Mistaken for Sunbathers by Mills Magnus & Mills Magnus

Author:Mills, Magnus & Mills, Magnus [Mills, Magnus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quoqs
Published: 2022-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

7

I was woken at dawn by the sound of something crashing down. (I estimated the distance to be about two hundred yards away.) Immediately I got up and padded barefoot to the kitchen. Hartley had just finished making a pot of tea. Now he was standing by the window with his head cocked and listening intently.

‘Did you hear that?’ he said. ‘Seemed fairly close by.’

He had an expectant look about him as if a long-awaited moment had finally arrived.

‘Why don’t you go and investigate?’ I suggested. ‘This might be your chance to be a witness.’

‘Yes, it might, mightn’t it?’

‘I’ll attend to the gate.’

‘Righto.’

Hartley had apparently forgotten that he was meant to be giving me the cold shoulder. He put his boots on and hurried out into the chilly morning air. Meanwhile I washed and dressed before returning to the kitchen for a light breakfast. Fortunately there was no traffic as yet so I was able to take my time. I was on my second cup of tea when he returned. He was evidently overjoyed.

‘There’s a telegraph pole down in the road,’ he announced. ‘Hoof prints all over the place and a nearby fence flattened.’

‘Did you see the girl on the elephant?’ I enquired.

‘I think I caught a glimpse of her in the distance.’

‘Perfect,’ I said. ‘You’ve got your first confirmed sighting.’

I offered him some tea.

‘Not for the moment, thanks,’ he said. ‘That fallen pole’s blocking the road. We need to get it moved fairly soon.’

‘Shall I come and help?’

‘Yes, please.’

‘What about the gate?’

‘We’ll have to leave it open.’

We arrived at the fallen pole a few minutes later and surveyed the damage. I had to confess that Rupert had made an excellent job of it. Quite authentic actually. There were hoof prints on the grass verge and beyond the smashed fence was a trail of trampled undergrowth. Hartley pointed towards the place where he’d supposedly spotted the girl on the elephant. All I could see was a cement mixer in an overgrown builder’s yard but I passed no comment.

The pole itself proved impossible to move. No matter how much we shoved and pushed we just couldn’t budge it. We were standing amidst a tangle of wires trying to work out what to do when a car came along from the east. It slowed down to pass through the gateway and then continued on to where we stood. There were two men in the front and two in the back. As soon as they saw the fallen pole they were all out of the car in an instant.

‘Must be a confirmed sighting, right?’ said the driver.

‘Yes,’ said Hartley. ‘Just a short while ago.’

‘That’s good. The more the better.’

The four men examined the area knowingly. They produced notebooks and wrote down various details of the incident. I noticed they were all wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the letters: CW

‘Had any luck yourselves?’ I asked.

‘We certainly have,’ came the reply. ‘As a matter of fact we’re on our way to register now.’

‘Trouble is the road’s blocked.

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