Read Online Mystery of the Hidden House by Enid Blyton - Free Book Online

telling my uncle a thing now!” said Ern. “Hitting me like that when I was doing something decent.”
    “You shouldn’t have taken the notebook in the first place,” said Fatty. “Then you wouldn’t have had to put it back and you wouldn’t have been discovered and got those blows. You deserved what you got, in case you think you didn’t.”
    Ern scowled, partly because he knew Fatty was right and partly because he didn’t like having it said to him in such a candid manner. But Fatty always did say what he thought, and nothing would stop him.
    “Look here,” said Ern, suddenly, “which mystery is the real one? The one you mean, with flashing lights on Christmas Hill - or mine, down by the stream? Or are they both real?”
    Fatty rubbed his nose. He didn’t quite know what to say. His had been made up, but he didn’t want to admit that. Neither did he want Ern to think there might be any mystery in what he had seen and heard the night before, in case there really was. If there was, Fatty didn’t want Ern blundering into it and telling his uncle everything.
    “I suppose,” said Ern, answering his own question, “the mystery up on the hill’s the real one - or else uncle wouldn’t have gone up there, would he?”
    “He must have thought there was something going on there,” agreed Fatty.
    “And there was,” said Pip, with a little giggle.
    “Well, Ern, what about you going up on Christmas Hill to see if you can find a few clues in daylight,” said Fatty. “They would be a help.”
    “What sort of clues?” asked Ern, looking cheerful again.
    “Oh - cigarette ends, buttons, footprints, anything like that,” said Fatty. “You just never know. A real detective can usually find no end of clues.”
    “I’ll go up about three,” said Ern. “Uncle will be having his afternoon snooze then. Well - I’d better be going. I’ll bring any clues to you if I find them. So long!”
     
    Lots of Clues for Ern!
     
    The Find-Outers looked at each other when Ern had disappeared. “What do you think, Fatty?” said Larry. “Anything in what he said?”
    “I don’t know,” said Fatty, slowly. “It seems a bit queer, doesn’t it - a light in the middle of the night - a car suddenly appearing without lights - and then voices. What did he say the one man said to the other?”
    “ ‘Good night, Holland. See you later,’ ” said Larry.
    “Yes, that’s it. Wonder how Ern managed to remember the name Holland, and if he heard it right,” said Fatty.
    “Any good having a snoop along the stream to see if we can spy anything?” asked Larry.
    “Not allowed to,” said Pip at once.
    “Well - it’s not a mystery yet, and may never be,” said Larry. “So I don’t see why we shouldn’t at least go for a walk along the stream.”
    “With Ern?” asked Bets.
    “I don’t know,” said Fatty. “He’ll probably go and tell everything to Goon. Still, Goon has got plenty to think of at the moment. He’s seen masses of lights on Christmas Hill, heard a cow, a hen, a cat and a baby up there, and struggled with an unknown attacker. Quite a nice little mystery for him to be getting on with!”
    The others laughed. They had roared at Fatty’s account of what had happened the night before, and his amazement at finding the person by the hedge was Goon, not Ern.
    “I think one of the best things we can do is to go up to Christmas Hill before three o’clock, and drop a nice meaty lot of clues,” said Fatty. “Ern will find them and glory in them - probably write some poetry about them. And if he hands them over to Goon so much the better!”
    So, in great glee, the Five Find-Outers and Buster set off up Christmas Hill, taking with them what they thought would do for Clues. It was a fine sunny day, but cold, and they got nice and warm going up the hill. Their parents were pleased to see them going out. Nobody liked all the five indoors. Some noisy game always seemed to develop sooner or later.
    “Here’s where I fought Goon last night,” said Fatty, showing where he and Goon had rolled in the