My Friend Walter (14 page)

I kept looking round to see if Walter was behind us, but if he was I could not find him in the throng of people. The last I had seen of him he was walking away through the trees on the other side of that fence shaking his head and laughing. I ground my teeth. What was he up to? I'd have a thing or two to
say to my friend Walter when I caught up with him. Still, at least the orb had been found and at least no one would think we had stolen it. I mean, we'd hardly be handing it in to the police if we'd stolen it, would we?

Then I thought of that whole charade up at the horrible Barrowbills' farmhouse, and how he'd frightened them half to death. It had been a game, to him, just a game. He must have known all the time it couldn't have been the orb in that sink. He must have done because he already knew where it was, wherever that was. It made my blood boil to think how he'd fooled us all.

I was still seething when we at last reached the police station. Someone had obviously warned them we were coming, for there were half a dozen policemen running out to meet us as we climbed up the steps. The crowds were held back and kept in the street whilst we were escorted into the police station. Humph tried to follow us but was grabbed by the collar and turned away at the door. Father put that right at once. ‘You'd better let him in,' he said. ‘He doesn't look much, but if it weren't for him I wouldn't have found it.' And so Humph padded into the police
station alongside me and we were ushered straight into an office.

The policeman who was sitting at the other side of the desk looked at the orb and then at us and then back at the orb again. He couldn't quite take it in. We recognised each other at once. ‘Gracious me, it's Mr Throckmorton again, isn't it?' he said. ‘Inspector Davidson, you remember? We met yesterday didn't we?' Father nodded, and the Inspector went on, ‘We seem to be meeting a lot lately. First there was the stolen horse that mysteriously came back on its own, and then there was your little girl that came back on her own. And now this. You keep us quite busy, sir, don't you? I think you'd better put that thing down whilst I call Headquarters. I have a feeling they'd like to hear about this. Sit down, sit down.' And so we did, including Humph. ‘Now tell me, where did you find it?' And Father told him the whole story, which took some time because he left nothing out. The Inspector shook his head throughout. ‘Incredible,' he said when Father had finished. ‘Quite incredible. And you said there were witnesses?'

‘Witnesses?' said Father.

‘When your dog found it, Mr Throckmorton, there
were other people in the road, you said. They would have seen you then, wouldn't they? They would have seen you finding it.'

‘Of course,' said Father. ‘There were several of them.' I could see he was getting quite upset. ‘Look here, Constable . . .'

‘Inspector.'

‘Beg your pardon. Look here, Inspector,' Father went on, ‘if I say we found it in the hedge at the bottom of the road, then we found it in the hedge at the bottom of the road. I wouldn't hardly have brought it here if I hadn't found it, would I? I mean I couldn't have, could I?'

‘Hardly,' said the Inspector smiling. ‘But witnesses can help in these matters, you know. Puts the records straight, so to speak. And particularly if there's . . .' He paused for some moments. ‘But perhaps you haven't heard, then.'

‘Heard what?' Father was bewildered – we all were.

‘Well, I never. You haven't heard, have you?' And he chuckled to himself. ‘I'll tell you in just a minute, sir.' He picked up the telephone. ‘But first I must phone the Chief Constable. Get me the Chief Constable and double quick,' he said, smiling at us. He put his hand
over the mouthpiece. ‘You're sure it's the real thing, Mr Throckmorton?' he said, still chuckling.

‘I'm not an expert,' said Father, ‘but it looks like it to me.'

‘Don't suppose there's more than one of them about,' said the Inspector. ‘Chief Constable,' he spoke slightly differently now, more pompously. ‘Chief Constable. It's Davidson here, sir. Davidson, from Honiton. You're not going to believe this sir, but we've found it . . . the golden orb sir, the Crown Jewel . . . yes, sir, it's sitting on the desk right in front of me . . . Yes, sir, I am quite sure.' He leaned forward and examined the orb. ‘No damage so far as I can see, sir . . . No, no jewels missing, don't think so anyway. Looks good as new to me sir . . . Who found it? It's a Mr Throckmorton sir . . . yes sir, it is an unusual name isn't it? Out walking his dog he was . . . Lucky? I'll say so sir. Trouble is I've got half the town outside the station, sir. Newspapers are probably on to it already, and television. I'll need an armoured van and an escort to get it back to London, and more men. I'll need more men on the ground.' He looked at his wrist watch. ‘Very well sir, I'll look after it until then. Yes, sir . . . Thank you, sir . . . Goodbye to you, sir.' And he put the
phone down, clasped his hands on his desk and looked directly at us. ‘Well, Mr Throckmorton, I think you are about to become a very famous person. You are all going to be more famous than you ever dreamed. If I'm not much mistaken, by tonight this town will be full of the world's press and television.'

Father was on his feet. ‘If it's all the same to you Inspector, I think we'd better be getting home now. They'll be wondering what's happened to us. I mean, we were just taking the dog out for a ten-minute walk. Come on, you two, and bring Humph with you.' Father bent over the golden orb and examined it fondly, almost as if he was saying goodbye to it. ‘Pretty isn't it?' he said. ‘Weighs a bit too, I can tell you. So that's what ten million pounds looks like. Ah well, easy come, easy go, as Gran says.' And he laughed and patted it affectionately.

We were almost out of the door when the Inspector called us back. ‘Just a moment, Mr Throckmorton,' he said. ‘Can we find you at the farm if we want you?'

‘'Fraid not,' said Father. ‘We moved out today. We're staying in town for a bit.'

‘What address?' Inspector Davidson asked.

Father thought for a bit and then looked at me for help.

‘Number twelve Huntley Gardens,' I said.

‘Thing is, sir, we'll need to know where to find you.'

‘Why's that?'

‘Well it's like this, sir – I was about to tell you before I phoned Headquarters. I was about to tell you about the reward.'

‘Reward?' said Father.

‘Yes, Mr Throckmorton. They announced it this afternoon. There's a reward for any information leading to the recovery of the orb. I'd say it's highly likely you'd qualify for that reward, Mr Throckmorton. You or your dog anyway, and it'll be a tidy sum, Mr Throckmorton.'

‘How tidy?' Father asked, swallowing hard.

‘A quarter of a million.'

‘A quarter of a million pounds?' asked Father.

‘That's right sir. Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds,' said the Inspector. Father reached for a nearby chair and clutched it to steady himself. ‘Could I have a cup of tea?' he said. ‘I feel a bit weak.'

Will and I looked across at each other and we both understood. I coughed twice, and then four times, but if Walter was in the room he wasn't showing himself.

‘Walter Raleigh!' Will shouted suddenly, and he
threw his arms round Father's neck and hugged him. Of course Humph began barking at that and chased his lead around and around until he pounced on it.

‘Pardon?' said the Inspector.

‘Oh . . .' Will recovered quickly. ‘It's a sort of a new swear word, instead of the ones you aren't allowed to say. You know, when you're excited. You know. Walter Raleigh!' He'd got a nerve, my brother.

‘Oh, I see,' said the Inspector. ‘Walter Raleigh! Rather good, that. Walter Raleigh! Haven't heard that one before. Walter Raleigh! Rolls well off the tongue too . . . Walter Raleigh!'

‘Father,' said Will pulling on his arm, ‘we can get ourselves our own farm now, can't we? It's what you always wanted.'

‘Don't you go counting your chickens,' said Father and he looked up at the Inspector. ‘So that's why you asked whether there were any witnesses, Inspector? I mean, if I'd stolen it myself I'd know where to find it again, wouldn't I, and then I could claim the reward couldn't I? I didn't steal it, Inspector.' Father held up his hand. ‘Not guilty, Inspector, Scout's honour.'

‘I didn't think you did sir, not really. After all I was out at your place yesterday, the day of the robbery,
looking for your daughter, wasn't I? I was there when your runaway daughter phoned and I was there with you when you met her at the station. ‘Course –' and he looked right at me – ‘Course, she could've done it and brought it back with her from London.' And the two of them heaved with laughter at the thought of it. I managed a thin smile which was the best I could do under the circumstances. Will never even managed that much.

We had a police car to drive us back to Aunty Ellie's and it was just as well because they had to clear a path through the crowd outside to get us through. The hero of the hour – Humph – sat between Will and me in the back seat chewing his lead, oblivious to the cheering and clapping outside. I loved it, and so did Will. He couldn't stop giggling all the way back to Aunty Ellie's.

Father broke the news beautifully, in such a matter-of-fact voice. He went into the hallway of the house and called them. He said he was sorry he'd been gone longer than expected but that Humph had just found the golden orb from the Crown Jewels in a hedgerow; and that was not all, he said, there could be a small reward too, just a quarter of a million pounds. There
was a moment of hollow silence and then they all cried like babies. Some people are very strange.

‘See, I told you,' said Gran wiping the tears off her cheeks. ‘I told you there's a light at the end of every tunnel.'

‘Yes Gran,' said Mother, ‘and age before beauty, and waste not want not, and a stitch in time saves nine, and where there's a will there's a way.' And they all pointed at Will and laughed till they cried again.

Within half an hour we were besieged in the house by reporters and television cameras. They photographed us for hours outside the front door under the bright lights they'd set up and we all had to cuddle Humph. (He couldn't understand it – all this sudden affection.) Mother and Aunty Ellie had groomed him till he glistened so that he looked really quite presentable for his press conference. They tried to make him bark into the microphone, but he wouldn't; and they asked us the same questions again and again and again. How old were we? Where did we got to school? What was it like to find the Crown Jewels? What was it like to be famous? And then the most common question of all: ‘What will you do with all the reward money Mr Throckmorton?'

‘Perhaps we'll buy ourselves a farm,' said Father. ‘We'd like a place of our own, wouldn't we?'

And that made the headlines in most of the papers the next day. ‘Gold sniffing sheepdog finds Crown Jewel in hedgerow. “We'll be able to buy a farm of our own now,” says Farmer Throckmorton.'

It was ten days before it all died down and we were left on our own again. They were ten days of endless visits to television and radio studios in London and Plymouth, where everyone smiled at us and gave us sweets, and Humph got brushed at least three times a day. Gran and Aunty Ellie had their hair done every single day. Mother hated it all, and said it was like being in a zoo, and if she had to answer any more questions she would scream.

At school too we were celebrities. In Assembly one morning the headmaster called us both up to the platform and asked Will to tell everyone about it. (I don't know why he didn't ask me.) Will exaggerated – well he would, wouldn't he? – especially the bit about how he'd seen the sack first and helped Humph to drag it out of the hedgerow. Anyway they all cheered when he'd finished and I was surprised at how many new friends I suddenly had. Of course, my teacher launched
us all into drawing pictures of the orb and Humph, and she picked out mine as being the best and the most brilliant (which it was) and pinned it up in the front hall of the school where only the best pictures go. Well, it should have been the best, shouldn't it? After all, I had been closer to it than anyone else at school except Will, and he couldn't paint to save his life.

In all that time we never saw my friend Walter. Time and again we coughed for him, Will and I. We went out into the garden, we went into every room in the house. We went ‘around the block' with Humph five or six times a day, and we coughed for him and we called him. He was nowhere; or if he was somewhere he wasn't letting us know. We knew how much we owed him. He'd been right all along. Everything had turned out just as he'd said it would, and he hadn't even given us the chance to say thank you. Besides there were a few things I still didn't quite understand. Surely he wouldn't just go off like that without saying goodbye. But as the days passed it certainly looked like it.

Then something happened that gave us reason to believe that my friend Walter was still very much with us, and that he was still weaving his web – if you know
what I mean. I never saw him myself, and neither did Will; but Mother did – though of course she didn't know it. He's a cunning old spider, my friend Walter.

EVER SINCE FATHER TOLD THE WORLD HE WANTED to buy a farm the post box at Aunty Ellie's had been full of letters from estate agents and farmers offering this farm or that for sale. Father didn't like the look of any of them. He wanted a farm not too far away, a couple of hundred acres or more, and good buildings. He hadn't liked anything he'd seen so far and he was becoming quite dispirited. Anyway, as Gran kept reminding us we mustn't go putting the cart before the horse or start counting our chicks before they were hatched. After all, we hadn't yet had the reward money.