It was dark and still under the trees of the forest. Jack used his Bible as a light to show them the way and he and Hezekiah together retraced their steps to the small clearing where they had slept, crunching over dried leaves and small twigs and branches, back to the big tree. But there was little to linger for there.
“Shall we try to find our way out of here? We must find help for Timmy.” Hezekiah was still trembling and Jack now realised that there was something he had that could help.
He reluctantly removed his helmet from his head and handed it to Hezekiah. “Here,” he said, “we’ll share it and take it in turns as we go along. We’ll take it in turns with the Bible too. You go first.”
Hezekiah quickly fitted the helmet to his head and took hold of the light that was the Bible. “Oh!” he said. And then, “oh!” again. He didn’t really need to explain what he was feeling: Jack saw the relief and gladness in the expression on his face.
Jack himself felt bereft of support and encouragement without his helmet and Bible but he tried as best as he could to keep his mind focussed on the things that the helmet helped with. The helmet helped you to remember that, because you were saved and had trusted in the Lord Jesus, you were set free from sin. The Lord Jesus was victorious over all the enemies and problems a Christian might face, and so you could be strong and brave because the Lord Jesus had already defeated foes like Snares; He enabled Christians to defeat the wicked things that were around them and He had also sent another Helper9 to help Christians win the battles around them. There was no need to be afraid! But it was easy to forget that when the Snares gathered around.
Jack wondered what the time was. How long had it been since they had left the Fair? How long since they had got lost in the forest? Were people looking for them yet? He put his hand in his pocket and it closed around his spy watch. It was a sudden, strange fancy, but he wondered if his spy watch, which told the time in lots of different countries, happened to know the time in the land of Err. He flicked it open and checked the dial. Amazingly his watch now showed ‘True Aletheia Time’! It was 10.54pm, and underneath the time it also said ‘Time for bed!’ So much time had passed! No wonder he was so tired and hungry! Hezekiah was tired and hungry too but neither boy complained. They just trudged on, walking steadily through the forest, following the light of the Bible. They both agreed that walking uphill, in the opposite direction Timmy had taken, seemed the best way. They picked their way carefully through the trees, around patches of boggy ground, past thorn bushes and shrubs, following the light of the Bible. They found a faint path and followed it onwards. Once they saw a sign on a post by the path. ‘Alternative Teaching this way’ it read. It pointed back the way they had come and they knew that they were right to be going away from a place called Alternative Teaching.
They didn’t talk much about how far they were walking and how many creatures of the night they saw in the darkness. At last the trees began to thin and the mist seemed less intense, and suddenly Hezekiah stopped and pointed. “Look, Jack!” he said.
And when Jack looked upwards he saw the cross of the city of Aletheia, high on a hill, illuminated against the dark of the night sky.
And then they knew that they were no longer lost: for now they could follow the cross.
It did not take the boys long to realise that they would not make it back to Aletheia that night. They could still see the cross, they knew the direction that they should take and they even found a faint path to follow. But they were too tired to keep walking all the way back up Apathy Road to the safety of Aletheia. They were not really afraid. The fear receded when either Jack or Hezekiah put the helmet on and held the Bible in their hand. And there was the additional comfort of the cross high on the hill. But nevertheless they must, they decided, find somewhere to lie down and sleep for at least some of the night.
They were quietly discussing this and testing the ground beneath a big, sheltering pine tree when they heard a strange sound. It wasn’t exactly an engine, not like the ones that Jack knew at home anyway, but it was something that didn’t sound like a human or an animal, and it was definitely coming their way. They both withdrew to the tree, standing back in the shadows and peeping out to watch what might be coming down the path towards them.
And then, through the stillness of the night, they heard a most welcome sound.
“I think I should drive now, Hugo! You almost hit that tree!”
“Henry!” breathed Hezekiah. Then, “It’s Henry!” he shouted. “It’s Henry, Jack!”
The conversation between Hugo and Henrietta Wallop continued:
“I wouldn’t have swerved if you hadn’t grabbed the wheel!”
“Are we still going the right way? Are you sure? Let’s check the signal again!”
“We checked it a few minutes ago!”
“I know, but this path is so faint…”
“Stop grabbing the wheel, Henry!”
And that was when the twins noticed the two boys running down the path towards them.
Henrietta’s shriek could have scared the creatures of Err for miles around. “We’ve found them! Oh, Hugo, we’ve found them!” And the next moment Henrietta was racing down the path towards Jack and Hezekiah, flinging her arms around them both in overwhelming relief.
There were a few moments of chaos when everyone talked over the top of everyone else and nobody was bothered about much except enjoying the wonderful feeling of being found and rescued and reunited once more. Then Hugo and Henrietta put the two tired boys in the incredible contraption in which they had travelled to meet them. Hezekiah was particularly excited with their transport.
“It’s Mr Weighty’s own Rescue Craft!” he exclaimed in excitement.
Jack had seen the big white letters on the side of the strange machine: ‘WEIGHTY’S RESCUE CRAFT’ and he had never seen anything like it. It was a mix of the oldest, oddest tractor, and something like a very big quad bike. It had four big wheels, big armchair-type seats facing forward and a big settee-type seat facing backwards. There were various cupboards and storage areas between the front and back of the Craft and a very large steering wheel in the front.
“It belongs to Mr Weighty,” Henrietta explained to Jack.
“I think that’s probably the obvious bit, Henry,” said Hugo.
“Mr Weighty’s Craft is one of the best!” said Hezekiah. “I’ve always wanted to see it!”
“I think Mr Weighty sort-of added lots of things,” said Henrietta. “And Mrs Weighty probably added the cushions and sleeping bags and blankets that we found.”
“It’s got the Rescuer’s Kit and Mission Detector and everything else we need on board,” said Hugo. “That’s how we found you!”
“Oh,” said Jack, trying to take in the explanation, particularly of how they had been found. He remembered Mr Weighty mentioning a ‘Mission Detector’ when he explained how people communicated in the land of Err.
“Look,” said Hugo pointing at a strange screen by the steering wheel. “You can see from this Mission Detector that we’ve been searching for you …” and he pointed to the top of the screen, which showed Hezekiah Amos Wallop and Jack Arnold Merryweather in white, scrawled writing. “Well, the map on the screen can locate Christians in need, Christians who are lost, anybody who is praying for help, you know, things like that.”
Jack and Hezekiah both leaned forward from the back settee where they were sitting and stared at the white dot on the enlarged map of Err which showed where they had been found. The closer you peered at the screen the larger the image became, until you could almost see the tall pine tree under which they had considered sleeping that night.
“I’m glad you came,” said Hezekiah.
“Oh, Zek,” said Henrietta, “as if we would have left you alone in Err all night! We had to come!”
“Yes, we did,” Hugo said more wryly and Jack caught a glance between the twins that he did not understand.
The boys removed their armour boots, got into cosy sleeping bags, and curled up on the big settee at the back of the Rescue Craft. Hugo started up the Craft and it began to trundle down the narrow path once more, first slowly and then with increasing speed.
“What about Timmy?” asked Jack, as Henrietta unpacked a picnic and passed them cheese sandwiches and cups of hot tomato soup.
“You’d better eat up before you both fall asleep,” she said, watching them both with touching anxiety.
“Barmy was taken by Snares,” said Hezekiah, and he shuddered slightly in the darkness.
“We know, Zek,” said Henrietta.
“How do you know?” asked Jack.
“We know because of this,” said Hugo. He changed the name at the top of the Mission Detector screen in the Rescue Craft to ‘Timothy Trial’. “It took us a while to get it to work,” he admitted, “we kept putting in the name Barmy Bats. We couldn’t remember Barmy’s real name at all!”
Beside Timmy’s name at the top of the screen were the words ‘Taken by Snares; likely direction False Teaching’. Jack thought that the Detector was a bit like Sat Nav except that it gave different information. But Jack didn’t try to explain that. Hugo and Henrietta and Hezekiah would likely never have heard of Sat Nav and Jack didn’t think he would be able to explain.
“We can’t see where Timmy is yet,” said Henrietta. “But we’ll get it working properly soon.”
“I’ve been thinking, and I might know why it doesn’t show all the details yet,” said Hugo.
“Why?” asked Henrietta.
“I remember Harold explaining about the importance of people praying,” said Hugo. “Timmy has to pray for help and then we get more information about where to find him.”
“I told him to pray!” Hezekiah piped up. “Maybe he will pray!”
“You know something, Hugo,” said Henrietta, “I think you might actually be right!”
“Don’t sound too surprised!” said Hugo.
“Well, it is the first time, after all,” retorted Henrietta.
Hezekiah smiled sleepily and snuggled down in his sleeping bag. As far as he was concerned his troubles were over. They had been rescued; the rest was up to the twins.
Jack stayed awake a little longer than Hezekiah. There was something alluring about bouncing along in this strange, settee-bed at the back of the Rescue Craft. Through the mist he could see stars in the sky, and the trees that still loomed large by the side of the narrow road no longer looked forbidding. The shadows had passed; perhaps the danger had passed too.
It transpired, as the Rescue Craft bounced and bumbled its way down the road, that the presence of Hugo and Henrietta in the wilds of Err was less ‘official’ than might have been supposed. When Hugo and Henrietta realised that Jack and Hezekiah had disappeared, and when they hadn’t reappeared by the close of the Wishy-Washy Fair, it was decided that someone should go and find them. A few other factors appeared to conspire to ensure that it was Hugo and Henrietta alone who set out on this task. First, their brother Harold, who was to come for them all, was delayed.
“He had to go on an emergency rescue to Broken,” explained Hugo.
“So it was down to us to come and get you!” said Henrietta. She was quite cheerful about the turn of events, especially since they had found Jack and Hezekiah.
“Well,” Hugo said more hesitantly and truthfully, “Mr Weighty was going to come…”
“But he was going to wait until the morning!”
“Mr Weighty wanted to leave early in the morning,” said Hugo, “as soon as he had more information, he said.”
“But we thought we shouldn’t wait,” said Henrietta. “We couldn’t just go home and leave you two alone out here somewhere! So…well, here we are!”
They certainly were. Jack didn’t ask how they had acquired Mr Weighty’s own Rescue Craft or whether Mr Weighty knew that it was now absent from his shed. Henrietta merely mentioned that it was “borrowed” and since Jack’s eyes were closing in sleep, he asked no more.
