The inspector whistled and exchanged a look with Mr Gaston. He picked up the diamond necklace.

“You’ve got them!” he said. “The very jewels! And to think the police everywhere have been hunting for them for months and months and months. Where did you find them, youngsters?”

“It’s rather a long story,” said Julian. He began to tell it, and he told it well, prompted by the others, when he forgot anything. Mr Gaston and the inspector listened with amazement on their faces. When Julian came to the bit where Dirty Dick and Maggie had been left floundering in the marshes, the inspector interrupted him.

“Wait! Would they still be there? They would? Right. Half a minute!”

He pressed a bell and a policeman appeared.

“Tell Johns to take his three men and the car, and go to the Green Marshes, near Gloomy Water,” ordered the inspector. “He’s to pick up two people floundering there - man and woman. Our old friends Dirty Dick and Maggie Martin! Look sharp!”

The policeman disappeared. Anne hugged herself. Now that awful couple would be put into safe custody for some time, thank goodness - till she had forgotten about them! Anne hadn’t liked them a bit.

Julian’s tale came to an end. The inspector looked across at the tousle-headed, dirty, untidy group and smiled. He held out his hand. “Shake!” he said. “All of you! You’re the kind of kids we want in this country - plucky, sensible, responsible youngsters who use your brains and never give up! I’m proud to meet you!”

They all shook hands with him solemnly. Timmy held up his paw too, and the inspector grinned and shook that too.

“And now - what’s your programme?” asked Mr, Gaston, getting up.

“Well - we’re all supposed to be back at school by three o’clock,” said Julian. “But I don’t think we can arrive looking like this. We’d get into awful rows! Is there a hotel where we can have a bath and clean ourselves up a bit?”

“You can do that here,” said the inspector. “And if you like I’ll run you back to your schools in the police car. We can’t do too much for people who produce the Fallonia jewels out of rucksacks, you know. Bless us all - I can’t believe it!”

Mr Gaston said good-bye and went, saying that he was very proud to have made friends with them. “And don’t you get stuck down any more rabbit-holes!” he said to Timmy, who wuffed happily at him.

They bathed and washed every inch of themselves. They found their clothes neatly folded and brushed, and felt grateful. They brushed their hair and arrived looking very clean and tidy in the inspector’s private room. He had a man there, inspecting the jewels and labelling them before he put them away into boxes.

“You’ll be interested to know that we have picked up your couple,” he told them. “The man had a broken ankle and couldn’t stir a step. The woman was thigh deep in the marsh when we found her. They quite welcomed the police, they were so fed up with everything!”