Llama Drama (10 page)

“We've got to try something else,” said Bertie.

Then the little lambs poked and prodded Lewie, gently tugging on his fleece and tickling him until finally he said, “OK, I give in! I'm awake!” Lewie struggled once more to get up. “We'd better get out of here before it's too late,” he sighed.

But that was easier said than done. In the darkness they felt their way around the walls until they found the door, where a very narrow band of moonlight was trickling in at the top. But even when Lewie and all the lambs put their weight against it, the door wouldn't budge. They tried several times before Lewie announced, “It's no good; it must be locked.”

The lambs collapsed on to the floor in a heap.

“Now what are we going to do?” asked Shoo.

Meanwhile, Liberty and Ginger were slowly piecing together what was left of the trail. Very few titbits remained and it took all Ginger's concentration to sniff them out. Liberty was getting more and more anxious and could hardly control her impatience.

“Can't you hurry up?” she begged.

“I'm doing the best I can,” snapped Ginger, as slowly, very slowly, they made their way ever closer to the warehouse.

When they finally arrived, the trail completely disappeared, and Liberty and Ginger were faced with two or three buildings, any of which, or none of which, might hide their beloved Lewie and the lambs.

One by one, they tried each door and called loudly through keyholes, “Lewie, are you there? Bertie?”

Then at last they found the right door!

“We're in here!” squealed a number of shrill little voices.

“Is that you, Mama?” bleated Bertie, recognising his own mother's voice and almost bursting into tears.

“We're here, my darling,” Ginger replied, almost in tears herself. “Now open that door and let us in.”

“Oh, we've tried that,” said Lewie, “lots of times, but it won't budge.”

Liberty and Ginger exchanged glances. They could tell from Lewie's shaky voice that he was not quite himself. They needed to get him out, fast. Liberty looked up and saw a bolt right at the very top of the door.

“Oh dear,” she sighed. “If only I was taller.”

“If only I was younger,” said Ginger, “I could climb on your back.”

But that was never going to happen. Ginger was a
big
sheep, heavy and solid and not exactly athletic.

Suddenly Liberty had a bright idea! If the lambs could do their pyramid on the other side of the door, maybe the one on the very top could slide a hoof through the gap and loosen the bolt. It was a long shot, but it was the only hope they had.

Dawn was approaching and they had to get back to the livestock yard before morning. Time was running out.

Liberty explained her plan to Lewie. But everything went quiet inside the building, apart from the sound of a crying lamb. Ginger recognised Bertie straight away.

“Don't cry. You'll be out any minute,” she told him.

But the crying went on. “I can't do it,” Bertie sobbed. “I'll mess it up and we'll never get out of here.” The sobs turned into a gasp.

All the other lambs crowded around Bertie, telling him it was OK.

“Maybe I could go on the bottom?” Shoo suggested kindly.

But they needed Bertie. He was the only one strong enough to hold the weight of the others. Lewie bent down and whispered into the lamb's ear, “You're the best, Bertie, my one and only anchor-lamb – and we need you. We're a team, remember? In it to win it! I believe in you, Bertie.”

Bertie stopped sobbing and went quiet for a moment. “You do?”

Lewie bent down and rubbed noses with the little lamb. “We all do.”

Then, very quietly, Bertie said, “OK, I'm ready. Let's do it.”

Liberty and Ginger waited nervously, having heard one or two false starts as the lambs struggled to make their pyramid in the dark.

“I can't see where I'm standing,” Shah complained.

“On my tail!” Shep bleated.

More than once they heard, “He-e-elp! I'm falling!” before they finally saw Shoo's tentative little hoof poking through the small gap above the door.

“To the right! No! No!” Ginger said sharply. “That's your left.”

“Don't worry, try again,” Liberty told him more gently. “A bit further … further still … down a touch. There! There! Now
push
!”

It took Shoo a few tries, but finally the bolt slid back. The door gave way and a whole pyramid of lambs came tumbling out at Ginger's feet. She quickly helped the lambs up and pounced on her own precious Bertie, cuddling him so close he was soon gasping for air.

“I did it, Mama,” he said. “I did it!”

“I'm so proud of you,” Ginger whispered in his ear.

The lambs were ecstatic to be out of that horrible, dark place and in the fresh air again. They danced around, bleating away, trying to tell the story over the top of one another.

Liberty left Ginger to manage the lambs while she went over to her exhausted-looking brother. Lewie gave a brave smile, but he clearly wasn't his usual bouncy self.

“Oh, Lewie, I wish I'd listened to you,” Liberty admitted, “when you told me about those terrible men. If they've hurt you …” she said threateningly.

“I think I banged my head when I was pushed over,” Lewie told her. “But my leg hurts too and I'm not sure I can walk properly.” He took a couple of hesitant steps and managed to limp forward, but he was clearly in pain.

“Lean on me,” said Liberty.

Ginger walked over and supported Lewie on his other side. Between them they managed to take most of his weight, but it was slow progress. The lambs kept running ahead and then skipping back to encourage Lewie.

“Nearly there,” they told him, long before it was true.

“You're doing really well,” Shoo told him kindly.

“Not far now,” Bertie said.

The lambs, though very hungry, seemed none the worse for their ordeal, but poor Lewie was weak and weighed down by feelings of guilt and responsibility.

“If I hadn't been so greedy,” he kept repeating, “and so stupid …”

Liberty and Ginger tried to reassure him. “Look how brave you were, Lewie. You went out in the night all on your own and you found them.”

At last, as the sun was rising, they reached the livestock yard and made their weary way back into their pen. Liberty and Ginger urged Lewie to have some water and a little food, but he was too tired to eat more than a mouthful. Then the sheep surrounded him, and the lambs sang him to sleep.

“Rest is what he needs most,” Ginger told Liberty. “You can go now. We'll take care of him. Those two villains will have to get past me before they can do him any more harm – and I promise you that is
never
going to happen.”

Ginger looked so fierce that Liberty didn't doubt for a moment that she could handle Bolt and Dolt. She bent down and gently nuzzled her brother. “You're a hero to me, Lewie,” she whispered in his ear. “You're the bravest llama in the world. You rest now. You're safe again.” Then she hurried back to the llama pen where, despite endless questions from Leo, Lamar and Latisha, she lay down and promptly fell fast asleep.

The sight of Lewie surrounded by his entire flock, all tending to him, even managed to move the hard-hearted Hadrian.

“How's the young fellow doing?” he asked Ginger.

“He'll live,” she answered rather sharply.

“No thanks to
your friends
.”

Then Ginger busied herself with settling the lambs. They soon dropped off to sleep, falling one by one like a set of dominoes. The last to go was Bertie, who was worrying away at something that seemed to be stuck to his tail. He kept tugging at it with his teeth.

When Ginger looked closely she saw that it was a piece of frayed red string – and she knew exactly where she'd seen it before. Ginger closed her teeth around it and was about to pull it free, but then she stopped. It would be far better to leave the piece of evidence
exactly
where it was. When Millie arrived later she would draw the little girl's attention to it. Let those stupid policemen dare to dismiss this as
inconsequential
.

hen Farmer Palmer and Millie arrived at the sheep pen after breakfast on Saturday, the final day of the County Fair, they were astounded to see Lewie and all the lambs safely returned. None of them appeared to be injured. The first conclusion that Farmer Palmer jumped to was that Farmer Hardman had been right and Lewie had suddenly turned into an escape artist too. Perhaps he had taken himself and his lambs off on a walkabout and then simply decided to come back, although that seemed unlikely behaviour from Lewie.