Part 2 (1/2)

Scamper finds a clue.

IT was really Scamper the spaniel who found the biggest clue of all. He was with them, of course, sniffing round eagerly, very interested in the curious round marks. Then he suddenly began to bark loudly.

Everyone looked at him. ”What's up, Scamper?” said Peter.

Scamper went on barking. The three girls felt a bit scared, and looked hastily round, half afraid that there might be somebody hidden in the bushes!

Scamper had his head up, and was barking quite madly. ”Stop it,” said Peter, exasperated. ”Tell us what you're barking at, Scamper! Stop it, I say.”

Scamper stopped. He gave Peter a reproachful look and then gazed up above the children's heads. He began to bark again.

Everyone looked up, to see what in the world the spaniel was barking at. And there, :aught neatly on the twig of a tree, was a cap!

”Look at that!” said Peter, astonished. ”A cap! Could it belong to the thief?”

”Well, if it does, why in the world did he throw his cap up there?” said Janet. ”It's not a thing that thieves usually do-throw their caps up into trees and leave them!”

The cap was far too high to reach. It was almost as high up as the top of the wall! Johns the gardener went to get a stick to knock it down.

”It could only have got up there by being thrown,” said George. ”So it doesn't really seem as if it could have belonged to the thief. He really wouldn't go throwing his cap about like that, leaving such a very fine clue!”

”No. You're right, I'm afraid,” said Peter. ”It can't be his cap. It must be one that some tramp threw over the wall some time or other.”

Johns came back with a bamboo stick. He jerked the cap off the twig and Scamper pounced on it at once.

”Drop it, Scamper; drop it!” ordered Peter, and Scamper dropped it, looking hurt. Hadn't he spotted the cap himself? Then at least he might be allowed to throw it up into the air and catch it!

The Seven looked at the dirty old cap. It was made of tweed, and at one time must have showed a rather startling check pattern-but now it was so dirty that it was difficult even to see the pattern. Janet looked at it in disgust.

”Ugh! What a dirty cap! I'm sure that some tramp had finished with it and threw it over the wall-and it just stuck up there on :hat tree branch. I'm sure it isn't a clue at ill.”

”I think you're right,” said Colin, turning the cap over and over in his hands. ”We might as well chuck it over into Little Thicket. It's no use to us. Bad luck, Scamper-you thought you'd found a thumping big clue!”

He made as if to throw the cap up over the wall, but Peter stopped him. ”No, don't! We'd better keep it. You simply never know. We'd kick ourselves if we threw away something that might prove to be a clue of some kind-though I do agree with you, it probably isn't.”

”Well, you can carry the smelly thing then,” said Colin, giving it to Peter. ”No wonder somebody threw it away. It smells like my thing!”

Peter stuffed it into his pocket. Then he took the tiny piece of blue wool thread, and put that carefully into the pages of his notebook. He looked down at the ground where the curious marks were. ”I almost think we'd better make a note of these too,” he said. ”Got a measure, Janet?”

She hadn't, of course. But George had some string, and he carefully measured across the round marks, and then snipped the string to the right size. ”That's the size of the marks,” he said, and gave his bit of string to Peter. It went carefully into his notebook too.

”I can't help thinking those funny marks all over the place are some kind of clue,” he said, putting his notebook away. ”But what, I simply can't imagine!”

They said good-bye to Johns, and made their way home across the fields. n.o.body could make much of the clues. Peter did hope the adventure wasn't going to fizzle out, after all!

”I still say that only an acrobat could have scaled that high wall,” said Janet. ”I don't see how any ordinary person could have done it!”

Just as she said this, they came out into the lane. A big poster had been put up on a wall nearby. The children glanced at it idly. And then Colin gave a shout that made them all jump!

”Look at that-it's a poster advertising a circus! And see what it says-Lion-tamers, Daring Horse-riders, Performing Bears-Clowns-and Acrobats! Acrobats! Look at that! Supposing-just supposing . . .”

They all stared at one another in excitement. Janet might be right. This must be looked into at once!

Eight.

A visit to the circus.

PETER looked at his watch. ”Blow!” he said in dismay. ”It's nearly dinner-time. We must all get back home as fast as we can. Meet at half-past two again, Secret Seven.”

”We can't!” said Pam and Barbara. ”We're going to a party.”

”Don't have a meeting without us,” begged Pam.

”I can't come either,” said George. ”So we'd better make it tomorrow. Anyway, if the thief is one of the acrobats at the circus, he won't be leaving this afternoon! He'll stay there till the circus goes.”

”Well-it's only just a chance he might be an acrobat,” said Janet. ”I only just said it could only be an acrobat that scaled that high wall. I didn't really mean it!”

”It's worth looking into, anyhow,” said Peter. ”Well-meet tomorrow at half-past nine, then. And will everybody please think hard, and have some kind of plan to suggest? I'm sure we shall think of something good!”

Everyone thought hard that day-even Pam and Barbara whispered together in the middle of their party! ”I vote we go and see the circus,” whispered Pam. ”Don't you think it would be a good idea? Then we can see if Peter recognizes any of the acrobats as the thief he saw hiding under that bus.h.!.+”

When the Secret Seven met the next day, muttering the pa.s.sword as they went through the door of the shed, everyone seemed to have exactly the same idea!

”We should visit the circus,” began George.

”That's just what Pam and I thought!” said Barbara.

”I thought so too,” said Colin. ”In fact, it's the only sensible thing to do. Don't you think so, Peter?”

”Yes. Janet and I looked in the local paper, and we found that the circus opens this afternoon,” said Peter. ”What about us all going to see it? I don't know if I would recognize any of the acrobats as the thief-I really only caught just a glimpse of him, you know-but it's worth trying.”

”You said he was dark and clean-shaven,” said Colin. ”And I saw that his hair was black, anyway. He had a little thin patch on the top. But it isn't much to go on, is it?”

”Has anyone got any money?” asked Pam. ”To buy circus tickets, I mean? I haven't any at all, because I had to buy a birthday present to take to the party yesterday.”

Everyone turned out their pockets. The money was put in a pile in the middle and counted.

”The tickets are a s.h.i.+lling for children,” said Peter with a groan. ”A s.h.i.+lling! They must think that children are made of money. We've got four s.h.i.+llings and fivepence here, that's all. Only four of us can go.”

”I've got two s.h.i.+llings in my money-box,” said Janet.

”And I've got sixpence at home,” said Colin. ”Anyone got the odd penny?”