Catweazle by Richard Carpenter Page A

‘Catweazle!!’
    A croak
came floating up from the bottom of the well.
    ‘Touchwood!’
asked Carrot anxiously, ‘is he all right?’
    ‘Thou
maggot!’ an infuriated voice replied, and Carrot breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I
thought you were dead,’ he said.
    A
stream of abuse rose from the bottom of the well. It was obvious Catweazle had
suffered no damage.
    ‘Can
you see the stone?’ Carrot interrupted.
    ‘Many
little stars, but no stone.’
    ‘Well
it must be down there somewhere. Don’t give up.’
    There
was a long silence from the bottom of the well and then finally Catweazle
called once more, ‘I am weary. Lift me up.’
    ‘But
we’ve got to find it, Catweazle.’
    ‘I am
cold, thou wood-louse. Lift me.’
    ‘Oh,
all right,’ said Carrot, very disappointed. ‘Get in the bucket.’
    He
began to haul him up. The chain creaked as Catweazle slowly came into view. He
was dirtier than ever. As well as the dust from the museum and the soot from
the chimney, he now had a liberal coating of mud. He climbed out of the bucket.
    ‘Thou
nettle-face!’ he said. ‘Wouldst plunge me to my death?’
    ‘Sorry
I let go like that,’ said Carrot, ‘but I thought you’d found it, you see.’
Carrot sighed, ‘Anyway, you tried.’
    ‘Verily,’
the old sorcerer nodded gravely. Then, delving into his robe and twisting his
face into a wicked grin, he handed Carrot the second stone.
    The two
stones fitted together - like magic - and Carrot stared at the carved face in
his hands, remembering where he had seen it before. Catweazle blew on his
thumb-ring, ‘ ’Tis Cernunnos,’ he said, fearfully.
    Later in
the museum Stuffy held the missing pieces against the statue of Cernunnos, his
hands trembling with excitement.
    ‘Incredible!
Absolutely incredible! The statue is once more complete! Cernunnos has two
heads again! This is a find in a million.’
    ‘Well, it
was really Mr Brown,’ said Carrot. ‘I haven’t got the book back. I’m afraid,’
he added.
    ‘Oh
keep it, keep it,’ said Stuffy, examining the pieces through a magnifying
glass. ‘Just wait till old Honnerton gets here!’
    Mr
Bennet, who had been told by his bank manager that Head Office needed eight
hundred pounds immediately, arrived home to find the kitchen covered in soot.
It was the final blow in what was now, literally, a very black day.
    When
Carrot returned, his father was waiting for him.
    ‘Look
at this mess!’ he stormed. ‘When are you going to grow up and start behaving
responsibly? What on earth have you been doing?’
    Carrot
sensed that things had gone badly at the bank. The curse was evidently still
working, he thought gloomily.
    ‘Your
whole attitude is completely childish,’ Mr Bennet went on, still smarting from
his interview.
    Carrot
had just opened his mouth to reply when the phone rang in the hall and Mr
Bennet went to answer it. It was Stuffy Gladstone. He was sorry to trouble Mr
Bennet, he said, but Professor Honnerton had insisted that he phoned at once
because of the value of the find.
    ‘Find?’
said Mr Bennet, bewildered, ‘what find?’
    ‘The
missing pieces of Cernunnos,’ Stuffy’s precise voice replied. ‘Your boy found
them. I’ve got Honnerton with me and he says there’s absolutely no doubt his
department will make you an offer. Speaking off the cuff, I should say it will
be in the region of eight hundred pounds.’
    ‘What!’
said Mr Bennet, almost dropping the phone.
    ‘Possibly
a bit more. All right to keep them here?’
    ‘I
suppose so,’ said Mr Bennet, wondering if he was dreaming.
    ‘You’ll
hear direct frpm the British Museum. Goodbye.’
    Mr
Bennet replaced the receiver and turned to Carrot. ‘Eight hundred pounds? What
on earth did you find, Carrot?’
    Carrot smiled
mysteriously at his father. Now he was sure that the curse had been removed.
Perhaps Catweazle really was some sort of magician after all.
    Back in
Castle Saburac, Catweazle looked up from Rapkyn’s book and winked at