by Unknown
‘Do you have any famous intelligent people in your world?’ asked the tortoise.
‘We used to have a famous intelligent man called Einstein,’ she said. ‘Everyone knows about Einstein.’
‘Hmm,’ considered the tortoise, half emerging from his shell. ‘Einstein. I like it. You can call me Einstein.’
‘Brilliant!’ said Mildred. ‘Einstein. That’s so much better than – er – the other name.’
‘Now, if you don’t mind,’ said Einstein, ‘I’m going to have a nap and I really don’t want to be disturbed this time. Could you put me back in the cat basket? It’s nice and dark in there.’
‘Will you have another chat with me soon?’ asked Mildred humbly. ‘There was something I wanted to ask you.’
‘Possibly,’ said Einstein. ‘Possibly not. Now, if you don’t mind, I really am exhausted – and please leave the cat basket door open, as I might want to go for a little walk. Also, tortoises tend to get claustrophobia. Strange, isn’t it – when you think how snugly we fit in our shells?’
‘Of course! Of course!’ agreed Mildred, placing him carefully at the back of the cat basket and wedging the door open with a sock. ‘Sleep well – see you later.’
Einstein made no reply, so Mildred clambered back on to her bed with Tabby, attempting to keep calm as she rummaged through her memory, trying to recollect how many days ago she had cast the spell. To her horror, she suddenly remembered that it had been lunchtime on her aunt’s birthday, which gave her the exact date thirteen days ago. This meant that she only had a single day left with Einstein able to speak – only one day before her one witness to the conversation with Ethel fell silent forever.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
he lantern monitor was busily lighting the corridor lanterns as Mildred set off to look for Maud and Enid. They weren’t in either of their rooms, so Mildred headed for the yard. During the holidays, Enid had been training her cat to jump from the top of the wall on to her broom as it passed below at speed. Fortunately for Enid, her cat was a rather bold animal, unlike most cats, who don’t usually like fast movement or anything that might be dangerous. For some unknown reason, Stormy really enjoyed this manoeuvre and was happily plummeting off the wall, landing perfectly on the broom, zooming around the yard and leaping back on to the wall, supervised by the proud Enid.
Maud was watching this, hugely impressed.
‘Maud! Enid!’ yelled Mildred, bounding out of the door and clearing the steps in one leap. ‘I’ve got proof ! I can prove that Ethel stole my spell!’
‘Hang on a minute!’ said Enid, calling her broomstick to heel and commanding it to hover while Stormy got her breath back and lay down for a well-deserved washing session.
‘Can we go through this tomorrow?’ asked Maud, sounding a trifle weary. ‘It’s been a long day and we’ve got to go to bed in twenty minutes.’
‘There’s no time, Maudy,’ said Mildred earnestly. ‘We’ve got less than a day to put things right. It’s Einstein. He was there all along – and he can speak!’
‘Who’s Einstein?’ exclaimed Maud and Enid together.
‘Oh, sorry, I forgot,’ laughed Mildred, sounding slightly hysterical. ‘It’s the tortoise – he doesn’t want to be called Speedy any more. We have to call him Einstein or he won’t speak to anyone!’
‘What on earth are you on about, Mildred?’ asked Maud.
‘Come with me,’ said Mildred, grabbing Maud’s arm. ‘The best way is for you to hear him speak too, then you’ll believe me. I haven’t actually asked him if he heard everything when we were all in the tree, or if he saw what happened. Ethel must have knocked my bag out of the tree, although I thought it was an accident, but I’m hoping he heard. I’m sure he must have done. I know he was awake in the basket when Ethel landed in the tree, because I’d just checked. Come on, it won’t take a minute. Come back to my room now and let’s ask him together.’
There was no stopping Mildred, who dragged Maud up the steps, followed by Enid, with her broomstick and cat hovering along behind them.
Mildred had left her room door open in her hurry to tell her friends the news about Einstein and when she looked into the cat basket she saw that Einstein had gone. The three friends turned everything upside down searching for him, but it was soon obvious in the sparsely furnished room that he was not there.
‘He could be anywhere,’ said Mildred, standing in the doorway and looking frantically up and down the lantern-lit corridor. ‘Perhaps someone’s taken him.’
‘Let’s wait until morning,’ said Enid, glancing into the dark doorways of the rooms. ‘We’ve no idea which way he’s gone and H.B. will be doing the rounds soon, making sure we’re all in bed.’
‘But he can’t have got far,’ wheedled Mildred. ‘I was only out of the room for five minutes and he could have tucked himself away anywhere by morning.’
‘H.B.’s around,’ whispered Maud. ‘I just know it. The air’s gone cold.’
‘Good evening, girls,’ said Miss Hardbroom’s blood-curdling voice as she stepped from the dark area at the top of the stairs.
‘Ah, Mildred.’ She advanced towards the three friends, who instinctively huddled together. ‘I wonder what surprises you’re planning for us all tomorrow.’
Nobody spoke and everyone looked at the floor.
‘I don’t know what you three are up to,’ said Miss Hardbroom, ‘but I want you all in bed within ten minutes and I don’t expect to see you again until assembly tomorrow.’
She vanished silently and the girls stood unmoving for several minutes until the air warmed up.
‘It’s OK,’ said Maud. ‘She’s gone.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
thel,’ whispered Drusilla, tapping on her friend’s door and sneaking in just as Ethel was poised to blow out her candle. ‘Look what I just found coming out of Mildred Hubble’s room.’
Ethel sat up in bed and stared in amazement.
‘A tortoise!’ she laughed. ‘What on earth is Mildred Hubble doing with a tortoise?’
Drusilla laid Einstein on the bedcover and Ethel held up the candle so they could get a better look at him, but Einstein had completely retreated into his shell and was glowering at them from the depths as if he was hiding inside a dark cave.
‘Shall we take it to H.B.?’ asked Drusilla. ‘You know we’re not allowed to have any pets except the cats. She’d probably get expelled after the snakes incident and the non-holiday project.’
Ethel sat up in bed, contemplating Mildred’s fate. She agreed with Drusilla that it was highly likely that Mildred would be expelled if they took the tortoise to Miss Hardbroom after such a disastrous start to the term – even by Mildred’s standards. The trouble was, lessons would be much less fun without the possibility of undermining Mildred Hubble on a daily basis. Ethel didn’t see this unpleasant trait as a flaw in her own character, it was just part of life to her, ‘getting’ Mildred Hubble, and the days would pass more slowly if Mildred wasn’t actually there.
‘Let’s be merciful,’ said Ethel jauntily, smiling a regal smile.
‘Why?’ asked Drusilla, who was every bit as ghastly as Ethel.
‘Well,’ explained Ethel, ‘I am feeling just a teensy bit mean about the snakes and the holiday project.’
‘But that was just Mildred being an idiot,’ exclaimed Drusilla. ‘Wasn’t it?’
‘Not exactly,’ laughed Ethel. ‘I did just sort of try out a snake spell on Mildred’s stupid pot and I did sort of accidentally-on-purpose knock her bag down the tree when she’d told me all about her “oh so brilliant best idea I’ve ever had” holiday project. It was actually, and as I couldn’t think up a project of my own for the first time in my life, I just sort of borrowed it for the time being and replaced it with some of her own plain paper and some nice little smiley faces.’
Drusilla gawped at Ethel, feeling slightly uncomfortable. ‘How do you mean borrowed it, Eth?’ she asked. ‘Are you going to give it back?’
‘Don’t
be dim, Drusilla,’ said Ethel, beginning to be irritated. ‘Anyway I threw Mildred’s project into the kitchen bin after I’d brought it up here and copied it out word for word. She’ll get over it. It shows she can have a good idea. She’ll just need to have another one. Come on, let’s take Mr Plod back to her and make her day.’
No one was in the corridor, but they could hear voices coming from Mildred’s room, where the door stood open. Ethel put a finger to her lips and they crept silently along until they could hear what was being said. (Ethel always waited for a few minutes before she entered a room in case she heard anything useful.)
On this occasion, she heard something extremely useful.
‘ Please,’ Mildred was begging her friends. ‘We could meet up after lights out and creep about very quietly –’
‘We can’t, Milly’ said Maud, sounding exasperated. ‘You know we’ll get caught.’
Mildred burst into tears. ‘You don’t understand,’ she sobbed. ‘He’s only under the spell for one more day. In fact, not even a whole day. By midday tomorrow the spell will have worn off. It’s all my fault. I should have shut my bedroom door and now he’s lost and, knowing my luck, we’ll find him when he can’t speak any more – then no one will ever know that Ethel stole my project. He really can speak, you know. I had a long conversation with him.’
Ethel made another silencing gesture to Drusilla and motioned her to creep away from the door, back to their room.
Once inside, Ethel closed the door hastily and held up Einstein, who was so deeply withdrawn into his shell that they couldn’t see him at all.
‘Who were they on about?’ asked Drusilla.
‘Our little friend here,’ said Ethel. ’Apparently he’s not as dense as he looks. Mildred’s spell must have worked on him nearly two weeks ago. Now I come to think of it, she was hiding something in her cat basket when I met her in the tree and if it was Mr Plod, then he might have heard a few things I’d rather he didn’t repeat.’
‘What shall we do with him, Ethel?’ asked Drusilla.
‘Easy-peasy,’ said Ethel. ‘We’ll hide him. Mildred said he can speak for another day, but we’ll hide him for two, just to be on the safe side. Then we’ll get him out and give him back to Mildred as if we’ve just found him – no harm done either to Mr Plod or to me, and Mildred will be grateful just to have him back. You know how ridiculous she is about animals. Only Mildred Hubble could love a tortoise.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
instein hunched himself deep within his shell as Ethel lowered him into a cardboard box which also contained the toad that Ethel had used for the animal spell during Miss Hardbroom’s class. There were airholes punched in the lid and Einstein emerged from his shell and stretched his long neck upwards and tilted his head.
‘Are you OK?’ whispered the toad.
‘Shh,’ said Einstein. ‘I’m trying to listen.’
Ethel and Drusilla were hatching a plan which involved a very tall pine tree, just outside the school gates, with a hollow near the top, big enough to hide a tortoise in. They were discussing whether to rig up a barrier at the entrance so that he wouldn’t fall out. Drusilla was in favour of this, but Ethel wasn’t.
‘He’ll be fne. There’s no need to make such a fuss. He won’t fall out anyway’ she explained to her friend. ‘If he really can speak, I’ll just tell him not to leave the hollow or he’ll smash himself to bits. We’ll wait until H.B.’s done her rounds and fly him up there. It’ll only take five minutes.’
‘Shouldn’t we leave him something to eat?’ asked Drusilla.
‘I suppose so,’ said Ethel grudgingly. ‘We can pick up some carrots and lettuce from the kitchen dustbins on our way out. You’d better go back to your room now and get some sleep. I’ll come and fetch you later on.’
Einstein pulled his head away from the airholes. ‘Sorry about that,’ he said politely to the toad. ‘I just wanted to know what they were going to do with me. I must admit, I am petrified of being left on my own at the top of a tree. It goes very badly for tortoises if we drop from a height.’
‘What happens if you do?’ asked the toad.
‘I’d rather not go into details, if you don’t mind,’ replied Einstein in a quavering voice. ‘Let’s just say we always avoid being up high. We get claustrophobia too, so a small hollow at the top of a tall tree is just about the worst thing that can happen to a tortoise.’
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ asked the toad.
Einstein pondered for a moment.
‘Yes, there is actually,’ he said. ‘When this Ethel person takes me to the prison in the sky, I’d like you to set off and find Mildred Hubble’s room. It’s three doors from here if you turn left, on the other side of the corridor. Tell her that Einstein is in the hollow pine outside the school gates. That way, I might get rescued before there’s a gale or some other mishap.’
‘I’ll try,’ said the toad. ‘Trouble is, I’m not very good at jumping like frogs do. Perhaps I can lean up against the side of the box so it falls to one side. There’s a big enough gap under this door for me to fatten myself and crawl under. Toads are good at fattening. Einstein’s a very nice name, by the way. Mine is Cyril.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Cyril,’ said Einstein.
‘Pleased to meet you too,’ said the toad, ‘and I really will try my best to get assistance if I can possibly manage it.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
long the corridor, Mildred huddled in her bed, listening to the wind rising outside the glassless window. Tabby had burrowed right under the bedclothes to get out of the draught, which was already so strong that Mildred’s hair was blowing about on the pillow. She had undone her usual plaits and given the hair a thorough brushing before she’d gone to bed and now it was dancing about all over the place, reminding her of the dreadful occasion last term when she had tried out a regrowth spell and her hair had taken off at such a fantastic speed that it had practically engulfed the whole school.
She sat up in bed and started replaiting it to keep it under control.
‘Oh, Tabs,’ she said miserably. ‘I wonder where on earth Einstein has got to. If I had any idea, I’d go and fetch him, but I haven’t a clue.’
Einstein was (just as Ethel had said) in the hollow at the top of the tallest pine outside the school gate.
Ethel hadn’t relished the idea of being caught herself, so she had persuaded Drusilla to get dressed again and do the deed in her place. She gave her precise instructions how to creep within the dark shadow of the school, then zoom over the wall and hover up behind the pine trees so she would be covered by the forest. Einstein was in a PE bag across her shoulder underneath her cloak.
He was tempted to try and plead with Drusilla, but he could tell that it would be useless by the way they had talked about him.
Drusilla hovered next to the hollow, which fortunately dropped lower inside than the entrance, lifted Einstein out and placed him in the musty depths with a handful of cabbage leaves and apple peelings.
‘Ethel says don’t try and get out or you’ll fall thirty metres, OK?’ said Drusilla helpfully.
Einstein stayed tucked up inside his shell and didn’t move.
Drusilla tapped the shell. ‘DID YOU HEAR THAT?’ she shouted. ‘DON’T TRY AND ESCAPE, OR YOU’LL FALL. WE’LL COME AND GET YOU SOON.’
Then she was gone and Einstein was left alone in the pine tree, which was already bending from side to side in a most alarming way.
The minute Ethel took Einstein out of the box and crept off to Drusilla’s room, Cyril set to work on his rescue plan. Fortunately, the lid of the box was not very tight-fitting and he found that he could dislodge it by jumping a short distance and bashing it with his head – like heading a football. Then it was quite easy to stand on tiptoe and jump enough to land half-and-half on the top edge and slither down the other side. The box was on the bedside locker, which was quite a height from the floor, but Cyril aimed for Ethel’s school bag, which broke his
fall. After that he was soon squeezing himself fat underneath the door and out into the shadowy corridor.
‘So far, so good!’ he thought proudly.
Mildred had finished replaiting her hair, moved her bed away from the window in case of rain and snuggled right under the bedcovers. The wind outside had begun to roar and moan in the pine trees, sounding like a stormy sea. She was so far down the bed that she didn’t hear the tiny sound of a toad flapping his feet against the heavy wooden door. Cyril was outside, tapping as hard as he could with a back and front foot. He had tried to squeeze underneath, but the space was far smaller than the gap below Ethel’s door.
‘Excuse me!’ he called out in his tiny toad voice.
Fortunately, cats can detect the very smallest sound and movement. Tabby wriggled out from the bedclothes and rushed over to the crack beneath the door, where he started scrabbling with his paw.
Mildred got out of bed and lit her candle. ‘What is it, Tab?’ she asked. ‘Is someone there? Is it Einstein?’
She opened the door and saw Cyril, still with his front and back leg upraised to continue his attempt at knocking.
‘Oh, hello!’ he said, relieved to see her. ‘Are you Mildred Hubble?’
Mildred bent down and picked up the little toad very carefully.
‘I am,’ she whispered.
‘Brilliant!’ said Cyril. ‘I’m Cyril. I was Ethel Hallow’s demonstration toad in the potion lab today. I’ve brought you a message from Einstein.’