Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE THE SNOOGLE 'If the Snoogle has your mother's ring, we shall have to find some way of getting it back,' said Binky. 'I wonder who or what he is. I've never heard of him before.' The chair flew on. Soon, in the distance, the three could see an enormous castle set on a hilltop. At the bottom, all round the foot was a great moat full of water. A drawbridge

stretched across the moat- but, even as the children looked at it, it was drawn up into the gateway on the castle side of the moat. 'There's no way of getting in the Snoogle's castle except by flying, that's plain,' said Binky. 'Fly on to the roof, wishing-chair.'

The wishing-chair flew to the roof of the castle. It was turreted, and the chair flew over the turrets and down on to a flat part behind. Sitting on the roof, basking in the sunshine, was the Snoogle. The children stared at him in astonishment. He was the funniest-looking creature they had ever seen. He had the body of a dragon,

the tail of a cat always twirling and twisting, and the head of a yellow duck! He was sitting in a deck-chair fast asleep. The wishing-chair flew down beside his chair, and the children stared at the Snoogle. They did not get out of the chair because, really, they hardly liked the look of the Snoogle. But Binky jumped down and went to have a good stare at him.

'Snore-r-r-r-r-r!' went the sleeping Snoogle. 'Snore-r-r-r-r-r!' 'Hie! Wake up, Snoogle!' shouted Binky, and he gave the Snoogle a poke in the chest. The Snoogle woke up in a fright and quacked loudly. 'Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack!' He leapt to his two pairs of dragon feet and glared at Binky.

'I've come to fetch the ring that Big-Ears the goblin gave you,' said Binky boldly. 'Will you get it, please?' 'You'd better get it yourself,' said the Snoogle sulkily. 'Where is it, then?' asked Binky. 'Go down the stairs there, and walk down two hundred steps,' said Snoogle. 'You will come to a bolted door. Unbolt it and walk in. You will see my bedroom there. In a big box on the mantelpiece you will find the ring. It was given to me by Big-Ears, and I think you should give me something in return for it.' 'You shall have nothing!' cried Binky. 'You knew quite well that Big-Ears should not have taken that ring from our garden. I believe you were just keeping it for him till people had forgotten it and had given up hunting for it.