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gone by now. There might be someone close by..."

Peter shrugged. "Okay. It's worth a try."

"Help!" shrieked Kate.

"You really do have a loud voice," said Peter, wincing.

"Good," Kate replied. "Aren't you going to join in?"

"Hee-eelp!" they both shouted. "Help!"

Whenever they stopped, the silence seemed even deeper. Discouraged, Peter started to yodel instead.

"Yo-del-ay-ee-o! Yo-del-ay-ee-o! Yo-del-ay-ee yo-del-ay-ee yo-del-ay-ee-o!" Kate grinned for the first time since waking up in this strange land. She added her voice to the din. They yodeled faster and faster until their throats hurt too much to continue. Then Peter just shouted out whatever came into his head: "Tottenham Hotspur! Lightning Conductor! Diplodocus!" Each phrase came diving back to him like a boomerang.

Kate answered, "Manchester United! Supercallifragilisticexpialidocious!"
    * * *
    Hidden in a tangle of hawthorn bushes and young birches, the young stranger woke up from a deep sleep at the sound of the children's yodeling. He peered through the foliage. A crescent moon had appeared in the evening sky. Two blue eyes focused on the children, and the stranger's face broke into a smile.

By now the children had moved on to doing animal impressions: Kate was imitating a cow in need of milking, and Peter was roaring like a lion. Then he howled like a wolf: "Aa-ooooh!"

The sound of another wolf rang out and echoed around the valley. "Aa-ooooh!" Its cry was strong and wild.

"Was that you?" asked Peter.

"No," said Kate. "Are you trying to scare me?"

"No, really, I'm not kidding. Stop playing about. It was you, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't!" insisted Kate.

"Aa-ooooh!" Another howl from the stranger's lips reverberated across the peaceful landscape.

A moment later Peter and Kate were charging blindly down the grassy slope, arms outstretched for balance. They bounded, panting and spluttering, down the steep incline, scattering groups of grazing rabbits, and eventually came to a shuddering halt at the edge of a small wood at the bottom of the valley. They flung themselves on the ground, incapable of doing anything save taking in huge gulps of air.

Inside the wood it was pitch black. The pale bark of the birch trees that grew at the wood's edge seemed to glow in the twilight. If there were wolves up above, thought Kate, what creatures would they find down here? There were sure to be deadly spiders and poisonous snakes. She would not go into the wood unless she absolutely had to. But then she looked back up at the dark slope behind her. The muscles across her chest tightened as she pictured having to leap onto a wolf's back to get away from its strong white teeth, imagined pulling at its shaggy, rank coat and kicking at it with all her might--anything to stop those fangs sinking into her, tearing at soft flesh...At the bottom of the valley, in the dark, everything pressed down on her. She covered her eyes with her hands in an attempt to shut it all out, and silent tears flowed through her fingers. Where are you, Daddy, where are you?
    * * *
    Meanwhile Peter, too, was straining to hear anything that could suggest a wolf was hunting them down. He listened so hard it almost hurt. At first Kate's panting was all he could hear. Gradually, though, he tuned into the sound of the leaves rustling in the gentle breeze and began to distinguish a different noise.... He was sure he could make out the trickling sound of a small stream.

"Water!" he shouted, and grabbing hold of Kate's sleeve, he pulled her into the darkness.

Water had never tasted so refreshing. They lay on their bellies and dipped their faces into the freezing water. Peter gulped down so much water he could hear it slooshing around inside his stomach.

"Come on," said Kate. "It doesn't look like we can count on anyone finding us tonight. We're going to have to find help fast if we don't want to spend the night out here."

They tried to press on through the black wood, stumbling over logs and walking into