by Duncan Ball
With this, Ms X and Mr Y took Emily to their big black car. They talked to her very quickly as they sped along.
‘There’s something fishy about this king fellow,’ Mr Y explained.
‘He says he’s a king and he says he came to this country on a special royal visit. He says he’s from a country called the Kingdom of Slyvania,’ Ms X added. ‘But, frankly, we’re not sure he’s telling the truth.’
‘We’re a little bit suspicious,’ said Mr Y.
‘Partly because he looks like a sneaky guy,’ Ms X said.
‘And partly because there isn’t any such country as —’ Mr Y started.
‘Slyvania,’ Ms X added.
‘We think —’ Mr Y said.
‘That he —’ Ms X said.
‘Is a —’ Mr Y added.
‘Spy!’ Ms X said, finishing Mr Y’s sentence.
Emily’s neck was sore from looking back and forth from Ms X to Mr Y.
‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked. ‘If he’s a spy, why don’t you just catch him and put him in jail or whatever you do with spies?’
‘We’re not absolutely and positively sure he’s a spy,’ Mr Y said. ‘And you can’t put people in jail until you’re absolutely and positively sure they’re spies. Otherwise they get very cranky and so does everybody else.’
‘That’s why we need you, Emily,’ Ms X said.
‘Well, I’m always happy to help,’ said Emily.
‘He wears a big gold ring with a diamond on it on his right hand,’ Mr Y said.
‘We think there’s some writing on the top of the ring next to the diamond,’ Ms X added. ‘Don’t forget to tell her that, Mr Y.’
‘I was coming to that, Ms X. We’ve tried to read the writing on the ring, Emily, but it’s too small to read when you’re just peaking down and pretending not to be reading anything,’ said Mr Y. ‘We think it might give us a clue about who he really is.’
‘We want you to have a good look at the writing with that … um … eye of yours,’ Ms X said, pointing to Emily’s eyefinger. ‘Then you can tell us what it says.’
‘Oh, I get it,’ Emily said. ‘You want me to use my eyefinger to secretly read what it says on his ring. Is that it?’
‘Yes,’ Mr Y said. ‘This afternoon he’s going to meet some important people at a special reception with the mayor. We’d like you to be there too. Everyone will line up and shake hands with him the way people do when they meet kings and queens. Shake hands with your right hand but hold your left hand near the ring so you can read the writing. He won’t notice a thing if you’re clever about it.’
‘He might wonder why I’m there,’ Emily said. ‘I’m not important enough to be meeting a king.’
‘She’s got a point,’ Mr Y said to Ms X.
‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ Ms X said. ‘We’ll tell him that you just won a prize for being the smartest little girl in the country. The prize is meeting him. He’ll like that.’
‘But it’s not true,’ Emily said. ‘I’m not the smartest little girl in the country. It would be lying.’
‘Don’t worry about lying, Emily. We’re allowed to lie,’ Mr Y said. ‘It’s part of our job. You’re allowed to do it too — temporarily.’
Emily thought about it and then said, ‘There’s another problem. Girls don’t shake hands with kings, they curtsy. Men bow and girls and ladies curtsy. I read it in a book.’
‘This guy doesn’t mind if everyone just shakes hands,’ Ms X said.
That afternoon Ms X helped Emily get dressed in a beautiful gown that sparkled all over. She also had a wide hat with feathers on it. They told her she’d have to give back the clothes after she met the king — which was kind of rough, but she didn’t mind.
She stood in a long line of important people who were all dressed up in expensive clothes. Finally King Crim came in and started shaking hands. Emily was very nervous as she got her hand ready for the big shake. She took a few slow, deep breaths so she wouldn’t be so nervous.
‘And who, pray tell, is the young lady?’ the king asked when it was Emily’s turn.
‘Emily Eyefinger, Your Highness,’ someone said, ‘the smartest little girl in the whole country.’
A big smile spread like butter across King Crim’s face.
‘So you’re the smartest little girl in the whole country,’ the king said shaking her hand. ‘I’ll bet you’re not as smart as I am.’
‘No, I’m sure I’m not,’ Emily said, suddenly afraid that he’d ask her a hard question like ‘what is six times nine?’
The king gave a big laugh.
‘I’ll bet you thought I’d ask you a hard question,’ he said, still shaking hands.
‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ Emily said, suddenly clutching his hand in both of hers.
‘Well, I won’t,’ the king said with a laugh, ‘because I can’t think of any hard questions. My, what a strong handshake you have. Maybe you’re the strongest little girl in the country too.’
Emily gave a big sigh as the king moved on to the next person. He hadn’t noticed her eyefinger.
‘Pssst!’ Ms X whispered when Emily came back. ‘What did the writing on the ring say?’
‘It just said, “to the king”,’ Emily said. Ms X and Mr Y looked very unhappy until Emily added, ‘At least that’s what it said on the top part.’
‘What do you mean “on the top part”?’ Mr Y asked.
‘Well there were words written on the bottom of the ring too.’
‘You could see the bottom of his ring?’ Ms X asked. ‘Like right in his hand?’
‘Only when I shook with both hands.’
‘Goodness! I think you are the smartest little girl in the country! What did the message say?’
‘It said, “to Arthur Crim, king of spies, hope you get the secrets. Best wishes from all your spy buddies”.’
‘Aha!’ Ms X said snapping her fingers. ‘He’s Arthur Crim!’
‘The famous secret agent?’ Mr Y asked.
‘Exactly!’ said Ms X. ‘He steals secrets and then sells them to other countries. We were right. He isn’t the king of anything. We’ve been trying to catch him for years but we didn’t know what he looked like because he wears so many disguises.’
‘Let’s arrest him now!’ said Mr Y.
‘Not so fast,’ Ms X said, holding him back. ‘Let’s find out how he steals the secrets and who he’s working with. Then we’ll arrest the lot of them.’
‘But he’ll see us following him. Spies always know when they’re being followed.’
Ms X and Mr Y scratched their heads and then their chins as they wondered what to do. Then they both looked at Emily.
‘No one would ever suspect a little girl,’ Ms X said with a grin. ‘Emily, you could be our own special secret agent.’
‘Secret agent?’ said Emily. ‘That sounds exciting, but I think you’d better talk to my parents about it.’
8.
Emily and the Case of the Missing Secrets
‘Now that your parents have given their permission,’ Ms X said, ‘all you have to do is follow Arthur Crim to his hideout. Do just as we say and you’ll be perfectly safe.’
‘But how can I follow this Arthur Crim?’ asked Emily. ‘He’s seen me. He knows what I look like.’
‘He may know what you look like now,’ Mr Y said. ‘But even your best friends won’t recognise you when we’ve finished.’
With this, Ms X and Mr Y took Emily away to a secret room in a secret building. It was a room filled with disguises.
‘First, we’ll put this on,’ Ms X said, putting a wig with short spiky hair on Emily’s head.
‘Then we’ll put this in your mouth to make your face look fat,’ Mr Y said, stuffing Emily’s cheeks with cotton.
‘Put these glasses on. They’re not real glasses, they just have plain glass in them. And put these false teeth in your mouth.’
Emily got a shock when she looked in the mirror.
‘That can
’t be me,’ she said.
‘If it’s not you, I don’t know who it is,’ Ms X chuckled. ‘Now quickly put on these jeans and this special blue spy coat. The king will be leaving the meeting at any moment.’
‘What do I do?’
‘Just follow him, but not too close. We’ll be following you following him.’
‘Goodness, I feel just like Sarah Spy,’ said Emily, remembering the book she’d read called Sarah Spy, Secret Agent.
Ms X and Mr Y looked very surprised.
‘Who?’ they asked.
‘Oh, no one,’ Emily said. ‘She’s just someone in a book.’
Emily followed King Crim along the street, stopping and looking in shop windows whenever he turned around. When Emily thought he was getting suspicious, she walked ahead of him. When she did this she pointed her eyefinger over her shoulder and watched him without turning around. He kept looking behind him. He never thought that he’d be followed by someone who was in front of him. He’d obviously never heard of eyes on the ends of fingers.
Soon King Crim disappeared down a lane.
‘Why, that sneaky guy,’ Emily thought. ‘If I go down there he’ll know I’m following him.’
Instead Emily ran around the block and got ahead of him again. When he walked past she was sitting on a bench holding up a newspaper, pretending to read it. Of course her eyefinger was watching him as he went by.
Emily let him get ahead of her for a minute. She ducked behind a tree and took off the special blue spy coat. When she turned it inside out, it became a brown coat with white stripes. Emily hurried after him again.
When Emily thought King Crim was getting suspicious again, she went into a park and took a black floppy hat out of her pocket and put it on her head. Then she threw away the coat. Now she was wearing an orange jacket and a long dress. Once again Emily looked like a completely different person.
Across the city they went, through little streets and big streets and on buses and trains. She was ahead of him and she was behind him and she was beside him. Once she was even above him on a footbridge with her eyefinger peeking over the railing at him.
All along the way she took off pieces of clothing and hid them. For a while she wore a purple sweater and then a checked shirt. She turned the black hat inside out and it turned into a white hat. Then she had a pink shirt with red stripes. Finally she was down to a grey T-shirt and jeans. She’d thrown away the hat.
‘I hope he’s getting close,’ thought Emily, ‘because I’ve run out of disguises.’
Just then King Crim turned into a lane and stopped. Emily followed. Now there was no one in the whole lane except Emily and King Crim. He watched as she walked by.
‘Maybe he suspects me,’ Emily thought. ‘Or maybe his hideout is nearby and he’s waiting until no one is looking before he goes in. Hmm, they didn’t warn me about this.’
Emily kept walking, looking back secretly with her eyefinger. But King Crim didn’t budge. She turned the corner and quickly peeked back around the edge of a building with her eyefinger. But it was too late. He was gone.
‘Oh, rats!’ said Emily. ‘He tricked me. What am I going to tell Ms X and Mr Y?’
Emily dashed back to where King Crim had been. On one side of the lane was a dirty old building with broken windows.
‘I wonder if he went back the way he came,’ Emily thought. ‘No, I’ll bet he went into this building. I could ring Ms X and Mr Y and tell them what happened. No, maybe I’d better have a look in the building first just to see if he’s in there.’
Emily crept up a metal fire escape on the back of the building. On each floor she peered through windows at the dusty darkness inside. Finally she came to the top window and opened it and climbed inside.
‘Gotcha!’ a voice yelled and four arms reached out and grabbed her.
A light went on. Two men were holding her — a tall man and a short man. Standing in front of her was King Crim.
‘And who might you be?’ King Crim said, pulling off Emily’s wig and glasses. ‘My goodness, it’s you, the smartest little girl in the country! What happened to your teeth? They look terrible. And your face! You don’t have the mumps, do you?’
‘No, I don’t,’ Emily said, taking the cotton and false teeth out of her mouth. ‘See?’
‘You’re a very naughty girl for coming in here,’ King Crim said. ‘You were following me, weren’t you? And you certainly were good at it. I didn’t suspect a thing until I saw you coming up the fire escape.’
Emily didn’t say anything.
‘Well, then,’ King Crim went on, ‘we’ll just have to keep you here till we make our getaway. Tie her up, boys. Use a lot of knots because she’s the smartest girl in the country. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.’
The ha ha ha’s were not funny ha ha ha’s but scary ha ha ha’s. They made a shiver go up Emily’s spine. The two men tied her hands behind her back. She kept her hands closed so they couldn’t see her eyefinger. Finally they tied her to a chair.
‘Your plan worked perfectly, boss,’ the tall man said to King Crim. ‘While all those important government people were meeting you, we broke into their offices and stole a whole bag full of secrets.’
‘Good one, eh? Heh, heh, heh,’ said the short one. He opened a big bag and showed King Crim all the stolen papers.
‘Good work,’ said King Crim. ‘We’ll catch a plane out of the country tonight. Tomorrow we’ll sell the secrets and be rich. Did you bring the disguises?’
‘Sure, boss,’ said the tall one, opening a suitcase.
Emily opened her hand and looked with her eyefinger at the knots that tied her wrists. One by one she started secretly undoing them as the three men put on false beards and sunglasses.
‘Ha ha ha ha,’ Crim laughed, pointing to the other two. ‘You both look silly.’
‘You look pretty silly yourself,’ the tall one said. ‘Hurry up. Let’s get out of here.’
King Crim grabbed the bag of secrets and left the room, following the two men.
As soon as the men were out the door Emily had her hands free. She quickly jumped through the window and ran down the fire escape to the street. Driving along the street in their big black car were secret agents Ms X and Mr Y.
‘Thank heavens we’ve found you,’ Ms X said, stopping the car. ‘We were following you but you’re such a clever little spy-follower that we lost you.’
‘Never mind,’ Emily said. ‘King Crim and his men are in this building. They’ll be coming out that door at any minute. They have a whole bagful of stolen secrets!’
Just then King Crim and his men burst through the doorway.
‘Hold it right there, Arthur Crim!’ Ms X yelled. ‘You’re not going anywhere!’
‘And neither are you two!’ Mr Y yelled as he grabbed the tall man and the short man by their coat collars.
King Crim suddenly broke into a run with Ms X right behind him. Before he could turn the corner, she took a flying leap and grabbed him around the legs, bringing him down with a terrible crash. Then she handcuffed his hands behind his back.
‘Crime never pays, mister smart guy,’ she said. ‘When are you going to learn that?’
Before the agents from SOFSOS took the three spies off to jail, King Crim turned to Emily and said, ‘How did you get away so fast? Your hands were tied behind your back.’
Emily didn’t tell him about her eyefinger.
‘You forgot,’ she said. ‘I’m the smartest little girl in the country.’
Ms X and Mr Y laughed, and that was how Emily Eyefinger solved The Case of the Missing Secrets.
Emily was given a special secret Spying on Spies award, which, of course, she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about — except her parents.
‘We’re so proud of you,’ her father said. ‘Now do you still like that eyefinger of yours?’
‘Well,’ said Emily, with a twinkle in her eye, ‘on the one hand I like it. But on the other hand I don’t.’
And they all had a good
laugh and that was the end of that.
Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure
Duncan Ball
Dedication
For Vickay
Contents—Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure
Title Page
Dedication
1. Emily’s First Poem
2. Emily and the Mysterious Moustaches
3. Emily Up in the Air
4. Emily and the Million Mice
5. Emily and the Power of the Freckle
6. Emily Eyefinger and the Lost Treasure
1.
Emily’s First Poem
‘I really like poems,’ Emily said. ‘But I can’t write them. I can never get them to rhyme.’
‘Just hold still, dear,’ her mother said. ‘If you move around, I can’t get the pins in this costume.’
Emily was going to a fancy dress party as Cinderella. Her mother was making a raggedy dress for her. It was almost finished. She was just pinning up the hem.
‘We have to write a poem for homework and I just don’t know how to start it,’ Emily said. ‘Ouch! Something scratched me.’
‘Hold still, please.’
Emily reached over her shoulder with her left hand and looked at the back of the dress with her eyefinger. ‘I see it,’ she said. ‘There’s a pin next to the zipper. It’s scratching me.’
‘Oh, so there is,’ Mrs Eyefinger said, taking out the pin. ‘Sorry, I forgot to remove that one when I sewed in the zipper. Where would you be if you hadn’t been born with an eye on the end of your finger?’
‘Scratched,’ Emily said. ‘Even more scratched than I am now.’
Emily knew there were good things about having an eye on the end of her finger. But sometimes — like when she washed her hands and got soap in her eye — she wished she didn’t have it.
When people asked her if she liked having an eye on her finger she often said, ‘On the one hand I like it but on the other hand I don’t.’ That was her little joke.