Read Online Borribles Go For Broke, The by Michael de Larrabeiti - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael de Larrabeiti
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disperse at the first sign of danger. It was getting late and traffic was heavy; people were driving home from cinemas and bingo halls, the pubs were turning their customers out on to the pavements and everywhere there were drunks stumbling home, lifting their feet high over imaginary kerbstones, tottering backwards down non-existent slopes. Police cars lurked in the dark side roads too, lying low in the gutters like feral cats waiting for carrion.
Resolute and vigilant the Borribles tramped and jogged along and when, after about a quarter of an hour, they reached the traffic lights at Westbridge Road, Spiff slid into the dark entrance of the RSPCA office and tried the door. It was firmly locked. He stepped back and looked at the plate glass window and then up at the two smaller windows on the first floor.
‘I won’t have any bother getting in here,’ he said. ‘You others get over to that bus stop and pretend you’re in the queue. If you see anything suspicious give a whistle.’
The bus stop was in fact only twenty yards from the office but by the time the Borribles had reached it Spiff had disappeared.
‘Look at that,’ said Vulge, ‘he’s inside already. He must be one of the best Borrible burglars ever.’
‘The stories say he’s got at least twenty names, you know,’ said Stonks. ‘I’ve even heard tell that he’s been a Borrible for a hundred years, but I find that hard to believe.’
‘There’s certainly more to Spiff than meets anyone’s eye,’ agreed Chalotte, ‘but nobody knows what it is. I wouldn’t trust him further than I could spit upwards. He’s got enough neck to look up his own ear’ole, he has.’
‘Steady,’ said Twilight, ‘here he comes now.’
Spiff joined them at the bus stop. ‘Not a lot in there,’ he said, ‘but it looks like an SBG set-up all right. I found a notepad on the desk with Sussworth’s address and telephone number written on
it. There was also tomorrow’s date, and it said Eel Brook Common, nine o’clock.’
‘Well,’ said Sydney, ‘when Sam sees Bingo he’s bound to recognize him, and then he’s had it.’
‘And we’ll have had it too,’ said Spiff.
‘In other words,’ said Stonks, ‘even if we didn’t want to rescue Bingo, which we do, we’d have to try anyway, to save ourselves.’
‘Dead bleedin’ right,’ said Spiff, ‘either that or we’d all have to move a long way away from where we live now.’
‘It’s Hobson’s,’ said Twilight. ‘Hobson’s as usual.’
‘We’d better get going,’ said Spiff looking round. ‘It wouldn’t be a bad idea to be hidden somewhere near Eel Brook Common before the Woollies arrive tomorrow morning. That way if it looks like a trap we can stay hidden and keep quiet.’
And the Borribles moved on from the bus stop and began to trek up the long slope towards the crest of Battersea Bridge. Once over the bridge they would be in unfamiliar territory and danger would be all around them. They each knew this but they marched on with spirit and determination; they knew very well that they had to rescue Bingo—what they didn’t know was that the second great Borrible Adventure had begun.
3
The headquarters of the SBG were not located in a police station and they were not easy to find, which was exactly how Inspector Sussworth liked it. His aim was to pass through life unnoticed by the general public; that was where his strength lay. He wanted to work quietly and secretly. Only the men who took orders from the inspector knew where to find him and their orders were to tell no one.
With concealment as their main objective the SBG had taken over a house in the crumbling hinterland behind Fulham Broadway, an unobtrusive place in Micklethwaite Road, a road that led nowhere. From the outside it looked dilapidated, a ramshackle establishment with varnish peeling from the front door and cracked windows hidden under white paint so that no one could see in and no one could see out. But inside it
Resolute and vigilant the Borribles tramped and jogged along and when, after about a quarter of an hour, they reached the traffic lights at Westbridge Road, Spiff slid into the dark entrance of the RSPCA office and tried the door. It was firmly locked. He stepped back and looked at the plate glass window and then up at the two smaller windows on the first floor.
‘I won’t have any bother getting in here,’ he said. ‘You others get over to that bus stop and pretend you’re in the queue. If you see anything suspicious give a whistle.’
The bus stop was in fact only twenty yards from the office but by the time the Borribles had reached it Spiff had disappeared.
‘Look at that,’ said Vulge, ‘he’s inside already. He must be one of the best Borrible burglars ever.’
‘The stories say he’s got at least twenty names, you know,’ said Stonks. ‘I’ve even heard tell that he’s been a Borrible for a hundred years, but I find that hard to believe.’
‘There’s certainly more to Spiff than meets anyone’s eye,’ agreed Chalotte, ‘but nobody knows what it is. I wouldn’t trust him further than I could spit upwards. He’s got enough neck to look up his own ear’ole, he has.’
‘Steady,’ said Twilight, ‘here he comes now.’
Spiff joined them at the bus stop. ‘Not a lot in there,’ he said, ‘but it looks like an SBG set-up all right. I found a notepad on the desk with Sussworth’s address and telephone number written on
it. There was also tomorrow’s date, and it said Eel Brook Common, nine o’clock.’
‘Well,’ said Sydney, ‘when Sam sees Bingo he’s bound to recognize him, and then he’s had it.’
‘And we’ll have had it too,’ said Spiff.
‘In other words,’ said Stonks, ‘even if we didn’t want to rescue Bingo, which we do, we’d have to try anyway, to save ourselves.’
‘Dead bleedin’ right,’ said Spiff, ‘either that or we’d all have to move a long way away from where we live now.’
‘It’s Hobson’s,’ said Twilight. ‘Hobson’s as usual.’
‘We’d better get going,’ said Spiff looking round. ‘It wouldn’t be a bad idea to be hidden somewhere near Eel Brook Common before the Woollies arrive tomorrow morning. That way if it looks like a trap we can stay hidden and keep quiet.’
And the Borribles moved on from the bus stop and began to trek up the long slope towards the crest of Battersea Bridge. Once over the bridge they would be in unfamiliar territory and danger would be all around them. They each knew this but they marched on with spirit and determination; they knew very well that they had to rescue Bingo—what they didn’t know was that the second great Borrible Adventure had begun.
3
The headquarters of the SBG were not located in a police station and they were not easy to find, which was exactly how Inspector Sussworth liked it. His aim was to pass through life unnoticed by the general public; that was where his strength lay. He wanted to work quietly and secretly. Only the men who took orders from the inspector knew where to find him and their orders were to tell no one.
With concealment as their main objective the SBG had taken over a house in the crumbling hinterland behind Fulham Broadway, an unobtrusive place in Micklethwaite Road, a road that led nowhere. From the outside it looked dilapidated, a ramshackle establishment with varnish peeling from the front door and cracked windows hidden under white paint so that no one could see in and no one could see out. But inside it
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