Five Find-Outers And Dog Mystery By You!

[Timmylover]

Peterswood Womens' Institute annual raffle, and the first prize is ..............

[elizabeth]

for Mrs Fangios.......

[pete9012S]

"Bravo Daisy!"said Fatty."Lets get round to the institute quick!!".................

[Timmylover]

Mrs Arbuthnot was at the village hall where the Womens' Institute meetings took place. She was tastefully arranging a vase of flowers for that evening's gathering, glancing admiringly at the table laden with jars of jewel-like home-made preserves. The children entered in a great rush, causing Mrs Arbuthnot to drop one of her dahlias. She was relieved to see that, at least, the children weren't common urchins.

[elizabeth]

Mrs Arbuthnot asked them : What do you want here?

Fatty answered : Does a Mrs Fangios come here? We wanted to meet her.Who has the first prize for Peterswood Womens' Institute annual raffle?Can you please tell us? Was it declared?

Mrs Arbuthnot answered : Yes,she does.She has not come yet.Are you staying here so that you can meet Mrs Fangios or are you just coming round after sometime.And about who has the first prize for Peterswood Womens' Institute annual raffle,it wsa declared and it is Mrs Fangios.Now look 'ere children,i have lots of work to do.You would better hang around here if you want to meet her.

Then suddenly Mrs Arbuthnot cried :There is Mrs Fangios.

Mrs Fangios was a tall,fair lady.She greeted Mrs Arbuthnot politely.

[pete9012S]

The children rushed over to Mrs Fangios and thrust the ticket (000001)into her hand...
'So sorry to trouble you Mrs Fangios' purred Fatty,'but we wondered if you knew anything about this ticket at all please?'...

Mrs Fangios looked taken aback.At first the children thought she was going to faint,but she seemed to quickly compose herself.
She looked at Fatty intensely as if trying to make up her mind about something,and then to the childrens surprise beckoned them into a little side room at the intitute and shut the door.

'Hmm'said Mrs Fangios 'now suppose you tell me exactly where you found that ticket and why you are here asking for me!'

[elizabeth]

Fatty said : We found it in Mrs Natter's house.You dropped it there,didn't you?That's why we wanted to meet you.Did you go to Mrs Natter's house that day?


Mrs Fangios replied : ........

[Timmylover]

"What impertinence! Why on earth should I want to visit such a person? I have a perfectly adequate daily help and I'm not looking for a replacement". "But this is your raffle ticket isn't it?" asked Fatty. "Certainly not" replied Mrs Fangios, "mine is still here in my handbag, the raffle hasn't taken place yet and I'm taking care of my ticket as I'm quite keen on winning one of the prizes". Fatty was puzzled. "But we were told that you had already won the first prize". "Silly child, how could I when no prizewinners have been picked yet?" replied Mrs Fangios, looking quite exasperated. "Oh" said Fatty, "we heard that the first prize was - 'for Mrs Fangios' ". "Stuff and nonsense - the first prize is a magnum of Bollinger. Wash your ears out, young man, and get your facts correct before you start bothering people with silly questions".

Fatty walked out of the room feeling quite dejected, "get my facts correct!" he repeated to himself, "but I'm always very careful to get my facts correct, what on earth has happened here?" The others followed him, silently. "It's not your fault, Fatty" said Larry "someone's been giving us wrong information, just to confuse us". "Oh, very clever, I don't think! Not much of a mystery this time - the mystery of the 'nonimous good deeds - no crimes have been committed and we only have one clue so far". Fatty was feeling thoroughly fed-up when suddenly Bets gave a squeal as she extracted a piece of paper from under a jam jar. "Look, I've found another glue". Fatty quickly got out his notebook and was just about to write under the heading CLUES 2. Yet another dirty scrap of blank paper, when he noticed some writing on the back!

"Raspberry Jelly, 1958" he read out, slowly. ..............................

[pete9012S]

............To The Find-outers,said the note;"I suppose you feel after solving so many mysteries in Peterswood you have reached the top of the detective tree...

I therefore have set you a challenge;solve the mystery of the 'nonimous deed doer before I perform a dozen benevolent acts of kindness to your neighbours in Peterswood.Yes you all know me,I'm someone you see every day.

I am setting out to pit my wits directly against yours.

All the people I help 'nonimously know me too-but would never ever suspect I am the 'nonimous deed doer...
Whats that Bets,you want a clue I hear you say-you see I do know you all intimately-I know all your strengths and yes your weaknesses too.

If only Frederick you could harness your boasting somewhat,you could become a fine detective.....Larry,you need to think more 'out of the box'..dont rely so much on Fredericks brains...use your own more!...
Pip-the energy you invest in baiting and teasing your little sister is holding back your development into a mature young man....
And Bets,ah Bets,like Captain Hasting with Poirot,you often get right to the nub of the thorniest mystery..you are one of the best lateral thinkers of the find-outers and you don't even know it!!!

So,heres some help......

I will perform twelve acts of kindness in Peterwood this hols.My next will concern a farmer you know quite well....It will be performed within the next two days....this riddle may or may not help you to work out what I propose to do....

Clothes of brass and hair of brown
Seldom need to breathe
Don't need no wings to fly
And a heart of stone
And a fear of fire and water
Who am I?

Yours

Mr Noble event

anagram

[Timmylover]

Fortunately, Fatty had his magnifying glass in his pocket for the writing was indeed minuscule. How did it all fit onto the back of a jam jar label? "I have to think 'out of the box'?" puzzled Larry - "Do you think this is some sort of code, or was in written by a foreigner?" Bets gasped "Oh, surely not, no foreigners know us well, Mummy wouldn't allow it!" Pip was most worried, "He mentions a Captain Hastings - the only army man who knows us is Major Eastbourne, and Poirot! Another foreign name." Fatty was thinking very hard. "I really do think that this was written by a foreign person. What on earth does he mean by saying that Bets is a 'lateral thinker'?" Daisy was frowning, "This sounds quite dangerous, and threatening, a foreigner who says he knows us well, writing to us using code words and mentioning people we don't know. I really do think that we ought to let Superintendent Jenks know about this".

[elizabeth]

Bets asked : Fatty, do you understand anything? What does this note mean? Can we add it as our glues?

Fatty replied : I am not sure but I think that this means that ..............

[Timmylover]

.....Wait a minute, Bets, I've already said what I think it means. Please stop confusing me any more - I feel like there's a nest of wasps buzzing round in my head".

[pete9012S]

'Sorry Fatty'said Bets,who hated the idea that she was annoying Fatty in any way.''Thats ok' Bets said Fatty.'Now please excuse me a minute while I use the public phone box and ring Superintendant Jenks.'

Fatty went outside the shop and dialled his friend at the police HQ.......

Superintendant Jenks heard the whole of Fattys strange tale and then said.'Well Frederick,its not really a police matter you know,but a few caveats do spring to mind;one,is this a glorious distraction by a very clever criminal,one with brains,who is trying to put the Find-Outers off the scent while he gets on with real crimes unhindered.

Or,he continued,do we have someone in Peterswood who is able to mingle with the village normally,but who in reality posseses a large intellect,one capable of testing out the great Frederick Trotteville..!!

'Thats why I rang you Sir' replied Fatty.'Any advice would be appreciated.I know your busy Sir,but any suggestions would be welcome?'

'Hmm' said the Super.'I think the riddle

Clothes of brass and hair of brown
Seldom need to breathe
Don't need no wings to fly
And a heart of stone
And a fear of fire and water
Who am I?


deserves closer inspection.Try and find its origin,see if its well known in literature,who wrote it,is it an acrostic etc......

that bit

'Yours

Mr Noble event ' I can help you with,Noble event is an anagram Frederick,you should be able to decipher that!

Also Frederick,you could keep an eye on the farm mentioned.Perhaps you could try and interview the farmer before a 'nominous act has been performed?'.....

'Sir,thats a great idea,thank you very much'said Fatty.......

'Ok then Frederick,now I really must get back to my work,I'm in the middle of debriefing a man I would really like you to meet one day called Bill Cunningham I think you and he would get on quite well,but thats something I will arrange with you perhaps after you have cleared this little mystery up.'

The Super hung up and Fatty went back into the shop to tell the others about his call with Superintendant Jenks....................

[Timmylover]

The wasps were now buzzing inside Fatty's head even more fiercely. "Who said I came out of a shop?" he puzzled. He asked the others, who were waiting for him outside the telephone box, if he had just come out of a shop. Larry looked anxiously at his friend, whose face had become quite pale. "You know that we haven't, Fatty, we've just come out of the village hall". Fatty was feeling most queer, as he also realised that the person he had been talking to on the telephone was most certainly not Jenks.

Bets gently led Fatty to the nearby bench where they all sat down to discuss the strange telephone conversation. "Well" said Fatty, "the voice sounded like Jenks, but he said some really peculiar things to me that were just, well, peculiar!" Fatty was rarely unable to think of the right words he wanted, to explain something, but he now felt that his brain and tongue were no longer his own. "Try to remember what he said to you that sounded peculiar" urged Pip. Some of the strange conversation came back to Fatty. "He mentioned that there were a few caveats that sprang to his mind." Bets, of course, immediately asked what caveats were. "A caveat" explained Fatty "is a type of warning." "So why didn't he just say warning?" asked Bets. "That was the first thing that made me think that I wasn't talking to good old Jenks. The way he expressed himself was very strange - the real Jenks would have known that we'd already worked out that the note was a warning, and he never uses such clumsy expressions as this person did. He even described a clever criminal 'with brains'. Now, tautology is not something that Jenks would ever tolerate. " The others looked at Fatty, feeling very relieved that the colour was finally coming back to his face. "What else did he say that sounded strange?" asked Larry. "He asked me to try to find out if I could solve that silly riddle, and if it had ever appeared in a well-known literary work and, this was really strange, if it was an acrostic." Fatty anticipated the next question from Bets and explained that an acrostic is a short piece of writing in which the first letter of each line, when read downwards, spells out a word. "I could hardly believe that Jenks would ever believe that such a badly-written riddle could ever have been the work of a great writer" said Fatty, slowly shaking his head.

Fatty addded that the man had said that they could go and speak with the farmer, which in his opinion was about the only thing that he'd said that made any sense. "I suppose we could go and warn him about unexpected good deeds that could be coming his way" said Daisy. "Well we could, but what we really have to do now is find out why, when I asked the telephone operator to put me through to our friend Jenks, I found myself speaking to an imposter. Who was he and what's happened to Jenks?"

The children were so shocked that Bets forgot to ask what an imposter is.

[elizabeth]

Bets sobbed : What happened to our friend Superintendent Jenks?

Pip stopped her : Things are not going to be better by crying,baby.Fatty, I have questions,How did the foriegner reach the HQ? And Superintendent Jenks would never let him answer his calls.So I do think he did something to Superintendent Jenks .

Fatty : Yes,he must have done something to Superintendent Jenks or Super must have been out and the person answered it.