And They Danced

Chapter Forty - Neel

Even though he had moved down to the village, Daniel was still looking after our long-term stores and, after his first visit to the stables following the Colchester trip, he came to see me with a puzzled expression.

"Has anyone been up in the top storeroom?" he asked.

"I don't think so," I answered. "Why"

"A couple of things have been taken," he explained. "I mean, I don't really mind but there's other stuff that ought to be used first... and things have been put back in the wrong place."

"Could it have been one of the Tiddlers?" I asked.

"Harry checks that door when he locks his workshop," Daniel answered. "And you know what he's like about that sort of thing."

"Could you have made a mistake?" I asked. "I mean, you haven't been in there for a couple of weeks."

"I don't think so," he answered. "I mean... I'd never have left things in that state."

"How about rats or mice?" Peter asked as we discussed it that evening at dinner.

"Pratchdean's famous tin opener wielding rats!" Daniel replied.

"Good point, well argued!" Peter replied with a grin.

"Not the Tiddlers," Brian said, "not one of us, and not Amazing Peter's Educated Rodents... that means that somebody else is coming in and pinching the stuff. That's a bit worrying."

"Let's set a trap," Katherine suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"String some bits of cotton across the room. If they're broken - we know someone's been in!"

Two mornings later, the trap had been sprung. Several of the pieces of cotton had been broken and about six tins had been taken. But when Daniel and I inspected the place, we saw that the piece of cotton across the door remained undisturbed.

"They can't have come in through the windows!" Daniel said as he inspected them. "This used to be a classroom. There's no way they'd put in windows where a kid could fall out."

I stared around the room, just as confused, until at last my eye fell on a small window, high in the end wall, just below the corner of the roof. I started to laugh.

"What?" Daniel demanded.

I pointed out the window and we went outside together. I borrowed a ladder from Harry and climbed up onto the first of the containers which was just next to the stable block.

It would certainly be possible to climb up to the window - though I didn't fancy trying it. I hauled the ladder up onto the roof of the container and climbed up to look at the window. It was not locked and could be opened far enough to allow an extremely small someone to climb in.

So, that evening, I put some food on a table close to the first container then positioned a garden chair in the shadow of the trees at the edge of the lower field. As evening turned to night, I settled back and watched.

It was a fascinating night with a surprising range of wildlife shuffling and snuffling its way across Peter's vegetable plots. There were, however, no two-legged visitors.

It was the same on the second night: more wildlife; several shooting stars; but no sign of our little thief.

"Do you want me to take over?" Peter asked on the third night. "I'm not sure how much longer you'll be able to survive without sleep!"

"I'm sleeping in the mornings, thanks," I answered with a grin. "I've just about got used to the funny rhythm now so I might as well carry on."

Two nights later, just after midnight, my eye was caught by a movement on top of the far-left container. A shadow made its way along the top of the row until it was on the last one, next to the stable block. When it was about to start climbing, I said, "Hello!" and the figure froze.