that Omri steal Little Bull?”
“Yes.”
“And Boone?”
Omri nodded.
“Omri fool to steal Boone!” roared Little Bull, laughing. Boone, stuffing himself with chocolate, gave him a dirty look.
“Where woman?” Little Bull asked eagerly.
“I’ve got her.”
“When make real?”
“Tonight.”
Patrick gave him a look of pure longing. But he didn’t say anything. They walked along again. They were getting near Omri’s house.
Omri was thinking. After a while he said, “Patrick, what about you staying the night?”
Patrick’s face lit up like a bulb.
“Could I? And see—”
“Yes.”
“Wow! Thanks!”
They ran the rest of the way home.
Chapter Fourteen THE FATEFUL ARROW
OMRI’S BROTHERS WERE already sitting at the tea-table when the two boys rushed in.
“Hi! What’s for tea?” Omri asked automatically.
Gillon and Adiel didn’t answer. Adiel had a funny smirk on his face. Omri hardly noticed.
“Let’s make a sandwich and eat it upstairs,” he suggested to Patrick.
They slapped some peanut butter on bread, poured mugs of milk, and hurried up the stairs to Omri’s room, whispering all the way.
“How long does it take?”
“Only a few minutes.”
“Can I see her?”
“Wait till we get upstairs!”
Omri opened the door – and stopped dead.
The white medicine-cupboard was gone.
“Wh-where is it?” gasped Patrick.
Omri didn’t say a word. He turned and rushed downstairs again, with Patrick behind him.
“Okay, where’ve you hidden it?” he shouted as soon as he burst into the kitchen.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” said Adiel loftily.
“Yes you damn well do! You’ve nicked my cupboard!”
“And supposing I did. It was only to teach you a lesson. You’re always nicking my things and hiding them. Now you’ll see how funny it isn’t.”
“When did I last take anything of yours? Tell me one thing in the last month!”
“My football shorts,” said Adiel promptly.
“I never touched your lousy shorts, I already swore I hadn’t!”
“I had to miss games again today because I didn’t have them, and I got a detention for it, so you can be grateful I’m only punishing you tit-for-tat and not bashing you in,” said Adiel with maddening calm.
Omri felt so furious he even wondered, for a moment, whether it was worth bashing Adiel in. But Adiel was enormous and it was hopeless. So after gazing at him for another moment with hate-filled eyes, Omri turned and dashed upstairs again, almost falling over Patrick on the way.
“What’ll you do?”
“Look for it, of course!”
He was turning Adiel’s room upside down like a madman when Adiel, slowly mounting the stairs in the direction of his homework, heard the racket and came running.
He stood in the doorway looking at the shambles of pulled-out drawers, degutted cupboards and furniture pulled awry.
“You LITTLE SWINE!” he howled, and dived at Omri. Omri fell to the ground with Adiel on top.
“I’ll tear everything – you’ve got to pieces – till you give it back to me!” he shouted in jerks as Adiel shook and pummelled him.
“Then cough up my shorts!”
“I HAVEN’T GOT YOUR BLOODY SHORTS!” screamed Omri.
“Are these them?” asked a small voice in the background.
Adiel and Omri stopped fighting, and Adiel, sitting astride, twisted his neck to see. Patrick was just lifting a crumpled navy-blue object from behind a radiator.
Omri felt the anger go out of Adiel.
“Oh… Yes. It is, as a matter of fact. How did they get there…?” But Omri knew perfectly well how; Adiel had hung them there to dry and they’d dropped off backwards.
Adiel scrambled up looking distinctly sheepish. He even helped Omri to his feet.
“Well, but you have hidden things in the past,” he mumbled. “How was I to know?”
“Can I have my cupboard now?”
“Yeah, it’s up in the attic. I piled a whole lot of stuff on it.”
Omri and Patrick took the stairs to the attic two at a time.
They found the cupboard quite quickly, under a heap of bits and pieces. But Omri had carried it down to his room again before he made the fatal discovery.
“The key!”
The little twisted key with its red satin ribbon was missing.
Once again Omri ran into Adiel’s room, to find Adiel uncomplainingly putting things straight.
“What happened to the key?”
“What key?”
“There was a key in the cupboard door – with a red ribbon!”
“I didn’t notice.”
They went out and closed the door. Omri was now feeling desperate.
“We’ve got to find it. It doesn’t work without the key.”
They
