“Barney had a feeling, somewhere in his middle, that it was probably true about the ground giving way. But still, there was a difference between being told and seeing it happen.”
“Of course- the flint! He looked at it glinting in the sunlight, like a black diamond with its chipped pattern. He’d seen Stig make it! There was no mistake about that. Of course Stig was real!”
“If there wasn’t a hole it was because somebody had mended it! Stig wasn’t the sort of person to leave a large hole in his roof for long. Not his friend Stig!”
“He lay quiet and looked around the cave again. Now that his eyes were used to it he could see further into the dark part of the cave. There was somebody there! Or Something!”
“A robin puffed its breast on a rose tree and squeaked at him. Barney suddenly wasn’t sure that he believed in Stig himself. It wasn’t a Stiggish day, like yesterday when he had fallen down the pit.”