stealing eggs. And then Daisy described how Mr. Hick himself had come into the kitchen and rowed Mrs. Minns for letting her cat get under his feet. 'They had a proper quarrel,' said Daisy., 'and Mrs. Minns actually called after Mr. Hick and said she felt like burning down his cottage if it hadn't already been done!'
'Golly!' said Larry, surprised. 'It looks as if old Mrs. Minns might have done it herself then - if she felt like it today, she might quite easily have felt like it two days ago -and done it! She had plenty of chance.'
'You know, we have already found four suspects,' said Fatty solemnly. 'I mean - we can quite properly suspect four persons of firing that cottage - the old tramp, Mr. Smellie, Mr. Peeks and Mrs. Minns! We are getting on.'
'Getting on?' said Larry. 'Well, I don't know about that. We seem to find more and more people to suspect, which makes it all more and more difficult. I can't think
how in the world we're going to discover which it is,8' 'We must find out the movements of the four suspects.,' said Fatty wisely. 'For instance, if we find out that Mr. Smellie, whoever he is, spent the evening of the day before yesterday fifty miles away from here, we can rule him out. And if we find that Horace Peeks was at home with His mother all that evening,, we can rule him out. And so on.'
'What we shall probably find is that all four people were messing about somewhere near the place/' said Pip. 'And how in the world are we going to trace that old tramp? You know what tramps are - they wander about for miles., and nobody knows where they go or where they come from.'
'Yes - the tramp's going to be difficult,' said Daisy. 'Very difficult. We can't rush all over the country looking for a tramp. And if we did find him, it's going to be difficult to ask him if he set fire to the cottage.'
'We needn't do that, silly,' said Larry. 'Have you forgotten our clues?'
'What do you mean?' asked Dasiy.
'Well - we've only got to find out what size shoes he wears, and if they've got rubber soles, criss-crossed with markings underneath, and if he wears a grey flannel coat,' said Larry.
'He doesn't wear a grey flannel coat/3 said Fatty. 'I told you - he wore an old mackintosh.'
The others were silent for a moment. 'Well, he might have a grey flannel coat underneath,' said Daisy. 'He might have taken his mackintosh off for a moment,'
The others thought this was rather feeble, but they had no better suggestion.
'Time enough to worry about grey flannel coats and mackintoshes when we've found the tramp,' said Pip. 'That is going to be a problem, I must say!'
'Hark - isn't that old Buster barking?' said Fatty suddenly. 'I bet that's Bets coming back. Yes - she's calling to Buster. I say - haven't we got a lot of news for her?'
The sound of Bets' running feet was heard up the drive,
and then down the garden path to the summer-house. The four big ones went to the door to welcome her, Buster shot up to them, barking madly.
'Bets! We've got such a lot of news!' called Larry.
'We've had a most exciting time!' cried Daisy.
But Bets didn't listen. Her eyes were shining brightly, her cheeks were red with running, and she could hardly get her words out, she was so excited.
'Pip! Larry! I'vegotaglue! Oh, I've got a glue!'
'What?' asked the other four together.
'I've found the tramp!' panted the little girl. 'Do say he's the biggest glue we've found!'
'Well -- he's really a suspect, not a clue,' began Larry, but the others interrupted him.
'Bets! Are you sure you've found the tramp?' asked Pip excitedly. 'Golly - we thought that would be almost impossible.'
'Where is he?' demanded Fatty, ready to go after him immediately.
'How do you know it's the tramp? ' cried Daisy.
'Well, he was wearing a dirty old mackintosh and a terrible old hat with a hole in the crown,' said Bets. 'Just like Fatty said.'
'Yes - the hat did have a hole in the crown,' said Fatty. 'Bets, where is this fellow?'
'Well, I went for a walk with Buster, as you know,' said Bets, sinking down on the grass, tired out with running. 'He's a lovely dog to take for a walk, because he's so interested ia everything. Well, we went down the lane and into the fields, and along by the river, ever so far. We came to a field where sheep and lambs were, and there was a hay-rick nearby.'
Buster barked a little, as if he wanted to tell about it all too. Bets put her arm round him. 'It was Buster who found the tramp - wasn't it, darling? You see, I was walking along - and suddenly Buster went all stiff - and the hairs rose up along the back of his neck - and he growled.'
'Ur-r-r-r-rrr!' said Buster obligingly.
'He honestly understands every word, doesn't he?' said Bets. 'Well, Buster went all funny, like that, and then he began to walk stiffly towards the hay-rick - you know, just as if he had bad rheumatism or something.'
'Animals always walk like that when they are suspicious, or frightened or angry,' said Fatty, grinning at Bets. 'Go on. Don't be so long-winded.'
'I went with Buster,' said Bets, 'as quietly as I could, thinking there might be a cat or something the other side of the rick. But it was the tramp!'
'Golly!' said Larry, and Pip whistled.
'You're a very good Find-Outer,' said Fatty warmly.
'I did so badly want to find out something,' said Bets. 'But I suppose really and truly it was Buster who did the finding, wasn't it?'
'Well, he wouldn't have, if you hadn't taken him for a walk,' said Larry. 'What was the tramp doing?'
'He was asleep,' said Bets. 'Fast asleep. He didn't even wake when Buster sniffed at his feet.'
'His feet!' said Pip. 'What sort of shoes did he have on? Did they have rubber soles?'
Bets looked dismayed. 'Oh! I never thought of looking. And I so easily could have seen, couldn't I, because he was fast asleep. But I was so excited at finding him that I just never thought of looking at his shoes.'
'There's no time to be lost,' said Pip, jumping up. 'He may still be fast asleep. We'd better go and have a look at him and his shoes and his clothes. Fatty can tell us at once if he's the tramp he saw in Mr. Hick's garden or not.'
Excited and rather solemn, the Five Find-Outers and Dog set off down the lane to the fields that ran beside the river. They went fast, in case the tramp had awakened and gone on his way. It was so marvellous that Bets should actually have found him - they couldn't possibly risk losing him!
They came to the rick. A gentle sound of snoring told them that the tramp was still there. Fatty picked up Buster and crept round the rick without making a sound.
On the other side5 curled up well, lay a tramp. He was an old fellow, with a stubbly grey beard, shaggy grey eyebrows, a red nose, and long, untidy hair that straggled from under a terrible old hat. Fatty took a look at him. He tiptoed back to the others.
'Yes - it's the tramp all right!' he whispered, thrilled. 'But it's going to be difficult to pull aside his mackintosh to see if he's got a grey coat underneath. And he's got His feet sort of curled up underneath him. We shall have to get right down on the ground to see what sort of sole his shoes have got underneath.'
'I'll go and try,' said Larry. 'You others keep Buster quiet here, and watch out in case any one comes.'
Leaving the others on the far side of the rick, Larry crept round to the side where the tramp slept. He sat down near him. He put out his hand to pull aside the old mackintosh to see if the man wore grey underneath. The trousers appearing below the coat were so old and dirty that it was quite impossible to tell what colour they had once been.
The tramp moved a little and Larry took back His hand. He decided to try and see the underneath of the man's shoes. So he knelt down3 put His head to tie ground and did his best to squint at the tramp's shoes.
The tramp suddenly opened his eyes. He stared in the greatest astonishment at Larry.
'What's bitten you?' he suddenly said, and Larry almost jumped out of his skin.
'Think I'm the king of England, I suppose, kneeling in front of me with your head on the ground like that!' said the tramp. 'Get away. I can't abide children. Nasty interfering little creatures!'
He curled himself up again and shut his eyes. Larry waited for a second or two, and was about to try squinting at the man's shoes again when he heard a low whistle from the other side of the rick. That meant someone was coming. Well, they would all have to wait till the passer-by was gone. Larry crept round to join Pip and the
