Enid Blyton (22 page)

"How clever you are!" said the mocking voice.
"Now go away, please. You can
’
t get into the
caves, nor can you stop us doing what we want
to. There are plenty of precious stones here still,
and until we have found them all, we shall hold
these c
aves against any enemy."

"You can have all the jewels you like if only
you won
’
t hurt the roots of the Tree," said Moon-
Face, desperately.

"We can
’
t help it," said the voice. "The roots
grow through the walls, and are always getting into
our way.
We chop them off!"

"Gracious! No wonder the poor Tree is dying,"
said
Jo
. "Moon-Face, whatever are we to do?"

Moon-Face
went a little nearer the rabbit
hole.

Would it be possible to bring a whole army of
Wood-
Fol
k and force a way down the hole
—or
even get the rabbits to make more holes? No—it
certainly wasn
’
t possible to get down
this
hole,
at any rate.
Another spear had now appeared, and
they were horribly sharp and pointed.

"How did you get into the caves?" shouted
Moo
n-Face, moving back a little. "
The doors were
always kept locked, and the Brownie Long-Beard
had the key."

"Oh, we stole it from him and got in easily!"
said the voice, with a laugh. "Then we locked the
doors on this side, so that no one else could get
in. We
’
ve been here a week now, and nobody knew
till that interfering rabbit came along. Wait till
we get him! We
’
l
l
cook him in our stew-pot."

Woffles
fled to the back of the listening party,
terrified. "It
’s
all right," said Silky, stroking him.
"We won
’
t let them get you,
Woffles
. Don
’
t be
afraid."

Moon-Face and
J
o went back to the others. "I
don
’
t see what we can do," whispered
Moon-Face
.
"All the doors are locked, and we certainly can
’
t
get keys to unlock them, for the one Brownie
Long-Beard had was the only one that could
unlock those cave-doors. And the Trolls are
guarding that rabbit-hole too well for us to get
down it. Even at night there will certainly be
someone there to guard it."

"Do you think perhaps we could get the rabbits
to tunnel silently somewhere else?" said
Jo
. "If
only they
could make a way for us somewhere,
we could all pour in and surprise the Trolls."

"It
’
s about the only thing to do," said
Moon-Face. "What do you think, Watzisname?"

"I think the same," said Watzisname. "If we
can get the rabbits to make
a really big hole, we
might do something to surprise the Trolls. It
’
s
the only
way we can get into the caves, isn
’
t it?"

"Yes," said Moon-Face, thoughtfully. "Well,
we
’
d better get to work at once. Where
’
s
Woffles
?"

"Here, Mister Moon-Face!" said the rabbit
eagerly. "Here I am. What am I to do? I daren
’
t
go down that hole I made, so don
’
t ask me to!"

"I won
’
t," said Moon-Face. "It was brave of
you to go the first time. What I want you to do,
Woffles, is to go and round up all the biggest and
strongest rabbits in the Wood and get them here.
Then we
’
ll set them to work quickly on a burrow
that must come up right in the very centre of the
jewel-caves. Maybe the robbers won
’
t expect us
to force a way there. They will expect us to come
th
rough the walls, not under the f
loor of the
caves."

"Right, Mister Moon-Face!" said the rabbit,
and sped off, his white bob-tail jerking up and
down as he went down the tunnel.

I
t was rather dull, waiting for the rabbits to
come. The lantern nearby gave only a faint light.
Moon-Face gave orders for everyone to speak in
the lowest of whispers.

"I
’
m hungry!" whispered Connie.

Watzisname gave a little giggle. "I
’
ve got some
Toffee-Shocks," he said. "Do you like sweets,
Connie?"

"Oh
yes
," said Connie, pleased. "What
’s
a
Toffee-Shock? I
’
ve never heard of one before."

Watzisname was holding out a paper-bag to
Connie. The others watched. They knew Toffee
-
Shocks, which were very peculiar sweets. As
soon as you began to suck a Toffee-Shock it grew
bigger. It grew and it grew and it grew, till it
completely filled your mouth and you couldn
’
t
say a word! Then, very suddenly, it burst into
noth
ing, and your mouth was empty.

Connie took
two
! Gracious, what would happen?
One was bad enough—but
two
Toffee-Shocks
would fill her with astonishment and dismay!

She popped the sweets into her mouth. Everyone
watched her. Bessie began to giggle.

Connie sucked hard. "
It
’
s funny," she thought.
"The more I suck, the bigger they seem to be.
Gracious, they were getting simply enormous!"

They were! They swelled up, as they always did,
and filled Connie
’
s mouth completely, so that she
couldn
’
t speak or chew! She stared at the others
in horror.

"Gug-gug-gug," said Connie, in fright, her eyes
almost falling out of her head. Her cheeks were
puffed out with the swollen sweets, and her tongue
was squashed at the bottom of her mouth.

J
ust as she thought she really couldn
’
t bear it
for one more moment, the Toffee-Shocks exploded,
and went to nothing! Connie stood in the greatest
amazement. Her mouth was empty. Where had
the sweets gone? She hadn
’
t swallowed them.

The others burst into giggles. Connie was really
cross. "What a nasty trick to play on me!" she
said to Watzisname, glaring at him.

"We
ll, you should only have taken
one, not
two," said Watzisname, wiping the tears of
laughter from his eyes. "One Toffee-Shock is fun—but two must be awful
!
"

"Sh! Sh!" said Moon-Face. "Don
’
t let the
Trolls know we are still here. They will be on
t
he watch if they think we are."

"Well,
I
think it would be a very good thing
to stay here and make a noise," whispered Silky.
"Then the Trolls will guard this hole, and keep
their attention on us, which will give the rabbits
a chance to burrow unheard."

"Silky
’s
right," said
J
o. "W
e
’
ll talk loudly and
make a noise. Then perhaps when the rabbits do
their burrowing under the floor of the caves, the
Trolls won
’
t notice it."

So
they all began to talk and laugh loudly. A
third spear appeared at the entrance of the hole,
and a voice said, "If you are thinking of getting
down here, think again!"

"Your spears won
’
t
stop us when we charge
down that hole!" yelled Moon-Face, which made
a fourth s
pear appear, shining brightly.

In a little while a whole army of rabbits appeared
at the back of the passage, jostling one another,
headed by Woffles, who was bursting with pride
again. "I
’
ve brought them," he said. "Here they
all are, the biggest and strongest."

Moon-Face
told them what he wanted them to
do. "We want you to make a passage right under
the caves," he said, "so that it comes up in the
floor. The Trolls won
’
t be expecting that. Whilst
you
’
re doing it. I
’
ll send a message to the brownies
in the Wood to come, and help us to burst through
the tunnel you make, as soon as it is finished."

"The girls mustn
’
t come into this," said
Jo
,
as the rabbits began to burrow rapidly downwards.
"They had better go back up the Tree with Silky.
This may be dangerous."

"Oh, but we want to see what happens!" said
Bessie, in dismay.

"We
’
ll tell you what happens as soon as we
know," promised
J
o. "Si
l
ky, can you send a
message to the brownies when you get above-
ground?"

"I will," said Silky, and she and the three girls
made their way back up the burrow and into the
Wood. They met a brownie and gave him Moon-Face
’
s message. He shot off at once to get a small
army together.

The rabbits burrowed quickly and silently
down into the earth, down and down and down.
When they knew they were right underneath the
centre of the jewel-caves, they began to burrow up
again, up and up and up. They meant to come
up just in the middle of the floor of the centre
cave.

Brownies poured down into the tunnel. Everyone
followed the rabbits closely, meaning to rush
the caves as
soon as the
tunnel broke through
the floor.

But alas! When the rabbits had burrowed
upwards to the caves, they came to a stop.
Something hard and solid was above them. They
cou
l
dn
’
t burrow into it.

"What is it?" whispered Moon-Face, anxiously.

"Let me fee
l
." He felt. "It
’s
heavy blocks of
stone!" he groaned. "Of course, the floor of the
caves is paved with stone. I had forgotten that. We
can
’
t possibly get through. I
’
m so sorry, rabbits
—all your work has been for no
thing!"

"Ha, ha, ho, ho!" suddenly came the distant
sound of laughter. "
We
heard you burrowing! You
didn
’
t know the floors were made of stone! Ha ha,
ho ho
!
"

"Horrid Tro
lls!" said Moon-Face, as they all
made their way back down the tunnel. "Whatever
can we do now?"