Postern of Fate (Tommy and Tuppence Series) - Agatha Christie [85]
Hannibal was now sniffing round the pampas grass, first growling, after which he began to bark loudly. At intervals he turned his head towards Tommy.
‘I expect there’s a cat in there,’ said Tommy. ‘You know what he’s like when he thinks a cat is around. There’s the big black cat that comes round here and the little one. The one that we call the Kitty-cat.’
‘That’s the one that’s always getting into the house,’ said Tuppence. ‘It seems to get through the smallest chinks. Oh, do stop, Hannibal. Come back.’
Hannibal heard and turned his head. He was expressing a very high degree of fierceness. He gave Tuppence a look, went back a little way, then turned his attention once more to the clump of pampas grass and began barking furiously.
‘There’s something worries him,’ said Tommy. ‘Come on, Hannibal.’
Hannibal shook himself, shook his head, looked at Tommy, looked at Tuppence and made a prancing attack on the pampas grass, barking loudly.
There was a sudden sound. Two sharp explosions.
‘Good Lord, somebody must be shooting rabbits,’ exclaimed Tuppence.
‘Get back. Get back inside KK, Tuppence,’ said Tommy.
Something flew past his ear. Hannibal, now fully alerted, was racing round and round the pampas grass. Tommy ran after him.
‘He’s chasing someone now,’ he said. ‘He’s chasing someone down the hill. He’s running like mad.’
‘Who was it–what was it?’ said Tuppence.
‘You all right, Tuppence?’
‘No, I’m not quite all right,’ said Tuppence. ‘Something–something, I think, hit me here, just below the shoulder. Was it–what was it?’
‘It was someone shooting at us. Someone who was hidden inside that pampas grass.’
‘Someone who was watching what we were doing,’ said Tuppence. ‘Do you think that’s it, perhaps?’
‘I expect it’s them Irish,’ said Clarence hopefully. ‘The IRA. You know. They’ve been trying to blow this place up.’
‘I don’t think it’s of any political significance,’ said Tuppence.
‘Come into the house,’ said Tommy. ‘Come quickly. Come on, Clarence, you’d better come too.’
‘You don’t think your dog will bite me?’ said Clarence uncertainly.
‘No,’ said Tommy. ‘I think he is busy for the moment.’
They had just turned the corner into the garden door when Hannibal reappeared suddenly. He came racing up the hill very out of breath. He spoke to Tommy in the way a dog does speak. He came up to him, shook himself, put a paw on Tommy’s trouser leg and tried to pull him in the direction from which he had just come.
‘He wants me to go with him after whoever the man was,’ said Tommy.
‘Well, you’re not to,’ said Tuppence. ‘If there’s anyone there with a rifle or a pistol or something that shoots, I’m not going to have you shot. Not at your age. Who would look after me if anything happened to you? Come on, let’s get indoors.’
They went into the house quickly. Tommy went out into the hall and spoke on the telephone.
‘What are you doing?’ said Tuppence.
‘Telephoning the police,’ said Tommy. ‘Can’t let anything like this pass. They may get on to someone if we’re in time.’
‘I think,’ said Tuppence, ‘that I want something put on my shoulder. This blood is ruining my best jumper.’
‘Never mind your jumper,’ said Tommy.
Albert appeared at that moment with a complete service of first aid.
‘Well I never,’ said Albert. ‘You mean some dirty guy has shot at the missus? Whatever’s happening next in this country?’
‘You don’t think you ought to go to the hospital, do you?’
‘No, I don’t,’ said Tuppence. ‘I’m quite all right but I want an outsize Band-Aid or something to stick on here. Put on something like friar’s balsam first.’
‘I’ve got some iodine.’
‘I don’t want iodine. It stings. Besides, they say now in hospitals that it isn’t the right thing to put on.’
‘I thought friar’s balsam was something you breathed in out of an inhaler,’ said