The Sleeping Army Awakes

Part 78 Hotel

Sir Percy was startled awake by a call on his Dudat. He had been snoozing, befuddled by the profuse quantities of brandy, not to mention the cider that he had been swigging, in the plush armchair in the hotel lobby. But the intrusion hadn't been totally unwelcome, because Sir Percy had been in the midst of a terrible nightmare where he was being pursued by a giant carnivorous rabbit. He signalled to Malik to answer it for him. Malik picked it up from the table answered the call.

"Oh Perseus!" Sir Gilbert blurted. "Ruthers died!"

"Oh dear! My condolences old chum." Sir Percy said, and there wasn't a single drop of humanity or pity in his voice. "But if you expect sympathy from me today of all days... then you have another thing coming."

"But he is dead Perseus!" Sir Gilbert pleaded.

"It had to come sometime Gilly." Sir Percy said pragmatically. "The old fossil was knocking on a bit wasn't he?"

"He was over a hundred Perseus!" Sir Gilbert blurted.

"And don't forget how close I came to meeting my maker today." Sir Percy said.

"I said that I was sorry!" Sir Gilbert whined.

"Perhaps a bit of younger blood will perk you up?" Sir Percy suggested.

"Oh no I cancelled tonight's entertainment Perseus!" Sir Gilbert said, totally missing the point and thinking about the Vienna boys choir. "I just felt that it would be wouldn't be right."

"No, no! You nincompoop Gilly." Sir Percy said. "I meant that you could just get a new butler."

"I already have one!" Sir Gilbert said. "but it's not the same is it? Ruthers was there when I was born!"

"Just out of interest." Sir Percy said. "How did he die?"

"Bravely, stoically but rather quickly, grabbing his neck like this!" Sir Gilbert said miming it all for Percy's benefit.

"So was he stung by a wasp or something?" Sir Percy asked exasperated by his rival's apparent stupidity.

"Possibly." Sir Gilbert admitted, "Look I was too upset to investigate the matter."

"Too full of brandy Gilly?" Sir Percy asked, but by then Gilly had dropped both the Dudat and his connection.

Saving Basil again

"Where are Pawel, Michal and Basil anyway?" Katka asked. "They've been gone ages! I hope that they aren't up to mischief."

"No actually I know that they are out there doing something useful for once!" Samuel said. "I sent them out to rescue people and that is actually what they are doing."

"They probably just wanted adventure!" Katka commented.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that they are already having an adventure if I am good judge of character." Samuel commented. "If there are any survivors in that little town down there, then the boys will bring them to safety up here away from the waters."

Samuel smiled when he concentrated on the brothers and saw that they were working hard to rescue the towns folk He had been quietly confident that they would turn out well, despite their initial behaviour.

"Pawel and Michal are heroically rescuing people!" Samuel said with a smile. "And Basil is heroically not running away!"

Elektra and Karlov and the two Polish brothers were really making themselves useful down the hill, alternately pulling people from the mud and leading them to the auto-truck trailers on higher drier ground. Most of the people recovered were more shocked than injured and a lot of them were quite old, because they had sent anyone that could walk unaided to higher ground. Almost all of them were covered in mud.