Mystery of the Pantomime Cat (3 page)

"Fatty! Where are your teeth? You've got two missing!"

"Just blacked them out, that's all," said Fatty, with
another dreadful grin. "In this light it looks as if I've got some
missing, doesn't it?"

He put on a wig of thinnish hair that straggled under his cap. He
screwed up his face, and waggled his beard at Bets and Daisy.

"You look disgusting and very frightening," said Daisy.
"I'm glad I'm not going to walk into you unexpectedly tonight. I'd be
scared stiff. Oh, look at Larry, Bets—he's almost as bad as Fatty. Larry,
don't
squint like that."

Larry was squinting realistically, and had screwed up his mouth so
that his moustache was all on one side.

"Don't overdo it," said Fatty. "You look like an idiot
now—not that that's much change for you."

Larry hit him on the back. "You mind what you say to
me," he growled, in a deep voice. "I'm Loopy Leonard from
Lincoln."

"You look it," said Daisy. "You're both horrible.
Pippin won't believe you're real when he sees you!"

Fatty looked at Daisy. "Do you think he'll see through our
disguises then?" he asked, anxiously. "Have we overdone it?"

"No. Not really," said Daisy. "I mean, a policeman
sees lots of awful ruffians and scoundrels, I expect, and some of them must
look as bad as you. Ugh, you do look revolting. I shall dream about you
tonight."

"I say—time's getting on," said Pip, suddenly, looking
at his watch He had been silent and a little sulky because he was not going too
But, as Fatty pointed out, he was not tall enough to pass for a man, whereas he
and Larry were. They were both well grown, and Fatty especially was quite burly
now.

"Right. We'll go," said Fatty, and Larry opened the door
of the shed cautiously

"We'll have to go past the kitchen door," he said.
"But it's all right, no one will hear us."

The two horrible-looking ruffians tiptoed up the path and round by
the kitchen door. Just as they got there the door opened and a bright beam of
light fell on the two of them. There was a loud scream and the door was banged
shut.

"Golly! That was Janet, our cook," whispered Daisy.
"She must have had the fright of her life when she saw you. Quick, get off
before she tells Daddy!"

The two boys scurried away into the road. Bets went home with Pip
Daisy went in at the garden door and heard Janet telling her father in a most
excited voice about the two frightful men she had seen. "Great big
fellows, sir," she said, "about six feet high, they were—and they
glared at me out of piercing eyes, and growled like dogs."

Daisy chuckled and slipped upstairs. She wasn't at all surprised
at Janet's horror. Those two certainly had looked dreadful.

Fatty and Larry made their way cautiously to the empty house. They
crossed over whenever they heard any one coming along the dark streets. Nobody
saw them, which was a good thing, for most people would certainly have raised
the alarm at the sight of two such extraordinary-looking rogues

They came to the empty house. They slipped in at

the front gate very quietly indeed. There was a side gate as well.

"When Pippin comes by, we'll start our whispering here, under
this hush," said Fatty. "And then when he comes in at the front gate
to investigate, we'll sprint out of the side gate, let him shine his light on
our faces, because he can't possibly tell who we are, in these frightful
disguises "

"Right," said Larry. "Got the torn-up note.
Fatty?"

Fatty felt in his pocket. He drew out an envelope. In it was a
dirty piece of paper, torn into six or eight pieces. On it Fatty had written a
cryptic message.

"Behind Little Theatre Ten p.m. Friday."

He grinned as he took out the torn pieces and thought of the
message on them "When Pippin turns up behind the Little Theatre on Friday
we'll see that he finds a lovely lot of clues," he said to Larry. He scattered
the bits of paper on the ground below the bush they were hiding behind. They
fell there and lay waiting for the unsuspicious Pippin to pick them up later on
in the evening!

"Sh'!” said Larry, suddenly. "He's coming I know his
funny little cough now, though I can't hear his footsteps. Ah—now I can."

The boys waited silently until P.C. Pippin was near the garden.
Then Fatty said something in a sibilant whisper. Larry then rustled the bush.
Fatty said "Ssssst!" and P.C. Pippin switched on his torch at once.

"Now then! Who's there? You come on out and show
yourselves!" said Pippin's voice, sounding very sharp indeed.

"Don't run yet," whispered Fatty. "Let him get a
look at us."

Larry rustled the bush again. Pippin turned his

torch on to it at once, and was horrified to see two such
villainous faces peering out at him. What ruffians! Up to no good,
he'd
he
bound!

"Now for it!" said Fatty, as the policeman swung open
the front gate.

The two boys at once sprinted out of the back gate, and raced off down
the road, with P.C. Pippin a very bad third. "Hey, stop there! Stop!"
he shouted. This was more than the boys had bargained for! Suppose somebody
did
stop them! It would be very awkward indeed.

But fortunately no one stopped them or even tried to, though the
village butcher, out for a walk with his wife in the fine spring night, did
step out to catch hold of them. But when he saw Fatty's horrible-looking face
in the light of a street-lamp he thought better of it, and the boys raced by in
safety.

They turned in at Larry's gate thankfully. They went to the little
shed and sank down, panting. Fatty grinned.

"Nice work, Larry! He'll go back there with his torch and
snoop round—and he'll find the torn bits of paper and turn up on time for his
next clues on Friday. I enjoyed that. Did you?"

"Yes," said Larry. "I only wish I didn't have to
take off this wizard disguise. Can't we go round the town a bit and show
ourselves to a few more people?"

"Better not," said Fatty. "Come on—let's take our
things off. My word—I wish it had been old Goon who came along and spotted
us—what a thrill for him!"

Meanwhile P.C. Pippin had made his way back to the garden where
the two ruffians had been hiding. He was excited. He had never hoped for
anything to happen whilst he was taking Goon's place. And now he had surprised
two horrible-looking villains hiding

in the garden of an empty house, no doubt planning a burglary of
some kind.

P.C. Pippin shone his torch on the ground under the bush where the
two ruffians had stood. He hoped to see some footprints there. Aha, yes—there
were plenty I And there was something else too—torn pieces of paper! Could
those fellows have dropped them?

Mr. Pippin took his note-book from his pocket and placed the bits
of paper carefully in the flap at the back. There were eight pieces—with
writing on them! He would examine them carefully at home. Next he took out a
folding ruler and carefully measured the footprints in the soft earth. Then he
looked about for cigarette-ends or any other clue. But except for the bits of
paper there was nothing.

P.C. Pippin was up till past midnight piecing together the bits of
paper, making out the thrilling message, writing out a description of the two
men, and trying to draw the footprints to measure. He felt very important and
pleased. This was his first Case. He was going to handle it well. He would go
to that Little Theatre on Friday night, long before ten—and see what he would
find there! All this might be Very, Very Important.

Plenty of Red-heads-and Plenty of Clues!

The five children chuckled over the trick they had played on the
unsuspecting Pippin. Larry had met him the morning after, and stopped to have a
few words with him.

Mr. Pippin, remembering Mr. Goon's words of

warning about the five children, looked at him rather doubtfully.
This wasn't the dangerous fat boy, though—it was one of the others.

"Good morning, Mr. Pippin," said Larry, politely.
"Settled in all right?"

"Of course," said Mr. Pippin. "Nice place,
Peters-wood. I've always Liked it. You at home for the Easter holidays?"

"Yes," said Larry. "Er—got on to any mystery yet,
Mr. Pippin?"

"Shouldn't tell you if I had," said Mr. Pippin, grinning
at Larry. "I've had a Warning about you, see?"

"Yes. We thought you probably would have," said Larry.
"By the way, our cook had a fright last night. Said she saw two ruffians
outside our back door."

Mr. Pippin pricked up his ears at once. "Did she? What were
they like?"

"Well—she said one of them had red hair," said Larry.
"But you'd better ask her if you want any particulars. Why? Have
you
seen
them?"

"Perhaps I have and perhaps I haven't," said Mr. Pippin,
annoyingly.

He nodded to Larry and walked off. He was thinking hard. So
Larry's cook had also seen a red-haired ruffian. Must have been the same
red-haired fellow that he too had seen that night then. What were they up to?
He decided to interview Larry's cook, and did so. He came away with a very
lurid account of two enormous villains, six feet high at least, growling and
groaning, squinting and pulling faces.

One of them certainly had red hair. Mr. Pippin began to look out
for people with red hair. When he met Mr. Kerry the cobbler, who had flaming
red hair, he eyed him with such suspicion that Mr. Kerry felt really alarmed.

P.C. Pippin also came across the vicar's brother, a kind and
harmless tricyclist who liked to ride three times round the village each
morning for exercise. When Mr. Pippin had met him for the third time, and
scrutinized him very very carefully, the vicar's brother began to think
something must be wrong. Mr. Pippin was also surprised—how many more times was
he going to see this red-haired tricyclist?

When Larry related to the others that he had met Pippin, and told
him about the red-haired man seen by the cook, and when Fatty heard from Janet
the cook that the policeman had actually been to interview her about him, he
chuckled.

"I think a spot of disguising is indicated," he said to
the others. "A few red-haired fellows might interest our nice round ripe
Pippin."

So at twelve o'clock a red-haired telegraph boy appeared on a
bicycle, whistling piercingly. When he saw Mr. Pippin he stopped and asked him
to direct him to an address he didn't know. The policeman looked at him.
Another red-haired fellow! There was no end to them in Peterswood, it seemed.

At half-past one another red-haired fellow appeared beside the
surprised Pippin. This time he was a man with a basket. He had black eyebrows
which looked rather odd with his red hair, and frightful teeth that stuck out in
front. He talked badly because of these.

"Scuthe me," lisped the red-haired fellow. 'Pleathe, can
you thay where the Potht Offith ith?"

At first P.C. Pippin thought the fellow was talking in a foreign
language, but at last discovered that he was merely lisping. He looked at him
closely.
Another
red-haired chap! Most peculiar. None of them really
looked like the ruffian he had seen the night before, though.

At  half-past  two  yet  another 
red-haired  fellow

knocked at P.C. Pippin's door, and delivered a newspaper which he
said must have been left at the wrong house. Pippin thought it was one that
Goon had, and thanked him. He stared at him, frowning. All this red hair! Fatty
stared back unwinkingly.

Feeling uncomfortable, though he didn't know why, P.C. Pippin shut
the door and went back into the front room. He felt that if he saw one more
red-haired man that day he would really go to the oculist and see if there was
something wrong with his eyes!

And at half-past five, when he was setting out to go to the post,
what did he see but an elderly looking man shuffling along with a stick—and
with bright-red hair sticking out from under his cap!

"I'm seeing things," thought poor Mr. Pippin to himself,
"I've got red hair on the brain."

Then a memory struck him. "Well! What was it that Mr. Goon
told me? He warned me against red-haired fellows dashing about all over the
place, didn't he? What did he mean? What's all this red-haired business? Oh
yes—Mr. Goon said it would be Fatty disguising himself! But that boy
couldn't
be as clever as all that!" Mr. Pippin began to review all the
red-haired people he had seen that day. He thought with especial suspicion of
the man he had seen three times on a tricycle.

"Ah! Wait till I meet the next red-head," said Mr.
Pippin darkly to himself. "If there's tricks played on
me,
I can
play a few too! I'll give the next red-head a Real Fright!"

It so happened that the next one he met was the vicar's brother on
his tricycle again, hurrying along to catch the post at the post office. Mr.
Pippin stepped out into the road in front of him.

The vicar's brother rang his bell violently but Mr. Pippin didn't
get out of the way. So the rider put on