The Wind on the Moon (26 page)

‘What a good thing that Mother went to London again!' said Dinah. ‘She would have been terribly frightened by all this noise.'

‘I wonder if Miss Serendip was frightened?' said Dorinda. ‘I expect she put her head under the bed-clothes.'

But Miss Serendip, though indeed she had been more frightened than ever before in her life, had not been frightened out of her wits. She had telephoned to Constable Drum and told him that all the dogs in the county had gone mad and were running round the house, while several Masters of Hounds and a lot of other men, who also appeared to be mad, were having a riot. Would Constable Drum please come as quickly as possible and put a stop to it?

Constable Drum had a keen sense of duty and a good brain. He went to the Fire Station, woke up the Firemaster, and ordered him to bring out his fire-engine.

Dinah and Dorinda heard it coming, with its great bell ringing, but only the Falcon saw what happened then. He flew from the window to the topmost branch of a tree that grew by the roadside and saw Constable Drum take command of the situation.

There was a hydrant not far from the house, and quickly a hose-pipe was coupled to it. Then, with the bright brass nozzle of the pipe in his hands, the Constable bravely approached the forty hounds who were still fighting on the road.

‘To avoid further slaughter, please turn on the water!' he shouted to the Firemaster.

A great jet of water leapt from the pipe. The brass nozzle shone like pale gold in the moonlight, and the stream of water, as thick as a man's wrist, glittered and hissed and knocked the hounds off their feet. Foxhounds and otter-hounds, terriers and spaniels and the sad-faced flop-eared blood-hounds, staggered and fell and were battered out of the fight. It was all over in half a minute, and half a minute later not a hound was to be seen. They ran for home, with their tails between their legs, and their frightened yelping grew fainter and fainter.

Then Constable Drum aimed the hose at the huntsman and the farmers and knocked them over too, exclaiming in a loud voice: ‘What a horrible riot have you been provoking! You'd better go quiet or I'll give you a soaking!'

He gave them a soaking indeed, for by now the road was like a beach when the tide is coming in, and some of the farmers were trying to swim, and as soon as they struggled to their feet the jet of water knocked them down again as though it had been a battering-ram.

When the last of them had been driven away, Constable Drum went into the field, with the hosepipe trailing behind him, and broke up the fight that was going on there, and drove off the straggling dogs and the limping dogs, and woke up the dogs that had gone to sleep, and sent them all home. Then he shouted to the Firemaster: ‘The battle is won, you're a very fine chap, and I am another, so turn off the tap!'

Then they rolled up the hose and drove back to Midmeddlecum in the moonlight, feeling very pleased with themselves indeed, and the great bell on the fire-engine ringing loudly all the way.

The Golden Puma slept on the hearth-rug, and Dinah woke early to let her out. But she warned her not to go far.

The Puma said gravely, ‘Had I not better go away? So far away that you will never see me again? I am causing trouble here, and if I stay longer I shall cause more, and that would embarrass you. It might even distress you.'

‘It would distress me a great deal if you got into trouble.'

‘Then shall we say good-bye? Shall I go and look for some freer, more generous part of England, where I can eat my fill in peace, without bringing angry hunters on my track every time I kill a sheep?'

‘I don't think you would find such a place very easily,' said Dinah. ‘Not in England. And quite apart from that, there's something else we ought to think about. Do you realise that when Mrs. Grimble gave me the bag with the smell in it, she must have known that you were going to be in danger and would need help?'

‘She is far-sighted,' said the Puma.

‘But I had gone to Mrs. Grimble to ask her to help us. To help Dorinda and Mr. Corvo and me to rescue Father. He's in a dungeon, you know.'

‘You have told me his story,' said the Puma. ‘I am not likely to forget it; for I myself was once in a cage.'

‘Then you can sympathise with him,' said Dinah. ‘But the point is this: did Mrs. Grimble mean to help us rescue Father by first of all helping us to help you so that you could help us in return, if you see what I mean?'

‘I understand,' said the Puma. ‘But what help can I give?'

‘You're very strong, and you can fight. And if we get inside the Castle of Gliedermannheim, we may need somebody who can fight.'

‘I shall come with you,' said the Puma.

‘I know it's asking a great deal of you,' said Dinah, ‘because it may be very dangerous.'

‘You gave me freedom,' said the Puma, ‘and therefore I am your faithful friend and servant. You saved my life from the hounds, and therefore my life is yours. I am in danger here, and by going with you I shall merely exchange danger of one sort for danger of another. That is no hardship. And now, under the edge of that cloud—no, higher, look higher! There to your left, where the cloud is lighted by the sun—I see the Falcon. I shall tell him of my decision and suggest that he too comes with us. Then we shall make a good company.'

Dinah knelt and put her arms round the Puma's neck. ‘Dear Puma,' she cried, ‘how can I say thank-you so that it will sound real and true? I don't know enough words to say what I feel!'

‘Say nothing,' said the Puma, ‘except this: We are friends. That is sufficient.'

Then she ran softly along a hedgerow and into a field where she waited for the Falcon, and Dinah went back to wake Dorinda and tell her the good news that they had gained an ally for their adventure.

Three days later Mr. Corvo sent them a postcard on which he had written:
Come this afternoon. A decision has been reached of which I shall inform you.

The sternness of the message and the dignity of his language impressed them very much, and when they came to his house and saw how he was behaving, they were at first surprised and then filled with awe.

Mr. Corvo, with a stately stride, was pacing up and down the room where he taught dancing. He wore a green hat with a feather in it, and carried a large walking-stick. ‘Sit down and watch me,' he said, and continued to pace the floor with a firm and measured tread. Now and again he pretended to recognise a friend, to whom he lifted his green hat with a flourish, and then suddenly turning he shouted, ‘Ha, you villain! Too late, too late! Your last hour has come!' And twisting the handle of his walking-stick, he pulled from it a thin bright sword and made a terrific lunge in the direction of his imaginary enemy.

There was a picture on the wall of a bowl of goldfish and a cluster of yellow chrysanthemums in a lustre vase. The point of Mr. Corvo's sword pierced the canvas in the very middle of the goldfish-bowl, and for a moment Dinah expected to see water trickling out, and was disappointed when nothing happened. But Dorinda politely asked, ‘Who was the villain, Mr. Corvo?'

‘Any one of the numerous enemies whom we shall encounter in Gliedermannheim,' he answered. ‘I am preparing myself not only to meet danger, but to overcome it. I have bought this swordstick, and every day I practise myself at fencing. Watch me!'

Mr. Corvo assumed the attitude of a fencer. He raised his left arm in an upward curve with his fingers hanging gracefully down. His feet were planted firmly apart, his knees were slightly bent, his sword arm pointed at the throat of an invisible enemy, and his expression was extremely fierce. He lunged and returned on guard, and lunged again. Then, it seemed, his enemy began to retreat, and Mr. Corvo with swiftly sliding steps pursued him, presently killed him, and immediately wheeled about to engage another. Having killed half a dozen opponents, he threw his sword away and said, ‘Now I am disarmed—or so they will think. But I have made my preparations. Look!'

From his waistcoat pocket he took a fountain-pen.

‘Is that to write your last message with?' asked Dinah.

Mr. Corvo smiled in a superior way and unscrewed the top of the pen to show them, instead of a nib, a sharp steel point. ‘It is not a pen,' he said, ‘but a dagger! No, no, be careful, you must not touch it. For as a fountain-pen is full of ink, this is full of poison!'

‘What a good idea!' said Dorinda.

‘Do you think we shall have to do a lot of fighting?' asked Dinah.

‘It is a good thing to be prepared for the worst,' said Mr. Corvo gravely.

‘Then I think you will be glad to hear that the Puma is coming too. The Golden Puma, you know, that we helped to escape from Sir Lankester's zoo.'

‘I have never travelled with a Puma before,' said Mr. Corvo. ‘It will be an interesting experience.'

‘When are we going to start?' asked Dorinda.

‘Very soon,' said Mr. Corvo.

‘Have you persuaded Professor Bultek to let us go in a furniture van?' asked Dinah.

‘Bultek is my very good friend,' said Mr. Corvo. ‘I felt sure that I could persuade him to accommodate us among the furniture. But, as it turned out, very little persuasion was required. I told him who you were, I told him your father's name, and he at once exclaimed, “I shall do anything I can to help the brave and magnanimous Major Palfrey! I brought with me, when I came to England, a letter to his wife. He is my dear friend.“ Then he told me a story.

‘He was reading the lines on a gentleman's hand one day, in Gliedermannheim, and telling his fortune. “Next week,“ he said, “you will be going on a long sea voyage.“ Then the gentleman gave a shout of anger and began to beat Professor Bultek with a stick. Poor Bultek ran from his house and the gentleman pursued him. He always became deadly sick when he went to sea, and he was so angry with Bultek for giving him such a bad fortune that he would probably have killed my unhappy friend if he had been able to catch him. But your father happened to be walking along the pavement, and Bultek called to him for help. So your father struck the angry gentleman a tremendous punch on the jaw and broke several of his teeth. Then the gentleman said to Bultek with a smile, “You are a liar, you see! I cannot go on a voyage next week, for I shall be going to the dentist.“ So Bultek says that your father saved his life, and he will be very pleased to do all he can for you. He will arrange to have the furniture in one of the vans stowed in such a way as to leave plenty of room for us to live there. And the day when we shall start is next Wednesday.'

Dinah and Dorinda, sitting side by side at the nursery table, were making a list of the stores they would require for their journey to Gliedermannheim. Dinah had already written:

‘How are we going to wash the plates?' asked Dorinda. ‘We can't take very much water with us in a furniture van.'

‘You don't need a lot of water if you have plenty of dish-cloths to wipe them with,' said Dinah. And she wrote:

‘Do we need as many as that?' asked Dorinda.

‘Mr. Corvo said the journey would take about three days, so that means three breakfasts. One each for us and two for Mr. Corvo, multiplied by three, makes twelve. What do you think we ought to take for the Puma?'

‘A leg of mutton for the first day, a leg of pork for the second, and a sirloin of beef for the third,' Dorinda suggested.

‘It's going to be very expensive.'

‘Then ask her to kill another sheep and bring that.'

‘It wouldn't be quite honest,' said Dinah, ‘and I don't think we should like travelling with a dead sheep either. It would get in the way, and it might smell. I think we had better be honest and tidy, even though it is extravagant. How much bread shall we need?'

‘I like biscuits,' said Dorinda.

‘We must have some bread,' said Dinah, and wrote:

‘Cocoa and jam and condensed milk,' said Dorinda.

‘Tooth-paste, soap, a pork pie, and some apples,' said Dinah.

‘Chocolate,' said Dorinda.

‘Books and a pack of cards and a tin-opener,' said Dinah.

‘What's the tin-opener for?'

‘To open tins, of course.'

‘But we haven't got any tins.'

‘I was just going to write them down,' said Dinah, and wrote: