Adventure on the Orient Express!

## Stats

**Adventure on the Orient Express!** is the 8th episode of the series *The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures* that aired on March 28, 1998. The setting in this episode is Italy.

## Summary

A woman who is about to board the Orient Express is greeted by Cedric, the head conductor of the train. He complements the jewels that she is wearing on her fingers, and says that he is at her beck and call, especially if it gets her closer to the jewels. Meanwhile, Alexander and Emily rush to the express and are greeted by yet another cousin named Pierre. Pierre says that living on a famous train is grand, and tells them to just wait until they try the food. Then a cat named Droolie begins chasing them around the train, until Cedric gets him. The train then gets ready to leave and moves without the mice, so they run after it. Fortunately, a pal named Hugo collects them in a hat. He meets Alexander and Emily and tells Pierre that he's worried as according to the newspaper, another theft had occurred on the Orient Express, and if it keeps happening the train will have to close down. Even worse, his father, the engineer, will be out of a job and he is even getting blamed.

They overhear Cedric and Hugo's father, Ahi, chatting in the dining cart. Ahi blames Cedric because the thefts began when he became conductor, but he remarks that they both joined at the same time and his stuff always appears at the scenes of the crimes, therefore blaming Ali. Hugo can't take his father being called a thief anymore, and barges into the room. Suddenly, a detective also appears and introduces himself, Flambu Layho, who was invited to solve the jewelry case on the train. Nervously, Cedric takes him away to his compartment. Hugo is delighted that Flambu will prove who did this once and for all. The mice agree that someone may have been putting Ahi's tools deliberately at the scene to frame him. No-Tail No-Goodnik comes marching singing to himself about stealing the jewels, when he finds his mice enemies. He gets a disguise and dresses up in white, and also gets a piece of rope for a tail as he's missing his. Luckily, he manages to fool them. Meanwhile, Flambu asks a member some questions, and that night, Emily and Alexander are woken up by a scream.

They go out to a crowd and find out that The Countess' diamond bracelet had been stolen, and she is also upset because it had been in her family for 200 years. Flambu tells her to go to get tea in the dining cart cool her nerves, and No-Tail decides to follow her so he can find even more precious jewels. Ahi's wrench was also at the scene of the crime, and Flambu says that Hugo's father is indeed a thief, but only a "bad detective" would jump to conclusions, so everybody is innocent until proven more. Flambu asks if they can search Ahi's compartment, which he is happy to do. Emily, Alexander, and Pierre do some searching for themselves. Alexander uses his magnifying glass but finds Droolie yet again. Cedric sneaks to the front of the train and puts the bracelet into the train whistle, as he's the real thief. Though, he notices that Droolie is missing again. As the mice have split up in the room he is in, Alexander sprays Droolie in the face and they then head into a mouse hole. Fortunately before Pierre got attacked by the mad cat, Cedric collects him. Flambu had also found no stolen items in Ahi's room. Hugo tells him that he believes him, and he's not a thief after all.

The three mice go back to finding clues as they haven't even found a single one. That is, until they find footprints too small to be cat-sized, but too big to be mouse-sized, therefore, it belongs to a rat. Meanwhile, that rat who is No-Tail attempts to steal some more in the dining area. He tries to sneak up behind the window curtain but when The Countess opens the window he falls, though he sees diamonds on Cedric's cufflinks. Cedric ends up screaming after they had been stolen and he finds it impossible how the diamonds got stolen, but Flambu reminds him that it is possible because there is a thief on the train. In the room, Alexander finds the rope tail that they saw earlier, realizing that this was all No-Tail. They get a plan to catch him in the act. They go into The Countess' compartment and crawl up her bed, then using a rope they lure Alexander down and he gets a diamond button. No-Tail finds it outside the hallway and he gets caught. But he gets away and makes it to the top of the train, and so they follow. But Droolie also makes it up there as well. No-Tail puts the button inside the whistle where he finds the other loot, but before he could get it Droolie pushes him out. They get Droolie away by blowing steam in his face, and Alexander grabs No-Tail and they both get off the top. No-Tail is completely thrown off, but Alexander dangles on a button.

They save him with the whistle rope and just right before they entered a tunnel. Cedric enters the front and finds No-Tail's bag containing his cufflinks. The mice hear him say that this is all Ahi trying to frame him after Cedric framed him, which makes them notice that Cedric is the prime thief. They notify Hugo, who comes up with a plan before Cedric gets off the train. Hugo tells his father and Flambu they are needed at the front of the train, Alexander and Pierre fish out The Countess' bracelet, and the plan begins when Emily enters the dining cart and people begin freaking out that there's a mouse. Cedric sees her and runs after her, when he finds the bracelet. He grabs it and grabs the other jewels in the whistle, but the three come out from a door on the floor and catch him in the act., and all's well that end's well. Later, Emily reads in the newspaper that now, it is believed that the place is haunted because of the "ghost mouse" that The Countess has seen. (in reality, while Alexander was being lifted down to get the diamond pin, he fell in a container of powder causing him to turn white and when he woke The Countess up, he said "boo!" scaring her back to sleep).

## Trivia

* During the last train scene, the background changes to night for a second despite it being day.
* The whistles used for the locomotive for The Orient Express comes from LMS Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 #46512 EV Cooper Engineer & Canadian National #3254 which they would later be used for the 2000 Destiniation films model animated/live action hybrid film Thomas & The Magic railroad.