“Let’s picnic here in the shade of those trees,” said Philip, sliding off his donkey. I’m absolutely cooked with the sun.”
David saw to the donkeys, taking them to the stream for water. He then let them wander free, for they came most obediently at his call, and could be trusted not to go far away. They went to the shade of the trees and stood there, swishing their long grey tails, enjoying the rest.
Snowy ran to them, and behaved like a spoilt child, letting the donkeys fuss him and stare at him. Dapple put down his big head to the little kid, and nuzzled him in the neck. When Snowy ran to the next donkey Dapple followed him.
“Dapple wants to be friends with Snowy,” said Dinah, unpacking the lunch parcel from one of the enormous panniers. “Here, Lucy-Ann — take this tin and fill it with water from the stream. It must be absolutely pure, I should think. We can put some of this lemonade essence with it. I’m so dreadfully thirsty!”
David was drinking at the stream, so the children felt that it must be all right. It gurgled along, fresh and clear, running through the pebbles and down the hillside at top speed. Lucy-Ann went to fill the tin.
There was a lovely lunch. The children had to call David to share it because he suddenly seemed shy. He came and sat down a little way away from them.
“No, David. Come here with us,” called Jack, patting the ground. “We want to learn Welsh! Come and talk to us!”
But the little Welshman was very shy, and it was as much as the children could do to persuade him to eat his share of the lunch. It was such a good lunch too!
There were five different kinds of sandwiches, fresh lettuce wrapped in a damp cloth, hard-boiled eggs to nibble, and great slices of jam tart. Washed down with cold lemonade it was the finest lunch anyone could wish.
“Nobody in the whole world, not even the very richest king, can possibly have a nicer lunch than this,” said Lucy-Ann, munching a chicken sandwich.
“Or a nicer place to eat it in,” said Philip, waving his sandwich at the magnificent view before them. “Look at that! No king could have a better view from his palace — valleys and mountains, and yet more mountains, and then the clear blue sky! Marvellous!”
They all gazed at the unbelievable view that lay in front of them. A rustle of paper made them look round.
“Snowy! You greedy little kid! Look here, he’s eaten the rest of the chicken sandwiches!” cried Jack indignantly, forgetting all about the lovely view. “Philip, smack him. We can’t let him do that or our food won’t last out. He can jolly well eat the grass.”
Philip gave Snowy a smart tap on the nose. The kid retreated in a huff, taking with him a mouthful of sandwich papers, which he proceeded to eat with apparent enjoyment. But soon he was back with Philip, pressing against him affectionately, anxious to be back in his good books. Dapple the donkey moved over to Philip too, to be near the kid. He lay down beside him, and Philip at once leaned back against him.
“Thanks, old man! Very nice! Just what I wanted!” said Philip, and everyone laughed as he settled himself against the donkey’s side.
“Have another sandwich, David?” asked Lucy-Ann, holding out a packet to him. David had not eaten nearly as much as they had, either through shyness or because he hadn’t such an enormous appetite. He shook his head.
“Let’s have a bit of rest now,” said Philip sleepily. “There’s no hurry. We can take all the time we like to get anywhere.”
Jack began to ask David the names of things in Welsh. It was silly not to be able to talk to David. David apparently understood more English than he spoke, but even the few English words he said were pronounced so queerly that the children found it hard to puzzle out what he was saying.
“Come on, David, talk,” said Jack, who did not feel as sleepy as the others. “What’s this in Welsh?” He held out his hand.
David began to realise that Jack wanted a lesson in Welsh, and he brightened up a little. He was a trifle embarrassed by Kiki, who insisted on repeating all the words he said too, and added a few nonsense words of her own for good measure.
The girls and Philip fell asleep in the shade, Lucy-Ann sharing Philip’s donkey to lean against. Dinah would have liked to do the same but she was afraid that Sally the slow-worm might come out of Philip’s pocket if she did, and nothing would make Dinah go near the silvery creature!
Jack patiently tried to learn a few Welsh words, and then got tired of it. He threw a few pebbles down the mountainside, and gazed round at the many summits towering up in the distance. There was one queer one, shaped like three teeth, that amused him. He decided to look it up on the map.
The map, however, was rather disappointing. It showed very few names in the district where they were, probably because it had been very little explored, and there were no farm-houses or other buildings to put on record. Jack found a name that seemed to him to fit the mountain. “Fang Mountain,” he read. “That might be it. Gosh, what a lot of mountains there are about here! I bet nobody has ever explored them all. I’d like to fly over them in an aeroplane and look down on them. We haven’t seen a plane since we’ve been here. Off the route, I suppose.”
David had gone to round up the donkeys. Jack woke up the others. “Come on, lazy things! We’d better get on, or David will think we mean to camp here for the night. There’s a heavenly wind now. It will be gorgeous riding this afternoon.”
Soon they were all on their donkeys again, jogging along round the mountainside, enjoying the wind and the sun, gazing on the different vistas that opened up before them round every bend of the track. New mountains reared up far-away heads, new skylines appeared. For long stretches the children said nothing at all to one another, but simply drank in the beauty around them, and the sun and wind.
They travelled until six o’clock, having decided to keep to the high tea that Mrs. Evans had at the farm. Jack spoke to David when six o’clock came.
“David! We stop at half-past six. Do you know a good place to camp for the night near here?”
David did not understand and Jack repeated it more slowly. David smiled and nodded.
“Iss! Iss!” This meant “yes,” and Jack looked as David pointed to a wooded spot some way ahead. David said something else in Welsh, and Jack caught a few words here and there which he understood. One was “water,” the other was “trees.”
“David says there’s a good place to camp in a little way off!” Jack shouted back to the others. “There’s water there, and trees.”
“Gosh! However do you understand him?” said Philip in admiration. “Jolly clever of you, Jack!”
Jack grinned all over his freckled face. “Oh, I just caught the words ‘water’ and ‘trees,’ that’s all! Come on, let’s get there in time to watch the sun sink over the mountains. I’d like to have a sunset with my sandwiches!”
Philip laughed. They all ambled on towards the spot pointed out by David. It was a little further than they thought, but when they got there they all agreed it was just the right place to camp for the night.
A spring, as cold as ice, gushed out beside the small wooded patch. The trees sheltered the campers from the night-wind, which could be very chilly at times. The donkeys could be tied to trees so that they would not wander in the night. Everything was perfect!
The children were tired but happy. They slid off their donkeys’ backs, and the little beasts, tired now too, were taken to the spring to drink. They stood patiently waiting their turn, whilst Snowy skipped about like a mad thing, not in the least tired with his long trip.
“We’ll put up the tents after we’ve had a meal and a rest,” said Philip. “Get out the food, Lucy-Ann and Dinah. There’s a nice flat stone here we can use as a table.”
Soon the supper, or high tea, was spread out on the big flat stone, and mugs of lemonade were set by each plate. The children drained them at once, and Jack was sent to get more ice-cold water from the spring.
They all ate quickly, for they were very hungry again. They said very little until the first edge of their appetite had worn off, then they all talked with their mouths full, eager to make the others remember the lovely day.