‘What’s that?’ Lucy cried. ‘Who’s he brought?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said, ‘something large, or some army of servants. What on earth is it, Uncle? Who is that coming?’

But Timfy didn’t seem to know either, there was terror in his face, but he blew on his Albert once more, and a great rumbling answered it immediately, the noise growing now, coming closer.

‘What is that? What is coming, Uncle Timfy?’

‘I … I … I don’t know. I cannot say.’

Something was coming, something large running our way. No place to hide, all the doors were locked, and that running was getting louder and louder. We couldn’t see who it was, whether just one person or several, the corridor was so dark.

‘Help!’ called Timfy. ‘Help me.’

‘What is it? What could it be?’ Lucy cried.

‘Is it a Gathering? Who goes there?’ Timfy screamed.

‘Back,’ I called. ‘Stand back.’

I pushed Lucy against the wall as the thumping came closer and closer, Uncle Timfy was still in the middle of the passageway, his face, in a horror mask, illuminated by his lamp.

‘Help! Help ho!’ Uncle screamed. ‘What devil are you?’

A great stomping, a horrible screaming, a quick rush of raw, wrinkled pink skin, and with it a great mass of thick black and white feathers, huge claws on the ground, slamming to a halt, a creature, some monster. It smashed into Uncle Timfy, sending him flying and his light crashing against the wall and igniting some torn wallpaper, the flames spreading upwards, fire licking the ceiling, so that now with this great new light we could see suddenly everything. Timfy on the ground staring up with all horror at an impossible creature bent down before him, snapping at him with a huge angry beak. An ostrich! Tummis’s ostrich!

‘Murder!’ shrieked Timfy. ‘Oh, murder!’

He stumbled up, dodging the flames, and rushed in his agony out of sight, deeper into the darkness, the ostrich screaming after him, both so terrified, both so terrifying. Tummis, after so much cruelty, was having his revenge.

‘To think it was with us all along! Tummis’s ostrich! Thank you, Tummis, a thousand thanks!’

‘The fire, Clod, the whole place will be alight in a moment.’

‘Then down we’ll go, down where it’s dampest.’

We went along the landing. On we went, Lucy hobbling but keeping up. There was a service stairway just off the landing. A cold stairway, no carpets, no pictures there. It was the serving way down to the Marble Hall.

‘There’ll be people at the bottom,’ I said, ‘almost certain to be. We must try further along.’

‘As long as it’s not in the chimneys, I don’t think I could do that again.’

‘We’ll find another way.’

‘Is the dining room nearby?’

‘The Great Dining Hall is. Why?’

‘Does it have a dumb waiter? I heard the Grooms talking about one. Could we get down that way?’