The Secret Series - Complete Collection. Enid blyton

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ X - A Stormy Night in Willow House

       Table of Contents

      There was certainly a thunderstorm coming. The sky was very black indeed, and it was getting dark. Nora and Mike caught the six hens in the little cave, bundled them gently into the sack, and raced off to the hen-yard with them. Mike stuck two or three willow sticks into the ground at one end of the hen-yard and draped the sack over them.

      “There yau are, henny-pennies!” said Nora. “There is a nice little shelter for you!”

      Plop! Plop! Plop! Enormous drops of rain fell down and the hens gave a frightened squawk. They did not like the rain. They scuttled under the sack at once and lay there quietly, giving each other little pecks now and again.

      “Well, that settles the hens,” said Mike. “l wonder how Peggy is getting on with the fire.”

      Peggy was not getting on at all well. The rain was now coming down fast, and she could not get the fire going. Jack arrived with Daisy the cow and shouted to Peggy:

      “Never mind about the fire! Now that the rain’s coming down so fast you won’t be able to light it. Get into Willow House, all of you, before you get too wet.”

      “The girls can go,” said Mike, running to help Jack. “I’ll get the things to help you milk. My goodness - we haven’t drunk all the milk yet that Daisy gave us this morning!”

      “Put it into a dish and pop it in the hen-yard,” said Jack. “Maybe the hens will like it!”

      In the pouring rain Jack milked Daisy the cow. Soon all the saucepans and the kettle and bowls were full! Really, thought Jack, he simply must get that old milking-pail that the girls had told him of at their Aunt’s farm. It was such a tiring business milking a cow like this.

      When the milking was finished, Jack took Daisy back to her grassy field on the other side of the island. Mike went to Willow House where the two girls were. It was dark there, and the sound of rain drip-drip-drip-ping from the trees all around sounded rather miserable.

      Mike and the two girls sat in the front part of Willow House and waited for Jack.

      Mike was very wet, and he shivered.

      “Poor old Jack will be wet through, too,” he said. “Feel this milk, girls. It’s as warm as can be. Let’s drink some and it will warm us up. We can’t boil any, for we haven’t a fire.”

      Jack came to Willow House dripping wet. But he was grinning away as usual. Nothing ever seemed to upset Jack.

      “Hallo, hallo!” he said. “I’m as wet as a fish! Peggy, where did we put those clothes of mine that I brought to the island last night?”

      “Oh yes!” cried Peggy, in delight. “Of course! You and Mike can change into those.”

      “Well, I don’t know about that,” said Mike. “Jack only brought three old vests, a shirt or two, and an overcoat.”

      “Well, we can wear a vest each, and a shirt, and I’ll wear the overcoat, and you can wrap the old blanket I brought all round you!” said Jack.

      The boys took off their wet clothes and changed into the dry ones. “I’ll hang your wet ones out to dry as soon as the rain stops,” said Peggy, squeezing the rain out of them.

      “I can’t see a thing here,” said Mike, buttoning up his shirt all wrong.

      “Well, light the lantern, silly,” said Jack. “What do you suppose the candles are for? Nora, find the lantern and light it. It may want a new candle inside. You know where you put the candles, don’t you? Over in that corner somewhere.”

      Nora found the lantern. It did want a new candle inside. She found a box of matches and lighted the candle. Mike hung the lantern up on a nail he had put in the roof.

      It swung there, giving a dim but cheerful light to the little party huddled inside Willow House.

      “This really feels like a house now,” said Nora, pleased. “I do like it. It’s very cosy. Not a drop of rain is coming through our roof or the walls.”

      “And not a scrap of wind!” said Jack. “That shows how well we packed the walls with heather and bracken. Listen to the wind howling outside! We shouldn’t like to be out in that! What a good thing we’ve got Willow House to live in! Our outdoor bedroom wouldn’t be at all comfortable to-night!”

      The thunderstorm broke overhead. The thunder crashed around as if someone were moving heavy furniture up in the sky.

      “Hallo! Someone’s dropped a wardrobe, I should think!” said Jack, when an extra heavy crash came!

      “And there goes a grand piano tumbling down the stairs!” said Mike, at another heavy rumble. Everyone laughed. Really, the thunderstorm did sound exactly like furniture being thrown about.

      The lightning flashed brightly, lighting up the inside of Willow House. Nora was not sure that she liked it. She cuddled up to Mike. “I feel a bit frightened,” she said.

      “Don’t be silly!” said Mike. “You’re as bad as those women trippers over the bats!

      There’s nothing to be frightened of. A storm is a grand thing. We’re perfectly safe here.”

      “A storm is just a bit of weather being noisy!” laughed Jack. “Cheer up, Nora. We’re all right. You can think you’re lucky you’re not Daisy the cow. After all, we do know that a storm is only a storm, but she doesn’t.”

      Crash! Rumble! Crash! The thunder roared away, and the children made a joke of it, inventing all kinds of furniture tumbling about the sky, as each crash came. The lightning flashed, and each time Jack said, “Thanks very much! The sky keeps striking matches, and the wind keeps blowing them out!”

      Even Nora laughed, and soon she forgot to be frightened. The rain pelted down hard, and the only thing that worried Jack was whether or not a rivulet of rain might find its way into Willow House and run along the floor on which they were sitting. But all was well. No rain came in at all.

      Gradually the storm died away, and only the pitter-patter of raindrops falling from the trees could be heard, a singing, liquid sound. The thunder went farther and farther away. The lightning flashed for the last time. The storm was over.

      “Now we’ll have something to eat and a cup of milk to drink, and off to bed we’ll go,” said Jack. “We’ve had quite enough excitement for to-day! And Mike and I were so late last night that I’m sure he’s dropping with sleep. I know I am.”

      Peggy got a small meal for them all, and they drank Daisy’s creamy milk. Then the girls went into the back room of Willow House and snuggled down on the warm heather there, and the boys lay down in the front room. In half a minute everyone was asleep!

      Again Daisy the cow awoke them with her mooing. It was strange to wake up in Willow House instead of in their outdoor sleeping-place among the gorse, with the sky above them. The children blinked up at their green roof, for leaves were growing from the willow branches that were interlaced for a ceiling. It СКАЧАТЬ