Young as I was, I knew where the entrance to the room was because of the draught of air blowing under the door. I couldn’t sleep on this ledge, and I didn’t fancy climbing any higher, so I slid down again into the grate. I’d never seen outdoors before, even through a window. I could feel cold air coming down and, by looking up, I could see vast distances into a starry sky. I didn’t realise I was right up inside the chimney. Up and up I climbed, until I found myself on a little sloping ledge. Just for fun, I began to climb, all my four feet outspread, clinging with all my claws – rough surface or not, it was sheer. The bricks were rough and covered with old soot and cinders clinging to the wall. I quietly climbed through the gap on to the bars, and from there I made my way to the corner at the back of the fireplace. Then the torch went off, and all was quiet. After a while, the poor child crept back into bed. I’d learnt that they could often locate me by sound. I heard him desperately whispering, “Goldy! Goldy!” My sympathy was aroused, for I knew he would get into trouble but I was not going to let myself be ‘binned’ again just for that. I got down through a broken bar and lay in the ashy darkness while poor Adam scampered round with his torch, fruitlessly hunting for me. No fire, of course but a grate, and the iron bars the fire is made on. But this was an old house, and the original fireplaces were still there. In a newer sort of house (such as I spent some time in later) I would have found my way blocked by some gas or electrical barrier. In another moment I was on the floor – I landed quite well for a novice, rolling over once to break my fall – and the next second I was bolting for the fireplace. That was when, sensing his slight uneasiness, I tried out my little jump. Finally he tired of this game and scooped me up in his hand, dangling me over the edge of the bed. There he switched on a torch under the bedclothes and trained it on me while I scurried about in the soft, warm caves, looking, as ever, for a way out. I think I dimly realised even then that he was disobeying his Mother, when he stealthily carried me up the darkened stairway into his room. I first tried this out when he had me in his bed one night.