Ellie Featherbill All Alone

Chapter Three Boggits on the Barge

The barge rocked harder, churning the water into frothing waves.

“It’s going to tip over!” Lily cried.

But just as the barge looked like it really was about to capsize, they saw the Boggits clambering onto the roof of the cabin. They were snorting and yelling.

“Hide!” hissed Goldie, pulling the girls down behind a cluster of cattails. “Oh, I hope the Featherbills are okay!”

Jess parted the cattails to take a look. “The Boggits are reaching into the cabin through the portholes,” she whispered. “They’re pulling things out and throwing stuff in the river. It’s sandwiches!” she said in surprise. “And cakes and—whoa! There goes a bowl of Jell-O!”

“That must be for Ellie’s party,” said Lily. “They’re ruining it!”

Four scruffy Boggits laughed as they hurled food over the side of the barge. Their fur, made up of patches of dingy green, washed-out blue, and sickly yellow, was matted with mud, and their rotting-cauliflower smell wafted downriver to Goldie and the girls.

“Chuck it in the water!” yelled Pongo, tossing a pie overboard.

“Hegga hegga!” Whiffy chuckled. “Mucking up the river!”

“Boggits make Grizelda happy,” shouted Reek.

Lily and Goldie gasped as Sniff heaved the birthday cake into the water, shouting, “Eat up, fishes! Boggits hope you be sick!”

Jess had seen enough. She stood up, shouting, “Stop! Stop now!”

The Boggits spun around and caught sight of her and the others.

“Girls!” roared Pongo. “Boggits don’t like you!” He grabbed a loaf of cherry bread and flung it at Jess.

She dodged it and yelled, “What have you done with the Featherbills?”

As soon as she spoke, there were loud squawks and flaps as the whole Featherbill family came flying out from another clump of cattails farther downstream.

They landed in a flurry of feathers on the riverbank next to Lily and Jess. Lily counted seven ducklings, besides their mom and dad.

“We were too scared to come out until we saw you,” said Mr. Featherbill as the ducklings huddled around their mother’s legs.

Mrs. Featherbill was close to tears. “What a flapdoodle! Those Boggits have ruined Ellie’s party, and just look what they’re doing to our river.” She wiped her eyes with a wingtip. “If they carry on like this, they’ll pollute it so badly that our fish friends will have nowhere to live. Neither will any of the river creatures.”

The girls and Goldie shared a worried glance. “So that must be Grizelda’s plan,” Jess said. “She wants to ruin the river to drive away the animals!”

Lily kneeled to comfort Mrs. Featherbill. “We’ve come to help,” she said. “We won’t let the Boggits win.”

“One, two, three...” said Mr. Featherbill, counting his ducklings. “No... One, two... Keep still, children. One, two, three, four...”

“Don’t worry,” said Lily. “I counted them as they landed. There are seven.”

“Seven?” cried Mrs. Featherbill. “There should be eight! Who’s missing?” She waddled around the ducklings. “There’s Lulu and Dilly, Stanley and Rodney,” she said. “Keep still, children. There’s Betty, Bobo, and Sunny. Oh, no! Where’s Ellie?”

Lily gasped. “She must still be on the barge!”

“Ellie hates noise,” Mrs. Featherbill said tearfully. “The Boggits must have frightened her so much she was afraid to come out.”

Little Betty said, “She was hiding in the bucket on deck.”

Everyone peered through the cattails.

“There!” said Betty. “See the bucket?”

Lily was puzzled. “Yes, but I can only see pink flowers peeping over the top.”

“That’s her birthday crown,” sobbed Lulu.

Jess stroked the duckling’s soft head. “Don’t cry,” she said gently. “Lily, Goldie, and I will save Ellie. Come on, you two!”

Crouching, the three friends ran to the barge and pressed themselves against the side. But before they could decide what to do, Reek untied the mooring rope and the barge began to move!

Lily, Jess, and Goldie watched in dismay as Pongo steered it away from the bank.

“Boggits find where the river begins.” He grunted.

Reek and Sniff did a stomping dance, making the barge rock wildly again.

Whiffy chuckled. “Hegga hegga. Boggits clever to steal ducks’ boat. Now we can make river bad forever!”

Lily gasped. “Where are they going?”

Goldie put her paws to her mouth. “They must be going to the source of the river. If they pollute the water there, it will all flow downstream.”

“But that means the whole river will be polluted!” cried Jess. “We’ve got to stop them.”

Lily caught a last glimpse of little pink flowers poking out of the bucket.

“Oh, Jess,” she said. “Poor Ellie must be terrified. We have to save her!”