bottom landed right on top of another policeman’s face.
BOING!
“POOH!” complained the one whose nose was now stuck up the other’s rear end.
Needless to say, this perfect piece of slapstick was greeted by howls of laughter from the crowd.
“HA! HA! HA!”
“AFTER HER, YOU FOOLS!” barked Barker.
“Right away, Commissioner, sir!” said one.
“FORM A LADDER!” ordered the commissioner.
“How are we gonna do that?”
“Heaviest at the bottom.”
“That’s very kind of you, sir.”
Barker fumed. His tiny moustache twitched. “I am not part of the ladder! I am in charge! Now, the heaviest at the bottom, then the next heaviest, then the next, and so on and so forth.”
The policemen all started arguing among themselves. No one wanted to be at the bottom.
“I’m the lightest!”
“No. I’m the lightest!”
“You’re the heaviest by far!”
“I’ve lost weight.”
“You still look fat.”
“I’ve just got a round face.”
“SHE’S GETTING AWAY!” thundered Barker.
The girl was nearing the top of the drainpipe. The commissioner took charge of his human ladder, quickly ordering who went where. Soon the policemen were reluctantly climbing on top of one another.
Needless to say, this amateur acrobatics act immediately came crashing to the ground.
“O O F!”
“OUCH!”
“ARGH!”
“EEK!”
“HELP! Someone’s trodden on me bits!”
The crowd whooped and cheered at this brilliant piece of entertainment.
“HURRAH!”
By this time, Elsie had reached the roof of the museum. She took a moment to acknowledge her adoring audience, and gave them a little bow.
The crowd burst into wild applause.
“YES!”
“SHE’S DONE IT!”
“GO! GO! GO!”
The little girl hurried over the sloping roofs to the far side of the building, her monkey feet gripping the lead. For a moment, looking over the rooftops of London, she felt immortal. However, when a tile slipped from under her, she suddenly felt distinctly mortal.
The tile exploded on to the ground.
Instantly, Elsie slammed down on to the roof…
THUD!
…and began sliding down it at speed.
“AAAH!”
The girl rolled over in a desperate attempt to grab on to the roof. Just as she was about to fly off, she managed to hook her fingers round the guttering. However, Elsie was going so fast she swung forward. Her fingers unhooked and she felt herself hurtling through the air.
“NOOO!”
Elsie flew forward and burst through a stained-glass window.
SHATTER!
She rolled down some stone steps before landing on top of a glass cabinet that housed the skeleton of a sabre-toothed tiger.
THUD!
Elsie came down with such force that the sheet of glass on which she landed began to crack.
K E R C H U N K !
Like a shaft of lightning splintering through the sky, the crack shot across the glass.
BING!
In a split second, the glass panel at the top of the cabinet misted over as it became a thousand tiny pieces. Elsie knew exactly what was going to happen next, but was powerless to stop it. She gulped. The glass crumbled beneath her, and Elsie fell into the cabinet, landing on the back of the sabre-toothed tiger.
Now the girl was trapped inside the glass cabinet, and with all the noise from the window smashing she was sure to have drawn attention to herself. If only there were some way of breaking one of the glass walls, but they were inches thick. However hard she thumped with her fists, it just wouldn’t break.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Feeling that there was little chance of the sabre-toothed tiger skeleton missing it, she pulled out one of its sabre-toothed teeth. With an almighty swing of her arm, she bashed the sharp end of the tooth against the glass.
BUNK!
SMASH!
It immediately splintered, and the tiny pieces of glass showered down like rain.
P A T T E R !
Not needing the tooth any more, Elsie stuck it back where she’d found it, and patted the sabre-toothed tiger skeleton in thanks.
“Good boy!”
The sound of bootsteps echoed along the corridor.
It must be the museum’s head of security, Mr Clout. Elsie knew she had to make a run for it. Having no shoes on her feet, she carefully stepped over the pieces of broken glass, and charged off down a corridor.
Staying close to the walls and keeping out of the light – something she had learned
