"W—something—X," said Larry, who was good at crosswords, with their missing letters. "W—A—X it might be that."
And then exactly the same thought struck all the Find-Outers at the same moment.
"WAXworks! That's what the word was!"
They stared at one another in the greatest excitement. Waxworks! Were the pearls hidden somewhere in the Waxworks Hall? It was a very likely place, a place that all the gang knew well. And Number Three had kept looking in at the door that afternoon.
"He kept peeping in—but he couldn't go and get the pearls, because there were too many people there!" said Fatty. "Golly, we've got the idea now! Now we've only got to go there and hunt, and we'll find the pearls somewhere—in the cupboard, perhaps, or under a floorboard."
"Let's go and look for them straightaway," said Larry, getting up. "Come on."
"We can't very well, under the nose of that red-haired boy," said Fatty. "Still, we'll go down to the Hall anyway." They set off and soon came to the Fair again.
"There's the red-headed boy over there—he's gone to his tea or something," said Bets, pointing. "Has he left the Hall empty for once?"
They hurried to see. There was a badly written notice stuck on the locked door. "Gone for tea. Back soon."
"Aha!" said Fatty, his eyes gleaming. "This couldn't be better for us. We'll get in at that window, Larry. It's sure to be open still."