Read Doctor Who: The Highlanders for Free Online Page B

was a scuffle of leaves above her and then Kirsty’s head appeared over the edge of the pit. ‘It’s your self!’ she exclaimed. The Scottish girl was so startled she dropped the dagger. Polly, with a quick twist, managed to turn away as it stuck into the ground beside her.
    ‘Careful, you idiot!’ shouted Polly. Then, angry because she’d been so afraid, said crossly ‘Of course it’s my self –
    who did you think it was?’
    ‘Och, I’m sorry,’ said Kirsty. ‘I thought maybe a Redcoat had fallen into the animal trap – and I wish it had been.’
    ‘It’s lucky for both of us that it didn’t happen that way.
    Come on, help me get out of here,’ said Polly.
    ‘Give me your hand.’ Kirsty stretched her arm over, and Polly scrambled up towards Kirsty’s hand. She grabbed it, but the Scots girl had not balanced herself on the edge, and Polly, the bigger girl, pulled her back over, so the both of them tumbled once more to the bottom of the pit.
    ‘Oh, help,’ said Polly, ‘are you hurt?’
    Kirsty sat up and started brushing the earth off her arms. ‘No’, she said. ‘A wee bruise or two, and a lot of dirt.
    Och, but now we’re both trapped,’ she wailed.
    ‘Not on your nelly,’ said Polly. ‘Even you Scottish lasses must’ve played piggy-back at some time.’
    ‘I dinna understand.’
    ‘You get down,’ Polly said, ‘I climb on your back and scramble up, then I’ll pull you up.’
    ‘Oh, I ken,’ said Kirsty. She kneeled; Polly got on her back and climbed up, raising her head above the level of the pit, and started reaching for a good hand-hold to pull herself out. She stopped and stared. A light was approaching along the path.
    ‘Quick wi’ ye,’ Kirsty’s voice came from below. ‘You’re no light weight, you know.’
    Polly turned and looked down. ‘Shush,’ she said, ‘there’s a light.’
    She now made the light out to be a lantern held by an approaching soldier. Behind him was a single file of men.
    ‘It’s soldiers,’ she called down. She jumped down from Kirsty’s back.
    ‘Redcoats!’ said Kirsty. ‘Och, we’re cornered now.’ Polly shook her head. ‘Shhh, let’s just wait. They’ll soon move off. Listen now.’
    Up above them, a very weary Lieutenant Algernon Ffinch was stumbling along, leaning on one of his men, with another proceeding with the lantern. It had been a long hike through the mountains, and Algernon’s high-heeled elegant London-made boots were not up to the rugged Scottish moors. One heel had come off, and he was lame, cross and very tired. Suddenly, the man who was supporting the Lieutenant stumbled, and Ffinch fell forward.
    ‘You clumsy fool!’ he shouted. ‘What did you do that for?’
    ‘Sorry, sir,’ said the man. ‘I think it’s some sort of wall.’
    The soldier with the lantern turned back and revealed the remnants of a low stone wall used to separate the farmers’
    sheep fields, now in obvious disrepair.
    Algernon sat gingerly on the stone wall, and the two men hovered uncertainly above him. Algernon was in a flaming temper.
    ‘Couldn’t catch two wenches, could you? Call yourselves
    “His Majesty’s soldiers”? The terror of the Highlands?
    You wouldn’t frighten a one-armed dairymaid. Here’ – he turned to the man who’d been supporting him – ‘pull this boot off.’ The soldier leant down, and as he held the boot, Algernon pushed against his shoulder, sending him over backwards with the boot. ‘Ah, that’s better,’ said Algernon.
    ‘I’ve done enough walking for one day. You two go and fetch my horse. And if you’re not back in an hour, six lashes apiece. Do we understand each other?’ The frightened soldiers saluted. ‘Well, what are you waiting for?’ said Algernon. ‘Go!’ The men turned and started back along the path.
    ‘Imbeciles!’ Algernon screamed after them. ‘Leave the lantern here. You think I want to be left in the dark?’ The soldier with the lantern brought it over and placed it