"Yes," said Larry. "You see - Mr. Goon, the policeman here, doesn't like us, and has complained to our parents about some things we did. Well - I dare say some of them were pretty awful, really - but we did them in a good cause. I mean - we wanted to find out who burnt down Mr. Hick's cottage."
"And now that you have found out, you have got to keep quiet about it," said the man, puffing away. "Most annoying for you. Tell me more about it. As I say - I'm a bit of a Find-Outer too, in my way - so I enjoy talking over a mystery as man to man, if you see what I mean."
The children looked at the big, burly fellow on the bank. His keen eyes twinkled at them, and his big hand patted Buster. Larry looked round at the others.
"I think we might as well tell him everything, don't you?" said Larry. They nodded. They all trusted the big fisherman, and somehow knew that their secrets were safe with him.
So Larry, interrupted sometimes by Daisy, Fatty and Pip, told the whole story of the Find-Outers, and what they had discovered. The big man listened keenly, sometimes putting in a question, nodding His head every now and again.
"Smart boy, you," he said to Fatty, when Larry came to the bit about how Mr. Hick had given himself away by saying that he had seen the seven Tempests on the
evening of the fire. Fatty went red with pleasure, and Bets squeezed his hand.
The story was finished at last. The big man knocked out His pipe and looked round.
"An extremely good piece of work, if I may say so," he said, beaming round. "I congratulate the Five Find-Outers - and Dog! And - I think I can help you a bit."
"How?" asked Larry.