The warrior mouse groped about slowly in the dense gloom. “Stay where you are, Basil. Don’t move. We’ll get you free. Now, are the rest of you safe and unharmed?”

“I’d be all right if this hedgehog didn’t keep a bumpin’ into me—”

Cheek the otter’s grumbling was cut short by Orlando’s rumbling growl. “Then stay still and stop bobbing about. You’ve run into me twice. Here, whose bushy tail is this?”

“Mmmmm, ooohhh! What hit me?”

Matthias moved to where the voice came from. “Jess, are you all right?”

“I think so. A great slab of something got me from behind. No damage done, though. It just knocked me flat for a moment or two. What happened?”

“Kaaachoo!” Jabez Stump sneezed. “I don’t think this hillside would stand still for ages then suddenly decide to slide one night for no good reason. Seems to me as if we’ve been lured into here and trapped.”

Matthias and Orlando had crawled over to where Basil lay buried and were trying to dig him out. The old hare bore up bravely, helping them where he could.

“I think you’re right, Stump old lad. Ha, here’s a pretty thing, a bunch of seasoned campaigners caught like shrimp in a barrel, wot? I’ll bet a salad to a soupbowl it was old slyboots, the masked thingummy. What d’you say, Matthias?”

“I say keep still, Basil. Orlando, can you put your back to this rock and push it away from him? One of you grab his paws and start pulling while I dig the loose stuff away.”

Cheek sprang forward and tugged Basil’s paws with gusto. “Heave ho, old Sir Hare. Out you come, now.”

“Yaggh! Beastly young blighter, you’re standin’ on me ear!”

Orlando put his strong back against the rock that was trapping Basil. He gave a mighty grunt as he threw his weight against it. “Grrumph! That’s it. Hurry now, I can’t hold this much longer.”

Jabez and Jess helped Cheek. As Matthias dug furiously, they gave a good long heave. Basil popped out like a cork. The big badger let the rock go. There was another cloud of dust and a rattling of pebbles as the heap of hillside rubble settled.

Basil stamped his paws experimentally. “Bit stiff an’ all that. Still workin’ hunky dory, though. Well, what a load of old ninnies we are, eh, lettin’ ourselves get bamboozled like that.”

“Let’s not start blaming ourselves,” Matthias cut in sharply. “What we did seemed a good idea at the time. The thing now is, how do we get out of this fix? Has any creature got flint or tinder to make light?”