The Wind on the Moon (12 page)

‘I don't think so,' said Dinah.

‘A pity,' said Mr. Parker, ‘because an egg stain would be a very good clue. Well, I must go in and think about this new development. Hard thinking will be necessary before we solve this most baffling of all my cases. There's no rest for a detective, just hard work and hard thinking.'

Taking a good look at the lintel of the door, Mr. Parker carefully lowered his head and disappeared from view. A few minutes later Dinah and Dorinda heard a familiar noise:
rrip, rrip, rrip
, and then a long shrill whistle.

‘That's what he calls thinking,' said Dinah.

‘Father used to call it meditating,' said Dorinda.

‘Father didn't
snore
,' said Dinah.

‘Well, not loudly,' said Dorinda. ‘Poor Father, I wonder where he is now?'

‘I hope he isn't in danger,' said Dinah.

In the afternoon, when the animals went into the park, there was a great deal of excited conversation, for the news had already gone round that Bendigo had been out all night and was now in solitary confinement.

Nearly everybody took it for granted that the Grizzly Bear was the criminal, and the Ant-eater, a Toucan, and a Sacred Baboon were all saying loudly, and repeating it to anyone who would listen, that from the very beginning they had been sure he was the thief.

‘
Quite
sure,' said the Toucan.

‘And if anyone had ever cared to ask my opinion, I would have had no hesitation in saying so,' added the Ant-eater.

‘In consequence of which,' exclaimed the Sacred Baboon, ‘we should all have been saved a great deal of trouble and anxiety.'

A rather gloomy-looking Reindeer was telling two Kinkajous that a person's life depended entirely on a good upbringing, and nowadays, he thought, parents weren't nearly strict enough with their children. ‘If Bendigo's father and mother,' he said, ‘had been as strict and careful as my parents were, I'm sure he wouldn't be in prison to-day. Let this be a lesson to you young people!' And the Kinkajous were so impressed they began to cry.

A Black Bear from the Himalaya, with two Pandas and a Malayan Honey-bear, were very angry because a member of their family had brought such disgrace upon their honourable name.
Bear
, they said, was one of the noblest names in the world, and in all their long experience, they affirmed, they had never even heard of a Bear committing theft before. It just showed what the world was coming to.

Lady Lil, however, was delighted by the news. She was walking up and down with a Dancing Cassowary who was a friend of hers, and telling her what a relief it was to feel safe. ‘So long as I knew there was a thief at liberty in the zoo,' she said, ‘I should never have had the heart to lay another egg. Never! What was the use of laying eggs simply to have them stolen? All that trouble, and no reward but sorrow! Never again: that's what I said to Bobadil, and I meant it too. But
now
I'm going to lay another just as soon as ever I can.'

‘How brave you are!' said the Dancing Cassowary. ‘I do admire you!'

One of the very few animals who refused to believe in Bendigo's guilt was Marie Louise the Llama. She was talking to a group that consisted of an Antelope, a Fallow Deer, a young Dromedary, a Zebra, and a Gnu. Dinah and Dorinda were there as well. Marie Louise said she had known Bendigo for a long time, and throughout their acquaintance he had always behaved towards her with perfect courtesy and consideration.

‘Bendigo is a gentleman,' she said, ‘and a gentleman
cannot
be a thief. No, indeed. I have my own theory as to the criminal, but I don't suppose that my poor opinion would interest anybody.'

‘Pooh, pooh!' said the Gnu. ‘Tell us, do!'

‘Well,' said Marie Louise, ‘I lived for a long time in France, as I daresay you know. I was in a very select private zoo near Lyons, and I soon learnt to understand the language of the country.—Such charming people, the French! They have lovely manners, rather like Sir Lankester's, I always think.—Well, whenever there is a crime in France, the policemen always say “Cherchez la femme.“ And that means\??\—'

‘I know,' said Dinah. ‘It means: Find the lady.'

‘Why do they want to do that?' asked the Antelope.

‘I never bothered to enquire,' said Marie Louise in a haughty voice. She was annoyed because Dinah also knew French.

‘Perhaps,' said Dorinda, ‘it's because there are more ladies in the world than men, and so they are easier to find.'

‘That's a good reason,' said the Zebra.

‘But who,' asked the young Dromedary, ‘is the lady whom you suspect?'

‘Ah, who?' said the Gnu.

‘Lady Lemon, Sir Lankester's wife,' said Marie Louise in her most impressive manner. ‘And my reason is this: one day, rather more than a week ago, she and Sir Lankester stopped outside my cage and had a short but far from agreeable conversation. She was grumbling. She grumbles a great deal, though why a woman who is married to so charming, sensitive, handsome, exquisite a man as Sir Lankester should have
any
cause for complaint, I simply cannot think. But there you are! Some people never know when they're well off. And that morning Lady Lemon was complaining bitterly about eggs. About the boiled eggs they often have for breakfast. They were too small, she said, and they seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. What she wanted, she said, in a very brutal way, was an egg with something in it.'

‘Coo!' said the Gnu.

‘You all see the significance of that?' asked Marie Louise.

‘I don't,' said the Fallow Deer.

‘It means,' said Marie Louise, ‘that she wanted bigger eggs. Much bigger eggs. And what is the biggest of all eggs? An ostrich's egg! Therefore
that
is what she wanted! And if she wanted it enough, being the sort of woman she is, she would take it. And so, in all probability, she is the thief.'

‘An interesting view,' said the Gnu. ‘It may be true.'

The other animals were also impressed by Marie Louise's theory.

Mr. Parker, who had joined the group, enquired, ‘Have you ever seen egg stains on her chest?'

‘A lady's chest,' said Marie Louise, ‘is
never
egg-stained.'

‘What a pity!' said Mr. Parker. ‘Because an egg stain would be a very useful clue.' And lowering his head he carefully examined the chests of all the animals there.

While he was doing this, Dinah whispered to Dorinda, ‘Let us go and talk to the Golden Puma and the Silver Falcon.'

They said good-bye to Marie Louise, the Antelope, the Fallow Deer, the young Dromedary, the Zebra, the Gnu—‘Adieu,' said the Gnu—and to Mr. Parker. Then, leaping twenty feet at a time, they crossed the park and quickly came to the cages where the Golden Puma and the Silver Falcon lived.

‘Hail!' cried the Falcon.

‘Welcome,' said the Golden Puma. ‘Tell us your news.'

‘We've got the key of the cages,' said Dinah and Dorinda in one voice.

Then the Falcon flew down from his perch and thrust his head between the bars, and the Puma pressed her soft muzzle hard against the railings of her cage, and both stared longingly at the key which Dinah so proudly showed them.

‘Freedom! To be free in the windy, silvery sky!' cried the Falcon. ‘Ah, let me out, now, before another minute goes to waste!'

‘Freedom!' purred the Golden Puma. ‘To go freely on green turf, among the shadows of great trees! Ah, let me out! I am thirsty for freedom.'

‘But if we let you out of your cage,' said Dinah to the Puma. ‘you will still be in the zoo. You can't get out of the zoo unless we find some way of getting you out. And we can't help you to get out until we become human children again, when we shall be able to ask the gate-keeper to open the gates.'

‘And we can't become human children again,' said Dorinda, ‘unless we find Mrs. Grimble's bottle that Dinah lost somewhere between here and Mid-meddlecum, and drink some more of the magic draught.'

‘Let me out,' cried the Silver Falcon, ‘and I shall find your bottle. I have eyes that can see a heron standing stilly in the shadow of a rock five miles away. I can see the eyes of a field-mouse shining in the ling when I am so high above that you could see me only as a mote in the sky. I can see fish moving on the bottom of the sea, and the vole running in tunnels of the heather. Give me freedom to mount the sky, and from a great height I shall search for ten miles around and find your bottle in less than two days from now.'

‘He is right,' said the Puma. ‘Give him his freedom first, and he will help us all. I must be patient.'

‘You won't fly away altogether?' asked Dorinda anxiously.

The Falcon, his eyes gleaming, whispered fiercely, ‘Do you doubt my word?'

‘No!' cried Dorinda. ‘I'm sorry!'

‘In all the history of our race, a Greenland Falcon has never yet broken faith.'

‘Of course we trust you,' said Dinah, and looking round to make sure that no one was watching them, she unlocked the Falcon's cage.

He flew out, straight to her shoulder, and spreading his wings about her head he murmured, ‘I am your friend and your brother from now until the day of my death.' Then, very softly for so great a bird, he kissed her.

‘Me too!' exclaimed Dorinda, and the Falcon, with a leap into the air, came gently down upon her shoulder and kissed her also.

Then, turning to the Puma, he said, ‘You have no fear that I may desert you?'

‘None,' said the Puma. ‘Go your way into the sky, and I shall wait for your return. But remember that every hour I wait is an hour of bitter hunger for my liberty.'

‘I shall remember,' said the Falcon, and with a great scream of triumph he rose into the air and climbed the breezy sky so swiftly that in less than a minute he was out of sight.

‘Go now,' said the Puma to Dinah and Dorinda. ‘It is near the time when you must be back in your cages, and you should not be found here when his cage is discovered empty. Take care of the key.'

‘You will be lonely now,' said Dinah.

‘I shall not be very happy,' said the Puma, ‘but you and the Falcon will return before long. Go quickly now—and take care of the key!'

The following day, which was a Wednesday, they saw nothing of the Falcon, but all the animals were very much excited when it was learnt that he had escaped, and Sir Lankester and Mr. Plum had a long and heated argument about the proper way to lock a cage.

Mr. Plum said again that he had been locking cages for eighteen years, and if he didn't know how to do it, then nobody did. Sir Lankester said that he wanted a better explanation than that, and Mr. Plum said that he would have to find it for himself. Sir Lankester then said that Mr. Plum was being impertinent, and Mr. Plum replied that he was so worried he didn't know whether he was on his head or his heels. Sir Lankester admitted that he felt exactly the same, and for the rest of the day they walked about looking quite bewildered, and muttering.

In the afternoon, when most of the animals were at liberty, Sir Lankester was amazed to find Mr. Parker lying flat on the ground in front of the Python's cage. The Python, as usual, was fast asleep, but Mr. Parker, his long neck stretched towards the cage, was squirming and wriggling in the most extraordinary way.

‘Whatever are you doing?' exclaimed Sir Lankester. ‘Are you ill?'

Mr. Parker looked round, and was deeply embarrassed. As a detective, of course, he had often been compelled to do the most unusual things, but he had always hated being seen at work, and now he would certainly have blushed if giraffes were able to behave in such a way. He felt hot all over, and couldn't think what to do. Then he had a brilliant idea. He raised his body about three feet from the ground, and slowly lowered it. Then raised it again, and lowered it again. Up and down, as if he were doing a physical exercise to strengthen his legs and his chest. Then rising quickly to his feet, he galloped away, leaving Sir Lankester looking more bewildered than ever.

Later, when they all returned to their cages, Mr. Parker told Dinah and Dorinda what had happened, and boasted about his cleverness in concealing from Sir Lankester what he had really been doing.

‘But what were you doing?' asked Dinah.

‘I was trying to look at the Python's chest,' said Mr. Parker.

‘Why?'

‘To see if it was egg-stained, of course. I have now examined the chest of every animal in the zoo except the Python and the Alligator. But to look at their chests is very, very difficult indeed, especially if they don't want to help you.'

‘And have you found any egg stains?' asked Dorinda.

‘None,' said Mr. Parker with a sigh. ‘Not a single stain. The mystery remains as baffling as ever.'

‘I wonder,' said Dinah to Dorinda when they were going to bed that night, ‘if the Falcon will come to wake us, very early in the morning, and say that he has found Mrs. Grimble's bottle?'