Finn Family Moomintroll (10 page)

'That was most un-Hemulenish!' said the Snork, sitting up in his wet blanket. 'I'm amazed you had the brains to think of it.'

'Well, I'm a bit surprised myself,' said the Hemulen. 'And now, what shall we do today?'

The Snork stuck his nose out of the mouth of the cave and looked at the sky and the sea. Then he said knowingly: 'Fishing. Wake up the others while I go and get the boat in order.' And he strolled down on to the wet sand and out on to the landing stage, which Moominpappa had built, sniffing the sea air. It was quite still; the rain was falling softly and each drop made a ring in the gleaming water. The Snork nodded to himself, and took out the longest fishing-line they had. Then he hauled out the landing-net and baited the hooks while he whistled Snufkin's hunting song.

Everything was ready when the others came out of the cave.

'Ah! There you are at last,' said the Snork. 'Hemul, take down the mast and put in the rowlocks.'

'Must
we fish?' asked the Snork Maiden. 'Nothing ever happens when we fish, and I'm so sorry for the little pike.'

'Yes, but today something
is
going to happen,' said her brother. 'You sit in the bows where you'll be least in the way.'

'Let me help, too,' squeaked Sniff, catching hold of the line. He leapt down on to the edge of the boat, which tipped up, and the line got all tangled with the rowlocks and the anchor.

'Splendid!' said the Snork sarcastically. 'Quite splendid. Thoroughly accustomed to the sea. Peace in the boat and all that. Above all respect for other people's work. Ha!'

'Aren't you going to scold him?' the Hemulen asked, incredulously.

'Scold? I?' said the Snork, and laughed mirthlessly. 'Has the captain anything to say? Never! Put out the line as it is - it might catch an old boot!' And he retired into the stern and dragged a tarpaulin over his head.

'Goodness gracious me!' said Moomintroll. 'You had better take the oars, Snufkin, while we unravel this mess. Sniff, you are an ass.'

'I know,' said Sniff, glad to have something to do. 'Which end shall we begin?'

'In the middle,' said Moomintroll. 'But don't get your tail tangled up in it too.'

And Snufkin slowly rowed
The Adventure
out to sea.

*

While all this was happening, Moominmamma was bustling about feeling very pleased. The rain fell gently on the garden. Peace, order and quiet reigned everywhere.

'Now everything will grow!' said Moominmamma to herself. And oh! how wonderful to have her family safely away in the cave! She decided to do a bit of tidying up, and began collecting socks, orange peel, Moomintroll's queer stones, bits of bark, and all sorts of odd things. In the wireless set she found some poisonous pink perennials that the Hemulen had forgotten to put into his plant press. Moominmamma twirled them into a ball while she listened thoughtfully to the soft murmur of the rain. 'Now everything will grow!' she said once again and without thinking what she was doing she dropped the ball into the Hobgoblin's Hat. Then she went up to her room for a snooze (for Moominmamma dearly loves to snooze while the rain patters on the roof).

*

Meanwhile in the depths of the sea lay the Snork's long fishing-line... waiting. It had already waited two hours and the Snork Maiden was getting desperately impatient.

'Anticipation is the best part,' Moomintroll told her. 'There might be something on every hook you know.' (This fishing-line had lots of hooks.)

The Snork Maiden sighed a little. 'Anyway you know that when you sink the line it has bait on it, and when you haul it up it has a fish -'

'But there might be nothing at all,' said Snufkin.

'Or there might be an octopus,' said the Hemulen.

'Girls never understand these things,' said the Snork. 'Now we can begin to pull it up. But nobody must make a sound. Be quiet everyone.'

The first hook came up.

It was empty.

The second hook came up.

It was empty, too.

'It only shows that the fish go deep, and are awfully big,' said the Snork. 'Quiet now everybody!'

He pulled up four more empty hooks and said: 'This
is
a cunning one. He's eaten up all our bait. Gosh! He must be huge!'

Everybody leant over the side and peered down into the black depths.

'What sort of fish do you think it is?' asked Sniff.

'A Mameluke at least,' said the Snork. 'Look! Ten more empty hooks.'

'Dear, dear,' said the Snork Maiden, sarcastically.

'Dear, dear to you,' said her brother, angrily and went on hauling. 'Be quiet - otherwise you'll frighten him away.'

Hook after hook came up twisted with seagrass and seaweed. No fish: absolutely nothing at all.

Suddenly the Snork shouted. 'Look out! It gave a pull! I'm absolutely sure it gave a pull.'

'A Mameluke!' squeaked Sniff.

'Now you
must
keep calm,' said the Snork, who felt anything but calm himself. 'Dead silence. Here he comes!'

The tight line had suddenly gone limp, but far down in the mysterious green depths gleamed something white. Was it the Mameluke's pale belly? Something huge and terrible seemed to rise up from the strange underwater scene. It was green and mushy like the stem of a great jungle plant, and it slid up under the boat.

'The landing-net!' screamed the Snork. 'Where's the landing-net?'

At the same moment the air was filled with noise and flying foam. A terrific wave caught
The Adventure
up on its crest and dashed the fishing line down on the deck. Then suddenly all was still again.

Only the broken line dangled sadly over the side, and a huge whirl in the water marked where the monster had passed.

'Now
who said it was a pike?' the Snork asked his sister, bitterly. 'I shall
never
get over this as long as I live!'

'This is where it broke,' said the Hemulen holding up the line. 'Something told me it was too thin.'

'Oh, do shut up,' said the Snork, and hid his face in his paws.

The Hemulen wanted to say something, but Snufkin kicked him on the shins. They all sat in hopeless silence. Then the Snork Maiden said, rather timidly: 'What do you think about having another try? We could use the painter for a line.'

The Snork grunted. After a while he said: 'And what about the hooks?'

'Your pocket-knife,' said the Snork Maiden. 'If you open the blade
and the
corkscrew
and the
screwdriver
and the
instrument-for-taking-stones-out-of-horses'-hooves, he's sure to catch on to something.'

The Snork took his paws away from his eyes and said: 'Yes, but we haven't any bait.'

'Pancake,' said his sister.

The Snork considered this for a time, while they all held their breath with excitement.

At last he said: 'Of course if the Mameluke eats pancake, then...' And everyone knew that the hunt would go on.

They tied the pocket-knife firmly to the painter with a bit of wire that the Hemulen had in his skirt-pocket, they stuck the pancake on the knife, and dropped the whole lot overboard.

Now the Snork Maiden's blood was up and she was as excited as the others.

'You are like Diana,' said Moomintroll, admiringly.

'Who's that?' she asked.

'Goddess of the chase!' he replied. 'As beautiful as the Wooden Queen and as clever as you!'

'Hm,' said the Snork Maiden.

At that moment
The Adventure
keeled over a little. 'Hush!' said the Snork. 'He's nibbling!' There was another twitch - this time more violent and then came a furious jerk that knocked them all over.

'Help!' screamed Sniff. 'He's going to gobble us up!'

The Adventure's
bows dipped alarmingly, but she righted herself again and set off at a terrific speed towards the open sea. The painter was stretched out, tight as a bow-string, in front of her and disappeared in a flurry of foam below the surface.

The Mameluke obviously liked pancake!

'Keep calm!' yelled the Snork. 'Calm in the boat! Every man to his post!'

'As long as he doesn't dive...' thought Snufkin creeping into the bows.

But the Mameluke set a course straight out to sea, and soon the shore lay, like the sweep of a paintbrush, far behind them.

'How long do you think he will be able to hold on?' asked the Hemulen.

'If the worst comes to the worst we can cut the line,' said Sniff.

'Never,' declared the Snork Maiden shaking her curly fringe.

And then the Mameluke gave his huge tail a whisk and swung round making for the coast again.

'He's going a little slower now,' shouted Moomintroll, who was on his knees in the bows. 'He's beginning to get tired!'

The Mameluke
was
tired, but he had also begun to get angry. He gave the line a jerk and then tore off again so that
The Adventure
rocked about in the most alarming way.

Sometimes he lay quite still trying to fool them, and then suddenly he would set off with such speed that a tidal wave almost swamped them. So Snufkin took his mouth-organ and played his hunting-song, while the others beat time with so much energy that the deck shook. And then, when they had almost given up hope, the Mameluke floated over on his back turning his huge lifeless belly up to the light.

They had never seen such a big fish! They contemplated it for a moment in silence and then the Snork said: 'Well, I got him at last, didn't I?' And his sister proudly agreed.

While the Mameluke was being towed to land it began to rain, and soon the Hemulen's dress got wet through, and Snufkin's hat lost what was left of its shape - which wasn't much.

'It'll probably be pretty wet in the cave now,' said Moomintroll, who sat freezing at the oars.

'Mother may be worried,' he added after a while.

'You mean that we could sort of go home presently?' said Sniff, trying not to sound too hopeful.

'Yes, and show them the fish,' said the Snork.

'We
will
go home,' said the Hemulen. 'Strange adventures, and getting wet, and carrying on alone and that sort of thing are all very well, but they're not comfortable in the long run.'

So they put boards under the Mameluke and everyone helped to carry him through the wood. His wide-open mouth was so big that the branches caught in his teeth, and he weighed so many hundreds of pounds that they had to rest every few minutes. Meanwhile the rain got worse and worse, until, when they got to their valley, it hid the whole house.

'What about leaving him here for a bit?' suggested Sniff.

'Not on your life!' said Moomintroll, indignantly, and they plunged on through the garden. Suddenly the Snork stood stock still. 'We've come the wrong way!' he said.

'Nonsense!' said Moomintroll. 'Isn't that the wood-shed? And down there's the bridge.'

'Yes, but where's the house?' asked the Snork.

It was most extraordinary. Moominhouse had vanished. Quite simply - it wasn't there. They laid down the Mameluke in front of the. steps - at least that is to say - where the steps ought to have been. Instead...

But first I must explain what had happened in the Valley while they were out on the Mameluke Hunt.

Moominmamma had gone upstairs for a snooze, but before doing so she had dropped the ball of poisonous pink perennials into the Hobgoblin's Hat in an absent-minded moment. The trouble was she should never have tidied up really, for while the house lay deep in its after-lunch nap the ball of poisonous pink perennials began to grow in a strange and bewitched fashion. It twisted slowly up out of the hat, and crept down on to the floor. Tendrils and shoots groped their way up the walls, clambered round the curtains and blind-cords, and scrambled through the cracks, ventilators, and keyholes. In the damp air flowers came out and fruit began to ripen, and huge leafy shoots blotted out the stairs, pushed their way between the legs of the furniture and hung in festoons from the chandelier.

The house was filled with a soft rustling sound: sometimes the pop of an opening bud could be heard, or the thud of ripe fruit falling on the carpet. But Moominmamma thought it was only the rain and turned over on her other side and went to sleep again.

In the next room Moominpappa sat writing his memoirs. Nothing amusing had happened since he had built the landing-stage, so he went on with the story of his childhood, and this brought such memories that he nearly burst into tears. He had always been a bit out of the ordinary as a child, and nobody had ever understood him. When he got older it was the same, and he had had a frightful time in every way. Moominpappa wrote and wrote thinking how sorry everyone would be when they read his story, and this cheered him up again, and he said to himself: 'It will serve them jolly well right!'

Just then a ripe plum fell on to his paper and made a big, sticky blot.

'Bless my tail!' burst out Moominpappa. 'Moomintroll and Sniff must be home again!' And he turned round to scold them. But nobody was behind him: instead he found himself staring at a thick bush covered with yellow berries. He jumped up, and at once blue plums rained down on him from every side. Then he noticed that a great branch was growing slowly towards the window with green shoots sprouting out in all directions.