‘Hello, young feller. What can I do for you? You’re a long way from the road.’ Then he spotted Beth on the grass. ‘Oh, I see. Your friend’s ill. Well, fetch her in then and we’ll see what we can do. Probably the heat.’

‘Danger. Hide,’ said Nab and lifted three fingers of one hand.

‘What? There are three more of you? What danger?’

Frantic with frustration at not being able to find the words he wanted, Nab called to the others.

‘Well, blow me down. Ivy,’ Jim called into the kitchen. ‘Here a minute!’

The owl, the badger and the hare stood in a line outside the front door while the old couple looked at them in amazement. Then Ivy spoke. She was small with grey hair and wore a navy blue dress with a faint white flowered pattern on it. When she spoke her hands shook a little with age, but her eyes, like Jim’s, were bright and merry.

‘You know who they are, don’t you, Jim?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well let’s get them inside quickly and hide them. Listen!’ She paused and waited while the barking and shouting got louder. ‘Come on, young man. Hurry up, and bring your friends in with you. Jim; put them in the bedroom.’

The old man led the animals through the front room and the kitchen until they came to an old wooden door which he opened. In the middle of the room was a large bed and around the whitewashed walls were a few pieces of furniture; an old wardrobe, a chest of drawers and a beautiful carved dressing table with photographs of Jim and of Ivy’s parents on it along with her brush and comb and one or two bottles of lavender water and scent.

‘Now, don’t worry. Get behind the bed and keep very quiet. We’ll see to them.’ He closed the door and there was silence except for muffled voices from the front room and the barking of the dogs. Nab lay Beth down gently on a piece of matting which was on the floor and sat beside her. Perryfoot and Brock squeezed under the bed and Warrigal perched on top of one of the brass bed-posts. It seemed to the animals as if they had only just settled in their places when the little house was suddenly filled with the sound of a loud thumping and banging on the door. They held their breath and their hearts quickened. It had all happened so fast that they had not had time to think whether or not they could trust the old couple; yet as soon as the seed of doubt entered their heads they dismissed it with a certainty that they could not explain. The old couple were of the Eldron; of that there could be no question. The animals had felt the goodness and warmth which flowed out towards them.

The knocking came again, only louder this time. Then a voice shouted out harshly. ‘Anyone in?’ Nab felt a tingle of fear rush up and down his spine and lodge, prickling, at the back of his neck. He instantly recognized the voice, it came to him as a terrible ghost from the past. The voice belonged unmistakably to the Urkku called Jeff; the one who, with his brother, had captured him from Silver Wood and taken him back to be locked up in the little room and, worst of all, the one who had shot Bruin. There were now voices at the door; the old man had finally answered it and his deep gentle lilting voice contrasted sharply with the jagged staccato tones of the other. ‘I must hear what they are saying,’ thought Nab, and he crawled forward very slowly and quietly until he was up against the bedroom door with his ear pressed to it. He could not understand all the words but the sense of their conversation came across to him. The old man was speaking.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t hear; I’m a bit deaf. What do you want?’

The Urkku Jeff replied harshly. ‘We’re looking for the animals. They were seen a while back; at least the owl was, and the dogs have been following them ever since. Right up here to your front door. They must have gone past. Did you not see them?’

The old man replied steadily.

‘What animals? We’ve seen nothing other than the occasional rabbit all morning.’

There was a silence which was almost menacing in its stillness. Even the dogs stopped their barking and growling.

‘Don’t play games with me, old man. You live a long way out but don’t pretend you don’t know what’s going on. If you had seen them, you would tell us, wouldn’t you?’

‘You mean the little group of animals who are rumoured to have a boy and a girl with them. The ones who are supposed to have started the plague. I have heard something of it on the wireless when they have been able to broadcast. No, I haven’t seen them. I didn’t know they were in this area.’

‘They were seen and followed here. To your house.’

‘Well, I shall look out for them; though myself, I don’t believe the stories that have been put round. There’s no proof that the plague began with them.’

Again there was a silence. When the Urkku spoke his voice was low and guttural.

‘Take care, old man. That kind of talk is dangerous. You had best forget it. Have you not had the government circulars? They must be found and destroyed, as must all their kind, for they too may be carriers and only in that way will we be sure we have got rid of it. The boy and the girl must be found and questioned as to all they know. Then they will be cleansed and educated; at least the boy will, for it appears that the girl may have led a normal life until she left her home. Apparently the disease does not affect them though they are the carriers. Now, old man; let’s not hear any more of this foolish talk. Your attitude has been noted. If you see them you will have to walk down to the village and contact the police who will inform the authorities. As you must know, very few phones are still working.’

Then the dogs began barking loudly again as the Urkku moved off down the hill. It was only when the noise had faded into the distance that the door opened and Ivy came in. ‘Well, they’ve gone for now,’ she said, half to herself and half to Nab. ‘Let’s see how your friend is, shall we?’ She knelt down beside Beth and raised her so that the girl was sitting up. She moaned and her eyelids fluttered but still she did not come round.

‘Thank you,’ Nab said and pointed outside to the door to show what he meant. Ivy looked at him and smiled gently.

‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘Here, you hold her up while I go and get some cold water to bathe her face.’ Nab was longing to ask her and Jim what the Urkku had said exactly but his command of human language was not yet such that he could put his questions into words. He would have to wait until Beth was better.

Ivy came back with a white enamel basin full of water and began splashing the girl’s face. Perryfoot and Brock came out from under the bed and watched anxiously while Warrigal surveyed the proceedings curiously from his vantage point on the bed-post. Outside, through the window, he could see dark banks of cloud beginning to gather in the distance beyond the far peaks and he smelt rain in the air. The atmosphere was heavy and close and there was not a breath of wind.

Soon Beth was showing signs of regaining consciousness and Ivy called out, ‘Jim, bring in a cup of tea for the poor girl.’ He fetched the kettle off the range where it always sat and poured hot water from it into their little brown tea pot to warm it. Then he refilled the kettle and put it back on the hot plate to boil. The tea was in a caddy in the sideboard and as he went across to it he looked outside through the open front door and noticed that a sudden wind was getting up. ‘Storm won’t be long now,’ he muttered. ‘About time it broke. Should clear the air a bit.’ He put four spoonfuls in the pot and then called out. ‘I’ll just go and fetch the goats in, Ivy; before it rains. Kettle will have boiled when I get back.’ He went quickly out of the front gate and called the two goats over. They came running across when they heard him and he led them back through the garden to a little stone shed at one end of the house. ‘Keep your eyes off those,’ he said as the goats strayed over to the little flower bed under the wall. ‘Come on, you rascals. Let’s get you in before it rains.’ He had just put some fresh straw down ready for the coming winter and the shed smelt sweet and clean. ‘Stop chewing my trousers. Go on, get in.’ They looked at him quizzically as he began to shut the door and he laughed and gave them a friendly pat.