"He should have let you out," said the Inspector shortly. "Very remiss of him. Not the kind of thing I expect from a police officer. Well, Frederick, three arrest were made—as you know—but the man on guard in the garden below escaped. And, most unfortunately, he appears to have escaped with the Castleton pearls!"
"But the papers said they were found in one of the arrested men's pockets!" said Fatty.
"We've got later news," said Inspector Jenks. "Those pearls were only cheap ones, bought by one of the men as a gift for his wife—or stolen from somewhere else probably. They're only worth a few pounds. The real pearls have gone."
"I see," said Fatty, and he cheered Up considerably. "So—the Mystery isn't quite over, sir. We've got to find out where the pearls are? Can you find the man who escaped, do you flunk? He might split, and tell where he put the pearls."
"We have got him," said the Inspector grimly. "The news came in ten minutes ago. But he hadn't got the pearls, and won't say where he's put them! But we happen to know that Number Three of the gang is usually the one who disposes of the stolen jewels—and its likely that this fellow we've just arrested has put the pearls in some agreed place, for Number Three, whoever he is, to fetch when all the hue and cry dies down."
"You don't know who Number Three is, do you sir?" asked Fatty.
"Haven't any idea," said the Inspector. "We more or less had our suspicions of the other four—but Number Three we've never been able to guess at. Now, Frederick, I'm not altogether pleased at the way you mixed yourself up in this, when I warned you not to, because it was dangerous—now you just see if you can't solve the rest of the Mystery, and find those pearls before Number Three does. There's no danger now—so you Five Find-Outers can go ahead."
"Yes, sir," said Fatty, looking rather subdued. "Well do our best. We've got just a few things to go on. I'll work them out and see what can be done. Thanks for giving us a chance to solve the Mystery of the Missing Pearls! Good-bye, sir!"
Number Three Again.
Fatty went straight to Pip's. He felt sure he would find the rest of the Find-Outers there, waiting for him. They were outside the summer-house, making Larry tell them over and over again all that had happened.