29

the tables are turned!

‘right!’ said philip. he pointed to the tree where meier and erlick were hiding behind its bigtrunk. ‘see, boys! fetch them out! bring them here! fetch them for me, then!’

before meier or erlick knew what was happening the pack of alsatians was speeding joyfullyto obey. the whole pack flung themselves on the two rogues, and bore them to the ground. therewas no chance to use a revolver. in fact meier’s gun rolled on the ground and was completely lostunder the scrambling crowd of dogs.

‘don’t hurt them! bring them here!’ ordered philip in excitement, proud of his power to givecommands to the pack of dogs.

bill and johns were now out of the cave, and jack followed. the girls did not come out yet.

they didn’t want to! lucy-ann clutched dinah’s arm till she squealed. both girls watched whatwas happening, breathless with intense excitement.

the dogs began to drag the two men over to philip. erlick, the great ape-like fellow, a real bullyif ever there was one, was screaming for mercy, a coward, like all bullies. ‘call them off! i’llsurrender! call them off, boy!’

meier fought savagely, not seeming to care whether he was bitten or not. he could not find hisrevolver and was beside himself with amazement, anger and fear.

the dogs were trained not to bite unless commanded, but one or two of them gave him a well-deserved nip – a little repayment for his callousness in dealing with them in their training. theleader got hold of him by the slack of his trousers, and, looking rather ridiculous, meier wasbrought to where the boys and the two men were standing watching.

then erlick was brought too, trying to stand, almost weeping with panic. he remembered a gunhe had in his pocket, and he reached to get it, thinking it was his last chance of escape.

but johns was on the spot. ‘hands up,’ he said. ‘any funny business on your part, erlick, andthe dogs can have you for all i care. stand up, meier, and put your hands up too.’

white with rage meier put up his hands when the dogs allowed him to find his feet. he glared atthe boys and bill.

‘what did you do to the dogs?’ he snapped at philip. ‘they’ve never turned on me before!’ helapsed into a foreign language again and poured out streams of abuse.

‘shut up,’ said bill, who was now holding his own revolver in his hand. ‘you talk too much.’

‘wipe your feet,’ said kiki’s voice and she flew out of the hole and on to jack’s shoulder.

‘pooh! gah!’

meier glared at the parrot, recognizing the voice that had puzzled him for so long. if looks couldhave killed, certainly kiki would have fallen dead at that moment. as it was she went off into oneof her dreadful cackles, and meier clenched the fists he was holding above his head, wishing thatfor one moment he could get hold of kiki.

‘what do we do now?’ enquired jack. ‘it’s a long way from home, bill – and we’ve got no foodto keep us going if we have to walk back.’

‘effans and trefor and david are not far off,’ said bill. ‘i told them to stand by somewhere nearthis mountain with plenty of donkeys, in case we needed them. i wasn’t sure if the helicopterwould fly very far with such a lot of you on board!’

‘ oh! will they really be near here?’ said lucy- ann, gladly. ‘oh, bill – you think ofeverything! oh, good!’

‘can we take the dogs back with us?’ asked philip, who was still surrounded by furry bodiesand wagging tails. ‘i could look after them till we get them away somewhere. i daresay you’d likethem for the police force, bill. they’re jolly well trained.’

‘thanks for the offer,’ said bill, with a grin. ‘i’ll accept it. and now – quick march! we’ll leavethis surprising mountain behind, and i and a few others will come back to it later. i feel it wants alittle cleaning up. and we’ll take that mad genius in charge before he does something dangerous. iwouldn’t put it past him to blow up the mountain.’

‘good gracious!’ said lucy-ann, in alarm. ‘well, let’s get away before he does!’

they set off at a smart walk. meier and erlick walked in sullen silence. they had their hands bytheir sides now, for johns had searched them both, and they were now weaponless. jack and theothers began to feel a familiar feeling of emptiness under their belts.

‘i’m jolly hungry,’ announced dinah. ‘has effans brought any food with him, do you think?’

‘well, mrs evans was so upset to hear that you were lost, that she immediately did an enormousbaking,’ said bill, ‘and i believe two of the donkeys are laden with the results. so let’s hurry!’

‘where are they?’ asked jack.

‘in the vale of butterflies, waiting for us patiently,’ said bill, with a grin. this was a mostsurprising thing to hear.

‘the vale of butterflies!’ cried jack. ‘why, we couldn’t find it! we began to think it was alltrefor’s make-up!’

‘oh, no. it was really quite easy to find, if only david had known how to read a map,’ said bill.

‘the name was on it in welsh, so you wouldn’t have understood it. but i don’t believe david hasever learned to read a map properly! i shouldn’t have let him go off with you as guide.’

‘did you find it then?’ asked lucy-ann.

‘oh, yes. it’s on the way here, actually,’ said bill. ‘david took a wrong road, that’s all –accidentally left the track. anyway i told him to wait there with the donkeys, because i thoughtyou’d rather like to see the butterfly valley, after having missed it and found a very strangemountain instead!’

‘oh! everything’s coming right!’ said lucy-ann joyfully. ‘the adventure is over, isn’t it, bill?

well – it doesn’t seem nearly so bad now as it did!’

‘poor lucy-ann!’ said bill. ‘you do have adventures thrust upon you, don’t you? never mind,you’ll soon be back at the farm, enjoying mrs evans’ wonderful cooking!’

as soon as you came, things were all right,’ said lucy-ann happily. ‘it was super hearing youyell out, “don’t forget bill smugs!” last night. gosh, was it only last night? it seems years ago!’

they went through a narrow pass between two mountains, feeling hungrier and hungrier – andthere below them was the vale of butterflies!

they stopped in delight. the valley was a froth of coloured butterflies, red, yellow, white, pink,blue, copper, brown! there were thousands there, fluttering in the sunlight, darting erratically toand fro, hovering, dropping down to the millions of flowers. these made a carpet of brilliantcolour, and the children thought they had never seen such a lovely sight before.

‘why are there so many butterflies, i wonder!’ marvelled dinah.

‘i suppose because there are so many varieties of food- plants,’ said bill. ‘this valley isapparently as famous for flowers as for butterflies, but because it is so much off the beaten track, itis rarely visited. i’ve no doubt the pack of dogs would have kept trippers away, anyhow!’

‘there’s effans – and the donkeys!’ cried philip. ‘hey, effans! hallo, trefor – and david!’

dapple moved to greet snowy, who ran in delight to his friend. effans beamed. trefor’s blueeyes shone. only david did not greet them eagerly. he kept his eyes on the ground and seemedashamed.

‘he got it hot and strong from mrs evans when he arrived back alone with the donkeys chasingafter him,’ explained bill. ‘i also had a few words to say to him, as you can imagine! so he nowfeels he can’t look anyone in the face. it won’t do him any harm to feel like that for a while. hebehaved foolishly!’

‘poor david!’ said lucy-ann. ‘i expect he’s sorry now,’ and she spoke to the old man kindly.

he looked at her gratefully.

‘it’s good to see you again, indeed to gootness it is, whateffer!’ said effans in his singing voice.

‘whateffer, whateffer!’ shouted kiki in delight. ‘look you, look you, whateffer!’

‘that bird!’ said effans in great admiration. ‘look you, it iss a marvel, that bird. i would giveten pounds for a bird like that, whateffer!’

‘she’s not for sale,’ said jack, stroking kiki. ‘no, not for a million pounds. where’s the food,effans? we’re starving!’

‘all explanations after the meal!’ said bill to effans. ‘we’ll have a talk then, effans, whilst thechildren go mad over the butterflies! meier, erlick, keep over there. philip, tell the dogs to lookafter them.’

effans stared in surprise at the two sullen men. meier glared back. erlick was full of self-pity,and had even begun to reproach meier for his carelessness in letting them be captured. meierlooked at erlick as if he could snap at him like the dogs.

‘a pretty couple,’ said bill. ‘i think we’ll turn our backs on them. they spoil the view’

joyfully the children settled down to the finest picnic they had ever had. mrs evans had indeedsurpassed herself. there was roast chicken, tender tongue, spiced ham, hard- boiled eggs,cucumbers, tomatoes, potted meat, fresh fruit, home-made lemonade which effans had cleverlyleft cooling in a near-by stream, and so many other eatables that the boys despaired of even beingable to taste them all!

they sat there on the hillside, the carpet of bright flowers spread at their feet – unbelievablybrilliant in colour! and the butterflies!

‘they’re like flying flowers!’ cried lucy-ann in joy. ‘hundreds of them! thousands of them!

what are they, philip?’

‘fritillaries, painted ladies, commas, peacocks, ringlets, coppers, skippers, heaths . . .’ reeled offphilip. ‘my word, what a paradise of butterflies! i really will never forget this all my life long!’

it was a wonderful picnic – wonderful food, gorgeous butterflies, brilliant flowers – and plentyof laughter and jokes! kiki was quite mad, and when she saw how johns and effans admired her,she showed off tremendously. she gave them her whole repertoire of noises, and effans laughedtill he choked.

the stolid johns munched away, keeping his eyes on kiki, and occasionally giving a slightsmile at her more outrageous sayings.

‘indeed to gootness, whateffer! wipe your feet and blow your nose. pifflebunk! pardon!’

snowy wandered round, taking titbits from everyone. the dogs watched from a distance,feeling certain that their friend philip would not forget them. it was a very good thing that mrsevans had provided so much, because with two prisoners and ten dogs every scrap of food wouldbe needed!

bill, johns and effans exchanged news when the children had gone to wander through theclouds of butterflies. effans listened gravely. trefor and david tried to understand, but most ofwhat bill said was beyond their english. effans told them the story in welsh later.

‘they are brave children, look you,’ said effans. ‘very brave children, whateffer!’