The Book of Betty Barber/Chapter 9
CHAPTER IX
THE BOX CHASE
“One—two—three—away,” shouted Thirteen-fourteenths.
And away they all went, one after the other, one on the top of the other, pleased to get out of the hall in which they had been shut up so long, delighted to run about and stretch their legs.
Sois found the first box, close to the lodge gates, and a halt was called to examine it. It was passed from hand to hand, and declared to be exactly like the other two.
“We’re on the track,” cried Thirteen-fourteenths.
“On the track,” shouted Repeater.
“Then forward again,” shouted Sois.
The black and white figures hurried through the gates away out of Sum Land.
“Another box!” shouted Ellessdee.
“Hurrah, give it to me!” cried Thirteen-fourteenths, and box number four was added to the collection.
Thirteen-fourteenths was eager to find more boxes, and once more the troop began to run and jump. Boxes number five and six were found not far away from number four, and the Fraction tucked them away in his pockets, without stopping the party.
“I hope there are not many more,” said Thirteen-fourteenths. “I want to find the hare, the man who is dropping the boxes.”
“Another box!” cried Tare, picking up something as he ran, “no lid this time!”
“And here’s another!” shouted Tret.
“There seem to be always two together,” said Ellessdee. “He drops them in couples.”
On they ran until they came to a place where several roads met.
“Well, here’s another,” cried Sois.
“And another,” said Repeater, “at the foot of the sign-post.”
“We must stop a minute,” said Ellessdee. “I want to rest, and you must pack your boxes away, Thirteen-fourteenths. I’m sure your pockets are full.”
“We'll all rest,” said Tare.
“Indeed we will,” said Tret, and he threw himself down on the ground.
But the Fraction did not sit down, though he stood still.
“I wonder which path we ought to take,” he said, looking up at the sign-post above his head.
It was a difficult question, for there were several roads meeting.
“To Nonsense Land, To Music Land, To Paint Land, To Sum Land, To Rhyme Land, To the Tall Tall Tree,” read Sois, staring up at the sign-post.
“And we don’t know which way he went,” said Thirteen-fourteenths.
“We must divide into parties,” said Sois.
“It seems to me that some of us ought to go back home,” said Ellessdee. “If we don’t find the book, we shall have to put all those bits of paper together; for you know, some way or other, we must get those sums right.”
Tare looked at Tret, and yawned a big yawn. “I’m tired,” he said.
“If a man drops twelve boxes, how many will he drop?” said Sois.
“He may drop hundreds and hundreds,” said Ellessdee, “and men may come and men may go, but I can’t go on for ever, with all those sums waiting to be done at home.”
“But the book!” said Thirteen-fourteenths. “We must find the book. Now listen, I have a plan: Sois shall run for five minutes towards Music Land, Ellessdee shall run for the same time
“‘Then Forward Again’
shouted Sois” p. 93)
towards Paint Land, I will go towards Nonsense Land. Then we shall know, if none of us find any boxes, that the hare is to be found in Rhyme Land, for he would not go to the tree.”
“But-what are we to do?” asked the others.
“Sit still for five minutes here,” said the Fraction, “and when the time is up help Repeater to call us back.”
“A splendid plan,” cried Tare.
“Grand!” said Tret.
“If I find a box,” said Ellessdee, “you must go on your journey towards Paint Land without me. I’m very sorry, but I think I must go back home.”
“And if I find a box,” said Sois, “the box chase must be finished in Music Land without me. I must go back, too.”
“We will first find a box, then we can decide what to do,” said Thirteen-fourteenths.
“One, two, three, away!” he shouted.
He, Ellessdee, and Sois were soon out of sight. For the first two minutes the others lay still, resting; but at the end of the third minute Tare said to Tret
“A box chase is very tiring, I don’t want to go any further.”
“Neither do I,” said Tret.
“At the end of the time they will come back,” said Tare, “and if they have found only one more box, we shall have to start the chase again. Don’t you think?”
“I do,” said one of the figures.
“So do I,” said another.
“Four minutes,” called Repeater.
“Well, then, don’t you also think if we are going, we may as well go at once?” said Tare.
“Wait until the time is up,” said Tret.
So they waited and rested, and when Repeater said, “Five minutes,” they all shouted, “Time’s up,” then picked themselves up from the ground, and ran down the path back to Sum Land as fast as their legs could carry them.
Ellessdee was the first of the three to reach the sign-post, and he stared about him, much astonished not to find anybody there.
“Well,” he said, feeling rather annoyed, “I ran very quickly they might have waited for me.’
“Hullo!” called a voice.
Ellessdee looked up. It was Sois hurrying down the path quite breathless.
“They’ve gone,” said Ellessdee, “without waiting for us, isn’t it horrid of them?”
“Which way did they go?” asked Sois. ‘I didn’t find a box. Did you?”
“Not a sign of one,” said Ellessdee, “I suppose they have all gone to Rhyme Land. I’m not going, I’m off home, and you had better come home too. I call this a wild goose chase, not a box chase.”
“If one wild goose” said Sois.
“If you don’t come home,” said Ellessdee, who was feeling quite cross and bad-tempered, “something will happen.”
They were scarcely out of sight when Thirteen-fourteenths appeared, looking rather depressed, walking quite slowly, with his eyes fastened to the ground. He had not found boxes, lids, anything. He bumped into the sign-post with not looking where he was going, and then stared up at it as if he had never seen it before.
“It can’t be the right place,” he said. “Where are the others? They were to wait.” Then he stared about him. “It is the right place,” he said. “Now. where have they gone?” I think I can guess—back to Sum Land. They were all getting tired of the chase. If they had found any boxes, they would have let me know quickly enough. Well, I suppose I must go by myself to Rhyme Land, and hope to find the hare there. Hullo, there’s a procession coming down the road, I’ll hide and watch.”
The Fraction ran to the nearest tree, and climbed into it.
Four Rooks, marching along solemnly, headed the procession, behind them came four more, but they were fastened to a basket, a work-basket, which rolled along on empty cotton reel wheels, as smoothly as possible. In the work-basket, on a white roll of work, sat a Thimble and a Needle, looking quite pleased with themselves. On one side of this queer carriage a pair of Scissors marched along, on the other stalked a tall, pink Fox-glove. All round the carriage tripped a number of dainty little Violets, who kept trying to curtsey as they walked, and behind it followed a crowd of animals—horses, oxen, and sheep. When they came to the sign-post they halted.
The Scissors looked up and read aloud, “To Nonsense Land.” Then he turned to the Thimble, and said, “Drive on.”
Thirteen-fourteenths stared after them until the last sheep had disappeared down the road, then he jumped down from his tree.
“I wonder who they are, and why they are going to Nonsense Land,” he said, “and I wonder if they have found any boxes. I’ll run after them and ask them,”
He ran down the road with a skip and a jump and a bound, and he very quickly caught up the procession, for they were not travelling very quickly. He made his way through the horses and oxen and sheep, and tried to catch one of the Violets, but she easily kept out of his way.
At last the Scissors noticed him, and at once the Scissors made a sign to the Thimble, and the whole procession stopped.
Thirteen-fourteenths bowed his very best bow.
“Might I ask, sir.” he began.
“My name is Snip,” said the Scissors.
“And mine Thirteen-fourteenths,” said the Fraction. “Might I ask, Mr. Snip, if on your journey from Rhyme Land you have found any boxes similar to these?” and Thirteen-fourteenths took three or four out of his pocket.
“We have not seen any such boxes on our journey,” said Mr. Snip, “but doubtless there are many such in Nonsense Land. He is always dropping them about.”
“Who is always dropping them about?” asked the Fraction eagerly.
All the little Violets joined hands in a circle round the Fraction, and shouted as loudly as such small bits of things could shout:
“By the use of this ointment, one shilling a box. Allow me to sell you a couple.”
Then they all began to laugh, and the Thimble, the Needle, the Rooks, and all the other animals joined in.
“Father William, you know,” explained Mr. Snip, “Father William always carries about boxes of this ointment, and drops them too.”
“And who is Father William?” asked the Fraction.
“If you will walk along with us,” said Mr. Snip, “I will tell you all I know about Father William, an exceedingly curious person. But we must be moving on, or we shall be late, and it is most important that we should not be late. Excuse me, one moment.”
Mr. Snip clicked sharply three times, then calling, “On, on, we shall be too late to help Lucy,” made a sign to the Thimble, and once more the procession started.
“To help Lucy?” repeated Thirteen-fourteenths. Then he looked around him. “Then you are Lucy’s,” he said.
“Of course,” said Mr. Snip. “We are all Lucy’s, and we are off to Nonsense Land to try to help her out. One of the Rooks heard from Mrs. Owl, who had heard from someone else—and, by the way, I believe that that someone was the same Father William you were asking about—heard that Lucy, who is lost in Nonsense Land, was to appear this very day before the Court of the Grand Panjandrum to prove that she was sense, not nonsense.”
“And we thought we could help her, so we set off at once,” cawed one of the Rooks who was drawing the basket.
“But we couldn’t get through the little gate, there were so many of us, and we had to come all the way round,” said another.
“I wish I could help too,” said the Fraction, “but I am looking for a book, which I believe your friend Father William has in his possession.”
“Why, Mrs. Owl said something about Father William fetching a book,” said the Rook. “Lucy wanted the book, I fancy, but I didn’t much attend to that part of the story.”
“Then, perhaps Father William has taken it to Lucy in Nonsense Land,” said Thirteen-fourteenths, “does Father William live in Nonsense Land? Tell me about him, tell me about him, tell me quickly." And Thirteen-fourteenths could scarcely keep still he was so excited.
“Let me speak to them all one minute,” said Mr. Snip, “for we must be nearing Nonsense Land.”
“Friends,” he said, “remember we have come to help Lucy. We shall need great patience, great watchfulness, strict obedience. Will you all be watchful, patient, and obedient to me? I will lead you, and if we are able to help Lucy out of Nonsense Land she will take us back to our own tree, and we shall all be happy once more.”
“We promise,” cawed the Rooks.
“Obedience, patience, and watchfulness,” said the others.
“Then forward,” said the Scissors.
“Now tell me all about Father William,” said the Fraction.
Mr. Snip explained how Father William had once lived in the Land of Poetry, how he had wandered into Nonsense Land, and could not find his way back to his own home again.
“He spends all his time trying to find the way,” said Mr. Snip, “he is a restless spirit.”
“But I don’t now understand how the book got into Nonsense Land,” said Thirteen-fourteenths.
“Excuse me,” said Mr. Snip, “we must not discuss the question further now. We are approaching Nonsense Land. We must move quietly with the greatest caution. We must not speak, we must not be seen. There are many who wish to keep Lucy in Nonsense Land, and they would drive us away if they knew we meant to try to help her.”
“Will you go into Nonsense Land?” asked the Fraction.
“Certainly not,” said Mr. Snip. “We must find some place and hide in Border Land. Silence, please,” he called.
And the procession moved along as quietly as a number of mice.
The Violets climbed into the basket, and hid in the roll of white needlework; the horses walked on the tips of their hoofs, and very funny they looked, too; never a “baa” was heard from a sheep, nor a click from Mr. Snip himself.
They heard voices calling, “The Court of the Grand Panjandrum is assembling, the Court of the Grand Panjandrum!”
But they only walked more quickly, crept along more quietly without speaking a word. The road began to get narrower, the hedges on each side of it thicker. Mr. Snip motioned to the procession to stop. Then he lay on his back close to the hedge, and quietly kick, kick, kicked until he had kicked a hole in the hedge. He peeped through the hole, and beckoned to the Fraction, and the Fraction peeped through, too, and they both nodded to the others to tell them that it was all right—that this was the place.
The Rooks slipped their heads out of their silk reins, the Needle, Thimble, and Violets jumped lightly out of the basket, the work in the basket began to unroll itself, trying hard not to sigh and groan, for it was rather stiff and uncomfortable. Lucy had squeezed it up so very tight.
Mr. Snip kicked a few more holes in the hedge, motioned each of his helpers by signs to a place, put the Fraction in front of a hole close beside him, and as the voice called, “The Court of the Grand Panjandrum is assembled,” Mr. Snip nodded to the Fraction, and even ventured to whisper the tiniest of whispers, “So are we.”