Eva Ibbotson - The Great Ghost Rescue

‘Welcome to Insleyfarne, Lord Bullhaven,’ said the Gliding Kilt.

And with a sob of gratitude, the wicked spectre flew down and stretched out his gory hands in greeting.

When the children got back to the plane they found poor Peregrine standing sadly beside the engine and looking out to sea. He’d woken up without remembering anything that had happened and had absolutely no idea how he’d come to land his aeroplane on a cold grey beach in the middle of nowhere. There didn’t seem to be any way of explaining either, so they just spoke to him gently and told him to fly back home which he was only too pleased to do.

In the plane Rick was very silent. Saying good-bye to the ghosts had made him feel completely hollow and though the Hag had promised that Humphrey could come and haunt Norton Castle School in the spring, he felt flat and tired and grey.

Barbara looked at him quietly for a moment. Then she leant forward. ‘Before we came away I was reading about the polar bears,’ she yelled in his ear. ‘The ones in Alaska.’

Rick nodded. ‘What about them?’

‘They’re in a very bad way. Becoming very rare. Extinct perhaps. Rich people go and hunt them from aeroplanes and snowmobiles. It’s perfectly disgusting.’

Rick was still silent but his face had changed. He was working things out. How soon could he get to Alaska, how much would it cost? Should he take Barbara and Peter or go alone? What exactly did polar bears eat?

Barbara watched him for a while. Then she leant back, satisfied. He’d be all right now. For a boy like Rick, there is always something important to do.