Peter stopped laughing and picked himself up. Then it was Chinky's turn to laugh. Peter did look so very much astonished!
"This is a funny sort of town," said Mollie, looking round her carefully, not quite certain what was going to disappear next. As she spoke, three chimneys disappeared off a cottage, and a door nearby vanished as well. It seemed as if every-thing that she looked at disappeared!
"I am hungry," said Chinky, wishing he had the three apples he had bought. "Look! There's a shop selling buns. I wonder if they' 11 disappear if I buy some!"
He walked into the shop. A pointed-eared girl sat
knitting behind the count as Chinky went in, ar disappeared. But she didn't seem to mind at all.
"Have you any currant buns?" asked Chinky, looking round, hoping the whole shop wouldn't disappear before he had bought the buns.
"Yes, fresh made today," said the girl, and she pointed to some fine big ones, with plenty of currants in, and looking nice and sticky on the top.
"I'll take three, please," said Chinky. He didn't give the girl the pennies until he had the bag of buns safely in his hand. Then he ran out of the shop and showed the buns to the others.
"Look at the lovely, juicy currants!" he said. "Come on - let's sit down on this seat and eat our buns."
They sat down on the ·. She put her knitting down immediately the needles
Chinky zvalkcd into the shop.
seat - but it at once vanished under them, and the three of them rolled over on the path. How all the little folk of the village laughed and laughed!
"I do think the way things disappear here is silly!" said Chinky, rubbing his head. "Where are the buns?"
"In the bag," said Mollie. "Good thing they are, or they would have rolled in the road!"
But the buns had disappeared out of the bag, which was quite empty. The children stared into it in disgust. "Oh, let's go back to the wishing-chair," said Peter. "I'm tired of this place."
"Oooh, Peter!" said Mollie suddenly. "Look! Your feet have disappeared!"
Peter stared down at his feet - and it was true, they had gone!
"Well, I can still walk all right," he said. "So they must be there although we can't see them. Thank goodness for that! Oooh, Chinky! Where's your mouth?"
Chinky hadn't got a mouth! It had disappeared!
A big wind suddenly swept round the corner of the street and took off Chinky's cap. He ran after it, and Peter ran too - and do you know, when they turned round to go back to Mollie, she had disappeared as well!
"Oh! Mollie! Mollie!" cried Peter, in alarm. "Where are you?"
But there was no answer. Peter turned to Chinky. "Chinky! Did you see where Mollie went?"
But Chinky had now gone too! There was nobody at all where Chinky had been standing, putting on his hat again. Peter felt more alarmed than ever. This would never do!
"Bother!" he said fiercely. "Chinky said we'd better keep hold of each other's hands, in case this happened - and we all forgot about it - and now, on our very first holiday adventure, this has happened! Mollie! Chinky!"
Nobody answered Peter. And then a strange thing happened. Peter disappeared too! He felt as if he was there all right - but he couldn't see himself! He held out his hand and it wasn't there! He kicked up a foot - and it wasn't there either! Then he knew that he was invisible too.
"Now what am I to do?" he thought. "This is dreadful. Let me think."
He stood and thought. Little folk came up and bumped into him for they couldn't see him. At first Peter was cross - then, as he saw their astonished faces, he remembered that he couldn't be seen. He ran and stood in a doorway where no one would bump into him.
"What's to be done, what's to be done?" thought Peter. "The others are in the same fix as I am. What will they do? Why - they will try to get back to the wishing- chair, I expect! That's what I must do too! We left it by the yellow lamp-post!" And off he went to find it.
PETER made his way back to where they had left the wishing-chair. He did hope he might meet Mollie and Chinky there. He soon saw the yellow lamp-post in the distance, where the chair had been left.
"Good!" thought Peter, hurrying. "I'll soon be back with the chair again - and I'll sit in it and wait there till the others come."
But as he got nearer he could see a crowd round the chair. The strange little folk of the village were shouting to one another about it, and two of the pointed-eared men had hold of the chair.
"I tell you I shall have this chair!" yelled one man, and he pulled hard.
"And I tell you I want it!" shouted the other, angrily, and he pulled the other way.
"Goodness! The chair will be in bits soon," thought Peter, and he ran at top speed to the crowd of people.
"Leave that chair alone!" he shouted. "It's not yours - it belongs to meV
Every one looked round - but, of course, they couldn't see Peter, for he was quite invisible. They only heard his voice.
"Who are you?" they said.
"I'm Peter, and I want my chair," said the little boy. he
"/ tell you I shall have this chair! " yelled one titan.
pushed his way through the crowd and took hold of the chair firmly. At once the other two who were holding it began to pull away hard. But Peter didn't let go.
"Show yourself, show yourself!" shouted the crowd.
"I don't know how to," said Peter. "I suddenly disappeared, and I can't even see myself. But I'm real enough, and if anyone begins to be horrid to me I've got fists that can hit hard. And you won't see them coming, either! Now, let go my chair, please."
"We don't believe it's yours, we don't believe it's yours!" cried everyone, siding with the two men who had got hold of the poor wishing-chair.
Peter didn't know what to do. He certainly couldn't get the chair away by himself. "Oh, wishing-chair, we are in a fix!" he groaned. "Our very first holiday adventure, too! It's bad luck!"
t
131
Suddenly the wishing-chair decided to help matters itself. It grew its wings very fast. It flapped them strongly. It rose into the air - and with it it took Peter, who was holding it - and the two little men as well!
The crowd shouted in surprise to see the chair rise up. The two little men were full of fear. They hung on with all their might. Peter climbed up and sat safely in the chair. He had got away from the crowd, at any rate. He wondered what to do with the little men who were hanging on to the chair. He couldn't make them fall - they might be hurt.
The chair rose high up. Peter suddenly cried out in alarm. "Hie, wishing-chair! Don't go home yet! We've left Mollie and Chinky behind! Fly down again, quickly."
The chair flew down at once. As soon as it was safely on the ground the two little men began to quarrel again about who was to have the chair. Peter got really angry. He pushed them both hard. They fell over.
"I wish you'd stop this," said Peter. "What's the good of quarrelling about ?//v chair? I'm going to have it, not
you, Leave go!"
But they wouldn't. Peter picked up a twig and rapped their hands sharply. They let go at once - and before they could take hold again, what do you think happened? Why, the wishing-chair most obligingly disappeared! Peter blinked in surprise, for he still wasn't used to seeing things disappear so suddenly.
Then he knew what to do. If he picked up the chair and ran off with it, the two little men wouldn't know- where it had gone - for they could see neither Peter nor the chair, now! So Peter felt for the chair, and, quick as lightning, snatched it up and ran down the street! The two little men stared all round in astonishment, and then began to slap each other hard.
"Just what they both want!" thought Peter, pleased. He ran on and on and then stopped. He put the chair down just inside a field gate, sat down in it firmly, and tried to think what to do. How in the world could he find Mollie and Peter?
"If I go through the village again, yelling out Mollie and Chinky's names, maybe they'll hear me and come to me," thought Peter. "They must be
very worried, because they don't know where the chair is!"
Back he went to the village, carrying the chair on his shoulder. As he went he shouted loudly, "MOLLIE! CHINKY! MOLLIE! CHINKY!"
Suddenly he heard Mollie's voice, answering. How glad Peter was! It came from the other side of the road. "Peter! I can hear you! I'm still invisible. Where are you?"
"I'm standing by the fruit-shop here!" yelled back Peter. "I've got the chair, too!"
In half a minute he felt Mollie's hands touching him, and then she hugged him and felt for the good old wishing-chair too. "Now we must get Chinky," said Peter. "What have you been doing all this time, Mollie?"
"Oh, I've been looking for you," said Mollie. "I went back to the yellow lamp-post but the chair was gone."
Just then someone they couldn't see bumped into them. He couldn't see them either, for they were still invisible. As soon as the person who bumped into them felt the chair, he gave a yell, and caught hold of it.
Peter snatched at the chair too. He pulled and Mollie helped him. They were not going to lose their precious chair! But the one who was pulling against them was very strong, and suddenly the chair was tugged right away, and they could no longer feel it. They couldn't see it either, of course - it was gone!
"Oh, it's gone, it's gone!" cried Mollie, almost in tears. "Oh, Peter, what shall we do now?"
"Mollie! Peter! Is it you!" cried a voice gladly. "It's me, Chinky! I didn't know I was pulling against you I just came along the street, bumped into the chair, felt it was ours and grabbed it. When I felt someone pulling hard against me, I jerked till I got it! Hurrah! We're all together again!"
How pleased everyone was! "I've been looking everywhere for you," said Chinky, climbing on to the back of the chair. "My word - fancy the chair disappearing, too! This is a most uncomfortable sort of place. Come on - let's get away as soon as we can."
They all got on to the chair. It flapped its wings and rose up suddenly into the air. "Oooh!" said Mollie, "that was quick - it felt like a lift going up!"
"Chinky, how are we going to get ourselves right
again?" asked Peter. "We can't go home like this."
"I can get some of that magic paint we once used at Witch Snippit's spinning house," said Chinky. "Then we'll paint ourselves back again.That's easy. I'll send one of my friends to get the paint for us."
The children flew on and on through the air until at last they were over their own garden once more. They flew down - and right through the open door of their playroom at the bottom of the garden. They were just going to shout and jump off - when they saw someone there!
It was their mother. She had come to look for them. The children sat perfectly still on the chair. They knew they were invisible and couldn't be seen. If Mother heard their voices, she would get such a shock, for she wouldn't be able to see them! Chinky sat still too. He had always made the children promise that they would never, never say a word about him to any grown-up.
Mother looked round the playroom. "I wonder where those children are," she said. Then she walked out, almost, but not quite, bumping into the wishing- chair as she went.
"My goodness! That was a narrow escape!" said Peter, when Mother had gone. He jumped out of the chair. "What a good thing the chair and all of us couldn't be seen today! Mother would have got a fright if she had suddenly seen a chair come flying through the doorway with us in it!"
"She certainly would," said Chinky, grinning. "So would anyone! Now, I'll just send for that paint."
He ran out. In a few minutes he was back and said that a friend of his had flown off to Witch Snippit's at once.
"Let's play a game of ludo whilst we're waiting," he said. "I haven't played since you went away to school. I've forgotten what a lovely feeling it is to throw a six!"
It was rather peculiar to play with people you couldn't see. It was even funnier to see counters moving by themselves, as the children pushed them round the board. They just had time to play one game, when there came a knock at the door.
"The paint!" said Chinky. He opened the door. On the step stood a large tin ofWitch Snippit's magic paint. "Good!" said Chinky. "Now, what about brushes?"
"There are some in our paint-boxes," said Mollie, and she fetched them. "They are very small - it will take us ages to paint ourselves right again!"
They began. They each had a paint-brush and they set to work. Chinky painted the wishing-chair back first. Mollie began to paint herself back. Wherever she ran her brush full of paint a bit of her appeared! It was funny.
Mollie ran her brush over her left hand. At once it appeared. It was nice to see her fingers again!
"You haven't painted that little nail on your fingers," said Peter. "Look!"
"And vow've painted all your face back except your left eyebrow," laughed Mollie. "You look funny!"
The wishing-chair was soon back again. Then Chinky began to paint himself back. They all had to help each other when they came to bits of themselves that they couldn't reach. They had great fun.
"We're quite done except that Peter hasn't got his feet vet," said Chinky, and he stepped back to look at him - and do you know, he stepped right on to the tin of paint and upset it. It ran all over the floor and the floor
disappeared! The paint always acted both ways - it made things disappear, or it made them come back if they had vanished.
"Chinky! You are clumsy!" cried Mollie, in horror. "We shan't be able to do Peter's feet! Whatever will Mother say?"
Peter caught up a rag and mopped up the spilt paint as fast as he could. He squeezed it from the rag into the tin, and then looked at the little bit there anxiously.
"Do you think there's enough for my feet?" he said. Chinky, who had gone very red, nodded his head, and took up his paint-hrush again. Without a word he began to paint in Peter's feet, being very careful not to waste a drop of the precious paint. Mollie was very glad to see that there was enough.
"What about that hole in the floor?" said Peter. "Is there enough paint left to paint it back again?"
"Just!" said Chinky - and there was! My goodness, there wasn't a single drop over.
"Well," said Mollie, as she heard a bell ring to call them indoors, "we always seem to have narrow escapes and exciting times when we begin going off in the wishing-chair. I did enjoy this adventure, now it's all over and we're safely back again, looking like ourselves!"
"Good-bye," said Chinky. "See you tomorrow, I hope! It's been lovely to go adventuring again!"
The End.
Enid Blyton, Last Term at Malory Towers
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