Pigeon problems 3/5

George followed the direction taken by the pigeon for about an hour and a half, then he stopped in an open space to see if he could spot the next pigeon to be sent ahead. He was very lucky! His horse had a good rest and was able to nibble some grass before the next pigeon flew past about a hundred yards from the place where George was waiting.

He took a careful note of the direction it was flying, checked a landmark in that direction and trotted off for another hour or so. He waited some considerable time before he realised at last that the next pigeon must have been already flown past too far away for him to see.

“I don’t suppose you saw anything?” he asked his horse.

The horse snorted in disgust. “I’m not exactly the best shape for looking up in the sky for small dots flying past am I! That’s supposed to be your job. My job is running faster than you can.”

“Alright then,” replied George, “I was only asking! There’s nothing else for it, I’ll have to think of another way to find out where they’re going.”

“Well if you ask me you ought to have a word with that Jennifer Jane kid, you usually do! Not only that, but I would have thought it was obvious that she can fly even faster than a pigeon, so she can follow them right to the place where they’re taking the messages.”

George had to agree and travelled straight back to his head office. Early the next day he rode off to the Witches’ Home to ask if he could have a word with Jennifer Jane. Fortunately she had just finished class for the morning and ten minutes later he was explaining his problem.

“Well I agree that the first thing to do is find out where they’re going and if possible why they’re not coming back to your offices with their messages as well. I have a funny feeling that curing the problem won’t be quite so easy though.”

They left the horse grazing happily on the grass outside the Witches’ Home, while George climbed onto the pillion of Jennifer Jane’s scooter. Following his directions, they arrived very shortly at the village where George had stopped the day before. George pointed out the direction the pigeons had taken, then went inside the building to arrange for another order to be sent. He came out in a moment or two holding the pigeon in his hand and waited while Jennifer Jane rose into the air and hovered, until he released it. Once the pigeon had decided which way to fly, she found it quite easy to keep up and became more and more surprised as it passed village after village on its journey.

However, at last it seemed to make up its’ mind and flew off to the right for a mile before landing on the roof of a house in a village that she had never visited before. The bird popped into a small structure rather like a dog kennel built high up on the roof, while she hovered over the house for a minute or two, trying to make her mind up as to what to do next.

But before she could act, a man came outside and threw the pigeon back into the air. Once again she followed and was even more surprised than before, as it headed back towards Lower Dene and eventually landed in Phil’s’ pigeon loft.

She flew down after it and found Phil waiting in the yard. He went to see if the pigeon was carrying an order, while she parked her scooter and walked over to him.

“Has it got an order on its’ leg?” she asked.

“No it hasn’t and it’s definitely one of the birds George took with him yesterday!”

Jennifer Jane explained how to find the village that the pigeon had landed in.

“Interesting,” said Phil, “we’ve never had any orders from that part of the country at all, why on earth the pigeons are flying there I just don’t understand. It came home quick enough you say, once it had been released again.”

Jennifer Jane stood quietly for a moment looking thoughtful, while Phil watched her with an expectant look on his face.

“I can’t think of a reason for any of this at the moment, I think the best thing to do is for Sir George to have a word with the man I found in that village. I’ll go and fetch him and take him back to the Witches’ Home to get his horse. I’ll tell him where to find his pigeons, and then I’ll go back and have a chat with Abigail to see if she has any ideas about the matter.”