17: Capture!

The Committee of the Potting Shed establishes a ‘Juggins-the-False’ sub-committee to think through how they ought to respond to the puzzling situation. Because of the embarrassment generally felt that they so thoroughly befriended Juggins, and some may even have said to him that they liked him more than Masongill, they decide quietly and discreetly not to include Masongill. 

The Juggins-the-False sub-committee comprises Alcock, pTravis and Moffat. 

That sub-committee sets up a working group really to think through practical plans. The working group is made up of pTravis, Moffat and Alcock. 

It decides that what is really needed is a planning team specifically for the discovery and capture of Juggins. In a collective rush of blood to the head, they even call this a ‘War Party’, not that fisticuffs will be involved. 

The War Party comprises Moffat, Alcock and pTravis.

The War Party will report upwards to the working group which itself will report up to the subcommittee which will have the ear of the Chair of the Potting Shed Committee, Alcock. Only slowly does it dawn on anyone that there will much talking to themselves!

Having decided all this, they pat each other on the back and have a well deserved rest.

As often with grown-ups, it takes rather less time to establish an actual plan (the important thing) than it did to set up the organisational structure (the boring thing). And soon they are hidden outside the den they found in chapter 13. And there they find Juggins-the-False and swiftly capture him. In fact, Juggins simply looks resigned and gives in quietly. (This is how the Big House’s security cameras recorded the moment.)