Mystery of the Strange Messages (18 page)

had been stuffed with something that impeded the flow of the
water—stuffed with
diamonds,
perhaps'

Fatty flashed his torch on the joint again It didn't look as neat a
job as the other joints he could see. A surge of excitement made his heart
begin to beat fast.

"I believe I've got it!" thought Fatty to himself.
"I really believe I have! My word—if Wilfrid Hasterley really did push all
his diamonds into a water-pipe and then sealed it up. he was a wizard at hiding
things! I bet he put a few big ones in first, hoping they would jam together,
and not be taken down to the outlet. Whew!"

He had heard no more noises, and felt certain he was mistaken in
thinking anyone had come into the house. He would surely have heard something
more by now! He debated whether he should find the main water-cock and turn off
the water. Then he might be able to hack off the pipe-joint, force the two ends
of the little pipe apart, and peer into them.

But where
was
the
water-cock? He hadn't the faintest idea. "No good messing about,"
thought Fatty. "I'll get back home—and tomorrow I simply
must
get into touch with the
Superintendent, even if I have to telephone to the back of beyond!"

He crept silently out of the little bathroom, shining his torch in
front of him—and then he had the shock of his life! Someone pounced on him from
a corner and gripped him so tightly that he couldn't even struggle!

Then a torch was shone into his face, and a voice exclaimed.
"Oh—so it's that fat boy. is it? Why are you here again? What are you
looking for? Go on, tell us, or we'll make you!"

Fatty saw two men—yes, the two he had been on guard against, and
listening for! So he
had
heard something! What an ass he had been not to
go and investigate.

He began to shout at the top of his voice. "Let me go! Let me
go! Help! Let me go!"

"I here's nobody to hear you!" said one of the men.
"Shout all you like! Go on—shout!"

Ern has a really exciting time!

But there
was
somebody to hear Fatty, of course. Ern was
still outside, shivering in the shelter of the bush he was hiding in. He almost
jumped out of his skin when he heard Fatty's shouts.

"They've got him—somebody in the house has caught him!"
thought Ern, shaking at the knees. "What shall I do? I daren't go in—I'll
be caught too if I do. Oh Fatty—what can I do to help?"

He stole from the shelter of his bush and crept nearer to the
kitchen door. He could hear a struggle going on as Fatty tried to kick the men
on the shins. He heard Fatty yell in pain at some blow given him.

"You let me go! Oh! You brute! Let go!"

Ern listened in anguish. He longed to go to Fatty's help, but what
would
be the sense of two of them being caught? Oh, poor Fatty! Ern
strained his cars to hear what the men were saying.

"Lock him in this cupboard," panted one of them.
"My word, he's strong. Knock him over the head."

"No. Be careful. I don't want a spell in prison again,"
said the second man. "Shove him in!"

Ern heard a crash as Fatty was pushed violently into the big
cupboard, where the Smith's brooms and brushes and pans still stood. Then there
was a short silence. Not another sound from Fatty!

"Lock the door on him," said a voice. "He's knocked
out for a bit, at any rate. My word, he gave me a kick that almost took off my
knee-cap! Now come on—we've
got
to find those stones! We know they're
here somewhere!"

Era, his heart thumping so loudly that he felt the men

must hear it, stood watching their torches flashing here and
there, as they made their search for the hidden diamond haul. There was no
sound to be heard from Fatty, not even a groan. Ern began to feel very anxious.

"I must get help!" he thought. "I really must. But
how?" He stood and thought hard.

"I'll go and stand at the front gate and stop the first
person coming by," he decided at last, and he crept through the falling
snow up to the gate. He waited, shivering, for a few minutes, and then, to his
delight, saw someone coming. It was a small man, hurrying along. Ern ran to
him.

"Please will you help! Two men have got hold of a friend of
mine in that empty house there. They've hurt him and locked him in a cupboard.
Please come and help him."

The little man looked quite scared. "That's a matter for the
police!" he said.

"Oh
no\
" said Ern, thinking of his uncle at once.
"No, I don't want the police here."

"Well, all I can do is to telephone them for you," said
the man, and hurried off. "It's the police you need!"

Ern was in despair. The last person he wanted to see was his
uncle, the very
last \
He hurried back to the house, his feet making no
noise over the snow. He peeped through the kitchen window. No sign or sound of
poor old Fatty—but the men were obviously still there, for Ern could see the
flash of their torches from the little bedroom.

He debated whether he dared to go in and unlock the cupboard door.
No, he daren't. He couldn't possibly get Fatty out without making a noise.
Ern's heart sank down into his shoes. "I'm no good when there's trouble
about," he thought, sorrowfully. "No good at all. Fatty would know
what to do at once. I wish I had better brains."

And then he jumped violently as something brushed against his leg,
and then planted a wet lick on his hand.

"Oooh! What's that! Oh, it's
you.
Buster! Sh! How in
the world did you get out?"

Buster wagged his tail. He knew quite well how he had got out! He
had leapt up on to the chest of drawers in Fatty's shed, and had found the
window open a little. He had squeezed himself through the opening and jumped to
the ground. Then he had nosed his way after Ern's tracks and Fatty's, sniffing
them easily all along the roads to Fairlin Hall.

But now Buster sensed trouble, and that was why he hadn't barked
when he saw Ern! He put his paws up on the boy's knees and whined a very small
whine, as if to say, "Where's Fatty? Please tell me what's up?"

Then Buster heard the men inside the house and his ears pricked up
at once. He ran to the door. He smelt Fatty's tracks, he smelt Fatty himself!
Where was his master? What had happened to him? He ran to the cupboard and
pawed at it. He knew Fatty was in there!

The men heard him and ran out of the bedroom. They flashed their
torches on the little Scottie—and at the same moment he leapt at them. One man
felt a nip on his ankle—then the other felt a glancing bite on his hand. He hit
out at the excited dog, who bounded all round them like a mad thing, barking,
and nipping them whenever he could.

One man ran out of the kitchen into the hall, and the other
followed. Buster went too, and Ern heard him chasing them all the way up the
stairs. Ern was almost weeping in relief. He raced to the locked cupboard and
turned the key.

"Fatty! Quick! Come out! "he said.

Fatty was lying back on a collection of pails, pans and brushes.
He stared up at Ern, still half-dazed.

"Ern!" he said, in a weak voice. "What's up?"

"Oh Fatty—you've an awful bruise on your head," said
Ern, in distress. "Quick, I want to get you out of here. Can you stand?
Let me help you."

Fatty stood up with difficulty. Evidently the blow on

his head had quite dazed him. Ern helped him anxiously out into
the air.

"Let me sit down," said Fatty. "This cold air is
making me feel better. I don't feel quite so dazed. Gosh, what happened? I'm
just remembering! Ern, what on earth are
you
doing here? And is that
Buster I can hear barking?"

"Fatty, don't bother about anything now," said Ern, as
the boy sat down heavily beside a bush. "Old Buster is chasing the men who
knocked you out. Stay here a minute and I'll just go and see what's happened to
him."

Ern went back cautiously to the kitchen. But before he could even
look inside, he saw a lamp coming waveringly round the corner of the house, and
stared at it in amazement. Who was this coming now? Then a loud and angry voice
hailed him.

"ern!
What you doing here? Some fellow phoned me and said there
was a boy here who wanted help—Ern, if it was
you
playing a joke like
that on me, I'll—I'll..."

It was Goon! He leapt off his bicycle and strode towards the
terrified Ern, who promptly fled into the kitchen. Goon padded after him, quite
convinced that Ern had got him out here in the snowy night just for fun.

And then Buster appeared at top speed! He had heard Goon's voice,
and had come to investigate. He leapt at the policeman in delight and nipped
his trousers at the ankle.

"What—that dog's here too! Is that fat boy here as
well?" thundered Goon. "What's going on? I never heard of such doings
in my life. Oh get off, you horrible little dog! Clear orf, I say! Ern, get him
off, or I'll pull every hair out of your head!
will
you get away, dog?"

But Buster was having the time of his life. No Fatty to call him
off, nobody to stop him from harrying his old enemy all he liked. It was too
good to be true! He chased Mr. Goon all round the kitchen, and then into the
broom cupboard, where the angry policeman sub
sided among the same pails and brooms that Fatty had fallen
on.

And then Ern suddenly saw the two men peeping round the door, and
he crouched in a corner in terror, praying that they would not see him. One
flashed his torch into the cupboard and saw the policeman there, with Buster on
top of him.

"Look there—the police!" he cried in alarm, and slammed
the cupboard door at once. He turned the key, locking the door. "Well,
thank goodness we've got rid of the dog, and locked up the policeman," he
said, in a shaky voice. "I can't understand all this. Where's that boy
gone that we knocked out?"

"He's lying under the bobby, I expect." said the second
man. "He was quite knocked out. The policeman must have fallen on top of
him, trying to get away from that vicious little dog. Phew! What a night! Do we
search any more—or what?"

"No. We get back to Kuntan." said the second man.
"My ankles are bitten all over! I must put some iodine on them. I'd like
to have killed that dog!"

"Well, he can keep the policeman and the boy company till
morning," said his companion. Then he turned sharply, "Hallo—who's
this?" he said, and he flashed his torch on to the corner where Ern was
crouching.

And then Ern behaved magnificently. He reached up a hand and swept
a whole row of kettles and pans off the shelf just above him. They clattered to
the floor with an awful din, and startled the two men out of their wits. Then
Ern leapt up into the air, hands above his head, and moaned in a horrible,
hollow voice, "I'm coming! I'm coming!"

The two men took to their heels and raced out of the kitchen door.
This was absolutely the last straw—what with boys and policemen and dogs
roaming about—and now this awful creature, whatever it was, clattering pans
everywhere! The men were really terrified.

Era looked out of the door after them, hardly able to

believe that his sudden mad idea had acted so well. Then he heard
a loud shriek, and wondered what had happened. Then came a crash, and angry
voices

"What's up now?" wondered Ern. uneasily. As the voices
came no nearer he tiptoed out of the kitchen door and went cautiously towards
them

"Coo—loveaduck! They've fallen down the coal-cellar!" he
said. "Fatty must have forgotten to put the grating back over it—and down
they've gone! They must be hurt or they'd try getting up the ladder. Quick,
Ern, my lad, you can do something here!"

And Ern flew to where the big heavy grating lay on the
snow-covered ground. He dragged and pulled, pulled and dragged, panting hard.
At last he got it half across the cellar-opening, and the men, who had been
quite silent, hoping that perhaps there hiding-place would not be discovered,
suddenly realized what was happening.

One gave a yell and began to climb the ladder—but the rickety
rungs broke under his weight and he fell back into the cellar again. Ern at
last pulled the grating right across. Then he flashed his torch down at the two
angry, frightened men

"You can stay there till you're fetched!" he said, and
looked about for something else heavy enough to drag over the grating, to keep
it down. He found the dustbin, and dragged it there, and then filled it with
stones from a nearby rockery. He was very hot and tired when he had finished.
The men yelled and threatened him with all kinds of terrible things—but Ern was
feeling on top of the world, and took no notice

"Loveaduck—there's the men down the coal-cellar—and uncle in
the cupboard with Buster on top of him—I've done a good night's work,"
thought Era, hurrying back to where he had left Fatty. "If only poor old
Fatty is feeling better!"

Fatty was decidedly better. He was standing up wondering whether
to go and join the row he could hear