The Key to the Indian

The Key to the Indian
Lynne Reid Banks

The fifth title in this gripping series about Omri and his plastic North American Indian – Little Bull – who comes alive when Omri puts him in a cupboardOmri and his father travel back in time to find Little Bull and his people in deep trouble, torn between staying in the West and facing extinction or starting a long trek to a new life in Canada. Omri’s final parting with Little Bull is incredibly moving yet the book is also very funny.We meet other favourite characters as well as some new ones and there are wonderful descriptive passages about Little Bull’s longhouse and the Iroquois lifestyle. Even though this seems like the end of the story, Lynne does have ideas for a sequel.

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To Chaim, with love

Contents

Cover (#uaf930020-aa7d-5af6-9eb8-ba88767d67f4)

Title Page (#u8ce9c50e-2de4-5ba1-8a0a-cfefd3dd5c3e)

Dedication (#u52b3add2-d55e-5355-ad1c-f794c4a3ae73)

1 Anyone for Camping? (#u4116e051-c5f3-53a3-8ec6-6aabe9860a8d)

2 The Wrong Shape (#u1fe26ebe-dc5b-5f18-b301-6f5aa58da08a)

3 A Surprising Ghost (#u24fe330b-a92c-5868-9849-1d2357f38621)

4 “River… Coward… Never.” (#u0c70dd65-a937-5ad5-acb6-dcc2469acf5b)

5 Mission Accepted (#u23b930f3-8e1b-5735-9083-f7f480018355)

6 Little Bull’s Need (#u9ed74f07-621b-5228-87e5-fe16396b2541)

7 A Bitter Disappointment (#litres_trial_promo)

8 A Different Tribe (#litres_trial_promo)

9 In the Bungalow (#litres_trial_promo)

10 The Girl Who Was Gillon (#litres_trial_promo)

11 The Snake Charmer (#litres_trial_promo)

12 An Iroquois Doll (#litres_trial_promo)

13 The Key-Turner (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Patrick’s U-Turn (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Howl of a Wolf (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Perfidious Albion (#litres_trial_promo)

17 The Old Woman (#litres_trial_promo)

18 Dreams (#litres_trial_promo)

19 Drums and Fire (#litres_trial_promo)

20 Murder (#litres_trial_promo)

21 Clan Mother’s Courage (#litres_trial_promo)

22 A Sacred Object (#litres_trial_promo)

23 Patrick’s Bit of Fun (#litres_trial_promo)

24 Visitors (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

1Anyone for Camping? (#ulink_dbc72603-86f6-5f0b-83b9-258e5f4bc860)

“Okay, you chaps, I’ve got an announcement to make.”

The three boys stopped eating and looked up. Adiel and Gillon exchanged puzzled glances. It was the “you chaps” that did it, together with their father’s hail-fellow-well-met manner. He simply was not the “you-chaps” type. But stranger was to come.

“What would you say to our all going camping?”

Adiel dropped his jaw. Gillon dropped something noisier, his knife and fork onto his plate. A piece of toad-in-the-hole was dislodged and fell to the floor in a small shower of rich brown gravy.

“Oh, Gillon, don’t show off! What a mess!” said their mother, irritated. “Kitsa! Leave it!” – as the cat, lurking hopefully under the table, pounced. Gillon wrested it from her and plonked it triumphantly back on his plate.

“You’re not planning to EAT it now?” His mother snatched it up and left the room with it, returning at once with a wet cloth. “What are you talking about, Lionel, camping?”

“Camping is what I’m talking about. What do you say, boys?”

Adiel said, quite gently, “Are you feeling all right, Dad?”

“Never better.”

“Camping? I mean, are you kidding? Camping? You mean, on our own, without you.”

“No, no, of course not. With me.”

There was a silence. Omri glanced at his mother. She had mopped up the splashes of gravy and was crouching by the table beside Gillon, staring glassily at her husband. The two older boys were staring, too.

Only Omri was not reacting with astonishment. He sat with narrowed eyes, only pausing for a moment before hacking into another batter-encrusted sausage. Camping indeed! That’d be the day when his dad even dreamt of such a hearty outdoor pursuit, especially after the one and only time they’d ever tried it, which had ended in total disaster on the same day it began.