race to the far end and back before flying to the tree-house, feeling a bit more cheerful.
When they got there, they discovered that the bracken doorway had blown away and there were some patches of ice on the floor where the rain had dripped in, and even a few icicles hanging from the roof. “We could put more moss in those holes in the roof,” Emily said, and they flew to a nearby tree with a thick layer growing up its trunk, collected plenty and pushed it firmly into as many cracks as they could find.
After Emily had climbed inside and reported no more daylight showing through the roof, they turned their attention to the open doorway. Tom suggested they replace the bracken with flat fir branches, and they worked together, finding a few on the ground, and cutting more from the tree until the doorway was full and much more watertight. They filled in the windows too, and then stood back to admire their work, feeling pleased with themselves.
They were both on the landing branch, packing gorse twigs into the thinnest places of the new door, when Emily spotted Duncan flying through the trees towards them.
“Well done!” he said, inspecting their work. “I thought you’d need help, but you’ve managed fine. I think that should last the winter. Good job you came down today. Have you seen the sky?” They had been so absorbed in the work that they hadn’t noticed that the wind was rising. For the last week of hard frost the air had been still and very cold, but suddenly they both realised that a change was happening. A strong wind was blowing from the north, and when they flew above the trees they saw a huge bank of dark grey cloud rising in that direction.
“That means snow, for certain,” said Duncan. “I saw it coming on my way home, and came to fetch you. With this wind there could be a blizzard, and it’s easy to get lost. Let’s get going.”
“Did you find another pheasant, Dad?” Tom asked hopefully as they started for home.
“No, but I bagged some pigeons to keep Emily happy,” said Duncan. “Let’s hope we can get them cooked before it starts to snow!”
They were just in time. The pigeons, threaded on sticks over the fire, were charring nicely when the first flakes of snow began to whirl in the air around them. They carried them inside the cave to eat. There was plenty to go round, and they finished with hot nettle tea and dried rowan berries as it grew dark. By this time the snow was falling thickly, the fire was hissing and dying and they decided that bed was the best place for all of them. Even Tom agreed that the snow would probably still be there in the morning as he took a final clawful of berries to eat in bed and disappeared into his private cave.
Emily wished she had her bats to talk to as she snuggled into bed, but they were hibernating and she hadn’t seen them for weeks. Thinking to herself that perhaps bats had the right idea, she burrowed into her heather bed and lay for a long time, worrying. Had the otters reached the big river and found a place to shelter from the snow? Was it snowing at the castle? Was Des still there? Was Aunt Angelica driving them all mad? How would she and Tom get through the rest of the winter without fighting, especially if they were stuck in the cave; and would their food last if the snow went on and on... Finally she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion!
Chapter 5
Blizzards and Buzzards
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
