The Mouse-Burglar
MY grandmother hustled¹ me back into my own bedroom and out on to the balcony. "Are youready?" she asked. "I'm going to put you in the sock now.""I hope I can manage this," I said. "I'm only a little mouse.""You'll manage," she said. "Good luck, my darling." She popped me into the sock and startedlowering me over the balcony. I crouched³ inside the sock and held my breath. Through the stitches Icould see out quite clearly. Miles below me, the children playing on the beach were the size ofbeetles. The sock started swinging in the breeze. I looked up and saw my grandmother's head stickingout over the railings of the balcony above. "You're nearly there!" she called out. "Here we go! Gentlydoes it. You're down!"
I felt a slight bump. "In you go!" my grandmother was shouting. "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Searchthe room!"
I jumped out of the sock and ran into The Grand High Witch's bedroom. There was the samemusty smell about the place that I had noticed in the Ballroom⁴. It was the stench of witches. Itreminded me of the smell inside the men's public lavatory⁵ at our local railway-station.
As far as I could see, the room was tidy enough. There was no sign anywhere that it wasinhabited by anyone but an ordinary person. But then there wouldn't be, would there? No witchwould be stupid enough to leave anything suspicious lying around for the hotel maid to see.
Suddenly I saw a frog jumping across the carpet and disappearing under the bed. I jumpedmyself.
"Hurry up!" came my grandmother's voice from somewhere high up outside. "Grab the stuffand get out!"
I started skittering round and trying to search the room. This wasn't so easy. I couldn't, forexample, open any of the drawers. I couldn't open the doors of the big wardrobe either. I stoppedskittering about. I sat in the middle of the floor and had a think. If The Grand High Witch wanted tohide something top secret, where would she put it? Certainly not in any ordinary drawer. Not in thewardrobe either. It was too obvious. I jumped up on to the bed to get a better view of the room. Hey, Ithought, what about under the mattress⁶? Very carefully, I lowered myself over the edge of the bedand wormed my way

分享到：