The Worst Witch All at Sea (10 page)

‘No there isn’t!’ exclaimed Drusilla, a friend of Ethel, who barged Mildred out of the way and slammed her belongings on to the camp-bed with such force that it collapsed to the floor.

Mildred saw that the only place left was the worst one of all – a woven rush mat with a mildew-coloured sleeping-bag, laid directly underneath the window.

‘Thanks for trying, Enid,’ said Mildred, arranging her suitcase and broom against the wall and sitting down on the mat with the cat-basket hugged to her chest.

All the other members of Form Two

were busily letting out their cats for a stroll and a stretch and the room was suddenly full of black cats miaowing and entwining themselves round their owners’ legs.

‘Aren’t you going to give Ebony some exercise?’ asked Maud from her position four beds away, as she cuddled her own cat, Midnight.

Mildred shot to her feet.

‘Er, I think I’m going to take him to Miss Hardbroom,’ she said. ‘Just in case he really
is
ill after making all that noise on the way here.’

And before anyone else could comment on the matter, she seized the basket and rushed out of the room.

Outside in the dark corridor, she stopped to contemplate what she was going to do with Tabby, now that they were all stuck in the same dormitory. If Ethel or Drusilla or anyone except Maud and Enid found out that she had defied the headmistress to bring Tabby, she would be in serious trouble.

As she stood and looked out of the window at the cove far below, she saw the boat bobbing up and down attached to a small breakwater, and a plan dawned in her mind like the thin shaft of sunlight which pierced the inky clouds above the castle.

‘Come on, Tab,’ she whispered. ‘You’re not going to like this one tiny bit, but it’s the only solution.’

aud carried her cat across to Enid’s trolley and sat down next to her friend. Enid looked up from sorting out piles of grey socks and underwear.

‘Mildred’s
up
to something,’ said Maud darkly. ‘I just know it.’

‘Well, I wish she’d let
us
in on the secret,’ said Enid crossly. ‘She’s been really strange for weeks – sort of vague and not quite with it.’

A shriek of laughter rang out from Ethel, who had overheard.

‘
Do
forgive me for stating the obvious, Maud,’ she said, ‘but Mildred Hubble is
permanently
vague and not quite with it. If
I
were you,
I’d
start worrying if she was suddenly alert and getting A plus for everything!’

‘Oh, do stop it, Ethel,’ said Maud. ‘No wonder Mildred gets in such a state with the likes of
you
hurling insults at her all the time. Anyway, you shouldn’t be eavesdropping on other people’s conversations. It’s not right. Come on, Enid, let’s move up to the other end so no one can hear us.’

If they had glanced out of the window at that moment, they would have seen Mildred, plus her cat-basket, making her way with great care down the cliff-face to the cove.

The rain had eased off to an unpleasant misty drizzle, which covered Mildred’s clothes and hair in a fine net of droplets. The wind had suddenly abated, which made the descent far less terrifying than Mildred had expected, though the wooden handrail had rotted away in places and the steps were very slippery from the rain and sea-spray.

Although she was most relieved to arrive all in one piece on the pebbly beach below, the sight of the sinister breakers relentlessly pounding into sizzling foam as they clawed at the shingle made Mildred’s heart begin to pound like the waves themselves.

Beyond the cove, which was actually quite sheltered from the wind by the height and shape of the cliff, the sea swelled alarmingly, as if a gigantic monster was breathing just beneath the surface and the strange Cat’s Head Rock sat bang in the middle of the horizon with white crests appearing where the waves dashed against it.

‘What a truly awful place, Tabby,’ whispered Mildred into the wicker

basket. ‘I should have left you in the nice warm kitchen instead of bringing you here. I’m so sorry, little cat. What a mistress you’re lumbered with — and to think that Miss Cackle thought
I
was stuck with
you
.’

First of all, Mildred examined the cave in the hope that it might be full of nice dry ledges and crannies, but it was unfortunately very shallow, more like a wind-blown sentry-box, with not one projection in the rock to hide a cat-basket. The boat was the only other hope.

Mildred opened the basket and let Tabby out for a run. Tabby looked most unimpressed by the sight of so much water, and stalked off to examine the cave, leaving Mildred to edge along the breakwater so that she could take a good look at the boat.

It was bigger than it had looked from Gloom Castle. There were two benches for rowers to sit on and at one end was a little cabin with a tiny door and window. A pair of oars was neatly lashed to the inside of the boat and