Mystery Of The Burnt Cottage Read Free Page B

was a clue.”
    “I see,” said Bets. “I shall find heaps of glues - I mean clues. I shall love that.”
    “We must all keep our eyes and ears open for clues of any sort,” said Larry. “Now, for instance, we might find footprint clues. You know - footprints leading to the cottage made by the criminal.”
    Fatty laughed scornfully. The others looked at Mm. “What’s the joke?” asked Larry coldly.
    “Oh, nothing,” said Fatty. “It just made me laugh a bit when I thought of you hunting for footprints in Mr. Hick’s garden. There can’t be less than about a million, I should think - with all the people who were there watching the fire last night.”
    Larry went red. He glared at Fatty’s round face, and Fatty grinned back.
    “The man who started the fire might have been hiding in the hedge or somewhere, wailing for his chance,” said Larry. “Nobody went into the hedge last night. We might find footprints there, mightn’t we? In the ditch, where it’s muddy?”
    “Yes, we might,” said Fatty. “But it’s no good looking for footprints leading to the cottage! Mine are there, and yours, and old Clear-Orf’s, and a hundred others,”
    “I vote we don’t let Clear-Orf know we are solving the mystery,” said Pip.
    “It’s his mystery!” said Daisy. “He’s as pleased as a dog with two tails because he’s got a real crime to solve.”
    “Well, we’ll keep out of Clear-Orf s way,” said Larry. “Won’t he look silly when we tell him who really did do it! Because I’m sure we shall find out, you know, if we all work together and try hard.”
    “What shall we do for a beginning?” asked Pip, who was longing to do something.
    “We must look for clues. We must find out more about the tramp in the torn mackintosh and old hat that Fatty saw,” said Larry. “We must find out if anyone has a spite against Mr. Hick. We must find out if anyone had the chance of getting into the workroom that day, to fire it.”
    “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to talk to Mrs. Minns, the cook,” said Daisy. “She would know if anyone had been
    about that day. And hasn’t Mr. Hick got another manservant besides his chauffeur?”
    “Yes, he’s got a valet, but I don’t know his name,” said Larry. “We’ll find out about him too. Golly., we’ve got a lot to do.”
    “Let’s all go and look for glues first,” said Bets, who quite thought she would find all kinds of things round and about the burnt cottage, which would tell at once who the wrongdoer might be.
    “Right,” said Larry, who rather wanted to hunt for clues hihiself. “Now, listen - we may be turned off if anyone sees us poking about at the bottom of Mr. Hick’s garden. So I shall drop a shilling somewhere, and if we are questioned I shall say I’ve dropped a shilling, and then they’ll think we are looking for it. It’ll be quite true - I shall drop a shilling!”
    “All right,” said Pip, getting up. “Come on. Let’s go now - and after that I should think the next thing to do is for one of us to go and have a talk with Mrs. Minns. I bet she’ll be glad enough to jabber about everything. We might learn a lot of useful things from her.”
    Buster leapt down from Larry’s knee, his tail wagging. “I believe he understood every word!” said Bets. “He’s just as keen to look for glues as we are!”
    “You and your glues!” said Larry, laughing. “Come on, Find-Outers! This is going to be exciting!”
    Clues and - Clear-orf!
    The five children and Buster made their way down the drive and into the lane. They passed Mr. Hick’s house, and went on down the winding lane until they came to where the cottage had been burnt down. There was a tiny wooden gate that opened on to an overgrown path leading to the cottage. The children planned to go down that, because then, they hoped, nobody would see them.
    There was a horrid smell of smoke and burning still on the air. It was a still April day, very sunny and warm. Celandines lay in golden