Excerpts from
Plus-Four and Treasure-Cat
By Louis Jensen
Plus-Four felt frightened and put a paw
on top of his tweed cap. He thought that things were getting a bit out of hand.
The way it often went was like this: there were some horses on a farm and
sometimes they had to run in a race, and then they were stolen by very
dangerous criminals so that they couldn't run in the race after all. And then
disaster seemed just a step away.
That's why he stared at Katten-Skatten
with fright when she suggested that they should lie in wait and expose the
criminal. Maybe, he began. He wanted to say that the horsethief was
probably very dangerous. Perhaps he was even armed, and then everything would
be even more dangerous. But then he didn't after all.
He thought it was too embarrassing because he
was wearing the cap. And if he did say it, he risked Katten-Skatten
saying that she would lie in wait instead. And then she would probably insist
on having the cap. With all this in mind, he continued, maybe he won't
have the time.
Katten-Skatten looked at him in
wonder. Won't have the time? I was thinking, said Plus-Four
slightly ill at ease, that maybe he has another more important robbery to
do first. Maybe... He didn't know what the robber was supposed to rob,
but then he thought he would suggest that perhaps he was going to rob a bank.
Katten-Skatten clapped her paws with
excitement. Of course! she said. He'll do that this
afternoon, that's why he won't be here till this evening to rob the horse..
The horse? asked Plus-Four
worriedly.
The whole thing was taking an unhappy turn. It
would be even more dangerous when evening fell and it turned dark. But then he
thought that if there were no horses, then there would be no robbers either.
And since he couldn't remember ever seeing a horse in any of the fields, he
breathed a sigh of relief.
Katten-Skatten
knitted her brows.
It was true. There really were no horses. Then
she laughed and nudged Plus-Four, who was still wearing the genuine
detective cap. She grabbed his pipe, stuck it in her mouth and gave him a sly
look. Then she took the hat and the magnifying- glass away from him, too.
Plus-Four waited to hear what she had to say.
There's always Madsen's cow, she
said slyly.
Madsen's
cow?
Katten-Skatten nodded and pointed toward
Madsen's farm with the magnifying glass. From where they were standing, they
could glimpse the roof of the farm almost hidden behind some large trees on the
other side of a small hill. .
Katten-Skatten nodded to herself and
shoved the genuine hat with its double peak further up her forehead.
Plus-Four was at a loss. After all,
Madsen's cow was no horse. It resembled a cow more than most of the cows Plus-Four
had seen or heard of. It was a very genuine cow. The horse-robber wanted
to rob horses and not cows.
But
that's the trick of it!
The trick? asked Plus-Four
puzzled. Katten-Skatten nodded and pulled the genuine hat down her
forehead. How's that? asked Plus-Four. Because, laughed
Katten-Skatten. We'll just dress it up
to look like a horse!
Translated by Birgit Stephenson
|
|
