Everyone looked at him, thunderstruck.
“Aren’t you going with us, Father?” asked Ambrose in a trembly voice.
Father shook his head. “A hundred years ago I brought the Lady Farlingham to this valley. She cared for my children, she gave us speech, she taught us everything she knew. If I left her now to die alone, I should bring shame for ever to the name of yeti.”
When he had finished there was a long and solemn silence. Then all the yetis slowly nodded their enormous heads. What Father had said was almost unbearably sad, but it was right.
“I’m not in the least afraid of dying,” said Lady Agatha briskly. “After all, everyone enjoys going to sleep. So why not going to sleep for good?”
But nothing could shift Father. He said he was staying with her and anyone who wanted to move him from the valley was welcome to try. Since Father was far and away the strongest of all the yetis, that was the end of that.
But of course after that everybody began to cry again because Father was behaving so beautifully and because they would have to go without him and because Lady Agatha wasn’t going to live for ever and ever, which was what Ambrose wanted her to do.
“Come, come,” said Lady Agatha, though she was secretly very moved by Father’s words, “this won’t do. Ambrose hasn’t had his present yet.”
Ambrose’s present was the most special one of all. It was one of the blue bedsocks that Lady Agatha had worn when she was carried away, and it still had a name tag inside saying: Agatha Emily Farlingham, Farley Towers, Hants.
“So when you arrive, Ambrose, and show them this sock, my family will know that you really come from me.”
“It’s like a sort of password,” said Con.
Ambrose was incredibly pleased. He tried the sock on his foot but it would only cover about three of his eight enormous toes. Then he tried it on his left ear, but it kept slipping off. So Lady Agatha plaited a cord for him, like Lucy’s, and he wore the bedsock across his chest like a medal.
And then the dreaded moment could be postponed no longer. The yetis kissed Lady Agatha over and over again, they hugged Father, and they cried and cried till Con thought they would never get away. But at last they were ready and with a stout stick to help Grandma they made their way to the head of the valley.
Con could have sworn that Ambrose simply didn’t have any tears left. But just as he started the steep ascent up the scree, a last wail broke from him. “My yak! I never said goodbye to my yak!”
But Con knew that he had to be firm. “Look, Ambrose,” he said, “you don’t want to upset Hubert, do you? You know how sensitive he is.”
“He’ll think I don’t love him,” said Ambrose, and his brown eye, which felt things more than his blue one, began to fill up again.
But here the other yetis came to Con’s rescue. “Now, Ambrose,” said Grandma firmly, “you know that that animal hasn’t had a thought in his head since the day he was born.”
“And maybe when you’re safe at Farley Towers you can send for him,” said Con.
“Really?” said Ambrose.
“Really,” said Con.
There was no more to say. They had come to the foot of the towering cliff wall that had protected the secret valley for thousands of years. Otto picked up Con, tucked him under his arm, and began swarming up the unclimbable rock face like an enormous hairy spider.
And then one by one the yetis filed in behind him and left for ever the lovely valley of Nanvi Dar.
5
The Bridal Suite
For Con the journey across the High Peaks was a dreadful one. As darkness fell they came across the eastern shoulder of Nanvi Dar, and though Con rode on Uncle Otto’s shoulders, the thin air and the biting wind were almost more than he could bear. For the yetis, of course, it was not much worse than an evening stroll, even though they were at times wading through waist-high snow, leaping over crevasses or scrambling down hair-raising icefalls. Con burrowed as deep as he could into Uncle Otto’s thick coat, and gritted his teeth.
Ambrose on the other hand had recovered from his sorrow about Hubert, and was in high spirits.
“Will there be proper beds, like in ‘The Princess and the Pea’? What’s a suite … is it sweet like fruit, or sweet like baby squirrels?” Con was too stiff and frozen to answer.
But at last they were below the snowline and walking down a broad river valley, sheltered from the wind. Scrub and grassland gave way to majestic cedars and pines, and the lights of the hotel appeared shining through the trees.
“Oh, oh, oh,” said Ambrose, “it’s like in a story!”
Otto lifted Con from his shoulders, and placed him carefully on the ground.
“We will have to be very quiet,” said Con. “You must wait outside, and stay out of sight until I have been in and talked to my sister.” Then he went on alone.
Ellen wasn’t really asleep. She had been a bit worried the night before, in spite of Con’s note. Now it was the middle of the second night, and she knew that in the morning she must raise the alarm and start expecting the worst.
So when her door opened silently and Con crept in she was up in an instant.
“Thank goodness you’re back, I was getting really scared.”
“I’m fine. Just be quiet and listen to me.”
Con explained.
Some people, if they were told in the middle of the night that there were five Abominable Snowmen outside who needed to be smuggled into the bridal suite of a luxury hotel, might have asked a lot of questions, or made a fuss. But Ellen was not some people.
“I’ll get the keys and wait for you up there,” said Ellen. “Are yetis very big?”
Con said yes he could honestly say that they were on the large side.
“Then they’ll have to come up one by one. It’s going to take a while. We’ll wait for you up there.” And Ellen pulled on a dressing gown and went to get the keys. Con went back outside.
Yetis are absolute experts at being quiet. In the moonlight, five great shadows flitted across the perfectly mown lawn towards the hotel. The only sound was an almost inaudible “sorry” from Lucy, who was feeling peckish after her walk and happened to pass a bed of Himalayan poppies.
“Right,” whispered Con, “Grandma can come first.” And while the others made themselves as small as possible, crouching against the wall, he led the way into the hotel.
The entrance to the private lift was in the lobby. In a little room behind the reception desk, the receptionist snored softly. Otherwise, it was deserted. Grandma followed Con across the lobby to the lift, but when she saw it she stopped dead.
The lift was the old-fashioned kind, with a folding metal grate that you pulled shut across the entrance.
“That’s a cage. I’m not going into a cage, you horrid boy.” She was still whispering, but at any moment her whisper would turn into a screech.
“Please, Grandma,” whispered Con, “I’ll come with you.”
Reluctantly, Grandma went in, and Con squeezed in beside her.
Things went better with Ambrose, and Uncle Otto, and Clarence. Ambrose was nervous, but he trusted Con completely. Uncle Otto was brave, and Clarence really enjoyed it, saying “’igher, ’igher” happily until Con shushed him. One by one the yetis were delivered safely to the top floor and introduced to Ellen, shaking hands with her very carefully as they had been taught to do, so as not to break her arm.
At last it was Lucy’s turn. But it was horribly difficult to get her into the lift. She really didn’t fit. Con pushed and heaved. Finally he got her wedged in sideways, because she was slightly less fat that way than front-to-back, while Con had to crawl in after her and sit on the floor under her stomach. The lift moaned and clanked and squeaked, and Con was sure that they would wake the whole hotel. But they made it to the top, and Ambrose and Clarence heaved her out with their brute strength. Then they all walked quietly along the corridor, and gathered at the doors of the bridal suite. Con unlocked them and threw them open.