Chapter Twelve

A SHOCK FOR TINKER

Tinker was horrified when Jenny told him the next morning what had happened. ‘Your father’s in a rare old state,’ she said. ‘He came down early this morning, because he wanted to finish some work up in the tower - and as soon as he unlocked the top door into the tower room, he saw the whole room upside down and some of his precious papers gone, and...’

‘JENNY! How awful!’ said Tinker. ‘Dad kept his most precious papers there - with all the figures for that new electric thing of his. It’s a wonderful thing, too marvellous for words, Jenny, it’s for...’

‘Now don’t you give away any of your father’s plans, not even to me,’ said Jenny. ‘You’ve been told that before. Maybe you’ve been talking too much already, and somebody’s ears took it all in!’

Tinker suddenly felt quite sick. Was it because of something he had been silly enough to say in public? In the bus, perhaps? Or in the circus-field? What would the others say - especially Julian - when they heard that someone had come in the night and stolen precious papers, containing figures and diagrams for some of his father’s inventions? Julian would be sure to say that it was his fault for not keeping his mouth shut! Oh dear - would this be in the papers - and would hordes of people come visiting the place again, staring and whispering and exclaiming in awe at his father’s curious tower, with its waving tentacles?

He dressed quickly and ran downstairs. Jenny had told him that she was sure she had heard whispering down in the courtyard the night before, and had seen someone climbing up the tower. ‘Your father says nobody could have brought a long ladder into that courtyard,’ she said. ‘Not without us seeing it, anyway, or hearing some kind of noise when it was dragged in. But it might have been a sliding ladder, mightn’t it? That would be a smallish thing, with ropes to pull out the sliding part.’

‘Yes. Like the window-cleaner uses,’ said Tinker. ‘I say - could it have been the window-cleaner, do you think?’

‘No. He’s a real decent fellow,’ said Jenny. ‘I’ve known him for twenty years. So put that out of your head. But the ladder could certainly have been the sort that window-cleaners use. We’ll go out into the courtyard as soon as I’ve finished washing-up, and see if we can find the marks where the ladder was dragged over the courtyard. Though I must say I didn’t hear any dragging noises. I heard whispering - and a kind of slithery noise - but that’s all.’

‘The slithery noise might have been made by the ladder when it was dragged along!’ said Tinker. ‘I say - look at old Mischief. He’s listening as if he understood every word. Mischief, why didn’t you wake me up last night when all this was going on? You usually wake if anything unusual happens, or you hear a strange noise.’

Mischief leapt into Tinker’s arms and cuddled there. He didn’t like it when Tinker was upset about anything; he knew by the boy’s voice that he was worried. He made small comforting noises, and rubbed his monkey nose against the boy’s chin.

‘You’d better go to your father,’ said Jenny. ‘You might be able to comfort him a little. He’s very upset indeed. He’s up in the tower room, trying to sort out his papers. My word, they were left in a state - scattered all over the room!’

Tinker stood up to go, and was astonished to find that he was shaky at the knees. Would his father ask him if he had been talking about the work he was doing? Oh dear - he had even boasted about it just the day before, and talked about his father’s sko-wheel, and the wonderful new machine, the electric trosymon! Tinker’s knees became shakier than ever.

But fortunately his father was far too upset about his muddled room and missing papers to worry about anything Tinker had said or done. He was up in the tower room, trying to discover which of his papers were missing.

‘Ah, Tinker,’ he said, when the boy came into the tower room. ‘Just give me a hand, will you? The thief who came last night must have knocked the whole bunch of papers off the table, down on the floor - and fortunately he seems not to have seen some that went under the table. So I doubt very much if the papers he did take away with him will be of any use. He’d need to be quite a scientist to understand them, without having the ones he left behind.’

‘Will he come back for the others, then?’ asked Tinker.

‘Probably,’ said his father. ‘But I shall hide them somewhere. Can you think of a good hiding-place, Tinker?’

‘Dad - don’t you hide them,’ begged Tinker. ‘Not unless you tell me where they are! You know how you forget things! You might forget where you’d put this bunch of papers, and then you wouldn’t be able to go on with your inventions. Have you copies of the stolen sheets of figures and diagrams?’

‘No. But they’re all in my head as well as on paper,’ said his father. ‘It will take me a bit of time to work them all out again, but it can be done. It’s a nuisance-especially as I’m working to a date. Now run along, Tinker, please. I’ve work to do.’

Tinker went down the spiral staircase of the tower. He’d have to make sure that his father did hide away those papers very carefully indeed - in some really good place. ‘Oh dear - I hope he won’t do what he did with the last lot of papers he wanted to hide,’ he thought. ‘He stuffed them up the chimney - and they nearly went up in flames because Jenny thought she’d light the fire the next night, it was unexpectedly so cold. Good thing they fell down when she laid the fire, and she rescued them before they got burnt! Why are brainy people like Dad so silly about ordinary things? I say he’ll either forget where he puts them - or go and hide them in some easy place where anyone could find them!’

He went to talk to Jenny. ‘Jenny - Dad says that the thief only took some of his papers - and that he can’t make much use of the ones he took, unless he has the whole lot. And Dad says he thinks that when the thief finds this out, he’ll try to steal the rest of the papers.’

‘Well, let him try!’ said Jenny. ‘I could hide them in a place where no thief would find them - if your Dad would let me have them. I shan’t tell you where!’

‘I’m afraid he might hide them up a chimney again, or some silly place like that,’ said Tinker, looking so worried that Jenny felt really worried too! ‘They’ve got to be hidden somewhere NOBODY would think of looking. And if Dad finds a place like that he’ll promptly forget all about it, and never be able to find them again! But a thief might find them - he’d know ALL the places to look in.’

'Let’s go up to the tower room, and clear up the mess that the spilt ink made, and see if your father has taken his precious papers, and hidden them somewhere there,’ said Jenny. ‘It would be just like him to hide them in the very room that the thief went to last night! Up the ladder, in at the window - left wide open, I’ve no doubt - snatched up every paper he could see, the rogue, and then raced down the ladder again!’

‘Come on up to the tower, then,’ said Tinker. ‘I only hope Dad isn’t there!’

‘He’s just crossing the courtyard, look,’ said Jenny, leaning out of the window. ‘See, there he is - carrying something under his arm.’

‘His morning newspapers,’ said Tinker. ‘It looks as if he’s going to have a jolly good read, doesn’t it? Oh dear, I do hope all this won’t be printed in the newspapers - it would bring hordes of people down here again. Do you remember how awful it was last time, Jenny - people even walked over the flower-beds!’

‘Hoo - some people like to poke their noses into everything!’ said Jenny. ‘I don’t mind telling you that I emptied my dirty washing-water out of the window on to a few of them - quite by mistake, of course - how was I to know they were out there, staring up and down?’

Tinker gave a shout of laughter. ‘I wish I’d seen that!’ he said. ‘Oh Jenny - if people come poking their noses into Dad’s business again, DO let’s empty water on their silly heads! Come on, Jenny - let’s go up to the tower room now Dad’s out of the way. Quick!’

They were soon out in the courtyard, and as they crossed it, Jenny stopped and looked hard at the ground.

‘What are you looking for?’ asked Tinker.

‘Just to see if there are any marks that might have been made by someone dragging a ladder across,’ said Jenny. ‘I heard a funny slithering sound, you know - but it didn’t sound like a ladder being dragged across.’

The two of them looked all over the courtyard, but could see no marks there that could possibly have been made by a ladder.

‘Funny,’ said Jenny. ‘It worries me, that slithery sound.’ She looked up at the tall, steep wall of the tower. It was made of flint-stones of all shapes and sizes, the kind found in the country-side round about Kirrin and Big Hollow.

‘Well, I suppose a cat might climb up,’ said Jenny, doubtfully. ‘But not a man. He’d slip sooner or later. It would be far too dangerous. I doubt if even a cat would get far.’

‘And yet you say you thought you saw someone up the tower-wall!’ said Tinker. ‘Go on, Jenny - it must have been the shadow of a passing cloud that you saw! Look up this wall - now can you imagine ANYONE climbing up it at night, when it was dark?’

Jenny stared up. ‘No - you’re right. Only a madman would even try. Well, my eyes must have played me up, then, when I looked out last night - but I really did think I saw a dark shadow climbing up the tower-wall. Still, it’s easy to be mistaken at night. And I don’t believe there was a ladder, either! There would be marks on the paving-stones of the courtyard if there had been a ladder. Oh well - let’s hurry on up to the tower room before your Dad decides to go back to it again!’

They went up the spiral stairway. All the doors were unlocked, so it was plain that the Professor was going to come back again after he had read his papers.

‘All the same - he shouldn’t leave the doors unlocked, even for a minute!’ said Jenny. ‘Well, here we are - just look at the ink-splashes everywhere - and that dear little clock that kept such good time is gone. Now what would the thief want with a clock, I’d like to know?’

‘It would be small and neat enough to pop into his pocket,’ said Tinker. ‘If he was dishonest enough to steal Dad’s papers, he would certainly not say no to a nice little clock like that! He’s probably taken other things too!’

They went right into the room, and Jenny at once gave a loud exclamation. LOOK! Aren’t those some of the papers your father was working on - on the table there? All covered with tiny figures?’

Tinker looked closely at them. ‘Yes - they’re his very latest papers. He showed me them the other day. I remember this diagram. Jenny - how COULD he leave them on the table with the door unlocked this morning - when only last night the thief was here! How could he? He said he was going to hide them away so carefully, because, if the thief found them, he could use them with the other papers that were stolen - but as long as the thief only had half of them, they wouldn’t be much use - and now he’s forgotten all about hiding them, after all!’

‘Look now, Tinker - let’s hide them away ourselves,’ said Jenny, ‘and not tell him where they are. These thieves will have another try for them, no doubt about that. Let’s think of some place where they’d be absolutely safe.’

‘I know!’ said Tinker. ‘We could hide them on Kirrin Island! Somewhere in the old ruined castle! NOBODY would guess they were there.’

‘Now that’s a fine idea!’ said Jenny. ‘I’d be glad to think they were out of the house.’ She gathered up the papers quickly. ‘Here you are. You’d better tell Julian and the others, and go across to the island with them as soon as you can. My, what a relief to think they’ll be well away from here. I’ll be able to sleep soundly in my bed at nights then!’

Tinker stuffed the precious papers under his coat, and he and Jenny ran at top speed down the spiral stairway. They saw the Professor not far off, and he turned and hailed them. ‘Tinker! Jenny! I know what you’re going to ask me! You want to know where I’ve hidden those papers of mine. Come here and I’ll whisper!’

Not knowing quite what to say, the two went rather guiltily over to Tinker’s father. He whispered loudly, ‘I’ve wrapped them up, and put them under the coal at the back of the coal-cellar - right at the very back!’

‘And a fine mess you’ve made of your trousers, sir,’ said Jenny, disgusted. ‘And good gracious - you must have sat down in the coal yourself! You look a right mess. Come along and let me brush you down. Not indoors though, or the place will be thick with coal-dust!’

‘Don’t you think it was a good hiding-place, Jenny?’ asked the Professor. ‘Ha - you thought I’d forget to hide them, didn’t you?’

He went off, looking very pleased with himself. Jenny chuckled in delight. ‘Dear old Professor! He’s hidden all his newspapers there, but not a single one of his own precious papers. And now whatever shall we tell him when he wants the morning papers? Tinker, you cycle out to the paper-shop and get another lot. Land-snakes - what it is to have a brainy man in the house? Whatever will he do next!’