don’t want to go up there,’ said lucy-ann at once.
‘well, mother said we weren’t to, anyhow,’ said dinah.
‘she might let us go eagle-nesting,’ said philip. and if our search took us near the castle, wecouldn’t very well help it, could we?’
‘we’d better tell her, if we do go anywhere near,’ said jack, who didn’t like the idea ofdeceiving philip’s kindly mother in any way. ‘i’ll ask her if she minds.’
so he asked her that evening. aunt allie, i believe there may be an eagle’s nest somewhere onthe top of this hill,’ he said. ‘it’s so high it’s almost a mountain – and that’s where eagles nest, youknow. you wouldn’t mind if i tried to find the nest, would you?’
‘no, not if you are careful,’ said mrs mannering. ‘but would your hunt take you anywhere nearthe old castle?’
‘well, it might,’ said jack honestly. ‘but you can trust us not to fool about on any landslides,aunt allie. we shouldn’t dream of getting the girls into danger.’
apparently there was a cloudburst on the top of this hill some years back,’ said mrs mannering,‘and such a deluge of water fell that it undermined the foundations of the castle, and most of theroad up to it slid away down the hillside. so, you see, it really might be very dangerous to exploreup there.’
‘we’ll be very careful,’ promised jack, delighted that mrs mannering hadn’t forbidden outrighttheir going up the hill to the castle.
he told the others, and they were thrilled. ‘we’ll go up tomorrow, shall we?’ said jack. ‘i reallydo want to hunt about to see if there is any sign of an eagle’s nest.’
that afternoon, in their wanderings, they had a curious feeling of being followed. once or twicejack turned round, sure that someone was behind them. but there was never anyone there.
‘funny,’ he said to philip in a low voice. ‘i felt certain there was someone behind us then – iheard the crack of a twig – as if someone had trodden on it and broken it.’
‘yes – i thought so too,’ said philip. he looked puzzled. ‘i tell you what, jack. when we getinto that patch of trees, i’ll crouch down behind a bush and stop, whilst you others go on. then, ifthere’s anyone following behind us for some reason, i’ll see them.’
the girls were told what philip was going to do. they too had felt that there was someonebehind them. they all walked into the patch of trees, and then, when he came to a convenientlythick bush, philip dropped down suddenly behind it and hid, whilst the others walked on, talkingloudly.
philip lay there and listened. he could hear nothing at first. then he heard a rustle and his heartbeat fast. who was it tracking them, and why? there didn’t seem any sense in it.
someone came up to his bush. someone crept past without seeing him. philip gazed at thesomeone and was so astonished that he let out an exclamation.
‘well!’
a girl with ragged clothes, bare feet and wild, curling hair jumped violently and turned round.
in a trice philip had jumped up and had hold of her wrists. he did not hold her roughly, but heheld her too firmly for her to get away. she tried to bite him, and kicked out with her bare feet.
‘now don’t be silly,’ said philip. ‘i’ll let you go when you tell me who you are and why you arefollowing us.’
the girl said nothing, but glared at philip out of black eyes. the others, hearing philip’s voice,came running back.
‘this is the person who was following us, but i can’t get a word out of her,’ said philip.
‘she’s a wild girl,’ said dinah. the girl scowled at her. then she glanced at kiki, on jack’sshoulder, and stared as if she couldn’t take her eyes off her.
‘i believe she was only following us to get a glimpse of the parrot!’ said philip, with a laugh. ‘isthat right, wild girl?’
the girl nodded, ‘ah, that’s right,’ she said.
‘ah, that’s right,’ said kiki. the girl stared and gave a laugh of surprise. it altered her face atonce, and gave her a merry, mischievous look.
‘what’s your name?’ asked philip, letting go her wrists.
‘tassie,’ said the girl. ‘i saw that bird, and i came after you. i didn’t mean no harm. i live roundthe hill with my mother. i know where you live. i know all you do.’
‘oh – been spying round a bit, and following us, i suppose!’ said jack. ‘do you know thishillside well?’
tassie nodded. her bright black eyes hardly left kiki. she seemed fascinated by the parrot.
‘pop goes the weasel,’ said kiki to her, in a solemn voice. ‘open your book at page six.’
‘i say – do you know if the eagles nest on this hill?’ asked jack suddenly. he thought it quitelikely that this wild little girl might know things like that.
‘what’s an eagle?’ said tassie.
‘a big bird,’ said jack. ‘a very big bird with a curved beak, and . . .’
‘like your bird there?’ said tassie, pointing to kiki.
‘oh no,’ said jack. ‘well – never mind. if you don’t know what an eagle is like, you won’tknow where it nests either.’
‘it’s time to go back home,’ said philip. ‘i’m hungry. tassie, take us the shortest way home!’
to philip’s surprise tassie turned round and plunged down the hillside, as sure-footed as a goat.
the others followed. she took them such a short cut that all of them were amazed when they sawspring cottage in front of them.
‘thanks, tassie,’ said philip, and kiki echoed his words. ‘thanks, tassie.’
tassie smiled, and her usual, rather sulky look fled. ‘i’ll see you again,’ she said, and turned togo.
‘did you say you lived at that old cottage round the hill?’ yelled jack after her.
‘ah, that’s right!’ she shouted back, and disappeared into the bushes.
