Larry went into the study. He had a torch with him, and he shone it round the untidy room. There were papers everywhere! Papers and books on the desk, papers and books on the floor and on the chairs. There were books in the bookcases that lined the wall, and books on the mantelpiece. It was quite plain that Mr. Smellie was a very learned man!
Larry began to hunt for the shoes he hoped to find. He pulled out a few books from each
shelf in the bookcase and ran his hand behind. But there was nothing there. He looked under the piles of paper everywhere but he found no shoes.
Fatty was outside in the hall, keeping guard. He saw the hall-cupboard where Daisy had found the shoe, and he thought it would be a good idea to peep into it. Daisy might possibly have overlooked some shoes that might be the right one. He slipped into the cupboard.
He was so very busy turning up the shoes and boots in the cupboard that he didn't hear some one slipping a latchkey into the front door. He didn't hear some one coming into the hall and quietly closing the front door. So he had no time at all to warn poor Larry to escape! He only heard Mr. Smellie when the old man walked into the study and switched on the light!
It was too late to do anything then, of course! Larry was caught with his head inside a cupboard, not knowing that any one was in the room until the light was suddenly switched on!
He took His head out of the cupboard in horror. He and Mr. Smellie stared at one another, Larry in fright, and Mr. Smellie in anger and amazement.
"Robber!" said Mr. Smellie angrily. "Thief! Wicked boy! I'll lock you up and telephone to the police!"
He pounced on Larry and took hold of him with a surprisingly strong hand. He shook the boy hard, and Larry gasped. "Please, sir," he began, "please, sir."
But Mr. Smellie was not going to listen to anything. His precious papers were all the world to him, and the sight of somebody rummaging through them filled him with such fury that he was unable to listen to a word. Shaking Larry hard, and muttering all sorts of terrible threats, he pushed the boy before him into the hall. Poor Fatty, overcome with shame at having failed to warn Larry, shivered in the hall cupboard outside, not daring to show himself.
"Bad, wicked boy!" he heard Mr. Smellie say as he pushed poor Larry up the stairs. Larry was protesting all the time, but Mr. Smellie wouldn't listen to a word. "I'll fetch the police in. I'll hand you over!"
Fatty trembled. It was bad enough to be caught, but it was even worse to think that poor Larry might be handed over to that horrid old Clear-Orf. He heard Mr. Smellie take Larry to a room upstairs and lock him in. Miss Miggle, amazed at the sudden noise, came rushing into the hall to see what the matter was.
"Thieves and robbers!" cried Mr. Smellie. "That's what the matter is! I came home just now, walked into my study and there I found thieves and robbers after my papers!"
Miss Miggle imagined that there must have been two or three men there, and she gaped in astonishment.
"Where are the robbers?" she asked.
"Locked in the box-room upstairs," said Mr. Smellie. Miss Miggle stared at Mr. Smellie in even greater surprise. She couldn't believe that he had taken two or three men upstairs by himself and locked them into the box-room.
She saw that Mr. Smellie was trembling with excitement and shock. "Now you just go and sit down quietly before you telephone the police," she said soothingly. "You're all of a shake! I'll just bring you something to drink. The robbers are safe enough upstairs for a bit."
Mr. Smellie sank down on a chair in the hall. His heart was thumping, and he was breathing hard. "Be all right in a minute," he gasped. "Ha! I got the best of the robbers!"
Miss Miggle ran to the kitchen. Fatty listened breathlessly. Somehow he felt certain that old Mr. Smellie bad gone back into the study. He didn't know that he was sitting on a chair just at the foot of the stairs.
"I'd better take this chance of rescuing poor Larry," thought Fatty, in desperation. He opened the cupboard door and made a dart for the stairs. Mr. Smellie was most amazed to see another boy appearing, this time out of the hall cupboard. He could hardly believe his eyes. Was his house alive with boys that night?
He made a grab at Fatty. Fatty was startled and let out a yell. He tried to run up the stairs, and dragged Mr. Smellie behind him for a few steps. The old man had got his strength back again by now, and, filled with anger at the sight of what he thought was yet another thief, he clung to Fatty like a limpet. The boy went up a few more steps, with Mr., Smellie almost tearing the coat off his back.
Then Fatty stumbled and sat down heavily on a stair about half-way to the top of the flight. Mr. Smellie fell on top of Mm, almost squashing the boy flat.
"Ow-wow!" yelled poor Fatty. "Get off! You're hurting me!"
Miss Miggle dropped the glass she was holding and rushed into the hall. What in the wide world could be going on? Was the whole house full of robbers? She was just in time to see Fatty wriggle out from under Mr. Smellie and roll down the stairs to the bottom, with many bumps and loud groans.