1997 - The Chocolate Money Mystery

by Alexander McCall Smith

  Max wiggled out from under the bed and very gently took hold of the headboard. Then he pushed it lightly, just to see, and the bed moved! Slowly he began to push it across the floor, away from the trapdoor. Professor Sardine slept on, quite unaware of what was happening. He’ll get a surprise when he wakes up, thought Max.

  Max turned round to look at the trapdoor, and in that instant he let go of the headboard. If the bedroom floor had been normal, then there would have been no problem. But the floor was not normal—it sloped rather badly and before Max could do anything about it the bed began to move on its own.

  His heart in his mouth, Max ran after the bed, which had now crossed most of the bedroom floor. For a moment or two he thought that it would collide with the door, but it did not, and instead shot through into the corridor. From there it gathered speed, pursued by Max, until it slid smoothly and gently into a large cupboard and came to a halt.

  Max crept up to the bed and peered at Professor Sardine. His peculiar journey had not awoken him, and he was still fast asleep. Max tiptoed out of the cupboard and closed the door behind him. There was a key in the lock, and with a smile, he locked the door behind him. That was Professor Sardine taken care of! The professor would probably be able to break the cupboard door down, or shout for his assistant to free him, but that would take a bit of time.

  Now came the difficult part. The crate was far too heavy for one person to lift, and Max had no choice but to drag it. This was difficult to do without making a noise, and Max was sure that at any moment he would wake the sleeping assistant. But somehow he did not, and he soon found himself dragging the crate along the corridor and into the kitchen. From there it was easy to open the back door and push the heavy crate down the steps and on to the snow.

  Maddy had been watching. When she saw the back door open, her heart stood still. But she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was her brother—with a large crate. Was that the money? she wondered. It must be!

  Max straightened up and looked towards their hiding place. Putting his fingers to his mouth, he whistled, and beckoned to Maddy to come down.

  “You’ve done it,” Maddy said softly, as she reached his side and looked down into the open crate. “You’ve found the money!”

  Max nodded. “Yes,” he whispered. “It’s all in this crate, but it’s very heavy. I can’t carry it by myself. You’ll have to help me, once we’ve got the dogs out.”

  They left the crate where it stood and ran over to the dog shed. The dogs had heard something, and when Max and Maddy opened the door, the great animals were all over them, licking their faces with affection and wagging their heavy, furry tails. Rudolf was particularly pleased to see them, and he insisted on covering Maddy’s face with great, wet, dog-like kisses before she managed to push him off her and calm him down. One of the other dogs opened his mouth, as if he was going to bark, but Rudolf, sensing that it was important for them all to keep quiet, glared at him and growled. That stopped the bark before it even left the dog’s throat.

  “This way,” said Max, calling Rudolf to his side. “Follow me, and tell the other dogs to come too.”

  Rudolf understood perfectly. He gave a growl and a grunt to the other dogs, and they all fell into line behind him. Then Max and Maddy, with the five St Bernard dogs in an obedient line behind them, ran back to the crate. Together Max and Maddy picked it up, one person holding each end, and began to make their way as fast as they could through the snow towards the cable station.

  It was a long walk, and a hard one too, as much of it was uphill. As they went along, the crate seemed to get heavier and heavier, and Max and Maddy had to stop more and more often to rest and regain their strength. But they made progress, and soon they had crossed the ravine and were able to look back at the farm buildings, now far down below them in the brilliant white snow fields.

  “Look how far we’ve come,” said Max. “Now all we have to do is…”

  He stopped. As they looked down towards the farm, they saw the back door burst open and two tiny figures run out. They saw one of the figures spin round and look up towards them, pointing in their direction.

  “He got out of the cupboard,” Max said. “He’ll be furious!”

  “Cupboard?” asked Maddy. “Who was in what cupboard?”

  “Professor Sardine,” said Max. “You see, there were wheels on his bed and the floor sloped, and there was an open cupboard…” He stopped. “I’ll tell you all about it later on. I think they’ve seen us!”

  Chapter 6

  Cable-Car Adventure

  Max and Maddy lost no time. Picking up the crate, they plunged ahead, almost falling over one another in their haste. The snow was deep, and their feet sank down with each step, but they realised that if they did not hurry, they would soon be caught by the professor and his assistant. They had snow shoes, and could make much quicker progress than the children, who were wearing ordinary snow boots.

  The dogs realised that something was wrong, and they barked encouragement to the children and defiance towards their pursuers. But it did not do a great deal of good, as the next time they looked behind them they saw that they were losing ground quickly.

  “They’ll catch us in no time,” moaned Max. “They’re much faster than we are.”

  Now it was Maddy’s turn to have a good idea.

  “Look,” she said. “It’s now mostly downhill from here to the cable station. If we had a toboggan, we could go much faster.”

  “That’s not much use,” panted Max. “We haven’t got a toboggan. You might as well say: if we had an aeroplane…”

  He stopped. He saw what Maddy meant now, and it was a wonderful idea.

  “The crate!” he exclaimed. “Why don’t we use it as a toboggan?”

  “That’s just what I thought,” said Maddy. “But we must hurry. They’re getting closer and closer all the time.”

  They put down the crate and pointed it in the direction of the cable station. Then, with Maddy getting in the front and Max sitting immediately behind her—both of them perched on top of the piles of money—they gave the crate a good push with their arms.

  It was slow at first, but after a moment or two it started to slide more quickly. Then, as the ground began to slope more sharply, the crate really picked up speed, and soon it was rushing along the ground like a bobsleigh in a mountain race. The dogs thought this was tremendous fun, and they galloped along beside the crate, the fresh white powder flying off their feet in tiny snow showers.

  When their pursuers saw the children shooting off in their makeshift toboggan, they shouted out in fury and broke into a run. It’s not easy to run in snow—in fact, it’s impossible—as the two men were soon to find out. Down went Professor Sardine, flat on his face in the snow. His assistant reached down to pick him up, and then he slipped and landed on top of him. Professor Sardine now struggled to his feet and reached down to pull his assistant up, but the assistant tugged hard on his hand and then suddenly let go, which made Professor Sardine fall over backwards and slide away on the snow.

  “You idiot!” yelled Professor Sardine at his assistant. “They’re getting away! Quick, after them!”

  Of course, in their makeshift toboggan the two children reached the cable station well before the two men chasing them. They drew to a halt just as an empty cable car reached the top, and without wasting any time they bundled the dogs inside and then dragged their toboggan crate in behind them.

  The cable car began its journey down just as the professor and his assistant reached the top of the hill above the cable station. The professor shouted out and shook his fist, but the children just laughed. There was nothing he could do to them now. Once they reached the bottom, they would immediately telephone Mr Huffendorf and tell him to come and collect his money. He would telephone the police, and before too long Professor Sardine and his evil assistant would be safely locked up in jail.

  Or so the children thought. They had not reckoned on the fact that they were deal
ing with one of the most cunning and determined villains in the world, and he still had one or two tricks up his sleeve. In fact, although the children did not realise it, they were just about to find themselves faced with the greatest danger they had ever encountered in their lives.

  Halfway down the mountainside, while Max was sitting with his eyes firmly closed so that he could not see the drop, and while Maddy was talking soothingly to the rather frightened St Bernard dogs, the cable car suddenly stopped.

  “Have we arrived at the bottom?” asked Max, not daring to open his eyes. “That seemed quite quick.”

  Maddy looked down. They were nowhere near the bottom, and in fact they were quite a way above the top of a tall pine tree.

  “I’m afraid we haven’t,” she said. “The cable car has just stopped. There’s something wrong.”

  Max gave a groan as he realised what had happened. Professor Sardine must have done something to stop the cable, and now he had them at his mercy. All he would have to do was to get a high ladder and climb up to catch them. There would be nothing they could do.

  Max was right. Up at the cable station, Professor Sardine and his desperate assistant had overpowered and tied up the man in charge of the controls. Then they had pulled the lever which stopped the great engine that wound up the cable. Now all they had to do was to fetch the ladders which the cable-car crew used to fix the cable, drag them down the hill, and climb up to where the children were trapped. It was all perfectly simple, although they hadn’t decided exactly what they would do with the children when they caught them. Still, there would be plenty of time to think of that…

  Maddy saw them coming and grabbed her brother’s arm.

  “Look,” she said. “I know you feel dizzy up here, but look over there.”

  Max looked up at the mountainside above them. There were two figures carrying a very long ladder, struggling down through the snow towards them. Max gave another groan.

  “It’s all over,” he said. “We’re trapped.”

  Maddy shook her head. “No,” she said. “Don’t give up yet. Here, give me your scarf.”

  Max unwound the long scarf which Mr Huffendorf had lent him, while Maddy did the same with hers. Then, knotting them together at one end, Maddy began to dangle the scarf out of the open window of the cable car. When it was hanging out as far as it would go, she tied the end of the newly-made scarf-rope to the handle of the door.

  Next, sticking her head out of the window, Maddy looked down. The scarf was blowing a bit in the wind, but she could see that it just reached the top of the tree below them. That was just what she had hoped for, and she gave a great sigh of relief.

  “We’re going to be all right, Max,” she said calmly. “All you have to do now is climb down the scarf, and grab hold of the top branches of the pine tree. Then let go of the scarf.”

  Max gulped. “And then?” he said.

  “Pine trees are very thin and bendy,” said Maddy calmly. “The tree will bend down like a spring and lower you gently to the ground. That’s how it should work.” She paused. “Should I go first?”

  Max nodded. “Please,” he said. “I promise I’ll come after you. I promise.”

  Maddy now turned to the crate and took off her jersey. Slipping the jersey over it, she tied the arms firmly, making a very secure bag.

  “This will stop the money falling out,” she said. “Now all we have to do is to throw it down into the snow.”

  Together they pushed the crate to the open door of the cable car and gave it a shove. Down it went, turning over and over as it fell, until it reached the snow and dropped in with a satisfying plop.

  Now it was Maddy’s turn, and she bravely let herself down on the scarf until she was in a position to grab for the tree. Once she had done that, the cable car gave a lurch as it was lightened and Max’s stomach seemed to turn upside down within him.

  For Maddy it was an even worse feeling.

  As she grabbed the tree, she felt it give beneath her, and it seemed that she would plummet to the ground. But the branches held and, just before her feet touched the snow, her fall was broken. She let go of the tree just at the right time, and found herself firmly on her feet, exactly next to the spot where the crate had fallen.

  “Your turn now, Max,” she called up at the swaying cable car. “Hurry up!”

  Gingerly Max let himself down the scarf, trying as hard as he could not to look below him. Then he too grabbed the tree and down he went as the trunk bent under his weight.

  “Let go!” shouted Maddy as Max’s feet neared the ground. “Let go now!”

  Max may have heard her, or he may not. Whatever the reason, he did not let go of the tree, and so the trunk bent back up again like a spring that has just been released. Then Max let go, but at entirely the wrong time.

  As he let go, it was as if Max had been shot from a giant catapult. Head over heels he went, the wind rushing through his hair, the ground getting further and further away beneath him. Then he started to drop, down and down like a stone, to disappear with a puff of white into a great snow bank.

  “Max!” shouted Maddy in despair. “Max, are you all right?”

  Up above in the -cable car, Rudolf had seen all this. Now, deep inside him, his St Bernard nature reminded him of his duty. This is exactly what St Bernard dogs had been bred to do. Their task was to dig people from out of the snow, and a tiny voice inside Rudolf told him that his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, and even his great-great-grandfather were watching him, waiting for him to do what was expected of him.

  With a huge leap, Rudolf launched himself into space. Down he went, to be followed, one after another, by all the other St Bernard dogs. To Maddy, standing below, her mouth wide open with astonishment, the dogs looked like a squadron of aeroplanes, their feet spread wide, their great ears blown behind them in the wind.

  The dogs fell down when they landed in the snow, but not one of them stayed down. Up they got, shook the snow from their coats, and rushed over to the place where Max had disappeared. Then, howling with excitement, they burrowed and dug, hurling the snow in every direction like snow ploughs gone wild.

  Poor Max! It was bad enough being buried in the snow, but to find himself suddenly being licked by five large, pink tongues was almost too much. So he struggled out from the hole and ran back to where Maddy was waiting for him.

  “You’re safe!” she cried, giving her brother a welcoming hug.

  Max cast an anxious glance up the mountainside. “Yes,” he said. “Thanks to Rudolf and his friends. But we haven’t got a moment to lose. The professor’ll be down here any time now. We’ve got to get going.”

  Chapter 7

  Chocolate Money!

  They began to drag the crate down the mountainside, but it was very difficult going and they soon realised that they would never manage to get away if they took it with them.

  “We’ll have to leave it,” said Maddy. “The important thing is for us to escape.”

  Max thought for a moment. He looked at the dogs, who were waiting patiently for their next order. Then he looked at Maddy and smiled.

  “We’ll bury it,” he said. “We’ll get Rudolf and his team to dig a hole and then they’ll fill it in. Professor Sardine will think we’ve still got the crate and he’ll chase after us rather than look for the money.”

  Maddy agreed that this was an excellent idea and they quickly organised the dogs into digging a deep hole at the foot of a tree. Then, when the crate had been safely dropped into it, the dogs very quickly closed the hole again, leaving no traces at all. Maddy carefully marked a tiny cross on the tree with her penknife—so they’d know where to find it again.

  In the meantime, Professor Sardine and his assistant had been struggling down the hill towards them, and Max and Maddy had a nasty surprise when they looked up and saw the two men getting closer by the minute. The professor and his assistant had not seen the hole being dug, but the children knew that if they were caught the professor would
soon be able to force them to tell where the crate was hidden.

  “We’ll never get away,” gasped Maddy. “They’re far too close.”

  Max looked up at the two approaching figures. So did Rudolf, and he frowned—a great St Bernard frown that knit his brows into a hundred furrows. Then he growled, and at his growl all the other dogs swung their heads round and looked in the direction of the two men.

  Max and Maddy watched in amazement as the dogs formed themselves into a long line and began to bark fiercely.

  “They’re giving us the chance to get away,” said Max. “Quick, let’s get down the hill!”

  The sight of the snarling dogs stopped Professor Sardine in his tracks.

  “Sit!” he shouted out to the dogs. “Lie down!”

  This only made the dogs growl more fiercely, and one darted forward and gave the assistant a good nip on the leg. This was enough for the two men, who turned round and began to make off back up the hill, with Professor Sardine shouting over his shoulder, “You haven’t seen the last of me! I’ll get you for this!”

  Rudolf realised that all was now well and that Max and Maddy had been given a good start, but he could not resist the temptation of running after Professor Sardine and taking a large bite out of his snowsuit. This soon shut him up! The enraged professor gave a yelp and stumbled off as fast as he could, with a large, and very cold hole in the seat of his pants.

  “We’re going to make it,” said Max, as they saw the spire of the village church sticking out of the trees below them.

  Maddy gave a shout of joy. “Yes,” she said. “I can smell the bakery from here. They’re baking marzipan cakes. Can you smell it?”

  Max could, and the smell meant safety. He reached out to Rudolf, who was running along beside him.