Mystery of the Hidden House (8 page)

He put that into his pocket too. He was feeling really thrilled now. Two clues already!

He found the broken shoe-lace. He found the cigar-end and sniffed at it in a very knowing manner. “Ha! A good cigar! Whoever was here has money to spend. I’m getting on. I see a man with a brown coat with brown buttons, smoking a good cigar, and wearing reddish laces in his shoes. I don’t know about that bit of rag. That doesn’t fit in somehow.”

He picked up an empty cigarette packet. It had held Players’ cigarettes. “Coo! He smokes cigarettes as well!” said Ern, feeling cleverer and cleverer. That went into his pocket too. He was getting on! Who would have thought there were so many clues left carelessly lying about like that? No wonder detectives went hunting for them after a robbery.

He picked up a broken tin next. It looked as if it had possibly been a tin of boot-polish, but it was so old and rusty that there was no telling what it might have been. Anyway it went into his pocket too.

Then he found Pip’s bit of paper blowing about. Ern picked it up. “Lovaduck! Now we’re getting hot! This is somebody’s telephone number - in Peterswood too. I’m really getting hot! Pity Fatty didn’t come up with me - we’d have had a fine time collecting clues!”

He then found Daisy’s ragged old handkerchief, embroidered with “K” in the corner. This seemed a first-class clue. “K!” he thought. “K for Kenneth. K for Katie. Or it might be a surname of course. Can’t tell.” That went into his pocket as well.

After that he only found two more things that seemed worth picking up. One was a burnt match, the other was the stub of a pencil. It had initials cut into it at the end. E.H.

With a pocketful of interesting clues Ern went down the hill again. It was getting dark. He would dearly have liked to stay longer and find more clues but he couldn’t see clearly any longer. Anyway he had done well, he felt.

When he got home his uncle was out. Ern got himself some tea, then took out his notebook and opened it at the page marked “Clues.”

He sharpened his pencil and set to work to put down a list of all the things he had found.

CLUES

1. Piece of rag.

2. Brown button with bit of cloth.

3. Broken shoe-lace, reddish colour.

4. End of good cigar.

5. Empty cigarette packet (Players).

6. Broken tin, very rusty.

7. Bit of paper with telephone number.

8. Ragged handkerchief, “K” in corner.

9. Burnt match.

10. Pencil, very short, E.H. on it.

“Look at that,” said Ern, in satisfaction. “Ten clues already! Not a bad bit of work. I’d make a good detective. Lovaduck! Here’s uncle!”

Mr. Goon could be heard coming into the little hall, and a familiar cough sounded. In haste Ern swept all the clues into his pocket, and was just stuffing his notebook away when his uncle came in. Ern looked so guilty that Mr. Goon was suspicious at once. Now what had that boy been up to?

“Hallo, Uncle,” said Ern.

“What you doing sitting at an empty table, doing nothing?” said Mr. Goon.

“I’m not doing anything,” said Ern. Mr. Goon gave a snort.

“I can see that. What you been doing this afternoon?”

“I’ve been for a walk,” said Ern.

“Where?” said Mr. Goon. “With those five kids?”

“No. By myself,” said Ern. “It was such a nice afternoon.”

Ern was not in the habit of taking walks by himself, and Mr. Goon looked at him suspiciously again. What was the boy up to? How much did he know?

“Where did you go?” he asked again.

“Up Christmas Hill,” said Ern. “It - it was awfully nice up there. The view, you know, Uncle.”

Mr. Goon sat down ponderously in his armchair and gazed solemnly at Ern. “Now, you look here, my boy,” he said, “you’re Up To Something with those pestering kids. Ho, yes, you are, so don’t try to say you aren’t. Now, you and me, we must work together. We’re uncle and nephew, aren’t we? In the interests of the Law we must tell each other all the Goings-on.”

“What Goings-On?” asked Ern, in alarm, wondering how much his uncle knew. He was beginning to feel frightened. He put his hand into his pocket to feel the clues there. He mustn’t tell his uncle about them. He must keep them all for Fatty and the others.

“You know quite well what the Goings-On are,” said Mr. Goon, beginning to remove his boots. “Up Christmas Hill! Didn’t you tell me about the lights flashing there?”

“Yes,” said Ern. “But that’s all I told you, Uncle. What other Goings-On do you mean?”

Mr. Goon began to lose his temper. He stood up in his stockinged feet and advanced on poor Ern, who hadn’t even a chance of getting up from his chair and backing away.

“I’m going to lose my temper with you, Ern,” said Mr. Goon. “I can feel it. And you know what happened last time, don’t you?”

“Yes, Uncle. But please don’t hit me again,” begged Ern.

“I got a cane somewhere,” said Mr. Goon suddenly, and began to rummage about in a cupboard. Ern was terrified. He began to cry. He was terribly ashamed of himself, because he knew quite well that not even little Bets would give away her friends, but he knew he was going to. He was a coward! Poor Ern.

When he saw his uncle bringing out a very nasty-looking yellow cane, he blubbered even more loudly.

“Now, stop that noise,” said Mr. Goon. “You’re not hurt yet, are you? You be a good boy, and work with me, and everything will be fine. See? Now you tell me what that boy, Frederick, told you.”

Ern gave in. He hadn’t any courage at all. He knew he was a poor weak thing, but he couldn’t seem to help it.

“He said there were two gangs,” blubbered Ern. “Kidnappers was one gang. Robbers was the other.”

Mr. Goon stared at Ern in surprise. This was news! “Go on!” he said, disbelievingly. “Kidnappers and robbers! What next!”

“And lights flashing on Christmas Hill,” went on Ern. “Well, I don’t know about that, Uncle. I haven’t seen any lights there at all.”

Mr. Goon had, though! He looked thoughtfully at Ern. That bit of the tale was true, anyway - about the lights flashing, because he had seen them himself the night before - so the other part might be true, too. Kidnappers and robbers! Now how did that boy Frederick get to know these things? He brooded about Fatty for a little while and thought of quite a lot of things he would like to do to him.

It was very very necessary to make sure that Ern told him everything in future. Mr. Goon could see that. He decided it would be best not to frighten Ern any more. He must win his friendship! That was the line to follow.

So, to Ern’s enormous surprise, Mr. Goon suddenly patted him on the shoulder, and gave him his large handkerchief to wipe his eyes. Ern looked up in surprise and suspicion. Now what was Uncle up to?

“You were right to tell me, Ern, all that you’ve heard from those kids,” said Mr. Goon, in a kindly voice. “Now you and me can work together, and we’ll soon clean up this mystery - and we’ll get no end of praise from Inspector Jenks. You’ve met him, haven’t you? He said he thought you were a fine boy, and might help me no end.”

This wasn’t true at all. Inspector Jenks had hardly glanced at Ern, and if he had he certainly wouldn’t have said such nice things about him. Poor Ern didn’t shine in public at all, but looked very awkward and stupid.

Ern was relieved to see that his uncle was going to be friendly after all. He watched him put away the cane. Lovaduck! That was a near squeak. All the same Ern was very much ashamed of giving away all that Fatty had told him. Now his uncle would solve the mystery himself, arrest all the men, and Fatty and the other Find-Outers wouldn’t have any fun.

“Anything else you can tell me, Ern?” said Mr. Goon, putting on his enormous slippers.

“No, Uncle,” said Ern, wishing he hadn’t got a pocketful of clues. He was glad he hadn’t tried to wipe his eyes with his own handkerchief - he might have pulled out a whole lot of clues with it!

“What did you go up Christmas Hill this afternoon for?” asked Mr. Goon, lighting his pipe.

“I told you. For a nice walk,” said Ern, looking sulky again. When would his uncle stop all this?

Mr. Goon debated whether to go on cross-examining Ern or not. Perhaps not. He didn’t want to make the boy obstinate. When he was safely asleep in bed that night he would get Ern’s notebook out of his pocket and see if he had written anything down in it. Mr. Goon picked up the paper and settled down for a read. Ern heaved a sigh of relief, and wondered if he could slip out to see the others. It was about six o’clock now - but Ern felt that he simply must tell Fatty all about the clues.

“Can I go out for a bit, Uncle?” he asked, timidly. “Just to slip round and have a talk with the others? They might have a bit of news for me.”

“All right,” said Mr. Goon, turning a friendly face to Ern. “You go. And get all you can out of them and then tell me the latest news. See?”

Ern lost no time. He pulled on his coat, took his cap and scarf and fled out of the house. He made his way to Pip’s, because he remembered that Fatty was going out to tea that day.

He was lucky enough to find all the Find-Outers gathered together in Pip’s playroom, under strict instructions from Mrs. Hilton to take off their shoes if they wanted to play any games that meant running across the room. Fatty had just arrived, having dropped in on his way home with his mother, who was seeing Mrs. Hilton for a few minutes downstairs.

“I say!” said Ern, bursting in suddenly. ‘I’ve got ten clues for you! What do you think of that for a good day’s work! I’ve got them all here!”

“Lovaduck!” said Fatty. “Smazing! Simpossible! Swunderful! Let’s have a look, Ern, quick!”

Ern’s Clues

Ern pulled everything out of his pocket. When Bets saw all the things there that the Find-Outers had so carefully put on Christmas Hill for Ern to find, she wanted to giggle. But she saw Fatty’s eye on her, and she didn’t.

“See?” said Ern, proudly. “Cigar-end. That means somebody with money. And look here - he smokes cigarettes too - see this empty packet? And look - we want to look for somebody with a brown coat. And…”

“This is a very remarkable collection of clues, Ern,” said Fatty, solemnly. “I can see that Mr. Goon’s brains have been passed on to you. You take after him! A very remarkable afternoon’s work.”

Ern was thrilled. Praise from Fatty was praise indeed. He showed every clue he had.

“Course, some of them mayn’t be clues at all,” he admitted handsomely. “I see that.”

“You’re right,” said Fatty. “You think of everything, Ern. This is all most interesting. It will help us tremendously.”

“Will it really?” said Ern, delighted. Then his face clouded over. “I got something awful to tell you,” he said.

“What?” asked everyone curiously.

“I went and gave the game away to my uncle,” said Ern, dismally. “He took a cane out of the cupboard and I could see he was going to use it on me - so I went and told him about the kidnappers and the robbers up on Christmas Hill. You needn’t call me a coward. I know that all right.”

He looked so completely miserable that the Five Find-Outers wanted to comfort him. Even Buster felt the same and put his front paws up on Ern’s knee. Ern looked down at him gratefully.

“Well,” said Fatty, “certainly it wasn’t a brave thing to do, Ern, to give away somebody else’s secret - but Mr. Goon and a cane must have been a very frightening pair. We won’t tick you off.”

“He told me I must work with him,” said Ern, brightening up a little, as he saw that the Find-Outers did not mean to cast him off. “He said we were uncle and nephew, and we ought to work together. I’ve got to tell him anything that happens.”

Fatty considered this. It suited him very well to have Goon told all the things that didn’t matter. It would serve him right for threatening poor Ern with the cane. Fatty did not like the streak of cruelty in Mr. Goon.

“Well, there’s something in that,” said Fatty. “Yes, quite decidedly there’s something in that. Families ought to work together. We shan’t complain any more if you pass on any news to your uncle, Ern.”

“But I don’t want to!” protested Ern at once. “I want you to solve things, not uncle. I don’t want to work with uncle.”

“Poor Ern!” suddenly said Bets. She could see very clearly how Ern was torn in two - he dearly wanted to work with the Find-Outers and be loyal to them - and he was terribly afraid he would have to help his uncle instead, because he was so frightened of him. All Ern needed was a little courage, but he hadn’t got it.

“You’d better show these clues to your uncle,” said Fatty. “Hadn’t he, Larry? If they are going to work together, Goon had better know about these. He’ll think that Ern has done a fine piece of work.”

“I don’t want to show him the clues,” said Ern, desperately. “I tell you, I found them for you, not for uncle.”

“Well, do what you like,” said Fatty. “We shan’t mind whether you show them or not. I suppose you wrote them all down in your notebook?”

“Oh yes,” said Ern, proudly and showed his long list. Fatty nodded approvingly.

“You didn’t tell your uncle about how you went out alone last night, did you?” he said. It was very important that Goon shouldn’t know that. Ern shook his head.

“No. ’Course I didn’t. I’m not telling him things he can’t possibly guess. He’d be very angry if he knew I’d slipped out like that.”

“Tell us again about your little adventure,” said Fatty. So Ern obligingly told it. He used almost the same words as before, and all the Find-Outers felt that he was telling the exact truth.

“Are you certain that one man addressed the other as ‘Holland’?” asked Fatty.

“Oh yes. You see we did Holland in geography last term,” said Ern. “So I knew the name all right.”

Well, that certainly seemed to fix the name. That might be very useful, thought Fatty. He got up to go, hearing his mother calling him from downstairs. Larry and Daisy got up too.

“There’s mother ready to go,” said Fatty. “Come on, Ern - you’d better go too.”

“I thought of a fine pome this afternoon,” said Ern, getting up. “About the Dying Sun.”

“We haven’t time to hear it now,” said Daisy.

“Spitty,” said Fatty. Everyone but Ern knew what this meant. Ern looked at him in surprise.