say good-night, I think. I can see Diana yawning her head off!”
“Good night, sir,” said Roger, “and thanks most awfully. See you to-morrow!” Everyone went to the car to see Mr. Martin off, and soon he was jolting slowly over the little track that led back to the farm-house.
“And now it’s bed for all of us,” said Miss Pepper briskly. “My word, I feel different now—everything straightened out so well! I just wish your mother hadn’t had her holiday spoilt, though she won’t mind so long as your aunt is on the mend!”
The two boys went out to find a thick patch of heather. “We’ll wash in the stream to-morrow morning,” yawned Roger, settling down on a rug. “Here—there’s enough rug for you and Miranda, Barney.”
Miranda cuddled up into Barney’s neck, chattering in his ear. He was sleepy and didn’t answer, and she tweaked his hair.
“Now look here, Miranda,” said Barney, undoing her tiny fingers from his hair, “I will not have you pulling my hair when I want to go to sleep. Settle down!”
And Miranda settled down meekly, her small brown face hidden in his neck. Barney patted her and smiled. What a funny little thing she was!
Miss Pepper and Diana slept in the caravan with the door wide open for air. Miss Pepper sighed with relief as she closed her eyes. Things were turning out better than she had hoped!
In the morning quite early, Mr. Martin was back again in the car, complete with new-laid eggs, new-made bread, butter and fresh milk from the farm. “And very nice too!” said Miss Pepper approvingly. “Miranda—leave that egg alone!”
“I’ve been looking at a map,” said Mr. Martin, after breakfast, and spread a large one out on the heathery ground, where they had all sat having breakfast in the warm sun. “The thing we have to decide is where to go! Any ideas, anyone?”
“Somewhere by the sea,” said Roger at once. “If this hot weather goes on, we’ll want to bathe.”
“Not in a big town,” said Miss Pepper. “Somewhere small and countrified.”
“Somewhere where I can watch birds,” said Diana. “I’ve got a holiday essay to write on ‘Birds I have Seen’.”
“Oh, don’t start talking about that essay again!” said Roger. “I bet you don’t watch for a single bird the whole time!”
Diana glared at him, and Miss Pepper hurriedly interrupted. “There are birds everywhere, Diana—we really don’t need to look for any special bird-haunt. Barney, what kind of place would you like?”
“Well—I hate modern holiday spots, where there are crowds of people,” said Barney. “I’d rather go to some quiet old place—where we can laze about in old clothes, do exactly what we like, and not have to bother with anyone else at all.”
“I think we are all pretty well agreed then,” said Miss Pepper. “But where shall we find a place like that in the middle of the summer? Most places by the sea are so crowded now.”
“We’ll go somewhere on this hilly Welsh coast, I think,” said Mr. Martin, tracing a route with his finger. “It’s lovely country round there. I vote we start off straightaway, and cruise along by the sea—and we’ll stop as soon as we find the place we want. Come along—let’s pack up and go at once!”
CHAPTER FIVE
A HALT FOR ICE-CREAMS
Before long they were all on their way. Mr. Martin’s car was a big one, and there was plenty of room for them all. The caravan swayed along behind, and Mr. Martin had to keep remembering that his car was pulling it, and try not to swing round corners too fast!
They drove until lunch-time, and then had a picnic by the roadside, in a little wood. They looked at the map again. “Soon be by the sea,” said Mr. Martin, following the map with his fingers. “Then we’ll look out for a likely spot for you. We’ll drive straight through all the big seaside towns, and dawdle along the coast looking for what we want.”
“This is fun!” said Diana. “Oh, Miranda—you’ll be sick! Barney, that’s the fourth plum she’s taken.”
Barney took away the plum, and Miranda flew into a rage. She leapt on to his head, pulling one of his ears till he shouted. Then she was sorry and tried to creep down his neck, under his shirt.
“Really, you can’t help laughing at the naughty little thing!” said Miss Pepper. “What we shall do when Snubby arrives with that mad spaniel Loony, I don’t know! There’ll be no peace for anybody!”
“Well, I must say I’m as pleased we haven’t that pair in the car with us yet,” said Mr. Martin, rolling up the map. “A mad dog, an idiotic boy, and a naughty monkey would certainly be too much for any driver!”
They drove off again. They came to a big seaside town, packed with trippers, noisy and full of litter. “Straight through here,” said Mr. Martin firmly. “And the next one too. After that we come to a lonely part of the coast, and we’ll keep our eyes open.”
Through that town they went, and then right through the next, without stopping. Ah—now they were leaving behind the crowded part of the coast, and coming to deserted bays, lonely sweeps of sand, tiny villages, fishing hamlets. Hills rose up from the coast, and the car had to take a roundabout route, going slowly because of the caravan behind it.
“This looks more like what we want,” said Diana, looking out of the car window at the sea on one side and hills on the other. “Mr. Martin—do you think we could stop for an ice-cream sometime? I’m simply too hot for words, even with all the windows open!”
“Good idea!” said Mr. Martin, and he stopped at the next village—a tiny place that ran down to the sea. But there was no shop that sold ice-cream! “You go on to Penrhyndendraith,” said the woman they asked. “That’s got a fine ice-cream shop there. And if the young ones want a bathe, you tell them to go to Merlin’s Cove—there’s the finest bathing there in the kingdom.”
“That sounds fine,” said Roger, and they once more drove on. Round the coast they went, with the sea splashing on one side, and the mountains on the other—for now the hills had grown higher, and some of them towered up into the sky.
“Grand country!” said Mr. Martin. “Now—where is this Penny-denny-draith place. Ah—that looks like it—see, built on a slope of the hill.”
They came to Penrhyndendraith. It was a truly picturesque place, a fishing village, with a dozen or so old cottages built along the seafront and others straggling up the slope of the hill behind.
Above the cottages on the hill rose a strange old place with curious turrets and towers. It was set right against a cliff-like hill, so that the back of it had no windows at all. Some of it was falling to pieces, and it looked in places as if only the ivy held it together!
A signboard was set over the great old doorway, but it was too far away for the children to read what was on it. Diana was more interested in finding the ice-cream shop than in looking at the half-ruined building on the hill. She jogged Mr. Martin’s arm gently. “Look—would that be where the ice-cream shop is?” she asked, and pointed to the crooked row of cottages.
Mr.
