2

at the farmhouse

that first meal in the welsh farmhouse was a very happy one. mrs evans was excited to havevisitors, and effans, her husband, beamed all round as he carved great slices of ham, tongue andchicken. there were a lot of ‘look yous’ and ‘whateffers’, and kiki was especially interested in theup-and-down song-like way the two welsh folk talked.

‘wipe your feet, whateffer,’ she said to mrs evans suddenly. mrs evans looked surprised. shehadn’t heard the parrot speak before.

‘shut the door, look you,’ commanded kiki, raising her crest. the children squealed withlaughter.

‘she’s speaking welsh already!’ said dinah. ‘hey, watch her, jack – she’s absolutely wolfingthose raspberries!’

jack put a plate over the bowl, and kiki was angry. she made a noise like the car changing gearand effans looked startled.

‘it’s all right – it’s only kiki,’ said jack. ‘she can make all kinds of noises. you should hear hergive her imitation of a train whistling in a tunnel.’

kiki opened her beak and swelled up her throat as if she was about to make this horrible noise.

mrs mannering spoke hastily. ‘jack! don’t let kiki make that noise. if she does you’ll have totake her upstairs and put her in your bedroom.’

‘bad kiki, naughty kiki,’ said the parrot solemnly, recognizing the stern tone in mrsmannering’s voice. she flew to jack’s shoulder and cuddled there, eyeing the plate that he had putover the bowl of raspberries. she gave his ear a little nip.

what a meal that was for six very hungry travellers who had had nothing but sandwiches all daylong! even mrs mannering ate more than she had ever eaten before at one meal. mrs evans keptbeaming round as she filled the plates.

‘there iss plenty more in the larder, look you,’ she said. ‘effans, go fetch the meat-pie.’

‘no, no!’ said mrs mannering. ‘please don’t. we have more than enough here – it’s only thatwe are extra hungry and the food is so very very good.’

mrs evans was pleased. ‘it iss plain country food, but it iss very good for the children,’ she said.

‘they will soon have good appetites in this mountain air, look you.’

‘indeed to gootness they will,’ agreed effans. ‘their appetites are small yet. they will grow.’

mrs mannering looked rather alarmed. ‘good gracious! i’ve never in my life seen them eat somuch – if their appetites get any bigger i’ll never be able to feed them at home!’

‘and we shall starve at school,’ grinned jack.

‘the poor boy!’ said mrs evans. ‘it iss a big ham i must give him to take back, whateffer!’

at last nobody could eat any more. they sat back from the table, looking out of the wide, lowwindows and the big open door. what a view!

great mountains reared up their heads in the evening light. deep shadows lay across the valley,but the mountains still caught the sunlight, and gleamed enchantingly it was all so different fromthe country round their home, and the children felt that they could never look long enough on themountain-tops and the shadowed valleys below.

‘you are very lonely here,’ said bill. ‘i can’t see a single house or farm anywhere.’

‘my brother lives on the other side of that mountain,’ said mrs evans, pointing. ‘i see him at themarket each week. that is ten miles away, or maybe eleven. and my sister lives beyond thatmountain you can see there. she too has a farm. so we have neighbours, you see.’

‘yes – but not next-door ones!’ said dinah. ‘don’t you ever feel cut-off and lonely here, mrsevans?’

mrs evans looked surprised. ‘lonely? indeed to gootness, what iss there to be lonely about,with effans by my side, and the shepherd up on the hills, and the cow-herd and his wife in theircottage near by? and there iss plenty of animals, as you will see.’

hens wandered in and out of the open door, pecking up crumbs fallen from the table. kikiwatched them intently. she began a warm, clucking noise, and the hens clucked back. a cockcame strutting in and looked round for the hen that had a cluck he didn’t quite know.

‘cock-a-doodle-doo!’ suddenly crowed the cock defiantly, catching sight of kiki on jack’sshoulder.

‘cock-a-doodle-doo!’ answered kiki, and the cock immediately jumped up on to the table tofight the crowing parrot.

he was shooed down and ran out indignantly, followed by a cackle of laughter from kiki.

effans held his sides and laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks.

‘that is a fine bird, look you!’ he said to jack, quite losing his heart to kiki. ‘let her helpherself to the raspberries again.’

‘she’s had enough, thank you very much,’ said jack, pleased at effans’ praise of kiki. peoplesometimes didn’t like the parrot, and when she went away with him jack was always anxious incase anyone should object to her.

they all wandered out into the golden evening air, happy and well satisfied. bill and mrsmannering sat on an old stone wall, watching the sun sink behind a mountain in the west. the fourchildren went round the farmhouse and its buildings.

‘pigs! and what a marvellous clean pig-sty,’ said dinah. ‘i’ve never seen a clean pig before.

look at this one, fat and shining as if it’s been scrubbed.’

‘it probably has, in preparation for our coming!’ said philip. ‘i love these little piglets too. lookat them rooting round with their funny little snouts.’

‘kiki will soon have a wonderful collection of noises,’ said lucy-ann, hearing the parrot givinga very life-like grunt. ‘she’ll be able to moo and bellow and grunt and crow and cluck‘and gobble like a turkey!’ said dinah, seeing some turkeys near by. ‘this is a lovely farm.

they’ve got everything. oh, philip – look at that kid!’

there were some goats on the mountain-side not far off, and with them was a kid. it was snow-white, dainty and altogether lovely. philip stood looking at it, loving it at once.

he made a curious little bleating noise and all the goats looked round and stopped eating. thekid pricked up its little white ears, and stood quivering on its slender legs. it was very young andnew.

philip made the noise again. the kid left its mother and came leaping to him. it sprang right intohis arms and nestled there, butting its soft white head against philip’s chin.

‘oh, philip – isn’t it sweet!’ said the girls, and stroked the little thing and rubbed their cheeksagainst its snow-white coat.

‘i wish animals came to me like they come to you, philip,’ said lucy-ann enviously. it wasamazing the attraction that philip had for creatures of any kind. even a moth would restcontentedly on his finger, and the number of strange pets he had had was unbelievable.

hedgehogs, stag-beetles, lizards, young birds, mice, rats – you never knew what philip wouldhave next. all creatures loved him and trusted him, and he in turn understood them and lovedthem too.

‘now this kid will follow at his heels like a dog the whole time we’re here,’ said dinah. ‘well,i’m glad it will be a kid, not a cow! do you remember that awful time when philip went into afield with a herd of cows in, and they all went to him and nuzzled him and followed him about likedogs. they even tried to get over the gate and through the hedge when he went out. i was awfullyscared they would.’

‘you ought to be ashamed of being afraid of cows,’ said philip, stroking the kid. ‘there’s noreason to be, di. it’s surprising you’re not afraid of this kid. i bet you’d run if the goats camenear.’

‘i shouldn’t,’ said dinah indignantly, but all the same she moved off hurriedly when the herd ofgoats, curious at seeing the kid in philip’s arms, began to come nearer to the children.

soon they were all round philip, lucy-ann and jack. dinah watched from a distance. the kidbleated when it saw its mother, but as soon as philip put the little thing down to run to her, it leaptstraight back into his arms!

‘well! you’ll have to take it to bed with you tonight, there’s no doubt about that,’ said jack,grinning. ‘come on – let’s go and see the horses. they’re the kind with shaggy hooves – i justlove those!’

the goats were shooed off, and the children went to look at the great horses standing patientlyin the field. there were three of them. they all came to philip at once of course.

he had put down the little kid, and now it followed so close to his heels that, every time hestopped, it ran into his legs. at the first possible chance it sprang into his arms again. it followedhim into the farmhouse too.

‘oh! you have found little snowy!’ said mrs evans, looking round from her oven with a faceredder than ever. ‘he has not left his mother before, look you!’

‘oh, philip, don’t bring the kid in here,’ said mrs mannering, seeing at once that yet anotheranimal had attached itself to philip. she was afraid that mrs evans would object strongly to the kidcoming indoors with philip – and once it had felt the boy’s attraction nothing would stop it fromfollowing him anywhere – even upstairs!

‘oh, it iss no matter if a kid comes into the house,’ said mrs evans. ‘we haff the new-bornlambs in, and the hens are always in and out, and moolie the calf used to come in each day beforeshe was put in the field.’

the children thought it was a wonderful idea to let creatures wander in and out like that, butmrs mannering thought differently. she wondered if she would find eggs laid in her bed, or a calfin her bedroom chair! still, it was a holiday, and if mrs evans like creatures wandering all overher kitchen, the children would like it too!

lucy-ann gave an enormous yawn and sank down into a big chair. mrs mannering looked ather, and then at the grandfather clock ticking in a corner.

‘go to bed, all of you,’ she said. ‘we’re all tired. yes, i know it’s early, philip, you don’t needto tell me that – but we’ve had a long day, and this mountain air is very strong. we shall all sleeplike tops tonight.’

‘i will get ready some creamy milk for you,’ began mrs evans, ‘and you would like somebuttered scones and jam to take up with you?’

‘oh, no,’ said mrs mannering. ‘we simply couldn’t eat a thing more tonight, thank you, mrsevans.’

‘oh, mother! of course we could eat scones and jam and drink some more of that heavenlymilk,’ said dinah indignantly. so they each took up a plate of scones and raspberry jam and a bigglass of creamy milk to have in bed.

there came the scampering of little hooves, and snowy the kid appeared in the boys’ bedroom.

he leapt in delight on to philip’s bed.

‘gosh! look at this! snowy’s come upstairs!’ said philip. ‘have a bit of scone, snowy?’

‘i say – did we hear the kid coming up the stairs?’ said lucy-ann, putting her head round thedoor of the boys’ room. ‘oooh, philip! you’ve got him on your bed!’

‘well, he won’t get off,’ said philip. ‘as soon as i push him off, he’s on again – look! like apuppy!’

‘maa-aa-aa!’ said the kid in a soft, bleating voice, and butted philip with its head.

‘are you going to have it up here all the night?’ asked dinah, appearing in her pyjamas.

‘well, if i put it outside, it’ll only come in again – and if i shut the door it will come and butt itwith its head,’ said philip, who had quite lost his heart to snowy. after all, jack has kiki in theroom with him all night.’

‘oh, i don’t mind you having snowy,’ said dinah. ‘i just wondered what mother would say,that’s all – and mrs evans.’

‘i shouldn’t be at all surprised to hear that mrs evans has got a sick cow in her room, and half adozen hens,’ said philip, arranging snowy in the crook of his knees. ‘she’s a woman after my ownheart. go away, you girls. i’m going to sleep. i’m very happy – full of scones and jam and milkand sleep.’

kiki made a hiccuping noise. ‘pardon!’ she said. this was a new thing she had learnt fromsomebody at jack’s school the term before. it made mrs mannering cross.

‘i should think kiki’s full up too,’ said jack sleepily. ‘she pinched a whole scone, and i’m sureshe’s been at the raspberries again. look at her beak! now shut up, kiki, i want to go to sleep.’

‘pop goes the weasel, look you,’ said kiki solemnly and put her head under her wing. the girlsdisappeared. the boys fell asleep. what a lovely beginning to a summer holiday!