Colin and the Little Prince

Merv Lambert

Description

Read how Mr. Jellysox got his strange name, how Billy gets into a lot of trouble at school but how M, his invisible emu, helps him to get out of a tricky situation involving a large beaker of water and some unpleasant Sixth Formers. Also see how M spooks the culprits. Moreover, who is the Sixth Musketeer? Olivia takes on the role as Olivier, and as Colin's trainee musketeer defeats the second best swordsman in the whole of France. Finally on a speeding express train Olivia and Colin prevent Princess Katrina and her brother Peter from being kidnapped, whilst Colin and M divert the train elsewhere. As expected, in every story in which he appears M never misses a chance to produce his own brand of comical antics.

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781781661666
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page

COLIN AND THE LITTLE PRINCE











By
Merv Lambert




Publisher Information

Colin and the little Prince Published in 2012
By Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.

Copyright © Merv Lambert 2012

The right of Merv Lambert to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.




Colin and the Little Prince

Colin and Olivia, Billy and Jilly were all exhausted after playing tennis with M in the park. They had had to wait until it was nearly dark, and book the last half-hour that the only court was open. It would be quite difficult for anyone else to see what was really happening. M always played invisibly, but his racquet, held firmly in his strong beak, was there for all to see. It would look as if the racquet was playing all by itself and of its own accord. Their little dog Sammy loved to watch the balls whizzing to and fro, and sometimes he would run to fetch one back, when it went out of play off the court.
Billy and Jilly set off for home on the far side of the park, whereas Colin and Olivia lived nearer to it on the Liverpool Road. When they arrived home, Sammy settled in his basket, and M went out for a game of hide-and-seek with next door’s little cat Millie. Olivia was already in bed by the time Colin had had a quick shower and was just locking up the house. He noticed his special book lying open on the end of the bed. He would just move it onto the armchair.
“No, Colin!” shouted Olivia, but she was too late. She only had time to think ‘Colin’s got to be at work in the morning’. Then they were all whipped away again on another adventure. The magic phoenix bookmark was glowing merrily. Didn’t it realise that she, Olivia, needed some sleep sometimes?
To make matters worse, when she opened her eyes, she was not with Colin. She could see her own reflection in the mirror of the compartment of the old-fashioned railway carriage in which she was sitting. She was wearing a long white dress that came down to her ankles and a small but neat navy blue hat. She glanced down at her feet. She was wearing smart court shoes that matched the colour of her hat and the small handbag she was clutching. There was no one else there except Sammy. It was a very clean, very elegant carriage, probably first class, and she could tell by the scenery flashing past that the train she was in was travelling at a considerably fast speed.
In the corridor a uniformed ticket-inspector appeared. He tapped on the window of the door, and slid it open.
“Tickets please, madam,” he said.
Olivia looked down at her left hand, and was not entirely surprised to find two tickets, one for herself and one for Sammy. Was that usual? Was she allowed to have a pet in here travelling with her? Apparently so. The ticket-inspector smiled at Sammy, as he clipped the tickets.
“When do we get in?” asked Olivia.
“Edinburgh? 8 p.m., madam. Thank you.”
The man stepped into the corridor, and slid the door shut.
Olivia sat wondering. Where was Colin?
In fact he was on the train, but in just about the last place Olivia would have expected him to be. He was in the driver’s cab of the locomotive!
It’s often been said that it was every small boy’s dream to drive a steam train. Colin would have added that it was also many a small man’s too, but he wasn’t actually driving the train. Yes, he was on the footplate, but he was assisting the driver. He glanced down at his fireman’s overalls for the first time. Yes, he would be working very hard, very hard indeed.
The train-driver, a small man with a large mop of silvery hair, glared at Colin, and snapped, “Get on with it then! More coal! More coal!”
With the bookmark glowing warmly in his pocket Colin swung open the heavy door of the engine’s furnace to be met by a blast of heat from within. Setting his feet firmly apart, he filled his big shovel with coal and emptied it easily onto the flames. He repeated this several times before shutting the furnace door.
The engine-driver was now looking at him with some approval.
“Ain’t seen you before,” he said. “I thought this was your first time up.”
“Yes, it is,” answered Colin, “but people say I’m a quick learner.”
“What’s your name again?” asked the driver.
“Colin. What’s yours? I was in such a hurry to get on board I missed it.”
“I’m Albert.” The driver proudly thumped himself on the chest. “Named after the prince you know… the one that died early.”
“Oh, Queen Victoria’s husband.”
“That’s the one.”
Albert kept glancing with expert, satisfied eyes at all the gauges and controls necessary to keep the great locomotive speeding along. He also kept a watchful eye on the track ahead.
“Talkin’ of the queen as was, I hear we got royalty on this train.”
“Oh, who?” asked Colin.
“Er, I dunno exactly. Some prince and princess from some country in Europe. They don’t tell me much. Security you know.”
Suddenly he looked suspicious, and jerking his head At Colin, he asked, “‘Ere, you’re not one of them security geezers, are yer?”
“No of course not,” answered Colin, pretending to be offended. Whoever heard of a security man who could fire up a locomotive?”
“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, mate.”
Meanwhile Colin had found a stub of pencil and a scrap of paper in a pocket of his grubby overalls, and while Albert was concentrating on his dials, he wrote a short note to Olivia. ‘Am on the train. On the footplate. C’. He quickly passed it to M, who had been squatting or standing on the pile of coal on the tender just behind the thundering locomotive. Colin told him to find Olivia and to give her the note. Straight away the emu leapt onto the roof of the first carriage, and somehow finding purchase to grip with his large claws, he bent his long neck down to peer in every window all along one side. What a shock the passengers would have had, if he had not been invisible to them! Only Olivia saw him. She was in the second carriage along, undoubtedly first class. M tapped on the glass of the window, the note clasped firmly in his beak. Quickly Olivia stood up, and lowered the window enough for M to pass the scrap of paper to her. She read the brief message, smiled, and said, “Thank you, M. See you later then.” The emu gave an upside-down nod, and disappeared, hopping along the roofs of the carriages until he reached the tender again. He peered down at Colin, who looked up. M gave another of his now customary little nods. Colin thought ‘We ought to teach him to shake his head to indicate he means ‘no’, but that’s for later. We’ve got more important things to do. Maybe saving royalty is one of them.’
Albert was about to roar, “More coal! More coal!”, but Colin beat him to it again, managing the heavy manual work easily and smoothly.
“I must say you’re a natural,” remarked Albert. “I’ve never seen a better fireman than you. Keep it up, lad!” Praise indeed from a veteran railwayman!
The train thundered on northwards. Colin continued to shovel coal into the fire-box. He was enjoying this.
In her carriage Olivia looked into her handbag to see if the magic bookmark had provided her with anything unusual. Yes, it had! A can of pepper-spray! Straight away she knew it was there for a reason. She would need to be able to get to it quickly. Therefore she left the top of the bag unclasped, and had just slipped its strap over her left shoulder, when someone tapped twice on the compartment’s door. A tall, dark-haired man about forty years old slid the door open and gave a slight bow.
His voice was deep. “Excuse me, madame, (He pronounced it the French way) the princess invites you to take tea with her in her carriage.”
Raising her eyebrows in surprise, Olivia decided to go along with this. She smiled, and said, “Thank you.”
The tall man bowed again. “I am Count Voinin. Please follow me.”
Olivia stood, picked up her white gloves with her left hand and Sammy with her right, and tucked him comfortably under her arm. She stepped out into the corridor. She began walking behind Voinin towards the front of the train, and when they reached the furthest door, he stepped aside after sliding it open. He gestured politely for Olivia to enter. Inside this compartment was very different from any other that Olivia had seen. It was large and spacious, and looked like the living-room of a rich person’s house. At the far end was a white leather sofa with two matching armchairs facing it. A liveried footman was just arranging a tray on a small table in front of it. Another, taller, darker, younger man stood behind the sofa. He inclined his head courteously to Olivia, but her eyes were drawn towards a young woman dressed in white. She had blue eyes and long blonde hair.
“Welcome,” she said.
Voinin stepped in to make the introductions.
“Your Royal Highness, this is…” Then he frowned and faltered.
“Call me Olivia, Your Highness,” said Olivia, remembering to curtsey.
The princess offered her hand to shake.
“No need to be formal with me,” she laughed. “You may call me Katrina. Please sit down. Tea is ready. It is one of the charming things