Frognapped Read Online Free Page A

finding frogs because he would be scared of them. But I knew Sir Horace would help.
    When you first see Sir Horace you do not realize he is a ghost at all; you think he is just an old suit of armor. But inside the armor is the real ghost of Sir Horace Cuthbert Shirley George Harbinger. Sir Horace got to be a ghost after a fight with some nasty people called FitzMaurice who left him (and Edmund) to drown in a horrible grotto and then took over his castle. One of their descendants, Old Morris, still lives there, althoughthe castle has almost disappeared, and now it is the mushroom farm .
    First of all I had to find Sir Horace. Sometimes he is easy to find, as often he just hangs around the hall. Sir Horace likes company and you can usually find him propped up beside the old clock watching the comings and goings. But that day there was no sign of him anywhere. I really hoped that I was not going to have to go and find him in his secret room, as that takes forever, and I did not want Aunt Tabby coming to look for me.
    The other place Sir Horace hangs out is up on the landing. He does this when he wants to go to sleep or if he is in a bad mood. I ran up the big staircase from the hall and crept along the landing, which is really wide and has banisters so thick that you can swing fromthem—if you don’t mind hundreds of spiders joining in too. I was very quiet; I did not want Sir Horace to hear me coming, as he can be quite good at hiding from me. It was almost dark on the landing because Aunt Tabby had closed all the curtains to stop the sun from coming in, and the brown paintwork kind of sucked up any light that was left. I couldn’t see Sir Horace anywhere so I stopped and listened, and sure enough, I soon heard a telltale squeak of something that needed oiling.
    I tiptoed along the dusty old carpet and soon saw what I was looking for—two pointy armored feet sticking out from underneath a long and suspiciously lumpy tapestry that hung on the wall.
    â€œBoo!” I said, and pulled back the tapestry. Sir Horace jumped and his armor squeakedlike a scared hamster. Well, like quite a lot of scared hamsters, actually.

    â€œHello, Sir Horace,” I said, as I got the impression Sir Horace was still trying to pretend he was not there. “Would you like to come out today?”
    â€œNo,” said Sir Horace in his low, booming voice, which always gives me goose bumps when I first hear it.
    â€œPlease,” I said. “I need your help.”
    I thought I heard Sir Horace sigh. You see, because he is a knight he cannot refuse to help any damsel in distress. I may not look much like a damsel, but as far as the average knight is concerned, that is what I am. Also I was in distress. Well, sort of. On behalf of the frogs.
    â€œWhat can I do to help you, Miss Spookie?” asked Sir Horace. He didnot sound as keen as I would have liked but that did not matter.
    â€œI want you to come to the mushroom farm. You know—your old castle where Morris FitzMaurice lives.”
    â€œDo not mention that name here, Miss Spookie,” Sir Horace boomed.
    â€œI want you to search the mushroom farm for frogs and report back to me—got that?”
    â€œFrogs?” asked Sir Horace.
    â€œThat’s right. Acrobatic frogs. Five of them.”
    â€œOh.”
    I waited for Sir Horace to say something more but he didn’t.
    â€œCome on then, Sir Horace.”
    â€œWhat, now?”
    â€œYes. In fact we’re late as it is.”
    â€œCan’t it wait?”
    â€œNo.”
    Sir Horace gave a really big sigh. “Very well then. I shall be with you in a moment, Miss Spookie. But if I am to return to my castle there is something I wish to get.” He bowed, then lurched to one side, threw his left leg forward, and set off along the corridor doing the weirdest walk I had ever seen him do.
    Sir Horace has a habit of falling to pieces every now and then. Wanda and I always have the job of