Читать книгу The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat - Enid blyton - Страница 4

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The Find-Outers were very pleased to be together again. The Easter holidays were not so long as the summer ones, and almost a week had gone by before Pip and Bets had arrived home from their stay with their aunt, so there didn’t seem to be much time left.

“Not quite three weeks,” groaned Larry. “I do hope the weather’s decent. We can go for some bike-rides and picnics then.”

“And there’s a good little show on down at the Little Theatre,” said Daisy. “It’s a kind of skit on Dick Whittington—awfully funny. I’ve seen it already, but we might all go again.”

“Oh—is that little company still going?” said Fatty, with interest. “I remember seeing some of its plays in the Christmas hols. Some of the acting was pretty poor. I wondered if they’d like to try me out in a few parts. You know, last term at school ...”

“Fatty! Don’t tell us you took the leading part in the School play again,” begged Larry. “Doesn’t any one else ever take the leading part at your school but you?”

“Fatty’s very, very good at acting—aren’t you, Fatty?” said Bets, loyally. “Look how he can disguise himself and take even us in! Fatty, are you going to disguise yourself these hols.? Do! Do you remember when you dressed up as that old balloon-woman, and sold balloons?”

“And old Clear-Orf came along and wanted to see your licence,” chuckled Daisy. “But you had so many petticoats on that you pretended you couldn’t find it.”

“And Bets spotted it was you because she suddenly saw you had clean finger-nails and filthy dirty hands,” said Larry, remembering. “And that made her suspicious. I always thought that was smart of Bets.”

“You’re making me feel I must disguise myself at once!” said Fatty, with a grin. “What about playing a little joke on P.C. Pippin? What a lovely name!”

“Yes—and it suits him,” said Bets. “He’s got a sort of apple-cheeked face—a nice round ripe pippin.”

Every one roared. “You tell him that,” said Pip. “Go up to him and say. ‘Dear nice round ripe pippin.’ He’ll be so surprised.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Bets. “As if I would! I quite liked him.”

“I wish something would turn up whilst Goon is away,” said Fatty. “Wouldn’t he be wild to miss a mystery! And I bet we could help Pippin beautifully. He’d like our help, I expect. He doesn’t look awfully clever—actually he might not be so good at snooping about as Goon, because Goon’s had a lot of experience, and he’s older—Pippin looks rather young. I bet we could tackle a mystery better than he could. We’ve solved a lot now. Six, in fact!”

“We can’t possibly expect a mystery every hols.,” said Larry.

“Let’s make up one for P.C. Pippin,” said Bets, suddenly. “Just a teeny-weeny one! With clues and things. He’d get awfully excited about it.”

The others stared at her. Fatty gave a sudden grin. “I say! That’s rather an idea of Bets, isn’t it? Larry’s right when he says we can’t possibly expect a mystery every hols. and somehow I don’t feel one will turn up in the next three weeks. So we’ll concoct one—for that nice round ripe Pippin to solve!”

Every one began to feel excited. It was something to plan and look forward to.

“I bet he’ll make a whole lot of notes, and be proud to show them to Goon,” said Larry. “And I bet Goon will smell a rat and know it’s us. What a swizz for them!”

“Now this is really very interesting,” said Fatty, pleased. “It will be a nice little job for Pippin to use his brains on, it’ll be some fun for us, and it will be most annoying for Goon when he comes back—because I bet he’s warned Pippin about us. And all he’ll find is that Pippin has wasted his time on a Pretend mystery!”

“What mystery shall we make up?” said Bets, pleased that her idea was so popular with the others. “Let’s think of a really good one—that Fatty can use disguises for. I love it when Fatty disguises himself.”

“Let’s all think hard,” said Fatty. “We want to Rouse Suspicions, first of all—do something that will make P.C. Pippin think there’s something up, you know—so that he will nose about—and find a few little Clues ...”

“That we put ready for him,” said Bets, with a squeal of laughter. “Oh yes! Oh, I know I shan’t think of anything. Hurry up, every one, and think hard.”

There was silence for a few minutes. As Bets said, she could think of no idea at all.

“Well—any one thought of anything?” asked Fatty. “Daisy?”

“I have thought of something—but it’s a bit feeble,” said Daisy. “What about sending Pippin a mysterious letter through the post?”

“No good,” said Fatty. “He’d suspect us at once. Larry, have you thought of anything?”

“Well, what about mysterious noises in Pippin’s back-garden at night?” said Larry. “Very feeble, I know.”

“It is a bit,” said Fatty. “Doesn’t lead to anything. We want to do something that will really get Pippin worked up, make him think he’s on to something big.”

“I can only think of something feeble too,” said Pip. “You know—hiding in a garden at night till Pippin comes by—and then letting him hear us whisper—and then rushing off in the dark so that he suspects we’ve been up to mischief.”

“Now, there’s something in that,” said Fatty, thinking over it. “That really could lead on to something else. Let’s see now. I’ll work it out.”

Every one was respectfully silent. They looked at Fatty as he pursed up his mouth and frowned. The Great Brains were working!

“I think I’ve got it,” said Fatty, at last. “We’ll do this—I’ll disguise myself as a ruffian of some kind—and I’ll lend Larry a disguise too. We’ll find out what Pippin’s beat is at night—where he goes and what time—and Larry and I will hide in the garden of some empty house till he comes by.”

He paused to think, and then nodded his head. “Yes—and as soon as we hear Pippin coming we’ll begin to whisper loudly so that he’ll hear us and challenge us. Then we’ll make a run for it as if we were scared of him and didn’t want to be seen.”

“But where does all this lead to?” said Larry.

“You wait a bit and see,” said Fatty, enjoying himself. “Now, we’ll escape all right—and what will Pippin do? He’ll go into the garden, of course, and shine his torch round—and he’ll find a torn-up note!”

“Oooh, yes,” said Bets, thrilled. “What’s in the note?”

“The note will contain the name of some place for a further meeting,” said Fatty. “We’ll think of somewhere good. And when our nice round ripe Pippin arrives at the next meeting-place he’ll find some lovely Clues!”

“Which we’ll have put there!” said Pip, grinning. “Oh yes, Fatty—that’s fine. We’ll lead Pippin properly up the garden path.”

“The clues will lead somewhere else,” said Fatty, beaming. “In fact it will be a nice wild-goose-chase for Pippin. He’ll love it. And won’t Goon’s face be a picture when he hears about it all—he’ll know it’s us all right.”

“When can we do it? Oh, Fatty, let’s begin it soon,” begged Bets. “Can’t you and Larry begin tonight?”

“No. We have to find out what Pippin’s beat is first,” said Fatty. “And we’ve got to spot an empty house on his beat. We’d better stalk him tonight, Larry, and find out where he goes. Goon always used to set off about half-past seven. Can you manage to come to my house by that time?”

“Yes, I think so,” said Larry. “We have supper at seven. I can gobble it down and be with you all right.”

So it was decided that Larry and Fatty should stalk P.C. Pippin that night and see exactly what his beat was, so that the next night they could prepare their little surprise for him. Bets was thrilled. She loved an adventure like this—it hadn’t got the frightened excitement of a real mystery, it was under their control, and nothing horrid could come out of it except perhaps a scolding from Goon.

Larry was down at Fatty’s house at twenty-five past seven that night. It was almost dark. They were not disguised, as there was no time to dress Larry up. The two boys slipped out of Fatty’s house and made their way to the street in which Mr. Goon’s house was. P.C. Pippin had it now, of course.

The boys could hear the telephone trilling in Pippin’s front room, and they could hear him answering it. Then the receiver was put down, and the light in the room went out.

“He’s coming!” whispered Fatty. “Squash up more into the bushes, Larry.”

P.C. Pippin walked down to his front gate. He had rubbers on the soles of his boots and he did not make much noise. The boys could just see him as he turned up the street, away from them.

“Come on,” whispered Fatty. “He’s beginning his beat. We’ll see exactly where he goes.”

They followed cautiously behind P.C. Pippin. The policeman went down the High Street, and was very conscientious indeed about trying doors and looking to see if the windows of the shops were fastened. The boys got rather bored with so much fumbling and examining. Each time P.C. Pippin stopped they had to stop too and hide somewhere.

After about an hour, P.C. Pippin moved off again, having decided that no burglar could possibly enter any shop in the High Street that night, anyway. He shut off his torch and turned into a side-street. The boys padded after him.

Pippin went down the street softly, and then went to examine a lock-up garage there. “Why doesn’t he get on with his beat?” groaned Larry, softly. “All this stopping and starting!”

Pippin went on again. He appeared to have quite a systematic method—going up one side of the road and down the other, and then into the next road and so on. If he did this every night, it would be easy to lie in wait for him somewhere!

“It’s nine o’clock,” said Fatty, in a low voice, as he heard the church clock strike loudly. “And we’re in Willow Road. There’s an empty house over the other side, Larry. We could hide in the garden there tomorrow night, just before nine. Then we could startle Pippin when he gets along there. Look—he’s shining his torch on the gate now. Yes, that’s what we’ll do—hide in the garden there.”

“Good,” said Larry, with relief. “I’m just about tired of dodging round like this, and the wind’s jolly cold too. Come on—let’s go home. Meet tomorrow morning at Pip’s to tell the others what we’ve decided, and make our plans.”

“Right,” said Fatty, who was also very glad that the shadowing of P.C. Pippin was at an end. “See you tomorrow. Ssssst! Here comes Pippin again.”

They squeezed themselves into the hedge and were relieved when the policeman’s footsteps passed them.

“Gosh—I nearly sneezed then,” whispered Larry. “Come on—I’m frozen.”

They went quietly home, Larry to tell Daisy, his sister, that they had found a good place to hide the next night, and Fatty to plan their disguises. He pulled out some old clothes and looked at them. Aha, P.C. Pippin, he thought, there’s a nice little surprise being planned for you!