Chapter 20 THE ADVENTURE ENDS - AS IT BEGAN!
It was a moment of great disappointment for all the children. Although they had talked about thepossibility of the bag being empty, everyone had secretly felt certain that something exciting wouldbe inside.
The Inspector¹ was astonished. He looked round sharply. 'Where did you get this bag? What made youthink it had stolen goods inside - and what kind of blue-prints were they?'
'Well, sir - it's rather a long story,' said Julian.
'I'm afraid you'll have to tell it to me,' said the Inspector, taking out his notebook. 'Now - how did thisall begin?'
'Well - it really began with Timmy hurting his ear and having to wear a cardboard collar,' saidGeorge.
The Inspector looked most surprised. He turned to Julian. 'You'd better tell it,' he said. 'I don't want towaste time on cardboard collars!'
George went red and put on a scowl². Julian grinned at her, and began the story, making it as clear andshort as he could.
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The Inspector became more and more interested. He laughed when Julian came to the weird³ noisesand lights.
'They certainly wanted to get rid of you,' he said. 'You were plucky⁴ to stay on. Go on - there'ssomething behind all this, that's certain!'
He jotted⁵ down the name of 'Paul', and 'Jess', the name of the woman. He noted⁶ that one man had adrawl. 'Any other clues to them?' he asked.
'Only this, sir,' said Julian and handed his drawing of the crepe-soled shoe to the Inspector. This wascarefully folded and put into the notebook too. 'Might be of use. Might not,' said the Inspector. 'Younever know!'
He listened intently to the tale of the underground passages, and picked up the bag again.
'I can't understand why it's empty,' he said. 'It isn't really like a crook⁷ deliberately⁸ to mislead hisfriends when they know quite well where he is and can get at him whenever they like.' He shook thebag hard. Then he began to examine it very very carefully.

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