Enid Blyton (24 page)

"I can hardly wait for
tomorrow
," sighed
Connie. "I really don
’
t think I can." But she
had to, of course
—
and
tomorrow
came at last, as
it always does. What was going to happen then?

XXIV

Next morning, immediately after an early breakfast,
the four children set off to the Faraway Tree.
They felt sad when they got near it and saw how
much more withered the leaves were.

"It looks almost dead already," said
J
o, dolefully.
"I don
’
t believe we can save it, even if we defeat
the Trolls t
o
day."

They climbed up. Moon-Face and Silky were
waiting for them in the curved room. With them,
in the
room, were some very pecul
iar-
lo
oking
creatures—eleven goat-moth caterpillars.

They were great fl
esh-coloured caterpillars with
black heads. A broad band of chocolate-brown ran
down their long backs. They were really enormous,
like long, fat snakes!

"Hallo!" said Moon-Face, beaming round. "The
caterpillars are nearly ready. I rubbed them with
the growing-magic last night, and they have grown
steadily ever since. They are almost ready to go
down the Slippery-Slip now and start eating the
wood away at the bottom, to go right down into
the roots of the tree."

The caterpillars didn
’
t say a word. They just
looked at the children with big solemn eyes, and
twitched their many legs.

"I think they
’
re ready," said Moon-Face. "Now,
J
o, listen! The caterpillars are going to burrow a
way for us right through the bottom part of the
trunk of the Tree, into the heart of its roots. They
are going to crawl out and frighten the Trolls,
who will probably run away. Then our job is to
rush after them and capture them. All the brownies
are ready at the foot of the Tree. They are going
to climb in through the trap-door, as soon as the
caterpillars have gone down into the roots."

Everyone listened to this long speech, and
thought the plan was excellent. Moon-Face gave
a cushion to the biggest goat-moth caterpillar,
who curled himself up on it solemnly. Then off
it whizzed down to the foot of the tree, followed
by all the others, one after another.

The children gave the caterpillars a little time
to burrow, and then followed them down the
Slippery-Slip. When they got to the trap-door they
shot out and saw dozens of brownies waiting there.
Moon-Face climbed
back in through the trap-door
and looked by the light of a lamp to see what had
become of the caterpillars.

All he could see was a tunnel eaten out,
going down and down into the roots!

"They’
re going fast!" he said, looking out of
the trap-door. "Out of sight already! My word,
fancy being able to eat wood like that."

Soon Moon-Face reported that he thought they
m
ight all follow down the way the caterpillars
had made. Their strong jaws made easy work of
the wood of the Tree, and they were now almost
at the bottom, among the roots. It was time to
follow them up, and help to surprise the Trolls.

Everyone but the three girls and Silky crept
down the hole. Sometimes it was as steep as the
S
lippery-Slip, and they slid.
It was dark, but
everyone was too excited to mind. The girls
and Silky waited impatiently by the trap-door.
The caterpillars came to the end of the enormous
trunk, and found themselves in a tangle of great
rope-
like roots, going down and down. They
crawled among them, with Moon-Face holding
on to the tail-end of the
last one, so as not to lose
the way.

They came out into the very middle of the
biggest cave. There was no one there, though the
sound of distant hammering or digging could be
heard.

"No Trolls to be seen!" whispered Moon-Face
to the others. "Sh! I can hear some coming now!"

Moon-Face and the others slipped back into the
tangle of roots, but the great snake-like caterpillars
went crawling on.
J
ust as they came to the entrance
of the cave, two Trolls came in, almost falling
over the caterpillars. They gave a yell.

"Oooh! Snakes! Run, run! Snakes!"

They ran off, screaming. The caterpillars
solemnly followed, all eleven of them in a line.
They met more Trolls, and every one of them ran
away shrieking, for they were really afraid of snakes—and they certainly thought these enormous
caterpillars were some dreadful kind of snake!

"After them!" cried Moon-Face, and waving
a stout stick in the air he led the way into the
jewel-
caves. In one corner was a great pile of
glittering jewels. The Trolls had plainly found a
fortune down there!

The Trolls were shouting to one another. "The
caves are full of snakes! Hide! Hide!"

The robbers crowded into a cave,
put
a great
stone at the entrance, and pressed against it to
prevent the caterpillars from entering. When
Moon
-
Face came up, he lowered his big stick and
grinned round at the others.

"Our work is easy! They
’
ve shut themselves
in, and we can easily make them prisoners!"

"Who
’
s
there?" called a Troll, sharply, hearing
Moon-Face
’
s voice.

"The enemy!" said
Moon-Face
. "You are our
prisoners.
Come out now, and we will keep off
the snakes. If you don
’
t give yourselves up, we
shall push away the stone and let the snakes in!"

Jo
giggled. It was funny to think that anyone
should be so afraid of caterpillars. The creatures
were quite enjoying themselves, crawling round
and about, getting in everyone
’
s way.

"We
’
ll come out," said the Trolls
’
leader, after
talking to his men. "But keep off those snakes
!
"

"Hold the caterpillars, you others," whispered
Moon
-Face. "Now, all together
—heave away the
stone
!
"

The Trolls came out, looking very scared. They
were glad to see that the "snak
es" were being held
back by
J
o and the others. The brownies at once
surrounded them, and bound their hands behind
their backs
.

"We
’
ll keep them in prison till next week, when
the Land of Smack comes back again," said the
head brownie with a
grin. "Then we
’
ll push them
all up the ladder, and see that they don
’
t come
down. They can move off with the Land of Smack
—
it will do them good to live there for the rest of
their lives!"

Moon-Face stayed down in the caves whilst the
brownies found the key, unlocked the doors and
marched out the frightened Trolls. They were
strange
looking folk, with large heads, small
bodies, and large li
mbs.

"Let
’s
have a look round and see what damage
has been done to the Tree," said
Moon-Face
.
"
J
ust look!—see how they
’
ve chopped that root
in half
—
and cut this one—
and spoilt that one. The
poor Tree! No wonder it began to wither and die."

"What can we do for it?" said
J
o, anxiously.

"Well, I
’
ve got
some wonderful ointment," said
Moon-Face
. "I
’
m going to rub the damaged roots
with it—you can all help
—
and we
’
ll see if it does
any good. It
’
s very magic. I got it out of the Land
of Medicines, years ago, and I
’
ve still got some
left. I hope it
’s
still got
magic in it."

Moon-Face took a little blue pot out of his
pocket and removed the lid. It was full of a strange
green ointment.

"Better send up for the girls and let them help
too," said
J
o. But just at that moment the girls
and Silky came rushing up, led by Woffles. The
brownies had told them all that had happened,
and they had come down in great delight.

"We
’
re going to rub the damaged roots with
magic ointment," said Moon-Face, and he held
out the blue pot. "Dip your fingers in it, everyone,
and hurry up. We can
’
t afford to waste a single
moment now, because the poor old Tree is almost
dead!"

The children and the others kept dipping their
f
ingers into the pot of ointment, which, in a most
magical way, never seemed to get empty. Then,
wi
th the green ointment on their f
ingers, everyone
rushed about to find damaged roots. They rubbed
the ointment well into the roots, and came back
for more.

"Well," said Moon-Face, after two hours
’
very
hard work, "shall we take a rest, and pop up to see
if the Tree is looking any better? I could do with
a cup of cocoa or something. Let
’
s go and see if
old
Mrs. Saucepan has got some buns and will
make us something to drink."

So they walked up through the rabbit-burrows,
and
then climbed the Tree to Dame W
ashalot
’
s.
To their great disappointment all the leaves
were still curled up and withered, and the
Faraway Tree looked just as dead as before.

"I suppose the magic ointment isn
’
t any use
now." said Silky, sadly. "Poor, poor Tree. Moon-Face, shall we have to leave it if it dies? Will it
be chopped down?"

"Oh, don
’
t talk about such horrid things,"
said Moon-Face.

Suddenly
J
o gave a
shout that made them all
jump.
"Look! The leaves are uncurling! The Tree is
looking better. It really is!"

It was quite true. One by one the withered leaves
were straightening out, uncurling themselves,
waving happily in the breeze once more. And
then, oh joy, the Tree grew its fruits as usual!

Large and juicy oranges appeared on all the
nearby branches, and shone golden in the sun.
The children put out their hands and picked some.
They had never tasted such lovely oranges in
their life!

"There are some pineapples just above us, and
some white currants just below!" said Connie,
in surprise. "The Tree is doing well, isn
’
t it?
I
’
ve never seen such a lovely lot of fruit before
!
"

"The magic ointment has begun its work,"
said Silky, happily. "Now the Faraway Tree will
be all right. Thank goodness we found out how
to capture those horrid Trolls, and how to cure
the poor old Tree
!
"

Everyone in the Tree rejoiced that day. The
folk of the Enchanted Wood came up and down to
pick the fruit. Woffles the rabbit came, his eyes
shining with pleasure to think he had helped to
save the Tree. He was dressed in the Red Squirre
l
’
s
old jersey, and was very proud of it.

"He gave it to me as a reward," said Woffles,
proudly. "Isn
’
t it perfectly lovely?"

"Yes—
and you look perfectly sweet!" said
Silky. "Come and have some coffee, you funny
little rabbit!"