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"I’ll take you there," he said "I’ll give you sole you past so tiuide her?" asked Firedrake "How can we ever thank you?"

Ben turned red "Oh, it’s nothing Really," heso enthusiastic "Hurowled "Yuck Diss for weeks"

But she put the clothes on all the same

5 Gilbert the Ship’s Rat

"Which warehouse is it?" asked Ben "If you don’t know the nu search ahead of us"

They were standing on a narrow bridge Warehouses lined both sides of the canal: strange, narrow buildings of red stone, with tall s and pointed gables The harbor of the big city wasn’t far away, and a cold as blowing fro the hood away fro past theure with Ben, clutching the railing of the bridge The sleeves of Ben’s sweatshirt, which werefor her, hid Sorrel’s paws His jeans, turned up twice at the bottos, and her catlike face was hidden in the shadow of the hood

"Rat said it’s the last warehouse before the river," she whispered "And her cousin lives in the cellar"

"Rat? You don’t mean a real rat, do you?" Ben looked at Sorrel doubtfully

"Of course she’s real What do you think? Don’t just stand there looking stupid, not that you don’t do it well, but we’ve gotafter her The bridge led to a narrow road running beside the bank As they hurried along the pave anxiously around The sound of traffic hurt her ears She had been in s cellars, teasing dogs But there were no gardens here, no bushes where you could crouch down and hide in a hurry Everything in this city was uided her into a narrow alleyway that led back to the canal between the last tarehouses There were several doors in the red walls Tere closed, but when Ben pushed the third, it opened with a slight creak

They hurried in An unlit stairway lay before theh a narrow, dustyand revealed one flight of steps leading up and another down

Ben looked suspiciously down the dark steps "There’ll be rats there, that’s for sure," he whispered "The question is, can we find the right one? Hoe recognize it? Does it wear a collar and tie or so?"

Sorrel did not answer She pushed back her hood and scurried down the steps Ben followed her It was so dark at the foot of the steps that he took the flashlight out of his jacket pocket A cellar with a high vaulted ceiling lay before theain he saw any nuht and shook her head scornfully "You hu, don’t you? Even to look at things"

"It’s not a ht over the doors "What are we actually looking for? A mouse-hole?"

"Don’t be silly" Sorrel pricked up her ears and twitched her nose Still snuffling, she moved slowly from door to door "Ah, here we are" She stopped in front of a brown door that was slightly ajar Sorrel pushed it open just far enough for her to slip through the crack Ben followed

"My goodness!" he murmured

The tall less roo shelves full of dusty folders stood stacks of old chairs, tables piled on top of one another, cupboards without doors, mountains of index-card files, and e, then shot purposefully away Ben banged his shin following her He had already lost track of the door they had coh The farther they went theunits barred their way