CHAPTER X
Blackberry Leads the Way
The room in which Judy found herself seemed to be all windows. Therewas no furniture in it except for a round rug on the polished floor anda bench against one wall. In the other three walls were high windowswith deep cabinets built under the window sills. On top of them werebig glass tanks and little glass tanks filled with everything from tinytropical fish to goldfish the size of flounders. Horace nearly divedinto one of the fish tanks as he rushed to look out and see what washappening. Nothing, apparently, was.
“They’re simply cruising around out there,” he observed. “Do you thinkthey’re looking for the fountain?”
“They won’t reach it in a police car,” Judy replied. “They—” Shestopped suddenly. The round rug on the floor was hand-hooked and lookedvery familiar. So was the cat that sat motionless in the center of it,fascinated by the moving fish.
“Horace!” she exclaimed. “That’s Grandma’s rug! She did deliver ithere, and that looks like—it is!” Gathering the cat in her arms withanother exclamation, she hugged him against her cheek and then, holdinghim back to look at him, asked in amazement, “Blackberry! What in theworld are you doing here?”
“What he intended to do was obvious,” Horace observed with a grin.“What would any cat do in a room full of fish? I didn’t recognize himwhen he crossed our path out there and then darted through the door.”
“He led us here!” cried Judy. “He’s always leading me into adventure.”
“And trouble,” Horace added. “By the way, sis, are you sure he isBlackberry?”
“Of course I’m sure,” replied Judy, tilting the cat’s head to show herbrother the proof. “No other black cat has the same tiny white hairsthat look as if someone had spilled milk on his nose. They’re on hisfeet, too. When I first saw him I said they made him look like ablackberry dipped in sugar, and Peter agreed that Blackberry was aperfect name for him.”
“A ‘purrfect’ name?”
“Exactly,” Judy agreed, “with the accent on the _purr_. The white hairsdon’t show as much as they did when he was a kitten, but I’d know himanyway by the crackle in his purr. Listen to him, Horace! He’s so gladto see us.”
“I wonder,” Horace said, still grinning. “He seemed rather glad to seethe fish before we came in. My big news story may turn out to benothing but a fish story after all. At least I know what his hobby is.”
“Whose hobby?” asked Judy. “You don’t even know who owns the fish.Stanley could be taking care of them for the Brandts. It does seem tome I remember goldfish in the pool around the fountain.”
“When you fished for the diamond you showed me?”
“No, Horace, it was the other time, when I thought the fountain wasenchanted and made my wishes. I know I saw flashes of gold in thewater. I wonder if any of these fish are ever kept there.”
“Probably—in the summer. In the winter the pool seems to be reservedfor more valuable things. I wouldn’t mind fishing for diamonds. Theremay be more—”
“Sh!” Judy stopped him. “Wasn’t that the doorbell?”
Horace looked out the window. The two policemen who had been cruisingaround the grounds were no longer in the police car. It was parked inthe circular driveway. The bell rang again. Blackberry stiffened inJudy’s arms and pricked up his ears. She could hear Stanley’s voice.
“Mrs. Cubberling is resting. She does not wish to be disturbed thismorning.”
“Is she Cubby’s wife or his mother?” Judy whispered.
“Who knows? Mr. Cubberling may be the neighbor I’m looking for,”declared Horace. “Listen!”
“Two government men were here last night,” Stanley was saying. “Mrs.Cubberling can’t tell you any more than she told them.”
Judy’s gray eyes widened in alarm when she heard this. The FBI! Had sheaccidentally stumbled into a mystery Peter was investigating?
“I didn’t mean to!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Horace! One of those governmentmen could have been Peter. What’ll we do? I promised him I’d neverfollow him on another one of his investigations.”
“You didn’t follow him on purpose,” Horace reassured her. “I’m not sosure Blackberry didn’t, though. Cats aren’t bound by promises.”
“I wish girls weren’t. I do so want to help—”
“Listen!” Horace interrupted.
The voices outside were becoming louder. Judy heard Roger Banning’sname and the name of Dick Hartwell. Cubby wasn’t mentioned. Neither wasthe dark stranger whose name Judy did not know. Finally Stanley calledupstairs in an extremely agitated manner, “There are two gentlemenhere, madam. They’re officers of the law and they have a searchwarrant—”
“That does it!” Horace whispered. “It’ll be news all right. They’regoing to search the house.”
“They’ll find us!” cried Judy. “Horace, they mustn’t! That door overthere seems to lead to the garden. Maybe we can slip out without beingseen.”
“An excellent idea! That’s using the brain cells. Now,” Horaceannounced a few minutes later when they were safe beyond a thick yewhedge that bordered the garden, “we’ll do a little searching forourselves. Think you and Blackberry can lead me to the fountain?”
“I think so.” Judy still had the cat in her arms. “Stop squirming,” shetold him. “I’ll let you down when we find the path.”
“Maybe he can help us find it,” Horace suggested.
“It wouldn’t be safe,” Judy objected. “How do we know that dark manisn’t lurking around somewhere waiting to catnap him? Seriously, theremay be danger. If you come to a fence, don’t touch it. The wires arecharged with electricity.”
“Friendly lot, aren’t they?” asked Horace. “There’s your fence.”
They had come upon it sooner than they anticipated. The whole woodedportion of the estate seemed to be fenced off with chain-link fencesand electrically charged wire.
“What do they keep in here?” was Horace’s next question. “I’m not eagerto meet any ferocious animals.”
“The only animals I saw were made of stone,” Judy told him. “Lions, butthey don’t bite. They only spurt water out of their mouths when thefountain is on, and I imagine it isn’t today. It’s too cold. The pipeswould freeze—”
“And moan,” Horace said. “You know what weird sounds can come out ofhollow pipes when the wind is blowing. You probably only imagined thewords.”
“I don’t imagine words. You know that. Please don’t start that argumentall over again,” begged Judy. “It doesn’t get us anywhere, but the pathwill. This fence crosses it, but I think I can find the place where wegot through it yesterday. After that we just followed the path. We canfind it all right with the tower to guide us. It’s somewhere in thatdirection.”
Judy tried to point, but found the cat in her arms something of ahandicap. He was still struggling to free himself.
“You won’t hold him long,” Horace prophesied.
“But I have to,” Judy insisted. “I don’t want him to run away from us.He may be a big help if we explore the fountain. If there really is acave underneath it and if we can squeeze inside, we’re bound to findsomething if only more water pipes. If I can crawl in behind thosecupids—”
“_If_ the water is turned off,” Horace finished for her. “That makessix _ifs_. I counted them.”
“There are apt to be seven or eight, if not more,” declared Judy. “ButBlackberry can explore places we can’t. The trouble is, he can’t tellus what he finds—”
“Me-aurr!” interrupted the cat.
“In words, I mean,” Judy corrected herself. “You tell us in your ownway, don’t you, Blackberry? I wish you could tell us how you got here.Did Peter bring you?”
“Peter wouldn’t bring a cat to help him investigate a crime,” Horacebegan. “Maybe you didn’t shut Blackberry in the attic—”
“Blackberry!” cried Judy as the cat leaped from her arms.
&nb
sp; It was a squirrel that had attracted him. He soon chased it up a treeand out on an overhanging branch. The squirrel escaped, but Blackberrywas now on the other side of the fence. With one leap, he was on theground.
“A good idea!” approved Horace. “Blackberry is leading the way again.That’s how we’ll get over. You’re next, Judy. I’ll hold you up.”
“It seems to me we’re doing it the hard way. Oh, my goodness!” sheexclaimed when she was in the tree. “I can see the house from here.Those policemen are just coming out. Do you think they’ll recognizeyour car?”
“Probably,” replied Horace. He was having a little more difficultyclimbing the tree since there was no one to boost him.
“Do you think they’ll search the grounds?”
Judy, who was wearing slacks, slid down the branch easily and droppedto the ground, but it broke with Horace. He got up, rubbed a skinnedplace on his elbow, and replied, “Probably,” as if nothing hadhappened. His dignity seemed to be more hurt than any other part ofhim. Judy just had to giggle. Blackberry, apparently not liking thecommotion caused by Horace’s fall, darted off into the bushes.
“He got away in spite of me,” declared Judy, “but he’ll be back. Helikes to help me explore. I would have taken him with us yesterday, butLorraine doesn’t like cats. She says they’re creepy.”
“She said quite a few unpleasant things, didn’t she?” asked Horace.
“It was only because she was upset,” Judy excused her. She wasbeginning to wonder if she should have told her brother anything aboutLorraine’s problem. There seemed to be problems enough without that.The next one they encountered was a thick growth of thorny bushes. Theywere nearer the tower now. The path couldn’t be far away.
“If only they hadn’t planted so many kinds of holly, and all withprickly leaves,” Judy complained. “Maybe they think they need more thanelectric fences to keep people away.”
“Away from what?” asked Horace stopping to extract a thorn from hisfinger.
“The fountain, I guess. There is some secret about it. There must be,”Judy decided. “There! I can see it now, through the bushes, and it isturned off. Hurry, Horace! I can hardly wait to explore it.”
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