Search for the Sunlight

Slipping and sliding on the uneven ground, the travellers began their precarious descent. Their erratic movements sent loose rocks and boulders hurtling down the steep slope, into the fog below. Concerned for their safety, Sherlock instructed everyone to stay in a line and choose their footing carefully. These words of caution had barely left his lips when Herbert stumbled and fell.

Harry, who was walking in front of his brother at the time, reached out to stop him, but he caught his foot on a large stone, setting off a calamitous chain of events.

Teetering on the brink, he instinctively grappled for something to hold on to and that something just happened to be Basil. For a moment everything went into slow motion as he, in turn, reached out to the Constable for his support and that’s when the trouble began.

It was every Treewood for himself as they clattered down the near vertical slope, grabbing and snatching at the exposed roots of small trees and shrubs in a desperate attempt to slow their descent. Eventually, with a series of ‘Thuds,’ ‘Oofs’ and ‘Ah’s,’ the battered casualties came to an abrupt halt on a narrow ledge some considerable distance below.

For a few moments, Sherlock lay perfectly still. Had the violent fall damaged his legs again? Summoning all his courage, he slowly raised his head and chanced to look down at his grazed and muddy feet. He drew in a deep breath, wiggled his toes and gasped out loud. To his relief, everything was working as it should.

Harry, who had been knocked unconscious by the impact of the fall, suddenly came to and sat up with a start. His immediate concerns lay not with himself, but with the all important brewing equipment inside his lapsack. Anxious to assess any damage, he tore at the draw strings and, like a Treewood possessed, began searching through the contents for breakages.

Apart from a small dent in the kettle, which he didn’t deem to be life threatening, everything was intact and with a loud sigh he lay back on the ground and thanked the spirits of the universe for delivering them all safely onto the narrow ledge that had, by good fortune, saved their lives.