Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac by Richard Carpenter Read Free Book Online Page B

had seen the Inspector leave his car. Angry as he was
with Catweazle, he didn’t want the Inspector to catch him, so he crept up
behind him and threw a stick into the bushes. His trick worked and Pugh charged
off into the undergrowth, convinced it was Ted he had heard.
    Then
Cedric burst into Duck Halt and confronted Catweazle. ‘Where is it?’ he
demanded.
    ‘What
sayest thou?’ said Catweazle.
    ‘You
know what I mean,’ Cedric went on, ‘you broke into Kings Farthing last night
didn’t you? You took Dad’s cups.’
    ‘Cups?’
    ‘Hand
them over!’
    Catweazle
held up two very chipped old tea cups.
    ‘I’ll
lose my temper in a minute,’ said Cedric, while Catweazle looked bewildered.
    ‘Right!’
said Cedric and began searching. He rummaged in the cupboards and even looked
in the great nest of straw and leaves that was Catweazle’s bed. Eventually he
found the sack wedged behind an old packing case and he pulled it out in an
unhappy mixture of triumph and disappointment. Catweazle grabbed it from him.
    ‘Give
me that!’ said Cedric.
    ‘It is
not mine to give.’
    ‘I know
it isn’t.’
    ‘Nay,’
said Catweazle. ‘ ’Tis my new brother’s,’ he said. ‘He bade me guard it.’
    Cedric
struggled with him and managed to retrieve the sack.
    ‘Thou
must not meddle!’ said Catweazle, anxiously. ‘Inside are little purple demons.’
    ‘You’ll
have to do better than that,’ said Cedric cynically. He untied the sack and
pulled out the British Isles Individual Grand Challenge Cup for Croquet.
Catweazle stared at it perplexed and Cedric could see that he had no idea at
all what the sack contained.
    ‘You
really didn’t know?’ he said.
    Catweazle
shook his head.
    ‘You
didn’t steal them?’
    Catweazle
shook his head again and then told Cedric all about his visitor and how Ted had
left the sack in his care.
    ‘But
don’t you see,’ said Cedric, ‘if the police had found you with this, you’d have
gone to prison, while the real thief would have gone free.’
    Catweazle
was beside himself with fury. His beard quivered and his blue eyes gleamed
dangerously in his wrinkled face. ‘I will raise demons,’ he hissed. ‘He shall
be blistered by the seven and seventy plagues of Adramalec. He shall not
hoodwink me again. I know him now! I know him now!’
    ‘Take
it easy!’ said Cedric. ‘Now listen. I can’t take this stuff back, they’ll ask
too many questions. You’ll have to bring it back tonight.’
    ‘But...
but... but — ’
    ‘It’s
the only way. Come about midnight and I’ll leave a window open.’
    It was
a pity Cedric couldn’t hear a conversation Inspector Pugh was having with his
father. Pugh had failed to find Ted, so he had driven back to Kings Farthing to
suggest a plan of action to Lord Collingford.
    ‘He
sometimes does the same place two nights running, my lord,’ said Pugh.
    ‘The beggar’s
got a nerve!’
    ‘Indeed
he has, my lord, indeed he has. He could come back tonight, just when you are
not expecting him.’
    ‘How
very alarming.’
    ‘But we
shall be, shan’t we?’
    ‘Shall
be what — ’
    ‘Expecting
him,’ said Pugh solemnly. ‘I’m putting two of my men in the grounds and I’ll
keep an eye on things myself. Leave the sitting-room window open and with any
luck we’ll catch him red-handed.’
    As the
clock in the tower struck twelve Cedric crept downstairs to open the window for
Catweazle. Suddenly his father stepped out of the darkness and shone a torch in
his face.
    ‘Where
do you think you’re going?’ whispered Lord Collingford.
    ‘I felt
hungry,’ stammered Cedric.
    ‘You’re
always hungry,’ said his father, who was carrying a sort of club in his other
hand.
    ‘What’s
that?’ Cedric asked.
    ‘A
knob-kerrie,’ replied Lord Collingford grimly. ‘Look old boy, get your cake or
whatever and go back to bed-’
    ‘What’s
it for?’
    ‘Tearful
Ted, the burglar. Inspector Pugh thinks he might try again