Ruby, in all her technoness is repairing an old pinball machine that she swiped from Mr. Blossom's garbage. Just as she finishes, Fenella and Griselda arrive with a way to set an alarm in DOBS so that they know when someone shows up. They set the alarm, and Miss Drill sets it off, coming to ask for volunteers to climb a ""steep hill"" with her. Everyone buries their faces in their books until she mentions that they can stop off at Coseys on the way back. Miss Hardbroom, as usual, thinks Miss Drill's idea is really stupid, but Miss Cackle decides she wants to go along. ""But it's a hill,"" explains Miss Drill, ""a steep hill."" ""I am familiar with hills."" And that's that. Miss Cackle dresses up like some sort of poorly coordinated mountain climber, gets herself a flag, and makes an even more embarrassing display than Miss Drill is known to make, leading the girls off to the mountain. Fenny and Gris stay behind because they have a history project to research on how Lucy Fairweather