10. A Lead At Last
"I recommend we stop here for now," Tracker said, limping back from his look-out position to where the little search party stood, well concealed from the nearby dirt path by a crumbling stone wall, all overgrown with grass and briars.
"But we're only half an hour's smurf from the city," Tuffy protested.
"Precisely why we should stop now and smurf for dark," Tracker said, resting his crutch against a scraggly little tree before lowering himself to the grassy ground. "There are far too many humans smurfin' about down there for my comfort."
"But, the sun won't smurf down for hours and hours!" Tuffy said. "If we stop here we'll be wasting time!"
"We've been smurfing a cold trail for nearly a week, Tuffy," Nat said. "I don't think a few hours will make much difference. Besides, it'll smurf me a chance to smurf some more information from the local animals."
Tuffy straightened his thick belt.
"Hmph," he grunted. "I'm not scared of any humans, no matter how many there are. I'm not scared of anything!"
"Then you won't mind smurfing us some firewood," Tracker said. "After all, if we're going to be staying here for a while, we might as well smurf ourselves some lunch!"
About an hour later, Tracker, Tuffy, Brainy and Clumsy were sitting around a small campfire taking turns stirring the contents of their stew pot when Nat ran up to them, followed by a sleek, brown mouse.
"Smurfs!" the young Smurf gasped, leaning his hands on his knees as he fought to catch his breath. "I think this mouse can tell us what happened to Smurfette and Hefty!"
The mouse sat on its haunches and began chittering. Nat listened carefully and chittered back every now and then.
"Not everysmurf speaks fluent Fieldmouse, you know," Brainy said, annoyed that he couldn't understand their conversation.
Nat listened for a moment longer, then turned to his friends.
"Mr. Mouse says he's not sure he can help us, but he did see something strange."
"Strange how?" Tuffy asked.
"Mr. Mouse says there are two small bluish creatures being held in a cage down there in King Gerard's capital city," Nat told him. "He saw them last night. They left food scraps outside their cage for the local animals to come get after dark."
"These bluish creatures," Brainy said, striding up to the mouse. "Did they look like us? Like Smurfs?"
The mouse shook his head and chittered to Nat.
"He says they were furry, grayer in color, and they had long tails," the young Smurf translated.
The Smurfs shared a worried look.
"An enchantment, perhaps?" Tracker asked.
"It could be," Brainy said, and thoughtfully stroked his chin.
"Well, it's our best lead yet," Tuffy said, boxing the air. Nat and the mouse backed out of his way. "I say we get this mouse to smurf us there so we can smurf those creatures for oursmurfs!"
"I agree," Tracker said. "But not yet. It would be better to smurf for dark. Then, we can sneak in with the local animals."
Nat chittered to the fieldmouse, who seemed to agree with Tracker. Inviting the little mouse to share their meal, the group settled in for a long and anxious wait.
To Be Continued...
It's short, I know, but there'll be more coming soon. Sorry about the wait, but thanks again for your reviews, and your patience with me! :)