Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac

Cedric. ‘Begone! I need thee not!’ said
Catweazle angrily. ‘I shall find thy treasure!’
    ‘Don’t
be ridiculous,’ said Cedric, blowing out the candles and stuffing them back
into Catweazle’s pockets. ‘You can’t keep coming here. Anyway, they’re looking
for ghosts tonight.’
    Catweazle
looked at him sharply. ‘Ghosts?’ he said.
    ‘I
thought that would make you think.’
    ‘Ghosts!’
repeated Catweazle, his eyes shining with excitement. ‘Then they will lead us
to the gold.’
    ‘What!’
said Cedric.
    ‘Dost
thou know nothing?’ said Catweazle. ‘Ghosts know where gold is hid!’ He drew
Adamcos and ran off up the steps with Cedric tearing after him just as Kenley
and Hackforth switched on the tape recorder and a series of moans echoed eerily
along the dark passages. Catweazle was delighted. ‘Ah ha ha ha ha!’ he cried. Kenley and Hackforth looked at each other. ‘Was that you, Hackforth?’
said Kenley.
    ‘No,
Hector,’ said Hackforth. Catweazle was about to open their bedroom door when
Cedric finally caught up with him.
    ‘No!’
he hissed. ‘They’re in there!’
    ‘ ’Tis
so and I will speak with them,’ said Catweazle. ‘Salmay! Dalmay! Adonay!’
    Hackforth
and Kenley listened with horror. ‘What was that?’ said Kenley, licking his
lips.
    ‘Sounded
like... “Sunday. All day. Agony.” ’ whispered Hackforth in terror.
    ‘Come
on!’ said Kenley and flung open the door just as Cedric dragged Catweazle out
of sight. They watched the two ghost-hunters run down the corridor and go
crashing over the trip-wire. The noise woke Lord and Lady Collingford.
    ‘What
was that?’ whispered Lady Collingford.
    ‘Probably
Kenley or that other lunatic,’ grunted Lord Collingford.
    ‘But he
might have hurt himself.’
    ‘I hope
he’s broken his neck!’
    ‘Please,
Charles!’
    ‘Oh,
all right,’ said Lord Collingford, and climbed reluctantly out of bed.
    Cedric
pushed Catweazle behind a chair just before his father arrived. Kenley and Hackforth
had already limped back to their room.
    ‘Why
aren’t you in bed?’ said Lord Collingford.
    ‘I
couldn’t get to sleep,’ said Cedric.
    ‘That’s
no reason for keeping everybody else awake,’ said Lord Collingford. ‘Go back to
bed and stay there.’
    But
Cedric had first to deal with Catweazle, who had vanished from his hiding
place.
    ‘Who
was it?’ said Lady Collingford, as her husband climbed back into bed.
    ‘Cedric,’
said Lord Collingford, turning off the light, ‘said he couldn’t sleep.’
    ‘Oh,’
said Lady Collingford, who couldn’t sleep either.
    A few
minutes later, she heard a strange fizzing noise. It was Catweazle, still
looking for the ghosts. Lady Collingford switched the light on again and nudged
her sleeping husband. ‘Charles!’ she whispered.
    Lord
Collingford woke with a start. ‘Now what?’ he said grumpily.
    ‘Listen!’
    There
was absolute silence.
    ‘I
can’t hear anything,’ said Lord Collingford.
    ‘It’s
stopped now.’
    ‘Please
Dottie,’ said Lord Collingford, ‘it’s after two!’
    Kenley
and Hackforth were still recovering from their
    fright
when Catweazle arrived outside their door again, fizzing in excitement, with
Cedric hot on his trail. ‘D’you know what I think,’ said Kenley, ‘it’s that
boy, Cedric. He’s making fools of us. Pretending to be a ghost.’ He pulled the
sheets off his bed and handed one to Hackforth. ‘Well, two can play at that
game! We’ll give him the shock of his life!’
    They
draped themselves in the sheets, switched off the lights and threw open the
door.
    They
were face to face with Catweazle. ‘I bid thee welcome,’ he said, in a solemn
voice.
    The
ghosts were terrified. ‘Sssspeak to it, H-H-Hector,’ stammered Hackforth,
shaking under his sheet.
    ‘Where
is the gold?’ asked Catweazle.
    ‘Lady
Collingford was right!’ Hackforth whispered. ‘It’s Lord Alfred! He thinks we’ve
found the treasure!’ ‘D-D-Depart in peace,’ said Kenley.
    ‘Nay,’
said Catweazle, coming into the bedroom, ‘lead me to the treasure.’
    The
ghosts ran out in a panic and crashed over the trip-wire again. Cedric hid in
the shadows and by the time the ghost hunters had picked themselves up Lord
Collingford was coming angrily down the passage.
    ‘I’m
not standing for any more of this,’ he told them. ‘Will you please pack your
things and leave at once.’
    But
they were too terrified to return to their bedroom, and while