Free Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl by Daniel Pinkwater Page B

"Harold need to use toilet."
    "It's out back, Harold dear," Chicken Nancy said.
    When Harold stood up, I thought his head was going to brush the ceiling, but he was short! He was no taller than Professor Tag! "He's short!" I said to Chicken Nancy when he had left the room. "He's about five foot seven!"
    "It's impolite to mention people's physical characteristics," Chicken Nancy said. "It's true, Harold is small for a giant, but he is a giant nonetheless, and from an ancient race of giants. And think of this, girls." Chicken Nancy was smiling. "Harold has a boat!"
    "I see what you want!" I said. "You want us to go to that island!"
    "Pollepel Island," Chicken Nancy said.
    "Yes! Where the Wolluf is!" Molly said.
    "Well, it may or may not be," Chicken Nancy said. "As to wanting you to go, I can't say I actually want you to go—I just thought you might be curious to go. It's a very interesting place. The native people would never go there. They thought it was an evil place and haunted. And the Dutch thought so too. They thought it was where the wild things were. After
the Civil War, a man named Bannerman bought up all the old soldier hats, and bayonets, and cannons, and tons of leftover gunpowder, and built a rather ornate castle on the island to keep it all in."
    "What did he do with it all?" Molly asked.
    "He sold it to small armies in other countries, and collectors, and theatrical companies putting on plays. Also, all those cannons you see on courthouse steps and town squares came from there. After a while he died and his sons moved their war-surplus business to Brooklyn and stopped using the island. It's been standing deserted for the past few years."
    "So you think we would be curious to go to an island that the Indians thought was haunted—and evil—that the Dutch thought was haunted, and that is full of explosives, and apparently go there in a boat with a giant who must be the smallest..."
    "Shhh!" Chicken Nancy put a finger to her lips.
    Harold was back. "Harold want more pancakes," he said.
    "I'm curious to go," Molly said.
    "What? You want to go?"
    "Well, yes. I think it would be interesting."
    "What about the Wolluf? You want to see the Wolluf?"
    "I especially want to see the Wolluf."
    "Chicken Nancy says it's fierce. She says after seeing the Wolluf, meeting the Muffin Man is like a birthday party!"
    "Are you scared?"
    "No, I am not scared," I said.
    "Then let's go, since you're not scared."
    "Fine," I said. "We'll go."
    "Harold take girls to island?" Harold asked.
    "Yes," Chicken Nancy said. "And bring them back when they're done."
    "Unless we get eaten by a Wolluf or something," I said.
    "Harold protect girls," Harold said. "Harold has cudgel. See?"
    Harold reached under Chicken Nancy's table and pulled out a big knotted club, which he waved about awkwardly.
    "He has a cudgel. How nice," I said.
    "You may as well get started," Chicken Nancy said. "I have packed you a picnic lunch." She produced a wicker picnic basket. "Harold will carry it. Do not eat the lunch all by yourself, Harold. Share it with the girls."
    "Sandwiches?" Harold asked.
    "Yes, lots of sandwiches," Chicken Nancy said. "Have a good time on the island."

CHAPTER 28
Oh, Hell

    "We go!" Harold said.
    We followed him out of the little house. He walked a little ahead, carrying the picnic basket and swinging his cudgel. From behind he looked a little like a haystack—and really like a giant, from the way he stomped along, as long as there was nothing to compare his height with.
    We passed through the woods, past the orchard and the Christmas tree farm, and along the road. We saw Diablo standing in his paddock, no doubt waiting for Jack to turn up with his morning hay. We passed little farms and houses, fields and bits of forest. After we crossed the road that led to the main entrance of the loony bin, our way began to slope downward toward the river.
    Near the bank of the river Harold led us into a thicket. It was dense, and we had to