The Amazing Airship Adventure (2 page)

Chapter 3: Ransom!

Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson, and the MacDougall parents called out in pain. Smoke and soot filled the air of the house, and shattered glass covered the floor. “Stay calm, everyone,” the ten year old Emma reassured them. “It was the blinding flash of light from that aircraft. Your vision should return soon.”

Sure enough, Dr. Watson started seeing the return of blurry shapes, and then, when his vision returned, he saw a startling sight. The apartment was a disaster. The dinner table was flipped on its side, and the food was splattered across the floor. Poor Mr. MacDougall was covered in gravy from his hair down to his belly. “What happened?” he called out.

“When I saw the light turning towards us, I did my best to shield everyone. Unfortunately, when I flipped up the table,” Sherlock Holmes continued, “I only was able to shield the twins and myself.”

“It's okay, Mr. Holmes,” Mrs. MacDougall assured him while removing chunks of bread that had landed in her hair. “The children are top priority. Now, what happened to your beautiful window?”

Glass shards were sticking out of the carpet on the floor, and they were even embedded in the walls and ceiling. “This caused it, mom,” explained Jimmy. He was holding up a large rock (more like a small boulder). Around the grey stone was tied a red ribbon, holding a rolled up paper. “It must have come from that thing in the sky.”

“Good job, Jimmy,” Sherlock said and grabbed the rock from the boy. He held it between his hands, lifted it towards the ceiling, and ran his finger through the grains of dirt still stuck to the rock's body. Then, he carefully slid the scroll out from the red ribbon, unrolled it, and read it over, his face turning grim.

“What's it say?” Mr. MacDougall asked.

Sherlock handed the letter over to Jimmy and Emma. “Take a look.”

The letter was written in a strange format. It was made up of all capital letters cut from magazines and newspapers, and then glued together to form words. The note said,

MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,

TELL YOUR BROTHER TO BRING ONE MILLION POUNDS TO 221B BAKER STREET TOMORROW AT 5 OR ELSE ALL OF LONDON WILL SUFFER!

SINCERELY,

THE MAD BOMBER

“Oh, Heavens!” Mrs. Hudson called out. “You'd better tell Mycroft at once.” Mycroft Holmes was the brother of Sherlock Holmes. He worked for the British government.

“Of course, Mrs. Hudson,” Sherlock agreed, and he then added, “If you wouldn't mind, please wash up our guests, and find whatever food we have left in the icebox. We should still give the MacDougalls some dinner. Even with all this excitement, I'm sure their bellies still need food.”

“No need for that, Mr. Holmes,” Mr. MacDougall started to say, but Mrs. Hudson stopped him.

“Now, now, Nedley. No guest of mine is going to go hungry, and we must feed the children,” Mrs. Hudson assured him.

“Watson! We must be away at once.” Sherlock and Dr. Watson grabbed their coats. Before leaving, Sherlock whispered to Emma and Jimmy, “Look out your window tonight. The light will be blinking.”

“What are you whispering over there?” Mrs. MacDougall asked, making sure the twins were not getting into trouble.

“Just making sure they weren't hurt, Frances,” Holmes explained to Mrs. MacDougall.

The twins nodded and didn't say anything. The light blinking meant only one thing - Sherlock Holmes needed their help!

***

That night, after their parents were asleep, Jimmy went to Emma's bedroom. He gave a soft, “knock-knock,” at his sister's door, so as not to wake their parents. His father's loud snoring echoed up the hallway.

“It took you long enough, Jimmy,” Emma said. “Sherlock may contact us at any minute.”

“I wanted to make sure mom and dad were asleep. When dad's snores shake the house, I know I have nothing to worry about.” Jimmy and Emma laughed. Then Jimmy added, “I was going through my books on trains and coaches, and then, look what I found!”

Jimmy showed Emma a long thin book called
Balloon Flight
. Inside was a picture of what looked like the strange object they had seen in the sky that day.

“That thing is called an airship,” Jimmy explained. “It's a kind of hot air balloon, but it is steerable. There are a few different types.”

Jimmy turned the page, and Emma saw pictures of three different types of airships: one looked like a balloon, one like a hot dog in the sky, and the last one looked like the flying barrel they saw in the sky that day.

“See!” Jimmy said, excitedly pointing to the third picture. “That's a solid body airship. The frame is metal, surrounded by canvas, and it is huge. It could lift this house into the sky! I don't think we are dealing with a normal crook. I think we are dealing with a genius.”

“I know,” Emma agreed. “The mad bomber is very smart. He cut out those newspaper clippings, so we couldn't check his handwriting, and I believe he didn't leave any fingerprints either. I wish I could have taken a better look at that note.”

“Well, Sherlock Holmes noticed something,” Jimmy agreed. “I could see it in his face. If you had seen the note, I know you would have seen it too. I don't know how you two do it. Sherlock Holmes and you look at a

piece of paper, and the two of you can figure out where it came from, and who wrote on it.”

“You just have to pay attention, Jimmy. It isn't magic. You just need to look for clues and..Wait! There he is!” Emma called, dashing to her window. She saw the silhouette of Holmes across the way.

“What's he doing?” asked Jimmy.

Sherlock held the candle up to the window. Then, he covered the light with a hand. He kept doing this over and over again, sometimes quickly covering up the flame, and other times leaving it out longer.

“He's sending us a coded message,” Emma said. “Jimmy?”

“Got it,” he said, handing Emma her journal. She wrote down the message Mr. Holmes was sending them.

TWINS-

I NEED YOU TO CHECK WITH YOUR SOURCES. LONDON IS IN DANGER. FIND OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT THE AIRSHIP.

Jimmy knew just what Sherlock Holmes wanted them to do; they had to talk with the children of London, and find out what they knew about the airship. When Sherlock Holmes needed extra help, he often asked Jimmy and Emma to check with their friends. Many times, kids saw so much more than adults, who were so busy, that they did not pay attention to the world around them. Many adults probably did not even notice the airship in the sky. They were thinking about work, or bills, or some other nonsense.

Emma and Jimmy knew that Sherlock Holmes trusted them, and they had been given an important assignment. All of London, maybe even England, depended on their success.

Emma sent back a message to Sherlock Holmes.

DON'T WORRY MR. HOLMES. THE MACDOUGALL TWINS ARE ON THE CASE.

Chapter 4: Escaping School

“This is about Sherlock Holmes and that sky ship, ain't it?” Mr. MacDougall asked in a whisper while buttering his toast. He didn't want Mrs. MacDougall, who was in the next room hemming a dress, to hear them discussing a case.

Emma and Jimmy were asking their father for help. The twins needed to figure out a way to get out of their home that morning, and Mrs. MacDougall never let them leave school early, unless their dad had a task for them.

“Dad, you've got to help us,” Emma begged.

“Mr. Holmes needs our help. All of London is in danger,” added Jimmy. “Come on, Dad!”

“Okay, okay, if Mr. Holmes needs your help, then I'll send Laurence over to fetch you. But you'd better stay caught up on your school work,” Mr. MacDougall sternly stated.

The twins promised, and Mr. MacDougall said goodbye, then headed out to clean the city chimneys.

Emma and Jimmy were schooled at home by their mother. Most of the children in London worked either in factories or in businesses, even if they were only five years old. Some went away to live at school. Mrs. MacDougall did not want her children working, and she did not want them away from home for a very long time. She taught the twins in their home in the morning, and she had them run errands for her in the afternoon.

This morning Jimmy was working on his math skills, called arithmetic, and Emma was learning about the history of the earth, when giant animals known as dinosaurs ruled the land. Most girls only learned how to sit up straight, sew, and have good manners. Mrs. MacDougall made sure that Emma had the same schooling as Jimmy. She thought it was a waste for girls to not have the same options as boys. In fact, Emma was even smarter than Jimmy.

Jimmy finished up his math booklet, and Emma paused to check his work. It gave the twins a chance to talk without their mother knowing they were investigating the airship mystery.

“You solved most of the problems correctly, but you made errors solving some fraction problems,” Emma explained. “Do numbers four, five, and nine again.”

Jimmy frowned and snatched his book back. “The only thing I need to solve is this airship mystery.”

“Do you think Laurence will have heard from anyone?” asked Emma.

Laurence was a chimney sweep who worked with Mr. MacDougall. That morning, Jimmy had his dad give Laurence a message to send telegrams to the twins' friends. Messages were sent to Steve the steel worker, Sally the seamstress, Nolan the newspaper boy, and Thomas the tailor to see if they knew anything about the airship. Once the friends received the message, word would spread, and soon all the children in London would be looking for airship clues.

“I bet he did. I mean, that ship was the size of a flying herd of elephants. Everyone should have seen it.”

Surprisingly, there was no news of the airship in the morning paper.

Just then, there came a knock on the door. “Now, who could that be?” Mrs. MacDougall said, while getting up from her sewing. Mrs. MacDougall was a seamstress who hemmed, mended, and made clothes for a job. She worked at home, so she could also teach Jimmy and Emma.

The twins heard their mother answer the door and have a brief conversation. “He needs them now! Really, Laurence, you tell Nedley not to bother the children until afternoon, after their school work is completed.” There was another brief talk, and then Mrs. MacDougall said, “All right! All right! They can go now!”

Mrs. MacDougall called to the twins to come to the door. “Children, your father needs your help this morning. One of his chimney sweeps is sick, and Emma, he needs your help understanding a bill he has received. Both of you will go with Laurence, but Laurence will make sure you return as soon as you can. You will need to make up all of your missed time from school this afternoon. The sooner you return, the better. School is too important to miss. You will finish your lessons today, even if you finish at midnight.”

“Yes Mom,” the twins agreed. Laurence thanked Mrs. MacDougall, and the three were off into the city streets.

Laurence was huffing and puffing a bit as they walked together. He was a plump old man, who Emma would have said looked a bit like Father Christmas, except he was covered in black soot from head to toe. He left a strange trail of dark footprints behind him as he waddled along.

“You can slow down a bit,” Jimmy assured Laurence, who was wheezing from running to the MacDougall house. “Any responses to our telegrams?”

“Just one,” Laurence wheezed. “From…(huff).. Nolan.” Laurence caught his breath, and he wiped the sweat from his brow. The chimney sweep then continued. “There doesn't seem to be much news about a flying boat, or what have you. Now, I've got to dash back to work. Your dad wanted me to tell you to stay out of trouble. No sense in that though. If you're chasing flying boats, I know you'll get up to some kind of mischief.”

“It's an airship,” Emma explained. “It scared a whole crowd of people. I don't know why no one is talking about it!”

“Baah!” Laurence said, with a dismissing wave of his arm. “Next you'll be seeing the Ghost of Christmas Past. Oh! Look at the time!” Laurence added, looking at his pocket watch. “I have to get back to work!” He said goodbye and ran down the street as fast as he could. Jimmy thought, from behind, he looked like a penguin scampering away.

“Just Nolan,” Emma said. “Only Nolan has news. That's strange. That ship caused quite a stir on Baker Street. More of London must have seen it. Why didn't anyone else report anything? Why just Nolan?”

“Well, Nolan is the newspaper boy,” Jimmy joked. “He should have news for us.”