The Cat Detective

THE CAT DETECTIVES:

MYSTERY OF THE MISSING GRAIN

by Susan "Sam" Madden

1. TRAIL OF GRAIN

The old palomino mare was annoyed, and she stomped her foot to show it. Somebody, or more accurately some mouse, had been helping himself to her grain. Butternut could not imagine who would want to deprive her of her favorite treat, and she decided to consult somebody more wise than she.

Because she knew the old owl slept all day, Butternut waited until after sundown to whinny to him high in the rafters of the hay loft. She explained, "My grain has been missing, and I hear tiny footsteps coming from the feed room."

"This is very disturbing indeed," the owl sympathized. "Indubitably it is my responsibility to hunt small wild creatures by night. Ergo, the culprit must do his pilfering by daylight."

Butternut did not understand half the words the owl said, but she listened politely.

"I know just who to consult in such a situation," the owl continued. "Have you heard of the Feline Bureau of Investigation?"

Butternut had not, but she was willing to give them a try.

2. CHECKING CLUES WITH BUTTERNUT

The next day two cats showed up in Butternut's stall. She was not sure what she had been expecting, but they did not look like detectives to her. They looked just like ordinary cats. Punkin was a striking orange tabby, and Dusty was a beautiful brindled black and gold.

"We're incognito," Dusty explained. "This way, no one will suspect we're on a case." It made perfect sense to Butternut.

They gathered clues from Butternut, then started exploring to find some clues of their own.

Punkin ventured into the feed room to see if he could find the grain that Butternut liked so much. There, right in front of him, he saw a trail of grain leading to a secret tunnel!

3. SECRET TUNNEL

"Dusty, come quick!" Punkin exclaimed, proud that he had found the first clue.

Dusty was there in an instant and put her head into the opening of the tunnel. Her whiskers told her it was too small for her to fit. "The culprit must be a mouse."

"And not just one mouse," Punkin added. "There's way too much grain missing for this to be the work of a lone thief."

"The only mouse I know who is clever enough to manage a band of thieves is..."

"Simon!" they both exclaimed together.

Dusty and Punkin placed flour on the ground in front of the tunnel. They knew Simon and his band of thieves could not help stepping in it and leaving footprints to wherever they were taking the stolen grain.

Then they retired to the hay loft while waiting for Simon to make his move.

4. CLUES LEAD TO THE STREAM

Later that day, after having lunch with Butternut who was still upset about her missing grain, Dusty and Punkin returned to the feed room to see if their plan had worked.

Sure enough, there were tiny footprints, dozens of them, all over the place!

Punkin suggested they snoop around outside the barn to try to find the outside entrance to the tunnel.

It was Dusty who spotted the next clue. Tiny white footprints, the same ones they had seen in the feed room, emerged from a mouse-sized tunnel.

Punkin led the way as they followed the footprints through the tall grass. The cats stopped dead in their tracks when the footprints seemed to walk right into the stream!

"Mice don't like to swim," Punkin said.

"Neither do cats," Dusty reminded him. "But I think we might get to the bottom of this if we take our boat out for a cruise."

5. GRAIN ON MAPLE LEAVES

It was a beautiful day for a boat ride, and Punkin didn't mind the water as long as he didn't have to put his feet in it.

Dusty gazed into the stream, watching the patterns the current made. A maple leaf floated by, which would not have been unusual in itself. But this maple leaf had grain on top of it!

"Follow that maple leaf!" she directed Punkin, who was an expert navigator.

There was not only a single maple leaf but a trail of them. The cat detectives followed the trail of maple leaves in the direction from which it came until it seemed to stop suddenly.

Just then Punkin yelled, "Look out!" as a maple leaf with grain stuck on top of it came out of the sky and nearly hit Dusty in the head!

6. THE CULPRIT IS CAUGHT

The cat detectives looked up into the maple tree that sat beside the stream. High on a branch overhanging the stream they saw Simon and his band of thieves. The mice were busy at work using sap from the tree to attach grain, Butternut's grain, to maple leaves!

It didn't take long for Dusty to figure out the rest. "Then the mice drop the leaves with grain on top into the water where the current takes them downstream to a secret hiding place."

"Let's go after Simon first," Punkin suggested, and the cats scampered up the maple tree and captured the ring leader and his band of thieves.

Then they followed the trail of maple leaves downstream to the secret hiding place and recovered the missing grain.

Dusty and Punkin had done such a splendid job rounding up the mice that Butternut offered them a permanent job and living quarters at the barn. They agreed as long as they could curl up with Butternut at night to keep warm.

It was the perfect arrangement.

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