Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac

anxiously.
    ‘On
patrol. Now get your cake and then — bed, understood?’
    ‘Yes,
Dad,’ said Cedric, but as soon as his father was out of sight, he went quickly
into the sitting-room, and shut the half-open window. Then he crept outside to
find Catweazle before the police did.
    Near
the moat Inspector Pugh was briefing P.C. Williams, whom he had stationed
behind a laurel bush. ‘Now remember, Williams,’ whispered the Inspector, ‘one
blast on the whistle means he’s inside. Two blasts outside, three blasts the
front, and four blasts the back. Got that?
    ‘Yes
sir,’ said Williams.
    So had
Tearful Ted, who was crouching quite close to the two policemen listening to
Pugh’s instructions. He waited for the Inspector to walk away and then crept up
silently behind P.C. Williams and neatly knocked him out. By the time Williams
opened his eyes again he was bound hand and foot and gagged, and Tearful Ted
was busily putting on his uniform.
    Meanwhile
Cedric had spotted Catweazle slinking along by the greenhouses and had dragged
him into the shelter of the back porch. ‘The place is crawling with policemen,’
he whispered.
    Catweazle
made very soft yowling noises of terror.
    ‘You’ve
got to help me put the stuff back,’ hissed Cedric and took him in through the
back door. The two of them tiptoed stealthily to the sitting-room and had begun
to put the cups on the mantelpiece when they heard two blasts on a policeman’s
whistle, followed immediately by three more. Cedric could hear his father
coming and ran out of the sitting-room. When Catweazle tried to follow he
pushed him back inside.
    ‘Get
out of the window!’ he whispered frantically, pulling the door to and holding
it shut as his father reached him.
    ‘I told
you to go to bed,’ said Lord Collingford angrily. Outside, the whistle signal
was repeated.
    ‘Two
and three! That’s outside and in the front!’ said Lord Collingford.
    He
raced away across the main hall and unlocked the door. Inspector Pugh and a
young policeman were already searching among the bushes at the front of the
house. Nobody realized that it was Tearful Ted who had given the signal.
    Cedric
was just going back into the sitting-room to aid Catweazle’s escape when Lady
Collingford appeared. ‘What on earth’s going on?’ she asked.
    ‘It’s
the burglar,’ said Cedric loudly to warn Catweazle.
    ‘Don’t
be silly, Cedric, that was last night.’
    ‘He
came back. Dad’s gone to catch him.’
    ‘Catch
him? Where?’
    ‘Out at
the front, I think. Inspector Pugh’s with him.’
    ‘With
the burglar?’
    Cedric
sighed. ‘No, with Dad.’
    ‘Well I
think it’s very childish,’ said Lady Collingford, wrapping her dressing-gown
tightly around her, ‘running about blowing whistles. The only thing your father
will catch is a simply dreadful cold. Come on.’ And she took Cedric by the arm.
    ‘But — but
— ’ he began.
    ‘Bed!’
said Lady Collingford firmly.
    Catweazle
listened to them going away and then jumped with fright when Tearful Ted
climbed in through the window. ‘Stone the crows!’ said Ted, recognizing the old
hermit from the railway station.
    ‘Gab
gaba agaba!’ cried Catweazle, and waved Adamcos at the intruder.
    Ted
recovered quickly and addressed Catweazle in his best policeman’s voice. ‘I am
P.C. Williams, Elderford Police,’ he said. ‘Put that knife away!’ He was very
surprised to see that Catweazle had brought back the cups.
    ‘What’s
all this?’ he said and picked up the sack.
    ‘ ’Twas
filched from this place by a ragged varlet,’ said Catweazle. ‘Let him stand
before me and I shall blast him!’
    ‘Oh,
will you?’ said Ted.
    ‘The
villain sought to gull me.’
    ‘Did
he?’
    ‘But I
was too wise.’
    ‘Oh,
were you?’ said Ted. ‘Now what about these valuables?’
    ‘I have
come hither to return them.’
    ‘Have
you indeed?’ said Ted. ‘Well it’s very good of you-’ He slid the window open.
‘Off you go,’ he said, ‘and we will say no more about it.’
    Catweazle
was actually climbing out of the window when P.C. Davidson, who had been sent
to fetch P.C. Williams from the laurel bush, saw him coming out and blew hard
on his whistle, twice for outside, and then four times for back. Then he ran
towards Catweazle who scrambled back into the sitting-room.
    Ted was
already running towards the main hall. Things were getting too hot for him and
now all he wanted was to make a quick