10 TRINCULO THE ACROBAT

CHAPTER TEN TRINCULO THE ACROBAT THE SEVEN stared at him in dismay. Why– his head was completely bald except for a few grey hairs right on the very top. He couldn't possibly be the thief. Colin had distinctly seen the top of the thief's head when he had sat above him in the tree– and he had said that his hair was black, except for a little round bald patch in the centre. Colin took the wig in his hand. He looked at it carefully, wondering if perhaps the thief had worn the wig when he had stolen the necklace. But there was no little round bald patch in the

centre! It was a thick black wig with no bare patches at all. 'You seem to be very interested in my wig,' said the acrobat, and he laughed. 'No acrobat can afford to be bald, you know. We have to look as young and beautiful as possible. Now, I'll give you each my autograph, then you must be off.' 'Thank you,' said Peter, and handed the man a piece of paper and a pencil. The little bear came ambling by, all by itself, snorting a little. 'Oh, look!' said Janet in delight. 'Oh, will it come to us, do you think? Come here, little bear.' The bear sidled up and rubbed against Janet. She put her arms round it and tried to lift it– but it was unexpectedly heavy. A strange, sulky-looking youth came after it, and caught it roughly by the fur at its neck. 'Ah, bad boy!' he said, and shook the little

creature. The bear whimpered. 'Oh, don't!' said Janet in distress. 'He's so sweet. He only came over to see us.' The youth was dressed rather peculiarly. He had on a woman's bodice, spangled with sequins, a bonnet with flowers in– and dirty flannel trousers! Peter glanced at him curiously as he led the little bear away. 'Was he in the circus?' he asked. 'I don't remember him.' 'Yes– he was one of the stilt-walkers,' said the acrobat, still busily writing autographs. 'His name's Louis. He helps with all the animals. Do you want to come and see the bears in their cage some time?– they're very tame– and old Jumbo would love to have a bun or two if you like to bring him some. He's as gentle as a big dog.' 'Oh yes– we'd love to!' said Janet, at once thinking how much she would love to make friends with the dear little bear. 'Can we come

tomorrow?' 'Yes– come tomorrow morning,' said the acrobat. 'Ask for Trinculo– that's me. I'll be about somewhere.' The children thanked him and left the field. They said nothing till they were well out of hearing of any of the circus people. 'I'm glad it wasn't that acrobat,' said Janet. 'He's nice. I like his funny face, too. I did get a shock when he took off his black hair!' 'So did I,' said Peter. 'I felt an idiot, too. I thought I had remembered how the thief had looked– when I saw Trinculo's face, I really did think he looked like the thief. But he doesn't, of course. For one thing, the man I saw was much younger.' 'We'd better not go by faces, it seems to me,' said Colin. 'Better try to find someone who wears a blue pullover with a red thread running through it!' 'We can't go all over the district looking for

that,' said Pam. 'Honestly, that's silly.' 'Well, have you got a better idea?' asked Colin. She hadn't, of course. Nor had anyone else. 'We're stuck,' said Peter, gloomily. 'This is a silly sort of mystery. We keep thinking we've got somewhere– and then we find we haven't.' 'Shall we go to the circus field tomorrow?' asked Pam. 'Not to try to find the thief, of course, because we know now that he isn't any of the acrobats. But should we go just to see the animals?' 'Yes. I did like that little bear,' said Janet. 'And I'd like to see old Jumbo close to, as well. I love elephants.' 'I don't think I'll come,' said Barbara. 'I'm a bit scared of elephants, they're so enormous.' 'I won't come, either,' said Jack. 'What about you, George? We said we'd swop stamps tomorrow, you know.'

'Yes– well, we won't go either,' said George. 'You don't mind, do you, Peter? I mean, it's nothing to do with the Society, going to make friends with bears and elephants.' 'Well, Janet and Pam and Colin and I will go,' said Peter. 'And mind– everyone is to watch out for a blue pullover with a little red line running through it. You never know what you'll see if you keep your eyes open!' Peter was right– but he would have been surprised to know what he and Janet were going to spot the very next day!