9

a different world

lucy-ann awoke first. she was cold. she snuggled down into her sleeping-bag, and then openedher eyes. she stared out of the open tent-flap, expecting to see the green mountain-side, and thedistant mountains towering up into the sky.

but they weren’t there! instead, a white mist swirled past the tent-flap, some of it putting thincold fingers into the tent itself.

there was nothing to see at all except this mist. the mountains had gone, the trees by the campwere blotted out, even the donkeys couldn’t be seen.

‘what’s happened?’ said lucy-ann, astonished. ‘golly! it’s a thick mist come up!’

she awoke dinah and the girls peered out in dismay at the misty mountain-side. now and againa tiny bit of view could be seen as the mist thinned a little – but it grew thick again at once.

‘it’s a cloud,’ said dinah. ‘you know how we see clouds resting on mountain-tops – well, this isone. it’s resting on us! it’s like a thick fog we can’t see through. blow!’

the boys woke up then and the girls could hear their dismayed voices. they called to them.

‘jack! philip! isn’t this sickening! we can’t see a thing!’

‘it may clear when we’ve had breakfast,’ said philip cheerfully, appearing out of the mist withsnowy at his heels. ‘gosh, it’s chilly! i’m going to put on a warm jersey.’

david also appeared, looking very doleful. he swung his arm out towards the valley and pouredout a torrent of welsh.

‘he’s quite excited about it, isn’t he?’ said jack. ‘i wish i could follow him when he talks likethat. i just don’t understand a word.’

they decided to have breakfast in one of the tents because the mist made everything damp andchilly. david preferred to stay outside. dinah didn’t want to come into the tent because of sally,and only agreed to if she was allowed to sit in the doorway, ready to escape if the slow-wormappeared.

it was not so cheerful a meal as usual. the children missed the magnificent view they had beenused to, and were afraid perhaps david wouldn’t take them on their way that day. but the mistcleared a little in an hour’s time, and david seemed quite willing to go.

they loaded up the donkeys, mounted and set off down the track. they could see some wayahead of them now, for the sun was rising higher, and trying to dissolve the mist with its heat.

‘it’ll be all right,’ said jack. ‘i almost caught sight of the sun then!’

but then the mist came down again and it was only just possible to see the donkey in front.

‘i feel as if i ought to hold your donkey’s tail, in case you disappear in the mist!’ shouted jackto dinah. ‘you know – like elephants do in circuses when they come into the ring all holding on toone another’s tails!’

the mist thickened even more, and the little company stopped to discuss what to do. it wasdifficult to get anything intelligible out of david, who seemed suddenly to have forgotten anyenglish words he knew.

jack flapped his arms, raised his eyebrows and pointed in front of him, meaning to ask if theywere near the butterfly valley. david understood, but he hesitated.

‘i hope he hasn’t lost the way,’ said jack to philip. ‘he seemed sure enough of the directionyesterday – now he doesn’t seem very certain. blow!’

‘well, we can’t stop here,’ said dinah, shivering in the clammy mist. ‘there’s no shelter andit’s jolly cold. oh for the sun again!’

‘ride on!’ said jack to david. ‘it’s the only thing to do till we find some kind of shelter. it’s toocold to hang about till the mist has gone. if we go the wrong way we can turn back and go rightwhen the mist goes.’

so they went on, following david’s donkey through the wet mist. kiki was very silent. shedidn’t understand the mist and was afraid of it. snowy kept close to philip’s donkey and was notnearly so full of spring and liveliness. everyone disliked the mist thoroughly.

‘when we find a sheltered place we’ll stop for lunch,’ said philip. ‘i’m sure we’re all gettingfrightfully hungry now, but we seem to be on quite a bare bit of mountain-side, hopeless to picnicin. we’d all be down with colds tomorrow!’

they ambled on, nose to tail, pulling their jerseys close, glad of their coats too. jack began tolook rather worried. he stopped his donkey and went to walk beside philip’s.

‘what’s up?’ said philip, seeing jack’s serious face.

‘we’ve left the track,’ said jack. ‘haven’t you noticed? we’ve followed some kind of track uptill an hour or two back – but now i’m pretty certain we’ve lost it. goodness knows where david’sheading for. i doubt if he’s even noticed we’re not on any track at all.’

philip whistled. ‘don’t let the girls hear you. they’ll be scared. yes, you’re right. there’s notthe vestige of a track here. david’s lost the way.’

‘better ask him,’ said jack and rode to the front of the line. ‘is this the right way?’ he askeddavid slowly, so as to be understood. ‘where is the track?’ he pointed downwards to the ground.

david was looking solemn too. he shrugged his shoulders and said something in his sing-songvoice. jack rode back to philip.

‘i think he knows he’s off the track, but he’s hoping to pick it up further on. anyway he doesn’tseem inclined to stop or go back.’

‘well – he’s our guide,’ said philip, after a pause. ‘we’ll have to trust him. he knows thesemountains better than we do.’

‘yes. but he’s so shy,’ said jack. ‘he wouldn’t be able to tell us we were lost. i wouldn’t put itpast him to go on losing us deeper and deeper in these mountains, once he’d begun! he justwouldn’t know what else to do.’

‘what a horrible idea!’ said philip. ‘good thing we’ve got so much food with us, if that’s whathe means to do!’

they came at last to a big outcrop of rocks, which would give them shelter from the wet, chillywind. ‘better have a meal here,’ said philip. ‘i’d like something hot to drink. did mrs evans put ina kettle?’

‘yes. if we can find a stream or spring, we’ll build a little fire and boil some water for cocoa orsomething,’ said jack.

but there was no spring and no stream. it was most annoying.

‘considering the dozens we’ve passed this morning, and waded through, i call it a bit hard thatthere’s not even a tiny one here,’ said dinah. ‘i’m jolly thirsty too.’

they had to have a meal without anything to drink. they were very hungry, and the foodseemed to warm them a little. they played a game of catch to get themselves thoroughly warmafter the meal. david looked as if he thought they had gone mad. snowy joined in wildly neatlytripping everyone up. kiki rose in the air and screamed.

‘look at david’s face! he thinks we’re all crazy!’ giggled lucy-ann. she sank down on a rock.

‘oh, i can’t run any more. i’ve got a stitch in my side.’

‘stitchinmyside, stitchinmyside,’ chanted kiki, running all the words together. ‘pop goes theweasel!’

‘the mist’s clearing! hurrah!’ suddenly cried jack, and he pointed upwards. the sun couldquite clearly be seen, struggling to get through the clouds of mist.

everyone cheered up at once. even david looked less dismal. ‘let’s try to get to the butterflyvalley before the evening,’ said jack to david, doing the flapping business vigorously to makesure david understood. david nodded.

they mounted the donkeys again and set off once more. they could see much further in front ofthem now. quite a big stretch of mountain-side was spread before them. the world suddenlyseemed a much bigger place.

they rode on steadily. the mist thinned more and more rapidly, and the children felt the heat ofthe sun on their heads. they took off their coats, revelling in the warmth, after the chilliness of themist.

‘look – we can see the nearest mountain-tops now,’ called jack. ‘and the distant ones will soonbe uncovered too. thank goodness!’

‘we ought to see the vale of butterflies soon,’ said lucy-ann, eagerly. ‘david said we’d getthere today. i wonder where it is. look, there’s a butterfly, philip.’

philip glanced at it. ‘only a meadow-brown,’ he said. ‘we’ve seen heaps of those.’ he lookedbefore him searchingly and then put his field-glasses to his eyes.

‘there’s a valley which might be it,’ he said, pointing. ‘hey, david! is that the vale ofbutterflies?’

david looked where philip was pointing. he shrugged his shoulders. ‘iss. no,’ he said.

‘yes, no! whatever does he mean by that?’ said philip in disgust. ‘i suppose, in plain english,he means he hasn’t the faintest idea. well, we’ll go on and hope for the best. it looks a nicesheltered kind of valley, the sort that might be hot enough for all kinds of insects and flowers.’

picturing a perfect paradise of brilliant flowers and equally brilliant butterflies, the children rodeon and on down towards the valley in the far distance. it was much further than they thought. thatwas the worst of travelling in mountains. everywhere was about twice as far as you imagined it tobe. most disappointing!

it was late when they rode into the valley, which was really more of a shallow depressionbetween two high mountains than a real lowland valley. certainly it was sheltered, and certainly ithad more flowers in it than they had so far seen – but there were no butterflies!

‘this can’t be it!’ said philip in disappointment. ‘is it, david?’

david shook his head. he was looking round in a puzzled manner, and it was quite clear that hereally didn’t know where he was.

‘if this is not the butterfly place, where is it?’ asked jack slowly and clearly. david shook hishead again. it was really maddening, not being able to speak welsh.

‘well,’ said philip, ‘he’s brought us the wrong way, to a place he doesn’t know, but it’s quitewarm and sheltered, so we’ll make the best of it tonight. tomorrow we’ll get the map from david,see if we can find out the way, and set off with ourselves as guides. he’s as much use as kiki toguide us in these mountains!’

they set up their camp again, feeling rather disappointed. they had so hoped to come to theplace they wanted that night, and set up camp properly for a few days, to revel in hordes ofcommon and uncommon butterflies. now they would have to ride on still further, and goodnessknew if they would ever find it!

they crawled into their sleeping-bags and called good night, just as the stars gleamed out.

david was sleeping as usual outside.

but in the night the boys woke up suddenly. david was crawling into their tent. he wastrembling with fright. ‘noises,’ he said, in english, and then poured out something in welsh. hewas very frightened. ‘sleep here,’ he said, and crept between the boys. they were amused andpuzzled.

whatever could have scared david so much?