"Blyton, Enid - Adv 04 - Sea of Adventure" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

"Puff-puff-puffin," said Kiki at once, thinking it was an invitation to her to let off her railway-engine screech. But Jack stopped her sternly.

"No, Kiki. No more of that. Frighten the gulls and the cormorants, the guillemots and the puffins all you like with that awful screech when we get to them Ч but you are not to let it off here. It gets on Aunt Allie's nerves."

"What a pity, what a pity!" said Kiki mournfully. "Puff-puff, ch-ch-ch!"

"Idiot," said Jack, and ruffled the parrot's feathers. She sidled towards him on the tea-table, and rubbed her beak against his shoulder. Then she pecked a large strawberry out of the jar of jam.

"Oh, Jack!" began Mrs. Mannering, "you know I don't like Kiki on the table at mealtimes Ч and really, that's the third time she's helped herself to strawberries out of the jam."

"Put it back, Kiki," ordered Jack at once. But that didn't please Mrs. Mannering either. Really, she thought, it would be very very nice and peaceful when the four children and the parrot were safely off on their holiday.

The children spent a very happy evening talking about the coming holiday. The next day Jack and Philip looked out their field-glasses and cleaned them up. Jack hunted for his camera, a very fine one indeed.

"I shall take some unique pictures of the puffins," he told Lucy-Ann. "I hope they'll be nesting when we get there, Lucy-Ann, though I think we might be a bit too early to find eggs."

"Do they nest in trees?" asked Lucy-Ann. "Can you take pictures of their nests too, and the puffins sitting on them?"

Jack roared. "Puffins don't nest in trees," he explained. "They nest in burrows underground."

"Gracious!" said Lucy-Ann. "Like rabbits!"

"Well, they even take rabbit burrows for nesting-places sometimes," said Jack. "It will be fun to see puffins scuttling underground to their nests. I bet they will be as tame as anything too, because on some of these bird islands nobody has ever been known to set foot Ч so the birds don't know enough to fly off when people arrive."

"You could have puffins for pets, easily, then," said Lucy-Ann. "I bet Philip will. I bet he'll only just have to whistle and all the puffins will come huffing and puffing to meet him."

Everyone laughed at Lucy-Ann's comical way of putting things. "Huffin and puffin," said Kiki, scratching her head. "Huffin and puffin, poor little piggy-wiggy-pig."

"Now what's she talking about?" said Jack. "Kiki, you do talk a lot of rubbish."

"Poor little piggy-wiggy-pig," repeated Kiki solemnly. "Huffin and puffin, huffin and . . ."

Philip gave a shout of laughter. "I know! She's remembered hearing the tale of the wolf and the three little pigs Ч don't you remember how the wolf came huffing and puffing to blow their house down? Oh, Kiki Ч you're a marvel!"

"She'll give the puffins something to think about," said Dinah. "Won't you, Kiki? They'll wonder what sort of a freak has come to visit them. Hallo Ч is that the telephone bell?"

"Yes," said Jack, thrilled. "Aunt Allie has put through a call to Dr. Johns Ч to tell him we'll join his expedition Ч but he was out, so she asked him to ring back when he got home. I bet that's his call."

The children crowded out into the hall, where the telephone was. Mrs. Mannering was already there. The children pressed close to her, eager to hear everything.

"Hallo!" said Mrs. Mannering. "Is that Dr. Johns Ч oh, it's Mrs. Johns. Yes, Mrs. Mannering here. What's that? Oh. . . . I'm so dreadfully sorry. How terrible for you! Oh, I do so hope it isn't anything serious. Yes, yes, of course, I quite understand. He will have to put the whole thing off Ч till next year perhaps. Well, I do hope you'll have good news soon. You'll be sure to let us know, won't you? Good-bye."

She hung up the receiver and turned to the children with a solemn face. "I'm so sorry, children Ч but Dr. Johns has been in a car accident this morning Ч he's in hospital, so, of course, the whole expedition is off."

Off! No bird islands after all Ч no glorious carefree time in the wild seas of the north! What a terrible disappointment!