up. He would go for a walk! What with dogs barking, and children yelling, and now his niece yelling too, the house was unbearable. Yes, he would go for a walk!
But at the sight of him appearing in coat and hat with a stick in his hand. Loony flung himself on him in delight. A walk! People with hats and coats on meant only one thing—a WALK! Loony snuffled round Great-uncle’s ankles, thrilled, and then rolled over on his back, doing what Snubby called his “bicycling act,” riding an imaginary bicycle upside down!
“You are not coming with me,” said Great-uncle firmly. “I don’t like you. You can only do two things well, and I don’t like either of them. You can bark louder than any dog I know, and you can scratch yourself more vigorously.”
But Loony meant to come with him. He kept so close to Great-uncle’s ankles all the way to the gate that he almost tripped him up. “Home!” said Great-uncle sternly. “HOME.”
“Woof,” said Loony, and sat down expectantly, exactly as if Great-uncle had said “Bone,” not “Home.” The old man tried to open the gate quickly and slip out without Loony—but Loony was up to that game. He was out in the road with Great-uncle at once, dancing round him maddeningly.
The old man lost his temper. “Snubby!” he yelled. “Call this dog of yours. CALL HIM, I say. Do you hear me, boy?”
A woman opposite came over to Great-uncle. “I’m so sorry,” she said, “but may I ask you not to shout and not to let your dog bark so much? Your shouting and his barking have kept my baby awake half the morning.”
Great-uncle was really exasperated. He walked off down the road, thumping the pavement with his stick.
“I kept her baby awake. What rubbish! And calling Loony my dog! I wouldn’t own him for a hundred pounds.”
But it certainly looked as if he did, because Loony kept faithfully with him during the whole of the walk, occasionally half-disappearing down a rabbit-hole, but always coming back. Poor Great-uncle.
He bought himself a paper and came back, reading it as he walked. He suddenly stood still and gave an exclamation. Loony sat down beside him and looked at him. What was this old gentleman up to now? Loony hadn’t any use for him really, except to snatch a walk with him now and again.
“Look at that!” said Great-uncle. “Another robbery—same kind of thing—and same way of going about it. Locked doors again! Extraordinary!”
He showed the report of the new theft to Mrs. Lynton when he got back. The children crowded round in interest.
“See?” said Great-uncle, pointing to the paragraphs with a beautifully clean and polished nail. “Another robbery. Rare and valuable papers again. And not a trace of the thieves. Doors locked and windows bolted. And yet the things are gone. There’s something queer about all this.”
“Green Hands,” whispered Roger mischievously behind him. Great-uncle turned sharply, but Roger’s face was innocent.
“Can I borrow the paper, please?” asked Diana. “Thanks awfully.”
She took it to the summer-house and the three of them pored over it. Diana looked rather pleased with herself.
“I’ve discovered something,” she announced to the others. “Have you?”
Roger considered. “No. What?” he asked.
“Well, you know the first paper we saw, the one Great-uncle brought with him and let us read?” said Diana “Do you remember the bit about the Fair?”
“Yes. What about it?” said Roger. “There’s nothing about a Fair in this paper.”
“I know. I’ve looked,” said Diana. “But did you notice what the first paper said about the Fair—where it was going to next? It said it was going to Pilbury. Pilbury. Does that ring a bell?”
“Gosh, yes,” said Roger at once. “This theft is at Pilbury. I see what you’re getting at. Either the Fair goes to places where there are rare papers to be stolen—or somebody in the Fair makes inquiries at each place they go to, to see if there are any in the neighbourhood worth stealing.”
“That’s what I meant,” said Diana. “Let’s find out if the Fair was actually at Pilbury when the papers disappeared, shall we?”
“Yes. Though I must say we’re rather jumping to conclusions,” said Roger. “It’s probably sheer coincidence.”
“I bet it is!” said Snubby. “Just like Diana to think she’s spotted something clever!”
Diana gave him a push. “Get out of the summer-house if you’re going to talk like that. Go on! If you’re not interested, you needn’t be.”
“I am interested,” protested Snubby. “And don’t shove me like that. If you want a shoving match you know who’ll win. You won’t anyway. And all I said was... ”
“If you say it again, out you go,” said Diana, getting angry. “I’m tired of you to-day, Snubby. You’ve hidden my gloves, I know you have, and you left my bedroom door open so that Loony could take my mats again. And now just look at Loony. He’s got somebody’s brush again. It’s Great-uncle’s hairbrush this time.”
Snubby ran to get the brush away from Loony, who at once regarded this as a wonderful game and danced away down the garden, flinging the brush up into the air and catching it in his mouth.
Diana turned to Roger. “Roger, there mayn’t be anything in my idea at all. Let’s find out first whether the Fair is at Pilbury. And then let’s try and find out where it’s going to next—and see if a theft of rare papers is reported from there too.”
“It’s quite an idea, Di,” said Roger. “We’ll bike over this afternoon—it’s not more than ten miles away. We’ll leave Snubby behind. I’m getting tired of him.”
So they said nothing of their plans to Snubby, but got out their bicycles without his seeing and had a look to see if the tyres were all right. Yes, they were.
They set off after lunch, creeping off whilst Snubby was arguing with their mother about some missing shoes which she was perfectly certain Loony knew something about. They mounted their bicycles and rode gleefully off down the road. “Sucks to Snubby!” said Roger. “Won’t he be wild? He’ll hunt all over the place for us!”
It was a long way to Pilbury, farther than they thought, but they got there at last. They rode all through it but could see no Fair. Diana felt a little dampened.
“We’ll ask someone,” said Roger, and he got off his bicycle. He called to a small boy nearby.
“Hey, Sonny! Is there a Fair in Pilbury, do you know?”
“There was!” called back the boy. “But it’s gone. Went yesterday—to Ricklesham, I heard.”
“Thanks!” said Roger, and beamed at Diana. “Well, it was here—and now it’s at Ricklesham. We’ll just see if there’s a robbery there next. Then we’ll KNOW your idea’s got something in it. I say—this is rather exciting, isn’t it!”
CHAPTER 6
SNUBBY SAYS SOMETHING SILLY
Snubby was most annoyed with the other two when they came back. “Where have you been? You beasts, you’ve been for a bike ride and didn’t tell me!”
“Well, you were so jolly unbelieving in the summer-house we thought we’d go off alone,” said Diana. “Sucks to you, Snubby!”
“Whatever’s the matter with Loony?” asked Roger, staring at the spaniel in surprise. “Why is he looking so dismal? He didn’t even come rushing to meet us.”
“He’s in trouble,” said Snubby. “So’s Sardine. They chased your mother’s ball of