The children set off together down the drive, with Buster at their heels. They were all sulky and mutinous. They hated having to apologize to some one they detested. Also they all felt that it was terribly mean of Mr. Hick to have given Bets away like that, when he had solemnly promised not to.
“He’s a nasty piece of work,” said Larry, and every one agreed.
“I don’t care who fired his workroom,” said Fatty. “I’m glad it was burnt down, and his precious papers too.”
“You shouldn’t say things like that,” said Daisy, though she felt much the same herself at that moment.
They arrived at the house and rang the bell. Bets pointed out the footprints and they all gazed at them with interest. Bets was right The prints were exactly like the ones in Fatty’s drawing. It was too bad that they had to give up the search for the criminal just as they had almost found the man!
Mrs. Minns opened the door and was surprised to see the little company. Sweetie, who was at her heels, fled away with tail up in the air as soon as she saw Buster, i “Please, will you tell Mr. Hiccup – er, I mean Mr. 1 Hick – that we want to see him?” said Larry. Mrs. Minns looked even more surprised, and was about to answer when a voice called from the study.
“Who’s that, Mrs. Minns?”
“Five children and a dog,, sir,” answered Mrs. Minns. , “They say they want to see you.”
There was a pause. “Bring them in,” said Mr. Hick’s voice, and very solemnly the children and Buster went into the study. Mr. Hick was there, sitting in a big chair, his legs crossed, and his crest of hair looking rather alarming.
“What have you come for?” he asked.
“Mother said we were all to apologize to you, Mr. ‘ Hick,” said Pip. And, with one voice, the children chanted in a most mournful tone, “We apologize, Mr. Hick!”
“Hmmm,” said Mr. Hick, looking more amiable.”! should think so, indeed!”
“You said you wouldn’t tell any one,” burst out Bets. “You broke your promise.”
Mr. Hick didn’t consider that promises made to children need be kept at all, so he didn’t feel guilty or say he was sorry. He was about to say something when several aeroplanes passed over the garden, rather low. The noise made him jump and Buster growled. Larry ran to the window. He was extremely good at spotting any kind of aeroplane that flew overhead.
“It’s those Tempests again!” he cried. “I’ve only seen them twice over here. Look at their curious tail-fins.”
“They were over here two or three days ago,” said Mr.
Ill
Hick, with interest. “I saw them. There were seven. Are there seven today?”
Larry counted them. All the children looked out of the window – except Fatty. He didn’t look out of the window. He looked at Mr. Hick with a most bewildered expression on his face. He opened his mouth as if to speak, and then firmly closed it again. But he still went on’Staring at Mr. Hick, very deep in thought.
The Tempests came over again, roaring low. “Let’s go out and see them,” said Larry. “We can see them better out-of-doors. Goodbye, Mr. Hick.”
“Goodbye. And don’t poke and pry again into matters that don’t concern children,” said Mr. Hick stiffly. “It was probably Horace Peeks that fired my workroom. The police will soon make out a case against him. He wore rubber-soled shoes this morning when he came to see me, and there is no doubt that he made those prints up and down the drive.”
“Oh,” said the children, feeling very sorry for poor Lily. She would be terribly upset they knew. Only Fatty said nothing, but looked hard at Mr. Hick again, a curious expression on his face. They all went out – but the Tempests were now gone again, leaving a faint throbbing behind them.
“Well, that’s done,” said Larry, with relief. “How I hated apologizing to that mean fellow! I suppose Peeks did do it, after all – fire the cottage, I mean.”
Fatty was very silent as they all walked down the lane towards the river. They meant to go for a short walk before supper-time. Bets looked at Fatty.
“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Are your braises hurting you?”
“No. I’d forgotten all about them,” said Fatty. “I was thinking of something very, very, very queer!”
“What was it?” asked the others, interested. Fatty stopped and pointed up into the sky. “You know those planes we saw?” he said. The others nodded.
“Well,” said Fatty, “they were Tempests, and they have only been over here twice – once today – and once on the
evening of the day that the cottage was fired!”
“Well – what about it?” said Larry impatiently. “Nothing queer about that, surely!”
“Listen,” said Fatty, “when we spoke about those Tempests, what did Mr. Hick say? He said that he saw them when they were over here two or three days ago – and he counted them and there were seven. Which was quite correct.”
“What are you getting at?” asked Pip, frowning.
“I’m getting at something queer,” said Fatty. “Where was Mr. Hick on the evening that the fire was started?”
“On the London train!” said Larry.
“Then how could he have seen and counted the Tempests that flew over here!” said Fatty.
There was a startled silence. Every one thought hard. Larry spoke first. “It is queer!” he said. “Those planes have only been here twice – every one spoke about them. And if Hiccup saw them that evening – then he must have been here!”
“And yet his chauffeur met the London train and he walked off it!” said Daisy. “He couldn’t possibly have seen the planes if he was really on the train, because at that time the train had hardly started out from London!”
“And so,” said Fatty, a note of triumph in his voice, “and so, Find-Outers, we have yet another Suspect. Mr. Hick hihiself!”
“Oooh,” said Bets, amazed. “But he wouldn’t fire his own cottage!”
“He might – to get the insurance money on his valuable papers,” said Fatty. “People do that sometimes. I expect he sold the papers – then set fire to the workroom and pretended the papers were burnt., in order to get more money. Golly! Can it really be possible?”
“We can’t tell any one,” said Daisy.
“I should think not!” said Larry. “Whatever in the world shall we do about it? “
“We must find out how it was that Mr. Hick got on the London train that night,” said Fatty. “Look – we’re near the railway line here. The London trains always come by
here, and there’s one due. Let’s see what happens.”
The children climbed on to the fence by the railway and sat there, waiting. Soon they saw a cloud of smoke in the distance. The train was coming. It came roaring along -but when it reached one portion of the line, it slowed down, and finally it stopped.
“It always stops there,” said Bets. “I’ve noticed that. Perhaps it gets water or something.”
It was too far away to see why it had stopped. Anyway it soon started up again, and puffed by the five children. Buster ran away behind a bush when it came. He was afraid of the noise.
Fatty was again thinking very deeply. So was Larry. “Listen,” said Fatty. “Is it possible for any one at night to wait for the train just there, and hop into an empty carriage, do you think? Then, at Peterswood Station, if he had a season ticket, people would never know he hadn’t come all the way from London.”
“Fatty, I believe you’re right!” said Larry. “I was just thinking the very same thing myself. I believe Hiccup could have done it. Pretended to go to London – slipped back – hid in the ditch, leaving those few footprints behind him – fired the cottage – slipped back to the railway line just there – waited till the train stopped, as it always does – hopped into an empty carriage in the dark – and then got out as cool as a cucumber, to be met by his car and chauffeur at the station!”
The more the children thought about this, the more certain they felt that Mr. Hick might have done it. “After all,” said Bets, “A man that could break his faithful promise could do anything, simply anything.”
“Whatever is Buster doing?” said Fatty, hearing some excited barks coming from the little dog, some way back in the copse of trees behind them. “Buster! BUSTER! What’s the matter? Found a rabbit?”
Buster yelped and then appeared, dragging something black and muddy. “Whatever has he got?” said Bets.
Every one looked to see. “It’s an old shoe!” said Daisy, laughing. “Buster, what do you want with an old shoe ? “