Christmas Quest

by Jennifer Gray

  ‘These!’ Eduardo grabbed a propeller blade and swung on it until it snapped off. He reached up, grabbed another blade and snapped that one off too. ‘For you, señorita.’ He chucked them on the ground beside Coco.

  Eduardo gave Coco two more cotton buds from his satchel. Then Coco grabbed a bit of rope from the backpack and used it to tie her right foot to the propeller blade. She did the same with her left foot.

  ‘What an excellent idea, señorita!’ said Eduardo. ‘I shall do the same!’

  He snapped off two more blades and fixed them on to his feet.

  ‘I’ve always fancied snowboarding myself!’ Fuzzy grabbed one of the broken wings to make a snowboard. He gave the other one to Sherpa Shorty.

  *

  WHOOSH!

  ‘Follow me!’ Eduardo called out to the others as he set off down the mountain.

  ‘It’s all right for you,’ Coco shouted after him. ‘You grew up on the snow. It hardly ever snows in Strawberry Park, except on the television.’

  Eduardo didn’t answer because he couldn’t hear her. He was already a long way down the mountain.

  ‘WHEEEE!’ Fuzzy quickly got the hang of snowboarding. He raced after Eduardo.

  Sherpa Shorty wasn’t far behind.

  ‘Come on, Coco,’ Fuzzy shouted. ‘It’s easy!’

  ‘OK, here goes.’ She dug her ski poles into the snow and pushed forward. She moved off down the mountain. She felt pleased she’d worked out how to start skiing. But what about stopping? She didn’t know how to do that!

  ‘Heeeellllllpppppp!’ she squealed as she bumped over the snow.

  CRASH!

  She slammed into the back of Sherpa Shorty.

  BASH!

  Sherpa Shorty went tumbling into Fuzzy.

  SMASH!

  Fuzzy crashed into Eduardo.

  The guinea pigs lay on the ground in a tangled heap.

  ‘Is everyone OK?’ Fuzzy glanced round again.

  The shadow of the condor loomed over them. He was back!

  ‘Now what?’ Fuzzy panted.

  Just then they heard barking.

  ‘Husky!’ Coco cried.

  The guinea pigs watched as Husky leaped at the condor and barked.

  ‘Is that the best you’ve got?’ The condor swooped and dived at Husky’s ears.

  ‘We need to find shelter,’ Husky shouted. ‘I can’t hold him off for long.’

  The guinea pigs scuttled towards the overhanging rock. Husky charged after them, panting.

  ‘We should hide in the secret cave,’ Sherpa Shorty announced. ‘Like I did with Indiana Pig.’

  ‘But we don’t know where it is,’ Fuzzy said.

  ‘There’s a secret door,’ Sherpa Shorty said.

  ‘How do you know?’ Coco said rudely. ‘You can’t remember anything.’

  ‘I can now, since you bumped into me,’ Sherpa Shorty said. ‘You jogged my memory.’ He peered at the rock face closely. ‘It’s definitely around here somewhere.’

  The others waited impatiently.

  The condor circled, getting ready for another attack.

  ‘Hurry, amigo!’ Eduardo said nervously. ‘Or we will become the condor’s Christmas dinner after all.’

  ‘Here!’ Sherpa Shorty pointed to a carving of a human face on the rock.

  Husky stared at it. ‘This is it!’ he whispered. ‘The entrance to Magchu Pigchu! This is what the humans have been looking for! This is the way to the lost Inca gold.’

  He pressed the carving with his paw.

  The mountain gave a shudder.

  To the guinea pigs’ amazement, the rock began to part. A huge crack, just wide enough for a human to squeeze through, appeared as a section of rock slid to one side.

  The animals raced in.

  ‘Quick!’ Eduardo shouted. ‘Close it! The condor is coming.’

  The bird’s shadow was getting bigger.

  Husky’s paw pressed a second carving inside the passageway.

  Slowly the rock face started to close.

  CLUNK!

  The secret door slid back into place.

  SPLAT! The condor flew into the rock. They were safe!

  ‘I’ll be back!’ the bird shrieked.

  ‘Phew!’ Eduardo breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Well done, amigos. I’m glad to see the back of him!’ He looked about. ‘Now we need to find another way out.’

  9

  the lost gold

  ‘Are you sure this is the place Mummy and Dolores are looking for?’ Coco asked Husky. She reached out and found Fuzzy’s paw. It was scary in the dark.

  ‘Yes,’ Husky said. ‘The carving on the rock face is definitely an Inca carving. This must be the place.’ He lifted a back paw and flicked at his collar. The studs on it flashed green, red and blue.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Fuzzy asked.

  ‘I’ve turned my tracker device on so that Mummy can find us.’

  ‘That’s cool,’ Fuzzy said. ‘Does your collar do anything else?’

  Husky’s eyes twinkled. ‘Maybe,’ he said. He padded away from the door in the rock towards the centre of the mountain. ‘Follow me.’

  The guinea pigs scampered after Husky into the secret passageway. It was pitch black except for Husky’s collar, which glowed in the dark. After a few minutes, Husky stopped abruptly.

  ‘We found it!’ he whispered.

  The guinea pigs stared. They were standing at the entrance of a huge cave. They peered in. The cave was piled high with heaps of gold. It twinkled in the dim light of Husky’s collar.

  ‘Holy guacamole!’ Eduardo said. ‘No one said nothing about this!’

  ‘Indiana Pig told me to keep it secret.’ Sherpa Shorty scratched his hat. ‘He didn’t want any of the other guinea pigs to know about it. He was worried about disturbing the ghosts of the Incas. Anyway,’ he added, ‘I’d forgotten about it until just now.’

  Coco started forward towards a stack of bracelets. ‘I’m just having a look!’ she said. Husky looked as if he might tell her off.

  Just then they heard a noise. It sounded like a human talking.

  ‘Is that Mummy?’ Fuzzy asked doubtfully.

  Husky pricked up his ears. ‘Not unless she’s turned into a man,’ he said.

  ‘One’s found it,’ a posh voice said. ‘At last! Bring the bags. We’ll take what we can now and come back for the rest later.’

  ‘It’s the robbers!’ Eduardo hissed. ‘What shall we do?’

  ‘Over here.’ Husky led the way silently behind a pile of gold coins.

  The guinea pigs followed him. Except Coco, who was too busy checking out the bracelets to notice anything was wrong.

  The voice became louder. ‘Jolly good show, gentlemen,’ it said. ‘One didn’t expect it to be as easy as this!’ The owner of the posh voice bent down and started to scoop handfuls of gold into his pockets.

  ‘Look at these beauties!’ The robber snatched up a handful of gold coins. He frowned as he felt something furry.

  It was Coco. She stared at the robber in horror – Rupert de Vere!

  ‘Why is there a guinea pig in my treasure?’ Rupert de Vere demanded. He dangled Coco in front of him. ‘Wait a minute. You’re the one from the plane!’

  ‘Woof!’

  Rupert de Vere looked round wildly. ‘A dog as well? What is this – a zoo?’

  ZIP!

  Coco saw a thin rope whizz through the air and attach itself to the cave ceiling above Rupert de Vere’s head.

  There was a shout. Suddenly a blur of black and silver shot through the air on the other end of the rope.

  ‘Eduardo!’ Coco cried. She leaped out of Rupert de Vere’s hand and grabbed on to Eduardo’s tummy as he hurtled past.

  Rupert de Vere was too surprised to stop her.

  ‘At your service, señorita,’ Eduardo grinned.

  They landed in a heap on the cave floor. ‘How did you do that?’ Coco gasped.

  ‘Señor Husky fired the rope from his collar,’ Eduardo expl
ained. ‘All I had to do was swing on it.’ His eyes twinkled. ‘Man, I could do with a gadget like that.’

  ‘Woof!’

  PING!

  ‘Now what’s happening?’ Rupert de Vere said in astonishment. ‘Ouch!’ A gold coin hit him in the eye. Another one hit him on the nose.

  The other members of Rupert De Vere’s gang looked around nervously.

  Coco and Eduardo scuttled across the floor to where Fuzzy and Sherpa Shorty were pinging gold coins at the robbers with the elastic bands from the backpack.

  ‘Aim!’ Husky woofed. ‘Fire!’

  ‘Ouch!’

  ‘It’s the ghosts of the Incas!’ one of the gang said. ‘I’m out of here.’

  ‘Me too,’ agreed another one.

  Before long they had all disappeared.

  ‘You cowards!’ Rupert de Vere shouted after them. ‘Oh well, now the treasure is all mine!’

  ‘No, it isn’t!’ Coco muttered. Rupert de Vere was a crook. His pretend good manners were getting up her nose. Suddenly she had an idea. It wasn’t very ladylike, but it was an emergency, after all. ‘Can you give us some more rope, Husky?’

  ZIP!

  Husky fired another line from his collar into the cave ceiling.

  Coco rummaged in Eduardo’s satchel. ‘These will do.’ She pulled out the cotton-bud ski poles. Then she lifted up Sherpa Shorty’s hat and stuffed the cotton buds into his ears.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ he cried.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ Coco said, ‘but it is an emergency. And your ears needed a good clean anyway.’

  Holding the clean ends of the cotton buds in her mouth, she scrambled up the pile of gold coins.

  Eduardo wiggled his eyebrows. ‘Would you like some help, señorita?’ he said.

  ‘Yes, one would,’ she grinned.

  Husky picked Eduardo up gently in his mouth and flipped him on to the gold-coin mountain next to Coco. Coco handed Eduardo a cotton bud.

  ‘Woof!’ Husky shot another rope into the ceiling.

  The guinea pigs caught hold of a rope each with their free paws. They launched themselves into the air.

  WHOOSH!

  Coco and Eduardo flew towards Rupert de Vere.

  He stared at them in astonishment. ‘What the … ?’

  ‘Hold steady, Eduardo!’ Coco shouted. She gripped her cotton bud in one paw. ‘Wait till I give the signal.’

  ‘OK, señorita!’ Eduardo gripped his cotton bud.

  The guinea pigs hurtled towards Rupert de Vere’s face. He took a step back.

  ‘Now!’ Coco shoved a waxy cotton bud up his right nostril.

  ‘Take that!’ Eduardo shoved a waxy cotton bud up his left nostril.

  ‘Aaarrrrggghhh!’ Rupert de Vere screamed.

  It wasn’t surprising really. Most people would scream if two guinea pigs shoved cotton buds covered in ear wax up their nostrils.

  Then he fell over, because Husky had bitten him on the ankle.

  Coco and Eduardo dropped from the ropes on to Husky’s back.

  Fuzzy and Sherpa Shorty rushed over to join them.

  Just then Mummy, Henrietta, Ben and Dolores arrived at the mouth of the cave from the other direction.

  ‘It’s the gold!’ Dolores cried.

  ‘It’s the robber!’ Ben cried.

  ‘It’s Rupert de Vere!’ Mummy shouted. ‘The beast!’

  ‘Why has he got two dirty cotton buds shoved up his nose?’ Henrietta gave a little shudder.

  Then they saw Husky and the guinea pigs.

  ‘What are you doing here, Fuzzy?’ Ben picked him up.

  ‘What are you doing here, Coco?’ Henrietta picked her up.

  ‘What are they doing here?’ Dolores picked up Eduardo and Sherpa Shorty, which they both liked because they didn’t have human owners and didn’t get many cuddles.

  ‘Good job, Husky!’ Mummy said. ‘I knew that collar would come in useful. Now let’s phone the museum and tell them we’ve found the gold!’

  10

  a snowy christmas

  ‘Happy Christmas, Henrietta!’ said Mummy.

  ‘Happy Christmas, Mummy,’ said Henrietta. ‘Who’d have thought we’d be spending it in Peru!’

  ‘I’m sorry to have taken you away from Christmas at home,’ said Dolores.

  ‘Don’t be sorry,’ said Ben. ‘We’ve had a big adventure, we’ve rescued the Inca gold and we’re even having a traditional Christmas dinner!’

  Everyone watched as Henrietta carved the turkey and Ben handed round the roast potatoes. Dolores had even organized crackers on the table, complete with hats, gifts and silly jokes.

  ‘One sprout or two?’ Ben asked Fuzzy as he placed the steaming vegetables on a little saucer at the end of the table where Coco, Fuzzy and Husky were sitting.

  ‘Three,’ Fuzzy replied. Ben didn’t understand guinea-pig squeaks, but gave Fuzzy four Brussels sprouts because it was Christmas. Coco also had four Brussels sprouts and Husky had a huge bowl of turkey and gravy. There was a happy silence as everyone enjoyed their Christmas dinner.

  ‘Isn’t this amazing?’ said Fuzzy after his third Brussels sprout. He needed a little break before he took on the fourth. ‘We’re having exactly the same Christmas as we would have had in Strawberry Park.’

  ‘It’s not exactly the same,’ said Coco, a bit sadly, ‘because we haven’t got any presents.’

  ‘Coco!’ exclaimed Fuzzy. ‘How can you be so greedy? After what happened with the condor we’re lucky to be alive. Isn’t that enough?’

  ‘Of course it is,’ replied Coco, ‘but I thought the humans might just give us a couple of little things, to thank us for everything we did for them.’

  ‘Yes, but they don’t know what we did,’ said Husky wisely.

  ‘True,’ said Coco, and went back to nibbling her fourth Brussels sprout.

  When everyone had finished, Dolores clapped her hands. ‘Time for presents!’ she announced.

  ‘Presents?’ said Henrietta, surprised. ‘But we left them in London.’

  ‘The museum has given us some presents,’ Mummy said. ‘As a thank-you for finding the gold.’ She got up from the table, went over to her old handbag and pulled out a pile of Christmas presents, complete with address labels and a few toffees. Dolores handed out the presents. There was one for everyone, including the animals!

  Inside Coco’s parcel was a brand-new gold-coloured bow.

  Fuzzy had a gold-coloured comb for his crest and Husky had a gold-coloured collar. The animals were all thrilled.

  ‘Happy?’ Fuzzy whispered.

  ‘So happy!’ Coco whispered back.

  After opening the presents, the humans dozed off.

  ‘Let’s go and see Eduardo,’ Fuzzy suggested.

  He and Coco slipped down the tunnel under the stove.

  In the burrow Eduardo’s brothers and sisters were happily playing with their new toys. Sherpa Shorty was snoozing by the fire. Bernardo sat opposite him, strumming on his guitar. Eduardo was polishing his skis.

  As soon as everyone saw Fuzzy and Coco, they stopped what they were doing and greeted their friends.

  ‘You are just in time for the Queen’s speech,’ said Eduardo.

  ‘Oh good,’ said Coco. ‘One always used to play the harp for Her Majesty while she wrote it.’

  ‘I don’t mean the British Queen,’ Eduardo said. ‘I mean the Queen of the Agoutis.’

  Just then Eduardo’s mum came out of the kitchen wearing her crown. She sat at the head of the table and took a sip of papaya juice. Eduardo translated her wise words so Coco and Fuzzy could understand what she was saying.

  ‘Amigos, niños, friends and family. It is my pleasure to welcome you all.

  ‘I have seen many Christmases here in the burrow and they have all been happy,’ the Queen continued, ‘but this is the happiest Christmas of all. Not only do I have all my family around me, I have dear friends from London.’ She paused. ‘And, thanks to them and to Eduardo, I have, o
nce again, the lucky Christmas Cocoa Bean, restored to its home, here on our table.’

  She gestured to the cocoa bean, which sat in the middle of the table on the green tinsel.

  The guinea pigs clapped.

  ‘With the cocoa bean restored we will be safe from the condor and other dangers for the year to come.’

  The guinea pigs cheered.

  ‘So let us give thanks – to the brave guinea pigs who climbed the mountain, in the footsteps of the great Indiana Pig, to bring back the lucky Christmas Bean.’

  Everyone turned to Eduardo, Fuzzy and Coco, who were sitting together. Eduardo and Fuzzy put their paws round Coco, and Coco put her paws round them. Everyone cheered louder than ever.

  Coco felt a funny feeling in her stomach. It couldn’t be hunger: she’d eaten five whole Brussels sprouts (she’d pinched the one Fuzzy had left on his saucer). The feeling went right through her body and out through her eyes, which sparkled. Although she was thousands of miles from home she felt loved and loving, and that, she decided, was the best Christmas present of all.

  the end

  Turn the page for a special recipe from the

  Chocolate Cornflake Cakes

  Time for a snack!

  All the furry friends love these crunchy chocolate treats.

  Always get a grown-up to help you in the kitchen!

  You will need:

  50g butter

  100g milk or dark chocolate, broken into chunks

  3 tablespoons of golden syrup

  100g cornflakes

  A muffin tray

  12 muffin cases

  What to do

  1. Put the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a saucepan. Pour the cornflakes into a big bowl.

  2. Get a grown-up to help you melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in the saucepan over a low heat. Don’t forget to stir!

  3. Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little and then pour the chocolate over the cornflakes.

  4. Stir everything together using a wooden spoon. Then carefully spoon the mixture into 12 cupcake cases arranged on a muffin tray.