Pasukan Mau Tahu - Misteri Pencuri Siluman

Warning: o come all ye spoilers.

Who is Mr Bigfeet? All the Five Find-Outers know is that he is a thief who seems able to slip in and out of houses without being seen -- yet he leaves the most enormous footprints! Once again it is a battle of wits between the young detectives and P.C. Goon. It is also a battle of disguises...

The story opens with Pip complaining about being in the fourth week of the summer holidays without a trace of a mystery. Imagine that -- what a torture! Well, the good news is that they have eight weeks of holidays; plenty of time left for a proper mystery, I say. Such spoiled kids -- eight weeks of doing nothing and you're complaining?! Get out!

Incidentally, it is a very hot summer, so the five don't feel like doing anything and are just lazing around the Hiltons' house. But then Pip's mom tells him that Inspector Jenks is coming to Peterswood this morning, to watch his goddaughter ride in a gymkhana -- yup, new word for me, too.

So, the children go to the field to meet their friend the Inspector. They invite him and his little goddaughter Hilary to tea. Speaking of the goddaughter, I don't recall how it was translated in the Indonesian version. Keponakan? Anyone?

Oh, and BTW, Mr. Goon is away on a refresher course, where he's learning a new police-related trick or two. Standing in his place is an officer called Tonks, who's currently on the field as well. Soon, though, he is to cut the Inspector's tea short, for he has just learned about a robbery in Peterswood. Inspector Jenks and Tonks quickly depart, leaving the children and Hilary behind, but not before the Inspector firmly tells Fatty not to get involved in this one.

But, of course, we know Enid's love for her chubby protagonist, so guess what, it's Hilary's house that was broken into! Amidst the excitement, the Inspector did not realize that. Fatty, ever good at seizing opportunities presented to him by our Enid, quickly and smoothly offers to take the little girl and her pony home. He asks Bets to come along -- to keep Hilary distracted while he snoops around.

After making sure the two policemen have left the house, Fatty goes ahead with his investigation. Bets meanwhile bravely endures Hilary's showing off all her trophies. Hilary's parents are away and her housekeeper Jinny is the only one home. You know, I can't help thinking: here's a little girl with passion for horse riding and is apparently good at it, yet when she rode today, noone but her godfather was there to watch. The parents have been away and the godfather rushed away to a crime scene without a minute of concern over the girl being left alone in the field.

Then again, we're talking Blytons here, where children who study away from home return for holidays only to find their parents or guardians going somewhere else.

Anyway, back to the case. Chronologically, here's what happened according to Jinny: she heard something thrown away into the garden, followed by a man's hollow cough and heavy, clumsy steps upstairs; she noticed a ladder against the wall outside, so she stayed in the hall, where she could see both the ladder and the house staircase; the burglar left neither by the ladder nor the stairs, of this she was very sure; she phoned the police and when she hung up, the baker arrived; together, they went upstairs, where all windows were shut and fastened from the inside -- nothing.

The thief had simply disappeared.

Fatty finds big glove marks on the wall of the room from where the goods were stolen. He also finds a set of big footprints outside, as well as a curious print -- large, roundish, with criss-cross lines here and there. There's a thick pipe on the outside wall, leading to a small window upstairs. Anyone small enough could've snuck through the window and climbed down the pipe. Problem is, the window is securely shut from the inside.

I told you how I immediately solved this, uh, mystery. Well, I did -- right about this point of the story. Don't ask me how, I still don't know. The many locked-room mysteries I have since read would only come later.

For now, though, Fatty -- not unreasonably -- assumes the thief must be someone with big hands and feet. He makes copies of the glove-prints, footprints, and the queer print in his notebook.

The next morning, Fatty pays Mr. Tonks a visit. The policeman, unaware of bad blood between Mr. Goon and the kids, helpfully shares the information he has with Fatty. Aside from the baker, three people came to Hilary's house yesterday: the postman, a woman with election leaflets, and a man selling logs. Tonks also shows Fatty two pieces of paper found in the garden. On them 2 Frinton and 1 Rods, respectively, are written.

In addition, he also informs Fatty that Mr. Goon is due to be back in Peterswood that very afternoon. Fatty is pleased to hear that -- a bit of Luthor-Superman, Joker-Batman thing going on there.

Fatty meets the rest and relates what took place yesterday and that morning. Everyone is excited to have a mystery to solve at last. Upon hearing about the "2 Frinton" clue, Bets remembers a place nearby called Frinton Lea. They decide it's worth a visit.

Meanwhile, Mr. Goon returns home. Tonks happily hands over the case along with all the clues to him before departing. Before long, someone phones in another robbery! Mr. Goon hurries on his bicycle to the given address. And who's there to open the front door for him but Fatty.

I must admit, reading this book, I got quickly tired of Fatty's luck and antics. Poor Mr. Goon can't seem to do anything right and it's not like he's being stupid -- he's simply being outlucked, if there's such a word, by the Find-Outers.

Seeing Fatty, Goon immediately draws a conclusion that Fatty must've been the one telephoning and it's one of his pranks. Well, we readers know better, of course. Poor Goon departs as soon as he has arrived.

Turns out the house is just next door to the Daykins' -- see what I meant by Goon being outlucked? Larry, Daisy, and Fatty were having tea there when they heard the neighbor scream. The M.O. is pretty much the same as the first burglary. Mrs. Williams -- the lady of the house -- heard someone clumsily knock a few things upstairs and a hollow cough, before being shoved into a cupboard so fast she couldn't see the attacker. Upstairs, plenty of the same big glove marks are left by the thief. So are the same big footprints in the garden. So is the same curious, roundish mark. The visitors that day are the grocer's girl, the baker, and the postman. Only this time there's no piece of paper lying around with strange word on it.

Mr. Goon has another thought and phones the house to verify if the robbery is real. Soon, he's back at the front door. Lucy -- the housekeeper and the one who called the policeman -- thinks the burly officer has gone mad and shuts the door on him. Whoa, shutting the door on the Law? Unthinkable!

Goon walks round the house, bumps into the kids, and gets chased into the kitchen by Buster. The children laugh at him and note his large feet -- about the size of the footprints found on both crime scenes. They agree that the thief must be someone with big hands and feet -- size twelve or thirteen -- and that they should be on the lookout for such men. There shouldn't be too many in Peterswood. Before they leave, they mess a bit with Goon's investigation. Gosh, did I used to laugh at these? Maybe. That shows how much a kid knows.

The Five Find-Outers have a meeting in Fatty's shed. They make plans for Larry to interview the postman, Pip the baker, Daisy and Bets the grocer's girl, and Fatty to go in disguise and watch Frinton Lea, to see if a big-footed man lives there. Apparently, everyone shares the same baker and knows the grocer's girl. Uh, OK. I'm curious, however, as to how they know that it is that baker.

Daisy and Bets go to Mrs. Kendal's, where Bets once saw the grocer's girl deliver goods. True to form, Enid doesn't let her protagonists wait too long and soon the girl arrives in a yellow van. Although in a hurry, she still talks to Daisy and Bets. She came to Mrs. Williams' before both the postman and the baker -- she saw neither parcels nor loaves. She didn't hear or see anything unusual.

Their task easily completed, the two girls join their brothers at Pip's, waiting for the postman and the baker. The postman shows up first. He tells the kids that he arrived at Mrs. Williams' after the grocer's girl -- there were groceries on the kitchen table -- and before the baker -- no loaves. He also didn't hear or see the thief.

Next comes the baker, described by Enid as "a cocky little bantam of a man, with a rather high voice, and a silly way of clearing his throat." Aha, that should tell you something. BTW, I looked up "bantam" and Webster says it's "a person of diminutive stature and often combative disposition." Interesting. Anyway, as expected by about everyone, the baker didn't see or hear anything, either. He does confirm that he came after the postman and the grocer's girl.

One notable scene has Pip offering to take the baker's basket to his kitchen, saving him the walk, and the baker declining rather curiously. He says that he's "the only baker in Peterswood that covers his bread up with a clean cloth." Bets notes, however, that his hands are not at all clean.

Now that everyone has their -- hmm, epicene they -- assignments completed, the children take a stroll to Frinton Lea, confident that they can make Fatty in his disguise. Frinton Lea is located by a big river, where people in boats are fishing. They catch a sight of a fisherman in particular that looks suspicious. He must be Fatty!

He's not, of course -- everyone knows when Fatty's in disguise, you don't spot him. The man has big, hairy hands and a pair of big boots on. As they watch him, he lets out a hollow cough. Whoa, he must be the thief, then!

He's not, of course -- thieves are never revealed 60 pages into a mystery book. He's Mr. Goon in disguise, practicing one of the new tricks he recently learned. The kids have yet to realize it when eventually, Fatty reveals himself accidentally -- he's also posing as one of the people fishing -- and plays a joke on the rest of the Find-Outers, by having Larry phone Goon and report the disguised Goon. After the rest catch on, Fatty chides them for falling for Old Goon's tricks. Damn it, Fat Boy, shut up already!

In any case, Fatty manages to clear Frinton Lea -- noone with big feet lives there. They talk about the rest of the clues over tea. The "1 Rods" clue has them decide to look up the phone directory as well as street directory. It could be a shortened house name of family name. About the big footprints Pip has this great idea of paying the cobbler a visit. So it's set, then: Larry and Daisy will look up the street directory, Pip and Bets the phone directory, and Fatty will go to the cobbler's.

Fatty gets himself a pair of second-hand boots, size eleven. Naturally, he then puts on another disguise and sees the cobbler as an old tramp wearing big boots. He's able to fish out some information from the shoe maker -- only two people in Peterswoon wear shoes of size twelve: Mr. Goon and a Colonel Cross. Just then, who shows up at the cobbler's but Mr. Goon -- also in another disguise, somewhat better this time.

Seeing the old tramp with big boots, the policeman is immediately suspicious. The two of them then sit side by side on a bench. As if on cue, the rest of Find-Outers walk by. This time they make Mr. Goon and play a prank on him, pretending not knowing it's the policeman. Unable to take it, Goon leaves. Fatty reveals himself -- because noone spots him, remember -- and they arrange for Daisy and Bets to visit a jumble sale to find out if it has big shoes for sale. Fatty himself will trail Goon for fear of the policeman finding an important clue after all.

I really ought to go faster -- I'm only at page 95 out of 158! The children find -- and cross -- the Rodneys, the Rodericks, and the Rodways, being just a step ahead of Goon on each occasion. Fatty, still in disguise, visits Colonel Cross -- who couldn't have been the thief since he only recently came back from overseas -- and has the colonel give him a pair of old boots, size twelve. Yet again, Goon comes too late and gets into trouble with the angry colonel.

To the Five Find-Outers' surprise, the colonel's old boots have rubber heels whose patterns match the footprints Fatty copied in his notebook from the crime scenes. Recalling how the housekeeper who gave him the shoes mentioned about the colonel giving away another pair of big boots last year for the jumble sale, Fatty asks Bets to go with him to a Miss Kay, the woman who runs the jumble sale every year. They'll ask who bought the big boots last year and voila, they'll have the name of the invisible thief!

Off they go, taking Colonel Cross' old boots to Miss Kay -- who's none other than a cousin of the annoying baker's. He's called Twit, BTW. The woman tells them she didn't get to sell the boots after all as they were stolen the night before last year's sale. The baker shows up at his cousin's and tries to be funny as usual and somehow gets into confrontation with Fatty, who outsmarts him in word exchange. Poor baker, doesn't he know, just like the Lakers are Kobe's team, Five Find-Outers is Fatty's series -- the fat kid will always outsmart anyone.

Disappointed, the children do nothing for the next two days. They have no more clues to follow. Then Fatty's own shed is burgled!

Same familiar big glove-prints and footprints and that strange mark noone figures out just yet. Visitors today? Girl with groceries, milkman, and baker. Don't tell me you haven't seen the pattern yet. This time, though, it turns out the thief has left a message with Mr. Goon, arrogantly warning him of another robbery to come -- the Trottevilles. Mr. Goon, unaware that the crime has taken place, shows the children that note. Noone but Fatty notices that it's written on a similar piece of paper to the ones found at Hilary's -- if you still remember that name, you'll make a good detective one day -- home.

After an irrelevant chapter aptly titled "Mostly About Goon" where the policeman tries to do his duty by watching the Trottevilles' -- Fatty's -- house that night, only to get chased by Buster and scolded by Fatty's parents, comes the most important chapter in the book. Pip, seeing Fatty very gloomy and down, attempts to cheer him up by donning Colonel Cross' old boots -- still in Fatty's possession after he decided not to leave them with Miss Kay after the disappointment -- and leaving big footprints in Fatty's garden. This has everyone but Pip puzzled and worried that the thief has once again visited Fatty's shed.

It's of course the eye-opener Fatty has needed. The thief is not a big man, after all! Simply a small man pretending to be big-handed and big-footed! Hence, all the "clues" to mislead everyone. With that, Fatty asks his friends to give him time to think the case through. They're to come to his home at half past two. Inspector Jenks and Mr. Goon will join them.

The final two chapters deal with Fatty unraveling the mystery nicely, as everyone else sitting watching. The thief must be someone who can come and go without anyone's suspicion. Someone who must be small and carries around a pair of huge gloves and huge boots, ready for use when opportunities arise. Then in the most dramatic fashion, Fatty opens the door.

In walks Twit the baker.

The burglar identified, the rest comes easy. The curious, roundish marks were left by the bread basket Twit always has with him. In that basket, underneath all the loaves, he hides the boots -- taken last year from his cousin's jumble sale, of course -- and gloves -- and also the stolen goods. "2 Frinton" and "1 Rods" are clues after all; the baker writes the orders he gets on these bits of paper. "2 Frinton" means 2 loaves for Frinton (Lea?) and "1 Rods" means a loaf for the Rod(ney/erick/way)s. Twit must've dropped them accidentally.

The disappearing act at Hilary's is explained as well. Having thrown the goods into the garden, Twit went out through the tiny window upstairs and slid down the pipe outside -- he's small enough to do that. Next, he cleverly showed up and offered to accompany Jinny checking the rooms upstairs. It was then that he shut the small window from the inside, leaving the impression that the thief had simply vanished.

Neat.

There, another mystery solved by the Five Find-Outers and Dog. Inspector Jenks, as always, hurries Fatty to grow up fast and be his right-hand man. The book closes with the gang toasting for the next mystery -- in Fatty's words, "May it be the most difficult of all!"

You know, had I not got lucky and guessed whodunnit the first time I read this book, I might have enjoyed the mystery a lot as a kid. I can totally imagine a boy or a girl reading to the final chapter and going, whoa! So that's how he did it! Now re-reading it, I noticed the subtle clues Enid left here and there. For example, it was mentioned in passing a few times how the missing goods were never big. Also, the heavy-footed clumsiness of the thief -- it makes sense for someone with small feet wearing boots much too big.

I still can't stand Fatty and all his luck, impossible disguises, and smart-alecky self. But that's just me. And nonetheless, I regard this book as one of the series' better stories. Everyone is very much involved, by the series' standards. In particular, Daisy plays a more significant role and Pip, for a change, comes up with the pivotal sequence of the story.

Next: Secret Seven on the Trail.

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