Mr Majeika and the Lost Spell Book by Humphrey Carpenter

Author:Humphrey Carpenter
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141944371
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2009-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

5. Who Stole the Map?

The castle was a big building near the railway station, made of old grey stone. Alongside a notice giving the opening hours and the ticket prices was a signpost that said: ‘To the Oldest Library in the World’. They followed the direction in which the signpost was pointing, and found themselves at the back of the castle, where there was a very old-looking door with the word ‘Library’ painted on it. Above a big iron handle were the words ‘Please Ring’, so Thomas pulled the handle very hard, and they could hear the jangling of a bell some distance away.

For what seemed like a long time, nothing happened. Then suddenly a flap in the door sprang open, making them all jump, and a face poked through – the face of an old man with a beard.

‘Y-y-y-y-yes?’ he said very sharply, but with a stammer. ‘You r-r-r-r-rang the b-b-b-b-bell?’

‘We d-d-d-d-did,’ said Thomas, who seemed to have caught the stammer from the old man. ‘I mean,’ he went on, without a stammer, ‘we did. We want to see the map that shows the Old Back – ow!’ He ended like this because Pete had just stepped on his toes, to shut him up. Pete thought it wasn’t a good idea to mention the Old Back Door just yet.

‘We’d like, please, to look at your collection of old maps,’ Pete said.

‘H-h-h-h-how old?’ asked the old man, looking very suspiciously at Pete.

‘Oh, very old indeed, please,’ said Jody.

‘And w-w-w-w-which of you wants to s-s-s-s-see them?’ asked the old man, peering around at them all.

‘Our teacher, Mr Majeika,’ said Thomas, rubbing his foot where Pete had stood on it. ‘He needs to see the map, so that he can discover the Old Back – ow!’ Pete had stepped on his other foot.

‘Mr Majeika?’ repeated the old man. ‘N-n-n-n-now where have I heard or seen that n-n-n-n-name before?’ He looked Pete straight in the eye. ‘Are you Mr Majeika?’ he said.

Pete shook his head. ‘No,’ said the old man, ‘I thought you weren’t.’

He shifted his gaze to Thomas. ‘Are you Mr Majeika? No? I thought not.’ This time he looked at Jody. ‘And you d-d-d-d-

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.