Read Online Mystery of the Vanished Prince by Enid Blyton - Free Book Online Page B

say! Aren’t you the chap Philip is always gassing about - the one that works with the police or something?”
    Fatty looked modest. “Well, I do help the police sometimes,” he admitted.
    “Are you on a job now?” asked Ronald, eagerly. “Come and tell us about it!”
    “No - no, I can’t,” said Fatty. “We’ve just come up here to see you - and out of interest because of the disappearance of that young Prince.”
    “Oh, that fellow!” said Ronald, leading them all into a very spacious tent. “Don’t bother about him! Jolly good riddance, I say! He was the most awful little beast imaginable!”
    There was a long wooden table in the tent and on it were spread plates of jam sandwiches, potted meat sandwiches, buns, and slices of fruit cake. Jugs of lemonade stood at intervals down the length of the table.
    “You do yourselves well! ” said Larry.
    “Help yourselves,” invited Ronald. “I’m helping with the catering this week - head cook and bottle-washer, you know. It’s a bit early for tea, but everything’s ready and we might as well get what we want before the hungry hordes rush in.”
    They each got plates, and piled them with food. It really was not more than an hour or so since they had finished their lunches, but that made no difference. All of them could eat, hungrily, at any time of the day or night, including Buster, who was now sniffing about under the table, snapping up all kinds of tasty bits and pieces.
    Ronald led them out into the field again, complete with plates of food, and took them down to the river. “Come on - we’ll sit and eat in peace here,” he said. “My word Trotteville, I’m pleased to meet you. Philip’s told me no end of tales about you at one time and another - and I’ve told them to my pals too.”
    Fatty told him a few morc, and enjoyed himself very much. Pip got bored. His cousin took no further notice of him, he was so wrapped up in Fatty. Pip finished his tea and got up. He beckoned to Larry.
    “Come on - let’s go for a wander round,” he said. “We might pick up something.”
    They strolled round the field. Nobody took much notice of them. Larry stopped a boy going by. “Where’s the tent Prince Bongawah slept in?” he asked.
    “Over there, if it’s any interest to you!” said the boy cheekily, and hurried off.
    Pip and Larry walked over to the tent he had pointed out. Outside sat three boys, munching sandwiches. They were all about Pip’s age.
    “Good tent, yours,” said Larry to the boys. It certainly was a very fine one indeed, much better than any other tent nearby.
    “Supplied by his Royal Highness, Prince Bongawah-wah-wah,” said one of the boys.
    Pip laughed. “Why do you call him that?” he asked. “Didn’t you like him?”
    “No,” said the boys, all together. A red-haired one waved his sandwich at Larry.
    “He was a frightful, cocky little fellow,” he said. “And a real mutt. He yelled at everything, like a kid of seven!”
    “That’s why we called him Wah-wah,” said another boy. “He was always wah-wahing about something.”
    “Did he talk English?” asked Larry.
    “Well, he was supposed to know hardly a word,” said Red-Hair. “He just talked rubbish, usually - but he could speak our language all right if he wanted to! Though goodness knows where he picked it up! Talk about Cockney!”
    “What school did he go to?” asked Larry.
    “None. He had a tutor,” said Red-Hair. “He was a regular little urchin, for all he was a prince! All his clothes of the Very Very Best, even his pyjamas - but did he wash? Not he! And if you said you’d pop him into the river he’d run a mile, wah-wahing!”
    “Lots of foreigners are like that,” said the third boy, munching away. “We’ve got two at our school. One never cleans his teeth and the other howls if he gets a kick at football.”
    “Do you think the Prince got kidnapped?” asked Pip, feeling rather thrilled with all this first-hand information.
    “I don’t know and I don’t care,” said Red-Hair. “If he is kidnapped, I hope he stays kidnapped,