"Blyton, Enid - The Five Find-Outers 15 - The Mystery of Banshee Towers 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blyton Enid)

"Smashing, it was!" said Ern, taking up the story. "And it had a tiny red boat, sir, painted on a wave near the bottom of the picture."

"Well, what about it?" said the Inspector.

"Well, sir, we went again the next day. and I went to look at that picture agan - and the boat was _gone_!" said Ern. "And it wasn't painted out or anything - it just wasn't there."

"Strange," said Inspector Jenks. "You must have made a mistake - looked at another picture perhaps."

"No, sir - Bets here can say the same as me," said Ern. and Bets nodded.

"That was the beginning of the Mystery," said Fatty. "I sort of smelt something fishy from that very moment. I didn't much like the turnstile man, and I certainly didn't like the owner of the pictures, a man called Mr Engler. And I didn't much like one of the artists there, a Frenchman."

"Oh - there were artists there, were there?" said the Inspector. "Copying the pictures?"

"Yes, sir - but not awfully well, in my opinion," said Fatty. "Except the Frenchman, sir - honestly he was very very good. He wasn't very nice, though - he painted Ern right across the face by slashing at him with his brush. But he was a _real_ artist, sir. the others were only art-students from some art-school.

"It said in the catalogue, sir, that the pictures there belonged to a Count Ludwig, of Austria, who had lent them to this Mr Engler to show in his gallery. Mr Engler is an Austrian too, I believe. The artists were copying them just for practice, or to sell as copies afterwards. They were most of them awful - I wouldn't have given ten shillings for any of them!" went on Fatty.

"Frederick, you may as well know that we have reason to believe Engler is a crook," said the Chief. "Please tell me straight out if _you_ have any reason to believe he is, and if so, WHAT reasons? This is as important for you, as for me."

"All right, sir. I can give you plenty of reasons," said Fatty, briskly. "I'm pretty sure that what he does is to get that French artist to copy the pictures he has had lent to him from various Art galleries all over the place. Then he takes the original picture out of its frame, and rolls it up - and sticks the finished copy in its place - and I must say that Francois Ortalo makes some wonderful copies!"

"He sells the originals somewhere, for a large sum of money, of course," said Inspector Jenks. "Just what we suspected - but couldn't prove!"

"Well, you can prove it now, sir," said Fatty. "That French artist made a big mistake when he copied that fine sea-picture that Ern and Bets loved - he forgot to put that tiny boat into the copied picture! That's the _only_ difference that Ern and Bets could see in the two pictures!"

"A very, very small omission!" said Inspector Jenks "One that might have gone unnoticed for years - in fact, it might _never_ have been spotted. I don't think anyone but sharp-eyed children would notice and remember a tiny boat so clearly! Ern - I congratulate you! You may be the means of catching a very clever and remarkable swindler!"

Ern went as red as a beetroot, tried to say something, and couldn't.

"Of course," went on the Inspector, "we want to know quite a few more things, before we can charge this rogue with stealing. Perhaps you can tell me some of them, Frederick?"

"Well. I don't know, sir," said Fatty. "I _can_ tell you a few things, though. The Frenchman's _real_ name and address, for instance. I found it in a book when I - er - broke into his bedroom."

Everyone stared at Fatty in surprise. "What's his name - quick, give it to me," said the Chief, opening a notebook.

"His name is Francois Henri Ortalo, of 91 Rue Carnot, Paris," said Fatty. "He knows all about the famous pictures on the Continent of Europe. I found his name in a book about them."

The Chief gave a little whistle. "Oho - so Francois Ortalo has turned up here, has he?" he said. "I wouldn't like to say how many different countries want him for swindling people over pictures. Good work, Fatty! Anything else?"

"Well, I know which Art Galleries in America _buy_ the original pictures," said Fatty, and gave Inspector Jenks the list he had written down that morning in the office at Banshee Towers.

"Bless my soul!" said the Chief, hardly able to believe his ears. "Am I dreaming? We've been looking everywhere for this information. How in the world do you know this?"

"Well - I just _happened_ to see Mr Engler's office desk," said Fatty, "and I just glanced at a few things, sir."

"I can only hope, Frederick Trotteville, that when you are grown-up, you will join the police-force and not the ranks of the burglars!" said the Inspector. "I suppose you do know that you had no right to go snooping in that fellow's desk, rogue though he is!"

"Well, I wasn't sure, sir," said Fatty, with a twinkle in his eye. "But Ern here was rather shocked, weren't you, Ern?"