Matty and Bill for Keeps by Elizabeth Fensham Read Free Book Online Page A

with approval. The girl grabbed her ball from Freckles and tucked it under one arm. She ran away, full pelt. He bellowed, but didn’t follow.
    Crispin, crouching low, scuttled behind the toilet block. ‘What’s he up to?’ Mat whispered.
    â€˜Don’t know, but he obviously has a plan,’ Bill answered.
    A crash followed. Something heavy had fallen on the tin roof of the toilets. Mat and Bill watched as Freckles swung round. Then there was a mournful, low hoot of an owl. It vibrated, then died away. It seemed to come from the opposite direction to the toilets, over near the assembly hall. Freckles’ gang turned to face that direction. It was a still afternoon and there were no other sounds. The quietness was eerie. Freckles was gesturing in a range of directions, spreading his men out to investigate.
    He walked carefully towards the shady front porch of the school office. Mat and Bill felt tense. They didn’t know where Crispin had got to. They watched Freckles mount the first step of the porch. Next there came a blinding flash of afternoon sun reflecting off metal and a trumpet blast rang out like a fog horn. Freckles tumbled backwards off the step onto the cement pathway and landed awkwardly on one arm. A figure dressed in a flowing, black cloak with a woolly sheepskin draped over his head stood on the steps. He blew his trumpet again. Even from where Mat and Bill hid, it was dreadfully loud. Freckles, who had been writhing in pain, covered his ears and then struggled to his feet and limped away. He looked back over his shoulder – but his vanquisher had disappeared.
    Crispin met up with Mat and Bill in the hiding spot behind the mulch. Bill clapped Crispin on the back. ‘You did well, mate.’
    â€˜That trumpet really spooked Freckles!’ said Mat with admiration.
    â€˜Can’t claim the credit for that one,’ said Crispin modestly. ‘I’ve always been intrigued by the story about Joshua destroying the walls of Jericho with his mighty trumpet blasts.’
    â€˜Who?’ asked Bill.
    Mat was silent. She, too, didn’t know what Crispin was talking about.
    â€˜Joshua was an Israelite leader who got his priests to blow rams’ horns and his soldiers to shout when they marched round and round the walls of this town called Jericho. The walls crumbled down,’ explained Crispin.
    â€˜Noise as a weapon,’ said Bill.
    â€˜There’d be a scientific explanation behind it. Vibrations or something,’ said Matty.
    â€˜It’s brilliant. Now back to business. We have our first meeting next. We’ll have one or two items on the agenda, of course. Then we’ll let you know if you’re in,’ said Bill.
    â€˜I’m not part of the club yet?’ asked Crispin.
    â€˜Not quite. We have some preliminaries to deal with,’ said Mat.

The new meeting place for the club was a low-beamed space under the Grubs’ roof. Mat called it the attic. They climbed up to it via a ladder and through a manhole in the ceiling of Matty’s bedroom. It was quite dark with the faintest bit of light coming from a four-paned, cobwebby window on one side. Matty had made a space amongst boxes and old suitcases in the centre of the attic where there was maximum height, but they had to step carefully or they would bump their heads. The three children sat on a blanket with a torch placed in the midst of them. Its beam shone upwards so that Matty, Bill and Crispin’s faces were misshapen. Their jaws and mouths looked huge, but the upper parts of their heads were shadowy, like ghosts.
    â€˜I thought I’d passed all the tests,’ said Crispin forlornly.
    â€˜You have passed the tests of courage and endurance,’ said Mat, ‘but you still have to prove that you’re worthy of our trust.’
    â€˜How do I do that?’
    â€˜You have to tell us something about yourself that’s secret.’
    â€˜But I’m not a