Mystery of the Vanished Prince (16 page)

Nobody knew. They were all astounded at this last bit of news. “Another spot of kidnapping, do you think?” asked Larry.

“I don’t know what to think,” said Fatty. “He certainly didn’t appear to have any plans for going anywhere last night when I went to fetch my bike.”

“Of course, if you’d mentioned Raylingham Marshes to him, I would have thought he might be there,” said Bets. “Just to get in before you, Fatty. But he wouldn’t know, of course.”

Fatty sat up straight. “Bets, you’re a marvel!” he said. “Hit the nail on the head as usual. I did tell him the place, of course - but what with one thing and another I’d forgotten I’d mentioned it to him. That’s where he is!”

“Do you think so, really?” asked Bets, her face glowing at Fatty’s praise.

“Of course,” said Fatty. “But goodness knows what has happened to him. Got a time-table, Pip? He wouldn’t bike all that way, and the buses wouldn’t be going at that time of night. But there might be a train.”

There was, of course. “That’s what he did!” said Fatty, jubilantly. “As soon as I’d gone he must have got out of his uniform and put on his ordinary clothes - rushed out and caught that train - and gone hunting for the Prince in Raylingham Marshes!”

“Without saying a word to any one! ” said Pip. “What a man!”

“What are we going to do about it?” asked Daisy. “Anything?”

Fatty considered. “I don’t think I’ll tell this idea to the Chief. He wouldn’t want to send a posse of men searching marshes for Goon unless he was dead certain he was there. We’ll go ourselves!”

“What! All of us?” cried Bets, joyfully.

“All of us,” said Fatty.

“And Ern too?” asked Bets, pointing down the drive. Everyone looked and groaned, Ern was coming up the drive - by himself, fortunately.

“Well, I suppose Ern may as well come too,” said Fatty. “The more the merrier. We’ll be a company of kids out walking - looking for uncommon marsh flowers and marsh birds.”

“I’ll look for the Marsh Goonflower,” said Bets with a giggle. “And you can look for the Clear-Orf Bird, Pip.”

“Hallo, hallo, hallo!” said Ern, appearing round the hedge. “How’s things? Any news?”

“Yes, a lot,” said Bets. “But we can’t stop to tell you now, Ern.”

“Spitty,” said Ern, looking disappointed. “What’s the hurry?”

“You can come with us if you like and we’ll tell you on the way,” said Fatty. “I hope you haven’t got Sid and Perce parked outside the front gate, Ern, because we are not going to take them too.”

“I’m alone,” said Ern. “Perce has gone to buy some more rope for the tent - it flopped down on us last night. And Sid’s gone to buy nougat.”

“Nougat!” said every one, astonished. “But why not toffee?”

“Sid seems to have gone off toffee all of a sudden, like,” said Ern. “Funny. He’s never done that before.”

“Well, nougat is almost worse - so gooey,” said Bets. “Spitty!”

“Now don’t you catch Ern’s disease,” said Pip. Ern looked startled.

“What disease?” he asked. “I haven’t got no spots, nor anything.”

“We haven’t any time to waste,” said Fatty. “We’ll go and buy sandwiches and buns and drinks down in the village. There won’t be time to prepare food ourselves. We’ll take the bus to the east side of the marshes and then walk.”

They left their bicycles at Pip’s and went to buy their food. Soon they were on the bus to Raylingham. Fatty forbade them to talk about anything to do with the Mystery. “Some one might be on the bus that knows something about it,” he said. “We don’t want to give any information away.”

They got out of the bus at the edge of the marshes. They had talked so loudly about flowers and birds all the way that the conductor felt sure they wanted to search the marshes for them.

“You’ll be all right so long as you keep to the paths,” he told them. “See that one there? That leads right to the centre of the marsh. You’ll notice other paths going off here and there, but be careful not to choose too narrow a one.”

Off they all went. Was Goon somewhere there? Surely he hadn’t fallen into the marsh in the middle of the night, and sunk down and down?

“Till his head’s just above the surface of the marsh!” said Bets, with a shiver. “Only his helmet showing.”

“He’s not wearing his helmet,” said Fatty. “Cheer up. It would take a long, long time for an enormous weight like Goon to sink down and down and down! This is not a terribly marshy marsh - not in the middle of summer at any rate!”

But when Pip slipped off the path once he soon found himself up to the knees in muddy water! He didn’t like it at all, and got hastily back on to the path.

“I shan’t go looking for Goonflowers just here!” he said. “I don’t feel they’d grow very well!”

Things Begin to Happen

The marsh was a queer place. It was intensely green - and it was also full of the most irritating flies. Ern nearly went mad with them, and the others nearly went mad with Ern’s continually slapping and grumbling!

“Look - there’s a house or something over there,” said Fatty, suddenly. “On that high ground, see - where there are trees.”

“How nice to see trees again,” said Daisy. “I was almost beginning to forget what they looked like. Ern, stop slapping about. You keep making me jump, and it’s too hot for that.”

“Let’s take this little path,” said Fatty, stopping where a narrow path curved off the main one they were following. “It seems to go round the back of that copse of trees - it looks almost a wood, really - and we could reconnoitre without being seen.”

“What’s reconnoitre,” said Bets at once.

“Spy round - have a snoop,” said Fatty. “If Raylingham Marshcs is a hide-out for Old Man Tallery and the Prince and his kidnappers, we don’t want to be caught.”

But they were caught! They stole down the narrow little path that skirted the copse, looking carefully down at their feet to make sure they were going to tread safely, when two men rose up from beside a turn in the path. They had been lying behind great tufts of rushes, and couldn’t possibly be seen.

The children stopped, alarmed and shocked at such a sudden, silent appearance. The men looked quite ordinary country men, though both had very dark eyes, and rather a queer accent when they spoke.

“Hallo,” said Fatty, recovering. “You startled us!”

“Why do you come through this dangerous marsh?” asked one man. “It is not fit for children.”

“Oh, we’re on a walk,” said Fatty. “A nature walk. We’re not trespassing, you know - this marsh is common ground.”

“But you are trespassing,” said the other man, and his dark eyes snapped at Fatty. “This land belongs to that farm over there. See it?”

“Yes,” said Fatty. “Well, we’re doing no harm. Now we’ve come so far, we’ll go right on to the other side.”

“Not this way,” said the first man, and he planted himself in Fatty’s way. “You can go back to the main path. I’ve told you you are trespassing.”

“What’s up that we can’t go this way?” said Fatty, impatiently. “Any one would think you had something to hide!”

“I say - look!” said Larry, suddenly, and he pointed up into the sky. “What’s that? A helicopter, surely! Gosh, it’s not coming down into the marsh, is it? It will sink!”

One man said something savage to the other in a foreign language. Both glanced up at the hovering helicopter. Then the first one pushed Fatty firmly back.

“I’m having no nonsense,” he said. “You’ll do as you’re told, all you kids. Go back to the main path, and, if you’re wise, keep away from this marsh, see?”

Fatty stumbled and almost fell into the water on one side of the path. Ern, angry that any one should have dared to touch his beloved Fatty, gave the man a violent push too. He lost his balance and went headlong into the marsh!

“Shut up, Ern,” said Fatty, angrily. “What’s the sense of doing that? We shall only get into trouble! Turn back, all of you, and go to the main path!”

The man who had fallen into the marsh was extremely angry. He clambered out, calling orders to the other man, still in a foreign language.

“You can come along with us,” said the second man to Fatty, grimly. “You hear? Walk in front of us on this narrow path. We’ll show you that we mean what we say when we tell you you are trespassing!”

The helicopter was still hovering over their heads. The men seemed suddenly in a great hurry. They made the children squeeze by them on the narrow path till all of them were in front. Then they made them march ahead quickly.

Nobody said anything. Fatty was thinking hard. That helicopter was about to land. Where? There must be some small landing-place cleared for it somewhere near. Who was it going to take away? The Prince? Then he hadn’t yet been spirited away. Those men had been on the watch for any one coming through the marsh that day - something was going on, that was clear.

In silence the two men hurried the children along. Bets was frightened and kept close to Fatty. Ern was scared too, and forgot all about slapping at the flies. And all the time the helicopter hovered about overhead, evidently waiting for some signal to land.

Round a corner they came into a big farmyard. Pigs were in a sty, and hens wandered about. It looked very homely and countrified all of a sudden. Ducks quacked in a pond, and a horse lifted its head from a trough where it had been drinking, and stared at the little company.

A very big farm-house lay back from the yard. Its tall chimneys showed that it was old - probably built in Elizabethan times. There was a small door in the wall of the farm-house not far from them. The men hurried the children over to it, opened it, and shoved them all in, giving them a push if they thought any one was not quick enough.

Down a long passage - up some narrow, curving stairs, along another passage, with wooden boards that were very old and uneven. The passage was dark, and Bets didn’t like it at all. She slipped her hand into Fatty’s and he squeezed it hard.

They came to a door. The man in front opened it. “In here,” he said, and in they all went. Fatty put his foot in the doorway just as the man was about to shut them in.

“What are you doing this for?” he asked. “You know you’ll get into trouble, don’t you? We’re only kids out on a walk. What’s the mystery?”

“You’ll be kept here for a day or two,” said the man. “There are reasons. You came at an unfortunate time for yourselves. Be sensible and nothing will happen to you.”

He kicked Fatty’s foot away suddenly and slammed the door. The six children heard the key turning in the lock. Then they heard the footsteps of the two men as they hurried away down the passage.

Fatty looked desperately round the room. It was small and dark, lined with oak panels. There was one small window, with leaded panes. He ran to it and peered out. A sheer drop to the ground! Nobody could climb out there with safety.

“Fatty! What’s all this about?” said Ern, in a frightened voice. “Sawful!”

“Shall I tell you what I think?” said Fatty, in a low voice. “I think the Prince Bongawah was taken here and hidden, when he was kidnapped from his car. And I think he’s been kept prisoner here till arrangements could be made to spirit him away somehow - and that’s what that helicopter is arriving for! It will land somewhere here, the Prince will be hurried aboard - and nobody will ever hear of him again!”

Bets shivered. “I don’t like you saying that,” she said. “Fatty, what are we going to do? Do you think they’ll hurt us?”

“No,” said Fatty. “I think we’re a nuisance, but I think they really do believe we’re only six kids out hiking. They’ve no idea we’re hunting for old Goon, or that we know anything is going on here.”

“But what are we going to do?” said Bets, again. “I don’t like this place. I want to get out.”

“I can hear the helicopter again,” said Pip. “It sounds nearer. It must be coming down.”

“Do you suppose Mr. Goon is a prisoner too?” said Larry. “We haven’t seen or heard a sign of him. Perhaps he didn’t come to Raylingham Marshes after all.”

“Perhaps he didn’t,” said Fatty. He went over to the door and tried it. It was locked. He looked at the door. It was old but very stout and strong. Nobody could possibly break it down!

“Do your trick of getting out through a locked door, Fatty,” said Daisy, suddenly. “There’s a good space under the door - I believe you could manage it beautifully.”

“That’s just what I was thinking,” said Fatty. “The only thing is I need a newspaper - or some big sheet of paper - and I haven’t brought a newspaper with me to-day. Very careless of me!”

“I’ve got a comic,” said Ern, unexpectedly. “Would that do? What you going to do, Fatty?”

“Get through this locked door,” said Fatty, much to Ern’s amazement. Ern fished in his pocket and brought out a crumpled and messy comic, which he handed to Fatty.

“Good work,” said Fatty, pleased. He took the comic and opened out the middle double sheet. He slid it carefully under the door, leaving only a small corner his side. Ern watched, puzzled. How was that going to open a locked door?

Fatty took a small leather case from his pocket and opened it. In it were a number of curious small tools, and a little roll of wire. Fatty took out the wire and straightened it.

He inserted it into the keyhole and began delicately to work at the key. He prodded and pushed and jiggled it - until, suddenly, he gave a sharp push and the key slid out of the keyhole on the other side of the door, and fell with a thud down to the floor.

Ern stared open-mouthed. He couldn’t for the life of him make out what Fatty was doing. But the others knew. They had seen Fatty doing his locked-door trick before!

“Hope it’s fallen on to the paper,” said Fatty, and bent down to draw the sheet of paper back under the bottom of the door. Carefully he pulled it, very carefully. More and more of the comic appeared, and oh joy, at last the key appeared too under the door, on the second half of the double-sheet! There it was, on their side of the door. Fatty had managed to get it!

Ern gasped. His eyes almost fell out of his head. “Coo - you are a one!” he said to Fatty. “You’re a genius, that’s what you are.”

“Be quiet, Ern,” said Fatty. He slid the key into the lock on his side of the door and turned it. The door unlocked. Now they could all go free!