The Wind on the Moon (13 page)

‘I wonder,' said Dorinda. ‘Oh, I hope he does!'

But the Falcon did not come, and the Puma, when they spoke to her in the afternoon, said that she had not seen him either.

‘But he
will
return,' she continued. ‘Have no fear about that. Last night in my dreams I was hunting again, and I woke in the certain faith that my dream would come true. Have patience. The Falcon will return.'

But Friday dawned, and still he did not come, and all that morning Dinah and Dorinda felt very gloomy. They were quite sure that the Falcon would keep his word if he could, but they began to think that he might have had an accident. Perhaps he had been shot, or attacked by some larger bird such as an eagle.

‘I never heard of there being eagles in the Forest of Weal,' said Dinah, ‘but there might be.'

‘There are eagles in Scotland,' said Dorinda, ‘and one of them may have come to the Forest for a holiday.'

‘Or the Falcon may have lost his way,' said Dinah.

‘Perhaps he couldn't find anything to eat, and has fainted from hunger,' said Dorinda.

By the time they had thought of half a dozen other calamities, they were in the very depths of despair, and their neighbour, Mr. Parker, did nothing to make them more cheerful. Mr. Parker was also depressed. He had failed to find any evidence that would convict Bendigo of the theft of the missing ostrich eggs, and equally he had failed to prove him innocent. In spite of all his work he had been unable to find a single piece of evidence against anyone at all. And walking up and down his cage he repeated again and again, ‘I am baffled. I am utterly baffled. I am totally and horribly bewildered. I am absolutely and abominably baffled.
Baffled!
'

In the afternoon, however, they all went to congratulate Lady Lil. For she had laid another egg.

Quite naturally, she was very proud of herself, and she sat upon her nest like a queen on her throne, while the other members of the zoo stood round her like courtiers and made polite remarks.

‘How clever of you!' exclaimed the Dancing Cassowary.

‘Bless you, my dear,' sighed Marie Louise the Llama.

‘What a
lovely
egg!' cried the Kinkajous.

‘Let me see it too,' begged the young Dromedary.

‘As handsome an egg as I have ever met,' said the Toucan.

‘It looks good enough to eat,' said the Sacred Baboon.

But everyone was shocked by this last remark, and most of the animals exclaimed, ‘What a dreadful thing to say!' Lady Lil went pale with emotion.

‘I think she is going to faint,' said the Reindeer.

‘But I didn't
mean
anything,' shouted the Baboon, at whom Mr. Parker was now glaring in the most suspicious manner.

‘It was a very ill-bred and inconsiderate remark,' said Marie Louise, and the Dancing Cassowary screamed, ‘Give her air, give her air!'

Then the Dancing Cassowary fanned Lady Lil, who recovered fairly quickly, and the animals began to congratulate her all over again. And presently Lady Lil, sitting on her nest exactly as if it were a throne, made a little speech to them.

‘Thank you very much,' she said, ‘for all your kindness and good wishes. I appreciate them very deeply, and I am very glad to think that when my little Ostrich is safely hatched, he will have so many kind neighbours to live among.'

‘Hurrah!' cried the animals.

‘I need not remind you,' continued Lady Lil, ‘how bitterly disappointed I have been in the past, but I ought to tell you, I think, that I had almost made up my mind that I would never, never, never lay an egg again. Then, happily, the whole situation changed. Bendigo was caught and put in prison. And if Bendigo was the thief, then the danger to my eggs had been removed. I could lay another without fear, and hope to hatch it in safety. I felt positive, a few days ago, that Bendigo
was
the thief. But after what I have heard to-day, I am not so sure.'

Lady Lil paused in her speech, and looked very hard at the Sacred Baboon, who again protested that he hadn't meant anything objectionable by what he said. But the other animals showed themselves so unfriendly towards him that he suddenly grew frightened and ran away. And Mr. Parker, pretending that he was only going for a little walk, proceeded to shadow him. Then Lady Lil went on with her speech.

‘It seems to me,' she said, ‘that my poor little egg is still in danger. It will have to be guarded with the greatest care, and I propose to guard it entirely by myself. I shall not leave my nest until my egg is hatched.'

The Sacred Baboon ran away

Lady Lil paused again, and went on more slowly. ‘I do not want to say anything against Sir Bobadil. He is my husband, and I love him. But he is
not
as considerate as I could wish him to be. He is
not
a good father. He thinks entirely of his own pleasure. He is not wicked—at least I hope he is not—but he is idle and weak-willed. He is easily led astray. Why, this very afternoon, when it is clearly his duty to be standing here beside me to receive your kind congratulations, he has gone and left me all alone. He is down by the river, I suppose, talking to the Black Swan. That is the sort of husband I have! Though I would never deny that he has a good kind heart, and though everybody admires him for his handsome figure and charming manners, he is
not
to be trusted! I shall never ask him to keep our egg warm, even for half an hour. I mean to hatch it entirely by myself!'

As a result of this speech, most of the animals grew very angry with Sir Bobadil, and some of them again began to wonder if it was he who had stolen the other eggs. A few of them thought that the Sacred Baboon had worn a guilty look when he ran away, and many of them were now convinced that Bendigo was innocent, and had suffered a great injustice in being imprisoned. All were full of sympathy for Lady Lil, and everyone devoutly hoped that this time her egg would be preserved from danger.

Another morning came, and still there was no sign of the Silver Falcon. Dinah and Dorinda tried their hardest to keep cheerful, but they could not help feeling woefully disappointed, nor looking rather sadder than kangaroos usually look. That day seemed to be the longest they had ever known.

But in the late evening, just as they were going to bed, they suddenly heard the sound of great wings beating the air, there was a scuffling noise in their cage, and then the voice of the Falcon calling hoarsely to them.

They hurried to the door, and Dinah cried, ‘Oh, how glad we are to see you again!'

‘You've no idea how glad!' exclaimed Dorinda.

‘We've been longing for your return.'

‘We've been
aching
for you to come back.'

‘And the first thing you want me to tell you, I suppose,' said the Falcon, ‘is whether I have found Mrs. Grimble's bottle.'

‘Have you?' asked Dinah.

‘Don't say you haven't,' pleaded Dorinda.

‘I know where it is,' said the Falcon.

‘Come in and tell us all about everything you have been doing,' said Dinah. ‘We'd better go inside in case we wake Mr. Parker, though I don't think he'll wake very easily to-night, because he was trying to shadow both Sir Bobadil and the Sacred Baboon all afternoon, and he's quite exhausted in consequence. But we'll be safer inside.'

So they went into their house, and the Silver Falcon was like a patch of light in the darkness, so bright was his plumage. And this is the story he told.

‘For four days,' he said, ‘I have been searching for the bottle. Twice or three times I have flown so high that I was caught in the tide of the upper winds, and carried far to north or south or east or west; but that was merely for the joy of flight after having been so long a time in prison. And three or four times I have gone a-hawking over the Forest of Weal, and struck down three or four fine pigeons, strong on the wing; but that was only for the joy of hunting, after having been so long in a cage where they fed me like a tame cat. For the rest of the time I have done no hawking, save the getting of my dinner, and no farther flying than from here to Midmeddlecum. Every day I have been searching for your bottle, in field and ditch, under bush and tree, in copse and garden, by road and river. I have searched every inch of the ground, and day after day was a blank and useless day. Night after night I flew to roost in the Forest, tired and disappointed. Dawn after dawn I was on the wing again, but all my searching brought no profit. Till an hour ago my quest was vain. I could not find it. And then, barely an hour since, I was quartering the field by the gate-keeper's lodge for the tenth or the twelfth or the fourteenth time, though the light was going fast, when I saw, not the bottle, but a plump young rabbit, and I thought to myself, There is my supper. So I stooped upon the rabbit, but the light being bad I nearly missed, and I barely gripped him by the hinder parts as he was vanishing down a hole. I pulled him out, he was squealing like a baby, and as I pulled I could see, beyond him in the hole, the bottle that you lost. It was too deep for me to reach, but the hole is near the edge of the field, on the far side of the road, eighty yards from the gate-keeper's cottage, and so that you will find it easily I have stuck in the soil beside it the rabbit's white tail.'

‘What a clever thing to think of!' said Dorinda.

‘Poor rabbit,' said Dinah.

‘A fat and tender rabbit,' said the Falcon. ‘I enjoyed my supper very much.'

‘To-morrow afternoon,' said Dinah, ‘we shall go and get the magic draught, and then, just as soon as we like, we can become girls again. Think of it, Dorinda!'

‘I've been thinking about it for a long time,' said Dorinda.

‘I can't tell you how grateful we are,' said Dinah to the Falcon.

‘Don't try to,' said the Falcon, ‘for I have not finished my own story yet. I have learnt, by chance, who is the thief who has put all the zoo in turmoil by stealing the eggs of those silly Ostriches, Sir Bobadil and Lady Lil.'

‘She has just laid another,' said Dorinda.

‘She has? Then you had better warn her to take good care of it or she will lose it like the others.'

‘But who is the thief?' asked Dinah.

‘Let me tell the story in my own way,' said the Falcon. ‘It began when I killed, early one morning, a cock Pheasant in a gaudy suit of feathers, of the sort called the Amherst pheasants, I think, and that was behind the farm which lies beyond Sir Lankester's mansion-house. No sooner had I killed than a little Bantam Hen came running from the farmyard crying, “Well done, Falcon! That was a very proud and dangerous bird, who should have been killed long ago, for he has done much mischief about the farm with his boasting and fine feathers. We are grateful to you, Falcon, and we shall be still more grateful if you will kill another of our enemies.“'

‘Who is that?' I asked.

‘Then she spoke the name of one who lives in the zoo, who is a notorious robber, and goes by night to steal eggs, a whole clutch at one swallow, from the Bantams who dwell in the farmyard. “Is it only the eggs of a Bantam that he relishes?“ I asked. “No indeed,“ she answered, “for lately we have been spared, because he has been finding much greater eggs, the eggs of an Ostrich, so I have heard, but when that supply is finished he will return to us, for eggs of one sort or another he must and will have. And therefore, Falcon, I ask you, who are a brave and noble killer, to kill him as you have killed this naughty Pheasant, and save us Bantams from further loss and sadness.“

‘Then I told her that he whom she had named was too large an adversary for me to conquer, strong and well-armed though I am. But I would see to it, I said, that his thieving was made known, and brought to a finish. And that, I think, is what you can do.'

‘But who,' asked Dinah, ‘who
is
the thief?'

The Falcon whispered his name.

‘But,' said Dinah, ‘I thought . . .'

‘I never dreamt of it being him!' exclaimed Dorinda.

‘How does he get out?' asked Dinah.

‘I do not know,' said the Falcon, ‘but he is the criminal, and you must contrive the means by which he may be caught. And now I am going. My dear friend the Golden Puma will have been waiting for my return even more eagerly than you, and she will rejoice to learn that I have found the magic draught. What other news shall I tell her? Have you made a plan for her escape?'

‘If we find the bottle to-morrow afternoon,' said Dinah, ‘we can take a dose at once, and we shall turn into girls again in about five minutes' time, I think. Now to-morrow is Sunday, and that is Visitors' Day, and there will be lots of other children there, so we shan't be noticed. We shall go to the Puma's cage . . . Oh, but we can't!'

‘Dinah!' cried Dorinda. ‘I've just thought of it too!'

‘Thought of what?' asked the Falcon.

‘Our clothes!' said Dinah. ‘We haven't got any clothes!'