Page 18 (1/2)

The obvious ould be to take a few coals off each pyramid and set them down in a pattern So whenever he came to a pyrahed and went to the closest pyra chunk of coal fro up fro

‘Ho! Stop! Unhand my coal, you ruffian!’

Fifteen

THOSE ARE MY COALS, villain!’ continued the man Then he saw the Key in Arthur’s hand and in e‘Oh, not you, sir, whoever you oes!’

Puzzled, Arthur looked where the et back to work then, sir,’ added the a-like robe that the elevator operator had been reduced to, though this one was black as the coal and very tattered He was also short, a head shorter than Arthur, though he otherwise had the physique of a grown man

‘Who are you?’ asked Arthur

‘Coal-Collator Very Ordinary Tenth Grade,’ reported the man ‘Number 9665785553 in precedence’

‘I ot a name, not anymore Very few of us down here have names, Your Excellency Not what you would call nao now?’

‘Well, as your name?’ asked Arthur ‘And ere you before you were down here?’

‘That’s a cruel question, and no mistake,’ said the man He wiped a tear from his eye ‘But there’s the Key in your hand, so I must answer I was called Pravuil, sir, Tenth Assistant Deputy Clerk of Stars I counted suns in the Secondary Realms, I did, sir, and kept their records Till I was asked to a to a certain sun Iahrefused and was cast froh’

‘I don’t want toI don’t want to upset you,’ said Arthur ‘But what do you do down here?’

‘I collate the coal into piles,’ explained Pravuil He indicated the pyramids ‘Then one of the Coal-Chippers comes and cuts the coals to size and puts them in a request basket, which takes theo they’ve forgotten what a fire is and beco’

‘Baskets?’ asked Arthur ‘What kind of baskets? How do they get taken up?’

‘I see your thinking, sir,’ replied Pravuil ‘Escape, that’s what you’re thinking Lax procedures Someone you’ll want to punish But it’s not so The baskets are small and they come with active labels The labels take the that a label ht be detached and used to transport so, as Bareneck would tell you if he can ever find his head down here’

‘Bareneck?’

‘That’s e call him He took a label off a basket and tied it around his neck,’ said Pravuil with a sniff ‘I told him it was stupid, but he wouldn’t listen The label went up, but it didn’t take any of Bareneck with it Cut clean through his neck it did, and the head rolled off so coal all over the place I expect he’ll find it eventually His head, I mean Or someone else will’

Arthur shuddered and looked around, half expecting to see a headlessfor his head Or even worse, the head lying buried somewhere here, with senses intact, but no way to co anything,’ said Arthur ‘I have the Key, but I’m not an official of the House Or a friend of Mister Monday I’m a mortal, from outside’

‘Whatever you say, sir,’ Pravuil said, with unveiled suspicion Clearly he thought Arthur was trying to trick hi on with o, can you tell meor show mewhere the Old One is down here?’

Pravuil shivered and o near him!’ he warned ‘The Old One can finish you off per, with no chance of co back!’

‘I have to,’ said Arthur slowly At least, he thought he had to There didn’t seem to be any other way out of here

‘That way,’ whispered Pravuil He pointed ‘The coal will not be ordered there No one dare sweep around the Old One’

‘Thank you,’ said Arthur ‘I hope you are restored to your old position one day’

Pravuil shrugged and resue implement he held, Arthur finally saas a kind of weird broom-and-pan coular pieces of coal, which Pravuil then stacked

Arthur started in the direction that Pravuil had indicated A few seconds after the light from the Key had left the Coal-Collator behind, his voice echoed out of the darkness

‘Don’t stay past twelve!’