Free Mystery of the Vanished Prince by Enid Blyton Page B

the books Fatty had been studying a day or two before. “Did you get any interesting information about this case?”
    “Well, no,” said Fatty, who had actually spent the whole time relating some of his own exploits to the open-mouthed Ronald. “No. I didn’t gather much.”
    “What about you, Pip?” asked Bets. “Have you been questioning Ern, Sid and Perce?”
    “Yes,” said Pip. “But Larry and I didn’t get much out of them. They slept all night long and didn’t hear a thing. They haven’t the faintest idea what happened to Prince Bongawah-wah-wah.”
    “Ar,” said Sid, joining them suddenly. His jaws chewed frantically. Pip looked at him in disgust.
    “Go away,” he said. “And don’t come back till you can say something else. I shall start ‘arring’ myself in a minute. ARRRRRRRR!”
    He made such a fierce noise that Sid gave him an alarmed glance and fled.
    Pip took out the blue and gold button from his pocket and showed it to the others.
    “This is the solitary clue - if it can be called a clue - that we’ve found,” he said. “I found it in the sleeping-bag belonging to the Prince. It came off his blue and gold pyjamas.”
    “Well, what use do you think that is?” asked Fatty. “Is it going to help us to find out who kidnapped the Prince, or when or how - or where he’s gone? Not much of a clue, Pip.”
    “No,” said Pip, pocketing the button again. “I thought it wasn’t. But you always tell us to examine everything and keep everything - just in case. So I did. By the way, he didn’t dress - he disappeared in his pyjamas.”
    That made Fatty stare. “Are you sure, Pip? Who told you?”
    “The boys who slept in his tent,” said Pip.
    “Well, that’s funny,” said Fatty.
    “Why?” asked Daisy. “There wouldn’t be any time, would there, for him to dress? Besides, wouldn’t he disturb the other boys if he did?”
    “Not if he stole outside in the dark when they were asleep,” said Fatty. “He could take his clothes with him and dress quickly. Any one wandering about in pyjamas would be spotted.”
    “But Fatty - surely there wouldn’t be time for any one to dress if he was being kidnapped,” said Daisy again. “They’d just grab the Prince out of his tent and make off with him, in his pyjamas.”
    “Oh no, Daisy,” said Fatty. “You’re not being very clever. Kidnappers would never creep through a crowded field, falling over tent-ropes and pegs finding their way to one special tent, opening the flap, dragging out one special boy in the darkness, who would surely yell the place down. After all, he was called Bongawah-wah-wah because he howled so much.”
    “Oh,” said Daisy. “Yes - that was very silly of me. Of course kidnappers wouldn’t do it like that. What do you think they did?”
    “I think somebody arranged for him to steal out after lights-out,” said Fatty. “Perhaps they said they’d take him to that Fair in the next town - it goes on till all hours! Something like that. You can’t tell. And if he was going to be kidnapped, the kidnappers would find it easy - there he would be, waiting at the gate for them, all ready dressed, thinking what a Lad he was.”
    “I see - and they’d just whisk him away in a car and that would be that,” said Pip.
    “Oh - now I see why you’re surprised he was in pyjamas,” said Daisy. “If the kidnapping was planned in that way, he certainly wouldn’t be in pyjamas!”
    “Correct,” said Fatty, with a grin.
    “Maybe he couldn’t spot his clothes in the darkness,” suggested Ern, helpfully.
    “This isn’t a mystery, it’s a silly sort of puzzle,” said Bets. “Nobody heard anything, nobody saw anything. Nobody knows anything. I’m beginning to feel it couldn’t have happened!”
     

Sid Finds His Voice
     
    “Come on - it’s time we went,” said Fatty, getting bored. “We’re absolutely at a dead end here. Wherever Prince Bongawah is, he’s probably still in his blue and gold pyjamas. Good luck to him!”
    They rode off, waving good-bye to Ern and Perce. Sid was nowhere to be seen, for which every