"Meet here again tomorrow," said Fatty in a gloomy voice. "Not that we can do much. We'll all think hard in bed tonight and see if we can possibly find some way out of this problem."
Nobody had got any good idea when they met the next morning — except Bets. And she hardly liked to mention her idea, because she thought the others would laugh at it.
"Anyone got anything to say?" asked Fatty.
"Well," said Bets, "I did get a sort of an idea about one of our clues."
"What?" said Fatty.
"You know that smell we smelt — turpentine," said Bets. "It was in the cage this time, and last time too. It must mean something — it must belong to the mystery somehow, mustn't it? So it must be a real clue, and we ought to follow it up."
"How?" said Pip, rather scornfully.
"Well, we could go and hunt about next door to find where the bottle of turps is kept or something like that," said Bets. "I don't say it will help; but after all, if it's a clue, we might find out something."
"Bets is right," said Fatty. "She really is. We did smell turps both times — and of course we ought to go and look to see if we can find where it's kept. Who knows, we might fine other clues then!"
"Let's go now, then," said Pip. "No time like the present! Come on. Look out for Tupping though. He won't like us snooping about."