Enid Blyton (21 page)

XXI

The red squirr
el bounded off down the Tree to
call everyon
e to a Meeting. "Go up to Moon-
Face
’
s," he to
ld everyone. "There is to be an
important Meeting about the Faraway Tree. Most
important."

Soon everyone was on their way up the Tree
to Moon-Face
’
s house at the top. Dame Washalot
arrived, panting. Behind her came old Mrs.
Saucepan. Mister Watzisname came,
and Saucepan
too. The owl came with two friends. The wood-pecker came, and
two or three squirrels, with a
good
many baby squirrels to join in the excitement.
The An
gry Pixie came too, of course.

It was too much of a squash in Moon-Face
’
s
curved room, so everyone sat outside on the
broad branch. Moon-Face addressed the Meeting.

"Something very serious is happening," he
said. "The Faraway Tree is dying, as you can all
see for yourselves. Even in the last hour or two
its leaves have curled up even more. And not a
single fruit or berry of any kind is to be found
from top to bottom, a thing that has never
happened before."

"That
’s
true," said Dame Washalot. "I
’
ve always
depended on the Tree for my pies. But now there
isn
’
t any fruit, not even a red currant."

"We have discovered that there are people in the
jewel-caves at the roots of the Tree," said Moon-Face, solemnly.

"Oooo-ooooh!" said everyone, in amazement.

"Woffles went down and saw them," said Moon-Face. The rabbit almost fell off the branch with
pride at being mentioned by name.

"But—the jewel-
caves have been closed for
many years!" said Dame Washalot, in surprise.

"Yes—because the roots of the Tree went deep
into them," said Moon-Face. "Anyway, I don
’
t
think there were any more jewels to be found.
But plainly there are robbers who think there may
be some left, and they have come after them, forced
open the caves, and are damaging the roots of the
Tree in their hunt for jewels. Unless we can stop
them quickly, I am afraid the Faraway Tree will
die."

“Oh dear—would it have to be chopped down?"
said Bessie, in dismay. She couldn
’
t bear to think
of such a thing. It would be dreadful. All the
children were as fond of the friendly Faraway
Tree as the tree-folk themselves were.

"What are we going to do about it?" said
the Angry Pixie. "I wish I could get at those
robbers!"

"We
’
d better find out who they are first. And
how many of them," said Silky. "Then we could
send round the Enchanted Wood and get dozens of
people to come and help us to force the robbers
out of the caves. Maybe if we could stop them
damaging the roots any more the Tree would
recover."

"I will go down to the jewel-caves myself and
speak with the robbers," said Moon-Face, his
round face looking solemn. "Saucepan, will you
come with me?"

"Oh yes. Of course. Without doubt," said old
Saucepan at once.

"I
’
m coming too," said Watzisname.

"And all of us are," said the children at once,
and Silky nodded as well. This looked like being
a very solemn kind of adventure, but they meant
to share it as usual.

"Well
—I think we ought to go right away
now,
"
said Moon-Face, getting up. "No time like
the present. Coming, all of you?"

"Yes," said everyone, and stood up. Connie
felt th
rilled. What adventures she had
had since
she came to stay with
J
o, Bessie and Fanny!

"Where
’
s Woffl
es?" said Moon-Face, looking
round. "Ah, there you are! Woff
les, please lead
the
way."

The rabbit almost burst with pride. He ran down
the Tree in front of
the others. Everyone followed,
w
hen they came to the ground Woff
les ran to a
big rabbit-hole.

"Down here," he said. So down went the
children and the four Tree-Folk—down, down
into the darkness. It was a good thing the rabbit-hole was so big. Rabbit burrows in the Enchanted
Wood were always on the large side because the
goblins, gnomes, pixies and brownies liked to
use the underground tunnels when it rained.

"I
’
ve never been down a rabbi
t-
hole before,"
said Connie. "Nev
er! It
’
s like a dream! I hope I
shan
’
t wake up and
find it isn
’
t real. I like this
sort of thing."

So did the others. It was queer down the rabbit-hole, rather dark, and a bit musty. Woffles knew
the way very well, of course. He knew every
burrow in the Wood!

Here and there were queer lanterns hanging
from the roof where it was a bit higher than
usual, usually at sharp corners. It was a bit of
a squash when anyone else came along in the
opposite direction, for then everyone had to
flatten themselves against the wall of the tunnel.

Quite a lot of people met them. Rabbits, of
course, and brownies and goblins seemed to be
hurrying about by the dozen.

"Woffles, are you sure this is the way?" said
Moon-Face at last, when it seemed as if they had
been wandering along dark tunnels for miles and
miles. "Are you sure you are not lost?"

Woffles made rather a rude snort. "Lost! As if
any rabbit is ever lost underground!" he said.
"No, Mister Moon-Face, you can trust me. I
never get lost here. I am taking you the very
shortest way."

They went on again, groping their way along
the tunnels, glad of an unexpected ray of light
from a
lantern now and again. And then they
heard something!

"Hark!" said Moon-Face, stopping so suddenly
that
J
o bumped right into him. "Hark! What is
that?"

Everyone stood and held their breath—and they
heard queer muffled noises coming from the depths
of the earth.

"Boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom!"

"That
’s
the people I told you about," said the
rabbit, importantly. "We
’
re getting near the
jewel-caves."

Connie felt a bit queer. She held Watzisname
’
s
hand
tightly.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

"It
’
s the robbers all right," said Moon-Face,
and his voice echoed queerly down the tunnel.
"Can
’
t you hear their pick-axes?"

"Is it safe to
go on?" said Silky, doubtfully.
"You don
’
t think they
’
d take us prisoners or
anything, do you?"

"I
’
l
l go first with Jo," said Moon-Face, "and
you others can keep back in the shadows, if you
like. I don
’
t think the robbers would try to capture
us. They would know that a whole army of people
would come down from the Enchanted Wood
after them, if they did!"

They went forward again, making as little noise
as they could. Even old Saucepan hardly made a
clank or a clang with his saucepans and kettles.

"Boom, boom, boom!" The sound came nearer
still. "BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!"

"They are certainly working very hard," said
J
o, in a whisper. "They are using pick-axes to
break down the caves to see if any more precious
stones a
re hidden there. No wonder the
Tree is
dying. They must be striking the roots every time."

"There
’
s a root, look!" said Silky, and she
pointed to a thick rope-like thing that j
utted out
into the tunnel, right across their path. It shone
queerly in the light of an old lantern that
swung
from the roof just there.

"Yes, that
’s
a root," said Moon-Face, climbing
over it. "Be careful of it, all of you
!
"

So
they were very careful, because they didn
’
t
want to hurt the Faraway Tree at all. It was being
hurt quite enough, as it was, by the robbers.

"Now—here are the caves," said Woffles, excitedly, as they turned a corner, and came to a
great door, studded with iron and brass. "You
can
’
t get through that door. It
’
s locked."

"How did you get into the caves?" said Moon-Face. "Oh yes, I remember—you made a burrow.
Where is it?"

Woffles
pointed to it with his paw. But good
gracious, out of it pointed something sharp and
glittering! Whatever could it be?

Moon-Face stepped up to see. He came back
and whispered gravely. "It
’
s a sharp spear! The
robbers plainly don
’
t mean anyone to get into the
caves
again. There are three of these
doors, I
kno
w—but the robbers will have locked them all
—
and any rabbit-hole will be guarded by them too
—
with spears
!
"

"There mus
t be someone holding the spear,"
said
Jo
. "Let
’
s go and talk to him! Come on,
Moon-Face
. We
’
ll tell him what we think of
robbers who hurt the roots of the dear old Faraway
Tree!"

XXII

J
o and Moon-Face walked boldly up to the
rabbit-hole. It was the one Woffles had made that
day, when he had gone down to inquire into
things. Clearly the robbers had discovered it and
were guarding it.

The shining spear moved a little, and a harsh
voice cried out sharp
ly:
"Who goes there?"

"This is
J
o and
Moon-Face
," said Moon-Face.
"We have come to tell you that you are making
the Faraway Tree die, because you are damaging
its roots."

"
Pooh!" said the voice, rudely.

Moon-Face
felt angry. "Don
’
t you care whether
or not you kill a tree?" he asked. "And the Faraway
Tree, too, the finest Tree in the world!"

"We don
’
t care a bit," said the voice. "Why
should we? We don
’
t live in the Tree. We are
Trolls, who live underground. We don
’
t care
about trees."

"Trol
l
s!" said Moon-Face. "Of course, I might
have guessed it. You live under the ground and
work the soil there to find gold and precious
stones, don
’
t you?"