Free Borribles Go For Broke, The by Michael de Larrabeiti Page A

you? It might drop a load just as a copper came round the corner.’
    ‘Quiet,’ whispered Spiff. ‘SBG.’
    The others looked where he pointed and they saw a blue Transit van emerge from Wandsworth Bridge Road and come to a halt on the southern side of the common.
    ‘It’s full of John Law,’ said Stonks.
    Spiff shoved a hand in his pocket and pulled out a small collapsible telescope.
    ‘Well I never,’ said Vulge, ‘you got one.’
    ‘Found it in Sinjen’s School,’ said Spiff. ‘Like you said, very handy.’ He raised the telescope and poked it between the leaves of the hedge. He put his eye to it and studied the van. Two policemen emerged.
    Spiff grunted. ‘Two out, but I reckon there’s about eight more inside. Can’t see too clearly, they’ve got mesh across the windows.’
    ‘Look at their shoulders,’ said Chalotte. ‘What rank are they?’
    ‘Strike a light,’ said Spiff, ‘that’s an inspector, that little squirt. It must be Sussworth ’imself, ugly sod, have a butcher’s.’ Spiff passed the telescope over to Vulge who stared through it while his companions stared at him.
    ‘Cripes,’ he said after a while, ‘he’s horrid all right, frighten Frankenstein rigid he could, and the sergeant with him ain’t a work of art either, strong though, crack yer philbert open as soon as look at yer.’ Vulge returned the telescope to Spiff.
    The two police officers stood by the side of the van for a minute or two until they were joined by a park keeper wearing a brown uniform and a brown hat. After shaking hands the three officials walked away from the road, heading across the common in the direction of the wooden huts. When they got there the keeper took a key from his pocket, undid a padlock on the iron gate and disappeared behind the hedge. The policemen did not have long to wait. Within minutes the keeper returned leading a small horse behind him, a dingy horse with its head hanging at the rein and its feet dragging over the grass. An unhappy horse.

    ‘Is it Sam?’ asked Sydney. ‘I can’t see from this distance.’
    Spiff passed her the telescope. ‘Have a look,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t know your horse from a ham sandwich.’
    Sydney raised the instrument to her eye. ‘Oh,’ she gasped, her face bright with joy, ‘it is, it’s Sam. The horse who saved our lives.’
    ‘He didn’t save my life,’ said Spiff.
    Chalotte sneered. ‘Nor would anyone with any sense,’ she said.
    ‘Knock it on the head,’ said Stonks, ‘something’s happening.’
    While the Borribles had been talking the keeper had manhandled a small rubbish cart from one of the huts and was buckling Sam into it. At the same time a side door to the Transit van slid open and two more policemen appeared. Between them they held, by the arms, the small and dispirited figure of Bingo Borrible. His hat was gone, his ears were revealed.
    Spiff snatched the telescope from Sydney. ‘He’s still got his ears,’ he said, ‘there’s still a chance.’
    ‘They’re taking him over to the horse,’ said Chalotte.
    The six Borribles crouched behind their hedge and watched. The traffic was thick round the common now and people were striding this way and that towards bus stops and Underground stations. Meanwhile the sun was mounting steeply into the sky, ready to scorch the city for another day.
    Bingo was shoved across the common. He did not struggle, neither did he go willingly. His head was down and his feet scuffed over the dry turf. Nearer and nearer to Sam he was dragged, made small and pitiful by the size of the men who escorted him, vulnerable in the middle of that great open space.
    ‘If only he knew we were here,’ said Chalotte.
    But Bingo did not know. He was hauled up to the horse and made to stand in front of it.
    ‘Don’t do anything, Sam,’ whispered Sydney, ‘don’t do anything.’
    It was no good. Sam had been lonely and maltreated when he’d toiled for Dewdrop and Erbie and he’d known no love