Mystery of the Vanished Prince (3 page)

“We might be the relations of the little Prince Bongawah of Tetarua State,” said Bets, suddenly. “I’m sure we look exactly like them!”

“And who’s Bongawhatever-it-is when he’s at home?” asked Larry. Bets explained.

“He’s a little foreign prince who is staying at one of the School Camps on the hills between Peterswood and Marlow,” she said. “We read about him in the paper. He brought a State Umbrella with him, but the paper said he only used it once!”

“I bet he did,” said Larry, grinning. “Got a State Umbrella, Fatty?”

“No,” said Fatty, regretfully. He looked at every one admiringly. “Honestly, you’re wizard! Of course, your dark-brown faces make you look first-class in those foreign clothes. Any one would think you belonged to some black or brown race of people. I only wish you could parade through the village!”

“You dress up too, Fatty, and let’s go parading!” said Bets. But Fatty had no time to answer because Buster began to bark loudly, and tore out of the open door at sixty miles an hour.

“Now what’s up with him?” said Fatty, in surprise. “I wonder if old Goon’s anywhere about?”

Bets peered out of the door and up the garden path. “It’s three boys,” she said. “Goodness - I know who one is! It’s Ern!”

“Ern!” echoed every one, and ran to the door. Three boys were coming down the path towards the shed, and Buster was dancing excitedly round Ern’s ankles, barking madly.

Fatty shut the door of the shed and faced the others. His eyes sparkled.

“It’s Ern Goon!” he said. “Old Goon’s nephew! Let’s pretend you’re foreign royalty visiting me. If you speak English, speak it badly, see? And if I speak to you in nonsense language, you speak the same. Let’s see if we can take old Ern in properly!”

Ern was, as Fatty said, a nephew of Mr. Goon the policeman. He had once been to stay with his uncle and had been involved in a mystery. Mr. Goon had not been kind to Ern, but the Five Find-Outers had, and Ern thought the world of Fatty. Now here he was, coming to pay a call with two others. What a chance to try out the foreign “disguises”!

Footsteps came right up to the door. Ern’s voice could be heard speaking sternly to his two companions. “Now you behave yourself, see? Both of you. And spit that toffee out, young Sid.”

Whether Sid spat the toffee out or not could not be gathered by the five children in the shed. Bets giggled and Pip gave her a sharp nudge.

There was a knock on the shed-door. Fatty opened it and stared solemnly at Ern. Then his face took on a surprised and pleased expression. He smiled broadly and held out his hand.

“Ern! Ern Goon! This is a pleasure! Do come in, Ern, and let me introduce you to my foreign visitors!”

Ern, Sid and Perce

Ern was still the same old Ern. He was plump, red-faced, and his eyes bulged slightly, just as his uncle’s did, though not quite so much. He grinned shyly at Fatty, and then gazed in awe at the four silent “foreigners,” dressed in such brilliant clothes.

“Pleased to see you, Fatty,” he said, and shook hands for a long time. Then he turned to the two boys behind him. They were not so old as he was, and very alike.

“These here boys are my twin brothers,” he explained. “This one’s Sid - and this one’s Perce. Speak up Sid and Perce. Remember your manners. Come on - say ‘how do you do’ like I told you.”

“How do you do,” said Perce, and bobbed his towsled head, going a brilliant scarlet with his effort at manners.

“Ar,” said Sid, hardly opening his mouth at all. Ern glared at him.

“You still sucking that toffee, Sid? Didn’t I tell you to spit it out, see?”

Sid made an agonized face, pointed to his mouth, and shook his head.

“ ’E means, his teeth’s stuck fast again,” explained Perce. “ ’E can’t say a word then. Couldn’t speak all day yesterday, neither.”

“Dear me,” said Fatty, sympathetically. “Does he live on toffee then?”

“Ar,” said Sid, with another effort at opening his mouth.

“Does ‘Ar’ mean yes or no?” wondered Fatty. “But I’m forgetting my manners now - Ern, let me introduce you to some very distinguished friends of mine.”

Ern, Sid and Perce stared unblinkingly at Bets, Pip, Larry, and Daisy, not recognizing them in the least as ordinary children. Bets turned her head away, afraid of giggling.

“You have no doubt heard of the little Prince Bongawah of Tetarua State,” went on Fatty. “This is his sister, Princess Bongawee.” He waved his hand towards the startled Bets.

“Lovaduck!” exclaimed Ern, staring, “So this is the Prince’s sister, is it! We’ve seen Prince Bongawah, Fatty - we’re camping out in the field next to his. He’s a funny little fellow with a cocky little face.” He turned to Sid and Perce.

“You can see they’re sister and brother, can’t you?” he said, to Bets’ indignation. “Liike as two peas!”

“You’re right, Ern,” said Perce.

“Ar,” said Sid, working the toffee round a bit to produce his usual remark.

Bets inclined her head majestically and looked at the three awed boys through half-closed lids.

“Popple, dippy, doppy,” she said in a high and mighty voice.

“What’s she say?” asked Ern.

“She says, ‘your hair is very untidy,’ ” said Fatty, enjoying himself.

“Coo,” said Ern, and swept his hand over his standing-up hair. “Well, I didn’t know as we were going to see royalty, like, else I’d have done me hair. Who are the others, Fatty?”

“This is Pua-Tua,” said Fatty, waving his hand towards Daisy. “She is a cousin of the Princess’s, and waits on her - a very nice girl indeed.”

Ern bowed, because Daisy did. Perce bowed too, but Sid didn’t. His toffee had got stuck again, and he was concerned with that. His jaws moved unceasingly.

“And the others are Kim-Pippy-Tok, and Kim-Larriana-Tik,” said Fatty, making Bets long to burst into giggles.

Pip moved forward, put his face close to Ern’s, and rapidly rubbed noses. Em started back in surprise.

“It’s all right,” said Fatty, soothingly. “That is their way of greeting a friend.” Sid and Perce backed away, afraid of the same kind of greeting.

“Pleased to meet you,” said Ern, with a gasp. Then he gazed at Fatty in awe. “You haven’t half got some posh friends,” he said. “What about those other friends of yours - Larry and Daisy and Pip and little Bets.”

“They’re not very far away,” said Fatty, truthfully. “Did you say you were camping out somewhere, Ern?”

“Yes,” said Ern. “We got a chance of a camp-out, me and Sid and Perce together - got the loan of a tent, see, and Ma said she’d be glad to see the last of us for a bit. So off we skipped, and put up our tent in the field next to one of the School Camp fields. We aren’t half having a good time.”

“Sright,” said Perce.

“Ar,” said Sid. He suddenly put his hand into his pocket and brought out a round tin. He took off the lid and offered the tin to Fatty. Fatty peered in. It was almost full of dark-brown, revolting-looking toffee in great thick pieces.

“Er - no thanks, Sid,” said Fatty. “I don’t want to spoil my dinner. And don’t offer it to my visitors, because they will probably have to make speeches this afternoon, and I don’t want them to be struck dumb by your toffee.”

“Ar,” said Sid, understandingly, and replaced the lid carefully.

“Where does he get that toffee from?” asked Fatty. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“’E gets it from the ’oopla stall at the Fair near the camp,” explained Perce. “’E’s a nib at throwing rings round things, is our Sid. Gets himself a tin of toffee that way each day.”

“Ar,” said Sid, beaming proudly.

“Tickly - pickly - odgery, podgery, pooh,” announced Larry suddenly. Ern, Sid, and Perce stared at him.

“What’s’e say?” asked Perce.

“He says that Sid looks rather like a bit of toffee himself,” said Fatty, at once. “Chewed-up toffee, he says.”

There was a pause, in which at least five of the children longed to burst into laughter.

“Bit rude, that,” said Ern at last. “Well - I suppose we’d better be off. Been nice to see you, Fatty. Sorry we couldn’t see the others too.”

“Have you seen your uncle, Mr. Goon?” asked Fatty.

“Coo, no,” said Ern. “I’d run a mile if I saw him. Don’t you remember how he treated me when I stayed with him last year? Sid and Perce don’t like him neither. I say, Fatty - any more mysteries going?”

“Not yet,” said Fatty. “But you never know when one might boil up, do you?”

“Tooky-oola-rickity-wimmy-woo,” said Pip solemnly. “We - go - get - icy-cream.”

“Why - he can talk English!” said Ern, in amazement. “Hear that? I say - why shouldn’t we all go and get ice-creams? There’s a man down by the river we could go to. I don’t want to go into the village in case I meet my uncle.”

Fatty grinned. He looked at the other four, who gazed back expectantly. Their “Disguises” had gone down so well with Ern, Sid, and Perce that they were longing to go out in them. Fatty didn’t see why they shouldn’t! If they took the river road they wouldn’t meet a great many people or attract a crowd, but it would be fun to see the faces of the few they met!

“Iccky, piccky, tominy, wipply-wop, Kim-Pippy-Tok,” he said, politely bowing to Pip, and waving him to the door. “We’ll all go and get ice-creams by the river. The Princess must go first, Ern.”

“Course,” said Ern, hurriedly getting out of the way. “Now she would look fine with a State Umbrella like her brother had. It’d suit her all right - and what’s more, I wouldn’t mind carrying it, either, she’s such a little duck.”

Bets drew her hood over her face to hide her laughter. Fatty looked at Ern as if suddenly struck with a good idea. The others waited expectantly.

“Ah, yes - of course. I’d forgotten that the Princess Bongawee must not go out without her State Umbrella,” he said. “What a good thing you reminded me, Ern.”

“Lovaduck! Has she got one too?” asked Ern.

Fatty disappeared and the others waited. Whatever sort of “State Umbrella” was Fatty going to fetch?

He came back, with an enormous, gaily covered umbrella over his head. Actually it was his mother’s golf umbrella, but as Sid, Perce, and Ern had never seen a golf umbrella in their lives, they honestly thought it was a very grand “State” umbrella.

“Here, Ern - you can do as you said, if you like, and carry it over the Princess’s head,” said Fatty, and Ern nearly had a fit.

“Would she let me?” he asked.

“Dimminy-dooly-tibbly-tok,” said Bets, and gave him a sudden smile. He blushed and looked at Fatty.

“What’s she say?” he asked.

“She says, she likes you, and she wants you to carry it for her,” said Fatty, promptly.

“The way you understand their language beats me!” said Ern, admiringly. “But then you always were a one, weren’t you, Fatty? Well - I’ll be proud to hold the umbrella over Her Highness, or whatever she’s called. Sid and Perce, get behind.”

The five Find-Outers were by now quite unable to contain their laughter. Pip was purple in the face with his efforts to stop exploding. Fatty looked at him.

“Tickly-kickly-koo, jinny-peranha-hook!” he said, and then burst into laughter as if he had made a joke. The others immediately took the opportunity of joining in and Larry, Daisy, Pip, and Bets rocked from side to side, roaring with laughter, holding on to one another, much to the astonishment of Ern and his two brothers.

“What’s the joke?” asked Ern, suspiciously.

“It’s too difficult to translate it for you,” said Fatty. “Come on, now - the Princess in front, with Ern carrying her umbrella - her cousin, Pua-Tua, just behind - and us others following.”

The little procession went down the garden path, passing the kitchen-door on the way. The house parlourmaid stood there, shaking a mat, and she stared open-mouthed as they passed. Ern felt terribly important.

It was very disappointing not to meet more people on the way down to the river. They met old Mrs. Winstanton, who was so short-sighted that all she saw was the big umbrella, which made her think it must be raining. She hurried home before she got caught in a shower!

They met the grocer’s boy, who stared in amazed and mystified silence. Bets giggled. Ern gave the boy a dignified bow which mystified him still further. What was all this going on? He followed them a little way, and then went to deliver his goods and a tale of “dressed-up furriners under a HUGE umbrella” to a fascinated housekeeper.

They met nobody else at all. They came to the river-path and walked solemnly along it.

“There’s the ice-cream man!” said Ern, thankfully. “Pore Sid - he won’t be able to have one, what with his toffee and all!”

Mr. Goon gets a Surprise

The ice-cream man was lying on the river bank, fast asleep, his tricycle-van pulled back into the shade. Fatty woke him.

He sat up, amazed at the brilliant group around him, topped by the huge umbrella held by Ern, who was now getting a little tired of its weight.

“What’s all this?” said the ice-cream man. “Charades or something?”

Ern opened his mouth to introduce the Princess Bongawee, but Fatty frowned at him. He didn’t want the joke to go too far - and he had an uneasy feeling that the ice-cream man wouldn’t be taken in quite as easily as some people. It wouldn’t do to spoil the joke for Ern. Ern, Sid, and Perce werc in the seventh heaven of delight to think they had gone walking with a princess and her followers.

“Nine ice-creams, please,” said Fatty. Ern corrected him.

“Eight, you mean,” he said.

“You’ve forgotten Buster,” said Fatty.

“Coo, yes,” said Ern, suddenly remembering that Buster too loved ice-cream. Buster had been as good as gold, following the procession solemnly, and hadn’t even been to say how-do-you-do to any dogs he met.

The ice-cream man handed out the ice-creams, making a few more remarks as he did so.

“Pouring with rain, isn’t it?” he said to Ern, who was still valiantly holding the umbrella over Bets. “Just as well not to get wet.”

“Funny, aren’t you?” said Ern.

“Not so funny as you look,” said the ice-cream man. “Where’d you get that umbrella? Out of a cracker?”

“Ha - that’s where you came from, I s’pose,” said Ern, at once. “BANG - and out of a cracker you fell!”