12 TWO INTERESTING ENCOUNTERS

CHAPTER TWELVE TWO INTERESTING ENCOUNTERS THE MAN came into the light of the street lamp, but only for a second. Peter tried to take in everything at one glance. He suddenly thought that Janet would have been very good at that! The man went past the lamp, and into the darkness again. Couldn't see very much, really, thought Peter. He had his hat pulled so well down over his face. He seems to limp a bit. Bother, I'd never recognise him again! The man got along pretty quickly. He was

making for the bus stop. It was easy for the boys to shadow him, because now other people were walking in the street too. 'He's making for the bus stop,' said Colin. 'We'll see which bus he catches. Shall we get on it, and look at him more carefully?' 'Yes,' said Peter, forgetting the lateness of the evening, forgetting his homework, in fact forgetting everything except for the excitement of the moment. They were on the track of a new mystery. How could anyone stop in the middle of it and go home! The man made for the second of the two buses that were standing at the stop. 'It's the bus for Pilberry,' said Peter. 'Come on, we'll get on too.' The man put out his hand to the bus-rail and swung himself up. Other people followed. The boys began to get on too, but the conductor put out his arm.

'Sorry,' he said. 'Full up!' He rang the bell, and the bus rumbled off. 'Bother!' said Peter, disappointed. 'We might have been able to shadow him all the way home.'

'Well, I don't expect he's anything to do with the dog affair, really,' said Colin. 'We might have gone on a real wild-goose chase, and found he was just a harmless old businessman, catching a bus home.' 'Peter! Colin! Did you notice his hand?' said Jack, in a voice suddenly bubbling with excitement. 'When he put it out to take hold of the bus-rail?' 'No. Why?' said both boys at once. 'Well, he had two fingers missing, and the hand was crooked,' said Jack. 'Don't you remember Janet's report, don't you re—?' 'Gosh, yes!' said Peter. 'That man she described getting off the train from Pilberry, at the station on Saturday morning! Hat well pulled down over his eyes, he walked a bit lame, a funny hand…' 'And very square shoulders,' said Colin. 'It all fits. He's the same man. But wait a bit, there's nothing extraordinary about us seeing

the same man as Janet saw, is there? I mean, it's only just chance, and doesn't mean anything.' 'No, you're right. It doesn't really mean anything,' said Jack, his excitement fading. 'It just seemed strange that's all. Perhaps we're making a mountain out of a molehill– he's just an ordinary person going home.' They turned to walk across the square again, and passed the little alley-way that led to the yard. Someone came out of it briskly, and almost bumped into them. It was too dark to see what the man was like, but he soon passed under a lamp-post, and something swinging from his hand caught Jack's eye. 'Look, a dog lead,' he said, in a low voice. 'But no dog! It's the same man who lives at Starling's Hotel.' 'The one I saw with the dog yesterday!' said Colin, excited. 'What's he doing here again?

Has he taken another dog into that yard and pushed it down the coal-hole? Gosh! This is all very peculiar, isn't it? What is going on?' They went on, keeping well behind the young man. He went round a corner, and vanished from sight. The boys went round the corner too, and then got a sudden shock. The young man came out from a doorway as they passed and caught hold of Colin and Peter by the shoulder. He flashed a torch in their faces. 'Ha– it's you three, is it?' he said. 'Members of the famous Secret Shadowing Gang, or whatever you call yourselves! I thought you were following me! Look here, I took that fourth boy, what's his name, George, to his parents, and got him punished for this idiotic following of people at night. And I've a good mind to take you to the police, the three of you, and hand you over for making yourselves a nuisance by doing the same thing!'