"Here, Bets, sniff just there — don't you think there's a smell of turps there?"
A big cat was tying on the bench. Bets pushed her gently away so that she could smell. "No," said the little girl. "I can't smell turps on this bench, Fatty."
Fatty sniffed again and looked astonished. "The smell isn't there now," he said. "But it was, a minute ago!"
Bets lifted back the cat she had moved. "There, Puss," she said, "take your place again."
"Golly! the smell's come back," said Fatty, wrinkling up his nose. "Smell, Bets."
"Why!" said Bets in surprise, "it can't be on the bench. It must be on the cat. I can smell it now I've put the cat back. But I couldn't before."
"Bets," said Fatty, "where do you smell the turps on the cat?"
"Just here," said Bets, and she bent her small nose down to the middle of the cat's dark tail.
"So do I," said Fatty. He looked very carefully indeed at the long tail, which the cat was now trying to swing from side to side.
"Fatty! Bets! There's someone coming!" cried Larry in a low voice. "Come out, quick!"
But, alas for Fatty and Bets, Mr. Tupping appeared on the scene before they could get out of the cage! And then there was a storm!
Mr. Tupping stared as if he could not believe his eyes. Fatty and Bets got out of the cage and shut the door, turning the key in the lock. Bets was trembling. Fatty did not feel at all comfortable himself. The other children had disappeared into the friendly shelter of the bushes.
"What you doing in there?" demanded Tupping. "How did you get the key? I believe it's you children that have been tinkering about with them cats, making them disappear! Ho! yes, that's what it is! You're the thieves, you are! I'm going straight off to Mr. Goon to tell him about you — then you'll be in a pretty pickle I can tell you. And serve you right too!"
Solving the Mystery
Mr. Tupping went off, and his face was not pleasant to see. Bets was terrified. She clutched Fatty, and her face turned very pale. Fatty himself looked a bit shaken.
In silence the five got over the wall and made their way to the summer-house.
"Golly! That was a bit of bad luck," said Larry.
"We'll have to tell Inspector Jenks about it: how we took the key, and how you and Fatty sniffed all round the cat-house. Then he won't believe old Clear-Orf if he puts in a report to say he and Tupping suspect us of taking Dark Queen!"
Fatty was very silent The others looked at him.
"Are you frit too, Fatty?" said Daisy. It was not like Fatty to be shaken for long. Fatty shook his head and looked very thoughtful.
"Let's think about the smell of turps on that cat's tail." he said.
"You said turps was used to get paint-brushes clean, or to get smears of paint off anything," said Bets, drying her eyes. "Do you suppose the cat had got against some wet paint or something, and the paint was cleaned off with turps?"
Fatty stared at her. Then he leapt to his feet with a yell, and smacked the summer-house table hard with his hand. His face went very red.
"What's up?" said Larry in alarm. "Have you sat on a wasp or something?"
"Listen," said Fatty, sitting down again, looking terribly excited. "Young Bets has got hold of the right idea. Turps was used to get paint off that cat's tail. And how did the paint get there, and what colour was it? Well, we know the colour, because we've got the tin of paint that was used, and we've got a stone with a blob of that same paint on it — it was creamy-brown."
The others stared at him. Fatty got the tin out from behind the loose board and opened it. He dipped the brush into the tin and then dabbed it on the dark-brown summer-house table.
"Look at that," he said. "See that creamy patch? Well, that's what must have been on the cat's tail — in the middle of it — creamy-brown paint! And now, I ask you, what other cat has a patch of creamy-brown hairs on her tail?"
"Dark Queen!" said everyone at once. Eyes gleamed, and faces grew red with excitement as the five children worked out all that the turps and the paint meant
"Yes," said Fatty. "And that cat whose tail smelt of turps must have had a ring of hairs in her dark tail painted a light colour, so that she might be mistaken for Dark Queen, and then the paint on her tail was rubbed off with strong turps — that's why the cage smelt of turps both times. It was done both times."
"Golly!" said Larry. "This is frightfully exciting. Somebody made a very clever plan. Let me see! I suppose Dark Queen was stolen away in the morning, and the other cat's tail painted to make her seem as if she was Dark Queen — everyone knew Dark Queen had a ring of paler hairs in her tail where she had been bitten."
"Yes; and then people came and had a look at the cats — like your mother did, Pip, with Lady Candling — and they thought the painted cat was Dark Queen; and then later on Tupping managed to get into the cage and wipe off the paint before anyone noticed it, and said Dark Queen was gone!"
"Tupping!" said Bets, her eyes getting large and round. "Tupping, did you say? But if Tupping took off the paint — then Tupping must have put it on — and he must have been the one who stole Dark Queen, and —"
"Yes. It was Tupping. It simply must have been," said Fatty, almost beside himself with excitement. "Would you believe it? And he put the blame on Luke all the time."
"And made old Luke work besides the cages the whole time the painted cat was there till the time when he wiped off the paint and said Dark Queen was gone!" said Pip. "So that it seemed as if no one but Luke could possibly have stolen her! What a clever plan."
"Then, when he heard Bets tell Clear-Orf we had got clues of a smell and a smear of paint, he got the wind up and hid them both," said Fatty. "Afraid of finger-prints on them or something, perhaps. And old Buster found them."
"Let's get it all quite clear," said Daisy. "Tupping wants to steal Dark Queen and put the blame on Luke. He waits till Miss Harmer is out for the day — because, I suppose, he guesses she knows each cat so well that she wouldn't be deceived by painted hairs in a tail — she'd know it wasn't Dark Queen."
"Yes; so he waits till she's out, and then he steals Dark Queen, hands her over to someone, goes back to the cage, paints the other cat's tail to make it seem like Dark Queen's, sees that somebody has a look at the cats and says that Dark Queen is there — like Lady Candling did at four o'clock the first time, with your mother, Pip; and Lady Candling again, with Tupping, the second time, at three o'clock." Fatty paused and Larry went on.
"Yes; and the first time he's very, very clever. He brings back the village policeman himself to see the cats, manages to rub off the paint with a turpy rag, and then announces to Clear-Orf that Dark Queen is stolen! I must say Tupping is very cunning," said Larry. "What a nerve he must have, taking the bobby himself into the cage after he'd stolen the cat that morning."
"He managed to trick Miss Harmer herself nicely, too, the second time," said Pip. "You remember he slipped into the cage when she came back that second time, and he must have again rubbed off the paint, and then said Dark Queen was gone. That's how it was he managed to deceive everyone. They all thought, including Luke, that Dark Queen was there all the time Luke was beside the cage — but she wasn't. She had gone in the morning. So no wonder it was difficult to clear Luke of blame."
"I suppose Dark Queen must have escaped from whoever had her, and wandered back, that first time," said Daisy. "I wonder where she is now."
"Let's telephone to Inspector Jenks again," said Pip. "Now that we have solved the mystery we ought to let him know."