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Dunno's Adventures
by Nikolai Nosov
Translated by Margaret Wettlin
freebooksforkids.net
Illustrated by Viktor & Kira Grigorievs
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Chapter Twenty-Seven
AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER
Preparations for the ball were in full swing. The stand for the orchestra and the pavilions around the dance floor were ready. Blobs painted fancy designs on the orchestra stand and the other boys painted the pavilions every colour of the rainbow. The girls decorated the dance floor with flowers, flags, and coloured lanterns. Dunno rushed about giving orders as usual. The work went too slowly to please him, and so he shouted and made a fuss and got in everybody's way. Fortunately everybody knew what was to be done without being told.
One of the Mites had the idea of building benches round the dance floor, but it turned out there were not enough boards to build them with. Dunno was furious.
"What! Let all the cars go back to Kite Town before you'd hauled enough boards!" he shouted. "Then we'll have to tear down one of the pavilions."
"Right you are!" cried P'raps, snatching up an axe and making for the nearest pavilion.
"What are you doing?" exclaimed Blobs. "Have we built and painted all these things just to tear them down?"
"It's none of your business," said P'raps. "We need benches, don't we?"
"But we mustn't tear down a pavilion to build them."
"Mind your own business," shouted Dunno. "Who's in charge here, you or me? If the order's been given to tear it down, it's got to be torn down."
Nobody knows how this quarrel would have ended if a car had not appeared in the distance at that very moment.
"Pretzel's come back!" everybody cried happily. "Now we can bring some more boards and we won't have to tear down a pavilion."
The car drew up. Out of it climbed Pretzel. Behind him appeared another boy-Mite. Everyone stared at him in amazement.
"Good heavens, it's our Doono!" cried Dr. Pillman.
"Doono has come!" cried Scatterbrain.
Doono was instantly surrounded by his friends, who hugged and kissed him.
"At last we've found you!" they said.
"You found me?" said Doono in surprise. "It seems to me that I found you."
"That's true, you found us. but we thought you had left us for good."
"I left you?" said the amazed Doono again. "It seems to me that you left me."
"It was you who jumped with a parachute and left us behind," said Roly-Poly.
"Why did you stay behind? I told you all to jump. You should have jumped after me because the balloon could not go on sailing much longer. But you got cold feet, I suppose."
"Yes, we got cold feet," they admitted.
"They were afraid to jump," said Dunno. "By the way, who was the first to get cold feet?"
"The first? You were the first," said Prob'ly.
"Me?" said Dunno in surprise.
"Yes, you," they all cried out. "Who was it said we oughtn't to jump? Wasn't it you?"
"Oh, very well, let it be me," said Dunno, "but why did you listen to me?"
"Quite right," laughed Doono. "A fine person to listen to! As if you didn't know Dunno was a dunce!"
"That's a nice thing to say," said Dunno with a shrug of his shoulders. "So I'm a dunce, am I?"
"And a coward," added Treacly-Sweeter.
"And a fibber," said Roly-Poly.
"When did I ever fib?" asked Dunno.
"Who was it said you were the one who made the balloon?" asked Roly-Poly.
"You must be mistaken," gasped Dunno. "I never made a balloon in my life. It was Doono who made the balloon."
"And who was it said you were the one in charge?" asked Treacly-Sweeter.
"How could I be in charge? I'm just ... just nobody," said Dunno.
"And that's just what we'll take you for from now on," said Treacly-Sweeter. "Doono's in charge from now on."
At this the girls, who had been listening all this time, began to laugh. It was clear to them that Dunno was just an ordinary braggart.
Minny and Winny rushed off to tell all their friends that Dunno was a fibber and that it was Doono and not he who had made the balloon.
Cornflower went over to Dunno and said with contempt:
"Why did you fool us? We took you at your word and thought you were a brave, clever, honest Mite. But it turns out you're a coward and a fibber."
She turned proudly away from him and went over to Doono, who was surrounded by a crowd of Mites. Everyone wanted to hear what he had to say.
"Is it true that when you're up in the air the earth looks to be no bigger than a jam tart?" Chippy asked him.
"No, it isn't," said Doono. "The earth is so big that the higher you go the bigger it looks, because you get a broader and broader view of it."
"And is it true that the clouds are solid and you had to chop your way through them with an axe?" asked Cornflower.
"No, that isn't true either," said Doono. "The clouds are as soft as air because they are made of mist. Of course you don't have to chop your way through them with an axe."
They went on asking him if it was true that a balloon is blown up with steam, and that it can sail upside-down, and that when they were up above the clouds it was one thousand and two-tenths degrees below zero. Doono replied that none of these things were true.
"Who ever told you such nonsense?" he asked.
"Dunno did," giggled Birdie.
Everyone turned to Dunno and burst out laughing. He turned red as a beet and wished the earth would swallow him up. Suddenly he ran away and hid in some dandelion plants.
"I'll stay here until they forget about me," he said to himself.
Doono was very anxious to see Greenville, and so Cornflower, Snowdrop, and a few other girls took him sight-seeing. He made a careful inspection of the bridge over the river, and of the system of water-supply. He was very much interested in the reed pipes and the fountains. The girls gave him a detailed explanation of how the pipes were laid and how the fountains were made so that the water shot upwards and not downwards. Doono was very much pleased to find Greenville so neat and clean. He praised the girls for laying carpets even in the streets and on the pavements. They were so happy that they invited him to see the inside of their houses, which was just as clean as the outside. In one of the houses Doono saw a bookcase with books in it. and he said that when he got home he would be sure to make himself a bookcase.
"Why, don't you have one?" asked the girls.
"No, I don't," admitted Doono.
"Then where do you keep your books?"
Doono dismissed the question with a little wave of his hand. He was ashamed to admit that his books just lay on the table and under the table and even under the bed.
Doono was interested in the water-melons, too. The girls told him about Thistle, and he said he would like to meet her. They introduced him to her and Doono asked all sorts of questions about her work. As she told him her methods of raising fruit and vegetables he listened attentively and even made notes in his note-book.
"That's a clever boy for you," said the girls. "Anyone can see he's eager to learn."
Meanwhile Dunno had grown tired of hiding in the dandelions. From time to time he would crawl out, but he was sorry every time. The girls paid not the slightest attention to him. they acted as if he did not exist, but the boys, on the other hand, gave him no peace.
"Dunno's a fibber!" they shouted. "Dunno's a braggart! Dunno's a coward!"
"They don't seem to have forgotten yet," he said unhappily. "I'd better get back into the dandelions."
A little later he crawled out again and the same thing happened.
"I won't crawl out any more," he resolved. "I've got to be strong. I've got to stay here a long, long time — maybe until tomorrow morning. I won't come out until the ball begins."
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
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