"Now," said Fatty, in glee, looking at the turps and the tin of paint, "now — who put the paint and turps down that hole — and WHY?"
A Hunt for a Smell!
The children were terribly excited. They had two really big clues, though quite how to fit them to the stolen cat they didn't know.
"What is turps used for?" asked Bets.
"Oh, to clean paint-brushes — to get paint-marks off things," said Larry. "It's quite clear that this paint and the turps are connected in some way.
Buster had stuffed his blunt nose into the hole, and a shower of earth covered everyone. The little dog at last came out backwards, and in his mouth he held a small paint-brush!
"Listen, there's Tupping yelling to Luke," said Fatty. "We'd better get over the wall, quick. Here, Larry, just help me to clear up round this hole. We don't want whoever hid these things to see that we've found them. It would warn him — or her — that we were after them."
The boys cleared up the mess quickly, whilst the two girls ran for the wall, and Daisy helped Bets over. Then the others came, with Buster. They got over just in time, for Tupping came along that way half a minute later, grumbling away to himself.
The children retired to their old summer-house with their Clues, and looked at them closely.
"One small bottle of turps, one small tin of light-brown paint, and one small, very old paint-brush," said Fatty. "And if we only knew how they had been used, why they had been used, and who had used them, we should have solved the unsolvable Mystery of the Disappearing Cat!"