Mystery of the Strange Bundle Read Online Free PDF

down. Fatty was hoping against hope that Mr. Goon was indeed coming to sit in the shop and have a drink. Fatty had a bright iden, and wanted to carry it out!
    Mr. Goon stalked in and sat down at the table next but one to the five children’s. He called for a cup of cocoa and a bun.
    “Cold outside for you again, isn’t it, Mr. Goon, sir?” said the short plump woman, setting down a cup of cocoa and a bun in front of the red-faced policeman.
    Mr. Goon took no notice of her. He glanced across at the children. “Ho - seems like I’ve had a nice quiet time these holidays,” he began. “No nosey-parkering, no Interfering with the Law. That says something for the ‘flu’, that does. You must have felt funny not being able to stick your noses in a mystery.”
    Nobody answered. Fatty spoke a few words to Larry, and Larry said a few back. Nobody looked at Mr. Goon. He didn’t like being ignored. He raised his voice.
    “Or have you got a mystery on hand?” he began again. “A nice juicy mystery to make a mess of?”
    Fatty looked at him. “Now how did you hear that, Mr. Goon?” he said, in a surprised voice. “Larry, have you been saying anything about our latest mystery?”
    Larry rose immediately to Fatty’s invitation to be absurd.
    “Which case do you mean?” he said. “The mystery of the red-nosed reindeer, or the one about the flying saucers? We’ve solved them both, haven’t we?”
    “Oh yes. I didn’t mean those,” said Fatty. “Mr. Goon probably knows all about those by now. They’re stale news, aren’t they, Mr. Goon. No, Larry - I meant the Mystery of the Strange Voices.”
    “Gah!” said Mr. Goon, biting violently into his bun. “Strange voices - you don’t know what you’re talking about. Lot of silly make-up!”
    The other four had pricked up their ears when they heard Fatty refer to Strange Voices. They all knew about his ventriloquial powers now, and he had practised a few of his tricks in front of them. Why had he mentioned Strange Voices to Mr. Goon?
    “Lot of silly make-up,” said Mr. Goon again, and took a sip of hot cocoa. “Strange voices! Gah!”
    “Oh yes - that mystery’s not solved yet, is it?” said Larry, speaking to Fatty in a voice loud enough for Mr. Goon to hear. “Curious case that - people hearing strange voices which aren’t really there. Somebody casting a spell on them, I suppose.”
    “Baby-talk,” said Mr. Goon, drinking his cocoa rather loudly.
    “You may be right,” said Fatty seriously. “But believe it or not, some people lately have been hearing ducks quack where there are no ducks, hens clucking, and people speaking - and yet there don’t seem to be any there.”
    “You’ll tell me that cow on the mantelpiece will start to moo next,” said Mr. Goon, swallowing the last of the currant bun. Fatty scribbled something quickly on a piece of paper and pushed it across the table to the others.
    “Cow will moo,” he had written. “But none of you is to hear it.”
    Mr. Goon wiped his mouth. “Quacking ducks, clucking hens, mooing cows,” he observed sarcastically. “Silly make-up. Bosh and rubbish!”
    “It’s a nice cow, isn’t it,” said Bets, looking across at it. “Its head is still going up and down.”
    Mr. Goon looked across at it too.
    “Moo-oo, moo-oo, moo-oo,” said the cow, mooing in exact time to the nodding of its head. The mooing was so realistic, and so exactly in time to the nodding, that even the children, with the exception of Fatty, thought for one moment that the mooing noise did actually come from it.
    Mr. Goon stared at the cow, astounded. He glanced round at the children, Not one of them, of course, took any notice of the mooing, remembering Fatty’s hastily scribbled instructions. They lifted up their cups and drank, Bets hoping to goodness that she wouldn’t start to giggle.
    Mr. Goon looked at the nodding cow again. It had stopped mooing - principally because Fatty had been overcome with an urge to laugh. But, as Goon looked at it, it gave such a large and unexpected moo that the