Pip and Bets were to go to tea with Larry and Daisy that afternoon, so they all went up the lane together, Fatty and Buster too. Pip had a lot to tell.
"Luke hasn't turned up today," he said. "It's funny, isn't it, because Lady Candling hasn't given him notice. And I say, I wonder why he never told us about Jake."
"I suppose — I suppose he couldn't possibly have told Jake to come to the cat-house yesterday, and he couldn't possibly have given him the cat, could he?" said Larry.
"I mean — I know we think Luke didn't do it — but, well, what do you others think?"
For the first time a small doubt about Luke came into the children's minds. He hadn't told them about Jake. And he was a man they would have liked to hear about if he lived with a circus. And after all, Luke had been the only one near the cat-house during the whole of that hour.
"Well, I still don't believe it was Luke or his friend Jake," said Bets stoutly. "So there!"
"Nor do I," said Daisy. "But I wish everything wasn't so dreadfully puzzling."
"We were much better find-outers last time," said Larry gloomily. "Think of the clues and things we found, and all the Suspects we questioned."
"Well," said Pip, "I can tell you this — all the Suspects on our list can be crossed off now. I was only about half an hour in next door, but I found out enough to know that not one of the people on our list could have stolen Dark Queen."
"How do you know?" asked Fatty.
"Well, Lady Candling had quite a big party," said Pip, "and it stands to reason she couldn't leave a big party and go off to steal her own cat in the middle of it. The cook and parlourmaid were very busy all the time during the tea-hour, so that rules them out too. Miss Tremble had to help as well, and I'm sure Lady Candling would have been very suspicious if she'd gone off for ten minutes or so to steal the cat!"
"Go on, Pip," said Fatty. "Where's your list of Suspects, Larry? Let's cross them off one by one."
"And you can cross off Miss Harmer," said Pip, "because she went home yesterday and her home is at Langston, miles away. And look, here's the return-half she gave me, because the collector didn't take it when she got back. So we can cross her off too."
"That's all the Suspects crossed off — except Luke," said Larry. "Golly! it does look as if it might have been a friend of Luke's, doesn't it — someone who came slipping up, winked at Luke, took the cat and went off, trusting to Luke not to give him away. I wish we could find Luke and question him about Jake."
"I know where Luke is — I bet I know!" said Pip. "I bet he's gone to the circus — and he's with his friend Jake! I'll bet he'll go off with the circus, too, when it moves away!"
Everyone felt certain that Pip was right Of course that was where Luke would be.
"Look here, let's get out our bikes after tea and ride over to Farring," said Fatty. "We'll soon find the circus-tents, and if Luke's there we'll find him too!"
"Good idea!" said everyone, brightening up at the thought of doing something exciting. "Come on, let's hurry up over tea and go."
Mrs. Daykin (Larry's mother and Daisy's) was astonished to find the children galloping so fast through the lovely tea she had provided for them. She looked at them in astonishment.
"Are you terribly hungry, or just in a hurry?" she asked. "Didn't any of you have any dinner?"
"We're just in a hurry, Mrs. Daykin, that's all," said Fatty, as politely as he could with his mouth full. "We want to go for a bike-ride after tea."
"To Farring," put in Bets. She got two hard nudges at once, one from Pip and one from Larry. They were both afraid she would say too much.
"Why to Farring?" said Mrs. Daykin, surprised. She didn't know the circus was there. "It's not a very pretty place."
"Well, we thought it would be quite a nice ride there and back," said Larry. "We'd better be going now. We'll not be late home, Mother."
Fatty had to go and get his bicycle, and so had Bets and Pip. To her joy Bets was allowed to come, as Farring was not a great distance away. The children rode off gaily.
Soon, in front of them, they saw another bicyclist — a big burly one, dressed in dark blue.
"Golly! There's old Clear-Orf!" said Pip. "Don't catch him up, anyone. He may turn off somewhere, and then we can get on quickly on our way to Farring."
But Clear-Orf took the way to Farring too! "I say! I hope he isn't going to see Jake as well," said Fatty in dismay. "Do you suppose he got out of Luke that he had a circus friend? Blow! We can't let Clear-Orf get ahead of us like this. After all, Jake may be a fine big Clue."
Then a lovely thing happened. Mr. Goon got a puncture! He rode over a piece of glass, and his back tyre went flat quite suddenly. The big policeman bumped along the road, gave a loud and angry exclamation, and got off.
He took his bike to the side of the road and got out a puncture-mending outfit. The children, grinning, rode quickly by. Fatty waved to him.
"Evening, Mr. Goon! Sorry to see you are in trouble!"
The policeman looked up in surprise that turned to annoyance when he saw the five children cycling quickly on the way to Farring. He began to mend his inner tube. The children simply sped along, knowing that they had at least a quarter of an hour before Clear-Orf could catch them up.
"There's the circus-tents," said Bets, as they topped a hill and rode down. "And look at the cages, too — and the gay caravans. Oh, I do think it looks exciting!"
It was exciting. A big elephant was tethered by a hind leg to a stout tree. Five tigers in a very strong cage roared for their dinner. Seven beautiful black horses were being ridden round the field by the grooms, who were giving them a little exercise.
Smoke rose from the chimneys of the gay caravans, and all kinds of exciting smells rose on the air.
"What's our plan?" said Larry, jumping off his bicycle and leaning it against the fence. "Do we hunt round for Luke, or do we ask for Jake?"
"We'll all go, except Bets," said Larry. "It can't matter us wandering separately round the field. I can see other children doing it too. But Bets had better stay and look after the bikes."
The others climbed over the fence and went in to the field. They separated and wandered about, waiting to meet someone they could ask about Jake.
It was Pip who found Jake. He had asked a cheeky little circus-girl if she knew where Jake was, and she had first put out her tongue at him, then called him an impolite name, and then pointed to where a big man was giving a pail of water to a horse.
Pip went across to him. The man looked up. "What do you want?" he said.
"I say," said Pip, "I'm looking for a boy I know, called Luke. I've got a message for him. Is he here?"
"Nope," said the man shortly. "Haven't seen him for weeks."
Pip was disappointed. "Oh," he said. "I did want to talk to him. You don't know his address, do you?"
"Nope," said the man again. "I don't give addresses to little busybodies. You go away and mind your own business."
Fatty came up when he saw Pip talking to the man. "Is this Jake?" he said to Pip. Pip nodded.
"But he says he hasn't seen Luke for weeks," said Pip.
"We're his friends," said Fatty earnestly. "Please believe us. We just want to talk to him."
"I've told you I don't know where he is," said the man. "Now you get out of this field; and just remember what I say, I haven't seen Luke for weeks."
Bets stood by the bicycles, watching the others wandering about the camp. She kept an eye open for old Clear-Orf, and hoped he wouldn't stop and ask her what she was doing there if he came by. She decided to creep through to the other side of the hedge, where she would be hidden from any passer-by.
So she crept through and settled herself comfortably there. She was near a bright-red caravan. She looked up at it, and saw something that gave her an enormous surprise. Somebody was peeping at her from behind the little lace curtain — and that somebody was Luke!