Читать книгу The Secret of Cliff Castle - Enid blyton - Страница 3

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Peter and Pam leaned out of the railway carriage together and waved good-bye to their mother as their train slowly left the long platform.

“Good-bye, Mother! Good-bye!”

“Be good!” called Mother. “Good-bye! Have a lovely holiday! Give my love to Auntie Hetty.”

“I hope Brock will be at the station to meet us,” said Peter. “Good old Brock. It will be lovely to see his round, smiling face again.”

Brock was their cousin. They were going to stay with him for part of the summer holidays, down in the country village of Rockhurst. Usually they went to the sea, but this summer Mother thought it would be nice for them to be in the country. Then Auntie Hetty had written to invite them for three weeks, and the children had been thrilled.

“We can go to the farm and see all the new animals there,” said Pam. “And we can go exploring in the woods and find exciting things there. I hope there are some woods near.”

“There are always woods in the country,” said Peter. “Anyway, Brock will know all the places to go to. It’s fun going to a place we’ve never been to before!”

The train sped on. It soon left London behind, and green fields took the place of houses and streets. The train was an express, and stopped at very few stations. The children had sandwiches with them, and when Pam’s wrist-watch showed half-past twelve, Peter undid the parcel Mother had handed them, and took out the packets of food.

“I always feel so hungry in a train, somehow,” said Pam. “Oooh—ham sandwiches. How lovely! What’s in that other packet, Peter?”

“Biscuits, and two pieces of cake,” said Peter, looking to see. “Oh, and two bars of chocolate as well. What a nice lunch. Mother’s put in some lemonade, too—it’s in that bag, Pam. Get it down.”

Pam reached down the leather bag, in which Mother had squeezed a bottle of lemonade and two cardboard cups. Soon the two children were eating a lovely lunch, watching the scenery as it flew by the carriage window.

“We shall arrive at Rockhurst at half-past three,” said Peter. “But we’ve got to change at Deane. We must look out for that.”

It was quite easy to change at Deane. A porter came by, calling, “Change here for Rockhurst! Change here for Rockhurst,” and out the children hopped with their suit-cases. The little train for Rockhurst stood on the other side of the platform, and they simply got out of one train and into the other! It was fun.

“Shan’t be long now,” said Peter. “You know, Pam, I feel awfully excited. I feel as if we’re going to have adventures!”

“I feel that too,” said Pam. “But I usually do feel like that when I’m setting out on a holiday.”

“So do I,” said Peter. “But this time I feel we really are. Proper adventures, I mean. Sort of dangerous, you know!”

“Do you really?” said Pam, feeling all excited too. “Oooh, I hope we do have some. I’d like some. School was so dull last term that I could do with something exciting in the hols!”

“Goodness! Isn’t it slow, after the express!” said Pam. “We could almost lean out of the window and pick flowers off the bank!”

Peter laughed. “Well, in another twenty minutes we shall be there,” he said. “And then we’ll see old Brock.”

The time went by, and at exactly half-past three the little train drew in at a small country platform, where red geraniums flared in beds at the back. “Rockhurst!” shouted the one and only porter. “ROCKHURST!”

Peter jumped out, and helped Pam down. She looked eagerly up and down the platform, whilst Peter dragged out the two suit-cases and the big leather bag. Pam gave a shriek.

PETER DRAGGED OUT THE TWO SUIT-CASES.

“Oh! There’s Brock! Brock! Brock! Here we are! Hallo!”

Brock came rushing up. He was a tall boy, with a strong body, and a red, smiling face. His eyes shone very blue in the sunshine as he greeted his cousins. He was twelve, the same age as Peter, but stronger and taller. Pam was eleven, smaller than either of the boys.

Brock clapped his cousins on the back, and grinned at them. “Hallo! Glad to see you both! Welcome to Rockhurst!”

“Hallo!” said Peter, smiling. “It’s fine to see you, Brock. Golly, you’ve grown awfully tall since we saw you last year. You make me quite feel small.”

“Come on,” said Brock, taking one of the suit-cases. “Mother’s outside with the pony-cart. It’ll just about take us all, though we’ll have to put our feet on these cases.”

They gave up their tickets, and went out of the station, chattering hard. Pam called out to her aunt, in delight, “Hallo, Aunt Hetty! Here we are! It is nice of you to come and meet us.”

THEY GAVE UP THEIR TICKETS, AND WENT OUT OF THE STATION, CHATTERING HARD.

“Hallo, my dears,” said their aunt. “Glad to see you. Climb into the cart. Brock, hand up the cases first, and I’ll pack them under our feet.”

Soon the four of them were driving swiftly along the country lanes. Sally, the pony, was a smart little beast, and cantered along merrily. The sun shone down, and everything looked gay and holiday-like. The children felt very happy.

They soon arrived at Brock’s home. It was a comfortable-looking house, rather rambling, set in a nice big garden. The children liked the look of it very much.

“It’s a friendly sort of house, isn’t it?” said Pam. “Oh, Aunt Hetty, isn’t the beginning of a holiday exciting?”

“Very exciting!” said their aunt. “Quite the most exciting part of a holiday, I always think.”

“But it isn’t going to be the most exciting part of this holiday!” said Peter, as the pony trotted in at the gate and came to a standstill in front of the house. “I’ve got a funny feeling about this holiday. It’s going to be exciting all the way through!”

“What do you mean?” asked Brock, in surprise.

“I don’t exactly know,” said Peter, jumping down, and helping his aunt out. “But I’ve got a Feeling! You just wait and see!”

“Well, I hope your Feeling is right!” said Brock, and they all went into the house.