We Were Only Strawberry Picking by Henrietta Defreitas Read Free Book Online

that inhabitant. He obviously knew the way out and had decided to turn back after Jack had scared him and I think he knew where he was going, having realised where he had gone wrong, if that makes sense. I don’t think we have a choice anymore.’
    ‘Yes, I agree with Oscar,’ said Lyndi Lou, ‘I just want to get out of here. He did sound pretty harmless – I think he was more frightened of us than we were of him, so how scary could the others be?’
    ‘That’s debatable but all right, I think we need to take a vote: I say we should carry on along this tunnel rather than walking into enemy hands. All those in favour of staying on this path, stick their hand up.’ Only one hand was up in the air and that was Henratty’s. She rolled her eyes in dismay but knew she had to go with their decision, albeit reluctantly.
    ‘I guess the decision is unanimous then, we go back to the other tunnel and try to work out from there where the creature was heading. I reckon if Jack’s torch holds out, we should be able to see footprints left by the creature and follow those. So eat up and let’s get going,’ suggested Henratty.
    Indeed, they found the tunnel where Enoch had gone. They could also see a speck of blood on the ground where he had perhaps injured himself when he panicked. They followed his footprints which were clearly visible. He was definitely a fairly big animal but not as big as they had initially imagined.
    It felt like they had walked for miles when suddenly they saw a flicker of light in the distance. This looks promising, but could it be a trap, they hoped not but it was a journey they would have to take and suffer the consequences, they all thought.
    Jack led the party towards the lights and as they turned the corner he realised that this tunnel had newer tracks on it. What a lucky find, so he thought.
    ‘Look guys,’ as he aimed the torch down on the tracks. These are working tracks – I bet if we follow these they will lead us to the shaft exit. The mine obviously had working trams at some point to take all the diamonds over ground.
    ‘For the last time, they weren’t mining for diamonds,’ reiterated Henratty.
    ‘It’s a matter of opinion, they’re not exactly going to broadcast to the whole of Meerville the fact that there were diamonds down here, so I’m not convinced you’re right, we’ll see,’ retorted Jack. Henratty then shook her head in disbelief at Jack’s notion and decided it was best she ignored anymore suggestions of diamonds from Jack and let him play out his fantasy by himself.
    The discovery of the tracks had certainly restored the meerkats’ confidence somewhat, but little did they realise that these tracks would only lead them straight to the inhabitants’ base, exactly where they didn’t want to be. Jack thought it was a good time for everybody to have a sip of water as he passed around his water tank and on they marched.
    The lights only seem to illuminate part of the way and as they got further up the tunnel they were in pitch darkness again and at this point he got his torch out. Indeed, Nora’s plan was working, she had suggested that they turn the lights out along the tunnel in order to restrict their visitors’ visibility as far as possible so they could easily ambush them, as well as make it much harder for them to find a way out, not that there really was a way out, or was there?
    * * *
    Nora, Cooper and a distraught Enoch had arrived back at base.
    ‘Look they’ve found Enoch,’ spouted Poppy. ‘Oh, Enoch, so glad you are safe. What have you done to your face?’
    ‘Oh, nothing, I gashed it on a sharp stone on the corner of the exit of the tunnel when I was running for my life.’
    ‘What actually happened?’ Enoch explained how he had lost his way and ended up in the tunnel system on the other side of the mineshaft and as he started to retrace his steps he heard a noise and the next thing he knew he was being chased by a bear.
    ‘A bear,’ they all