10

a disturbing night

the sun was shining brightly when the camp awoke next day. it made them all feel cheerful andlively. snowy, who had resented david sleeping with philip and jack the night before, and hadbutted him continually, bounded about lightly everywhere, butting david whenever he met him.

‘what happened to you last night, david?’ asked jack, when they were all having a meal. ‘whywere you so frightened?’

‘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 awayin 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 goneto see if the donkeys were all right in the night, and had heard these noises near by where theywere tethered.

‘that explains why we didn’t hear them, i suppose,’ said jack. ‘david makes them sound likeanimal noises – fierce and savage!’

lucy-ann looked scared. ‘oh! you don’t think there are wild animals anywhere about here, doyou, jack? i mean, fierce wild animals?’

jack grinned. ‘well, if you are thinking of lions and tigers and panthers and bears, i think i cansay 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 idid 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. that could scare him.’

david did not seem to want to go any further. he kept pointing back over the way they hadcome. but the children were not going to let their trip come to such a disappointing end. theymeant to go and find the butterfly valley, if it took them all week! there was a lot of flapping tomake david understand this.

he turned even more silent, 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. perhapsvery few people knew about it.

they all set off across the valley and up into the mountains again. perhaps the next valley wouldbe 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 they kept a keen look-out in case they should comeacross 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 wellenough, if we had to go back. but he’s lost us once and i don’t like to trust him too much. iwouldn’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, andlooked quite unclimbable.

‘what a peculiar mountain!’ said dinah, gazing up. ‘i shouldn’t think anyone ever climbed thatto 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 near by.

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. theywere all tired that evening, children and donkeys both, for they had had a very long day. they cutthe big ham that mrs evans had provided for them, afraid that it might go bad if they didn’t eat itsoon.

david looked as if he thought he would sleep in the tent again that night, for he cast variouslonging glances in that direction. however, the night was hot, and he felt he couldn’t bear to beunder cover. so he arranged himself under his rug in the open, fairly near to the two tents. thedonkeys 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. shewent right down to the bottom of her sleeping-bag, frightened. what could it be? was it the wildanimal that david had heard?

then she heard a howl! the boys heard it too, and awoke. david, outside, was awake, havingheard both the noises. he was shivering with fright, all kinds of fears coming into his mind atonce.

the moon was up and everywhere 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 wolves! he was dreaming! wolves had notbeen known in the mountains for hundreds of years. but if those creatures were not wolves, whatwere they? and that noise of snuffling he had heard. that must have been a wolf too! no, not awolf. it couldn’t have been such a thing.

david sat there, hugging his knees, his mind going round and round – wolves or not? wolves ornot? what were they doing near the donkeys?

another howl came – half a howl, half a bark, a horrible noise. david shot into the boys’ tentand 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 badly scared. ‘you’ve had a baddream.’

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

the boys stared as if they could not believe their eyes. they certainly looked like wolves! jackfelt a cold shiver down his back. good gracious! was he dreaming? those creatures were morelike wolves than anything else!

snowy the kid was trembling as much as david was. the trembling somehow made the boysfeel scared too. the only person who was not in the least scared was kiki.

she too had caught sight of the wolves. she sailed out of the tent at top speed to go andinvestigate. anything unusual always interested kiki. she flew above the animals, whose eyesgleamed 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 mountain-side.

the wolves started in fright. then with one accord they all galloped away down the hillside intothe 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 boyshad slept again that night. david had been too scared to, and the boys had been too puzzled.

daylight was almost on the mountain. david crept down quietly to the donkeys. they were allthere, 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 anywolf 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, gavea terrified yell and fell to the ground, covering his face. the boys, holding their breath, thoughtthey saw something moving in the bushes, but they couldn’t see what.

david gave another yell and got to his feet. he mounted a donkey and rode at top speed up tothe 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 musthave gone mad. he made a violent gesture to them, pointed to the following donkeys as if to tellthe boys to mount and follow him, and then galloped off at breakneck speed.

they heard the hooves of his donkey echoing on the mountain-side for some time. the otherdonkeys looked doubtfully at one another, and then, to the boys’ dismay, trotted after david!

‘hi! come back, david!’ 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 the others behind. ina trice they had all disappeared, and the sound of their hooves grew fainter and fainter as theygalloped away after david and his mount.

the two boys sat down suddenly. they felt faint. jack turned pale. he looked at philip and bithis 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 fromtheir tent.

‘what’s happened? what’s all the yelling? was that david galloping away? we didn’t dare tolook!’

‘yes – it was david – running away from us – and all the donkeys have gone after him,’ saidphilip bitterly. ‘we’re in a pretty fix now!’

nobody said anything. lucy-ann looked really alarmed. no david! no donkeys! what werethey going to do?

jack put his arm round her as she came and sat down beside him. ‘it’s all right! we’ve been inworse fixes than this! at the worst it only means a few days here, because as soon as he gets backto the farm, bill will come and look for us.’

‘good thing we unloaded the donkeys and have got plenty of food,’ said philip. ‘and our tentsand sleeping-bags. blow david! he’s a nuisance.’

‘i wonder what he saw to make him gallop off like that,’ said jack. ‘all i could make out was“black, black, black!”’

‘black what?’ asked dinah.

‘black nothing. just black,’ said jack. ‘let’s go down to the place where he got his fright andsee if we can see anything.’

‘oh no!’ said the girls at once.

‘well, i’ll go, and philip can stay here with you,’ said jack, and off he went. the others watchedhim, holding their breath. he peered all round and then turned and shook his head and shouted.

‘nothing here! not a thing to see! david must have been seeing things! his bad night upsethim.’

he came back. ‘but what about those animals in the night?’ said philip, after a pause. ‘thosewolves. we both saw those. they seemed real enough!’

yes – what about those wolves!