The Magnificent Lizzie Brown and the Mysterious Phantom Read Online Free Page A

find somewhere warmer.
    Quiet as a mouse, she crept between the tents and caravans. A horse stamped beside her, making her jump. Warmth pulsed from its flanks. Heavy-hooved and clumsy with sleep, it knocked against her. Lizzie backed away past a caravan and glanced up at its door. Light shone from a small pane of glass, and laughter sounded inside. Lizzie could smell the mouthwatering scent of food. She wondered if the Amazon Queen was inside, eating dinner with the World’s Smallest Woman.
    The horse whinnied and thrust its head toward her inquisitively. Lizzie darted back, slipping into the shadows beside the big tent. She followed the striped canvas away from the booths and caravans. In the quiet moonlight, she saw animals shifting about in makeshift wooden pens. They huffed and sighed, breathing softly with sleep.
    Lizzie leaned over a fence. A small herd of ponies was bunched together, their coats golden in the moonlight as they dozed. In the pen beside them, two huge beasts paced the grass. Lizzie stared at their long gangly legs. Then she saw the huge humps on their backs.
    â€œBlimey!” Lizzie whispered. “God must’ve been havin’ a laugh when he made you.” The creatures paused and gazed at her with huge, dark eyes. Then they carried on pacing, their broad, soft feet silent on the grass.
    A breeze lifted Lizzie’s hair and made her shiver. Spotting a gap between the pens, she squeezed into it, eager to be out of the biting wind. She felt hay beneath her feet and sank gratefully into it. In the pen beside her, the two strange creatures tucked their legs clumsily beneath them and settled down for the night. Lizzie could feel their warmth through the slats of the fence. Wriggling closer, she closed her eyes and rested, relaxing to the sound of their soft breathing.
    * * *
    â€œHey!”
    Lizzie sat up with a jolt as a stick jabbed her ribs. Her first thought was, Pa’s going to hit me again.
    Two feet stood beside her. One foot was small; the other was large and misshapen. She looked up with a gasp and saw a face frowning down.
    The stick jabbed her again. It wasn’t Pa, but Lizzie’s heart was still pounding. She pushed the stick away. “Get off!” She leaped to her feet. “Stop it!” She found herself staring into the eyes of a skinny boy, smaller than she was. “There’s no need to keep poking me,” she muttered.
    The boy glared down at her. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
    â€œI was just leaving anyway.” Dawn was lighting the sky behind the big tent. Lizzie stepped forward. “Let me past.”
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” A man sauntered up behind the scowling boy and looked Lizzie up and down. She recognized the man from the big tent. He was still wearing his patchwork waistcoat and top hat. “What have you found here, Mally?”
    â€œShe was sleeping in the hay,” the boy answered without taking his eyes off Lizzie.
    â€œWe don’t want that, do we, Malachy, m’boy?” The man’s eyes twinkled. “If we feed the animals girl-flavored hay they might develop a taste for young ’uns.”
    Lizzie glanced anxiously at the strange animals in the pen. “They wouldn’t eat me, would they?” she asked.
    Malachy laughed. “They eat hay, not girls.”
    The man rested his hand on Malachy’s shoulder. “I reckon a lion might enjoy her.” He tipped his head to one side. “Though there’s not much meat on her.”
    Lizzie backed away. “I-I’m sorry I slept here, but I . . .”
    â€œNow, now, little ’un.” The man nudged his hat so it sat back on his head. “We don’t mean any harm.”
    Malachy shifted his misshapen foot. “Sorry I poked you so hard.” He lifted his walking stick apologetically. Now he’d stopped glaring, his thin face looked more mischievous than unkind. “I thought you were