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Chapter five

Following the Thief

Three of the watchers ran into the square waving their arms.

This was the sign. Mr Green was leaving the cafe!

‘Let’s go’ the Captain cried, and he, Emil and three other boys ran back to Paul. He was waiting for them in the doorway of the house.

The thief was standing outside the cafe, buying a newspaper. He opened the newspaper and began to read.

‘He’s looking over the top of the newspaper. He wants to see if anyone’s watching him,’ said Emil.

‘I watched him very carefully,’ said Paul, ‘and he didn’t look at me once. He just continued eating.’

The thief put the newspaper in his pocket and looked around him. A taxi came past. He shouted and it stopped. He got in, shut the door, and the taxi drove away.

The boys got into another taxi.

‘Follow that taxi,’ Paul said to the driver. ‘Follow it carefully, please. The man inside mustn’t see us. We’re following him.’

‘What’s the matter?’ the taxi driver asked.

‘It’s a secret,’ Paul said. ‘The man’s done something wrong.’

‘All right, but have you got any money?’

‘Of course!’

They drove through the streets. A few people looked surprised when they saw so many boys in one taxi.

‘Down, down’ Paul said in a low voice. The boys threw themselves on the floor of the taxi.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked the Captain.

‘The traffic lights are red. We can’t move until they change. The other taxi’s stopped too, and we’re just behind it. If the man turns round, he’ll see us.’

The driver looked round at the boys and began to laugh. Then the lights changed to green. The boys got off the floor and sat in their seats again.

‘I hope this isn’t going to be a long journey,’ said the Captain. He was thinking about the money.

But soon the first taxi stopped in a square at the door of a hotel. The thief got out, paid the driver and went into the hotel.

‘Follow him, Paul,’ said the Captain. ‘If the hotel has another door, he’ll escape.’

Paul ran after the thief and the other boys got out of the taxi. Emil paid the driver. Then they followed the Captain through a gateway and into a large courtyard behind a cinema. The Captain sent a boy called Tony after Paul.

‘I hope the thief stays in that hotel,’ Emil said. ‘We can watch him easily from here. This courtyard is a wonderful place for our head office.’

‘Yes, and it’s near the trams and the post office telephones, too,’ the Captain agreed.

He sat on a seat in the courtyard. He looked very serious, like someone who was planning a war.

Paul came back.

‘The thief took a room in the hotel,’ he said, excitedly. ‘And there’s only one way out. I checked. We’ve got him.’

‘Is Tony watching the hotel?’ the Captain asked.

‘Of course.’

The Captain gave a boy called Walter some money. ‘Phone Little Tuesday,’ he said.

Walter ran to the post office.

‘Is that you, Tuesday?’

‘Speaking,’ Little Tuesday replied.

‘Secret word: “Emil”. Walter speaking. The thief is staying at the West End Hotel, Princess Square. Our head office is in the courtyard behind the West End Cinema.’

Little Tuesday wrote everything down very carefully, and then Walter told him about the taxi journey.

‘Why can’t I be there with you?’ Little Tuesday said. He felt sad and lonely, sitting by the telephone.

‘Have any of the others phoned you?’

‘No.’

‘OK. Goodbye, for now.’

Walter went back to the courtyard. It was getting late.

‘I’m sure we won’t catch him today,’ said Paul.

The boys thought deeply for some time. The sky was growing dark. They weren’t sure what to do next.

Suddenly they heard a bell. It was coming nearer. A shining new bicycle came into the courtyard. A girl was riding it, and behind her was Robert.

Emil jumped up and said: ‘That’s my cousin, Polly.’

The Captain offered Polly his seat and she sat down.

‘Well, Emil,’ Polly began. ‘We were just going to the station to meet the next train from Newton. Then your friend Robert arrived with the letter. You have some very nice friends.’

Robert looked pleased.

‘And now,’ Polly continued, ‘Father and Mother and Grandmother are probably asking where I am. I didn’t tell them anything. I just left the house with Robert.

We phoned your office and spoke to Little Tuesday. And so here we are. But I must go back home now.’

‘Were the family angry with me?’ asked Emil.

‘No. Grandmother just talked and talked until Father and Mother told her to be quiet.’ Polly stood up. ‘I hope you catch your thief tomorrow. Who’s your chief detective?’

‘This boy,’ said Emil. ‘He’s the Captain.’

‘I’m pleased to meet a real detective,’ said Polly.

The Captain looked proud of himself.

‘And now I must go,’ Polly said. ‘I’ll come back in the morning. Goodbye.’

Polly rang the bell on her bicycle and rode away.

Time passed slowly.

Emil went to see Walter and Tony, the two boys who were guarding the hotel. Then he went to the hotel, looked in and went back to the courtyard.

‘We can’t go home,’ he said. ‘Someone should stay and watch for us. There’s a boy in the hotel who works in the lift. Let’s speak to him. Perhaps he’ll help us.’

‘That’s a good idea,’ said the Captain. ‘You’re not as silly as most people from the country.’

‘City people don’t know everything,’ Emil replied. He felt a little angry.

The other boys didn’t want the thief to see Emil. So Paul went to speak to the lift boy.

Emil and the Captain went out of the courtyard. They stood by the gateway eating bread and butter.

It was nearly night time. Electric lights shone everywhere. The noise of trams, bicycles and taxis seemed even louder now. There was dance music coming from the West End Hotel. Crowds of people were going into the cinema.

‘The city is wonderful, of course,’ Emil said, ‘but I wouldn’t like to live here all the time. Newton is much smaller, but it’s big enough for me. There’s too much noise here.’

‘I like the city,’ said the Captain. ‘And if you live here, you don’t notice the noise.’

About an hour later, Peter and a number of other boys came into the courtyard. They were carrying a lot of food.

The Captain was very angry. ‘What are you doing here?’ he shouted. ‘I told you to stay in the square.’

‘Don’t shout,’ said Peter. ‘We want to know what’s happening here.’

‘John didn’t come from Little Tuesday’s house with any news,’ said Gerald. ‘So we thought something was wrong. That’s why we came.’

‘How many boys are in the square?’ asked the Captain.

‘Three or four,’ said one of the boys.

‘No, I think there are only two,’ said another.

‘That’s enough’ shouted the Captain. ‘Is there anyone in the square?’

‘Stop shouting,’ said Peter. ‘You can’t tell us what to do.’

‘I don’t think you should be a detective,’ said the Captain. ‘We don’t want you.’

Peter said some rude words and went away.

A boy came through the gateway. He was dressed in green and there was a green cap on his head.

‘Is that the lift boy?’ asked the Captain. Nobody answered.

The boy came towards them. Suddenly a horn sounded and the boy in green began to laugh. It was Paul.

‘Don’t you know me?’ he asked.

Everyone laughed. A window above the courtyard opened and someone shouted: ‘Be quiet down there!’

The Captain looked serious. ‘We mustn’t make a noise,’ he said. ‘Come here, Paul. Why are you dressed like that?’

‘Well, I went to the hotel,’ Paul began, ‘and the lift boy was standing by the lift. I waved and he came over to me. I told him everything about Emil and the thief. He wanted to help, so he gave me some of his clothes.

“People will think you’re another lift boy,” he said. “You can watch the thief. He won’t know who you really are.” And that’s why I’m wearing these clothes.’

‘But what about the hotel doorman?’ Emil asked.

‘The lift boy told him about us,’ replied Paul. ‘The hotel doorman is the lift boy’s father. So it’s OK. Now I can stay there all night. And I can take one of you with me, too. The thief is in room 61.

I went up and stood near the door in these clothes and watched. After about half an hour, he came out and went to the toilet at the end of the corridor.

When he came back, I stepped in front of him. “Is there anything I can do for you, sir?” I asked. “Oh yes,” he said. “Tell them to call me at eight o’clock tomorrow morning. Don’t forget.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. Then he went back into his room.’

The Captain was very pleased and thanked Paul. Emil thanked him, too. Now everyone was very excited about the next day. They were all thinking the same thing: “Tomorrow we’ll catch the thief.”

‘We can’t do anything more tonight,’ said the Captain. ‘You can all go home to bed. But you must be back here early tomorrow morning.

And try to bring some more money. I’ll phone Little Tuesday now, and tell him to send the others home.’

‘I’ll go to the hotel with Paul,’ Emil said.

Soon everyone was asleep. Most of the boys were in their beds at home, but not all of them.

Paul and Emil were sleeping in a room at the West End Hotel, and Little Tuesday was asleep in his father’s chair next to the telephone. He was dreaming of hundreds of telephone calls.

Sometime later, Little Tuesday’s father and mother came home. They were surprised to find him asleep in a chair.

His mother carried him up the stairs. ‘Secret word: “Emil”, secret word: “Emil”,’ Little Tuesday said in his sleep.

Of course, his mother didn’t understand.