by Enid Blyton
‘It’s Jack,’ answered Julie, her voice sounding un-naturally high. ‘He’s gone. He’s been stolen from Five Oaks.’
A horrified gasp went round the room. So that was why Bill and Clarissa had been here! And that was the reason the police had been called.
‘Do the police have any clues?’ asked June.
‘Not really,’ answered Julie, stifling a sob.‘There were faint tyre tracks in the lane leading to Five Oaks, so he may have been taken away in a horse box. But there is nothing to tell them who the thief is.’
‘I can’t believe that Bill and Clarissa would be so careless!’ said Susan, shocked.‘After everything that has happened, I should have thought that they would be on their guard. But to let someone simply walk away with Jack, right under their noses—’
‘Oh, but it wasn’t their fault,’ broke in Julie.‘Truly it wasn’t. For a start, Jack wasn’t stolen in broad daylight. It happened last night, but the girls didn’t discover that he was gone until this morning. And the thief created a diversion.’
‘A diversion? What do you mean, Julie?’ asked Pam.
‘You see, someone started a fire in the field behind the house, late last night,’ explained Julie.‘It was right next to the small barn, where the girls store the hay for the horses. Bill said that it was only a small fire, but they were afraid that the barn would catch alight. So, of course, they had to dash out immediately and deal with it.’
‘And, while they were putting the fire out, some wicked beast sneaked into the stable and took Jack,’ finished Lucy, her eyes narrowed to slits. Angrily, she leapt up and began to pace the floor.‘My goodness, I hope that he’s caught! I hope that the police lock him up and throw away the key! I hope—’
‘Lucy, do calm down!’ Felicity interrupted.‘And please stop pacing the floor like that, or you’ll wear a hole in the carpet.’
‘Sorry,’ said Lucy, looking rather sheepish, as she stopped her pacing and sat down again.‘I just feel so terribly angry and upset!’
Lucy also felt a little guilty, too, because it could just as easily have been Sandy who was taken. But he was safe and well in his stall, while nobody knew where poor Jack was.
‘Julie, have your people been told the news?’ asked Nora.
‘Yes, Miss Grayling telephoned them while I was in her study,’ answered Julie.‘I was able to speak to them, too, and it was such a comfort. They both told me that they are certain Jack will come to no harm.’
‘Of course he won’t!’ said Susan, bracingly.‘You may be sure that the police are doing everything possible to find him.’
‘That’s what Sergeant Dobbs told me,’ said Julie.‘He’s the policeman who came to see me this morning, and he was awfully nice. But I just feel so helpless! All I can do is wait, and wonder and worry!’
‘Well, Julie, we will all be waiting, and wondering and worrying right beside you,’ said Esme, who was quite as horrified as the others. What a welcome back this had turned out to be!
But the idea of sitting back and waiting for things to happen didn’t appeal to June at all. She liked to be up and doing, and was turning over several ideas in her mind, which she prudently kept to herself, for Felicity most definitely would not approve.
Bonnie was also entertaining a pleasant daydream about unmasking the thief and reuniting Jack with his mistress. Why, if only she could pull it off she would be the heroine of the school!
The news of Jack’s disappearance spread rapidly, of course, and everyone was shocked, for the little horse was a great character, and most of the girls loved him dearly. Several of the first formers were in tears, and had to be comforted by Matron and Mam’zelle Dupont. Not that tender-hearted Mam’zelle Dupont was much help, for she became so upset at the girls’ distress that she had difficulty holding back her own tears!
Miss Peters, of course, understood better than any of the mistresses how Julie must be feeling, for she was a great horse lover. Her own beautiful horse, Midnight, meant more to her than anything, and she could only imagine how miserable she would feel if anything happened to him.
Even the stern Mam’zelle Rougier, who did not like horses at all, spoke kindly to Julie, and guarded her sharp tongue when the girl’s thoughts wandered in class that afternoon.
Kay Foster, the Head Girl, came up to Julie, an earnest expression on her friendly, open face, as she said, ‘What a dreadful thing to happen! Do let me know if there is any news, for everyone in the sixth form is terribly upset.’
Most surprisingly of all, Eleanor Banks sought Julie out and offered her sympathy. The third formers were in the courtyard when Eleanor—looking even paler than usual—approached them, and said to Julie, ‘I’m so sorry to hear about what has happened. You must feel simply terrible.’ Eleanor’s voice shook a little as she went on, ‘But I’m quite certain that you will have Jack back with you, safe and sound, in no time at all.’
Julie, rather taken aback at this, thanked Eleanor, but June, who had been watching the fifth former closely, raised her eyebrows and said, ‘Why are you so certain, Eleanor?’
But Eleanor immediately reverted to her usual, haughty manner, and said coldly, ‘I was speaking to Julie, not to you, June.’
Then she stalked off, and Freddie said, ‘Well! Wonders will never cease. Imagine the Ice Queen feeling sorry for someone!’
But Julie felt heartened by everyone’s kindness and concern. That was one of the best things about a school like Malory Towers, she thought. When someone was in trouble, or things went wrong, everyone rallied round, ready to offer sympathy, and to help in any way they could. Even Eleanor Banks! Julie didn’t much like the girl, but she desperately wanted to believe in her words. Jack would come back to her, safe and well. He would!
14
Detective work
June decided to pop over to Five Oaks and do a spot of investigating when afternoon lessons finished the following day and she was a little put out to discover that Bonnie had arrived a few minutes before her.
Each girl knew why the other was there, of course, and, after greeting one another, they went their separate ways.
June spoke to Clarissa, who looked very white and anxious.
‘I feel absolutely terrible about Jack being stolen,’ she told June. ‘If the police don’t find him, I don’t know what I shall do.’
‘It wasn’t your fault, or Bill’s,’ said June.‘I don’t see how either of you could have known that the fire was started to distract you.’
‘Perhaps, but it doesn’t stop us both from feeling guilty,’ said Clarissa, sighing.
Just then, Bill came out of the house, and with her were two dark-haired, stocky young men.
‘Who are they?’ asked June curiously.
‘Two of Bill’s brothers,’ said Clarissa.‘They are on leave from the army. Bill telephoned to tell them of our troubles. They said that they would come and stay for a while, to keep an eye on things.’
‘Well, I should think that they will be more than capable of dealing with any intruders,’ said June with a grin.
‘Yes, and I must say that I do feel a great deal safer having Harry and John around,’ said Clarissa.‘I just hope that it isn’t too late to save Five Oaks.’
‘Whatever do you mean?’ asked June.
‘Things aren’t going well for us,’ said Clarissa frankly.‘Of course, word has spread about Jack being stolen, and several people who had been stabling their horses with us have taken them away. And we aren’t getting so many children coming for riding lessons as we used to. I suppose with Bill’s accident, and then the fire, their parents feel that this isn’t a very safe place.’
‘But surely you’re not thinking of selling Five Oaks?’ said June, dismayed.
‘We may have no choice,’ said Clarissa, bleakly.‘You see, if we aren’t making enough money, we simply can’t afford to pay the bills or feed the horses. I know that Mr Banks would be happy to buy it from us, for he needs more room for his horses, and his land joins ours.
’
‘Is that so?’ said June, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully.‘I say, Clarissa, would you mind if I have a scout round? I’d like to have a look at the place where the fire was started.’
‘Be my guest,’ said Clarissa.‘Though if you’re looking for clues you won’t find any, for the police have been over everything with a fine-tooth comb.’
Clarissa was right, for June found nothing that could be of any help at all.
Bonnie, however, did find something, though she was quite puzzled by it. The girl decided to take a look in the stable where Jack had been kept, in the hope that the thief might have been careless and dropped something. Eleanor Banks’s beautiful white horse, Snowball, lived in the stall next-door-but-one to Jack’s, and the fifth former was leading him out as Bonnie approached. Eleanor looked surprised and displeased to see Bonnie and said, ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I’ve come to see the horses,’ answered Bonnie, coolly.‘Not that it’s any business of yours, Eleanor.’
‘Don’t be cheeky!’ said Eleanor, angrily.‘And if you have walked over here alone, it is my business. Girls from the lower forms are not allowed out on their own.’
This was true. The lower forms had to go out in twos or threes if they wanted to go into town, or take a walk along the cliffs. Normally everyone stuck to this rule very strictly—except when it came to visiting Bill and Clarissa. BecauseFive Oaks was only a few minutes’ walk from Malory Towers, one or other of the girls would sometimes slip over alone. Most of the top formers turned a blind eye, but it was just like Eleanor to cause trouble! Thinking quickly, Bonnie said, ‘Actually, June and I walked over together. She’s here somewhere, and you can ask her if you don’t believe me.’
She decided that she had better get hold of June later, and make sure that the two of them walked back to school together, just in case Eleanor was keeping an eye on them.
For now, though, the fifth former seemed satisfied, and she walked away without another word, leaving Bonnie to pull a face behind her back.
Sandy, Lucy’s pretty little horse, put his head over the door and whinnied a greeting. He was very pleased to see Bonnie, for he felt a little lonely now that his friend Jack was no longer living next door. Bonnie was a little nervous of some of the bigger horses, and was glad that they were all shut in, but Sandy was rather sweet, and very friendly. Bonnie patted his head and made a fuss of him, before going into the empty stable that had been Jack’s, wrinkling her little nose up at the smell. Pooh! What on earth would Amy think if she could see her now?
Just then, something caught Bonnie’s eye. A sheet of paper had been nailed to the wall.
Perhaps it’s a ransom note, thought the girl excitedly, moving closer. But the sheet of paper was completely blank! How queer! Why on earth would someone nail a clean sheet of writing paper to the wall? Carefully removing it from the nail, Bonnie examined it closely. It couldn’t have been there long, for it was clean and uncrumpled, with no signs of yellowing at all. Completely bewildered, the girl folded the paper up and put it in the pocket of her dress. It wasn’t much of a clue, but it was all that she had!
Shortly afterwards, Bonnie went off to find June. She told the girl about her encounter with Eleanor and said, ‘If she catches either of us walking back alone, I bet her punishment will be to confine us to the grounds, or something beastly like that.’
‘Yes, that would be just like Eleanor,’ said June scornfully.‘Well, I’m ready to go back to school, if you are.’
As the two girls walked along the lane to Malory Towers, Bonnie asked, ‘Did you find anything useful?’
‘Not a thing,’ said June in disgust.‘You?’
‘Well, I didn’t find anything useful, but I did find something rather peculiar,’ said Bonnie, and she pulled the piece of blank paper from her pocket.‘This was nailed to the wall of Jack’s stable.’
‘How odd!’ said June, taking the paper and scrutinising it carefully, as Bonnie had done earlier.‘Why on earth would someone want to nail a perfectly plain piece of paper to the stable wall?’
‘I simply can’t imagine,’ said Bonnie, folding the paper up again and putting it back in her pocket.‘I got quite excited when I spotted it, thinking that it might be a ransom note, but it turned out to be nothing of the sort.’
Then she sighed and said, ‘I was talking to Bill earlier. Things are looking pretty black for her and Clarissa. They may have to sell Five Oaks.’
‘Yes, Clarissa was telling me the same thing,’ said June. She was silent and thoughtful for a moment, then she said in a rush, ‘You know, Bonnie, I wanted to be the one to find Jack, and unmask the person who was behind all these beastly tricks simply for my own glory, and so that I could bask in everyone’s admiration. I think that you had the same idea, didn’t you?’
‘Yes,’ admitted Bonnie rather solemnly.‘But, since talking to Bill, I don’t feel like that any more. It doesn’t matter who solves the mystery. What is important is that someone solves it—and quickly! The girls’ livelihood is at stake, and Julie needs to be reunited with Jack as quickly as possible.’
‘That’s exactly how I feel now,’ said June.‘Perhaps we would get further if we worked as a team.’
‘You and me?’ said Bonnie, sounding very surprised.
‘Yes, why not?’ said June.‘Two heads are better than one, and all that.’
‘All right, then,’ agreed Bonnie.‘We’ll pool our resources. Not that there’s anything to pool at the moment!’
The other third formers had been very busy too. Felicity had come up with the idea of making some notices about the missing horse, and sticking them up around town.
‘You know the kind of thing,’ she said.‘We could write a description of Jack, and I’m sure that Miss Grayling won’t mind if we put the telephone number of the school on them.’
‘Yes, then we can stick them on lamp posts and trees, and ask some of the shopkeepers in town if they wouldn’t mind putting them in their windows,’ said Susan.
‘That’s a marvellous idea!’ Julie said.‘It would make me feel as if I was actually doing something to help find Jack.’
‘What a pity we can’t offer a reward,’ said Susan.‘I’m sure that would encourage people to go and look for him.’
‘Perhaps we can,’ said Julie.‘I’m sure that my father would put up some money, though it won’t be an awful lot. And I would give up my pocket money for a year if it meant getting Jack back.’
‘Let’s get to work on the notices now,’ said Pam.‘And then we can go out after lunch tomorrow and put them up.’
Miss Linnie, the art mistress, was happy to provide the girls with some paper, and allowed them to use the art-room to work on their notices.
‘We can do the writing in bright colours, so that it will be really eye-catching,’ said Felicity.‘And perhaps we can use some of Miss Linnie’s special coloured paper for some of them.’
Pam, who was very good at art, did a beautiful and very life-like drawing of Jack on her notice, and coloured it in carefully.
‘Pam, that’s Jack to the life!’ exclaimed Esme in admiration.
‘Yes, you’ve even put in the little white patch that he has over one eye,’ said Julie.‘We must put your notice in the sweet-shop, for that always seems to be busy, and lots of people will see it.’
Even Amy, who generally had little time to spare for anyone’s worries but her own, made one of the‘missing’ notices.
‘It’s good to know that she’s willing to do her bit when someone is in trouble,’ said Felicity to Susan as they went in to tea.
‘Yes—though I expect she only joined us because Bonnie wasn’t about, and she was at a bit of a loose end,’ said Susan.
‘Where is Bonnie?’ asked Felicity.‘I haven’t seen her for simply ages. Or June either, for that matter.’
The two girls were at the tea table when the third formers went into the dining-room, hungrily tucking into bread and butter.
‘We�
��ve been over to Five Oaks,’ said June, and began to tell the others the news that Bill and Clarissa might have to sell up.
‘They can’t!’ cried a horrified Nora.‘Why, Malory Towers just wouldn’t be the same without Bill and Clarissa just along the road.’
‘Isn’t there something we can do to help?’ asked Lucy.
‘The only thing that will help is finding Jack, and the person who is trying to ruin the girls’ business,’ said Bonnie.‘And I’m afraid we seem to have come to a bit of a dead end there.’
But something was niggling away at the back of June’s mind. Something concerning that piece of paper Bonnie had found. There was something significant about it, she was sure—if only she could think what!
The answer came to her in a flash, as she was in the common-room that evening. June suddenly sat bolt upright in her chair, and looked around for Bonnie. The girl was nowhere to be seen, and June called out, ‘Amy! Where is Bonnie?’
‘She’s gone to fetch something from the dorm,’ said Amy, and, in an instant, June was out of the door.
‘Bonnie!’ she cried, bursting into the dormitory.‘Where is that piece of paper that you found in Jack’s stable? Oh, don’t say that you’ve thrown it away!’
‘Of course not,’ said Bonnie, producing it from her pocket.‘What do you want with it, June?’
‘I think that there might be something written on it after all,’ June said.‘Do you remember, a few weeks ago, I slipped a bottle of invisible ink into Eleanor’s bag?’
‘Yes, I remember,’ said Bonnie.‘Golly! Do you think that Eleanor might have written something on here, not realising that she was using invisible ink?’
‘It’s possible,’ said June.‘It takes about ten minutes for the writing to disappear, so if Eleanor nailed the note up immediately after she had written it, she wouldn’t know that no one would be able to read it.’