past week. Moreover, my bicycle has been stolen; Dr. Wintersipâs house was broken into, and a pair of binoculars and a set of Dickens taken; a lot of canned goods were taken from Mrs. Winfield Churchâs cellar; somebody threw a stone through Mr. Bellerâs picture window.⦠Oh, thatâs not the half of it. And you see itâs not just robbery, itâs smashing and destroying things just for the sake of destroying âem. And, Freddy, youâve got to find out whoâs doing it.â
âMe?â said the pig. âThis is a job for the troopers.â
Mrs. Peppercorn shook her head. âLook at the garden a little more closely,â she said.
Freddy walked along between the rows. He bent down to see how the earth had been scooped and channeled by digging out the roots. And he knew what had happened. He knew what had done it.
âLook here,â said Jinx, pointing down to several clear imprints of small hoofs.
âI donât need to,â said Freddy. âA pig rooted up this garden.â
The old lady nodded. âYes. And the folks in town think they know what pig.â
âYou meanâ me ?â Freddy exclaimed. âBut Iâve been ⦠you donât think Iââ
âNo,â she interrupted; âI donât think you did it. Thatâs why I sent for you. Thatâs why I say youâre the one thatâs got to find out who did do it. Youâve got a lot of friends in town. But there are a lot of people who are kind of on the fence about you. They say: âOh, sure, heâs smart all right. But donât forget: heâs been in and out of our jail half a dozen times. And where thereâs smoke, thereâs fire.ââ
âWhy, sure, Iâve been in and out of jail. The sheriffâs a friend of mine. When he invites me down for a week-end, I go. He sets a good table, and heâs got a nice lot of prisoners, and we have a lot of fun.⦠Oh, I know, you mean that time I was arrested for stealing. But you know about that. Remember that man who pretended to be Mrs. Beanâs long-lost brother, and she was going to give him a lot of money, and I took it because I knew he was a crook? And then when we showed him up as an imposter, I gave the money back.â
âYou donât have to defend yourself to me, Freddy,â said Mrs. Peppercorn. âBut there are a lot of people who never got that story straight. All they remember is that you went to jail. And then when they find itâs a pig that has been tearing up their gardens, they say: âAha! That Freddy, I bet!ââ
âAnd hereâs another thing,â she went on. âLast Friday night Mr. Schemerhorn was up in the Big Woods along the back road looking for a lost cow, and he looked out through the trees and saw, in the moonlight, a pig, carrying a heavy sack on his shoulders.â
âIf Iâd stolen a lot of stuff in Centerboro, I wouldnât take it home along the back road,â said Freddy. âThatâs way out of the way.â
âLess traffic on the back road,â put in Jinx. âAnd you could cut down through the woods and by the duck pond without being seen. Itâs not much longer.â
âYeah, but last Friday night we were a hundred miles from here, coming back from our trip.â
âWe canât prove it,â said the cat. âAfter we got away from where folks knew us, everybody made such a fuss about our being talking animals that we ducked âem, rode the back roads and cross-country. A few farmers stared at us, but how you going to get hold of them to give us an alibi?â
Mrs. Peppercorn nodded. âYou see, itâs serious, Freddy,â she said. âSome pig is up to mischief, and youâve got to find him before you get arrested. Thereâs talk of that already.â
âThe only pigs around here besides me are my Cousin Ernest and his family, at