Eventually, having been embraced and kissed on both cheeks by the Mayor, who was beginning to smell a bit owing to the mud, they were released by the happy villagers and made their way to the villa, accompanied by shouts of “Bravo!” and “Brave things” and similar encouraging phrases.
When the children got back to the villa they found their parents in the middle of breakfast. Having changed, they slipped into their places as unobtrusively as possible.
“Ah, there you are,” said Mrs Finchberry-White. “I was just coming to look for you.”
“I understand,” said the General, scrunching his way through large quantities of toast, “that you have just had the somewhat doubtful privilege of saving our Mayor’s life.”
“How did you know that?” asked Amanda, startled.
“There are many things,” said the General, “such as the Facts of Life for example, which a parent is not supposed to vouchsafe to his children and that includes his sources of information.”
“Well, it wasn’t anything really,” said David hastily. “It’s just that the bridge gave way and he fell into the water and he can’t swim, so we pulled him out.”
“A noble feat,” said the General. “After all, he is no mean weight.”
“Want some more marmalade? asked Amanda, in an effort to steer the conversation on to different lines.
“No. thank you,” said the General.
He took his pipe out of his pocket and beat out a rapid tattoo on his leg.
“Must you do that, Henry?” asked Mrs Finchberry-White.
“That’s the noise of Wattusi drums when they’ve failed in an attack,” said the General. “I remember it vividly. There we were — five of us — holed up in a kopje and they attacked at dawn. Enormous fellows, all over six feet, with zebra-skin shields and long slender spears. The plain below us was black with them — like ants. We fired until our gun barrels got red hot and finally drove them off; that was where I lost my leg.”
“No dear,” said Mrs Finchberry-White, “you lost it falling downstairs at the Westburys’.”
“I do wish, my dear,” said the General, testily. “that you wouldn’t always spoil a good story by introducing truth into it.”
The General had at one time or another lost his leg in such a variety of circumstances and in such a variety of places that the children now took very little notice of his stories.
David had something else to occupy his mind: a problem which he put to Amanda as soon as they had finished breakfast and were alone together.
“What about the donkeys braying?” he asked.
“Braying?” said Amanda. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” explained David, “that if we have got all the donkeys on Hesperides and they start braying, then everyone will know where they are.”
Amanda frowned over this problem for a moment or so.
“I don’t think we need worry,” she said. “After all, donkeys only bray to each other. It’s sort of like one donkey talking to another donkey across the valley, but if they are all together and there are no donkeys on the mainland to talk to, I think they’ll be quiet.”
“I hope you’re right,” said David. “Now, let’s go down and see Yani and have another council of war.”
CHAPTER 5
The Rustling
The children met at Yani’s small whitewashed house and sat out under the vine drinking lemonade. Coocos was in a tremendous state of excitement because his goldfinch had laid an egg, and he was carrying it round carefully in the pocket of his shirt in the hope of hatching it. As the goldfinch had had no opportunity of coming in contact with another goldfinch, the children thought that his chances of success were very slight, but they did not tell him so for fear of hurting his feelings.
“Now,” said Amanda, “when are we going to do this?”
“I’ve decided,” said David, “that we must wait for full moon.”
“But that’s not until about ten days’ time,” protested Amanda.
“I don’t care,” said David stubbornly, “it must be full moon. We have got to have enough light to see by and we won’t waste the ten days because there are masses of things that we’ve got to do. Remember, we can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
“I agree with David,” said Yani. “I think it’s essential that we do it at full moon, otherwise it’s going to make the job twice as difficult.”
“All right,” said Amanda reluctantly, “but what are we going to do in the meantime?”
“Well,” said David, “the first thing to do is to take some food over to the island to feed the donkeys when we’ve got them. We don’t know how long we’re going to have to keep them there. We can’t take it all at once, because it would look suspicious, so every day, little by little, we will take some hay and some corn out.”
“Sometimes Coocos can do this at night,” suggested Yani. “Nobody really worries about what he does.”
“That’s a good idea,” said Amanda, and Coocos beamed at her.
“Then,” said David, “we ought to have some practice runs so that we know exactly what we are doing on the night.”
“Yes,” said Amanda. “I think that’s very important. Otherwise we will get muddled up and make a hash of it.”
So during the next ten days the four of them quietly and unobtrusively shifted enough fodder to Hesperides to keep even the most finicky of donkeys happy for at least one week. They also worked out a system of communication by owl noises, the number of hoots varying with the message. They found the easiest path from the village down to the beach opposite Hesperides and walked up and down it until they knew every stone and every twist of it. They also went round the village again and again checking on where the donkeys were stabled at night.
Then at last the moon, which had been a mere silver thread in the sky became round and fat and rose blood-red from the sea and they knew that the time had come for their great endeavour.