CHAPTER 20

talk and plan

Before eight-thirty, the Five Find Outers (and the dog) were all gathered in Fatty's shed. Buster was delighted to welcome them. He danced with delight and eventually landed on Bets lap. "Well, Fatty - wait no more - tell me exactly what happened," Larry said firmly. "Don't be all mysterious and solemn. Just tell us!

That's what Fatty told them. They listened in amazement. "Hidden in the stroller!" Larry said. "Then the prince must have known that woman very well. She must have been camping nearby for a while. '

"Do you think she could have been the prince's nurse, and maybe he wasn't happy at the camp, and she wanted to sneak him out?" Beth said. "Nice idea, Bets," Ciccio said approvingly. "I invented it myself. But twin babies have a hard time there. I don't think the prince would have a nurse with twin babies anyway."

"Maybe she was one of his old nurses, got married and had twins," Bets said, using her imagination. "It's not very good to have theories and ideas about all of this until we have more real details," Fatty said. "I mean - we need to find out who the woman is - if the caravan is hers - if she came when the prince arrived

Whether these babies really belong to her or are borrowed so she can take that big double stroller to hide with her - oh, there's a lot to discover!"

"And are we supposed to snoop around and find all those details?" Daisy asked. "I like to do that."

"There's a lot to discover," Dicke said. "We have to get to work. Has anyone seen the papers this morning?

"I was just watching them," Larry said, "but I was just too excited to read anything. Why?"

"Just because there's a little more about the prince and his country today," Dicke said. He spread a newspaper on the ground and pointed to a pillar. Read everything. "Well, as you'll see," said Dicke, "Tetarua isn't a very big country, but it's quite important from a British point of view because there's a nice airfield there which we want to use. Sowe has been very nice to them." "And they sent their young prince here to be educated," Larry said. "But according to the newspaper, there is a dispute in Tetarua between the current king and his cousin , who says he should plead."

"Yes. And there's a chance the cousin sent someone here to capture Prince Bongawah so he, the cousin, can be king if he never shows up again," Fatty said. "Apparently there are no brothers."

"An old, old conspiracy," Larry said. "Do you think they will ask for a ransom for the prince?"

"No," said Ciccio. "I think they want to get him out of the way forever. Some of these eastern states are still half primitive, you know, in their ideas, even though they like to send their kids here to get an education.

After that he was quiet for a while. Nobody liked to think that the young prince was "put away forever". Bet shivered. Daisy rubbed her forehead in surprise. "And yet, even if she says it in the newspapers, we know it differently," she said. "We know he wasn't kidnapped the way they think: he just got out of his tent and rushed into his car somewhere. We know that apparently of his own free will he crawled out of the tent in his pajamas, went through the hedge to that trailer, hid and left in that pram! It can't be called a kidnapping. "

'No. You can't, "said Ciccio. "Something strange is happening here. I believe in Sid, you know. To begin with, he would never, ever have the imagination to invent all this. "

"Did he call the chief inspector?" Pip said. 'What did he say he?'

"Well, actually, I didn't call him," said Ciccio.

Send Emand Sidround to Goon to tell him. Obviously he will call the superintendent himself and receive his orders. '

"But wouldn't the inspector call you if he got Goon's message?" Pip asked. "I wasn't really thinking about him," Ciccio said, feeling a little saddened that there had been no word from the inspector. "I expect him to still be mad at me. Well, I won't bother him until I can tell him something first class. Let Goon continue with his own ideas - we'll continue with ours!

At least I passed on Sid's information to him."

There was another silence. "It's actually a pretty weird mystery," Bets finally said. "It doesn't really seem to start anywhere. "Well, in my opinion, we better follow the solid leads we have," Fatty said. "We need to find out something about this woman first - who she is. Get her address. Interrogate her. Try to get her something. If she's hiding the prince, we need to find out where." And why."

"Yes," Larry said. "We have to do all of this. Didn't Webetter start before Goon? He will probably work in the same direction as us."

"Yes. I guess he will," Dicke said as he stood up. "That part is definitely pretty obvious to Mr. Goon! Well, let's hope we don't run into him today. He's going to be upset if we do that!"

"Wow," Buster said happily. "He says she hopes we nudge her," Bets said as she hugged little Scottie. "You like Mr. Goon's ankles, don't you, Buster? The most beautiful ankles in the world, right? Biteable and breakable and nibbleable.

Everyone laughed. "You are an idiot, Bets," Pip said. "Are we going camping, fat man?" We need to track down all the trailers and see if we can get the name and address of the woman who was in the one with the twin babies.

"Yes. That's the first thing to do, "Fatty said." Does everyone have bikes? "Everyone had. Buster was put in Fatty's bin and they all left, banging loud in every corner, just in case Mr. Goon had run in the opposite direction!

Em, Sid and Perce were very happy to see them. Ciccio looked at Sid, but when he saw his jaws work rhythmically as usual, he sniffed at him. "It's not very useful to ask him," he said. 'We can only get' ar 'from him. Sid, if you get a lot more stains, you'll be hospitalized and treated for measles! '

Sid looked surprised. Sincerely. "Goandsputout. You are a disgrace to the Goon family."

"Ar," Sid said, looking really pathetic. "He can't spit it out," Perce said. "Not the type of coffee for that. Try one, Em, and you'll see. '

"No, thanks," Ern said. "Well, get Sidout out, Ciccio. It's hopeless. "" Yes, but it's very important, "said Ciccio." Well, he'll just have to shake his head, that's all, if I ask him questions. Sid, come here. Stop chewing and listen. I'll ask you some questions. Nod your head for a yes and shake it for a no. You understand?"

"Ar," Sid said, nodding so vigorously that some of the coffee fell in the wrong direction and choked. He stomped him on the back until his eye nearly fell out of his head. Finally Sid was ready again and listening. "Sid – do you know the woman's name?" Fatty asked. "Ar," Sid said, shaking his head. "Have you ever seen her speak to the prince?" asked Fatty. "Ar," Sid said, shaking his head again.