Читать книгу Five Have a Wonderful Time - Enid blyton - Страница 7

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As they had their supper they talked about the queer new arrivals. Timmy sat close to George, trying to tell her that he was sorry for causing such a disturbance. She patted him and scolded him at the same time.

‘I quite understand that you don’t like the snakes, Timmy—but when I tell you to stop barking and come away you MUST do as you’re told! Do you understand?’

Timmy’s tail dropped and he put his big head on George’s knee. He gave a little whine.

‘I don’t think he’ll ever go near that box again, now he’s seen the snakes that came out of it,’ said Anne. ‘You should have seen how scared he was when he looked out of the window with me and saw them. He went and hid under the table.’

‘It’s a pity we’ve made a bad start with the fair-folk,’ said Julian. ‘I don’t expect they like children much, because as a rule the kids would make themselves an awful nuisance—peering here and poking there.’

‘I think I can hear more caravans arriving,’ said George, and Timmy pricked up his ears and growled. ‘Be quiet, Timmy. We’re not the only ones allowed in this field!’

Dick went to the window and peered out into the twilight. He saw some large dark shapes in another part of the field, looming out of the darkness. A little camp-fire burned brightly in front of one, showing a small figure bending over it.

‘These are jolly good sandwiches, Anne,’ said Dick. ‘What about another pickled onion, everyone?’

‘No Dick,’ said Anne, firmly. ‘You’ve eaten your sandwich.’

‘Well, I can eat a pickled onion without a sandwich, can’t I?’ said Dick. ‘Hand over, Anne.’

Anne wouldn’t. ‘I’ve hidden them,’ she said. ‘You want some for tomorrow, don’t you? Don’t be greedy, Dick. Have a biscuit if you’re still hungry.’

‘I meant to ask if we could have a camp-fire outside tonight,’ said George, remembering. ‘But somehow I feel so sleepy I think I’d nod off if I sat by it!’

‘I feel sleepy too,’ said Anne. ‘Let’s clear up, George, and snuggle into our bunks. The boys can go to their caravan and read or play games if they want to.’

Dick yawned. ‘Well—I might read for a bit,’ he said. ‘I hope you’ve got enough water, Anne, for the various things you use it for—because I do NOT intend to stumble over this dark field to the stream, and fall over snakes and anything else the fair-folk may have strewn carelessly about the grass!’

‘You don’t think those snakes could get loose, do you?’ said Anne, anxiously.

‘Of course not!’ said Julian. ‘Anyway, Timmy will bark the place down if even a hedgehog comes roving by, so you don’t need to worry about snakes!’

The boys said good night and went off to their own caravan. The girls saw a light suddenly shine out there, and shadows moved across the curtains drawn over the windows.

‘Dick’s lighted their lamp,’ said Anne. Theirs was already lighted, and the caravan looked cosy and friendly. Anne showed George how to put up her bunk. It clicked into place, felt nice and firm and was most inviting-looking.

The girls made their beds in the bunks, putting in sheets and blankets and rugs. ‘Where’s my pillow?’ asked George. ‘Oh—it’s a cushion in the daytime, is it? What a good idea!’

She and Anne took the covers off the two cushions in the chairs, and underneath were the pillow-cases over the pillows, ready for the night!

They undressed, washed in stream water in the little sink, cleaned their teeth and brushed their hair. ‘Does the water go under the caravan when I pull the plug out of the sink?’ said George. ‘Here goes!’

The water gurgled out and splashed on the ground under the van. Timmy pricked up his ears and listened. He could see that he would have to get used to quite a lot of new noises here!

‘Got your torch?’ said Anne when at last they had both got into their bunks. ‘I’m going to blow out the lamp. If you want anything in the night you’ll have to put on your torch, George. Look at Timmy sitting on the floor still! He doesn’t realize we’ve gone to bed! Tim—are you waiting for us to go upstairs?’

Timmy thumped his tail on the floor. That was just exactly what he was waiting for. When George went to bed she always went upstairs, whether she was at school or at home—and though he hadn’t managed to discover any stairs in the caravan yet, he was sure that George knew where they were!

It took Timmy a few minutes to realize that George was going to sleep for the night in the bunk she had put up against the wall. Then, with one bound he was on top of her, and settled down on her legs. She gave a groan.

‘Oh, Timmy—you are rough! Get off my legs—get further down—get into the curve of my knees.’

Timmy found the bunk too small to be really comfortable. However he managed to curl himself up in as small a space as possible, put his head down on one of George’s knees, gave one of his heavy sighs, and fell asleep.

He had one ear open all the time, though—an ear for a rat that for some peculiar reason ran over the roof—an ear for a daring rabbit that nibbled the grass under the caravan—and a very alert ear for a big cockchafer that flew straight into the glass pane of the right-hand window, just above George’s bunk.

Plang! It collided with the pane, and fell back, stunned. Timmy couldn’t for the life of him think what it was, but soon fell asleep again, still with one ear open. The blackbird in the hawthorn tree woke him up early. It had thought of a perfectly new melody, and was trying it out very loudly and deliberately. A thrush nearby joined in.

‘Mind how you do it, mind how you do it!’ sang the thrush at the top of its voice. Timmy sat up and stretched. George woke up at once, because Timmy trod heavily on her middle.

She couldn’t think where she was at first, then she remembered and smiled. Of course—in a caravan, with Anne. How that blackbird sang—a better song than the thrush! Cows mooed in the distance, and the early morning sun slid in through the window and picked out the clock and the bowl of primroses.

Timmy settled down. If George wasn’t going to get up neither was he! George shut her eyes and fell asleep again too. Outside, the camp began to awake. Caravan doors opened. Fires were lighted. Somebody went down to the stream to get water.

The boys came banging at the door of the girls’ caravan. ‘Come on, sleepyheads! It’s half-past seven, and we’re hungry!’

‘Goodness!’ said Anne, sitting up, bright-eyed with sleep. ‘George! Wake up!’

It wasn’t long before they were all sitting round a little fire, from which came a very nice smell. Dick was frying bacon and eggs, and the smell made everyone very hungry. Anne had boiled a kettle on her little stove, and made some tea. She came down the steps with a tray on which she had put the teapot and hot water.

‘Anne always does things properly,’ said Dick. ‘Here, hold your plate out, Ju—your bacon’s done. Take your nose out of the way, Timmy, you silly dog—you’ll get it splashed with hot fat again. Do look after Timmy when I’m cooking, George. He’s already wolfed one slice of bacon.’

‘Well, it saved you cooking it,’ said George. ‘I say, aren’t there a lot of caravans here now? They must have come last night.’

They stared round at the field. Besides the snake-man’s caravan, and Bufflo’s and Mr. India-rubber’s, there were four or five more.

One interested the children very much. It was a brilliant yellow with red flames painted on the sides. The name on it was ‘Alfredo, the Fire Eater’.

‘I imagine him to be a great big fierce chap,’ said Dick. ‘A regular fire-eater, with a terribly ferocious temper, an enormous voice and a great stride when he walks.’

‘He will probably be a skinny little fellow who trots along like a pony,’ said Julian.

‘There’s someone coming out of his caravan now,’ said George. ‘Look.’

‘It’s a woman,’ said Anne. ‘His wife, I expect. How tiny she is—rather sweet. She looks Spanish, she’s so dark.’

‘This must be the fire-eater, coming behind her,’ said George. ‘Surely it is! And he’s JUST like you imagined him, Dick. How clever of you!’

A great big fellow came down the steps behind his tiny wife. He certainly looked very fierce, for he had a lion-like mane of tawny hair, and a big red face with large, gleaming eyes. He took enormous strides as he went, and his little wife had to run to keep up with him.

‘Just my idea of a fire-eater,’ said Dick, pleased. ‘I think we’ll keep out of his way until we know if he also dislikes children, like the snake-man. What a tiny wife he has! I bet he makes her run around him, and wait on him hand and foot.’

‘Well, he’s fetching water from the stream for her, anyway,’ said Anne. ‘Two huge pails. My word, he really does look like a fire-eater, doesn’t he?’

‘There’s somebody else, look,’ said Dick. ‘Now who would he be? Look at him going to the stream—he walks like a tiger or a cat—all slinky and powerful.’

‘The man who can set himself free from ropes no matter how he’s tied!’ said Anne. ‘I’m sure he is.’

It was most exciting to watch the new arrivals. They all seemed to know one another. They stopped to talk, they laughed, they visited one another’s caravans, and finally three of the women set off together with baskets.

‘Going off to shop,’ said Anne. ‘That’s what I ought to do. Coming George? There’s a bus that goes down to the village in about ten minutes. We can easily clear up when we come back.’

‘Right,’ said George, and got up too. ‘What are the boys going to do while we’re gone?’

‘Oh, fetch more water, find sticks for the fire, and see to their own bunks,’ said Anne, airily.

‘Are we really?’ said Dick, grinning. ‘Well, we might. On the other hand, we might not. Anyway, you two go, because food is getting rather low. A very serious thought, that! Anne, get me some more tooth-paste, will you? And if you can spot some of those doughnuts at the dairy, bring a dozen back with you.’

‘Yes—and see if you can get a tin of pineapple,’ said Julian. ‘Don’t forget we want milk too.’

‘If you want many more things you’ll have to come and help us carry them,’ said Anne. ‘Anything else?’

‘Call at the post office and see if there are any letters,’ said Dick. ‘And don’t forget to buy a paper. We may as well find out if anything has happened in the outside world! Not that I feel I can take much interest in it at the moment.’

‘Right,’ said Anne. ‘Come on, George—we shall miss that bus!’ And off they went with Timmy at their heels.