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up by wooden scaffolding or held together by great iron staples or by loops of thick, tarred rope.
    Widdershins was still awesome, but Trundle began to find it a little sad as well.
    At last they found themselves standing on a wide cobbled courtyard in front of massive wooden gates, gazing up at writing etched into the gray stone and picked out in faded gold leaf.
    COLLEGE OF
    THE WORSHIPFUL
    GUILD OF OBSERVATORS
    HIGHMOST CHANCELLOR:
    AUGUSTUS BROCKWISE,
    M.SC. M.PHIL. M.ENG. PH.D.
    Nailed to the doorpost, alongside a hanging chain, was a scrap of parchment.
    For admittance, pull chain once and WAIT.
    A guard will come .
    And underneath that, a scribbled note.
    Don’t pull more than once, or you’ll be in for it!
    Esmeralda marched up to the bell pull and gave it a hefty tug. A gloomy bell rang dully from behind the walls.
    They waited.
    Esmeralda folded her arms and leaned against the wall. Trundle walked nervously up and down, the backpack containing the crown and the key slung over his shoulder. Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled cheerily to himself.
    Nothing happened.
    Esmeralda stood and stared at the bell pull, her fists on her hips. “If they don’t answer the door by the time I count to ten…,” she began, but she was interrupted by a small side door creaking open.
    A sleepy-eyed fox in an elaborate but shoddy uniform stepped out. He had a dented crested helmet on his head and a slightly bent halberd in one fist. He blinked at the three companions and wiped a sleeve across his nose.
    “Whaddya want?” he asked.
    “My name is Esmeralda Lightfoot,” announced Esmeralda. “And these are my trusted companions, Trundle Boldoak and Jack Nimble. We have urgent business to discuss with the Highmost Chancellor, so be a good fellow and let us in.”
    “Wot biznizz?” asked the guard, frowning down at her.
    “That’s our affair,” Esmeralda declared. “Kindly alert your master to our presence.”
    “No tell me biznizz, no geddin,” mumbled the guard, turning and ducking back through the little postern door.
    “Now look here, you!” exclaimed Esmeralda.
    The guard turned and regarded her with narrowed eyes. “Wot?”

    Trundle had the feeling that Esmeralda’s temper was likely to do more harm than good. He stepped forward, pulling the Crystal Crown and the iron key out of the backpack.
    “Look!” he said to the guard. “We’ve found these! We want to show them to the Highmost Chancellor. I’m sure he’ll be interested.”
    The guard peered at him. “Wossis, then?”
    “It’s the Crystal Crown of the Badger Lords of Old,” said Jack. “We’re on a quest to find all of them. We’re hoping the Highmost Chancellor will be able to help.”
    “I’ll arx ’im,” mumbled the guard, and before Trundle or Jack or Esmeralda could say a word or make a move or do anything to prevent it, he leaned forward, grabbed the crown and the key out of Trundle’s hands, and disappeared back through the doorway.
    “Come back in six weeks,” the guard said. “Maybe someone’ll see you then.”
    The door slammed shut on them.
    “Hey!” they yelled in chorus. “Wait!”
    They threw themselves at the door and hammered on it till their paws were bruised and aching.
    But despite their very best efforts, the door remained firmly shut.

T he three companions sat dejectedly under the high stone walls of the Worshipful Guild of Observators, robbed of crown and key and wondering what to do next.
    No amount of hammering and yelling had made the guard open the door again. At one point Esmeralda had taken off her shoe and beaten it on the great oak wood panels for a solid minute, but to no effect.
    “I suppose we could come back again in six weeks’ time, like he said,” mused Trundle, his chin in his paws and his spirits in his heels.
    “Good plan, Trundle,” Esmeralda replied with deep sarcasm. “And by then, of course, the pirates will be here to help us out.”
    “I was only saying …,”