Half an hour later Mother Meldrum gave a grunt of satisfaction. “Here we are at last,” she said. “Look up, little dears, and see where you’re going to climb to.”
They had passed out of the thicker part of the stunted trees into an open space, and the shuddering children saw before them a deep ravine of dry and jagged rocks. On the farther side the walls rose in a cliff which, though not very much higher than they were standing, was very precipitous and evidently difficult to climb for anyone who did not know the path. Nowhere about the rocks was there any sign of life or vegetation. It was a new strange land on which a blight had fallen; a land over which a dull horror seemed to brood.
“We’ll go down a nice little path I know of,” said Mother Meldrum, with a deep chuckle, “and then we’ll go up a nice little path I know of. And close to the top is a nice little tunnel I know of, and we’ll go ever so far through it until we come to a nice little house I know of. Now don’t you wish you hadn’t run away from dear old Mother----”
She stopped and turned round and stared. Golithos, who had been grinning savagely at her words, stopped and looked quickly in the same direction.
“I thought I heard Gubbins,” she said (Gubbins was the missing cat).
“Oh, I’m so glad!” he said, “I wouldn’t have liked you to lose him. He must have caught us up. Ah, there he is! I thought he wouldn’t be long in finding us.”
“Yes, you fool!” snarled the old woman, choking with rage. “And see who’s coming after him! This comes of trusting a lubber like you!”
“It’s that Snerg again,” said Golithos uneasily.
The children’s hearts gave a bound of joy and hope. A long way off, and far beyond the black cat that came trotting up, they saw a little figure running. It was Gorbo, and the dead weight of terror seemed to lift from them at the sight.
“I don’t seem able to shake him off somehow,” went on Golithos, not at all with the air of a man who was ready to do great deeds. “But he hasn’t seen us yet because we’re hidden by these trees. Let’s get into the thick part and hide until he comes up and then I’ll jump out and cut him down before he can shout.”
“Come along, you brats, or I’ll murder you here!” shouted Mother Meldrum.
She dragged fiercely at the ropes and they had to follow her into the trees. Golithos hauled on the leading rope of the ass, and the ass, as its nature taught it to do, hauled back. With a howl of rage he took a firmer grip of the rope and dragged the ass a few feet. Then the rope snapped and the animal turned and trotted back on the path they had come.
“Now you’ve done it, you great lout!” screamed Mother Meldrum. “Now he’ll know we’re here! Oh, I’ll settle accounts with you, Golithos, once we’re out of this!”
“But there’s no great harm done,” pleaded Golithos. “He’ll come along looking for us just the same. Oh, please keep quiet, he may be coming along now. If he hears us I won’t be able to jump out on him!”
The old woman controlled herself sufficiently to keep silent, though her face was livid with rage. She dragged the children into a thicker part of the trees and pushed them over and crouched down by them, surrounded by her cats, who stopped still at an order from her and lay quiet on the ground. Golithos stooped behind a tree with his axe ready.
Gubbins, the missing cat, came trotting up. They could see him stop and sniff about. Then he looked back invitingly and saying “Me-reow! me-reow!” in a high and strong voice, came purring in among the trees and greeted his mistress and his brother cats. Mother Meldrum silenced him with a clump on the head and he too crouched down.
There was a dead silence for a minute or two. Then suddenly the witch gave a little grunt, for Gorbo came into view, walking with a silent tread and peering in all directions, with an arrow fitted to his bow.