Chasing Angharad – who chased Laetitia on her horse Thunderer – Dot and Mr Holmes and Wiz are in a strange clearing in the Dendringham Hall woods. They can’t see Laetitia anywhere – but that’s the least of their concerns right now!
Dot looked. She felt the hairs prickle on the back of her neck.
She could hardly believe her eyes!
In the middle of the long bank at the end of the clearing, the ferns were moving – or at least some of them were.
It was if they were on a door which was slowly, slowly opening outwards.
Dot cleared her throat and tried to speak. But she was so scared she couldn’t.
“Oops, pardon me!” said Mr Mouse, burrowing back under the collar of her dress into his usual safety spot. “This is where I get off!”
It was Angharad who sounded the alarm, zooming back from the far end of the clearing where she’d been furiously tracking the scent she’d followed all the way from the Hall.
“GOT it!” she said fiercely, leaping up the bank towards the strange door. “KNEW it was here!”
“BarkBARK!” went Wizard.
Mr Holmes swung round from brushing down Thunderer – he’d nearly finished. “Ah HA!” he said, dropping the scarf and reaching in his pocket to bring out his big heavy revolver. “WHAT have we here!”
What they had was clearer now – it really was a door, but one cleverly hidden with thick earth on top of it, so the grass and ferns could grow on it. By now it
was nearly all the way open – and the next moment it was flung wide, like a huge trapdoor in the slope of the grassy bank being thrown back.
And out poked a head!!
Angharad jumped back and barkbarkbarked!
Quite a head it was, too! It had curly greying hair all over it, big round thick glasses, red cheeks and a sunny smile.
“Nice to see you!” it said. A hand appeared, waving what looked like a big glass test tube full of some kind of frothy green liquid.
“You come at a critical time in my latest venture” the curly-headed man said, giving them all a big wink. “Allow me a moment, if you would be so kind!” Then, just as suddenly as he had come, he disappeared again, shutting the funny trapdoor covered with grass and ferns with a soft thud.
Once again the grassy bank looked just like a part of the forest. It was impossible to see where the trapdoor had been. Dot wondered if she’d started seeing things!
But she hadn’t – Mr Holmes had seen it too.
He put his revolver away and ran up to the bank. Getting down on his hands and knees, he started feeling the ground where the trapdoor, had appeared. He lay down on his tummy, pulled a big old magnifying glass out his pocket and peered through it, muttering to himself.
“Brilliant!” he said. “A masterpiece of craftsmanship!” He turned back to Dot and Wizzie, shaking his head. “Nothing at all, not a trace!” Then he went on looking, back flat on his tummy, with the magnifying glass so close to his face that it squished his beaky noses.
Angharad and Wizzie were searching too – but they couldn’t find anything either, though Dot could see the scent was strong for them.
“Can I come out now?” asked a muffled voice from inside the shoulder of Dot’s dress.
Wizzie stopped sniffing for a moment and looked up at Dot. “I’ve heard of a scaredy-cat, but never a scaredy-mouse” he said, grinning.
“Pfffrrrrrppp!” came a muffled rude noise.
“Come on out Mr Mouse” said Dot. ”It’s OK!”
But she didn’t saying it quietly enough! Mr Holmes heard her and looked round with his magnifying glass still held in front of his face so that his eyes looked huge.
“OK?” he said. “What does that mean? And what - ?”
“EEEK!” went Mr Mouse, seeing Mr Holmes’ huge eyes behind the magnifying glass. Back he went inside the shoulder of Dot’s dress!
Mr Holmes jumped too. “Dorothea” he said, swallowing hard, “Did you know you have a mouse in a suit in, er… ermm, under… er, about your person?”
“Oh… yes…” said Dot, going red. “That’s Mr Mouse! He’s just a pet!”
“Pet! No way!” came the muffled voice.
Wizzie snorted with laughter and waggled his head in the grass, brushing the side of his mouth with his paw.
“Extraordinary!” murmured Mr Holmes. “Just like in The Case of The - ”
But just then the grass-covered trap door flew open once more, and there was the curly-headed face again.
“Welcome to Fernbank Cottage!” it said.
