[00:05.22]Gabriel Ernest
[00:11.32]Cunningham had spent an agreeable week in the country with his friend Van Cheele．
[00:12.91]Now Van Cheele was driving his guest back to the station．
[00:17.41]Cunninghamwas unusually quiet on the journey， butVan Cheele talked all the time， so hedid not notice his friend's silence．
[00:25.16]Suddenly Cunningham spoke．
[00:28.57]'Thereis a wild animal in your woods，' he said．
[00:31.74] 'A wild animal？ A fewrabbits， perhaps． Nothingvery terrible， surely，'said Van Cheele．
[00:37.96]Cunningham said nothing．
[00:41.20]' What did you mean about a wild animal？'asked Van Cheele later， at the station．
[00:46.99] 'Nothing． It was myimagination． Here is the train，'said Cunningham．
[00:52.20]That afternoon Van Cheele went for a walk through his woods．
[00:57.18]He knew a little about plants and animals，and he enjoyed walking through the woods around his house and looking at the birds and flowers there．
[01:05.70]He also enjoyed telling everyone about them aftefwards．
[01:10.30]Of course，he never saw anything very surprising——until that afternoon．
[01:14.98]During his walk Van Cheele came to a deep pool under sometall trees．
[01:22.46]He knew it well： afterall， it was his pool．
[01:27.16]But today， he saw a boy of about sixteen lying on a large rock beside the pool．
[01:34.91] The boy was drying his wet， naked brown body in the sun．
[01:44.80] His hair was wet too，and he had long， golden，wolfish eyes．
[01:49.70] He turned those eyes towards VanCheele with a look of lazy watchfulness．
[01:53.71]    Van Cheele was surprised to see the boy．
[01:57.21] Wheredoes this wild－looking boy come from？he thought．
[02:06.69] Can he be the miller's son？ He disappeared two months ago．
[02:08.38] People say he fell intothe river．
[02:09.62] It's a fast-running river，and nobody ever found his body．
[02:12.91] Iwonder？ But the miller's boy was only a young child?   'What are you doing here？asked Van Cheele．
[02:23.00]    'Enjoying the sunshine， of course，' said the boy．
[02:25.39]   'Where do you live？'   'Here， in these woods． '
[02:30.65]You can't live in these woods．'said Van Cheele．
[02:33.58]   'They are very nice woods，'said the boy politely．
[02:37.55]   'But where do you sleep at night？'    'I don't sleep at night．
[02:49.60][02:42.53] That's my busiest time．
[02:50.11]'    Van Cheele began to feel cross．
[02:52.58] What did the boy mean？   'What do you eat？ heasked．
[02:53.43]    'Meat，' said the boy．
[02:57.58]He opened his mouth， showing very white teeth．
[03:13.75]'Meat？What kind ofmeat？    'Well， if you must know， I eat rabbits， wild birds，chickens from the farm and young sheep from the hills．
[03:15.69] I like children when I can find them．
[03:18.50] But they 're usually too well locked in at night．
[03:19.27] It's two months since I tasted child meat．
[03:23.75]'   The boy is joking about the children， thought Van Cheele．
[03:28.45] But perhaps he really is stealing animals from the woods and farms．
[03:32.63] I must find out more about this．
[03:35.47]   Aloud he said，'You catch rabbits？ You must be joking．
[03:40.30]Our rabbits are much too fast for you．
[03:42.70]'    'At night I hunt on four feet，'was the boy's surprising replp．
[03:49.88]   'You mean that you hunt with a dog？'guessed Van Cheele．
[03:53.82]    The boy sat up suddenly and laughed a strange， low laugh．
[03:58.25] To Van Cheele that laugh sounded horrlbly like a growl．
[04:02.92]    'I don't think any dog would like to hunt with me，'the boy said．
[04:10.32]'Not at night?'    There is something horrible about this boy， thought Van Cheele．
[04:15.18] I don't like the way he looks and I don't like the way he talks．
[04:19.44]   'I can't let you stay in my woods，'he said aloud．
[04:23.84]    'Very well then—shall I come and live in your house？'repliedte boy．
[04:29.59]   Van Cheele thought about his quiet， tidy house．
[04:33.27] No， he did not want this strange， wild boy at all．
[04:37.53] Of course， the boy was joking? but Van Cheele was not amused．
[04:42.47]   'If you don't go away，'he said， 'I shall have to call the police．
[04:48.41]'    At once the boy turned and jumped head-first into the pool．
[04:53.88]A moment later， his shining， wet body landed half－way up the grassy bank where Van Cheele was standing．
[05:03.30] Van Cheele stepped backwards．
[05:06.23] His foot  slipped on the wet grass and he fell．
[05:09.24] He found himself lying on the grass with those wolfish yellow eyes uncomfortably near to his．
[05:16.14] He felt a moment of horrible fear．
[05:20.59] The boy laughed again，a laugh that was like the growl of a wild animal，then disapeared among the bushes．
[05:29.92]   'What an extraordinarily wild animal！'said Van Cheele as he picked himself up．
[05:36.66] And then he remembered Cunning ham's words about a wild animal in his woods．
[05:42.56]   As he walked slowly home， Van Cheele thought about several things which had happened in and around the village recently．
[05:49.88] Perhaps this boy knows something about them， he thought? Something has been killing rabbits and birds in the woods lately．
[05:59.10] Something has been stealing the farmer's chickens and carrying off the young sheep fromthe hills．
[06:06.10] Is it possible that this wildboy is hunting at night with a fast， intelligent dog？The boy talked of hunting on four feet at night?
[06:16.88]But he also said that dogs did not like to hunt with him at night?Very strange indeed．
[06:24.48] As Van Cheele walked along， he turned the questions over and over in his head．
[06:30.80] Suddenly he stopped．
[06:34.40] The miller's son！ he said to himself．
[06:38.17] The child disappeared two months ago．
[06:40.76] Everyone thought that he had fallen into the river and been carried away．
[06:45.31] But the child's mother did not believe this．
[06:57.78] She said she had heard a scream—— and the scream came from the hill，a long way away from the water．
[07:03.24]It's impossible， of course， said Van Cheele to himself．
[07:09.13]Butthe child disappeared two months ago， and the boy talked about child meat．
[07:12.69] He was joking， of course?but what a horrible joke！
[07:20.30] Van Cheele usually talked to his aunt about the birds，plant sand animals he saw on his walks．
[07:21.50] But today he said nothing．
[07:23.36] He was an important man in his village．
[07:26.21] If there was a thief living in his woods， he did not want anyone to know．
[07:31.26]If people hear about the boy， he thought， perhaps they will want me to pay for their lost chickens and their disappearing sheep．
[07:40.71] He was unusually quiet at dinner．
[07:44.70]'What's the matter with you？'joked his aunt．
[07:48.42]'Did you see a wolf on your walk？'
[07:50.38]At breakfast the next morning Van Cheele realized that he still felt uncomfortable about yesterday's adventure．
[07:57.28]I know what I' 11 do， he said to himself．
[08:02.11]I' 11 take the train to London and I'11 go and see Cunningham．
[08:05.65]I'11 ask him If he was joking when he said there was a wild animal in my woods．
[08:10.95]After he had decided this，Van Cheele felt better．
[08:14.96]He sang a happy little song as he walked to the sitting-room for his morning cigarette．
[08:20.49]His fat old dog walked beside him．
[08:24.45]As Van Cheele entered the sitting-room， the song died on his lips and his dog ran away with his tail between his legs．
[08:32.99]There on the day－bed， with his hands comfortably behind his head， lay the boy from the woods．
[08:40.48] He was drier than yesterday， but he was still naked．
[08:46.99] 'What are you doing here？ asked Van Cheele angrily．
[08:56.30] 'You told me I couldn't stay in the woods，'said the boy calmly．
[08:59.18] 'But I didn't tell you to come here．
[09:02.46] What if my aunt sees you？ What will she think？'
[09:04.11]Van Cheele hurriedly covered his unwanted guest's nakedness with a newspaper．
[09:07.82] At that moment his aunt entered the room．
[09:10.95]   'This is a poor boy，'explained Van Cheele quickly．
[09:16.70]'He has lost his way—and lost his memory too．
[09:19.65]He doesn't know who he is， or where he comes from．
[09:22.98]'    Miss Van Cheele was very interested．
[09:26.34]'Perhaps his name is on his underclothes，' she said．
[09:30.53]    'He has lost his underclothes too，'said Van Cheele．
[09:34.75] The newspaper was slipping off the boy's naked body．
[09:38.28] VanCheele hurried to replace it   Miss Van Cheele was a kind old lady．
[09:44.41] She felt sorry for this naked， helpless child．
[09:47.72]   'We must help him，'she said．
[09:50.90] She sent the housekeeper to aneighbour's house to borrow some clothes．
[09:55.83] Soon the boy was clean and tidy， and dressed in shirt，trousers and shoes．
[10:01.85]Van Cheele thought he looked just as strange and wolfish as before．
[10:07.80] But Miss Van Chee1e thought he was sweet．
[10:10.46]    'We must give him a name until we know who he really is，'she said．
[10:15.46]' Gabriel Ernest， I think．
[10:19.25] Those are nice， suitable names．
[10:22.60]'   Van Cheele agreed．
[10:25.22] But he was not sure that the boy was a nice， suitableboy．
[10:28.82] Van Cheele's old dog， when he saw the boy， had run away in fear and would not come back into the house．
[10:35.81] Van Cheele decided to go and see Cunningham at once．
[10:40.59] As he got ready to go to the station， his aunt was busily arranging a children's tea party in the church hall．
[10:48.43]  'Gabriel Ernest will help me with the little ones，'she said happily．
[10:53.66]When Van Cheele got to London， Cunningham did not want to talk at first．
[10:59.59]You'llthink I'm crazy，' he said．
[11:02.75]'But what did you see？'asked Van Cheele．'
[11:06.80]I saw something—somethingunbelievable．
[11:09.82]On the last evening of myvisit to you I was standing half-hidden in the bushes， watchingthe sun go down．
[11:16.76]Suddenly I noticed anaked boy．
[11:20.78]He has been swimming in apool somewhere， I said to myself．
[11:24.49]He was standing on the hill side and he too was watching the sun go down．
[11:30.62]Then the sun disappeared behind the hill and its light was gone．
[11:36.41]At the same moment a very surprising thing happened—the boy disappeared too．'
[11:44.90]'What？He disappearedjust like that？' said Van Cheeleexcitedly．'
[11:53.93]No． It was much morehorrible than that．
[11:55.32] On the open hillside where the boy had been，I saw a large，blackish-grey wolf with long white teeth and yellow eyes．
[12:05.28] You'll think I'm crazy—'    But Van Cheele did not wait．
[12:09.40] He was running towards the station as fast as he could．
[12:12.87] He did not know what he could do．
[12:15.34] I can't send my aunt a message， he thought．Whatcan I say？
[12:18.95]Gabriel Ernest is a werewolf'？My aunt will think I'm joking．
[12:23.56] I MUST get home before sundown．
[12:26.51]  He caught his train．
[12:28.17] With painful slowness it carried him to the station a few miles from his home．
[12:33.61]He took a taxi to his village．
[12:35.81]'Take me to the church hall—and hurry！ 'he ordered．
[12:40.96]Thetaxi drove along the quiet country roads， and the sky turned pink and purple as the sun got lower and lower in the west．
[12:50.31] His aunt was putting away some uneaten cakes and sandwiches when he arrived．
[12:55.10]  'Where is Gabriel Ernest？'screamed Van Cheele．
[12:59.19]    'He's taking little Jack Toop home，'said his aunt calmly．
[13:03.61]'It was getting solate．
[13:05.79] I didn't want to send the dear little boy home alone．
[13:08.63] Isn't the sky beautiful this evening？'
[13:11.81]  But Van Cheele had no time to talk about the beautiful sky．
[13:15.35]He ran like the wind down the narrow road that went to the Toops' house．
[13:20.30] On one side was the fast-running river， on the other was the dark hillside．
[13:26.78] In a minute I'll catch up with them，Van Cheele thought．
[13:30.88] Then the sun went down behind the hill and the whole world became grey and cold．
[13:38.59]Van Cheele heard a short scream of fear， and he knew he was too late．
[13:45.97]   Nobody ever saw little Jack Toop or Gabrid Ernest again．
[13:51.95]Gabriel Ernest's clothes were found lying in the road．
[13:55.72]    'Poor littler Jack fell into the river，'said Miss Van Cheele．
[14:00.74]'And dear Gabriel Ernest took off his clothes and jumped into the river to try to save him．
[14:06.18]'   Mrs Toop had eleven other children and did not cry too long for her lost son．
[14:12.59] But Miss Van Cheele was terribly sad about Gabriel Ernest．
[14:17.50]    'He must have a memorial in the church，'she said．
[14:21.30] She chose the words herself：GABRIEL ERNEST，ANUNKNOWN BOY   WHO BRAVELY GAVE HIS LIFE   FOR ANOTHER．
[14:32.11]    Van Cheele usually did what his aunt wanted．
[14:36.23] Bu the refused to give any money at all for Gabriel Ernest's memorial．