22

the helicopter

the children, however, were not in the least afraid of the dogs, for had they not all slept togetherwith them some nights before? they did not tell this to the soldiers, of course. they waited till themen had disappeared and then they went over to the dogs.

but philip was not there this time, and the dogs did not feel the same towards the girls and jackas they had done towards philip. they growled when jack came near to them, and one showed hisenormous white teeth. lucy-ann and dinah shrank back.

‘oh! how terribly fierce they look! they’ve quite forgotten us. jack, be careful.’

jack was not afraid, but he was cautious when he saw that the dogs did not want to be friendly.

they were strong, fierce creatures, disappointed in their hunting that day, hungry, and suspiciousof jack. now, if he had been philip how different their behaviour would have been! philip’s magictouch with animals would have put everything right. he had an irresistible attraction for all livecreatures.

‘come away from them,’ said lucy-ann, when she heard the growling taken up by most of thepack. ‘they’re making a perfectly horrible noise – just like wolves would, i’m sure.’

they went back to their own part of the mountain. ‘a corner for the dogs, a corner for us, acorner for the men!’ said jack. ‘well – i wonder how long we’re going to be here!’

nobody brought them anything to eat at all for the rest of that day. they thought it was a verygood thing they had had such good meals in the king’s room! jack wondered if they weresupposed to lie on the bare rock to sleep. what brutes those men were, if they meant to keep themwithout rugs or food!

but just as it was getting dark three of the soldiers appeared. they carried rugs with them,which they threw down at the children’s feet. one had brought a pitcher of water and mugs.

‘what about something to eat?’ asked jack.

‘not bring,’ said one of the men. ‘master say not bring.’

‘your master not nice,’ jack told him. ‘your master very nasty.’

the men said nothing. he and the others went away, soft-footed as cats. the children curled upin their rugs, wondering how philip was faring, alone in his cave.

the next morning was unbelievably beautiful when the sun rose and lighted up the mountain-tops one by one. the three children sat on the parapet and watched. they all felt very hungryindeed. snowy was with them. kiki had still not appeared and jack was getting a little worriedabout her.

snowy leapt up on to the parapet beside jack. there was a very steep drop from there, with atiny ledge of rock jutting out some way below. nobody could escape by climbing down, that wascertain. he would just go slipping and sliding down the mountain and break all his limbs in notime.

snowy stood there, his little ears pricked up as if he was listening. he suddenly bleated veryloudly. and then, very muffled, hardly to be heard, a voice answered. jack leapt up from theparapet. was it philip’s voice? where was his cave then? anywhere near where they were?

lucy-ann and dinah joined jack, seeing his sudden excitement. then snowy gave them areally terrible shock. he jumped right over the mountain-top, off his perch on the parapet of rock!

‘oh!’ shouted lucy-ann. ‘he’ll be killed!’

she wouldn’t look to see what happened, but dinah and jack watched in horror. the little kidhad leapt to the tiny ledge of rock jutting out some way below the parapet. he landed on it with allfour tiny hooves close together! there was only just room for them – not half an inch to spare!

he stood balanced there, and then, when it looked as if surely he must topple off, he leapt to asmall ledge lower down, slithered down a rough bit, and disappeared completely.

‘goodness gracious! what a thing to do!’ said dinah, taking a deep breath. ‘my heart almoststopped beating.’

‘is snowy all right?’ asked lucy-ann, still not daring to look.

‘apparently. anyway he’s disappeared – and i should think he’s probably found the cave wherephilip is,’ said jack. ‘all i hope is he won’t try to get back the same way – or he’ll certainly breakhis neck.’

but snowy did get back the same way and appeared on the parapet about half an hour later,looking as frisky as a squirrel.

and round his neck was a note! it was tied there with string. jack took it off quickly and openedit. he read it to the others.

how are you getting on? i’m all right except that i’ve nothing to eat, and only water to drink. ibelieve those brutes are going to starve me out! can you send snowy with anything for me to eatwhen you get a meal?

cheerio!

philip

at that moment the guards arrived with a meal for the children. it was all out of tins but there wasplenty. with it was a loaf of fresh bread. dinah said she thought perhaps the soldiers had an ovendown in the pit somewhere to bake their bread.

they waited till the men had gone and then jack debated how to send food to philip. he madesome sandwiches and wrapped them up firmly in the paper the soldiers had brought the bread in.

he slipped a note inside the sandwiches to say they would send food by snowy whenever theycould. then he tied the packet very firmly on to snowy’s back. snowy smelt it and tried to reachit, but he couldn’t.

‘now you go to philip again,’ said jack and patted the parapet to show snowy that he wantedhim up there. as soon as he was up snowy remembered philip and down he went again on hisclever little feet, landing on first one tiny ledge and then another.

the other three felt pleased to think that philip was having a meal instead of being starved. jacktook a look round the countryside below with his field-glasses, as they sat and ate, wondering ifbill would come that day. time was getting on now. surely bill would arrive soon!

the day passed very slowly. the paratroopers were taken off into the mountain by the soldiersand didn’t come back. the dogs were also taken out and jack was sure he could see them rangingthe countryside again.

they sent food to philip by snowy each time they had a meal. it was a help to exchange cheerynotes with him even though nobody felt all that cheerful. kiki hadn’t yet returned and all thechildren were now very worried about her.

the evening came. the paratroopers had not come back and the children wondered why. thedogs came back, however, but this time the children did not go over to them. the alsatians werefighting over their meat and sounded savage and fierce.

it was a cloudy, sultry evening. the children dragged their rugs out from under the awning to aplace where the breeze blew more strongly. they lay down, trying to go to sleep. the two girlsslept, but jack lay wide awake, feeling worried about kiki and philip and the girls too.

he heard a noise far away in the distance and sat up. he knew what that was – it was ahelicopter! there was no mistaking the noise now. was it coming to the mountain?

he awoke the two girls. ‘dinah! lucy-ann! the helicopter’s coming. wake up and let’s watch.

get back under the awning, in case it lands too near us.’

the girls dragged their rugs under the awning. they went to sit on the parapet and listened,wondering if philip was awake and listening too. he was. he was lying on his tummy, looking outof his cave, watching and listening. it was too dark for him to see anything much, but he hoped hemight share in the excitement.

the noise came nearer and at last sounded very loud. ‘look – there it is,’ said jack, excited.

‘see – going round the mountain a bit above us. aren’t they going to flash a light here to show itwhere to land?’

as he spoke two of the soldiers appeared in a hurry on top of the mountain. they ran to themiddle of the great rocky courtyard and did something the children could not see. immediately astrong light flashed upwards into the sky, and in its beam the children saw the helicopter, itswheels poised almost above their heads.

‘there it is! it’s landing!’ cried jack. ‘see how it’s dropping down slowly, almost vertically!

it’s just the right sort of machine to land on a mountain-top!’

the helicopter came down to the courtyard and stopped. the vanes ceased to whirl above it.

voices hailed one another.

‘it’s a jolly big helicopter,’ said jack. ‘i’ve never seen such a big one before. it must be able tocarry quite a large cargo.’

the beam of light was now directed on the helicopter and the children could see what was goingon quite clearly. boxes and crates were being tumbled out of it on to the ground, and the hard-working men were all very busy handling them, dragging them about, opening some of them andtaking the contents down the stone steps to the store-places.

a lean-faced young man with a scar right across his cheek was the pilot of the helicopter. withhim was a swarthy fellow who limped badly. they spoke to the workers in curt tones, and then lefttheir machine and disappeared into the mountain.

‘gone to report to meier and erlick, i should think,’ said jack. ‘come on – let’s go and have alook at the helicopter. wish i knew how to fly it! we could escape nicely in it now.’

‘and hover outside philip’s cave and take him off too!’ said dinah. they all went over to themachine. jack got into the pilot’s seat and felt grand. how he wished he knew how to fly thehelicopter!

he was still sitting there when meier, erlick, the pilot and his companion, and one of theparatroopers appeared. jack tried to scramble out before he was seen but he was too late. meiersaw him and dragged him out so roughly that he fell to the ground.

‘what are you doing? you keep away from this machine!’ shouted meier in a fury. jackskipped off to the girls, rubbing his shoulder.

‘are you hurt, jack?’ asked lucy-ann anxiously. he whispered that he was all right. then hesaid something that made the girls stare fearfully at the group of men in the centre of thecourtyard.

‘i believe that paratrooper is the next one to try those “wings”. they’ve brought him up to showhim the helicopter and where he’s to jump from.’

both the girls thought it would be dreadful to have to leap from a machine high up in the air –and trust to the king’s extraordinary ‘wings’. they wondered how many people had tried them andfailed. nobody would know if they were efficient or not until they had been tried.

the paratrooper looked the helicopter over thoroughly. he talked to the pilot, who answeredhim shortly. jack thought that the pilot wasn’t any too keen about the para-jumping part. he wouldprobably have been content to fly the goods to the mountain and finish at that.

‘tomorrow night you leave,’ said the voice of meier, cutting through the night. ‘come and eatnow.’

leaving two soldiers to guard the helicopter from the curiosity of the children, the rest of themdisappeared into the mountain. tomorrow night! what would they see then?