He flicked it open, and the children bent to see what he had printed there, in beautiful, neat letters:
“BEST CHRISTMAS WISHES FROM THE FIVE FIND-OUTERS - AND DOG.”
“That’s fine,” said Pip. “Golly, we’ve had some fun, haven’t we, being the Find-Outers? I hope we’ll have some more mysteries to solve.”
“We’ve solved the Mystery of the Burnt Cottage and the Mystery of the Disappearing Cat,” said Daisy. “I wonder what our next mystery will be. Do you think we shall have a mystery these hols?”
“Shouldn’t be surprised,” said Fatty. “Any one seen old Clear-Orf yet?”
Clear-Orf was the village policeman Mr. Goon, detested by the children. He in turn detested them, especially as twice they had managed to solve problems before he himself had.
No one had seen Mr. Goon. Nobody particularly wanted to. He was not an amiable person at all, with his fat red face and bulging frog-eyes.
“We’d better all sign this card,” said Fatty, producing a very fine fountain pen. Fatty always had the best of everything, and far too much pocket-money. However, he was always willing to share this, so nobody minded.
“Eldest first,” said Fatty, so Larry took the pen. He was thirteen. He signed his name neatly, “Laurence Daykin.”
“I’m next,” said Fatty. “I’m thirteen next week. You’re not thirteen until the New Year, Pip.”