Chapter 8
Meg: What will happen to Basil? Will Dawson save the day? And what about Childres? Is he going to be a major villain later on?
RAEB: Actually no one was wondering that.
Meg: The readers might. Oh well. Anyway, perhaps this chapter will enlighten us all.
Dawson was wandering the parched wilderness he now found himself in. He was hopelessly lost.
"Basil old friend, where are you?" he muttered to himself.
"Your friend has been taken," a quiet voice behind him said.
Dawson spun around, armed with his Army pistol. He faced a mouse in a sombrero and a black poncho. The hat hid the mouse's face; all the doctor could see was his mouth.
"Who are you?" Dawson asked suspiciously.
"I know you, Dr. Dawson," the mouse said. "You may call me José."
"That does not help me much."
The mouse held out his paws to show that he was not armed. "Do not worry; I am a friend. But the detective needs your help. He has been caught by that fiend Ratigan, who also has the Flaversham family and Mrs. Havers. They are in a mine just over that hill." José pointed.
Dawson immediately started off in that direction, but the mysterious mouse stopped him. "Do not rush into this too quickly, doctor. The entrance is guarded, and there are scores of mice searching for you to add to the list of captives."
"Now see here!" Dawson snapped. "How do I know that I can trust you? You sir, seem to know too much of the enemy's plans for your own good!"
José sighed. "If only..." he muttered. "I cannot explain to you where I get my information, but for the love of God, trust me! It will soon be too late to do anything for your friends."
Dawson cautiously crawled to the summit of the hill. He could see that what the mouse said was true. "So Ratigan has them all inside?"
"Yes."
"Do you know of another way in?"
"Yes."
"It would be most invaluable that you showed me the way. I am grateful, sir."
"Now let's see," Ratigan said happily. "You have, of course, noted the ten bombs that are placed all around you. They are set to go off in exactly 30 minutes. We shall leave this lovely mine, and in half an hour's time..." Ratigan pantomimed an explosion with his hands, "you will all be blasted to 'Kingdom come,' as Meg here would say." Basil, Flaversham, and Olivia were all tied to one another in a mine cart. I was being held by two of the thugs, still tightly bounded.
Flaversham seemed resigned to his fate, whispering soothing words to his daughter. I could tell Olivia was trying her hardest to be brave. I hated Ratigan all the more for sending so innocent a child to such an end.
Basil was something completely different. Dawson had once given me an account of the last time Basil had been captured by Ratigan. He had been miserable, depressed, dejected that he had fallen into such an easy-to- see trap. But now he seemed rather impatient, as if Ratigan was taking too long to finish the deed.
"Well Basil, the best mouse won, didn't he?" Ratigan boasted.
"Ratigan, egotism does nothing for your character. Besides, you haven't finished me yet!"
Ratigan burst out laughing, as if this was the funniest thing he had ever heard. The thugs, following their boss's lead, started to laugh along with him.
As they quieted down, and Childres started to try to insult the detective too (which was completely unsuccessful, considering Basil was doing a pretty good job embarrassing the millionaire more than he ever could to Basil), Ratigan started towards me. He bent down and said in low tones, "I am invincible! Remember that, my dear."
There was finality to his words that enraged me. "You're despicable!" I spat out. "Revenge is a cruel thing."
"Ha! How ignorant you are of the way the world works!"
"Basil would never do this to you!"
"No, he'd sooner send me to the gallows. He is not better than I in that sense."
"To sentence Mr. Flaversham and Olivia to the same fate, two completely harmless mice who do not pose a threat to you, is horrendous! It's diabolical!"
"It's marvelous, isn't it?" he grinned.
"It's foul, horrible, evil! Why won't you leave them alone?" I looked away because tears were threatening to come.
He gently pulled my face back towards his. One tear trickled down my cheek.
"What's this?" I barely heard him whisper. His gaze was piercing.
"Please..." I begged.
He sighed and straightened up. Suddenly he barked to the group of thugs, "Someone let the Flaversham brat off the cart."
I could hardly believe my ears!
"What! You're letting her go free?" Matthew Childres exclaimed. "Ratigan, you can't do that! Don't do anything!" he yelled to Rafael, who was already in the cart. Ratigan frowned. "Mr. Childres, you seem to forget that you are the subordinate. You cannot simply contradict my orders."
Childres ignored him. "You can't show power by being easy on these prisoners. I believe you're getting too soft for the job, James!"
Ratigan let out a low, forced chuckle. "Soft?"
Childres stiffened and took a few steps backwards, talking in a high- pitched voice. "Come now... you can't be... eh... you know what I mean... right?"
The professor clenched his hands, but then smiled. "Perhaps you are right, Matt," he said. "I am, as you would say, a bit older and possibly a bit slower than you. Maybe it is about time I passed on leadership to you."
Childres was quite taken aback. "Well, I didn't.... I mean-"
Ratigan clamped him on the back. "No, I insist. I need someone with your intelligence level to take care of all the work I started.
Childres seemed to relax a bit. "Really?"
"Yes," he answered.
This is strange... I thought.
The owner of Standard Oil drew himself up to his full height. "Rafael, take the girl out and shoot her dead."
"NO!" Flaversham yelled.
Olivia screamed as she was dragged out and thrown to the ground. Rafael pulled her up and took out a revolver.
"No... why don't you do the deed yourself?" Ratigan said to Childres. "To show your men who the real boss is?"
I could see that Childres thought this a brilliant idea. "Yes, I was just thinking that," he lied. "Rafael, give me the gun."
The dwarfish mouse obeyed. Childres grabbed Olivia's collar. "I'll show you all how to properly dispose of a little nuisance," he said, trying to sound ruthless.
"Oh... Matt?" Ratigan said in a mocking tone. "Remember how you called me soft?" Fear flashed in his eyes. "I..."
I heard a shot and saw Matthew Childres spin to the ground. He was dead.
Olivia screamed again.
"Would anyone else like to challenge my authority?" A deadly silence followed. Satisfied, Ratigan returned the gun to his coat. He whirled on the thugs and roared, "I'LL SHOW YOU HOW SOFT I AM! DO NOT TOY WITH ME! I NEVER SHOW MERCY!"
He pulled out a pocket watch and studied it for a minute. "That little delay has cost us five minutes of our precious time." The thugs continued to stare silently. "DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU IDIOTS EVERYTHING? TAKE MEGANA SARENTIS AND OLIVIA FLAVERSHAM OUTSIDE!"
"Daddy!" Olivia cried as we were ushered away.
"I love you Olivia."
"Basil..." was all I could utter.
"Meg, take care of yourself and Olivia," Basil called.
The last thing I saw was Ratigan taking off his hat and bowing to Basil, grinning broadly. "Bye bye, Basil," he said.
Dawson was having great difficulty keeping up with the mouse José as they traveled through a rocky and narrow path through the mine. The mouse seemed tireless.
"Are we almost there?" he gasped.
"A little further."
"Do you have any bright ideas?" Flaversham asked anxiously. Basil was trying to rub the rope that bound his paws on a rusty section of the cart, but to no avail.
"This is taking too long!" Basil said, frustrated. "If only the cart were placed on that track over there; we could possibly release the break and ride away from the dynamite. But of course Ratigan thought of that!"
"Could we possibly get out of the mine cart and crawl away?"
"I've thought of that. The problem is, the cart's too heavy for us to tip, and even if we could tip it, the detonation of the bombs will cause the whole mine to cave in on us before we could get out."
The toy maker sighed. "It was only a thought."
"Mr. Flaversham, it appears to be completely hopeless. Oh, what a fool I was to send Meg here!"
"God bless her for saving my poor Olivia," Flaversham said to himself. "Poor Olivia..."
"Don't worry," Basil said gently, reading his thoughts. "Meg will make sure no harm comes to her."
"Basil!" a familiar voice cried. The doctor appeared on a rock shelf above them.
"Dawson?" Basil asked in disbelief. "Is it really you, old friend? How the deuce did you get here?"
Dawson jumped down to the two victims. "A mouse showed me the way. But where is he?" He looked around.
"Never mind that, get us out of here! The bombs go off in seven minutes!"
Dawson produced a small knife and went to work cutting the bonds. As soon as Basil was free, he took over releasing Flaversham.
"Five minutes!" Dawson exclaimed.
"How did you get in here?" Basil asked Dawson led the way to the exit.
"Passage on the side over here."
"How long did it take you?"
"About ten minutes."
"Ten minutes!" The trio climbed up to the rock shelf. "We're going to have to run for it."
They took off through the passage, Dawson leading the way.
I stood by a wagon outside, waiting for the blast to come. I had finally been untied, but escape was pointless when Rafael was holding Olivia.
Ratigan looked at his watch. "Thirty seconds!" he called out.
Olivia started to struggle. "Would ya stoppit!" Rafael yelled.
She kicked him in the shin, causing him to lose his grip on her. She dashed for the mine.
"Olivia!" I ran after her.
"Meg, come back here this instant!"
A rumble was heard, and the ground shook violently. I caught up with the girl within the entrance to the mine. Rocks started to fall around us. I quickly scooped her up and ran back the way I came as the whole thing started to collapse.
Basil, Dawson, and Flaversham sprinted through the small passage as rocks went down behind them. "Hurry!" Basil shouted urgently.
"There!" Dawson panted, pointing to a small bit of light in the distance.
Basil pushed Dawson to make him go faster, the toy maker following close behind.
Dust started to rise from the collapse, making it harder to see. Flaversham tripped, causing everyone else to fall over. They all scrambled back up and darted for the exit.
"Oh no!"
I ran like I had never run before. As I ran, the hem of my dress got caught on a rock. The dress tore as I stumbled down the hill. I finally tripped over another rock, twisting my foot. Olivia flew out of my arms. Shots of pain went through my foot.
Silence.
They're dead. Mr. Flaversham and Basil.
I could not believe it. They were gone.
"Meg!" I could make out Ratigan's form in the settling dust as he came to my aide. "Are you all right?"
"My foot," I gasped.
He knelt down and inspected it. I cried out when he touched it.
"You've broken it," he said sharply. "That's going to slow us down considerably."
"Oh Megana!" Olivia exclaimed. She was crying silently to herself, staring at the caved-in mine.
"Shut up! It's your fault anyway. If you hadn't ran off, this would've never happened!" He was not talking about the two deaths he was responsible for. The professor was furious with her for causing my injury.
"Can you fix it?" I asked quickly, trying to divert his attention.
"If I make a splint, do you think you can handle a journey to town and a five hour train ride?"
"Yes," I breathed heavily. Ratigan's mood could change in an instant. I had to be agreeable if I wanted to protect Olivia.
He stood up and gazed at the remains of the mine. He doubled up in laughter and, pointing to the mess he had caused, shouted, "I HAVE WON! YOU HEAR THAT, BASIL?" He listened for a moment. Then he said, "Of course not. YOU'RE DEAD!" He was once again consumed with laughter, and I believe, a good deal of madness.
"Is anyone hurt or... dead?" Basil called out into the dark.
"No," Dawson and Flaversham chorused.
"Well, at least there's that," the detective muttered.
"What happened?" Flaversham asked. "Where's the way out?"
"Blocked by some of those rocks. The worst should be over. Luckily the whole mine didn't fall down. We must move some of those rocks before we suffocate in here." The three escapees attempted to remove the rocks at the top of the pile, but once one rock was removed, more fell into its place.
After a while Dawson exclaimed, "This is impossible! We're getting nowhere."
"What other choice do we have?" the toy maker asked.
"We must get out of here!" Basil cried.
The shifting of rocks made all three mice stop. Suddenly daylight broke through. "Dr. Dawson? Are you and your comrades all right?"
"José? Is it you?"
"Who are you talking to? Who's José?" Basil asked.
"The mouse who led me to you," Dawson replied. "He's freed us. We're all right!"
They scrabbled to the surface and out of the darkness of the mine. When they got to the top, there was no one around.
"José?" Dawson called. The mouse was nowhere in sight. "Where is he?"
"He was here before?"
"He was just here!"
The doctor turned to Basil and Flaversham. The detective was muttering to himself, "José...José..." He looked at Dawson. "Never mind that now, we've got to find Ratigan."
The three set off for the road, keeping an eye out for the enemy. By the time they got to the entrance to the mine, the area was completely deserted.
"They probably went back to San Antonio," Flaversham offered. "Ratigan had mentioned something about making a certain train."
"Can you remember which train?" Basil asked as they headed in the direction of the town."
"I cannot quite remember. I do believe it began with an S. Maybe Seattle."
"Seattle is a possibility," Basil muttered. "Could it have been Salt Lake City or Santa Fe?"
"Perhaps it was Santa Fe. San- ta Fe," Flaversham said to himself. "San-"
Basil clamped his mouth shut. The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows over the desert. Further down the road a large, dark, four-legged creature was approaching them.
"It's a dog," Dawson said.
"Yes, but is it friend or foe? I doubt that it works for Ratigan, but one can never be sure how friendly those creatures can be."
As Basil ushered them to some rocks along the side of the road, Dawson said, "What about Toby?"
"Really Dawson, what a question! I trained Toby myself. He's perfectly reliable. But this one, this one could be wild. Dogs aren't always the best of friends."
They peered over the rocks as the dog continued toward them. It was a scraggly German Shepard. It sniffed the ground as it came closer. Finally he was level with the three hiding mice, and picking up their scent, found them.
"Eh, hello old chap," Basil said. "I see that you're looking for something. Anything we can help you with?"
"Yeah," the dog answered. "Are you Basil?"
"Considering that that name wouldn't be very common in these parts, I do believe that I am the mouse you would be looking for. Why do you ask?"
"I got a note from someone saying a little mouse, named Basil, needed a lift back to Antonio."
"Well, that's rather helpful. Yes, if you could convey us to the train station, we'd greatly appreciate it."
"Hop on then," the dog said, lying down so the mice could climb on his back.
"Who was it that sent the note?" Dawson asked. The dog took off at a brisk trot.
"Pardon me, but would you be so kind as to speed it up a bit? We are in a hurry." The dog started to run. The three mice held on for their lives. "Eh, what did you say, old friend?" Basil asked.
Dawson said more loudly, "Who sent the note?"
"Come now Dawson, it's simple. Who, besides Ratigan, knows of our whereabouts?"
"Meg."
"Dawson! You aren't using your common sense this evening."
Dawson was indignant. "You don't need to insult me."
"I apologize. But I know you can answer this one. Think for a moment."
"I... José!"
"But of course! I knew you would get it."
"But why is this one mouse aiding us so much?" Dawson wondered. "Do you know him?"
"I can't say that I do. That is, unless..."
Dawson and Flaversham waited for him to finish his thought. When he didn't say anything, Flaversham said, "Perhaps he is leading us into a trap."
Basil shook his head. "He led Dawson to us, Flaversham. If he had wanted to do harm to us, he would've left us there."
"Perhaps he once worked for Ratigan," Dawson suggested.
"If I am correct, he did once work for Ratigan."
"So you know who he is?"
"If I am right, then I throw all logic out the window. Please do not press me for details," Basil said quickly before Dawson could question this statement. "I may explain it to you some day, old friend, but now is not the time!"
Emma: You added a talking dog?
Meg: I was really mixing up 'An American Tail' and 'The Great Mouse Detective'. Sorry!
JWJ: You shot Childres!
Lizz: Actually Ratigan did.
JWJ: Meg!
Leigh: Hold on, who's José?
Meg: (Evil grin) You may never know.
Leigh: Figures. Fine, be that way. See if I care. (Storms off)