Oh I like you said Agatha holding out her other hand A great burden seemed to fall off the yeti’s shoulders He got up and stood there waiting with his head to one side and then he began to lead her along the floor of the valley toward a little copse of slender Himalayan birches where some yaks were peacefully grazing And as he walked Agatha saw that his enormous feet each about the size of a well-fed dachshund had eight toes and were put on back to front And this of course is why when people try to track yetis in the snow they never find them Yetis who seem to be going are really coming and yetis who seem to be coming are really going It is as simple as that Suddenly the yeti stopped bent down to a little hollow by the bank of the stream and began to clear away the dried grass and sticks that covered it When he had finished he grunted in a pleased sort of way and then he moved aside so that Agatha could see what he had uncovered Oh said Agatha Sleeping peacefully curled up in each other’s arms were two fat furry baby yetis She bent down to touch the one nearest to her Its silly big feet were pulled round its plump stomach and when it opened its eyes and looked at her they were a deep and lovely blue Then she tickled the other yeti and it twitched in its sleep and woke too and its eyes were a rich and serious brown But the yeti father had begun to look anxious Something wasn’t right He began to stir the babies round prodding and digging and turning them over like underdone sausages And then he pounced and with a proud grunt held something out to Agatha
It was another baby yeti but so small and squashed and funny-looking that it might just as well have been an old glove or a tea cozy or a run-over cat And when it opened its eyes and looked at her Agatha got a shock One of its eyes was a bright and piercing blue the other was a deep and serious brown A walleyed yeti said Agatha in amazement
Later she called him Ambrose
S SOON AS SHE SAW THE ORPHANED YETIS Agatha gave up all idea of escaping from the secret valley No she would stay and bring the babies up to be God-fearing creatures and give them a mother’s love For she realized at once that the big yeti who had kidnapped her must be a widower who had lost his wife in some tragic accident and that he wanted her to care for his children And care for them she did The very fat blue-eyed baby was a girl and Agatha called her Lucy after the kennel-maid who had been her best friend at Farley Towers The brown eyed yeti who was a boy she called Clarence And of course there was Ambrose with his mad eyes and his squashed face
