The Cockatrice Boys by Joan Aiken

Author:Joan Aiken
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Chapter five

Slowly, in fits and starts, depending on the condition of the track, the Cockatrice Belle made her way northwards to York and Thirsk, to Darlington and Newcastle.

Surprisingly few monsters hindered her course. And yet the countryside was sadly empty and wasted; there were very few humans to be seen. Wildlife was considerably reduced too.

“I don’t like it,” muttered the colonel. “It ain’t right, this lack of monsters. I don’t trust it.”

“You think they are mustering, Colonel, for an all-out assault somewhere farther north?” suggested Major Scanty.

“Yes, Major, that’s just what I do think.”

And the colonel made Bellswinger keep the men at battle exercises all day long, every day, to maintain them in hard fighting condition. Mrs. Churt was exhorted to feed them on wild spinach, heather porridge, and what raw greens could be garnered by the track-side, either from woods or commons, or from deserted farms and gardens. But as they travelled north the conditions became more and more wintry, snow lay thicker and thicker on hillsides, there were fewer and fewer wild greens to be found.

The main obstacle to their progress in these rougher and more hilly regions was the state of the track, which often required days of repair before the train could cautiously advance over it. Bridges, likewise, needed mending and the engineers had to make use of what materials they could find lying about in ruined goods-yards and sidings along their route.

“Days and days wasted,” fumed the colonel, as the party of engineers doggedly extended a new span of bridge across the River Tyne.

“It will be much better on the return journey,” mildly pointed out Major Scanty. “Their work will be done already.”

“If we ever do return,” muttered the colonel.

One advantage of these periods of enforced standstill was that Mrs. Churt’s herb-gathering parties could range further afield. And the archbishop spent many hours of leisure with Dakin and Sauna, teaching Dakin French, and Sauna the basics of mathematics.

“But why should I want to measure the distance from that tree to the sun?” she asked. “What use would that be?”

“Oh! my dear child! You never know when such knowledge may not come in handy! And,” pursued the archbishop thoughtfully, “to have knowledge in your brain of any kind, if it is true and factual, is always a useful defence against the assaults of the Evil One. Knowledge is a shield. And it can be a weapon.”

“I’m not sure that I know what you are talking about,” said Sauna. “In fact, I’m quite sure that I don’t.”

“Well, my child. Remember those long, sad days in the past when you were imprisoned in your aunt’s flat with your hands tied behind you to prevent you from knocking over the china treasures. What did you think about during those hours?”

“Well,” admitted Sauna, “at first I used to think of how, if I could get my hands undone, I’d push Auntie Floss out of the window. Or bash her to flinders with the rolling pin. She had one made of marble.

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