The Worst Witch to the Rescue by Jill Murphy Page A

thistledown.
    Einstein was trying very hard (and not succeeding) to pull himself together. His head, legs and tail were zooming in and out of his shell like an insane cuckoo clock and he was muttering to himself, attempting to take his mind off the fact that the tree was now making ominous deep creaking sounds.
    When he saw the flickering light from Mildred’s broom outside the entrance to the hollow, he thought it was lightning and this was the very last straw. Yelling one last, desperate ‘HELP!’ he pulled himself back into the deepest depths of his shell and switched off.
    ‘Einstein?!’ yelled Mildred, just catching the ‘Help!’ above the lashing rain. ‘Where are you?’

    Mildred wobbled her way towards the place where she thought the voice had come from and the light from the lantern caught the edge of the hollow. She few to the entrance and hung on to the scrubby branches so that the lantern lit up the inside of the hollow and Einstein’s closed-up shell.
    ‘It’s all right, Einstein!’ Mildred exclaimed. ‘I’m here! I’ll have to button you inside my cardigan so you don’t fall. Don’t be scared. I’ll hold you very tightly. I won’t let you fall.’
    Steadying herself by clutching the edge of the hollow with one hand, she gently lifted the terrified tortoise out with the other and peered into the deep cave-like area at the front of his shell, where he had retracted himself so far that he was invisible.
    ‘Say something, Einsy,’ she said affectionately, buttoning him tightly inside her cardigan in case the exhausted broomstick lurched in the wind and threw them both off. ‘You’re safe now. I’ll have you down in a jiffy. We’ll be back in the warm before you know it.’

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

    oing down was so much more pleasant than going up, as the wind diminished in strength towards the forest floor. Mildred breathed a sigh of relief when her feet bounced on the grass and she could finally stand upright again, although she felt slightly unsteady rather like the feeling you have when you’ve been on a boat for a long time and finally reach land.
    ‘Come on, Einstein,’ she said, peering down the front of her cardigan. ‘Speak to me! You’re OK now, we’re on planet earth again. Isn’t this just my luck. The best broomstick handling I’ve ever done and no one to witness it.’
    ‘Just one witness, Mildred Hubble,’ said the most unwelcome voice that Mildred could possibly hear.
    ‘Miss Hardbroom!’ exclaimed Mildred, jumping right off her feet in horrified surprise as she saw her form mistress, wrapped in a sodden cloak standing close behind her, holding up a lantern. ‘Oh, Miss Hardbroom, I know this looks bad, but –’

    ‘Spare me the sound of your voice for a few minutes, Mildred,’ said Miss Hardbroom, smoothing back a tendril of dripping hair. ‘Let’s get out of this wind before you launch into the usual raving explanation of your tiresome behaviour. Miss Cackle is waiting in her study.’
    Miss Cackle was just making a second cup of hot chocolate when her study door crashed open and a dripping Miss Hardbroom swept in, guiding the drenched Mildred in front of her.
    ‘Oh, my goodness!’ exclaimed Miss Cackle. ‘Miss Hardbroom, Mildred, come over here and stand by the fire. Mildred, take off that wet cloak and cardigan at once! Miss Hardbroom, please remove your cloak and get yourself warm. You’ll both catch pneumonia in all those wet things.’
    Mildred wrestled her way out of the cloak, which had twisted itself like ascarf around her shoulders, and began, very carefully, to unbutton her cardigan. Miss Cackle was watching her intently, waiting to take the wet garments and drape them near the fire, so there was no hiding Einstein, who was still lurking deep inside his shell.
    ‘Good gracious me!’ said Miss Cackle. ‘Is that a tortoise , Mildred?’

    ‘Yes, Miss Cackle,’ said Mildred bleakly. ‘He’s called Einstein. He can speak, Miss Cackle, but he’s