7 A REAL MYSTERY

CHAPTER SEVEN A REAL MYSTERY NOBODY SAID any more about Jack's idea that someone had slipped into the cave. Jack began to think he really must have imagined it. Perhaps it was a shadow from a cloud or something? They all played the game of hide-and-seek again and again, and nobody saw mysterious people slipping into the cave any more! 'It's time to tidy up and go home,' said Peter, at last. 'What a mess we seem to make when we've been in the cave for even a short time!' The girls shook up the cushions, and the

boys gathered up the rubbish and put it into a bag to take home. Then Janet put the rest of the food back on the shelves, and tidied up Colin's set of 'Five' books. 'There!' she said. 'Everything tidy! If our mothers came and looked in they would be most astonished.' They all laughed. They went out of the cave, and Peter pulled the green curtain carefully across. Then off they went home. 'Same time tomorrow!' called Peter, when they all said goodbye to him and Janet and Scamper at his front gate. 'No! You've forgotten – we're all going to bike over to Penton and see the circus come through,' said Colin. 'We're meeting at eleven at my house.' 'Oh, yes, how could I forget?' said Peter. 'We'll go to the cave after dinner tomorrow afternoon.' Next day they had a good morning,

watching the long circus procession passing through the little town of Penton. Then they biked back for their dinners, and, at various times, set off to the cave. Pam and Barbara arrived first, Pam was very pleased because her granny had given her a tin of peppermints for the Secret Seven to enjoy. 'I'll put them beside the other tins,' she said. 'Hallo– look, Barbara, there's a tin on the floor of the cave. Who do you suppose knocked that down? We're the first here today!' 'Perhaps it overbalanced,' said Barbara. 'And gosh, look – we left a whole bar of chocolate, a very big one, just here,' said Pam. 'I put it there myself. That's gone!' 'It's probably somewhere else,' said Barbara. Then she herself noticed something. 'Gosh, look – three of our cushions are missing! Has somebody been here?' 'It's Susie,' said Pam frowning. 'That's who

it is. She didn't come with us to Penton today, so she must have come here instead! She has followed Jack sometime or other, and found out our meeting-place. Bother Susie!' 'Here are the others,' said Barbara. 'Let's tell them.' They heard the password being murmured outside the cave. 'Easter-egg' – then the curtain was pushed aside and in came Colin and George. 'Susie's been here!' said Pam angrily. 'Look, there are cushions missing, and our big bar of chocolate is gone, and a tin was on the ground.' 'And look, those currant buns we were saving for today are nearly all gone!' said Barbara, opening a tin. 'Would you believe it!' Soon Peter, Janet, and Jack arrived and were also told the news. 'But it needn't have been Susie,' said Peter, trying to be fair, though he felt perfectly certain it was. 'It could quite well

have been a tramp.' 'He'd have taken lots more things,' said Pam. 'And what would he want with cushions! We might meet him down a lane carrying them, and we'd know he was the thief at once. No tramp would be as silly as that.' 'That's true,' said Peter. 'Well, Jack, you'll have to find out if it's Susie.' 'All right,' said Jack, looking troubled. 'I'll go now. But somehow I don't think it is Susie, you know. I can't help remembering that person, whoever it was, that I saw slipping into the cave yesterday.' Jack went off to find Susie. The others each took a peppermint from the tin that Pam offered them, and settled down to read. Colin finished his book and went to get another. He gave an exclamation. 'One of my "Famous Five" books has gone! Has anyone borrowed it? It's Five Go Down to the Sea.'

Nobody had. 'I know it's not Jack,' said Colin. 'He's just finished reading it. Well, if that's Susie again I'll have something to say to her!' Jack came back in about an hour. 'Easter-egg' he said, outside the cave, and Peter called him in. 'Well,' he said, throwing himself down on the sandy floor. 'I've had an awful time. Susie says she's never been near our new meeting-place, she says she doesn't even know where it is! She flew into such a temper when I accused her of coming and taking things, that Mother heard her, and came to see what was the matter.' 'Oh, bother!' said Peter. 'You might have kept your mother out of this. What happened next?' 'Mother made me tell where our meeting-place is,' said poor Jack, looking really miserable. 'I couldn't help it, Peter, really I