Chapter 3: The Light In The Night
'Kiki!' exclaimed Jack, letting go of Philip's hand and turning around, looking for his beloved parrot. 'However did you get here?'
They watched in amazement as Kiki flew off a nearby tree and came to sit on Jack's shoulder. 'Naughty boy, naughty boy. Send for the doctor,' she said solemnly and began nibbling at Jack's ear affectionately. In return he scratched her neck gently and at once she raised her crest in delight.
'She must have sat on the helicopter's skids until it landed here,' said Lucy-Ann. She walked over and began petting the parrot as well.
Kiki enjoyed the attention she was getting and gave another exclamation of, 'PHEEE! The police! Phee! Phee! Phee!'
'We can't call the police, Kiki,' said Philip gloomily from where he was still sitting on the ground. 'We're right in the middle of nowhere. There is no police station nearby. I can't even see a house or anything.'
He got to his feet and dusted off his legs and backside. Then he did the just same as Jack had already attempted to do before: he surveyed the area where their kidnappers had dropped them off. The middle of nowhere was an awfully accurate description. They were on a clearing in a forest that grew next to a large lake. It spread out about a mile away from them, just down a soft slope; the water looked calm and very green – probably a reflection of the surrounding vegetation. Beyond the lake there were soft hills, richly overgrown by trees and bushes – but there was no sign of civilisation at all!
After taking in their surroundings Philip began to wonder what to do now. For one thing, they needed shelter for the night. It was getting late, and it was considerably cooler now than it had been before they had got onto the helicopter.
'Let's go deeper into the woods and see if we can find a good place to spend the night,' he suggested. 'It's not going to make any sense to try and find a village or something before darkness.' He turned around himself a couple of times, taking in the untouched nature environment and continued, 'for instance, If this is a place where hikers come to, there might be a hut to offer them shelter somewhere in the forest.'
'How about food and something to drink?' asked Lucy-Ann. On board the helicopter they had been given a few sips of water to share between them, but no food. Now they didn't even have anything to drink.
'Let's try if we can find a place where we can sleep, then we'll worry about food and water,' said Jack. 'Maybe we can drink water from the lake – although it might be better if we filter it first or something.'
As they made their way through the woods the sun was already sinking low behind the hills on the other side of the lake and it quickly got darker. They would soon need to camp for the night. After all the excitement of that day they were feeling very exhausted too.
Suddenly Philip exclaimed, 'look! Over there! There is a hut. Let's see if there's any food or water stocked inside of it. It's summer, on-season for hiking, isn't it?'
They sped up but when they entered the small hut they were disappointed. There was little inside that could be of use to them. And certainly no one had left any food or water here.
'What a pity, what a pity,' squawked Kiki, making all three grin half-heartedly. It was funny when Kiki made such fitting remarks. But they were too hungry and too tired out to really enjoy her comments.
'Looks as though this lake is really a lonely place to be,' said Jack. 'We're probably miles and miles away from the next village.'
'Blow,' said Philip grumpily. 'Whatever are we going to do? It's getting cold, and I'm starving!'
'So am I,' said Lucy-Ann.
The only useful thing they found inside the hut were a few tinny mugs. At least those would do to fetch water from the lake.
'I'll go,' volunteered Philip after Lucy-Ann had raised the question. 'Give me the mugs, I think I can carry four by the handles if they are filled.'
'Do be careful,' said Lucy-Ann. 'And hurry, soon it'll be too dark to see a thing!'
Philip gave her a confident grin and set out. He knew he had to hurry if he wanted to be able to find the way back safely. Swiftly he walked through the woods, squeezing himself past thickly growing bushes every now and then, when there was no way to go around. It was very cool now and he was freezing in his thin, short-sleeved shirt. His stomach was rumbling too, and he knew his friends were feeling just as bad as he was.
But what about Dinah? Would she at least be fed? And given a warm place to sleep? Would the men hurt her? Feeling the anger at their kidnappers rise once more, Philip kicked at a pebble, making it tumble into the undergrowth. And it made the boughs and leaves move and wobble. Philip stopped, frowning. How could such a small pebble cause such movement in the undergrowth?
There! The small bush had just wobbled again! Something must be in it. Something small. Whatever could it be? Carefully, Philip drew nearer and knelt down. He pushed aside a few boughs and revealed a small furry body. It was a young rabbit. Was it hurt? Talking to the small animal in a soothing voice, Philip reached out a careful hand and gave it a soft nudge. Then he saw that its leg was caught up in a forking between two small boughs. The rabbit couldn't wriggle it free and the boughs must still be too thick for the tiny creature to nibble through.
'Poor thing,' whispered Philip. Gently, he bent the boughs apart and helped the rabbit free its leg. 'There you go, now. Hope that leg isn't broken or anything.'
It didn't seem to be and the rabbit happily hobbled away from the place where it had been captured. Philip grinned, feeling pleased. 'That's right, off you go,' he encouraged the small creature.
But the rabbit had no intention of going too far off – instead it hobbled along with Philip, following stubbornly on his heels and never venturing further than a few yards away from him. He almost stumbled over it a couple of times as he continued his way to the lake.
'Golly!' he exclaimed one time, after he had nearly fallen over his new friend. 'You are clingy, aren't you?' He picked the rabbit up and set it on his shoulder. 'If you want to stay, stay there – at least then I don't have to constantly be afraid of tripping over you!'
Finally, he reached the lake, filled the mugs and was about to return, when his eyes caught sight if a light shining on the other side of the lake, somewhere on top of the hills. His mind started to race. There must be a house! Maybe they hadn't seen it before because it was hidden between trees and bushes. But in the near darkness of the night, the light shining out was clearly visible! Feeling excited, Philip hurried back to the hut where he had left Jack and Lucy-Ann behind.
'Whatever took you so long, Tufty?' asked Jack after Philip had entered. 'We can't be that far away from the lake.'
Lucy-Ann clutched her brother's arm, pointing at the small creature still sitting on Philip's shoulder. 'Look, Jack! A rabbit! Philip found himself a new friend! Isn't he sweet?'
'I'm calling him Hopper,' said Philip with a grin. He lifted Hopper off his shoulder and handed him over to Lucy-Ann. Hopper quivered at first, but he soon adapted to Lucy-Ann who was petting him gently.
'Blow your nose!' said Kiki sternly to Hopper. As usual she wasn't thrilled at having to compete over everyone's attention with one of Philip's pets. 'Open your book on page six,' she added for good measure. It frightened the rabbit and Jack tapped Kiki's beak to make her shut up. Sulking a little, Kiki flew out of the hut and perched on its roof.
Meanwhile Philip put down the mugs he had filled with water. He pulled off his shirt – he was feeling warmed up from his hurried return anyway – and stretched a clean bit of its fabric over one empty mug before he carefully poured some of the water into it. It was the best they could do for now. After he had filtered all the water he handed one of the mugs to each of his friends. Then he told them about the light he had seen on the other side of the lake.
'We must find out where it came from first thing tomorrow morning,' Jack said excitedly after he had heard about it. 'My word, I do hope it's a house with someone living in it. Someone who might be able to supply us with food. I'm so hungry!'
So were the others. Neither of them got much rest that night. The made themselves as comfortable as they could on the two narrow bunks in the hut, with Jack and Lucy-Ann sharing one and Philip sharing the other one with Hopper, the rabbit. Trying to get to sleep, they all thought of Dinah and puzzled over the question where the men might have taken her.
Jack was sure that they couldn't have gone too far, for the helicopter wouldn't have had much more gas. When he said so to the others, Philip had to agree but it didn't stop him from worrying. Dinah might be a prickly, often annoying girl, but she was still his sister after all, and if something really bad happened to her, he certainly wouldn't be able to forgive himself for letting the men take her!
When morning finally came Lucy-Ann was the first to wake up, shivering all over. Like the boys she was only wearing shorts and a thin shirt, and even sharing the bunk with Jack hadn't helped much to keep her body heat. Hunger was bothering her as well and she slipped off the bunk wondering if she should go for a little walk in the forest and look for something edible, such as wild berries. Thinking that it might help against the freezing if she got move around for a bit she quietly ventured off.
Jack didn't wake up and Philip, too, was still snoring faintly on the other bunk. Lucy-Ann slipped out of the hut and into the misty morning air. It was going to be another fine day, she realised. But for now there was fog all over the place, keeping the sun from warming up the woods. It must still be very early.
She walked down to the lake, wondering if she might make out the place the light had come from. But the fog was too dense and she soon returned to the hut. By the time she got there Jack and Philip were awake, too. They were both looking a little pale after all the stress of the past twenty-hours hours and Lucy-Ann thought that she was probably not looking any better.
Kiki was up, too. She raised her crest when Lucy-Ann came into the hut and ordered, 'shut the door. Wipe your feet. And don't sniff! Where's your handkerchief? How many times do I have to tell you to shut the door, idiot?'
Lucy-Ann laughed a her. 'I can't shut the door, Kiki – there is no door to be shut! And I didn't sniff, either – but I might be sniffing very soon, if I don't warm up.'
'You're right, Lucy-Ann,' said Jack. 'Another night outside in this attire should catch us all a nasty chill. Let's go and see if might find the house old Tufty saw last night.'
'I saw a light,' said Philip. 'I hope it was coming from a house. But I couldn't say for sure.'
'Well, we'll never find out if we stay here, waiting, are we?' said Jack, 'my word, I'm still freezing – isn't it time the sun chased away this mist?'
They walked down to the lake and strode along its embankment. As the morning proceeded the mist cleared away and after a few hours, when they had nearly reached the other side and were ready to start up the hills, they were sweating instead of freezing. The sun had come out by now and Philip suggested they take a short bath in the lake before starting to ascend.
'Good idea,' said Jack, pulling off his shirt and shorts.
Lucy-Ann didn't want to swim, but she stripped off her shoes to dip her feet into the refreshing water as well. Sitting on a big stone she watched the boys as they waded further in. The bottom was littered with stones and rocks of all sizes and was quite slippery. Jack even fell once. Trying to regain his balance he bumped into a big, sharp-edge rock and scraped up his shin painfully.
'What a pity, what a pity,' said Kiki as he gave a sound of pain and annoyance. She had been watching them curiously, sitting on Lucy-Ann's shoulder. 'Pop goes the weasel.'
Philip and Lucy-Ann laughed while Jack just rubbed his shin under the water and mumbled something about Kiki going pop under his breath.
Their short dip into the lake cheered both boys up immensely and they almost forgot about their empty stomachs. The blissful moment of oblivion didn't last long, though – after all, it had been over twenty-four hours since they all had last eaten!
As soon as the boys had dried themselves somewhat the three started to ascend the hills. Kiki fluttered about their heads, taking short breaks from flying where she would sit on Jack's shoulder and babble nonsense into his ear. Hopper was still following them, too, every now and then stopping for a bit of fresh grass or a mouthful of dandelion.
Philip tried to remember in which direction he had seen the light the evening before, but it was impossible to to say now. After two hours of walking steadily uphill he began feeling anxious. Hopefully they would find a bit civilisation before nightfall. He really didn't want to spend another night like the last one!
But then Lucy-Ann cried out suddenly, 'look! Over there – a house! There is a house after all, see? There between the trees – we've found the source of your light, Philip!'
