United States or Seychelles ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
They drove through the forest for the trees that Hugh had so admired were those of a forest on and on, swiftly but yet smoothly; never in his life had Hugh felt any motion so delightful. "What a good coachman Houpet is!" exclaimed Hugh. "I never should have thought he could drive so well. How does he know the road, Jeanne?" "There isn't any road, so he doesn't need to know it," said Jeanne.
Now put down the cage, Chéri oh, you have put it down and let's run in again. Your pet will be quite safe, you see, but if we're not quick, Marcelline will be running out to look for us." She felt about for Hugh's hand, and having got it, turned to go. But she stopped to put her head in again for a moment at the door. "Houpet, dear," she said, "don't let Dudu come into your house.
"It seems as if somebody must be shooting them up with a gun, doesn't it?" said Hugh. "I never saw such queer fountains." "Let's go and look at them close," said Jeanne, preparing to get down. But before she could do so, Houpet gave a shrill, rather peremptory crow, and Jeanne stopped short in surprise. "What do you want, Houpet?" she said.
"I don't know at least I'm not sure," said Jeanne; "but, Chéri, isn't it a good thing that Houpet and the others are with us to show us the way, for though the ground looks so pretty it is quite boggy here and there. I notice that Houpet never goes quite close to the fountains, and just when I went the least bit near one a minute ago my feet began to slip down."
Whenever he saw Dudu and Houpet and the rest of the pets, he looked at them at first in a half dreamy way, wondering if they too were puzzled about it all, or if, being really fairies, they did not find anything to puzzle them!
And plainer and nearer than before came the sound of fast-rushing water. "You see we are to get down," said Hugh. "Yes," said Jeanne again, looking round her a little timidly. "Chéri, do you know, I feel just a very, very little bit frightened. It is such a queer place, and I don't know what we should do. Don't you think we'd better ask Houpet to take us back again?" "Oh no," said Hugh.
At first the children could not make out why their guide had stopped here there was nothing to be seen. But pressing forward a few steps to where Houpet stood, Hugh saw, imbedded in the moss at his feet, a stone with a ring in it, just like those which one reads of in the Arabian Nights.
A faint, a very faint little rustle was heard up above in the corner where Jeanne had tried to persuade her cousin that the chickens were to be seen, and delighted at this evidence that any way they were to be heard, she turned to him triumphantly. "That's Houpet," she said. "Dear little fellow, he's too sleepy to crow he just gives a little wriggle to show that he's heard me.
I suppose Grignan is asleep in a hole in the hedge, and the chickens will be all right any way. I have not seen Houpet all day." "Houpet" was Jeanne's favourite of the three chickens. He had come by his name on account of a wonderful tuft of feathers on the top of his head, which stuck straight up and then waved down again, something like a little umbrella.
Gee-up, gee-up, crack your whip, Houpet, and make them gallop as fast as you can." Off they set they went nice and fast certainly, but not so fast but that the children could admire the beautiful feathery foliage as they passed.
Word Of The Day