Mystery Of The Burnt Cottage (5 page)

“He was a sly one,” she said. “He’d come down into my kitchen at nights, when every one was in bed, and he’d

go to my larder and take out a meat-pie or a few buns or anything he’d a mind to. Well, what I say is, if some one can do that, they’ll set fire to a cottage too.”

Pip remembered with a very guilty feeling that once, being terribly hungry, he had slipped down to the school larder and eaten some biscuits. He wondered if he was also capable of setting fire to a cottage, but he felt sure he could never do that. He didn’t think that Mrs. Minns was right there.

Suddenly, from somewhere in the house, there came the sound of a furious flow of words. Mrs. Minns cocked her head up, listened and nodded.

“That’s the master,” she said. “Fallen over something, I shouldn’t wonder.”

Sweetie, the big black and white cat, suddenly flew into the kitchen, her fur up, and her tail swollen to twice its size. Mrs. Minns gave a cry of woe.

“Oh, Sweetie I Did you get under his feet again! Poor lamb, poor darling lamb!”

The poor darling lamb retired under the table, hissing. The three kittens in the basket stiffened in alarm, and hissed too. Mr. Hick appeared in the kitchen, looking extremely angry.

“Mrs. Minns! I have once more fallen over that horrible cat of yours. How many more times am I to tell you to keep her under control? I shall have her drowned.”

“Sir, the day you drown my cat I walk out!” said Mrs. Minns, laying down the rolling-pin with a thump.

Mr. Hick glared at the cook as if he would like to drown her as well as the cat. “Why you want to keep such an ugly and vicious animal, I cannot think,” he said. “And good heavens above - are those kittens in that basket?”

“They are, sir,” said Mrs. Minns, her voice rising high. “And good homes I’ve found for every single one of them, when they’re old enough.”

Mr. Hick then saw the two children, and appeared to be just as displeased to see them as he had been to see the kittens.

“What are these children doing here?” he asked sharply.

“You ought to know better, Mrs. Minus., than to keep your kitchen full of tiresome children and wretched cats and kittens! Tell them to go!”

He marched out of the door, first setting down the empty cup and saucer he was carrying. Mrs. Minns glared after him.

“For two pins I’d bum your precious cottage down if it wasn’t already gone!” she called after Mr. Hick, when he was safely out of hearing. Sweetie rubbed against her skirt, purring loudly. She beat down and stroked her.

“Did the nasty man tramp on you?” she asked fondly. “Did he say nasty things about the dear little kittens? Never you mind., Sweetie!”

“We’d better be going,” said Daisy, afraid that Mr. Hick might hear what Mrs. Minns was saying, and come back in a worse temper than ever. “Thank you for all you’ve told us, Mrs. Minus. It was most interesting.”

Mrs. Minns was pleased. She presented Pip and Daisy with a ginger bun each. They thanked her and went, bubbling over with excitement.

“We’ve learnt such a lot that it’s going to be difficult to sort it all out!” said Pip. “It seehis as if at least three people might have done the crime - and really, if that’s the kind of way that Mr. Hick usually behaves I can’t help feeling there must be about twenty people who would only be too glad to pay him back for something!”

The Tramp — Clear-Orf — and Fatty.

The four children met in the old summer-house

of excitement. Bets and Buster were not yet back, but they

couldn’t wait for them to come. They had to tell their news.

“We saw the chauffeur! He’s called Thomas,” said Larry. “He told us all about the valet called Peeks. He

was chucked out on the day of the fire, for wearing his master’s clothes!”

“I’m sure he did the crime,” said Fatty eagerly. “We must find out more about him. He lives in the next village.”

“Yes, but listen!” said Daisy. “It might be old Mr Smellie!”

“Who?” said Larry and Fatty, in astonishment. “Mr Smelliel”

“Yes,” said Daisy, with a giggle. “We thought it couldn’t be a real name, too, when we heard it, but it is.”

“Mr. Hiccup and Mr. Smellie,” said Fatty unexpectedly. “What a lovely pair!”

Larry chuckled. “Daisy and Pip don’t know about Mr. Hick and cup,” he said. He told them. They laughed.

“It isn’t really very funny, but it seehis as if it is,” said Daisy. “At school things seem like that sometimes too - we scream with laughter, and afterwards it doesn’t really seem funny at all. But do let us tell you about Mr. Smellie, and the quarrel he had with Mr. Hiccup.”

She told Larry and Fatty all that Mrs. Minns had said. Then Pip told about the old tramp who had been caught stealing eggs. And then Daisy described how Mr. Hick hihiself had come into the kitchen and rowed Mrs. Minns for letting her cat get under his feet. “They had a proper quarrel,” said Daisy., “and Mrs. Minns actually called after Mr. Hick and said she felt like burning down his cottage if it hadn’t already been done!”

“Golly!” said Larry, surprised. “It looks as if old Mrs. Minns might have done it herself then - if she felt like it today, she might quite easily have felt like it two days ago -and done it! She had plenty of chance.”

“You know, we have already found four suspects,” said Fatty solemnly. “I mean - we can quite properly suspect four persons of firing that cottage - the old tramp, Mr. Smellie, Mr. Peeks and Mrs. Minns! We are getting on.”

“Getting on?” said Larry. “Well, I don’t know about that. We seem to find more and more people to suspect, which makes it all more and more difficult. I can’t think

how in the world we’re going to discover which it is,8’ “We must find out the movements of the four suspects.,” said Fatty wisely. “For instance, if we find out that Mr. Smellie, whoever he is, spent the evening of the day before yesterday fifty miles away from here, we can rule him out. And if we find that Horace Peeks was at home with His mother all that evening,, we can rule him out. And so on.”

“What we shall probably find is that all four people were messing about somewhere near the place/’ said Pip. “And how in the world are we going to trace that old tramp? You know what tramps are - they wander about for miles., and nobody knows where they go or where they come from.”

“Yes - the tramp’s going to be difficult,” said Daisy. “Very difficult. We can’t rush all over the country looking for a tramp. And if we did find him, it’s going to be difficult to ask him if he set fire to the cottage.”

“We needn’t do that, silly,” said Larry. “Have you forgotten our clues?”

“What do you mean?” asked Dasiy.

“Well - we’ve only got to find out what size shoes he wears, and if they’ve got rubber soles, criss-crossed with markings underneath, and if he wears a grey flannel coat,” said Larry.

“He doesn’t wear a grey flannel coat/3 said Fatty. “I told you - he wore an old mackintosh.”

The others were silent for a moment. “Well, he might have a grey flannel coat underneath,” said Daisy. “He might have taken his mackintosh off for a moment,”

The others thought this was rather feeble, but they had no better suggestion.

“Time enough to worry about grey flannel coats and mackintoshes when we’ve found the tramp,” said Pip. “That is going to be a problem, I must say!”

“Hark - isn’t that old Buster barking?” said Fatty suddenly. “I bet that’s Bets coming back. Yes - she’s calling to Buster. I say - haven’t we got a lot of news for her?”

The sound of Bets’ running feet was heard up the drive,

and then down the garden path to the summer-house. The four big ones went to the door to welcome her, Buster shot up to them, barking madly.

“Bets! We’ve got such a lot of news!” called Larry.

“We’ve had a most exciting time!” cried Daisy.

But Bets didn’t listen. Her eyes were shining brightly, her cheeks were red with running, and she could hardly get her words out, she was so excited.

“Pip! Larry! I’vegotaglue! Oh, I’ve got a glue!”

“What?” asked the other four together.

“I’ve found the tramp!” panted the little girl. “Do say he’s the biggest glue we’ve found!”

“Well — he’s really a suspect, not a clue,” began Larry, but the others interrupted him.

“Bets! Are you sure you’ve found the tramp?” asked Pip excitedly. “Golly - we thought that would be almost impossible.”

“Where is he?” demanded Fatty, ready to go after him immediately.

“How do you know it’s the tramp? ” cried Daisy.

“Well, he was wearing a dirty old mackintosh and a terrible old hat with a hole in the crown,” said Bets. “Just like Fatty said.”

“Yes - the hat did have a hole in the crown,” said Fatty. “Bets, where is this fellow?”

“Well, I went for a walk with Buster, as you know,” said Bets, sinking down on the grass, tired out with running. “He’s a lovely dog to take for a walk, because he’s so interested ia everything. Well, we went down the lane and into the fields, and along by the river, ever so far. We came to a field where sheep and lambs were, and there was a hay-rick nearby.”

Buster barked a little, as if he wanted to tell about it all too. Bets put her arm round him. “It was Buster who found the tramp - wasn’t it, darling? You see, I was walking along - and suddenly Buster went all stiff - and the hairs rose up along the back of his neck - and he growled.”

“Ur-r-r-r-rrr!” said Buster obligingly.

“He honestly understands every word, doesn’t he?” said Bets. “Well, Buster went all funny, like that, and then he began to walk stiffly towards the hay-rick - you know, just as if he had bad rheumatism or something.”

“Animals always walk like that when they are suspicious, or frightened or angry,” said Fatty, grinning at Bets. “Go on. Don’t be so long-winded.”

“I went with Buster,” said Bets, “as quietly as I could, thinking there might be a cat or something the other side of the rick. But it was the tramp!”

“Golly!” said Larry, and Pip whistled.

“You’re a very good Find-Outer,” said Fatty warmly.

“I did so badly want to find out something,” said Bets. “But I suppose really and truly it was Buster who did the finding, wasn’t it?”

“Well, he wouldn’t have, if you hadn’t taken him for a walk,” said Larry. “What was the tramp doing?”

“He was asleep,” said Bets. “Fast asleep. He didn’t even wake when Buster sniffed at his feet.”

“His feet!” said Pip. “What sort of shoes did he have on? Did they have rubber soles?”

Bets looked dismayed. “Oh! I never thought of looking. And I so easily could have seen, couldn’t I, because he was fast asleep. But I was so excited at finding him that I just never thought of looking at his shoes.”

“There’s no time to be lost,” said Pip, jumping up. “He may still be fast asleep. We’d better go and have a look at Mm and his shoes and his clothes. Fatty can tell us at once if he’s the tramp he saw in Mr. Hick’s garden or not.”

Excited and rather solemn, the Five Find-Outers and Dog set off down the lane to the fields that ran beside the river. They went fast, in case the tramp had awakened and gone on his way. It was so marvellous that Bets should actually have found him - they couldn’t possibly risk losing him!

They came to the rick. A gentle sound of snoring told them that the tramp was still there. Fatty picked up Buster and crept round the rick without making a sound.

On the other side5 curled up well, lay a tramp. He was an old fellow, with a stubbly grey beard, shaggy grey eyebrows, a red nose, and long, untidy hair that straggled from under a terrible old hat. Fatty took a look at him. He tiptoed back to the others.

“Yes - it’s the tramp all right!” he whispered, thrilled. “But it’s going to be difficult to pull aside his mackintosh to see if he’s got a grey coat underneath. And he’s got His feet sort of curled up underneath him. We shall have to get right down on the ground to see what sort of sole his shoes have got underneath.”

“I’ll go and try,” said Larry. “You others keep Buster quiet here, and watch out in case any one comes.”

Leaving the others on the far side of the rick, Larry crept round to the side where the tramp slept. He sat down near him. He put out his hand to pull aside the old mackintosh to see if the man wore grey underneath. The trousers appearing below the coat were so old and dirty that it was quite impossible to tell what colour they had once been.

The tramp moved a little and Larry took back His hand. He decided to try and see the underneath of the man’s shoes. So he knelt down3 put His head to tie ground and did his best to squint at the tramp’s shoes.

The tramp suddenly opened his eyes. He stared in the greatest astonishment at Larry.

“What’s bitten you?” he suddenly said, and Larry almost jumped out of his skin.

“Think I’m the king of England, I suppose, kneeling in front of me with your head on the ground like that!” said the tramp. “Get away. I can’t abide children. Nasty interfering little creatures!”

He curled hihiself up again and shut his eyes. Larry waited for a second or two, and was about to try squinting at the man’s shoes again when he heard a low whistle from the other side of the rick. That meant someone was coming. Well, they would all have to wait till the passer-by was gone. Larry crept round to join Pip and the rest.

1 “Someone coming?” he asked.

“Yes - old Clear-Orf!” said Fatty. Larry peeped round ,the rick. The village policeman was coming up from the other direction, along a path that did not go near the rick. He would soon be gone.

But as he came along he suddenly caught sight of the old tramp sleeping by the rick. The children drew back hurriedly as Mr. Goon walked quietly and quickly over to the rick. There was a ladder leaning against the rick and Larry pushed Bets and the others up as quickly as he could.

They would be less likely to be seen on top than below. fortunately the rick had been cut well out, when hay was taken to the various farm-animals, and it was easy to balance on the cut-out part.

The policeman crept up quietly. The children, peering over the rick, saw him take out a notebook. Fatty gave Lany such a nudge that the boy nearly fell.

“Look! Look what he’s got down in his notebook! He’s got a drawing of that footprint we saw! He’s been cleverer than we thought!”