The marvellous land of Snergs
damage one way and another. When they find their little children
disappearing every now and then they’ll wish they’d left me alone in my
comfortable little town business and not got the King to turn me out.”
Golithos did an ungainly dance of joy at the mention of a good supply
of his natural food. “I suppose,” he said when his transports had
calmed down a little, “there’s no chance of their finding the way
through the rocks?”
“Not a bit of chance. The way through is by a hole just near the top of
the big cliff, and even if they found the hole they’d lose their way
in two minutes if they tried to follow the road. There’s fifty little
tunnels branching in all directions and I’m the only one who knows
the right one. Besides, they wouldn’t dare to follow us in: there’s
other things there besides bats and darkness. No, we’ll be comfortable
enough. There’s an old tower which you can take for your very own, and
there’s a little house in the trees that will just suit me and I’ll
settle down very comfortably with my cats.”
They trudged on in contented silence for a time. Sylvia and Joe were,
luckily for them in one way, too stupefied with horror to realize the
hideous fate that had come upon them and they went on as well as they
could, Mother Meldrum occasionally hinting by a ferocious pick at the
ropes that they were not walking fast enough.
THE BARREN ROCKS
Half an hour later Mother Meldrum gave a grunt of satisfaction. “Here
we are at last,” she said. “Look up, little dears, and see where you’re
going to climb to.”
They had passed out of the thicker part of the stunted trees into an
open space, and the shuddering children saw before them a deep ravine
of dry and jagged rocks. On the farther side the walls rose in a cliff
which, though not very much higher than they were standing, was very
precipitous and evidently difficult to climb for anyone who did not
know the path. Nowhere about the rocks was there any sign of life or
vegetation. It was a new strange land on which a blight had fallen; a
land over which a dull horror seemed to brood.
“We’ll go down a nice little path I know of,” said Mother Meldrum, with
a deep chuckle, “and then we’ll go up a nice little path I know of. And
close to the top is a nice little tunnel I know of, and we’ll go ever
so far through it until we come to a nice little house I know of. _Now_
don’t you wish you hadn’t run away from dear old Mother----”
She stopped and turned round and stared. Golithos, who had been
grinning savagely at her words, stopped and looked quickly in the same
direction.
“I thought I heard Gubbins,” she said (Gubbins was the missing cat).
“Oh, I’m so glad!” he said, “I wouldn’t have liked you to lose him. He
must have caught us up. Ah, there he is! I thought he wouldn’t be long
in finding us.”
“Yes, you fool!” snarled the old woman, choking with rage. “And see
who’s coming after him! This comes of trusting a lubber like you!”
“It’s that Snerg again,” said Golithos uneasily.
The children’s hearts gave a bound of joy and hope. A long way off,
and far beyond the black cat that came trotting up, they saw a little
figure running. It was Gorbo, and the dead weight of terror seemed to
lift from them at the sight.
“I don’t seem able to shake him off somehow,” went on Golithos, not
at all with the air of a man who was ready to do great deeds. “But he
hasn’t seen us yet because we’re hidden by these trees. Let’s get into
the thick part and hide until he comes up and then I’ll jump out and
cut him down before he can shout.”
“Come along, you brats, or I’ll murder you here!” shouted Mother
Meldrum.
She dragged fiercely at the ropes and they had to follow her into the
trees. Golithos hauled on the leading rope of the ass, and the ass, as
its nature taught it to do, hauled back. With a howl of rage he took a
firmer grip of the rope and dragged the ass a few feet. Then the rope
snapped and the animal turned and trotted back on the path they had
come.
“Now you’ve done it, you great lout!” screamed Mother Meldrum. “Now
he’ll know we’re here! Oh, I’ll settle accounts with you, Golithos,
once we’re out of this!”
“But there’s no great harm done,” pleaded Golithos. “He’ll come along
looking for us just the same. Oh, please keep quiet, he may be coming
along now. If he hears us I won’t be able to jump out on him!”
The old woman controlled herself sufficiently to keep silent, though
her face was livid with rage. She dragged the children into a thicker
part of the trees and pushed them over and crouched down by them,
surrounded by her cats, who stopped still at an order from her and lay
quiet on the ground. Golithos stooped behind a tree with his axe ready.
Gubbins, the missing cat, came trotting up. They could see him stop
and sniff about. Then he looked back invitingly and saying “Me-reow!
me-reow!” in a high and strong voice, came purring in among the trees
and greeted his mistress and his brother cats. Mother Meldrum silenced
him with a clump on the head and he too crouched down.
There was a dead silence for a minute or two. Then suddenly the witch
gave a little grunt, for Gorbo came into view, walking with a silent
tread and peering in all directions, with an arrow fitted to his bow.
HOW GORBO FOUND THE WAY
The measures taken by King Kul to search for the children would
have, by themselves, resulted in failure and a tragedy. Though of
an estimable character he was not remarkable for handling difficult
situations, especially those which for want of a better term we must
call matters of police. His dominion had been peaceable so long that he
had lost the knack of it; besides, his subjects, an amiable but rather
muddle-headed offshoot of mediæval days, were of little assistance in
the case, for no one could give information as to the road taken by the
alleged old man with the ass and big baskets and bagpipes. The knights
too--with the exception of Sir Giles, who had plenty of ginger in him
(which is why he had secured the prettiest girl at court)--were rather
lacking in practice owing to the decay of dragons, caitiffs, and other
undesirable inhabitants, and they rather played at chivalrous doings
than took any active interest in them. Consequently, though troops
were sent searching in all directions, they went without definite
instructions, and they merely wandered about, putting innocent people
through severe cross-examinations, inspecting cock-lofts in lonely
but peaceful farmhouses, and generally making themselves thoroughly
disliked without obtaining any useful hints.
Sir Giles, however, had hit on an idea which had some reason at the
back of it. The far western border of the land was some half-day’s ride
away and the country beyond, though no one knew anything definite about
it, had a very unsavoury reputation. It was generally considered to be
the part where the dragons and caitiffs and others had gone during the
past few centuries, and he considered it probable that Mother Meldrum
and Golithos had selected it as a suitable spot for their future home;
therefore he had taken his squire and ten picked men and gone there at
full speed. The idea, as I have said, was on the whole a good one. The
one reason against its being a successful one was that Mother Meldrum
and Golithos had gone in the opposite direction.
While King Kul was discussing the situation and making suggestions,
King Merse rushed off with Gorbo and collected his men, and
Vanderdecken joined them with his immediately afterwards. But they,
like the others, had little notion of which would be the best direction
to take until Gorbo gave them a second shock by making a really
practical suggestion.
While the men were formed up and waiting for orders, with King Merse
and Vanderdecken at their wits’ end to know what orders to give, Gorbo
suddenly ran off and peered between the legs of some citizens who
formed a little crowd near the ancient Cloth Hall. The citizens were
looking at a cat of exceeding bigness and blackness which was engaged
with a bone. There were none present who had visited Mother Meldrum
professionally so no one recognized this as one of her cats; they were
merely wondering at its appearance, the cats of Banrive being as a rule
small and either fawn colour or grey with stripes.
Gorbo acted with a promptness inspired by his grief and his knowledge
that time was flying. He rushed to a fish stall and demanded a pound
of sprats on the King’s affairs and a straw-bag to put them in. He
returned and, pushing his way through the crowd, offered the animal a
sprat. It took it with a fierce growl and ate it, and then looked up
hopefully for more. Gorbo did not give it another yet but patted and
stroked it instead, allowing it to sniff at the bag.
“Did ums old cats want um sprats?” he said soothingly. “Then um good
old cats must work for um sprats.”
The animal, though evidently intelligent above its kind, could not of
course wholly understand. It got easily as far as understanding that
this small man (whom it remembered seeing before) was one who had
control of fish in a bag, and he set up a roaring purr and rubbed hard
against him in the hope that he would do the decent thing and give him
another.
Gorbo held out another sprat and walked backwards towards his brother
Snergs, the cat following.
“See!” he said to King Merse; “one of Mother Meldrum’s cats! Perhaps it
can lead us to her.”
King Merse stared at him in wonder at his penetration. Vanderdecken
smote Gorbo on the shoulder. “This man of yours is improving,” he said.
“We can but try it.”
“We will,” said the King. “Go ahead, Gorbo, with your cat, and we will
follow some way behind.”
The inhabitants were ordered to clear the road and Gorbo, after giving
a third sprat for encouragement, walked towards the town-gate. The
cat followed him, chewing and growling. On arriving at a clear space
beyond the walls Gorbo urged it by gestures to take the road. After a
few moments it looked about and sniffed the ground; went on a bit and
sniffed again. Gorbo looked on anxiously.
“Home to mother then!” he said, holding up his bag. “Home to other old
black cats.”
The animal turned and looked at him and then, giving a terrific wail,
started off at a trot. Gorbo followed and the cat, merely stopping an
instant to make sure that the bag of fish was coming close behind, went
on down a narrow trail that led to some woods.
It went steadily on and Gorbo trotted steadily behind it. And a quarter
of a mile or so behind them came the soft padding footsteps of the
Snergs and the clumping of the Dutchmen’s sea-boots as they followed at
the double.
THE REFORM OF GOLITHOS
As Gorbo appeared in the open space beyond the trees, Mother Meldrum
shook her fist fiercely at Golithos to encourage him, and for an
instant had her attention taken away from the children. But this
instant was enough for Joe, who had been working his hands loose from
the rope (he had learned rope tricks in his circus life), and who now
had them free. He quickly untied Sylvia’s hands and then very gently
helped her to her feet. “Run,” he whispered close to her ear. And with
a bound they were off, Joe holding her hand with a tight grip and
hauling her along through the trees.
They heard a savage yell from behind them; but they were out in the
open and running up to Gorbo, who sprang forward to meet them with a
shout.
“Hide in the trees!” screamed Joe. “There’s Golithos coming!”
Gorbo jumped and looked quickly round. Then in an instant he sprang
with them into the shade of the trees on the other side of the open
space. He gave a little sound of wonder and joy, something like a sob,
and then faced round, again with his bow held ready. “Lie down and
hide,” he said, without turning his head.