“Look at the size of those wheels,” he murmured blissfully as it rolled around the side of the building in the dawn light. “They’ve got to be nearly as tall as the driver.”
“Please don’t go anywhere near it, Boris,” Tasha pleaded. “Just remember that man with the blowtorch.”
Boris’s lip curled for a moment but then he sat down and wrapped his tail tightly around his paws, as if to stop himself trotting over to the pump. He wasn’t really sure what he could do to break an enormous tractor but Tasha was right. He did seem to be a bit unlucky around these things. It was very sad.
Still, right now it was more important to make sure that the Egyptian treasures were rescued from the floodwater. He could investigate pumps later.
“Oh, it’s working!” Tasha nudged him. “Look at the pipe!”
The water was pulsing along the rubber pipe that snaked out of the window and through the museum grounds all the way to the river. The four kittens watched it hopefully. The water seemed to be fairly galloping along. Perhaps the flood wasn’t such a disaster after all.
The Old Man was standing watching the pipe too and for once he didn’t glare at the kittens when he spotted them. He looked thoughtfully at them instead and clumsily patted Tasha on the head. “Good little cat,” he muttered. “Saved the day, you lot did. Fish for breakfast, then?”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_54]
[Êàðòèíêà: img_8]
But when they sneaked in around the elderly professor’s ankles later that day, even the kittens could tell that the gallery was in an awful state. There were brownish-yellow water stains around all the white plinths and the smell was dreadful.
“What about the treasures?” Tasha asked worriedly, peering at the sodden dust sheet around the display case that held the pharaoh’s papyrus. It was just underneath the broken pipe. The professor was pulling the sheet away, her face pale with worry.
“Did the water get in?” Peter demanded, stretching up to see. “Oh, it can’t have done. She’s smiling!”
“Such good luck!” Tasha breathed. “I mean, obviously it would be better if there hadn’t been a flood at all. But I suppose at least this way they’ll check all the pipes. None of the other galleries will ever be damaged like this.”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_55]
“Grandpa thinks it was the rats who broke the pipe, remember. He said he saw them running away looking guilty,” Peter said. “It’s a good thing that we’re proper museum guard cats now.”
Tasha padded over to the tall plinth with the statue of Bastet and looked up at the bronze cat goddess with her golden collar.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_56]
“Were you watching over the gallery?” she whispered, trying to peer into the goddess’s golden eyes. “Did you save all the treasures? You wouldn’t want all your things to be spoilt, would you?” She wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. “I’m sure I saw a painting of a cat on that papyrus. It’s true, isn’t it? There is no curse after all…”
Tasha was almost sure that she heard the very faintest purr, just for a moment. She wondered if it was Bianca but the white kitten was over by the door having her ears tickled by the professor. None of the other cats were anywhere near.
“Was that … you?” Tasha whispered hopefully to the statue. “You know, I don’t think your paws were like that before,” she added, swallowing hard. “They were further apart, I’m sure they were. And your tail wasn’t so tightly curled. I’ve looked at you a lot…”
The statue stayed quite still, gazing silently out across the damp gallery. But Tasha was sure her golden eyes glinted– and there was that faint breath of a purr again.
Sheremembered that purr.
Her dream! The black cat with the golden eyes had purred just like that, when she told Tasha to wake up.
“And I woke up and woke the others, and we fetched the Old Man,” Tasha said slowly, working it all out in her head. “It wasn’t just my wet tail that woke me – it was you! The black cat in my dream had a golden collar on, just like yours, and the most beautiful golden eyes. Youwere watching over the gallery. You sent us to help… Us kittens.” She turned round, ready to race and tell the others.
But then she stopped and looked back. The statue was so still and so grand. Would they believe her? Perhaps they’d say it was just a strange dream. She couldn’t bear it if they laughed…
“What are you thinking about?” Boris asked, casually licking Tasha’s ear, when the others came to find her a few minutes later.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_57]
“Oh … just Egypt…” Tasha told him, with a secret little purr.
Boris nodded.“You know, it’s very lucky you woke up in time,” he said.
Peter looked around at the water stains and the muddy, silted floor.“Yes, the gallery could have been ruined.”
“We might not have got out,” Bianca added with a shudder.
“But we did. Someone made sure of that!” Tasha rubbed her chin lovingly against her sister’s. And high above the four kittens, the cat goddess looked out over her gallery, her golden eyes shining.