Читать книгу The Saucy Jane Family - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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Next morning at breakfast-time all the family talked about when they could go and see the Saucy Jane.

“The sooner the better, I think,” said Daddy. “What about to-day? There’s a bus that goes quite near Mayberry. We could catch it and walk across the fields to the canal.”

“Oh, Daddy—to-day!” said Belinda. “Yes, let’s go to-day. It’s such a lovely day.”

So when they had washed up the breakfast things, tidied the caravans, and locked the doors, they all set off. They caught the bus at the corner of the lane and settled down for a fairly long ride.

“What is a canal, Daddy? Is it a river?” asked Ann.

“Oh, no,” said Daddy. “A canal is made by man—cut out by machinery, and filled with water. It is usually very straight, but if it meets a hill it goes round it.”

“Doesn’t it ever go through it?” asked Mike.

“Yes, sometimes. Some canals go through quite long tunnels,” said Daddy; “a mile, two miles or more.”

“Do fishes live in canal water—and wild birds?” asked Belinda.

“Oh, yes,” said Daddy. “They are old now, these canals we have made all over the country, and to you they will look just like rivers. They have weeds growing in them, fish of many kinds, wild birds on the banks. Trees lean over the sides, fields come right down to the canals, though where they run through towns there are houses by them, of course.”

“Why did we build canals, when we have so many rivers?” asked Mike.

“Well, many goods are sent by water, instead of by rail, which is very dear,” said Daddy. “In the old days, when goods had to be taken about all over the country, and the roads were bad, and the railways were only just beginning, to take them by water was a very good way. But rivers wind about too much—so straight canals were cut.”

“I see,” said Mike. “I suppose big boats were loaded in the towns, and then they were taken across the country to other big towns—by canal.”

“Yes,” said Daddy. “I’ll show you the boats that take them—canal-boats and barges. You’ll see plenty going by if we live on the houseboat.”

“If! You mean when!” cried Belinda. “Are we nearly there, Daddy? I want to see the canal and the Saucy Jane. I can’t wait another minute.”

But she had to wait, because the bus was not yet near Mayberry. At last it stopped at a little inn and the bus conductor called to Daddy.

“This is where you get out, sir. You’ll find the canal across those fields there. You can just see it from here.”

They all got out. They climbed the stile and walked across a cornfield by a narrow path right through the middle of the whispering corn. The corn was as high as Ann, and she liked looking through the forest of tall green stalks.

They crossed another field and then came to the canal. It was, as Daddy had said, very like an ordinary river. Trees and bushes overhung the opposite side, but the cornfield went right down to the edge of the side they were on.

The canal stretched as far as they could see, blue and straight. A little way up it, on the opposite side, were two or three big white boats—houseboats, with people living in them. Smoke rose from the chimney of one of them.

“There are the boats,” said Mummy. “I wonder which is the Saucy Jane? Dear me, Daddy, how are we going to get across?”

“Borrow a little boat and row it!” said Daddy. “Come along!”

They were soon just opposite the houseboats. One was very gay indeed, with red geraniums and blue lobelias planted in pots and baskets all round the sitting-space on the little roof.

“I do hope that’s the Saucy Jane,” said Belinda to Ann. “It’s much the nicest. It’s so shining white, too!”

There was a small cottage by the canal, and a woman was in the garden hanging out clothes. Daddy called to her. “Is the Saucy Jane over there? Can we get to her in a boat?”

“Yes, that’s the Saucy Jane,” said the woman. “The boat with the geraniums. She’s got a little boat belonging to her, but I expect it’s moored beside her. You’re welcome to borrow my boat, if you like. It’s the little dinghy down beside you.”

“Thank you,” said Daddy.

Everyone got in, Daddy untied the rope and took the oars. Over the water they went to the Saucy Jane. Somebody came out on deck, appearing from the cabin-part in the middle.

Mummy gave a cry of delight. “Molly! You’re here! We’ve come to see the boat!”

“Oh, what fun!” cried Mummy’s friend. “I never expected you so soon. Look, tie your dinghy just there—and climb up.”

In great excitement the children climbed up on the spotless deck. So this was the Saucy Jane—a house on a boat! They looked at the cabin-part; proper doors led into it, two doors, painted white with a little red line round the panels.

There were chairs on deck to sit in and watch the boats that went by. There were even chairs on the roof-part, up by the geraniums and lobelias. Ann didn’t know which to do first—climb up on the roof by the little iron ladder, or go into the exciting-looking cabin.

“Come along and I’ll show you over the Saucy Jane,” said Mummy’s friend, smiling. “You can call me Auntie Molly. When you’ve seen everything, we’ll sit down and have some biscuits and lemonade, and talk about whether you’d like to have a holiday here.”

“We would, we would!” said all three children together. “We’ve made up our minds already!”