5 a little exploring

the four children went to the broken-down door and gazed out at the towering mountains aroundthem. they seemed to hem the valley in and make it a green prison. none of the children had seensuch high mountains before. clouds hung about halfway up two or three of them, and their topsshowed now and again as the clouds shifted and parted.

‘it’s a very lonely kind of place,’ said jack. ‘i bet there’s all kinds of strange birds here – buti’ve only seen one or two so far. it’s funny that those men should have known where to land inthis valley – that smooth strip of grass makes a splendid landing ground. it looks as if they’ve beenhere before. but why should they come here ? there doesn’t seem anything to come for at all – nohotel, not even a cottage that isn’t burnt, as far as we can see.’

‘oh, there may be,’ said philip. ‘hey, look at that little lizard! i’ve never seen one like thatbefore. what a pretty little fellow!’

the lizard ran close by philip’s feet. the boy bent down quietly and his left hand caught thetiny creature by the neck. if he had caught it by the tail it would probably have snapped off, andthe lizard would have run away without it.

‘oh, put it down, philip, do!’ said dinah. ‘horrid creature!’

‘it isn’t,’ said philip. ‘look at its dear little feet with fingers on. do look, dinah.’

dinah gave a squeal and pushed philip away. lucy-ann and jack looked at the tiny lizard withinterest.

‘it’s like a very, very small dragon,’ said jack. ‘open your hand and see ifit will stay with you,philip.’

‘of course it will!’ said philip, who always seemed to exercise a strange spell over any creaturehe picked up. he opened his hand and let the lizard lie on his open palm. it made no attempt toescape at all.

‘see? it wants to stay with me,’ said philip. ‘and so it shall. what’s your name, little thing?

lizzie? well, of course, i might have known that.’

lucy-ann giggled, forgetting her worries for a moment. what a lovely name for a lizard!

lizzie. just like philip to think of that.

‘i’ll see if i can catch a few flies for you, lizzie,’ said philip, and went to a sunny patch whereflies were buzzing. he caught one and held it in finger and thumb over the lizard’s head. in a tricethe fly was gone, and the lizard blinked with pleasure.

‘now i suppose you’ll let the lizard live in your pocket or somewhere about you for ages,’ saiddinah in disgust. ‘i shan’t go near you. if you haven’t got a mouse down your neck you’ve got atoad in your pocket or a baby hedgehog crawling about you, or a few beetles. i think you’re anawful boy.’

‘don’t let’s squabble now,’ said jack. ‘we’ve bigger things to bother about than lizards.’

the lizard popped into philip’s sleeve. kiki had been watching it with her head on one side. shewas not fond of philip’s pets, and was often jealous of them.

‘pop goes the lizard,’ she said, making one of her unexpected apt remarks. the others roaredwith laughter. kiki was pleased. she swayed herself from side to side and cracked her beak.

‘shhhhhhhhhh!’ she said.

‘oh, kiki, i’m glad we brought you,’ said jack. ‘now, everybody, what are our next plans?’

‘well, we simply must do a bit of exploring and see if there is anyone living in this valley,’ saidphilip. ‘if there is, we’re all right. if there isn’t – well, it’s just too bad. we’ll have to stay here tillwe’re rescued.’

‘rescued! and how do you think anyone is going to rescue us if they haven’t the foggiest ideawhere we are?’ demanded dinah. ‘don’t be silly, philip.’

‘well, do you propose to live here in this valley for the rest of your life, then?’ said philip. ‘oh,here’s lizzie again – coming out of my other sleeve. lizzie, you’re a jolly good explorer, i mustsay. i wish you could tell us the way out of this valley.’

dinah went as far from philip as she could. she simply could not bear his pets. it was a pitybecause they were really amusing and friendly.

‘you know, we’ll have to be careful we don’t get lost,’ said lucy-ann anxiously. ‘this valleyand these mountainsides are so enormous. we must keep together always.’

‘yes, we must,’ agreed jack. ‘and we must always be able to get back to this shed too, becauseour things are here. at least we shall have shelter here, and our rugs to lie on. if only we hadplenty to eat! those biscuits and chocolate won’t last long.’

your compass will come in jolly useful, jack,’ said philip, remembering it. ‘look here – whatabout setting off now, and doing some more exploring, making this shed a kind of headquarters tocome back to?’

yes, we will,’ said dinah. ‘but let’s cover up the suitcases and things with something in casethose men come here and see them.’

‘they won’t,’ said philip. ‘what could they possibly want to come snooping round an old burntcowshed for? we can leave the things here all night.’

they went out of the shed. the sun was just over the mountaintops now, shining into the valley.

the children saw the spire of smoke rising straight up from the fire the men must have made.

‘so long as we keep away from that direction, we should be all right,’ said jack. ‘come on –let’s take this path. it really looks as if it was once a proper path from this place to somewhereelse. we’d better notch the trees here and there as we go, to make sure we find our way back.’

lucy-ann liked the idea of that. it reminded her of pioneers and trackers and their ways. jackand philip each took out his knife. they made a cut on every fifth tree until they came out of thelittle wood and found themselves on a flower-strewn, grassy hillside.

‘it’s lovely, isn’t it?’ said lucy-ann, looking round at the carpet of flowers. ‘i’ve never seensuch bright colours. look at that blue flower, jack – it’s bluer than the sky itself. and oh, look atthis tiny pink flower – masses of it!’

‘shall we be seen out on this bare place?’ asked dinah suddenly. jack and philip lookeddownwards into the valley. they had been climbing up, and were now on the mountainside.

‘there’s the plane!’ said jack. ‘and look out – isn’t that one of the men walking over to it? liedown flat, all of you!’

they all promptly lay down flat. jack had his field glasses on and he put them to his eyes. hecould now see clearly that the man was the one called juan. he had a dead white face, black, thick,curly hair and a small black moustache. his neck was thick and his body was thick too. hedisappeared into the plane.

‘he’s got into the plane. wonder if he’s going off?’ said jack. ‘will he leave the other manbehind? he hasn’t started up the engines yet.’

after a minute or two the man came out again, carrying something, though jack could not seewhat it was. he walked off in the direction of the smoke. there was a thicket of trees near by andhe disappeared into this.

‘he just went into the plane to get something,’ said jack. ‘now he’s gone again. i think perhapswe’d better go another way, because if we can see him he could certainly see us, if he looked up.

see that gully over there? we’ll go that way. we shall be well hidden there.’

they made their way to the gully, which was a regular suntrap. there had obviously been a wayup there at some time or other. the children followed it, climbing higher. they came to a ledgethat ran dangerously round part of the mountainside. jack went first.

it wasn’t as dangerous as it looked. ‘i think it’s all right,’ he called. ‘it’s wider than it appears.

come on. i’m sure it leads to somewhere.’

they made their way round the ledge, and came to where the hillside gave them a marvellousview down into the valley and all around.

it was completely deserted. not a cow or sheep or goat to be seen. a little higher up was ablack, charred building that had clearly been a very large farm-house. only the blackened beamswere left, and part of the stone walls. everything else had fallen to the ground and lay in amiserable ugly ruin.

‘another ruin!’ said jack, in awe. ‘what has been happening in this beautiful valley? i simplycan’t understand it. why should houses be burnt like this? i’m beginning to think there isn’t a soulhere besides ourselves and those two men.’

‘i think you’re right,’ said philip. ‘there’s no smoke to be seen anywhere, and not a singledomestic animal, not even a dog. but what i can’t make out is why no one has come here from thesurrounding valleys to rebuild the houses and graze their cattle on this marvellous grass.’

‘perhaps there’s something bad about this valley,’ said lucy-ann with a shiver. ‘i don’t like thefeel of it very much.’

they sat down in the sun, which was now climbing high. they suddenly felt terribly hungry.

dinah unexpectedly produced biscuits and chocolate from a bag she carried.

‘i guessed we’d all be hungry soon,’ she said. ‘so i brought half the biscuits and choc we hadwith us.’

‘jolly good idea,’ said philip, pleased. ‘hey, lizzie, come out and have a crumb!’

dinah at once went a good distance away. lizzie came out from philip’s open collar and randown his front. it was plain that she meant to stay with philip.

‘lizzie’s down the well,’ remarked kiki, pecking a piece of chocolate from jack’s fingers.

‘kiki! give that back!’ cried jack. ‘where are your manners?’

‘down the well, down the well,’ said kiki, who seemed to have got the well on her brain.

they were all thirsty after the chocolate and biscuits. ‘i wish we could find something to drink –nice cool clear water like we found in the spring,’ said jack.

‘down the well,’ said kiki.

‘all right. you find us a well of water,’ said jack.

‘would it be safe to have a snooze?’ asked dinah, suddenly feeling very sleepy. ‘it’s nice herein the sun.’

‘well – only just a little one,’ said philip. ‘i should think we’re safe enough here. those menwouldn’t come up as far as this.’

‘you know – i think i can hear water somewhere,’ said lucy-ann as she lay flat on her back,the sun shining on her freckled face. ‘not very near. listen, all of you.’

they listened. certainly they could hear something that was not the wind blowing round. whatcould it be? it didn’t sound like the gurgling of a spring.

‘we’ll go and see,’ said jack. ‘you stay here, girls, if you like. philip and i will go.’

‘oh, no,’ said lucy-ann at once. ‘i’d rather come with you. you might lose us.’

so all four went off together in the direction of the curious noise. they climbed higher, andcame to a rocky, stony part which was steep and hard to climb. but the noise was now muchlouder.

‘once we round the next corner, we’ll see what it is,’ said jack. ‘come on!’

they climbed a little higher and then the path led abruptly round a crag of rock. it widened outa little the other side, and all four children stood gazing in awe at what was making the noise theyhad heard. it was a waterfall – but what a big one! it fell from a great height, almost sheerly downthe mountainside, and cascaded far below them, fine spray rising high in the air. it wetted theirfaces as they stood there, and yet they were quite a good way from the mass of water.

‘what a wonderful sight!’ said philip, awed. ‘i’ve never seen such a big waterfall in my life.

what a noise it makes. i almost have to shout. isn’t it grand?’

far below the waterfall resolved itself into a winding river that curved round the foot of themountain. the children could not see where it went to. the tumbling water shone and sparkled asit fell, and here and there rainbows shimmered. lucy-ann thought she had never seen a loveliersight.

she licked the spray off her face. it formed into little drops and ran down to her mouth. ‘i’mdrinking the spray,’ she said. ‘oh, look! – there’s a puddle in that rock, made of the continuallyfalling spray. do you think it would be all right to drink it?’

it was very clear and sparkling. jack tasted it. ‘yes, it’s fine,’ he said. ‘have some.’

they watched the waterfall for some time. kiki was simply thrilled with it. for some reason orother it filled her with mad delight. she flew near to it, getting splashed with the drops, squawkingloudly.

‘it’s a magnificent sight!’ said dinah, gazing at the roaring waterfall. ‘i could watch it all day.’

‘we’ll come again tomorrow,’ said jack. ‘but i really think we ought to be getting back now tothat cowshed. come on – it’s plain there’s nobody to help us just here.’