Cliffhanger Read Free Page A

thumping again. Jake saw my face.
    â€˜It
is
great, fellows, really,’ said Jake. ‘Come on, lie down now.’
    â€˜Just got to get something,’ said Giles, haring over to his bag.
    He dug deep . . . and came out with a teddy bear. Giles’s bear had a stitched nose stuck right up in the air and a sneery mouth.
    â€˜Old teddy, eh?’ said Jake.
    â€˜He’s not any old teddy, he’s Sir Algernon Honeypot,’ said Giles.
    â€˜Well, settle down with his sirship, then,’ said Jake.
    Biscuits was rootling about in his bag now.
    â€˜Biscuits! No more food, do you hear me?’ said Jake.
    â€˜I’m just getting Dog Hog,’ said Biscuits.
    â€˜Who?’ said Jake.
    Biscuits produced a long browny-pink knitted creature with floppy limbs and a curly tail. Biscuits made it prance about his bed.
    â€˜We can’t work out if he’s a dog or a pig. My granny knitted him and she’s not very great at knitting actually,’ said Biscuits.
    Jake looked at me.
    â€˜Have you got your teddy, Tim?’
    I just shook my head. I couldn’t say a thing.
    I got into bed and pulled the sheets over my head. My arms felt so
empty
without Walter. And no-one would have laughed at me or called me a baby for having a cuddly toy.
    I wanted my Walter Bear
so
much.
    I don’t know when I went to sleep.
    I kept waking up in the night.
    And then it was suddenly day, and Jake was in our bedroom again, telling us to rise and shine. We were going up in the hills straight after breakfast.
    Abseiling!



Chapter Three
    IT TOOK AGES and ages to get up to the top of the hill. And all the way up I kept thinking about what it would be like coming
down
.
    The others raced ahead, desperate to get there first.
    I was jolly determined to be last.
    Jake kept yelling to Biscuits and me to hurry up. We went as slowly as possible. And then even slower. And then we slowed almost to a standstill.
    â€˜Come
on
, you guys! We’re all waiting!’ Jake shouted.
    He had the others gathered round ready to learn about abseiling. Biscuits and I had to gather too, puffing and panting.

    It was like being on the edge of the world. I took one look at the steep drop and started shaking. Kelly and Giles were pushing and shoving each other, arguing about who had got to the top first. They didn’t even seem to notice that if they took six steps the wrong way they’d be pushing and shoving in thin air.
    â€˜Hey, hey! No messing around now,’ said Jake. ‘This is the serious bit. OK. Abseiling for beginners!’
    He got all the ropes out of his backpack.
    â€˜Who’s going to go first?’
    â€˜Me! Me!’ said Giles.
    â€˜No, me! Pick me, Jake.
Please
,’ said Kelly.
    â€˜You two are always first,’ said Jake.
    He put his arm round Laura and Lesley , who were hanging on to each other.
    â€˜How about you, Laura? Or Lesley?’ said Jake.
    â€˜Lesley can go first,’ said Laura.
    â€˜No,
you
can go first, Laura,’ said Lesley.
    Jake laughed. Then he looked at me.
    â€˜How about you, Tim?’
    â€˜No!’ I squeaked.
    Biscuits suddenly stepped forward.
    â€˜I’ll have a go,’ he said.
    We all stared at him, stunned.
    â€˜Great!’ said Jake, giving him a pat on the back. ‘OK. Come and step into the harness, Biscuits.’
    â€˜That’s going to be a bit of a squeeze!’ said Giles.
    â€˜Why do the boys always go first? It’s not fair,’ said Kelly.
    â€˜You lot pipe down,’ said Jake. ‘Watch carefully and listen.’ He was helping Biscuits get the ropes sorted around him. ‘We’ll hitch this up and tighten it . . .’
    â€˜It’s tight already,’ said Giles.
    â€˜Giles! Shut it!’ said Jake. ‘Now, we tie up all the buckles and clip this gadget here – tighten it up, see, so it can’t be opened. That means you can’t fall out.’
    â€˜Are