The Beginning of the Adventures

Mike, Peggy, and Nora were sitting in the fields, talking together. They were very unhappy. Nora was crying, and would not stop.
As they sat there, they heard a low call. "Coo-ee!"
"There's Jack," said Mike. "Dry your eyes, Nora. Jack will cheer you up!"
A boy came running by the hedge and sat down by them. He had a face as brown as a berry and bright blue eyes that shone with mischief.
"Hallo!" he said. "What's up, Nora? Crying again?"
"Yes," said Nora, wiping her eyes. "Aunt Harriet slapped me six times this morning because I didn't wash the curtains well enough. Look!"
She showed him her arm, red with slaps.
"It's a shame!" said Jack.
"If only our father and mother were here they wouldn't let us live like this," said Mike. "But somehow I don't believe they'll ever come back now."
"How long is it since they've been gone?" asked Jack.
"It's over two years now," said Mike. "Dad built a fine new aeroplane, you know, and he set off to fly to Australia. Mother went with him, because she loves flying, too. They got nearly there - and then nothing more was heard of them!"
"And I know Aunt Harriet and Uncle Henry think they will never come back again," said Nora, beginning to cry once more, "or they would never treat us as they do."
"Don't cry any more, Nora," said Peggy. "Your eyes will get so red and horrid. I'll do the washing instead of you next time."
Jack put his arm round Nora. He liked her the best of them all. She was the smallest, although she was Mike's twin. She had a little face, and a head of black curls. Mike was exactly like her, but bigger. Peggy had yellow hair and was a year older. Nobody knew how old Jack was. He didn't know himself. He lived with his grandfather on a tumble-down farm, and worked as hard as a man, although he wasn't much bigger than Mike.
He had made friends with the children as they wandered through the fields. He knew how to catch rabbits. He knew how to catch fish in the river. He knew where the best nuts and blackberries were to be found. In fact, he knew everything, the children thought, even the names of all the birds that flew about the hedges, and the difference between a grass snake and an adder, and things like that.
Jack was always dressed in raggedy things, but the children didn't mind. His feet were bare, and his legs were scratched with brambles. He never grumbled; he never whined. He made a joke of everything, and he had been a good friend to the three miserable children.
"Ever since Aunt Harriet made up her mind that Mummy and Daddy wouldn't come back, she has been perfectly horrid," said Nora.
"And so has Uncle Henry," said Mike. "We none of us go to school now, and I have to help Uncle in the fields from morning to night. I don't mind that, but I do wish Aunt Harriet wouldn't treat the two girls so badly. They are not very old, and she makes them do all the work of the house for her."
"I do every bit of the washing now," said Nora. "I wouldn't mi...

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