‘THAT must have been the slithering sound I heard!’ said Jenny. ‘I told you I heard a queer slithering noise!’
‘And the whispering you heard must have been Mr Wooh trying to make him go up the tower wall and into the window!’ said Julian. ‘Gosh - I bet poor old Charlie’s been taught to get into all sorts of windows and take whatever he sees. Mr Wooh must have known Tinker’s father worked out all his ideas up in the tower.’
‘Wooh could easily teach him to take papers,’ said Julian. ‘But there were, of course, too many for old Charlie in the tower room. He wouldn’t be able to carry them all in his front paws, for he needed all his paws to climb down that steep wall - so he must have crammed as many as he could into his mouth - and dropped the rest under the table! CHARLIE the CHIMP - well! Who would have thought he could be the thief?’
‘Wait a bit - how on earth do you know it was Charlie?’ said Dick. ‘Nobody saw him. It was at night.’
‘Well, I do know it was Charlie,’ said Tinker. ‘You remember that dear little clock on the tower room mantelpiece? Well, it disappeared on the night when those papers were stolen - and I found it hidden in the straw in Charlie’s cage this morning! He snatched it away from me, and almost cried - so I let him keep it! It was ticking loudly just like it always did. It was the loud ticking that told me it was there in the cage!’
‘Who wound it up at nights, to keep it going?’ said Julian, at once, most astonished.
‘Charlie, I suppose,’ said Tinker. ‘He’s very clever with his paws! The clock was quite safe, hidden in his cage. Nobody would be likely to get into the chimp’s cage and sit there with him - but I did this morning, and that’s how I found it. I heard it ticking, you see. I bet old Charlie was clever enough to pop his precious clock into his mouth when he saw any of the men coming to clean out his cage!’
‘Well, I’m blessed!’ said Jenny. ‘How was it that Mr Wooh never saw him bringing it along with the papers that night, when he stole them?’
‘Well, as Tinker told you - my guess is that old Charlie must have put the little clock in his mouth then, along with the papers,’ said Dick. ‘He needed all his four paws, climbing - or rather slithering down that wall - and he’s got a jolly big mouth! You should see what a lot of food he can stuff into it!’
‘Yes. And Mr Wooh would take the papers, of course - Charlie would just take them from his mouth and hand them to him - but he’d be artful enough to keep his precious new toy hidden in his mouth! Poor old Charlie! Can’t you see him listening to the clock, and cuddling it - like a child with a new toy!’ said George.
‘He sounded exactly as if he were crying this morning,’ said Tinker. ‘I couldn’t bear it. Poor old Charlie! He couldn’t understand why Mr Wooh didn’t go and see him today. He was so miserable!’
‘I think we’ll have to get the police along now,’ said Julian. ‘Not only to catch Mr Wooh and his friend, left so conveniently marooned by George on her island - but also because Mr Wooh should be charged with stealing your father’s irreplaceable charts and diagrams, Tinker. Goodness knows what else he has taught poor old Charlie to steal. I bet he’s sent the chimp into a lot of houses, and up many walls, and into many windows.’
‘Yes. There’s probably been a trail of robberies wherever the circus went,’ said Jenny. ‘And many innocent people must have been suspected.’
‘What a shame!’ said Anne. ‘But oh dear - if Mr Wooh goes to prison, whatever will become of poor old Charlie the Chimp?’
‘I bet Jeremy will take him,’ said Tinker. ‘He loves him, and old Charlie adores Jeremy! He’ll be all right with Jeremy and old Grandad!’
‘Well, Tinker, I think you’d better go and tell your father all this,’ said Jenny. ‘I know he’s busy - he always is - but this is a thing he ought to deal with and nobody else. If you’d like to fetch him, George could tell him the whole story - and then I rather guess he’ll ring up the police - and Mr Wooh will find himself in a whole lot of trouble.’
So there goes Tinker, with Mischief on his shoulder, to find his father, down the hall - up the stairs - along the landing - into his father’s bedroom... r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r! Tinker, you sound like a motor-scooter going up a steep hill! PARP -PARP! Don’t hoot like that, you’ll make your father so angry that he won’t listen to a word you say!
But the Professor did listen - and soon Jenny heard him telephoning the police. They’re coming straight away, and that means that Mr Wooh the Magician is in for a most unpleasant time, and his magic won’t help him at all! He’ll have to give back the papers that he made Charlie steal - and plenty of other things, too! There he is, marooned on the island, quite unable to escape, waiting fearfully with his companion, for the police!
‘Another adventure over!’ said George, with a regretful sigh. ‘And a jolly exciting one too! I’m glad you solved the mystery, Tinker - it was clever of you to find the little tower room clock. I bet Mr Wooh wouldn’t have let Charlie keep it, if he’d known he’d taken it from the tower room! Poor old Charlie the Chimp!’
‘I’m just wondering if Dad would let me keep Charlie here, while Mr Wooh is in prison,’ began Tinker, and stopped as Jenny gave a horrified shriek.
‘Tinker! If you so much as mention that idea to your father, I’ll walk straight out of this house and NEVER COME BACK!’ said Jenny. ‘That chimp would be in my kitchen all day long - oh yes, he would - and things would be disappearing out of my larder, and my cupboards, and my drawers, and he’d dance up and down and scream at me if I so much as said a word, and...’
‘All right, dear, dear Jenny, I won’t ask for Charlie, honest I won’t,’ said Tinker. ‘I do love you a bit more than I’d love a chimp - but think what a companion he would be for Mischief!’
‘I’m not thinking anything of the sort!’ said Jenny. ‘And what about you taking a bit of notice of that monkey of yours - bless us all if he hasn’t helped himself to half that jar of jam - just look at his sticky face! Oh, what a week this has been, what with chimps and monkeys and children and robberies, and George disappearing, and all!’
‘Dear old Jenny,’ said George, laughing as she went off into the kitchen. ‘What an exciting time we’ve had! I really did enjoy every minute of it!’
So did we, George. Good-bye - and take care of yourselves, Five. Good luck!
THE END
Enid Blyton, Five Are Together Again
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