by Enid Blyton
Mrs Evans, of course, had got another lovely meal ready for them all. And what a lot there were to feed that day too! She even found a fine supply of bones for the dogs, and Philip had to take them a good way off because Mrs Mannering said she really couldn’t bear to hear such a munching and crunching as the ten dogs made short work of the bones.
What a lot there was to tell! Mrs Evans’ eyes nearly fell out of her head as she listened, and handed out food of all kinds to everyone.
‘To think of the children doing such things, look you!’ she kept saying. ‘Inside that mountain, indeed! Down in that pit too, look you!’
‘Pardon, look you!’ said Kiki, and gave a loud sneeze. Effans choked and Kiki copied him, making such a dreadful noise that Mrs Mannering said she was to go out of the room if she couldn’t behave herself.
‘Oh, Aunt Allie – she’s just so glad she’s back again,’ said Jack, tapping Kiki on the beak.
‘Send for the doctor,’ said Kiki, fixing her wicked little eyes on Effans, who was still choking with laughter. ‘Send for the weasel! Send for the look-you!’
Nobody could help laughing. Jack gave Kiki a very large plum, hoping to keep her quiet. Holding it in one clawed foot, Kiki dug her beak into it, making juice squirt all over poor Effans.
‘Pardon!’ said Kiki in delight, and did it again. Effans felt that he would exchange every one of his sheep for a bird like that. He watched Kiki and quite forgot to eat.
Johns was to take the prisoners down to the town, with David, escorted by two of the dogs. Mrs Evans said she would keep the rest of them at the farmhouse until the police had decided what to do with them.
‘Mother – I suppose we couldn’t possibly keep two or three of the dogs, could we?’ asked Philip longingly.
‘Good gracious, no!’ said his mother. ‘It’s bad enough being landed with so many of your pets when you go back to school – but to have three great hungry Alsatians to look after would just kill me! No, they will be happier as police dogs.’
Bill was to stay until two or three scientists arrived to go with him to the mountain. Some police officers were to accompany them too, to round up the soldiers – though Bill did not expect any trouble from them at all. They probably had bad records, and had signed on with Meier to keep out of the way of the police for a while and to earn money.
‘Can we go to the mountain too?’ asked Jack hopefully. ‘You might lose your way inside, Bill.’
‘Oh, no I shan’t,’ said Bill. ‘I found a nice little map of the inside of the mountain in Meier’s pocket. I shan’t lose my way – and you may as well give up all hope of coming with me, because you’ve been in quite enough danger these holidays. I’m afraid if I took you with me, another adventure might blow up – I never saw such children for smelling out adventures! I believe if I took you to visit my dear old aunt, we should find she had suddenly been kidnapped in a submarine, and you were forced to go to the other end of the world to rescue her!’
The boys were very disappointed not to go with Bill back to the mountain. Neither of the girls wanted to. Lucy-Ann was quite certain about that.
‘I don’t mind the adventure a bit, now it’s all over and we can talk about it,’ she said. ‘But I didn’t like it at the time. I hated that rumbling old mountain. Bill, Philip’s going to let me wear his wings this afternoon in return for when I offered to jump from the helicopter instead of him. I shall fly from that high rock up there down to the farmhouse!’
‘Indeed you won’t!’ said Bill promptly. Lucy-Ann laughed at Bill’s shocked face.
‘It’s all right. I was only pulling your leg,’ she said. ‘But I’m going to wear them for a little while, and jump about, flapping them. Won’t the hens be surprised?’
‘Very,’ said Bill. ‘You’ll stop them laying eggs, I should think! Look after her, Philip. See she doesn’t do anything mad.’
Philip grinned. ‘Lucy-Ann’s all right,’ he said. ‘She’s the most sensible one of us all.’
He put his hand into his pocket to feel if Sally the slow-worm was there. An astonished expression came over his face. He gave a yell.
‘Oh! Whatever’s the matter!’ said Lucy-Ann, jumping in fright.
‘The most wonderful thing has happened!’ said Philip. ‘Honestly, I never thought it of Sally.’
‘What? What?’ cried the others. Philip brought out his hand and opened it. It was full of what looked like little silvery darning needles, all wriggling about.
‘Sally’s babies! Mother, look! My slow-worm has got a whole lot of baby ones in my pocket. Oh, Mother, I don’t believe any slow-worm has ever done that before to anyone! It’s absolutely unique! Aren’t they lovely?’
‘Ugh!’ said Dinah.
‘Perfect!’ said Jack.
‘Do give me one for myself,’ said Lucy-Ann. ‘Oh, Philip! This is much, much more exciting than our adventure!’
‘Much,’ agreed Philip. ‘Good old Sally! I’ve never had baby slow-worms for pets before – now I’ve got heaps.’
‘You’re not to keep them in your pocket, Philip,’ said his mother. ‘It’s not good for them or for you.’
‘But Sally will be so disappointed,’ said Philip, in dismay.
The adventure was forgotten. All four heads bent over the silvery little creatures in Philip’s palm. Snowy came to look. Kiki bent down from Jack’s shoulders.
‘Look you, whateffer!’ she said, with her head on one side, and opened her beak to hiccup. She caught Mrs Mannering’s eye and changed her mind.
‘Pardon!’ she screeched and went off into a cackle of laughter. ‘Bad Kiki! Send for the doctor, look you! Wipe your feet and blow your pardon!’