Mystery of the Pantomime Cat Read Online Free PDF Page B

Fatty, as he
dismounted at his gate. "He'll be sure to get there long before ten. so
that he can hide before the meeting takes place—and there won't be a meeting
    after all! Only plenty of clues for him to find."
    "See you tomorrow. Fatty!" called Pip and Bets.
"Goon-bye, Larry and Daisy. We'll have to hurry or we'll get into a
row."
    They all rode away. Fatty went indoors, thinking of the way the
cat had looked at him through the window. That really had given him a jolt!
"If I were Bets I'd dream about that!" he thought. "I wonder if
Pippin's going to hide himself on the verandah somewhere. If he gets a glimpse
of that cat, he'll get the fright of his life."
    Pippin did not go to the verandah until about half-past eight, lie
meant to be there in good time for the meeting, whatever it was. He had been
very thrilled indeed to find the message about the meeting at 10 p.m. behind
the Little Theatre, when he had pieced together the torn bits of paper.
    Goon would be pleased with him if he could unearth some mystery or
plot, he was sure. Pippin meant to do his best. He had already snooped round
the back of the Little Theatre the day before, to see where he could hide on
the night. He had discovered a hole in the verandah roof through which he could
climb, and then he could sit on the window-sill of the room above, and hear
everything.
    Pippin arrived at the verandah as the clock on the church chimed
half-past eight, exactly an hour and a half after the children had left. He had
his torch with him, but did not put it on until he had made sure that there was
nobody about anywhere. There was a glow in the room behind the verandah. Pippin
looked into the room. He saw that the glow came from an electric fire. In front
of it, lying as if asleep, was what looked like a most enormous cat. Pippin
jumped violently when he saw such a big creature.
    He couldn't believe his eyes. Was it a cat? Yes—
    there were its ears—and there was its tail lying beside it on the
hearth-rug.
    Pippin gazed into the window at the great, furry creature outlined
by the glow of the fire. It couldn't be a gorilla, could it? No, people
wouldn't be allowed to keep a gorilla like that. Besides, it looked more like a
cat than anything else.
    Pippin was just about to give a loud exclamation when he stopped
himself in time. Of course! It must be Dick Whittington's Cat—the one that
acted in the skit in the pantomime. He hadn't seen it himself, but he had heard
about it. Funny the cat keeping its skin on like that—because it was really
somebody inside it. You'd think he'd want to take the hot skin off as soon as
he could!
    Pippin wondered if the meeting, whatever it was, would take place
if there was that cat in the room near by. But perhaps the meeting would be in
the car-park. In that case would it be much good him climbing on the verandah
roof? He wouldn't hear a thing.
    Pippin debated with himself. He cautiously switched on his torch
and flashed it round the verandah floor. And he saw the clues!
    His eyes brightened as he saw the cigarette-ends, the matches, and
the pencil-shavings. Somebody had been here before—quite often too, judging by
the cigarette-ends. The verandah must certainly be the meeting-place. Perhaps
the cat was in the plot too. That was certainly an idea I
    Carefully Pippin picked up the cigarette-ends, the matches, and
even the pencil shavings. He put them all into envelopes. He then found the
torn time-table page, blown against the side of the verandah, and was extremely
interested in the underlined Sunday train.
    He looked round and found the handkerchief with
    Z on it, and wondered it it could be the letter N sideways. Pippin
could not for the life of him think of any name beginning with Z, not even the
ones the children had thought of!
    Then he spotted the bit of navy-blue cloth caught on a nail. Aha!
Oho! That was the most valuable clue of all. Find somebody with a hole
in a navy-blue coat and you were getting somewhere!
    Pippin took