Fatty gave a chuckle. He called Buster off and held him by the collar, standing politely aside whilst Mr. Goon pushed his way through the bushes, and then jumped down beside the water, expecting to find four frightened children and a very scared Luke.
Instead, to his awful horror and amazement, he found his Inspector! Mr. Goon simply could not believe his eyes. They always bulged out, but now they looked as if they were going to drop out. He stood and stared at Inspector Jenks and could not utter a word.
"Good afternoon, Goon," said the Inspector.
"G-g-g-g-g-g," began Goon, and then swallowed hastily. "G-g-g-g-good afternoon, sir, I d-d-d-didn't expect to see you here."
"I thought I heard you say you wanted to get your hands on me," said the Inspector. Goon swallowed hard again, loosened his collar with his finger, and then tried to smile.
"You will have your joke, sir," he said in a rather trembling voice. "I — er — I — expected to find somebody else. It's — it's a great surprise to see you here, sir."
"Well, these children have paid me the honour of consulting me about this little affair of the stolen cat," said the Inspector. "Sit down, Goon. It would be good to hear your version of the business. I suppose you haven't got very far with the case?"
"Well, sir — I've got a lot of clues, sir," said Mr. Goon eagerly, hoping to alter the Inspector's opinion of him. "I'd like your advice on them, sir, now you're here, sir."
He took a white envelope from his pocket and opened it. Out came the two cigar-ends, the blue button, the half hair-ribbon, the peppermint drop, and the brown shoe-lace. The Inspector stared at them in considerable astonishment.
"Are all these clues?" he asked at last.