Danny the Champion of the World

'What time is it?' he said. 'Shine the light down so I can see.' I did as he asked. 'It's ten to three,' he said. 'I must be out of here before sunrise.'

'Dad,' I said.

'Yes?'

'I brought the car. I came in the Baby Austin.'

'You what?' he cried.

'I wanted to get here quickly so I just drove it out of the workshop and came straight here.'

He sat there staring at me. I kept the torch pointed to one side of him so as not to dazzle his eyes.

'You mean you actually drove here in the Baby Austin?'

'Yes.'

'You're crazy,' he said. 'You're absolutely plumb crazy'

'It wasn't difficult,' I said.

'You could have been killed,' he said. 'If anything had hit you in that little thing, you'd have been smashed to smithereens.'

'It went fine, Dad.'

'Where is it now?'

'Just outside the wood on the bumpy track.'

His face was all puckered up with pain and as white as a sheet of paper. 'Are you all right?' I asked.

'Yes,' he said. 'I'm fine.' He was shivering all over though it was a warm night.

'If we could get you out, I'm sure I could help you to the car,' I said. 'You could lean on me and hop on one leg.'

'I'll never get out of here without a ladder,' he said.

'Wouldn't a rope do?' I asked.

'A rope!' he said. 'Yes, of course! A rope would do it! There's one in the Baby Austin! It's under the back seat! Mr Pratchett always carries a tow-rope in case of a breakdown.'

'I'll get it,' I said. 'Wait there, Dad.'

I left him and ran back the way I had come, shining the torch ahead of me. I found the car. I lifted up the back seat. The tow-rope was there, tangled up with the jack and the wheel-brace. I got it out and slung it over my shoulder. I wriggled through the hedge and ran back into the wood.

'Where are you, Dad?' I called out.

'Over here,' he answered.

With his voice to guide me, I had no trouble finding him this time. 'I've got the rope,' I said.

'Good. Now tie one end of it to the nearest tree.'

Using the torch all the time, I tied one end of the rope round the nearest tree. I lowered the other end down to my father in the pit. He grasped it with both hands and hauled himself up into a standing position. He stood only on his right leg. He kept his left foot off the ground by bending his knee.

'Jeepers,' he said. 'This hurts.'

'Do you think you can make it, Dad?'