Baker Street Boys by Anthony Read

Author:Anthony Read [Read, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, detective, YA, Sherlock Holmes
ISBN: 9781844289615
Google: 8-kRAgAACAAJ
Publisher: Walker
Published: 2005-08-01T07:00:00+00:00

A Bomb in a Box

The Great Gandini towered over Sparrow, his face contorted in fury. “I’ll teach you to keep your nose out of my business,” he snarled. He wrapped a chain round the helpless boy, pinioning his arms tightly to his side, and fastened it with a huge padlock. Sparrow suddenly noticed that the magician had grown taller, and was wearing a wide-brimmed black hat and a heavy coat with a curly fur collar. He was now, Sparrow realized, the big man they had been trailing earlier. Another man stood behind him, laughing coldly. Sparrow could not see his face, but he knew that it was the evil Professor.

“Drop him down the well,” the Professor hissed. “They’ll never find him there.”

Then Sparrow saw a black hole in front of him, so deep it seemed to have no bottom. The two men from the storeroom appeared from the shadows, seized Sparrow and started to drag him towards the hole…

And then Sparrow woke up, trembling from his bad dream. He was almost relieved to find he was still inside the packing case. It was pitch black and totally silent, and he was very frightened. But he had been so tired after all the events of the day that he had fallen asleep. Sparrow had no idea how long he had slept, but the empty feeling in his stomach suggested it had been some time. He would still have been sleeping, but something had disturbed him. He became aware that someone was moving around the room.

Suddenly alert, Sparrow listened hard. Was it the Professor back again? Or the big man? What should he do? If he called out, he might be in even greater danger, but at least he would be rescued from the packing case. It was a difficult decision. He held his breath in fear. Then someone called out “Ow!” and someone else made a shushing noise.

“Sorry,” the first voice said. “I hurt my toe.”

Sparrow could hardly believe his ears. It was Beaver!

“Oi!” he shouted, as loudly as he could.

There was a scream, and a bump as something was knocked over.

“There’s somebody here!” That was Queenie’s voice.

“Can’t see nobody,” came Gertie’s voice. “Must be invisible.”

“It’s a ghost!” That was Rosie.

“No, it ain’t!” Sparrow shouted. “It’s me!”

“Sparrow?” Wiggins called.

“Yeah! Get me out of here!”

“Where are you?”

“Over here! In the big box!”

A flicker of light penetrated a crack in the packing case, as Wiggins shone his lantern over it.

“What’s he doin’ in there?” Shiner asked.

Beaver lifted off the smaller packing case, which was trapping Sparrow in his hiding place. Wiggins opened the lid, and a very grateful Sparrow popped up like a jack-in-the-box, a grin on his face that seemed to stretch from one ear to the other.

“Am I pleased to see you lot!” he exclaimed happily.

In the light of the lantern, the others grinned back at him – all except Beaver, who was standing holding the smaller packing case and looking puzzled.

“What’s that ticking noise?” he asked.

Sparrow suddenly realized what he had been sleeping with.

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