CHAPTER 12
RIOT IN TOWN SQUARE
As they approached Town Square Harry could see they were already too late. The broad road opening onto the Square was horn to hoof with animals and Stanley wasn’t able press through. They were stuck in a slow moving river seething with anger, bent on revenge. ‘Death to the pirates’ was chanted over and over again by the crowd. Pitchforks, pikes and firebrands were raised and lowered, keeping time. The quiet townsfolk had become a mindless mob intent on delivering a death blow to the pirates who had harassed the town for generations. Smaller animals were riding on the backs of larger ones to avoid being squashed. Young and old were present. Harry couldn’t remember a time when so many had gathered in one place. He couldn’t remember a time when so many different Houses were represented.
The Museum of Ancient Antiquities was the focus of everyone’s attention. Unfortunately it was not on their side of the Square.
‘Let’s try to get to the front,’ Harry yelled over the din. ‘I think I can make out Reginald Elephant. It looks like he talking to the Mayor. He’s directly in front of the museum.’
Stanley pushed forward mightily. Sally clung tightly beneath Stanley’s neck and Harry tightened his grip on Stanley’s matted mane. It would be perilous to fall. The animals around them were pressing in, which made the going slow and difficult. The chanting continued. Animals were still arriving behind them, everyone tying to see what was going on.
After ten minutes, Stanley had only managed to get halfway to the museum.
Harry couldn’t see Flossy or Larry anywhere; he presumed it was they who had been seen entering the museum. Flossy’s strange appearance and pirate clothing had convinced everyone she was a pirate. Some would have guessed she was human, not a bald-faced monkey. But that wouldn’t have helped. Humans, just like pirates, had a reputation for cruelty and of being cannibals; of eating other mammals. It would be easy for everyone to believe a human was in league with pirates, that she was a pirate.
He stood up and used his tail to balance on Stanley’s back. Reginald Elephant, standing under the museum’s portico, was physically blocking the tall entry doors with his huge body. There was a group of fierce animals, mostly gorillas but also a few rhinoceroses, trying to get past him. Reginald was struggling to keep them from entering without hurting them, his trunk was raised and he was scything his tusks left and right. Mayor Lion stood to one side. It looked like he was trying to placate Reginald, but Harry couldn’t be sure.
Three giraffes moved in front of Harry, blocking his view. When he next had a chance to see through the surging crown, the gorillas still hadn’t managed to get past Reginald.
He had to get to the museum to stand with his friend. He needed to explain to the Mayor that it was all just a terrible mistake; that Flossy wasn’t a pirate.
Stanley stopped. They were stuck. The hoots, growls, whinnies and screeches were louder now that they were closer to the museum.
How had it come to this? How could such a peaceful, law-abiding town lose all sense of proportion and reason so quickly? It was hard to believe that these were the same folk who had, only this morning, trembled before the Mayor as he reassured them it was safe; that the pirates had moved on down the coast; that the attack on the school was nothing more than a random shot. These same simple townsfolk were now ready to lynch Flossy and Larry who they thought of as fearsome pirates. Would they wake up tomorrow appalled by the discovery of what lurked beneath their civility and reason, and by what they had done? Fear was running roughshod over reason. And fear was infectious. In a tightly packed mob like this, fear was an epidemic that could kill. Harry could feel it, sense it, smell it. He needed to act quickly or something terrible would happen.
Then something terrible did happen. Someone ahead of them, he couldn’t see who, threw a flaming firebrand at the museum. It fell short, hitting the ground harmlessly. Another firebrand was thrown. It hit a giraffe who screamed out in pain and rage. The chanting changed to ‘Burn them out... Burn them out…’ Five more firebrands arced through the air, all of them hitting their mark. Three smashed through windows, two scuttled the gorillas still struggling with Reginald under the museum’s portico.
When he realised what was happening, Reginald trumpeted in alarm. Harry couldn’t hear him over the chanting but recognised at once what was meant by his friend’s stance and raised trunk.
More firebrands were thrown. Some smashed through windows, others landed in the crowd causing mini-stampedes. Reginald was also hit but the firebrands bounced harmlessly off his thick hide. He stamped them out where he could but Harry could see he was losing the greater battle. The Museum of Ancient Antiquities was on fire. Flames licked up the thick drapes that hung behind the smashed windows. Smoke began leaching from holes and gaps in the old building’s structure. Flames quickly built and there were now a number of separate fires ablaze.
When a fireball burst through a window and lit up the square, the chanting in front stopped and was replaced by the sound of panic. Those caught between the burning museum and the mass of animals behind pushed with all their might to get away from the fire. Any reason remaining gave way to the deep-seated aversion to fire held by all animals. Blind panic had set in. This was surely the most dangerous stage of the riot. Animals at the back, filled with blood-lust and a sure conviction that they were dealing a deathblow to a scourge of pirates harassing their town, pushed forward throwing still more flaming firebrands at the burning building. They were chanting ‘Death to the pirates… Death to the pirates…’ Animals in front, desperate to escape, pushed back to avoid falling firebrands and the fire now engulfing the museum. Harry, Stanley and Sally were stuck in the middle, unable to go forward, unable to escape. Nobody was giving orders. He could no longer see the Mayor and it was too risky to try balancing on Stanley’s back again. If he was to save Flossy and Larry he would need to get into the building before the fire became too intense.
Harry leaned forward on Stanley’s neck. Underneath, he saw that Sally’s eyes were wide with fear. ‘I’m going to try to get to the front,’ Harry yelled over the noise of the crowd.
‘Be care-careful, Harry,’ Stanley yelled back. The rioting crowd was pressing in on all sides.
A giraffe pushed up against them. Harry leapt, his claws sinking deep into giraffe flesh. He didn’t wait to apologise but leapt again with all his possum-might and grabbed hold of a reindeer’s antlers. One wild eye glared at Harry as he hurled himself forward onto the mottled rump of another reindeer, its tail flicking.
‘Sorry!’ he yelled, scampering onto the reindeer’s back.
He leapt again, and again, gradually but surely moving towards the museum. Before long, he caught a glimpse of Reginald smashing open the museum’s bronze-clad doors, his mighty bulk sending splintered wood in all directions. A huge ball of flame lit up Town Square as the doors gave way. Reginald pushed forward into the burning museum, alone.
Harry made his next jump, this time landing on the back of a hippopotamus.
He leapt again but landed badly and fell amongst legs and hooves. He’d have to climb out fast or he’d be trampled.
Someone stood on this tail and he cried out in pain but no one seemed to hear. He pulled free with some difficultly and saw his chance to climb.
Digging in his claws, Harry climbed up the hind leg of a giraffe. Then he scaled its rump, ran along its bony back and up its swaying neck, stopping just below its head. From here he could see the extent of chaos below. The Square was bursting at the seams with panicking animals and the museum was now fully ablaze. Flames leapt high in the air and smoke billowed from its wide entrance doors. He couldn’t see Reginald, Flossy or Larry.
‘Hey what are you doing down there, possum?’ growled the giraffe he had climbed. It had twisted its head and glared at his with one angry eye. ‘Go find someone else’s neck. Your claws are sharp!’ It shook its head irritably, nearly throwing Harry off.
‘I’m sorry to presume, Miss, but my need is urgent.
Can you help me get to the front?’
‘It’s Mrs, not Miss. And I’m going the other direction,’ the giraffe said.
‘My friends are in there. Can’t you..?’
‘Friends? You’re friends with pirates, are you? Well perhaps you should join them!’
The giraffe whiplashed her long neck so fast and hard that Harry was unable to hold on. He flew free, arms and legs flailing, smoke stinging his eyes. He hit something hard, bounced off something else and fell. A brown bear broke his fall.
‘Hey, watch out!’ said the bear, swatting him roughly aside.
Harry crashed into a water buffalo—narrowly missing being impaled on one of its long horns—and landed painfully on his tail at the base of one of the tall trellis poles erected for the Festival of Spring. He took shelter behind the pole and looked up. Earlier, Harry had noticed a network of ropes strung between the poles. The ropes would be hung with lanterns and decorations during the Festival. Now, the ropes were clear and could be traversed. He could use them to get safely over the crowd and reach the museum.
Somehow he’d managed to keep his sunglasses, which were still in place on his forehead. He adjusted them and began to climb. Possums were naturally very good climbers and Harry was better than most and so had no trouble reaching the top.
The Square was full to bursting but there was a large space in front of the museum clear of rioters. From above, the terrified crowd moved like a surging, stormy sea. The museum was a stone caldron gushing with fire—like one of Flossy’s volcanoes. Most of the roof had collapsed. One of the tall entrance doors had fallen, the other was on fire. Smoke and flames poured from every wound.
Harry looked for his friends and saw Reginald staggering amongst the flames.
‘Reginald!’ he yelled, knowing the big elephant wouldn’t be able to hear him over the noise.
Someone below thumped into the pole making it sway but his grip was good and the network of ropes linking together the poles kept it from toppling.
Reginald stumbled forward onto the landing above the museum’s stairs.
An enormous explosion behind him lit the Square, further panicking the crowd.
Reginald rolled forward and tumbled headfirst down the stairs, coming to a stop halfway down. A gorilla, with one arm in a sling, rushed up and spoke to Reginald urgently. When he didn’t respond the gorilla pulled at his ear. He was trying to get Reginald off the stairs and away from the fire.
A window exploded and glass tinkled down on Reginald and the gorilla. The gorilla protected his face with his one good arm, Reginald didn’t react. Fire blazed through the breach above them. Smoke rolled over the Square.