When the balloon passed directly overhead, Sam turned and started to run with it. It floated towards the fields of tall grass and on to the dunes that bordered the tidal river beyond. At the wide mouth where the river met the sea, the balloon showed no signs of slowing down. Another gust of offshore wind suddenly pushed it upwards. Tippy Stanwyck screamed and grabbed hold of the basket's sides as Professor Mandrake, still trying to pry Francoise the poodle off his nose, lost his footing completely and stumbled into her. The steel briefcase slipped from Mandrake's grasp and teetered on the edge of the basket for a second or two before plummeting into the deep water of the tidal river below. Shrieking with rage, Professor Mandrake broke free from Francois with one great pull and hurled the dog out of the basket too. Legs flailing, the little poodle dropped through the air and hit the water with a huge splash.

By the time Sam reached the riverbank, another blast of wind had started to sweep the balloon back inland toward the crowd of people who were racing to catch it. Sam could see the briefcase begin to sink as the river, rushing out on an ebb tide, started to carry it toward the sea. Sam threw his shoes and socks onto the sand and waded through the water toward it, until he heard Francois' pitiful cries. The little dog was clinging to a piece of bobbing driftwood that kept pulling him under with the current. Sam turned and splashed toward the drowning poodle, stopping for only a second to look back at the case. It was disappearing under the water and heading out to sea.

  "Decisions, decisions! What a dreadfully delicious dilemma!"
   Sam spun around. The voice calling out to him from shore was unpleasantly 
   familiar. His head began to throb.
   "What are you going to do now, human?" Shrike Fen cackled, pulling his wet 
   cloak around him. 
   "What will you choose: a pair of priceless scrolls, with a power 
   that could seal the fate of all humankind, or the life of a stupid dog? 
   Really Sam, it can't be all that hard, can it? Why, if you listened to 
   me for a change, you wouldn't have to be making all these tiresome choices. 
   Everything would be so much easier."

The words slithered out of Shrike's mouth and into Sam's thoughts as The Fen dragged himself down the sand ...