• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Arthur turned back. 'What are you up to?' he demanded.

'Just checking,' said Stan.

Arthur grunted again and disappeared through the door. Stan leant close to Mike's ear.

'Wake up,' he hissed urgently. 'You've got to get help!'

But Mike didn't stir a muscle.

Stan shook his head despairingly. He'd have to go back or the Master would miss him. He turned and miserably went back to the candle-lit Cavern...

In spite of the shaking of the ground, Benton kept Bert covered. As slippery as an eel, the fellow looked.

Most of the villagers fell over. Miss Hawthorne sat down with an ungraceful thump.

'Another earthquake!' she gasped. 'That can mean only one thing: the third appearance!'

'In the Cavern?' asked Benton as the movement of the ground died away.

'Where else?' said the Doctor, grimly.

'Right then. Better get over there, hadn't we, Doc?'

'No, no, no. We must wait. And don't call we, “Doc”!'

'Sorry, Doc, I mean, Doctor. Wait? What for?'

'The right moment.'

Benton groanted. Another of them!

'You see,' cried Bert to the crowd of villagers who were anxiously waiting for someone to tell them what to do. 'You see! I told you. This chap's frightened!'

'Of course I am,' returned the Doctor, 'and so should you be... and your friend Mr. Magister. We're facing the greatest danger the world has ever known!' He turned to the people standing around him, and raised his voice. 'I'm going to tell you the truth...'

'No, Doctor,' gasped Miss Hawthorne, 'you'll lose all the advantage we've gained.'

'I've got to risk it.'

Thorpe came over, straightening his tie. 'What truth? What are you talking about?'

The Doctor looked this way and that at the puzzled faces. 'I'm not a magician or a wizard or anything of the sort,' he said.

Bert was being firmly held captive by Wally Stead and the equally large Fred Treglowne, the Cornishman who lived down by the bridge, growing potatoes and minding his own business. Now bewildered, Fred loosened his grasp. Bert seized the opportunity to pull himself free. 'You see! I told you!' be cried to the Doctor's thoroughly confused listeners.

'And neither is the Master,' went on the Doctor.

'You tricked us!' said Bert.

'Yes I did. But only to save you from him.'

'To save your own life, you mean.'

'Of course, that too.'

Bert swung round triumphantly. 'There you are, do you hear him? He admits it!'

But Bert wasn't to have it all his own way. Thorpe ran his fingers nervously through his thinning grey hair. 'Just pipe down a couple of minutes, will you, Bert?'

'But you heard him...' protested Bert.

'Just shut up. We want to hear what he's got to say.'

Seeing that the others largely agreed with Thorpe, Bert reluctantly subsided.

Miss Hawthorne was perhaps the most confused person present. Knowing the trickery involved in the Doctor's display of magic, she nevertheless was quite nonplussed by the behaviour of Bessie. Surely this strange man must have power. He certainly looked like a magician! She could contain herself no longer. 'But what about your car? How did you make it move by itself?'

'Science, not sorcery, Miss Hawthorne. Look!'

The Doctor took out his little black box and twiddled the knob. 'Honk honk!' said Bessie, coyly blinking her headlights.

'Well, I'll be... blowed,' said Sergeant Benton hastily editing his exclamation in deference to the presence of Miss Hawthorne.

'And your Mr. Magister uses no more magic than that.'

Bert's expression betrayed his fear—his fear of losing his most cherished belief. 'You're talking rubbish,' he said, without much conviction. 'Mr. Magister's a magician, I tell you. The things I've seen him do... impossible things! He must be a magician.'

'You're wrong,' replied the Doctor calmly. 'All his feats are based on science—ours or the science of the Dæmons.'

'Tell me this then, if you're so clever. How could he call him up in the first place except by sorcery?'

'How indeed,' thought Miss Hawthorne finding herself a temporary ally of the abominable Bert Walker.