Page 34 - dahl__roald_-_fantastic_mr._fox_Neat

16

The Woman

"QUICK!" SAID MR. Fox. "Hide!" He and Badger and the
Smallest Fox jumped up on to a shelf and crouched
behind a row of big cider jars. Peering around the
jars, they saw a huge woman coming down into the

cellar. At the foot of the steps, the woman paused,
"Mind looking to right and left. Then she turned and head-
your own busi- ed straight for the place where Mr. Fox and Badger
ness!" shrieked Rat. "And and the Smallest Fox were hiding. She stopped right

if you great clumsy brutes come in front of them. The only thing between her and
messing about in here we'll all be caught!
them was a row of cider jars. She was so close, Mr.
Get out and leave me to sip my cider in peace." Fox could hear the sound of her breathing. Peeping

At that moment they heard a woman's voice through the crack between two bottles, he noticed
calling out in the house above them. "Hurry up and that she carried a big rolling-pin in one hand.
get that cider, Mabel!" the voice called. "You know
Mr. Bean doesn't like to be kept waiting! Especially
when he's been out all night in a tent!"
The animals froze. They stayed absolutely still,
their ears pricked, their bodies tense. Then they
heard the sound of a door being opened. The door
was at the top of a flight of stone steps leading down
from the house to the cellar.
And now someone was starting to come down
those steps.

vi 661. «67