Part 7 (2/2)

'Hi!' said Tinker. 'I've got news!' And he proceeded to tell the others all about the happenings of the night before, ending up with his father solemnly going off to hide his morning newspapers under the coal at the back of the coal-cellar, under the impression that he was hiding the rest of his precious papers.

'But why on earth didn't you tell him he had left his valuable papers behind and hidden his newspapers?' asked George.

'Because if he knew that, he'd go and hide the precious papers somewhere, and forget where he'd put them - and they might be lost for ever!' said Tinker.

'Well, what are you going to do with them?' asked d.i.c.k.

'I've had rather a brain-wave,' said Tinker, as modestly as he could. 'Er - I thought that we'd hide them away ourselves, where n.o.body could possibly find them.'

'And where is this wonderful hiding-place?' asked d.i.c.k.

'On Kirrin Island!' said Tinker, triumphantly. 'Who'd think of looking there? And as we shall all know the hiding-place, we can't possibly forget it. The papers will be absolutely safe. Dad can get on with the rest of his ideas without worrying about anything.'

'Have you told him all this?' asked Julian.

'Well, no,' said Tinker. 'Jenny thought we'd better just keep it to ourselves. She's pretty certain the thieves will try their hand at breaking in to get the rest of the papers, though.'

'Ha! Well, I vote we scribble some papers ourselves,' said d.i.c.k. 'Complete with wonderful diagrams, and all kinds of peculiar figurings and numberings. I feel I could do that very well! And we'd leave them up in the tower room for the thieves to take - they'd think they were the ones they'd missed!'

Everyone chuckled. 'a.s.s!' said Julian. 'Still - it's not a bad idea to leave something behind for the thieves that isn't worth a moment's look - and hide the genuine figures where they'd never dream of finding them - on Kirrin Island!'

'When shall we go?' asked George. 'It's ages since I've visited my island - and will you believe it, last time I rowed over, trippers had been there and left their beastly mess everywhere! Paper bags, broken gla.s.s, lettuce leaves, orange peel, ugh!'

'Why DO people do that?' asked Anne. 'They'd hate to have to sit in the midst of other people's mess - so why in the world can't they clear up their own?'

'Oh, they're probably just like that in their own homes,' said d.i.c.k. 'All mess and litter - and yet it takes so little time to clear up a picnic mess, and leave the place decent for the next comers.'

'What did you do with all the mess left on Kirrin Island?' asked Julian.

'I buried it deep in the sand at the back of one of the beaches,' said George. 'Where the tide can't turn it all up again. And with every dig of my spade I said ”Blow you, you awful trippers without manners, blow you - and next time you go anywhere, may you find someone else's litter to make you feel sick. Blow you!”'

George looked and sounded so very fierce that everyone burst out laughing. Timmy sat there with his tongue lolling out, looking as if he were laughing too, and Mischief made a funny little noise rather like a giggle.

'Good old George. She always says straight out what she thinks!' said Julian.

They sat and talked over their plans for some time. 'd.i.c.k and Julian had better make the fake plans and figures,' said George. 'They'd be better at that kind of thing than anyone else. And Tinker can plant them somewhere in his father's tower room for the thief to take if he goes there again - and I bet he will. He found it easy enough last night!'

'And George could take Tinker's father's papers with the correct figures and plans over to Kirrin Island,' said Anne.

'Not till night-time, though,' said d.i.c.k. 'If anyone were on the watch, and saw George rowing over there, they might guess she was taking something important to hide. They might be watching her father too. By the way - where are these papers? You did not leave them behind at home, did you, Tinker?'

'I didn't dare to,' said Tinker. 'I felt as if there might be eyes peeping at me, watching and hoping I'd go out and leave the papers behind. I've got them under my jersey, just here!' And he patted the top of his stomach.

'Oh - so that's why you look as if you've had too much breakfast!' said George. 'Well - what shall our plans be?'

'We'd better make out the false papers straight away, with figures and diagrams,' said Julian. 'Just in case the thieves come sooner than we think. Tinker, we'd better go into your house to do those. If we go to George's, her father might spot us, and wonder what on earth we were doing. We'd probably be sent off, anyway, because of the scarlet-fever business.'

'Well, what about my father?' said Tinker. 'He might spot us too. Anyway, he's not keen on my having anyone there this week, because he's so busy with his new invention. It's awfully good, and...'

'Tinker - don't start spilling beans again!' said Julian, warningly. 'I say it would be best to go to your house.'

'What about me going indoors and bringing out Dad's big drawing-board, and some of his paper, and his mapping pens and ink, and doing the diagrams and things out here in the tent?' said Tinker. 'Honestly, I never know when Dad is going to come into my room. He'd wonder what on earth we were doing if he found us all there! We can have a good look at the papers I've got under my coat, and do a whole lot in the same style - not the same figures, naturally - and we could do some fancy diagrams too.'

'All right,' said Julian, giving way, as he saw that Tinker was genuinely afraid that his father might see them making the false papers. 'Go and get the drawing-board and come back with it, and anything else we'll need. You go with him, George.'

'Right,' said George, and she and Tinker went up Tinker's garden to the house. Tinker scouted round to see if his father was anywhere about, but couldn't see him. He found a large drawing-board, some big sheets of paper used by his father for working out his figures, and a book of odd, but easy-to-copy diagrams. He also brought mapping pens, Indian ink and blotting paper, and even remembered drawing-pins to pin the sheets of paper to the board. George carried half the things, and kept a sharp look-out for Tinker's father.

'It's all right. He's asleep somewhere - can't you hear that noise?' asked Tinker; and sure enough George could - a gentle snoring from some room not far off!

They went back down the garden and over the fence, handing everything to the others before they climbed over. 'Good!' said Julian. 'Now we can produce some beautiful charts of figures that mean absolutely nothing at all - and diagrams that will look perfect and not mean a thing either!'

'Better come into the tent,' said George. 'If anyone wanders down from the circus camp, they might ask us what we're doing.'

So they all went into the boys' big tent, which was the bigger one, Timmy too, and Mischief, who was delighted to be with the big dog. Julian soon set to work, though he found the s.p.a.ce rather cramped. They were all watching him in admiration as he set out rows of beautiful, meaningless figures when Timmy suddenly gave a deep growl, and all his hackles rose up on his neck.

Julian turned the drawing-board over at once, and sat on it. The canvas doorway of the tent was pulled aside and in poked the grinning face of Charlie the Chimp!

'Oh, it's you, Charlie!' said Julian. 'Well, well, well, and how are you today?'

The chimpanzee grinned even more widely, and held out his hand. Julian shook it solemnly, and the chimpanzee went carefully all round the tent, shaking hands with everyone.

'Sit down, Charlie,' said d.i.c.k. 'I suppose you've let yourself out of your cage as usual, and come to see what we've got for our dinner. Well, you'll be glad to hear we've got enough for you as well as ourselves.'

Charlie squashed himself between Timmy and Tinker, and with much interest watched Julian at work with his pen and ink. 'I bet that chimp could draw, if you gave him a piece of paper and a pencil,' said Anne.

So, to keep him quiet, he was given a pencil, and a notebook. He at once began to scribble in it very earnestly.

'Goodness - he's doing a whole lot of funny figures,' said Anne. 'He's trying to copy you, Ju!'

'If he's not careful, I'll hand the whole job over to him!' said Julian, with a chuckle. 'George, let's talk about your plans for tonight. I think if you are going over to Kirrin Island to hide those papers you've planned to hide, you must take Timmy with you.'

'Oh, I will!' said George. 'Not that there will be a single soul on the island, but I'd like old Tim just for company. I'll take the papers straight to the island, land, and hide them.'

'Where?' asked Julian.

'Oh, I'll decide that when I'm there,' said George. 'Somewhere cunning! I know my own little island from top to bottom. And there those papers will stay until all danger is past. We'll let Professor Hayling think he has hidden them somewhere himself, and forgotten where! It will be fun to row across to my island, at night, with Timmy.'

'The thieves can make do with my figures and diagrams if they come to the tower room again,' said Julian. 'Don't they look professional?'

They certainly did! Everyone looked at the neat figures and carefully drawn diagrams with admiration.

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