The Big Cat Mystery by Norvin Pallas

Author:Norvin Pallas [Pallas, Norvin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: boy, reporter, mystery, high school, detective
Publisher: Wildside Press
Published: 1961-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

MR. JACKSON’S GOSSIP

The discovery of the nature of their cat made some of their other plans even more imperative.

“I think we’d better hunt for that leopard in the woods just as soon as possible, Ted,” said Nelson thoughtfully. “If it really is the mother, we ought to return her cub as fast as we can. But I admit I don’t want to be the one to hand over the cub to her and say, ‘Sorry, it was all a mistake.’ Another thing, Ted, is, why are some leopards black and some spotted? I should think a spotted leopard would make a better daytime hunter, because its coat would blend into the leaves and grass in the bright light, while a black leopard would make a better night hunter. And since the one we’re hunting is spotted, I’m not so keen about going in the daytime. Guess we’ll have to, though. We could never find it at night.”

While admitting that there might be a little something in Nelson’s theory, Ted agreed they would have to go in the daylight.

“Maybe it would be better if we could organize a real expedition,” he decided, frowning.

“But whom could we get?” Nelson inquired. “Mr. Armand and his crew certainly won’t go out again. You admit you don’t have enough evidence to ask Doctor Larken to come over. I’m afraid the police would laugh at you. And if we tried to get a group of campers together, I think about half the campers would decide to leave instead of joining us on the hunt, and we would be doing the very thing we’ve been criticizing Mr. Jackson for.”

“And the main objection is that I believe we’d diminish our chances of really finding out what is going on. We’ve got to move as cautiously and as secretly as possible. If anybody does find out what we’re up to, we’re going to have to do some tall explaining about that leopard cub in our cottage.”

“But we haven’t done anything wrong,” Nelson reminded him.

“Maybe not, but sometimes you have to do a lot of explaining to prove it. And after all, I am down here on a newspaper assignment, and the most important thing to do is to run down the story in the best way I can. Another thing I want to do is to get up to that traveling menagerie tonight if we possibly can. Now that we know we’ve got a baby leopard on our hands, maybe we can get some information on how to take care of it, and decide what we’re going to do with it eventually.”

“A baby leopard ought to have some value, shouldn’t it, Ted? I don’t mean we’ll get rich with a reward, or anything like that, but a zoo or a circus ought to be glad to have it.”

“Well, we’ll have to see about it. For all we know this leopard may belong to someone who is anxious to get it back. It may simply have been lost, strayed, or stolen.

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