1

all set for a summer holiday

four children were singing at the tops of their voices in a car that was going up a steep mountain-side road.

a parrot was also joining in, very much out of tune, cocking up her crest in excitement. theman at the wheel turned round with a grin.

‘i say! i can’t even hear the car hooter. what’s the matter with you all?’

philip, jack, dinah and lucy-ann stopped singing and shouted answers at him.

‘it’s the beginning of the hols!’

‘and we’re going to have a donkey each to ride in the mountains!’

‘pop goes the weasel!’ that was kiki the parrot, of course, joining in.

‘we’ve got eight weeks of fun all together.’

‘and you’ll be with us, bill, as well as mother! mother, aren’t you excited too?’

mrs mannering smiled at philip. ‘yes – but i hope you’re not going to be as noisy as this all thetime. bill, you’ll have to protect me from this rowdy crowd of children.’

‘i’ll protect you all right,’ promised bill, swinging the car round another bend. ‘i’ll knock alltheir heads together once a day at least – and if lucy-ann starts getting tough with me i’ll …’

‘oh bill! said lucy-ann, the youngest and least boisterous of the lot. ‘jack’s always saying i’mnot tough enough. i ought to be by now, though, considering all the adventures i’ve been through.’

‘tough enough, tough enough!’ chanted kiki the parrot, who loved words that sounded alike.

‘tough enough, tough …’

‘oh, stop her,’ groaned mrs mannering. she was tired with their long car journey, and washoping it would soon be over. she had eight weeks of the children’s holidays before her, and wasquite sure she would be worn out before the end of it.

philip and dinah were her own children, and jack and lucy-ann, who had no parents, livedwith her in the holidays and loved her as if she were their own mother. bill cunningham was theirvery good friend, and had had some hair-raising adventures with them.

he had come with them on these holidays to keep them out of any more adventures – or so hesaid! mrs mannering vowed she was not going to let them out of her sight for eight weeks, unlessbill was with them – then they couldn’t possibly disappear, or fall into some dreadful newadventure.

‘they ought to be safe, tucked away in the welsh mountains, with both you and me, bill, tolook after them,’ said mrs mannering. mr mannering had been dead for many years and mrsmannering often found it difficult to cope with so many lively children at once, now that they weregrowing older.

philip loved any animal, bird or insect. his sister dinah didn’t share this love at all, and dislikedmost wild animals, and hated quite a number of harmless insects, though she was certainly betterthan she used to be. she was a hot-tempered girl, as ready to use her fists as philip, and they hadmany a battle, much to gentle lucy-ann’s dismay.

lucy-ann and jack were brother and sister too. kiki the parrot was jack’s beloved parrot,usually to be found on his shoulder. in fact, mrs mannering had once actually suggested that sheshould put a little leather patch on the shoulders of each of jack’s coats to stop kiki from wearingthin places there with her clawed feet.

jack was fond of birds, and he and philip spent many an exciting hour together bird-watching,or taking photographs. they had a marvellous collection of these, which bill said was worth a lotof money. they had brought cameras with them on this holiday, and, of course, their field-glassesfor watching birds at a distance.

‘we might see eagles again,’ said jack. ‘do you remember the eagle’s nest we found near thatold castle in scotland once, philip? we might see buzzards too.’

‘buzz-z-z-z-z-z,’ said kiki at once. ‘buzz! buzz off!’

‘we might even have an adventure,’ said philip, with a grin. ‘though mother and bill are quitecertain they will guard us from even the smallest one this time!’

now here they were, all set for a wonderful holiday in the welsh mountains, in a very lonelyspot, where they could wander about with cameras and field-glasses wherever they liked. eachchild was to have a donkey, so that they could ride along the narrow mountain paths as much asthey wished.

‘i shan’t always come with you,’ said mrs mannering, ‘because i’m not so thrilled with donkey-riding as you are. but bill will be with you, so you’ll be safe.’

‘ah – but will bill be safe with us?’ said jack, with a grin. ‘we always seem to drag him intosomething or other. poor bill!’

‘if you manage to pull me into an adventure in the middle of some of the loneliest of the welshmountains, you’ll be clever,’ said bill.

the car swung round another bend and a farmhouse came into sight.

‘we’re nearly there,’ said mrs mannering. ‘i believe i can see the farmhouse we’re going tostay at. yes – there it is.’

the children craned their necks to see it. it was a rambling old stone place, set on the mountain-side, with barns and out-buildings all around. in the evening sunset it looked welcoming andfriendly.

‘lovely!’ said lucy-ann. ‘what’s it called?’

bill said something that sounded like ‘doth-goth-oo-elli-othel-in.’

‘gracious!’ said dinah. ‘what a name! not even kiki could pronounce that, i’m sure. tell herit, bill. see what she says.’

bill obligingly told the name to the parrot, who listened solemnly and raised her crest politely.

‘now you just repeat that,’ said jack to kiki. ‘go on!’

‘this-is-the-house-that-jack-built,’ said the parrot, running all the words together. the childrenlaughed.

‘good try, kiki!’ said jack. ‘you can’t stump kiki, bill – she’ll always say something. goodold kiki!’

kiki was pleased by this praise, and made a noise like the car changing gear. she had beendoing this at intervals during the whole of the journey and had nearly driven mrs mannering mad.

‘don’t let kiki start that again,’ she begged. ‘thank goodness we are here at last! where’s thefront door, bill – or isn’t there one?’

there didn’t seem to be one. the track went up to what appeared to be a barn and stopped there.

a small path then ran to the farmhouse, divided into three and went to three different doors.

the children tumbled out of the car. bill got out and stretched his legs. he helped mrsmannering out and they all looked round. a cock near by crowed and kiki promptly crowed too,much to the cocks astonishment.

a plump, red-faced woman came hurrying out of one of the doors, a welcoming smile on herface. she called behind her to someone in the house.

‘effans, effans, they have come, look you, they have come!’

‘ah – mrs evans,’ said bill, and shook hands with her. mrs mannering did the same. a smallman came running out of the house, and came up to them too.

‘this iss effans, my husband,’ said the plump woman. ‘we hope you will be very happy withus, what-effer!’

this was said in a pleasant sing-song voice that the children liked very much. everybody shookhands solemnly with mrs evans and her husband, and kiki held out a claw as well.

‘a parrot, look you!’ cried mrs evans to her husband. ‘effans, a parrot!’

mr evans didn’t seem to like the look of kiki as much as his wife did, but he smiled politely.

‘it iss very welcome you are,’ he said in his sing-song voice. ‘will you pleass to come thisway?’

they all followed effans. he led them to the farm-house, and, when the door was flung open,what a welcome sight met the children’s eyes!

a long, sturdy kitchen table was covered with a snow-white cloth, and on it was set the finestmeal the children had ever seen in their lives.

a great ham sat ready to be carved. a big tongue garnished round with bright green parsley satby its side. an enormous salad with hard-boiled eggs sprinkled generously all over it was in themiddle of the table. two cold roast chickens were on the table too, with little curly bits of coldbacon set round.

the children’s eyes nearly fell out of their heads. what a feast! and the scones and cakes! thejams and the pure yellow honey! the jugs of creamy milk!

‘i say – are you having a party or something?’ asked jack, in awe.

‘a party! no, no – it is high tea for you, look you,’ said mrs evans. ‘we cannot do dinners foryou at night, we are busy people! you shall have what we have, and that is all. here is high tea foryou today, and when you have washed, it iss ready!’

‘oh – have we got to wash?’ said philip with a sigh. ‘i’m clean enough. golly, look at thatmeal! i say, if we’re going to have food like this these hols i shan’t want to go donkey-riding atall. i’ll just stay here and eat!’

‘well, if you do that you’ll be too fat for any donkey to carry,’ said his mother. ‘go and wash,philip. mrs evans will show us our rooms – we can all do with a wash and a brush – and then wecan do justice to this magnificent meal.’

up some narrow winding stairs went the little party, into big low-ceilinged rooms set withheavy old-fashioned furniture. mrs evans proudly showed them a small bathroom, put in forvisitors to the farmhouse.

there were four rooms for the party. bill had a small one to himself. mrs mannering had a bigone, well away from the children’s rooms, because they were often so noisy in the mornings.

philip and jack had a curious little room together, whose ceiling slanted almost to the floor, andthe girls had a bigger one next door.

‘isn’t this going to be fun?’ said jack, scrubbing his hands vigorously in the bathroom, whilstkiki sat on a tap. ‘i’m longing to get at that meal downstairs. what a spread!’

‘move up,’ said dinah impatiently. ‘there’s room for two at this basin. we shall have to take itin turns to come in in the morning. oh, kiki, don’t fly off with the nail-brush! jack, stop her.’

the nail-brush was rescued and kiki was tapped on the beak. she didn’t mind. she was lookingforward to the food downstairs as much as the children. she had seen a bowl of raspberries whichshe meant to sit as near to as possible. she flew to jack’s shoulder and muttered loving things intohis ear whilst he dried his hands on a very rough towel.

‘stop it, kiki. you tickle,’ said jack. ‘are you ready, you others? aunt allie! bill! are youready? we’re going downstairs.’

‘coming!’ cried the others, and down they all went. now for a proper feast!