Emil and the Detectives by Maurice Sendak Sendak Maurice

Author:Maurice Sendak Sendak, Maurice
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Overlook
Published: 1929-08-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

CHASING THE TAXI

SUDDENLY THREE MESSENGERS CAME RUSHING OUT OF Trautenau Street, waving their arms.

“Let’s go!” shouted the Professor. And he, Emil, the Middleday brothers, and Crumbagel all sprinted to Emperor Avenue as if they were trying to break the world record for the hundred-yard dash. Then Gus signaled to them to slow down, and they took the last thirty feet before the newspaper stand at a walk, trying to be careful.

“Too late?” asked Emil, out of breath.

“Are you crazy, bud?” whispered Gus. “When I do a job, I do it right.”

The thief was standing on the other side of the street in front of Café Josty, looking around like a tourist in Switzerland. Then he bought the evening newspaper from a newspaper vendor and began to read.

“If he comes over here and sees us, it’ll be messy,” said Crumbagel.

They stood behind the kiosk, stuck their heads out around the side, and trembled with excitement. The thief didn’t notice them in the slightest. He was doggedly turning every page of the newspaper.

“I bet he’s looking out the corner of his eye to see if anyone’s on his trail,” was the elder Middleday’s assessment.

“Did he look over this way often?” asked the Professor.

“Not at all, bud! He kept chowing down like he hadn’t eaten in three days.”

“Hey, look!” exclaimed Emil.

The man in the bowler hat folded up his newspaper and eyed the people walking past him. Then out of the blue he waved down a vacant taxi driving by. The car stopped. The man got in. The car drove on.

But by then the boys were already sitting in another taxi, and Gus was telling the driver, “See that cab turning now onto Prague Place? You do? Then please follow it. But make sure he doesn’t notice you.”

The car sped up, crossed Emperor Avenue and followed the other taxi at a safe distance.

“What’s going on?” asked the driver.

“Man, this guy up there pulled a fast one, and we’re not letting him out of our sight,” Gus explained. “But keep it to yourself, all right?”

“As you wish,” replied the driver, then asked, “Do you even have money?”

“What do you think we are?” said the Professor reproachfully.

“Easy now,” grumbled the man.

“IA 3733 is the license plate number,” Emil announced.

“That’s important,” said the Professor and wrote down the number.

“Don’t get too close to them!” warned Crumbagel.

“Don’t worry about it,” murmured the driver.

So they drove down Motz Street, past Victoria Louisa Square, and then down more of Motz Street. A few people stopped on the sidewalk, stared after the car, and had a laugh over the strange company in it.

“Duck!” whispered Gus. The boys threw themselves to the floor and lay there like a heap of cabbages and turnips.

“What is it?” asked the Professor.

“There’s a red light at Luther Street, dude! We’ll have to stop there, and the other car won’t make it through either.”

Both cars did stop and wait, one behind the other, until the light turned green and they continued through the intersection. But no one could tell that the second taxi was occupied.

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