The Wind on the Moon (16 page)

‘But what are we going to do with
this
?' asked Dinah, pointing to the body of the Python.

‘Let it lie,' said Bendigo. ‘It isn't any good to anyone.' And limping and groaning, he went off to his cage.

‘It seems very untidy to leave it lying there,' said Dinah, ‘but what else can we do? Let's take the egg back to Lady Lil.'

The moon by now was low in the east, and its light was duller, as though it were dimly reflected from a silver tray that no one had cleaned for a long time. But already there was a little dawn-grey in the sky, and that made them hurry.

They found Lady Lil beside her nest. She was all alone, and with drooping head she looked at the empty place where the egg had lain. She was sobbing bitterly, and her long neck quivered, and now and then she touched with her beak the dry grass in the bed of the nest. Dinah herself could hardly keep from crying when she saw her, and quite forgot the little speech she had intended to make. She had meant to return the egg with a gracious gesture and a few polite words of congratulation, like Lady Lemon presenting Mrs. Fullalove with the First Prize for Dahlias at the Midmeddlecum Flower Show, but all she could do was to hurry forward and exclaim, ‘Stop crying! We've found your egg; here it is, stop crying
please
!'

For a moment Lady Lil stared at the egg as if she could not believe her eyes, but then she began to dance up and down with excitement, and asked twenty questions, and told Dinah what to do, and what not to do, and laughed for pure joy, and cried for no reason at all.

‘Where did you find it?' she demanded. ‘Who was the thief? Where has he gone? Put it down there. Oh, be careful with it! No, not there,
there
. Is it all right? It's quite warm. Why is it still warm? Oh, my egg, my darling egg, where have you been? Oh, I'm so happy! You're the cleverest kangaroo that ever lived! Darling Kangaroo, where did you find it? No, don't tell me now, I mustn't get excited. I must keep quiet and calm for
its
sake. My dear, dear egg. . . .'

So they left her, and then Dinah said to Siren the Monkey, ‘Howl as loudly as you can, for it's time we all got back to our cages.'

Then Siren opened his mouth and howled, and the noise was heard far and wide, and all the animals obeyed and went back to their cages. Marie Louise and the others, who had gathered round Sir Lankester when the boomerang hit him, were rather reluctant to go, because Sir Lankester had by now recovered consciousness, and was talking to them in the most friendly way. He couldn't quite remember what had happened, but the first thing he had seen when he opened his eyes was the loving face of Marie Louise, and then the other animals, all of whom, in one way or another, were showing their affection for him. So he sat up and told them what a happy man he was to have so many good kind friends.

‘There is only one recipe for happiness,' he said in his most solemn voice, ‘and that is to make others happy. I have done my best, and I have every intention of doing more and more to give you pleasure and promote your welfare.'

But what it was that he intended to do they could not wait to hear, because at that moment they heard Siren the Howler Monkey. And a few seconds later Sir Lankester, in his yellow pyjamas, was left alone upon the lawn. The rapid disappearance of the animals bewildered him, and when he tried to think of all that had happened, and find a meaning for it, he grew still more bewildered. His head was aching, he was feeling cold, and there was no one to talk to. So he decided to go to bed.

Dinah was already hurrying from cage to cage and locking the doors. Bendigo was fast asleep, but she spoke a few words to all the other animals, praising them for what they had done, and telling the news that Lady Lil's egg had been safely restored and the Python was dead. She talked for several minutes to the Golden Puma, who had been anxiously awake all night, and she had to spend twice as long with Mr. Parker before he could be made to understand what had happened.

Then she went to her own house, and there was Dorinda with Mrs. Grimble's magic draught.

They were both far too happy to feel sleepy, so they lay talking till it was broad daylight. And then, without meaning to, they did go to sleep.

About ten o'clock in the morning Sir Lankester and Mr. Plum were standing outside Dinah and Dorinda's cage, arguing about the events of the previous night. Sir Lankester, who wore a large piece of sticking-plaster on his forehead, had by then remembered the alarming sight of the animals charging on to the lawn. He remembered throwing his boomerang, and he remembered waking up to see Marie Louise bending over him. But Mr. Plum refused to believe a word of this fantastic story, and said that in his opinion Sir Lankester had had a nightmare.

‘Then how did I get this cut on the forehead?' demanded Sir Lankester.

‘You must have fallen out of bed,' said Mr. Plum.

‘I never fall out of bed!' said Sir Lankester. ‘And even if I had fallen downstairs, how would that account for the Python's death? How was he killed?'

‘Ah!' said Mr. Plum, ‘that's a different story altogether. Now if you ask me what happened to the Python—'

‘I do ask you,' said Sir Lankester.

‘Then my answer is that I don't know, and I don't believe we ever shall know.'

‘That isn't very helpful.'

‘Wait a minute,' said Mr. Plum. ‘We have had a criminal in the zoo: we do know that. An egg-thief. And the Python's dead: there's no disputing that. So if you ask me why he was killed—not how, but why—I should say because he was the thief, and whoever discovered the truth about him, took the law into his own hands and punished him.'

‘In that case,' said Sir Lankester, ‘Bendigo is innocent.'

‘Of course he is,' said Mr. Plum.

‘Then he must be released immediately and returned to his own cage.'

‘A very good idea,' said Mr. Plum.

So Bendigo was removed from the dark and narrow prison cage to his own comfortable house, and ten minutes later he was reading, with great contentment, the copy of the
Observer
—for it was Sunday—that he had cleverly taken from Sir Lankester's coat pocket. And Sir Lankester went to church, and when the Vicar began his sermon, he was very angry to find that he had nothing to read.

Dinah and Dorinda waited with the utmost impatience till afternoon. Visitors were admitted to the zoo on Sundays at half-past two, and the main gate would be open for them. The gatekeeper, of course, would be there all the time to see that none of the animals went out, but Dinah had a plan for smuggling the Golden Puma past him. She and Dorinda, having drunk Mrs. Grimble's magic draught and resumed their ordinary shape, could, if they liked, walk out with the other visitors and no one would suspect them.

‘Oh!' she suddenly exclaimed.

‘What's the matter?' asked Dorinda.

‘The medicine,' said Dinah. ‘I hope it hasn't gone stale and lost its strength.'

Dorinda took out the cork, smelt, and shuddered. ‘It's all right.'

‘We'll soon know if it is,' said Dinah. ‘Oh, I wish it was time to be let out!'

Mr. Plum came at last, and unlocked the cages of all those animals who were allowed into the park. Dinah and Dorinda first said good-bye to their particular friends, and then hurried to the cluster of willow-trees where their clothes were hidden. They found the Silver Falcon waiting for them.

‘Well done!' he cried. ‘That was finely managed, that campaign of yours last night, and Bendigo fought a brave fight. But his bravery would have served no purpose had you not made the plot. I saw it all, and I say you did well. Very well indeed, my children.'

‘We were lucky,' said Dinah, ‘but it was really clever of Dorinda to find Mrs. Grimble's bottle before we expected to.'

‘Good luck often comes to those who deserve it,' said the Falcon. ‘And now what of the plan for to-day? How will you lead the Puma past the keeper at the gate? I told her, early this morning, that the Python lay dead, the thief, like an old ship's hawser on the road, and she purred with joy, and told me how she herself had once fought with a great snake and killed it, but was so bruised in the battle that she lay a week scarce able to move, and was near death from starvation before she could hunt again. Come, make haste, she is thirsty for her freedom.'

‘If freedom, for her, means the danger of being squeezed to death by a python,' said Dorinda, ‘don't you think she might like to stay in her cage?'

‘Never!' cried the Falcon. ‘Never, never! Freedom is worth all peril in the world, freedom's the noblest thing, we live at ease who freely live. Now what's your plan? What shall I tell her?'

‘We shall come to her cage as soon as possible,' said Dinah, ‘and the plan is very simple. We shan't be looking like kangaroos, of course. We shall be in our proper shape.'

‘Girl children,' said the Falcon. ‘Fair-haired or dark?'

‘Dorinda is dark, but I'm fair,' said Dinah.

‘One of each is fairness itself,' said the Falcon. ‘So good-bye, Kangaroos, and hurry, Children, hurry!'

Then he flew swiftly away, and Dinah uncorked the bottle.

‘Remember to wish properly,' she said. ‘Wish very hard to be Dorinda, or anything may happen.'

‘I'll remember,' said Dorinda solemnly, and having drunk exactly half of what was left, gave the bottle to Dinah.

The next thing Dinah remembered was someone saying, ‘You've got very dirty feet.'

She looked at Dorinda's feet, and answered indignantly, ‘So are yours!'

‘Oh, Dinah,' cried Dorinda, ‘it's worked!'

‘Oh, Dorinda, isn't it lovely to be a girl again!'

‘Even with dirty feet,' said Dorinda.

‘We'll have a bath to-night.'

‘And a proper supper at a proper table.'

‘And a proper bed to sleep in.'

‘Aren't we lucky to be girls?'

They began to dance round the nearest willow-tree, but the visitors to the zoo were already arriving, and when they saw some people in the distance they hurriedly got their clothes and dressed themselves, a little clumsily because they were out of practice, and then stood and looked at each other.

‘We're not very smart,' said Dinah. ‘Our frocks are terribly crumpled, and mine is rather damp.'

‘Your hair needs brushing,' said Dorinda.

‘So does yours.'

‘Are your shoes uncomfortable?'

‘Horribly uncomfortable.'

‘So are mine. Oh, how I hate wearing clothes!'

‘We've got to now,' said Dinah. ‘I suppose we'll get used to it in time. But I don't really like clothes. Do you?'

‘I'll
never
get used to them!' said Dorinda. ‘I wish\??\—'

‘No, don't say that!' cried Dinah. ‘It might happen! And we've got work to do. Pick up the key—there it is, in the grass—and come and look for Mr. Steeple's motor-car. Then we'll let the Puma out of her cage, and in a very short time we'll be home again.'

Mr. Steeple the Vicar went to the zoo every Sunday afternoon, and having stayed there for exactly an hour, drove away in his motor-car, which was the oldest car in Midmeddlecum, but also the most dignified and the most comfortable. It was so handsome and old-fashioned that it looked more like a carriage that should be drawn by a pair of horses than a motor. Dinah's plan was to put the Puma on the back seat, cover her with a rug, and then tell the Vicar that she and Dorinda were very tired, and would like to be driven home.

‘He's so kind,' she said, ‘that he's sure to say yes, and he's very fond of company, so it won't be a hardship for him.'

‘We'll have to make the Puma promise to keep perfectly still,' said Dorinda.

‘I've just thought of something,' said Dinah. ‘I wonder if we can still talk like animals and understand what they say?'

‘Kea yark urbaneesh eeeern gnarrh uh,' said Dorinda.

‘How funny that sounds!'

‘But you know what I mean?'

‘Oh, yes. Perfectly.'

‘Well, that's all right,' said Dorinda.

They found the Vicar's motor-car, where it stood with a lot of others on a broad part of the road, and for a little while they looked curiously at all the people from Midmeddlecum who had come to spend Sunday afternoon at the zoo and stare at wild animals. Their appearance, thought Dinah, is really far more odd and comical than any of the animals I know, except, perhaps, the old Baboon who isn't allowed out of his cage, and the Dancing Cassowary, and the Wart-hog.

‘And Mr. Parker,' added Dorinda, who had guessed her thoughts.

‘You could make quite as interesting a zoo by putting people in the cages.'

‘But you wouldn't be allowed to,' said Dorinda.

‘No,' said Dinah regretfully, ‘I suppose you wouldn't. Well, let's go and wait for a good opportunity to open the Puma's cage.'