"There they are!" yelled Jenny as Nine the Tram shot up an incline with the Giant Ball close behind it. "I can see them," shouted Skratch. "Nine is in reverse, his rear doors are open and the steps are down." "Then get ready to hop," called Jenny. "I don't hop," meowed Skratch. "I'm a cat. Cats leap." Jenny smiled and leaned out further to judge the distance. The Wabbit spotted her from the Tram and nudged Lapinette. "We have company. Get ready to grab." Nine had found it difficult to shake off the Giant Ball. Busy traffic made his life difficult and his manoeuvring proved unsuccessful, so he made for a siding that he knew led into the metro. But the only way he could access the tunnel was backwards. With squealing wheels and a substantial quantity of sand he stopped dead, threw the control unit into reverse and hurtled into the darkness. But the Ball squeezed into the tunnel and whirled rapidly forward like a spinning top. Skratch could see it was gaining on Nine and he leaned out and listened. His ears were certainly the sharpest at low range and he could hear a dugga-dugga throb above the whine of the motor. "Nine's getting ready to close the doors." Jenny stretched at an impossible angle. She could make out the Wabbit's glasses and saw a raised paw counting down. Now Jenny could hear the compressor and she repeated the count to Skratch. "Five, four, three, two ..." The whistling bolt of orange drew level and they leaped at the same instant ...
