"Heavens!" exclaimed Jyoti. "Krishnamoorthy has always been a bit of a speedster, but this takes the cake! My wing almost got sideswiped."
They heard the truck's engine gunning and suddenly it was coming back in their direction. Gurunathan pulled his wife to safety in the nick of time.
"That was not Krish at the wheel!" exclaimed Gurunathan. This time he had managed to glimpse the driver. "That was a hippo."
"A hippo? Hippolyta would never drive like that," said Jyoti. "She may have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to Crumply and Rumply, but she is not a daredevil."
"Well, I saw a hippo. Lighter skinned, though, than Hippolyta. Praps smaller, but when things are travelling at almost the speed of light, there can be some distortion. But I thought I got a quick flash of Crumps and Rumps hanging on for dear life."
"I hope those little chaps have not been kidnapped," said Jyoti. "Their mother would be totally undone."
"We had better make sure," said Gurunathan with a sigh.
They took to flight and soon spotted Unca Krish's truck bouncing along a path where vehicles were forbidden, almost knocking down a shrine.
"Halt!" shouted down Gurunathan. His own dear son would have stopped on a dime if he had heard his father speak like that, but the driver tipped back his head in a big toothy grin and floored the accelerator. Four swamis who were deep in samadhi did not stir, but their ochre robes snagged on the rear view mirror and were whipped off them.
Gurunathan alighted on the driver's head, pushed him gently out of the way with his powerful wing, and took control of the vehicle.
Jyoti landed beside Crumple and Rumple. "Are you alright?" she asked them, thinking they must be terrified out of their wits.
"Never better," they answered in unison. "Hey! Give the wheel back to Duds," they complained.
Just then Krish came loping along toward the truck.
"What! What?" was all he could say.
"I have apprehended this youngster," said Gurunathan, quite relieved that Krish had arrived.
"Where is your mother?" asked Krishnamoorthy. "What on earth made you think you could make off with my new truck?"
"Oh Mom sent me on my own. She and my brothers had to stay back. I am just teaching my little cousins to drive. Helping out Auntie Hip."
"Get out of my truck at once. If this happens again, I will summon the police."
Duds laughed some more. "Oh I'm just shaking with fear," he whispered in mock terror. "C'mon, little cuzes, hippos don't like brushes with the law. Take me to some of those iddlies you were tellin' me about."
The three hippos ran off.
The Gurunthans and Unca K, who had never heard such disrespect in all their born days were speechlessly staring into the distance when along came Mama Hippolyta.
"Aha!" said Unca K with relief. "Just the hippo we wanted to see. That guest of yours, I'm afraid he will need to be send home to wherever he came from, on the very next train."
"Darling Dudley? Oh, you must have him mixed up with some other handsome young hippo. What a help he is to me! Much better than an au pair. My precious Crumpzers and Rumpzers just adore him! What a marvellous job my sister is doing with him. If there is some dreadful other hippo in the region, I will certainly keep an eye out for him in the local wallowing spots. Toodle-loo!"
And before they could say another word, Mama Hippolyta was bounding along at a faster clip than usual, calling out, "Crump-love! Rump-plump! Fuddleduds! Ice cream at Auntie Lioness' time!"
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