THERE WAS no time to waste, and so we wasted none. Magpie sent Dart back to the Wrong Boys’ hideout to relay the information and to send the other boys out on the same mission. With hundreds or thousands of children keeping their eyes peeled, there was almost no chance of the villains remaining undetected.
‘You’ll come wi’ me, o’ course,’ Magpie said as he wound a muffler around his face and thrust his hands into a pair of tattered mittens. ‘Since you ‘eard the story first-‘and and can tell it better.’
The thought of walking any distance made my ankle throb, but I swallowed my reluctance. Snail’s life was more important. Peach watched me narrowly and wordlessly handed me a coarse stick. I didn’t think it would make more than a small difference in my ability to cover ground, but at least
