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discuss what to do. It was difficult to get anything intelligible out
of David, who seemed suddenly to have forgotten any English words he
knew.
Jack flapped his arms, raised his eyebrows and pointed in front of
him, meaning to ask if they were near the butterfly valley. David
understood, but he hesitated.
"I hope he hasn't lost the way," said Jack to Philip. "He seemed sure
enough of the direction yesterday  now he doesn't seem very certain.
Blow!"
"Well, we can't stop here," said Dinah, shivering in the clammy mist.
"There's no shelter and it's jolly cold. Oh for the sun again!"
"Go on!" said Jack to David. "It's the only thing to do till we find
some kind of shelter. It's too cold to hang about till the mist has
gone. If we go the wrong way we can turn back and go right when the
mist disappears."
So they went on, following David's donkey through the wet mist. Kiki
was very silent. She didn't understand the mist and was afraid of it.
Snowy kept close to Philip's donkey, and was not nearly so full of spring
and liveliness. Everyone disliked the mist thoroughly.
"When we find a sheltered place we'll stop for lunch." said Philip.
"I'm sure we're all getting frightfully hungry now, but we seem to be
on quite a bare bit of mountainside, hopeless to picnic in. We'd all
be down with colds tomorrow!"
They ambled on, nose to tail, pulling their jerseys close, glad of
their coats too. Jack began to look rather worried. He stopped his donkey
and went to walk beside Philip's.
"What's up?" said Philip, seeing Jack's serious face.
"We've left the track," said Jack. "Haven't you noticed? We've
followed some kind of track up till an hour or two back  but now I'm
pretty certain we've lost it. Goodness knows where David's heading for.
I doubt if he's even noticed we're not on any track at all."
Philip whistled. "Don't let the girls hear you. They'll be scared.
Yes, you're right. There's not the vestige of a track here. David's
lost the way."
 "Better ask him," said Jack and rode to the front of the line. "Is
this the right way?" he asked David slowly, so as to be understood.
"Where is the track?" He pointed downwards to the ground.
David was looking solemn too. He shrugged his shoulders and said
something in his sing-song voice. Jack rode back to Philip.
"I think he knows he's off the track, but he's hoping to pick it up
further on. Anyway he doesn't seem inclined to stop or go back."
"Well  he's our guide," said Philip, after a pause. "We'll have to
trust him. He knows these mountains better than we do."
"Yes. But he's a poor stick," said Jack. "Not much brain. I wouldn't
put it past him to go on losing us deeper and deeper in these mountains,
once he'd begun! He just wouldn't know what else to do."
"What a horrible idea!" said Philip. "Good thing we've got so much
food with us, if that's what he means to do!"
They came at last to a big outcrop of rocks, which would give them
shelter from the wet, chilly wind. "Better have a meal here," said Philip.
"I'd like something hot to drink. Did Mrs. Evans put in a teakettle?"
"Yes. If we can find a stream or spring, we'll build a little fire
and boil some water for cocoa or something," said Jack.
But there was no spring and no stream. It was most annoying.
"Considering the dozens we've passed this morning, and waded through,
I call it a bit hard that there's not even a tiny one here," said Dinah.
"I'm jolly thirsty too."
They had to have a meal without anything to drink. They were very
hungry, and the food seemed to warm them a little. They played a game
of tag to get themselves thoroughly warm after the meal. David looked
as if he thought they had gone mad. Snowy joined in wildly, neatly
tripping everyone up. Kiki rose in the air and screamed.
"Look at David's face! He thinks we're all crazy!" giggled Lucy-Ann.
She sank down on a rock. "Oh, I can't run any more. I've got a stitch
in my side."
 "Stitchinmyside, stitchinmyside," chanted Kiki, running all the
words together. "Pop goes the weasel!"
"The mist's clearing! Hurrah!" suddenly cried Jack, and he pointed
upwards. The sun could be seen quite clearly, struggling to get through
the clouds of mist.
Everyone cheered up at once. Even David looked less dismal. "Let's
try to get to the Butterfly Valley before the evening," said Jack to
David, doing the flapping business vigorously to make sure David
understood. David nodded.
They mounted the donkeys again and set off once more. They could see
much further in front now. Quite a big stretch of mountainside was spread
before them. The world suddenly seemed a much bigger place.
They rode on steadily. The mist thinned more and more rapidly, and
the children felt the heat of the sun on their heads. They took off
their coats, revelling in the warmth, after the chilliness of the mist.
"Look  we can see the nearest mountain-tops now," called Jack. "And
the distant ones will soon be uncovered too. Thank goodness!"
"We ought to see the Vale of Butterflies soon," said Lucy-Ann, eagerly.
"David said we'd get there today. I wonder where it is. Look, there's
a butterfly, Philip."
Philip glanced at it. "Only a meadow-brown," he said. "We've seen
heaps of those." He looked before him searchingly and then put his
field-glasses to his eyes.
"There's a valley which might be it," he said, pointing. "Hey, David!
Is that the Vale of Butterflies?"
David looked where Philip was pointing. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Iss. No," he said.
"Yes, no! Whatever does he mean by that?" said Philip in disgust.
"I suppose, in plain English, he means he hasn't the faintest idea.
Well, we'll go on and hope for the best. It looks a nice sheltered kind
of valley, the sort that might be hot enough for all kinds of insects
and flowers."
Picturing a perfect paradise of brilliant flowers and equally
brilliant butterflies, the children rode on and on down towards the
valley in the far distance. It was much further than they thought. That
was the worst of travelling in mountains. Everywhere was about twice
as far as you imagined it to be. Most disappointing!
It was late when they rode into the valley, which was more of a shallow
depression between two high mountains than a real lowland valley. It
was sheltered, and certainly it had more flowers in it than they had
so far seen  but there were no butterflies!
"This can't be it!" said Philip in disappointment. "Is it, David?"
David shook his head. He was looking round in a puzzled manner, and
it was quite clear that he didn't know where he was.
"If this is not the butterfly place, where is it?" asked Jack slowly
and clearly. David shook his head again. He was really a maddening person,
no use as a guide at all.
"Well," said Philip, "he's brought us the wrong way, to a place he
doesn't know, but it's quite warm and sheltered, so we'll make the best
of it tonight. Tomorrow we'll get the map from David, see if we can
find out the way, and set off with ourselves as guides. He's as much
use as Kiki to guide us in these mountains!"
They set up their camp again, feeling rather disappointed. They had
so hoped to come to the place they wanted that night, and to set up
camp properly for a few days, to revel in hordes of common and uncommon
butterflies. Now they would have to go hunting for it again, and goodness
knew if they would ever find it! [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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