Read Online Mystery of the Invisible Thief by Enid Blyton - Free Book Online Page A

hide - his plumpness!
    A nursemaid came by with a pram, and then the little baker appeared with his basket of bread. He had had to leave his van a good way away because there was no road right down to the river, only a path.
    He recognized Pip and Bets, as he walked up with his cocky little stride. “Hallo, hallo, hallo!” he said in his high, sparrow-like voice. “Here we are again! How many loaves today, Mister? Caught any thieves yet?”
    Pip thought it was silly of the baker to talk to him as if he was about six years old. He merely jerked his head at him and turned away. But the baker was not to be put off.
    He came up and gazed at the fisherman in the boat. “There’s a nice easy job!” he chattered on. “Sitting in the sun with water lapping all round you, having a nap away from everyone else. Nobody to disturb you. No heavy basket to carry. My, why aren’t I a fisherman?”
    The fisherman had already turned his head once to glance at the baker. Now he took no notice. The baker called out to him.
    “Hey, there! Caught any fish?”
    The fisherman did not turn round. “Not yet!” he said in a curious deep voice.
    The baker stood and talked away to Pip and Bets, but they took as little notice of him as the fisherman. They thought he was silly. He went at last, carrying his basket of bread through the gate of Frinton Lea.
    “Silly little idiot,” said Pip. “He’s too big for his boots. He’s got such a high opinion of himself that he just can’t see he’s a nuisance.”
    “Well, let’s move a little way off till he comes out again and goes,” said Bets, so they got up and walked in the opposite direction. The baker soon came out, gave them a wave and strutted off on his spindly legs to his van.
    “I wonder how Larry and Daisy are getting on.” said Bets. “I hope they’ve found Fatty. It’s maddening not to have him just at this important moment.”
    Larry and Daisy had wandered all round Frinton Lea, but they hadn’t seen Fatty. They had felt sure they had got him once - when they had seen a woman sitting on a stool, painting a picture of the river. She was rather big and had untidy hair and a hat that hid her face. Daisy nudged Larry.
    “That’s Fatty, surely! See - that woman painting. It would be a fine way of sitting and watching a house - to pretend to be an artist.”
    “Yes. It might be Fatty,” said Larry. “We’ll stroll over and see.”
    The woman looked up at them as they came and stood beside her. At once Daisy and Larry knew she was not Fatty. Her nose was far too small. Fatty could make his nose bigger - but he certainly couldn’t make it smaller!
    “No go!” said Larry gloomily. “Dash it all! Where on earth is he?”
    “He might be one of those fisherman,” said Daisy. “Look - sitting solemnly fishing on the bank. That one over there looks most like Fatty - the way he’s sitting somehow. And he’s got a position that gives him a very good view of Frinton Lea.”
    “That’s the one who said ‘Sh’ to Bets,” said Larry. “We’d better be careful, or he’ll shush us too. Walk up very very quietly.”
    So they walked up softly - so very softly that the fisherman didn’t hear them coming at all. They looked at his hands - hands were always a give-away, because they couldn’t very well be altered. But the fisherman wore gloves. They looked at his feet - he wore Wellingtons! He also wore a large shady hat that hid his face.
    The fisherman had no idea at all that anyone was just behind him. He suddenly opened his mouth and gave a bored yawn - and that gave the game away at once! It was Fatty’s yawn! Fatty always yawned loud and long, and this was Fatty all right.
    Larry sat down beside him with Daisy on the other side. “Fatty!” said Larry in a low voice. “We’ve found the thief.”
    The fisherman immediately became Fatty, and gave a low whistle. He looked down at Larry and Larry felt quite startled. The eyes were Fatty’s, but that was all! Fatty had his false teeth in, the ones that slid over his own, and he had also