“Quite right, old bird,” said Philip. “Huffin and Puffin they were. I loved them.”
“You may have gone to look for birds — but you found a whole nest of rogues,” said his mother. “Gun-runners! Terribly dangerous.”
“Well, Mother, what about last summer hols?” said Dinah. “You nearly got caught up in that adventure!”
“Horrible!” said Mrs. Mannering, with a shiver. “That awful mountain with its queer secrets and the mad King of the Mountain — you nearly didn’t escape from there. No — I tell you quite definitely that you can never again go off anywhere by yourselves. I’m always coming with you!”
There was a silence at this. All four children were very fond of Mrs. Mannering — but they did like being on their own for some part of each holiday.
“Well — Aunt Allie — suppose Bill came with us — wouldn’t that be all right?” asked Lucy-Ann. “I do always feel safe with Bill.”
“Bill can’t be trusted to keep out of adventures either,” said Mrs. Mannering.” He’s grand, I know, and I’d trust him more than anyone else in the world. But when you and he get together there’s just no knowing what will happen. So, these holidays, I’ve made a very safe plan — and dear old Bill isn’t in it, so perhaps we shall keep away from danger and extraordinary happenings.”
“What’s your plan, Mother?” said Dinah nervously. “Don’t say we’re going to a seaside hotel or anything like that. They’d never take Kiki.”
“I’m taking you all for a cruise on a big ship,” said Mrs. Mannering, and she smiled. “I know you’ll like that. It’s tremendous fun. We shall call at all sorts of places, and see all kinds of strange and exciting things. And I shall have you under my eye, in one place all the time — the ship will be our home for some time, and if we get off at various ports we shall all go in a party together. There won’t be a chance of any strange adventure.”
The four children looked at one another. Kiki watched them. Philip spoke first.
“It does sound rather exciting, Mother! Yes, it really does. We’ve never been on a really big ship before. Of course, I shall miss having any animals. . . .”
“Oh, Philip — surely you can go without your everlasting menagerie of creatures?” cried Dinah. “I must say it’ll be a great relief to me to know you haven’t got mice somewhere about you, or lizards, or slow-worms! Mother, it sounds super, I think. Thanks awfully for thinking up something so exciting.”
“Yes — it sounds smashing,” said Jack. “We’ll see no end of birds I’ve never seen before.”
“Jack’s happy so long as he’s somewhere that will provide him with birds,” said Lucy-Ann with a laugh. “What with Philip with his craze for all kinds of creatures, and Jack with his passion for birds, it’s a good thing we two girls haven’t got crazes for anything as well. Aunt Allie, it’s a wizard plan of yours. When do we go?”
“Next week,” said Mrs. Mannering. “That will give us plenty of time to get our things ready and packed. It will be very warm on the cruise, so we must get plenty of thin clothes to wear. White’s the best thing — it doesn’t hold the heat so much. And you must all have sun-hats the whole time, so don’t begin to moan about wearing hats.”
“Isn’t Bill coming?” asked Philip.
“No,” said his mother firmly. “I feel rather mean about it, because he’s just finished the job he’s on, and he wants a holiday. But this time he’s not coming with us. I want a nice peaceful holiday with no adventure at all.”
“Poor Bill,” said Lucy-Ann. “Still — I daresay he’ll be glad to have a holiday without us for a change. I say — it’s going to be fun, isn’t it?”
“Fun!” said Kiki, joining in, and let off a screech of excitement. “Fun, fun, fun!”
Chapter 2
ON THE VIKING STAR
IT certainly was fun getting everything ready — buying flimsy clothes and enormous hats, masses of films for the cameras, guide-books and maps. It was to be quite a long cruise, and the ship was to go to Portugal, Madeira, French Morocco, Spain, Italy, and the Aegean Islands. What a wonderful trip!
At last everything was ready. The trunks were packed and strapped. The tickets had arrived. Passports were ready, and everyone had screamed in dismay to see how hideous they looked in their passport photographs.
Kiki screamed too, just for company. She loved screeching and screaming, but she wasn’t encouraged in this, so it was a fine chance to scream when everyone was doing the same.
“Shut up, Kiki,” said Jack, pushing her off his shoulder. “Fancy screaming right in my ear like that! It’s enough to make me stone deaf. Aunt Allie, will Kiki want a passport?”
“Of course not,” said Mrs. Mannering. “I’m not even sure she will be allowed to go with us.”
Jack stared at her in the greatest dismay. “But — I can’t go if Kiki doesn’t. I couldn’t leave her behind. She’d be miserable.”
“Well, I’ll write and ask if you can take her,” said Mrs. Mannering. “But if the answer is no, you are not to make a fuss, Jack. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to arrange this trip, and I can’t have you upsetting it just because of Kiki. I can’t imagine that she will be allowed to go — I’m sure passengers would object to a noisy bird like that.”
“She can be awfully quiet if she wants to,” said poor Jack. Kiki chose that moment to have a fit of hiccups. She hiccupped very well, and it always annoyed Mrs. Mannering.
“Stop that, Kiki,” she ordered. Kiki stopped and looked reproachfully at Mrs. Mannering. She began to cough, a small but hollow cough copied from the gardener.
Mrs. Mannering tried not to laugh. “The bird is so idiotic,” she said. “Quite crazy. Now, where did I put that list of things that I’ve got to do before we go?”
“One, two, three, GO!” shouted Kiki, and Jack just stopped her making a noise like a pistol shot. Mrs. Mannering went out of the room, and Jack spoke solemnly to Kiki.
“Kiki, I may have to go without you, old bird. I can’t upset all the arrangements at the last minute because of you. But I’ll do what I can, so cheer up.”
“God save the King,” said Kiki, feeling that it must be a solemn moment by the look on Jack’s face. “Poor Polly, naughty Polly!”
The last few days went by slowly. Lucy-Ann complained about it. “Why is it that time always goes so slowly when you’re wanting something to happen quickly? Its sickening. Thursday will never come!”
Jack was not so excited as the others, because a letter had come saying that parrots could not be taken on board. All four children were very sorry about it, and Jack looked really worried. But he did not grumble about it, or worry Mrs. Mannering. She was sorry for him and offered to arrange with a woman in the village to look after Kiki for him.
“She used to have a parrot of her own,” she said. “I expect she’d enjoy having Kiki.”
“No thanks, Aunt Allie. I’ll arrange something,” said Jack. “Don’t let’s talk about it!”
So Mrs. Mannering said no more, and even when Kiki sat on the tea-table and picked all the currants out of the cake before anyone noticed, she didn’t say a word.
On Wednesday all five went off in Mrs. Mannering’s car to Southampton, followed by another with the baggage. They were in a great state of excitement. Everyone was in charge of something to carry, and Lucy-Ann kept looking at her package anxiously to make sure she still had it.
They were to stay at a hotel for the night and embark on the ship at half-past eight in the morning, to catch the tide. They would be away at eleven o’clock, steaming steadily towards France — what excitement!
They all had a very good dinner at the hotel, and then Mrs. Mannering suggested going to the cinema. She felt sure that not one of the children would go to sleep if she sent them to bed at the usual time.
“Do you mind if I go and hunt up a school friend of mine, Aunt Allie?” said Jack. “He lives in Southampton, and I’d like to spring a surprise on him and go and call.”
“All right,” said Mrs. Mannering. “But you’re not to be late back. Do you want to go and see him too, Philip?”
“Who’s this chappy, Jack?” asked Philip, but Jack was half-way out of the room. A mumble came through the door.
“What’s he say?” said Philip.
“Sounded like ‘Porky’ to me,” said Dinah.