Fizzlebert Stump Read Online Free

just a few hours. He could stay awake that long and then he could make a start on finding the road.
    But before he could do anything there was a crashing in the ferns and a light was shining straight in his face.
    â€˜Aha! I knew I ’eard somefink,’ said a voice. ‘Put yer ’ands up where I can see ’em. You’re my prisoner … boy.’
    Someone was pointing a torch at Fizz’s face and he was so dazzled, especially after so long in the dark, that he couldn’t make out who was behind the light, but he could tell, from the voice, that it was … a girl.
    And verily, Fizz was afraid.

CHAPTER THREE
    In which a girl leads the way and in which a boy does as he’s told
    Fizz put his hands up. He didn’t know what else to do.
    â€˜Good,’ the voice behind the torch said. ‘Now, tell us what you’re doin’ ’ere in me woods, out at night like this. You a poacher, boy? You tryin’ a steal you some pheasants or somefink?’
    Fizz wasn’t sure what a poacher was, but he’d had poached eggs before and theywere eggs boiled in water without their shells, unlike boiled eggs which are poached eggs with the shells left on. But he wasn’t in hot water. Or was he? People said, ‘Oh, you’re in hot water now,’ when you were in trouble, didn’t they? And he was in trouble, wasn’t he? So, maybe he
was
a poacher, but what had the girl said about pheasants? Was he stealing them? He knew what pheasants were because he’d seen an act at a different circus once called
Dorothy Crescent & Her Pleasant Pheasant
. As far as he could tell a pheasant was a bird with impeccable manners which always lifted a wingtip feather when drinking tea. It was a nice bird, but he wasn’t planning on stealing one.
    â€˜I don’t think so,’ he said after some thought. ‘I’m lost.’
    â€˜Lost, eh?’
    â€˜Yes, lost. You see I got left behind up on the road and then I fell down this hill and—’
    â€˜You ’ungry?’
    â€˜Um, no not really,’ said Fizz.
    â€˜Well, follow me,’ the voice said, somewhat confusingly.
    The torch swung around, away from Fizz’s face, and headed off through the ferns.
    Not knowing what else to do, Fizz followed.
    As he walked he caught glimpses of the girl silhouetted in the torchlight. She was about his age, he reckoned, and had short scruffy hair poking out from underneath a little beret or cap. Every now and then she’d stop and turn around and shine the light at a tricky bit of path.
    She kept talking.
    â€˜You know, I ’eard you fall.
Crash bang wallop
, you went. I ’eard you from a mile away. Woke me up it did. Got me outta bed and int’rested. Then you went snappin’ and bangin’ through them woods and then it all went quiet for a bit but then I ’eard you snorin’. Well, I ’eard someone snorin’ and there ain’t usually no snorin’ goin’ on in them woods, so I reckon it was you, yeah?’
    Fizz didn’t say very much other than, ‘Can you slow down, please?’ because he was a bit embarrassed and because she was going quite fast.
    After maybe ten minutes, the girl’s torch shone upon the painted wooden wall of a little house.
    â€˜â€™Ere we are then,’ she said. ‘’Ome.’
    Fizz had never lived in a house without wheels, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know one when he saw one. There was a light shining on the porch and he thought he could see a glow behind the curtains in the window.
    The girl opened the front door and ushered him in.
    Fizz was hopeful. Where there was a house there might be a telephone and where there was a telephone there was a way for him to get in touch with his mum and dad. He had their phone number written down on a piece of paper in the inside pocket of his coat just in case of exactly this sort of emergency.
    (And in case