The Flight To Adventure

Chapter 9 what are the men upto?

   Jenny was half afraid that they might loose their way, while going back.But the boys had taken good notice of everything.The difficuilt part could have arisen in the woods but the trees notched by the boys, soon set them on the right path.
They saw that the plane was still down in the valley. So the men were still somewhere about.
"That's our shed" shouted a happy Jenny.The little girl was quite relieved to be back.
"I hope our things are still safe" said Clara. They went inside.
Yes, their things were all there, exactly as they had left them.
The sun was now sliding down.It was almost tea time.The children wondered whether they should eat the rest of their supply of biscuits and choclates. " It's better if we don't take them now.We will eat them at night before sleeping, if we are terribely hungry.Oh wait a moment havn't we still got the packet of picnic aunt Hills had packed for us?" Asked Jack .
" I had saved it up." Said Clara" we had so little food , So I thought better save it for the time when we are awfully hungry."
" But the sandwiches will become very stale" objected Charles" We might eat them while they are eatable."
   "Well, we could eat the sandwiches and leave the cake and biscuits and choclates for tommorow." Said Clara." But first let's make this place ready for  tonight, its so filthy."
" I don't want to sleep here" said Jenny" I don't understand why we can't sleep out in the open air. We have our rugs and we could unpack some clothes and use them as pillows."
So they spread out the rugs and unpacked some clothes. All this work made them more tired and hungry now.So Clara unpacked the sandwiches and huge slices of cake.They ate in silence enjoying their food immensely.
" I wonder, what those men are doing now.I can't see any smoke rising now.Shall I slip down towards the plane, keep myself well hidden and see if I can find out something about the men?" Asked Jack.
  "Yes, but are you sure you know your way there and back too. Don't you get lost for God's sake." Said Charles.
"I know the way well" said the boy and even if I do get lost Lili will remember the way well, so no worries." And off he went, with Lili on his shoulder.
While he was gone, the others were very busy. They spread out the rugs on soft grass, under a birch tree.Unpacked some clothes and made pillows and bed spreads.After all the hard work, they sat down waiting for Jack to return with any good news.But it took him longer then they had expected.Jenny felt quite scared.She adored her brother alot.She went to stand on a big rock, so that she might see him,when he returned.   Soon the others heard her shout" He's coming and Lili is on his shoulder."
     She jumped down from the rock and ran to meet him.He grinned at her and Lili flew off his shoulder to perch on her's.
"I was beggining to get worried Jack. Did anything happen? Did you see the two men? What were they doing?" Asked Jenny excitedly.
They came upto the other two. " My word, what a nice bed" said Jack as he sank down on one." I'm jolly tired."
  "What happened Jack?" inquired Charles.
" Nothing much.I got as near to the plane as i could But I dare not go right out in the open, as you know I could be seen.I could not see or hear anything of the  men at all" Jack told them." Well the next thing I thought to do would be to try and find the hide out of men and to see from where that spiral of smoke was coming from.So keeping as much to the bushes and trees, as I could, I went in the direction of the smoke.They might have lighted the fire again because the smoke looked quite black and thick."
  "Did you see the men?" Asked Clara.
" I heard their voices first.Then I thought it would be a good idea to climb a tree and use my field glasses. So I climbed up a little tree.Not very  far away I could see a small hut.There were two men, cooking something over the fire they had made." Said the boy to the others.
"Gracious , weren't you afraid of being seen?" Asked his little sister.
" No, the trees covered me well. And I didn't make even a slight bit of noise.I took out my field glasses and viewed through them .The men were trying to study something which looked like a map" said Jack.
"What for?" Asked Clara." I think they know this part of the world very well or they wouldn't have been able to make such a smooth landing."
  " Well, they have come here for some reason havn't they?" said Jack " They might be looking for something or someone and the map will probably show them the way to whatever they want ."
"We could follow them" said Clara at once, "then we will know."
" No thanks, I'm not going mountain climbing after those men.They look quite fierce looking to me.What my idea is that we let them go off on their expedition and then when they are gone, we slip down and search their hut and the plane.We may find something that might tell us where we are and what those men are upto" explained Jack.
" Yes lets do that."said Jenny sleepily." Perhaps they will go tommorrow.I hope they do. Jack could watch them with his field glasses and when they are gone we could go and snoop around"
"I quite like your plan " said Charles.
" Lets just simply lie down and have a good night sleep first.I can hardly kesp my eyes open.We are safe here , aren't we? " asked Jenny .
"Perfect I should think" said Jack while lying down" Anyway Lili will warn us if anyone even dares to come near.Good night everyone."
And soon they were all fast asleep.