with gondolas going from tunnel office to tunnel office, which we could have had if there had been a river. Too bad. No Grand Canal.
"OK, Tornid," I said. "Here we are now." I showed him where on the map. "Here, in what I suppose is an arm of the main tunnel." I flashed my big light way ahead.
"It's just like you drew it," said Tornid. He was not surprised.
"Yes," I said. "So here we are, alone here in the alley tunnel, the part marked T.N.F."
"Not much of an office," said Tornid.
"The office may be built way inside the wall. First we explore the tunnel itself, then we find the offices ... you and me alone, without any C.
grils
to bother us." On the wall I wrote T.N.F.
"Named after me," said Tornid proudly. "But if we're alone, whose eyes are those then?"
So there were eyes up there, then. We stood stock-still and did not speak. Were those the eyes of
them,
whoever they are, smoogmen, or what? Anyway, the eyes were not tunnel mirage, because it is rare for two different boys to have the same mirage, I read somewhere. This one set of eyes might be a lookout guy, and others might be everywhere, eying usâjust two boys from on topâwith deadly precision as we stood like stone in the area marked T.N.F.
At last, "
Buenos dias,
" I said out loud to break the spell and in Spanish in case it were the Spanish smoogman. "
Amigos,
" I said.
"Bless Maud!" said Tornid in a squeaky voice. That is a saying of his gram's. He whispered to me, "They won't know who Maud is. They'll think she is your mother and be scay-ared and run away."
What should we do? Climb back up, or be brave and go on and chase the eyes' owner away? "Well, Tornid," I said. "There are always eyes in a tunnel. Now, there's just one set of eyes that we can be sure of, and they haven't winked or budged. I have my flashlight turned on them. If they come nearer, I wave my shillelagh, we say the powerful words that make the beams of my light fatal, we say scram and also TEAB TI (that's beat it, backwards, remember), and see what happens."
Brandishing our shillelaghs, we advanced on the eyes. "Let's hope whoever or whatever those eyes belong to doesn't back off, and us not know where it's backed off to, where it might turn up next and perhaps..."
"Bite..." said Tornid.
"Right," I said. "Grab us!"
"Shoo!" said Tornid. But it didn't shoo.
We proceeded very slowly toward the eyes, and the eyes' owner just stayed right there. Then, at the same identical moment, Tornid and me guessed, and we said together..."Raccoon!" We could have made a wish but saved it for some other time when there was less to do.
Yes. Those eyes were the eyes of the visiting raccoon. Now we could see his stripes ... and there couldn't be a whole tribe of raccoons living around our Alley, so he must be the one who'd looked in the window at us, he just must like the neighborhood and was exploring, an exploring raccoon, like we are exploring boys.
Here he was! We hadn't seen him for days. Last we knew of him he had helped dig our hole in the hidey hole. Perhaps he had slipped in and couldn't get back out. Or maybe he just decided to go exploring. That's the way with raccoons ... curious. So here he was, now, down in our tunnel.
We stepped back to TRATS in case he wanted help in getting out. And we said, "Here, raccoon. Here." But he didn't come. He gave us the same unblinking stare, just as curious about us now as he had been on the night of first acquaintance through the Fabians' window. We stared back at him. None of us stirred.
Then, suddenly, with a flash of his pretty bushy tail, the raccoon leaped, but not onto our shoulders to get up and out of the tunnel. He leaped way ahead of us and disappeared from sight.
"He must have turned a corner!" I said. "He's showing us the way. Man, oh man!" I said. "There really is more tunnel than just this small corridor!"
"Sure," said Tornid. "You drew more."
A key and a raccoon. Two things so far. "Tornid," I said. "That raccoon seems to like
"OK, Tornid," I said. "Here we are now." I showed him where on the map. "Here, in what I suppose is an arm of the main tunnel." I flashed my big light way ahead.
"It's just like you drew it," said Tornid. He was not surprised.
"Yes," I said. "So here we are, alone here in the alley tunnel, the part marked T.N.F."
"Not much of an office," said Tornid.
"The office may be built way inside the wall. First we explore the tunnel itself, then we find the offices ... you and me alone, without any C.
grils
to bother us." On the wall I wrote T.N.F.
"Named after me," said Tornid proudly. "But if we're alone, whose eyes are those then?"
So there were eyes up there, then. We stood stock-still and did not speak. Were those the eyes of
them,
whoever they are, smoogmen, or what? Anyway, the eyes were not tunnel mirage, because it is rare for two different boys to have the same mirage, I read somewhere. This one set of eyes might be a lookout guy, and others might be everywhere, eying usâjust two boys from on topâwith deadly precision as we stood like stone in the area marked T.N.F.
At last, "
Buenos dias,
" I said out loud to break the spell and in Spanish in case it were the Spanish smoogman. "
Amigos,
" I said.
"Bless Maud!" said Tornid in a squeaky voice. That is a saying of his gram's. He whispered to me, "They won't know who Maud is. They'll think she is your mother and be scay-ared and run away."
What should we do? Climb back up, or be brave and go on and chase the eyes' owner away? "Well, Tornid," I said. "There are always eyes in a tunnel. Now, there's just one set of eyes that we can be sure of, and they haven't winked or budged. I have my flashlight turned on them. If they come nearer, I wave my shillelagh, we say the powerful words that make the beams of my light fatal, we say scram and also TEAB TI (that's beat it, backwards, remember), and see what happens."
Brandishing our shillelaghs, we advanced on the eyes. "Let's hope whoever or whatever those eyes belong to doesn't back off, and us not know where it's backed off to, where it might turn up next and perhaps..."
"Bite..." said Tornid.
"Right," I said. "Grab us!"
"Shoo!" said Tornid. But it didn't shoo.
We proceeded very slowly toward the eyes, and the eyes' owner just stayed right there. Then, at the same identical moment, Tornid and me guessed, and we said together..."Raccoon!" We could have made a wish but saved it for some other time when there was less to do.
Yes. Those eyes were the eyes of the visiting raccoon. Now we could see his stripes ... and there couldn't be a whole tribe of raccoons living around our Alley, so he must be the one who'd looked in the window at us, he just must like the neighborhood and was exploring, an exploring raccoon, like we are exploring boys.
Here he was! We hadn't seen him for days. Last we knew of him he had helped dig our hole in the hidey hole. Perhaps he had slipped in and couldn't get back out. Or maybe he just decided to go exploring. That's the way with raccoons ... curious. So here he was, now, down in our tunnel.
We stepped back to TRATS in case he wanted help in getting out. And we said, "Here, raccoon. Here." But he didn't come. He gave us the same unblinking stare, just as curious about us now as he had been on the night of first acquaintance through the Fabians' window. We stared back at him. None of us stirred.
Then, suddenly, with a flash of his pretty bushy tail, the raccoon leaped, but not onto our shoulders to get up and out of the tunnel. He leaped way ahead of us and disappeared from sight.
"He must have turned a corner!" I said. "He's showing us the way. Man, oh man!" I said. "There really is more tunnel than just this small corridor!"
"Sure," said Tornid. "You drew more."
A key and a raccoon. Two things so far. "Tornid," I said. "That raccoon seems to like
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