"And old Smellie says he only hid for a moment by the gate. But someone hid in the ditch!" said Fatty thoughtfully. "Let's go there, every one."
They went to the ditch. The nettles were rising up again
by this tame, but it was still easy to see where they had been flattened by some one. The children squeezed through the gap and went to look at the footprint on the space where the turf had been taken away. It was still there, but fainter now.
"You know," said Daisy suddenly, "You know, these footprints - the one here and the ones round about the stile - all point one way. They are coming towards the house, but not going away. Whoever hid in the ditch came across the fields to the house - but there are no footprints at all to show that he went back that way."
"He might have gone out of the front gate, silly," said Fatty. "Well, I must say I feel defeated today. Our clues don't tell us anything now - and all our Suspects seem to be innocent. I feel a bit tired of finding out things that lead us nowhere. Let's do something else today. Let's go for an all-day picnic."
"Oooh yes" said every one. "We'll go back for our bikes. We'll go to Buraham Beeches and have a lovely time."
Bets's mother would not allow her to go, because it was too far for an eight-year-old to ride. The little girl was very disappointed.
"I'd rather Bets didn't go for a picnic today anyway," said her mother. "She looks a bit pale. Leave Buster behind and let her go for a walk with him. She'll like that."
Bets did love taking Buster for walks, tat it hardly made up for missing a picnic. Fatty was very sorry for her when she stood at the gate waving to them as they went off on their bikes.
"I'll bring you back heaps of primroses!" he called. "Look after Buster, won't you?"