The Secret of the Crooked Cat, стр. 23

They all searched through the trucks and trailers, and then returned to the carnival grounds. After some fifteen minutes they met on one of the wide pathways near Andy’s shooting gallery. They had not found Jupiter.

“The shows are over,” Mr. Carson said. “I’ll ask all the performers if they’ve seen Jupiter.”

“The exits are all blocked, and the fence is being watched,” Chief Reynolds said. “He can’t have left the grounds.”

The performers were all gathered near The Great Ivan’s show tent. They stood in an uneasy group, watching the police and roughnecks still searching and guarding the fence and exits. None of them remembered seeing Jupiter when Mr. Carson asked them.

“I have seen nothing,” The Great Ivan said uneasily. The wire walkers and the fire eater shook their heads. The small, fat clown danced round awkwardly, still half performing his routine, and pointing at the tall, sad clown. The tall clown swept at the ground with his broom and dustpan with a broken bottom.

“Maybe I saw him,” the tall clown said in his slow, sad voice. “Behind the tents with someone.”

“You did?” Chief Reynolds snapped. “With whom?”

The tall clown shook his head. “I don’t know.”

The small clown did a ludicrous handstand that failed badly, and then began to jump up and down beside the tall clown. Bob groaned. “The robber’s got Jupe!” Bob cried. “I know it!”

“He’ll use Jupe as a hostage to get away!” Pete moaned.

“Easy, boys,” Chief Reynolds said, but his face was worried. “It does change matters. If he has Jupe, we’ll have to let him go. But we’ll know him, then, and we’ll get him!”

Andy said, “If he has Jupiter, why hasn’t he tried to use him as a hostage yet?”

“I don’t know, Andy,” Chief Reynolds admitted.

The tall clown suddenly said, “Hostage, Chief? When I saw that boy, the man with him was making towards a break in our fence that leads to the ocean!”

Chief Reynolds whirled. “What? The ocean?”

“He’s trying to escape by swimming round the amusement park fence where you don’t have a guard,” Mr. Carson cried.

Pete and Andy started to run towards the fence with the Chief and Mr. Carson. But Bob didn’t move. He stood staring at the dirt of the carnival pathway.

“Chief! Fellows,” Bob said slowly. “Look at the dirt.”

They all stopped and looked where Bob pointed. The small clown, still fooling around, was rolling on the ground and pointing up at the tall clown.

Near him, drawn in the dirt, was a large question mark!

21

A Robber Unmasked!

“Our question-mark sign!” Pete cried, and stared at the small clown who was still jumping round his tall partner. “It’s Jupe!” Bob realized. “He’s telling us that — ”

Before anyone could say anything more, the tall clown suddenly whipped a pistol from his floppy sleeve. He aimed the gun at them all. Without a word he began to back away towards the main entrance, his dark eyes glittering menacingly in his chalk-white clown’s face.

“Don’t move, anyone,” Chief Reynolds warned. “Let him go.”

Helpless, the boys, the Chief and Mr. Carson watched as the clown backed farther and farther away. He was almost at the main exit from the carnival when a massive figure jumped out from behind the Ferris-wheel booth. He was on the clown before anyone knew what was happening.

It was Khan. The tall clown tried to turn his pistol on the strong man, but Khan’s hand damped on his wrist and the pistol fell to the ground. The tall clown stood helpless in the grip of the strong man. “So, one robber caught!” Khan said in triumph. Chief Reynolds shouted for his men, and they came running to take the tall clown from Khan. Other policemen began to disperse the crowd of performers and late customers. Khan grinned.

“I was just watching and waiting for the robber to make some move,” the strong man explained. “But I must admit I never suspected the clown.”

The small, fat clown peeled off his mask and putty nose to reveal a smiling Jupiter.

“I always wanted to be a clown,” Jupe said.

Chief Reynolds said, “You better explain all this, Jupiter. How did you know the tall clown was the robber, and what are you doing in that costume?”

“Well,” the First Investigator began, “when we began to chase that unseen man from the amusement park, I realized that he would get the crooked cat before we could. So instead of going with you all, I decided to go straight to the performing tents. I reasoned that after the robber got the crooked cat from Andy’s truck, he’d run to where he could hide it, and himself, among a lot of people.

“I’d just reached the main show area, where there were still customers all around, when I saw the tall clown running right at me! I could see he was hiding something under his baggy jacket If he saw me, he’d know I had guessed what he had and who he was! So I ducked into the first tent. That’s when I got a real shock — it was the clown tent!”

“Wow!” Pete exclaimed. “You mean you were in the tent where he would come in for sure. First!”

Jupiter nodded. “An error of panic, I’m afraid, Second. I had to think quickly. The tent was in two parts, like all the show tents — the rear for resting between acts and dressing if the performer didn’t dress in his own trailer. So I ran into the dressing section. I heard him come into the show part of the tent. He was busy out there for a few minutes. I didn’t know if he’d come into the dressing section or not. I could see he didn’t dress in the tent, only he might come back any minute!”

“Jiminy, you were trapped, Jupe,” Andy said.

“I was, but I saw the costumes of the small clown! He dressed in the tent, and he’d already quit for the night and gone. So I got into his costume and mask. They fitted me just right! I’d just finished putting on the putty nose when he came back into the dressing section — he’d heard me, I guess. He thought I was the small clown, and he insisted we do one more act in the main alley.

“I realized, of course, that he wanted to do another act to have a chance to escape from the carnival with the crooked cat. The whole situation had changed for him, you see. All along he’d been trying to get the crooked cat without anyone knowing what he wanted. But now we all knew what he was doing, and hiding didn’t matter any more. He just wanted to escape.”

Chief Reynolds nodded. “I see that, Jupiter, but when you were in the open, why didn’t you just tell us who he was?”

“I knew he had a pistol, sir,” Jupiter said simply. “I was afraid if I revealed myself he’d start shooting. I had to get your attention before he learned I wasn’t the small clown. So I drew the question mark in the dirt. Luckily, Bob saw it and you were all alert before he realized I had accused him!”

“Not quite alert enough, he almost got away,” the Chief said. “Fine work, Jupiter! Where is that crooked cat?”

“Strapped to his leg inside the baggy pants,” Jupiter said.

One of the Chiefs men searched the tall clown, and pulled out the crooked cat. He gave it to the Chief who quickly examined it and held up a small piece of tan cardboard.

“A left-luggage ticket!” the Chief exclaimed. “He deposited the robbery money. That solves one part of the case. Now let’s find out just who this robber is.”

“Robber?” Mr. Carson frowned “But Chief, he can’t be — ”

Before Mr. Carson could finish what he was saying, Chief Reynolds had the tall clown’s mask and wig off, and was wiping the make-up away. The Chief stepped back, his face incredulous!

Out of his clown face, the tall clown was a thin, white-haired old man! At least sixty-five years old!

“Bu — but — ” The Chief stammered. “He can’t be the robber!”

“I was trying to tell you,” Mr. Carson said. “He’s too old for the robber. He couldn’t disguise his age that well, and he could never climb walls like the robber.”