Read Online Mystery of the Disappearing Cat by Enid Blyton - Free Book Online

know it. Larry gave a sigh. He knew that he and Daisy ought to go home too. They had farther to go than Pip and Bets.
    “We’ll have to go too,” said Larry. “Fatty, I suppose you couldn’t possibly stay and watch, could you? It really would be funny to see. Why don’t you stay? Your mother and father don’t bother about you much, do they? You seem to go home or go out just whenever you like.”
    “All right, I’ll stay here and watch,” said Fatty. “I think I’ll climb that tree there. It’s easy to climb, and the leaves are nice and thick. I can see everything well from up there, and not be seen myself.”
    “Well, come on then, Bets,” said Pip, not at all wanting to go. Fatty was going to have all the fun.
    Then there came the sound of men’s voices up the garden, and the children looked at one another at once.
    “It’s Tupping and Clear-Orf coming back,” whispered Larry. “Over the wall, quick!”
    “Good-bye, Fatty, see you tomorrow sometime,” said Pip in a low voice. The four ran quietly to the wall. Pip gave Bets a leg-up, and got her safely over. The others were soon safely on the other side. Fatty was left by himself. He shinned up the tree very quickly, considering his plumpness.
    Fatty sat on a broad bough, and carefully parted the leaves so that he could see what was going on down below. He saw Mr. Tupping coming towards the cat-house with Clear-Orf.
    “Well now,” Clear-Orf said, “we’ll just have a look-round, Mr. Tupping. You never know when there’s clues about, you know. Ah, many a clue I’ve found that’s led me straight to the criminal.”
    “Ah!” said Mr. Tupping wisely, “I believe you, Mr. Goon. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised if that boy Luke hasn’t left something behind. He may be clever enough to steal a valuable cat, but he wouldn’t be clever enough to hide his tracks.”
    The two men began to hunt carefully round and about the cat-house. The Siamese cats watched them out of brilliant blue eyes. They could not imagine why so many people came to their shed that day. Fatty looked down at the hunters, carefully peering between the leaves.
    Mr. Goon found the cigar-end under the cat-house first. He pounced on it swiftly and held it up.
    “What’s that?” asked Mr. Tupping in astonishment.
    “Cigar-end,” said Mr. Goon with great satisfaction. Then he looked puzzled and tilted back his helmet to scratch his head. “Does that boy Luke smoke cigars?” he asked.
    “Don’t be silly,” said Mr. Tupping impatiently. ” ‘Course not. That’s not a clue. Somebody who came with Lady Candling to see her cats must have chucked his cigar-end away under the house. That’s all.”
    “Hmmm!” said Mr. Goon, not at all wanting to dismiss the cigar-end like that. “Well, I’ll have to think about that.”
    Fatty giggled to himself. The two men went on searching. Mr. Tupping straightened himself up at last.
    “Don’t seem nothing else to be found,” he said. “I suppose there wouldn’t be anything in the cat-house to see, do you think?”
    Mr. Goon looked doubtful. “Shouldn’t think so,” he said. “But we might look. Got the key, Mr. Tupping?”
    Mr. Tupping took the key down from a nail at the back of the cat-house. But before he had unlocked the door Mr. Goon gave a loud exclamation. He had looked through the wire-netting of the cat-house and had seen various things on the floor that caused him great excitement. Why, the place seemed alive with clues I
    “What’s up?” asked Mr. Tupping.
    “Coo! Look here! See that shoe-lace there?” said Mr. Goon, pointing. “That’s a whopping big due, that is. Somebody’s been in there and lost his shoe-lace!”
    Mr. Tupping stared at the shoe-lace in the greatest astonishment. Then he saw the blue button — and the hair-ribbon. He gave a gasp of surprise. He inserted the key in the lock and opened the door.
    The two men collected the “clues” from the cat-house. They brought them out to look at