The Wind on the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

said Catherine Crumb.
    â€˜And what was that?’ asked Mrs. Taper.
    â€˜Two big matches,’ said Catherine Crumb.
    â€˜Well, that’s nothing to boast about,’ said Mrs. Taper.
    â€˜But these weren’t ordinary matches,’ said Catherine Crumb. ‘They were two - legged matches.’
    â€˜I declare!’ said Mrs. Taper.
    â€˜Would you like to see them?’ asked Catherine Crumb.
    â€˜That I would,’ said Mrs. Taper.
    â€˜They’re on the washing-green,’ said Catherine Crumb, and they hurried down the lane till they came to the holly hedge. ‘There they are,’ she exclaimed.
    â€˜I never did!’ said Mrs. Taper, when she had pushed her way into the very middle of the hedge. ‘No, I never did expect to see a sight like that! Two-legged matches indeed! It’s a wonderful world we live in.’
    â€˜What do you think we should do with them?’ asked Catherine Crumb.
    Dinah and Dorinda, still too frightened to move, waited breathless for the answer.
    Mrs. Taper thought very hard, and then with triumph in her voice declared, ‘Why, strike them, to be sure! If they’re matches, we ought to strike them.’
    â€˜That’s what I thought,’ said Catherine Crumb.
    â€˜It’s what matches are made for,’ said Mrs. Taper. ‘To be struck.’ And she laughed again and again.
    Now when Mrs. Taper laughed, she made a noise like someone rattling pebbles in a biscuit-tin, and Dinah and Dorinda, hearing that horrible noise, were more frightened than ever. But now their fright made them run, and they ran into the house as quickly as their shrivelled legs would carry them, and never stopped till they were safe in their own room with the door locked.
    Then Catherine Crumb also ran away, leaving Mrs. Taper stuck fast in the holly hedge. Mrs. Taper, who was far too short-sighted to see where everyone had gone, was quite bewildered to find herself alone. She was still more worried when she found that she could not get out of the hedge. Branches stuck into her from all sides, and held her prisoner. Her face grew redder and redder as she struggled to get free. Her hat came off and fell into the garden, and she shouted for help.
    â€˜Help, help!’ she cried, and presently heard heavy footsteps in the lane. ‘Who’s that?’ she demanded.
    â€˜It’s me, Mrs. Taper,’ said a deep voice, which Mrs. Taper recognised as that of Constable Drum.
    â€˜Help me out,’ she cried.
    â€˜Not so fast,’ said the Constable. ‘You must first tell me how you came to be in such a position. Were you by any chance contemplating a felony? I perceive, hanging on the clothes-line, two pairs of silk stockings. Perhaps you were about to steal them, Mrs. Taper?’
    â€˜Oh, how dare you!’ she exclaimed. ‘Why, the very idea of such a thing would never enter my head. I’m the very soul of honesty, which everybody knows.’
    â€˜That may be so,’ said Constable Drum, ‘but the Law pays no attention to what everybody knows. The Law is guided only by evidence, and the evidence, Mrs. Taper, is sadly against you. My duty is clearer than ink; I shall have to put you in clink. In the name of the Law, Mrs. Taper, I hereby arrest you. God save the King!’
    Thereupon Constable Drum pulled Mrs. Taper out of the hedge, and handcuffed her right wrist to his left one. And in spite of all her protests, which were loud and many, he marched her away to prison.
    Dinah and Dorinda, in the meantime, were having a very serious discussion.

    â€˜It seems to me,’ said Dinah, ‘that we have to make up our minds either to stop being naughty altogether, or to be naughty in a sensible way. Do you want to stop?’
    â€˜No,’ said Dorinda. ‘Why, we’ve only just started. It would be cowardly to stop already.’
    â€˜Then we shall have to be sensible. There’s no point in being naughty