a HORRIBLE experience

I saw him go into a back garden and I followed him in. I called him and I heard him meow but I couldn't see where he went.  This house had a large deck in the yard, the bottom of which was covered with lattice, I thought he had crawled under the lattice and wondered how I would ever get him out.  I was peering through the lattice calling his name and I heard him meow back to me again but I couldn’t tell from what direction.  Just when I was thinking I would have to slither on my belly through a small opening in the lattice in order to search under the deck I finally figured out where his meows were coming from.  I found him hunkered down under the open framework stairs that led down to a basement door beside the deck.  He was hiding among a pile of leaves, I spoke to him and told him everything would be okay then I pulled him out from under the stairs.  He was shaking in my arms.  Still wriggling, I managed to get him into the Mini on the floor of the front passenger seat and we all went home.  Back in our driveway still inside the car I had to try to repair the carrier, get Kip into the carrier then get both Ben and Kip into the house.  I was able to put it back together and we got inside safely.  I really shudder to think what could have happened if Kip hadn't answered my calls (the really odd thing is that usually Kip is a silent meower; he opens his mouth but nothing comes out).  Not only was it frigid cold yesterday, but by the time I got home it was about 4:30, almost dark, if I hadn’t found Kip when I did it would have been impossible to see him at night.