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and down on their ropes.
    ‘They’re dancing!’ Selby gasped.‘This is it — the Dancing Dead! The story was true! I just want to get out of he —!’
    Selby was in the middle of the word ‘here’ when the floor beneath him collapsed and he tumbled towards the room beneath. Even in the darkness, he could see the floor of the room squirming.
    ‘Snakes!’ he thought. ‘The whole floor is a mass of deadly snakes! Look! They see me coming! They’re rearing up! Their mouths are wide open to strike me!’
    Selby looked quickly around him as he fell. There was nothing to grab hold of, only the blocks of stone from the floor above, falling with him. As his face came closer and closer, the snakes struck out with poison dripping from their needle-sharp fangs. Selby screamed as he felt a piercing pain and then …

    ‘Snakes,’ Mrs Trifle said. ‘I could swear someone just cried “Snakes!” Like that.’
    ‘I heard it, too,’ Professor Krakpott said. ‘But I thought they said “cakes”. Maybe it’s one of those local people outside selling something.’
    ‘I’m afraid it sounded like “shakes” to me,’ Dr Trifle said. ‘Could we go now? I’m tired of all these tunnels. I’m sure we’ve seen the whole tomb by now.’
    ‘Yes, certainly,’ the professor said. ‘I’ve had enough, too. Back we go.’
    And so it was that the three of them — Mrs Trifle, Dr Trifle and Professor Krakpott — made their way back towards the entrance.
    ‘Selby?’ Mrs Trifle called. ‘Selllllllllllby! Where are you?’
    … Selby realised what he must do.
    ‘These rocks all around me are travelling just as fast as I am!’ he thought. ‘But if I grab oneand pull myself up on top of it, it will hit the snakes first. It’s my only chance!’
    Selby reached over and grabbed the huge block of rock next to him with all four paws, clambering on top of it as it hit. All around him stone blocks from the floor above rained down on the snakes.
    ‘It worked!’ Selby screamed as he scrambled up to the room above and then up the dangling root to the top of the tomb.‘That’s what I call a really really really really really close call!’
    ‘There you are, Selby,’ Mrs Trifle said, picking him up. ‘I knew you’d be waiting here at the entrance.’
    ‘It’s been a typical archaeological day,’ Professor Krakpott said to the Trifles, as they headed back along the path. ‘No close calls. No split second actions. Nothing like in those movies. And no dancing dead. Dead
boring
would be more like it.’
    ‘Maybe for you,’ Selby thought. ‘But certainly not for me.’
    Paw note: For more about the professor, see the story ‘Professor Krakpotts Puzzle’ in the book
Selby’s Secret.      S

SELBY’S (GREAT) EXPECTATIONS
    ‘The reason I’ve asked you to come here is to tell you that Selby is now a very rich dog,’ the lawyer told the Trifles.
    ‘I’m a
what
?’ Selby thought. (But he didn’t say it out loud.)
    ‘He’s a
what
?’ Mrs Trifle asked. (And she
did
say it out loud.)
    ‘My client was a very wealthy woman. When she died we found this will,’ Mr Jaggers said, holding up a crinkly piece of paper.‘I’ll read it.’
    To Mr Jaggers, my old friend and lawyer,

When I die I would like all of my proper ty to go to a very important little fellow. His name is Selby and he lives withhis owners, Dr and Mrs Trifle, in the town of Bogusville. And, by the way, he’s a dog. I want to give him the best life that I can. So I’m giving him and his owners the use of my mansion, Havisham House. They will be looked after by my faithful servant, Bentley, and there will be plenty of money each week for expenses. Fur thermore, Selby is to be treated exactly like a person. He is to be fed the very best people food and allowed to sit at the dinner table.
    ‘Is it a joke?’ Mrs Trifle asked.
    ‘Certainly not, Mrs Trifle. But I have no idea what was behind this. She had no family but why she would want Selby to have the