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on to the rock. They clustered round Philip, and, seeing that their
leader was so friendly with the boy, they pawed him and licked him.
The howl awakened all the three children in the cave, and they sat
up in fright. To their unspeakable horror they saw, outside the cave,
what looked like Philip being attacked by wolves!
"Look! They've got Philip! Quick!" yelled Jack.
All three children slid out of their sleeping-bags and rushed to
Philip's aid. The dogs growled at the sudden commotion.
"Philip! We're coming! Are you hurt?" cried valiant little Lucy-Ann,
picking up a stick.
"It's all right, it's all right!" yelled Philip. "They're not
attacking me. They're friendly. They're not wolves, but Alsatians! Dogs,
you know!"
"Goodness gracious!" said Dinah, and came out into the moonlight,
so glad that the dogs were not wolves that she didn't even feel afraid
of so many big dogs!
"Oh, Philip!" said Lucy-Ann, almost in tears with the shock of delight
at knowing the wolves were only dogs. "Oh, Philip! I thought you were
being attacked."
"You were a darling to come to my rescue then," said Philip, smiling
when he saw the little stick that Lucy-Ann had meant to attack the wolves
with. "The leader of the dogs made friends with me so all the others
are doing the same!"
The dogs had apparently made up their minds to stay for the night.
Philip debated what to do. "We can't possibly go back into the cave,"
he said. "The whole pack will come crowding in, and it would be impossible
to breathe."
"Quite impossible," said Dinah, filled with horror at the thought
of so many dogs sleeping with them.
"So we'll bring our sleeping-bags out here on the rock beside Dapple,
and sleep there," said Philip. "The dogs can stay if they want to
they'll be good guards! And if they don't want to, they can go. There
are about ten of them! I wonder how it is they're wandering about here
wild. Ten of them! It's extraordinary."
They dragged out their sleeping-bags, and got into them. The dogs
sniffed round in wonder. The leader sat majestically down by Philip,
as if to say, "This boy is my property. Keep off!" The others lay about
among the children. Snowy was afraid of the big leader-dog and dared
not even go near his beloved Philip. He went to Jack instead. Kiki stayed
up in a tree. There were altogether too many dogs for her!
It was a curious sight the moon looked down on: four children, one
goat, one parrot, one donkey and ten dogs!
Chapter 13
THE FACE IN THE TREE
WHEN the morning came, Dapple awoke the children by giving a mighty
sneeze. They woke with a jump, wondering what it was. Dapple gave another
sneeze, and they knew!
"It's Dapple! Have you got a cold, Dapple?" asked Lucy-Ann anxiously.
Then she remembered the happenings of the night, and looked round.
Everyone said the same thing at once.
"Where are the dogs?"
They had disappeared. Not one was there. The children looked at one
another, puzzled. Where had they gone, and why?
"We couldn't all have dreamed them," said Dinah, answering everyone's
unspoken thought. "They really were here. Ten of them. Most peculiar."
"Yes, it is peculiar," said Jack. "Personally, I think they must
belong to somebody. They didn't strike me as being a pack of wild dogs."
"Nor me," said Philip. "But who could they belong to? There's not
a house for miles! And why should anyone in this desolate mountain
country keep ten man-hunting dogs?"
"Oooh are they man-hunters?" said Lucy-Ann, startled.
"Well, the police use them for that," said Philip. "Don't they, Jack?
They hunt criminals with them. Those Alsatians can smell them out and
capture them. But there can't be any police here, with hunting-dogs!
I mean Bill would have had it reported to him, if they were. He's
high up in the police organisation himself, and there's not a thing
he doesn't know about what's going on in the police world."
"Where do the dogs come from then?" asked Dinah. "Would they be kept
as guards for anything to frighten anyone off, or give the alarm,
for instance?"
"Yes but what is there to guard here, among these mountains?" said
Jack. "Nothing at all, as far as I can see!"
"Give it up!" said Philip, sliding out of his sleeping-bag. "I'm going
for a splash in the stream. Coming?"
"Yes. Then we'll open a tin or two," said Dinah. "I wish we'd thought
of giving that ham-bone to the dogs, Jack. The ham's gone bad now
but they wouldn't have minded."
"We'll give it to them next time we see them," said Jack. "I've no
doubt they'll be along again!"
They all splashed in the stream, Dapple too. Kiki sat apart, making
sarcastic remarks, for she was not fond of water.
"Pooh! Gah!" she shouted, trying to remember all the rude words she
knew. "Gooh! Pah!"
"That's right. Mix your words up, Kiki," said Jack. "What about
'piffle' and 'bunk'? You used to know those too."
"Pifflebunk," said Kiki, and thought that was a good word.
"Pifflebunk, bifflepunk, pop goes the pifflebunk."
The children laughed. Kiki laughed too and then began to give an
imitation of Dapple braying. This was much too lifelike and Dapple
started up, looking all round for the other donkeys.
"Ee-ore, ee-ore, ee-ore," went on Kiki, till Jack threw a towel at
her to make her stop. It fell over her head and she screamed in rage.
Dapple and Snowy stared solemnly at her, puzzled and surprised.
After they had a meal, Lucy-Ann volunteered to go down to the stream
again and wash the dishes, while the others looked at the map, trying
to find out exactly where they were. She went off to the stream, humming.
She knelt down by the water, scouring a dish, when a sound made her
look up. She had heard something in the tree above, just by the water.
There was a big, leafy tree there, growing almost out of the stream.
Lucy-Ann, thinking there must be a bird in the tree, peered up into
the branches.
She got a terrible shock. Looking down at her was a face and it
was black!
The little girl stood there, petrified, the dish in her hand, unable
to move or speak. The branches moved and she saw the face was topped
by black, woolly hair, and that it had very white teeth and thick lips.
"It's a Negro!" she thought to herself. "But here! Up this tree! What
shall I do?"
The black face looked down on the little girl, and then the thick
lips parted in a smile. The woolly head nodded amiably. Then a black
finger came up from among the leaves, and was put to the lips.
"You not make a sound, little missy," said the Negro, in a hoarse
whisper. "You not say I here. I poor nigger, little missy, lost and
all alone."
Lucy-Ann couldn't believe her ears. She felt that she simply must
call the others. But they didn't hear her, and as soon as she had shouted,
the Negro frowned fiercely and shook his head.
"Missy, you go 'way from here. Dis very bad mountain, full of bad
men. They get you if you don't go 'way. Bad things here, Missy."
"What are you doing here?" asked Lucy-Ann, in a scared voice. "How
do you know all this?"
"I been in bad mountain, Missy. I get away. But poor nigger nowhere
to go he afraid of dem big dogs. He stay here in big tree. You go
'way, Missy, far away!"
Lucy-Ann felt queer, standing there talking to a black-faced man up
a tree. She suddenly turned and ran back to the others. She ran fast,
and arrived absolutely out of breath.
"What's the matter, what's the matter?" cried Jack, seeing from
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