The Wind on the Moon by Eric Linklater Page A

we knew that,’ said Mr. Plum, ‘we’d know a lot.’
    â€˜Are you sure that his door was locked?’
    â€˜I’ve been locking doors for eighteen years,’ said Mr. Plum, ‘and I’ve never made a mistake yet.’
    â€˜It’s a complete mystery,’ said Sir Lankester.
    Slowly they walked on to the next group of cages, and as soon as they were out of earshot Mr. Parker demanded excitedly, ‘What is it all about? What is the mystery now?’
    Dinah told him the whole story, and Mr. Parker’s great dark eyes grew so large with amazement that Dinah and Dorinda could see their whole reflection in them.
    â€˜Quickly, quickly!’ he exclaimed. ‘Get out your note-book. Write it all down. Write down C onspiracy to begin with. Do you know how to spell it? C– o –n–s–p. . . s – p . . .Well, call it a Plot. P– l – o – t , Plot.’
    â€˜I can spell Conspiracy, thank you,’ said Dinah, and wrote it down.
    â€˜It’s very bad manners to use a difficult word when a simple word will do just as well,’ said Mr. Parker. ‘And what is worse, you’ve interrupted my train of thought.’
    â€˜Oh, all right,’ said Dinah. ‘I’ll call it a Plot.’
    â€˜Good,’ said Mr. Parker. ‘Now write this: There is a Plot between Bendigo and Sir Bobadil. Therefore Bendigo is Sir Bobadil’s accomplice. A– c – c – m . . . No, that’s not right. A– c – u – m . . . Oh, call him a Partner. Therefore Bendigo is Sir Bobadil’s partner. Have you written that?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Dinah, and this time she didn’t argue, because she herself wasn’t quite sure how to spell accomplice .
    â€˜Alternatively,’ said Mr. Parker, ‘Sir Bobadil is Bendigo’s accomplice—or partner, as we have agreed to call it.’
    â€˜I’ve written that,’ said Dinah.
    â€˜Good,’ repeated Mr. Parker. ‘And what can we deduce from that?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ said Dinah.
    â€˜Neither do I,’ said Dorinda.
    â€˜Nor do I,’ added Mr. Parker after a minute or so of hard thinking. ‘It’s baffling, isn’t it? Very baffling indeed. But we have two suspects now instead of one,’ he went on more cheerfully, ‘and it’s always a good thing to have several suspects. Because if you’re disappointed in the first, you may still be lucky with the second.’
    Mr. Parker scratched his right ear with his right hind foot, and a new thought seemed to strike him. ‘Have you ever,’ he asked, ‘seen egg stains on Bendigo’s chest?’
    â€˜I don’t think so,’ said Dinah.
    â€˜A pity,’ said Mr. Parker, ‘because an egg stain would be a very good clue. Well, I must go in and think about this new development. Hard thinking will be necessary before we solve this most baffling of all my cases. There’s no rest for a detective, just hard work and hard thinking.’
    Taking a good look at the lintel of the door, Mr. Parker carefully lowered his head and disappeared from view. A few minutes later Dinah and Dorinda heard a familiar noise: rrip, rrip, rrip , and then a long shrill whistle.
    â€˜That’s what he calls thinking,’ said Dinah.
    â€˜Father used to call it meditating,’ said Dorinda.
    â€˜Father didn’t snore ,’ said Dinah.
    â€˜Well, not loudly,’ said Dorinda. ‘Poor Father, I wonder where he is now?’
    â€˜I hope he isn’t in danger,’ said Dinah.
    In the afternoon, when the animals went into the park, there was a great deal of excited conversation, for the news had already gone round that Bendigo had been out all night and was now in solitary confinement.
    Nearly everybody took it for granted that the Grizzly Bear was the criminal, and the Ant-eater, a Toucan, and a Sacred Baboon were all saying loudly,