Mr. Brown, who worked in a nearby factory, was a tall, well built, good looking man, with dark hair, and brown eyes, and a hearty laugh. Mrs. Brown was small and slender with a pretty, friendly face, soft fair hair and grey eyes. She was a jolly person, who worked hard to keep her family comfortable and happy.

The three children were Greg, 14 years old, tall and goodlooking like his father, with merry dark eyes. Paul, 12 years old, was shorter, with fair hair, grey eyes, and was always up to mischief. Then there was Jenny, 10 years old, plump and pretty, with curly brown hair, freckles and brown eyes. To complete the family was Patch, a black and white cat and a dog, of doubtful breed, called Fred.

Mrs. Brown kept hens and was very proud of her birds, and how well they laid. Generally she had plenty of spare eggs, which she sold in the village. The hens were kept in a well fenced pen, with a good house for perching and their laying boxes, out in the land clear of the cottage. Mrs. Brown saw to the feeding of the birds, but it was Jenny’s job to collect the eggs.

At the moment the children were all puzzled. Mrs. Brown’s hens had been laying very well for several weeks; and then suddenly, the egg numbers dropped. For a few days she thought some of the hens might have been sickening for something, and had watched them very carefully, but they all appeared healthy, and were eating well. Mr. Brown examined the pen to see if it was damaged and a dog or some other animal could be getting in and eating the eggs, but all was secure. The eggs were still down in number, but not every day.

As it was the school holidays, the children decided to see if they could solve the mystery. Earlier in the summer they had built a tree hut in one of the big pine trees, and now were going to use it as a watch tower, as it gave a good view of the hen house.

Seated around the table on Sunday night, after the evening meal, they explained their plan, to their parents.

“We are going to take turns in the hut, watching the hen house,” said Jenny.

“As the hens begin laying from early morning, Paul and Jenny will share the day,” explained Greg, “I’ll only be able to help at the weekend.” as during the holidays he worked at the local Butcher’s.
Mrs. Brown saw to one feeding of the big pine birds, but the cottage. Jenny’s job to collect eggs.

“Well it sounds very exciting,” said Mrs. Brown “but I hope it will be solved by the weekend.”
Next morning, after breakfast, Jenny climbed the ladder to the tree hut and settled herself on some cushions, where she could clearly see the door of the hen house. For a while she watched intently, and saw Paul go off on his bike, to do some shopping for their Mother. A little later the postie arrived with mail, and blew his whistle loudly. The hens were cackling away merrily and all seemed so peaceful. Gradually Jenny became bored and picked up a book, to glance through the pages. Jenny loved reading and could become really absorbed. Now in a story so it wasn’t unusual for her to forget all about her watching job and settle down with the book.

Suddenly a voice spoke loudly and angrily, as Paul’s head appeared at the top of the ladder.

“Jenny, you haven’t been watching! You mean little thing. How can we catch the thief if you aren’t going to help?”

“Oh Paul, I’m sorry. I quite forgot. I won’t do it again.” cried Jenny, in great distress.

“Alright, away you go. It’s lunch time now and I’ve had mine,” said Paul, as he sat down in Jenny’s place.

Jenny scrambled down the ladder and ran off to the house. She felt very ashamed of herself, but told her Mother how she had been reading and not watching, and how cross Paul had been.

“Oh well, never mind Jenny. You certainly should have tried harder and not let Paul down, but I don’t suppose you’d have seen anyone anyhow.” replied Mrs. Brown. When Jenny collected the eggs later on, it was found that there were at least six missing.

“See Jenny, if you’d been doing your job properly we’d have caught the thief,” growled Paul.

Jenny burst into tears and rushed from the room.

“Leave her Paul,” said his Father, “she won’t do it again.”

Next day Paul went up into the hut first and watched till lunch time. Jenny relieved him and watched till mid afternoon, when the eggs were collected. That day none were missing, so the children were very well satisfied with their plan.

Wednesday and Thursday passed and no eggs were taken, then on Friday morning while Paul was on duty, there was a phone call for him. Jenny was away playing for a while so the hut was left unattended for a short time.

When Paul answered the phone it was very strange. A voice chattered away to him and kept asking questions but wouldn’t say who was calling and didn’t seem to want anything special. Very odd. When he returned to the hut Paul was very puzzled. Jenny did the afternoon duty very carefully and collected the eggs on the way back to the house. There were at least six missing.

The family discussed the situation over dinner that night and came to the conclusion that the phone call was a decoy, to get Paul away from the hut, while a second person robbed the hen house.

Greg suggested that they watch from somewhere else over the weekend, as obviously the thief knew they were watching from the tree hut.

“I think one of us should be in the hut as well, though,” said Paul, “otherwise they will be suspicious.”

“Good thinking, Paul,” replied Mr. Brown, “Greg, you go into the hut and about mid morning, come down the ladder and call out that you are sick of it, and come inside the house. Paul, you stay in the laundry. You get a good view from that window.”

“O.K. Dad, that sounds great.” said Greg. “We’ll catch the blighter this time.”

Next morning Greg went off to the hut, very early, taking some food with him, and Paul settled himself in with the curtain, behind the curtain in the laundry. Jenny was soon busy helping her Mother around the house. Mr. Brown had to work Saturday mornings, so the thief would feel just as free as during the week.

All was quiet for about 2 hours and then Greg climbed down and yelled out that he was sick of being stuck up there and came inside. He went and joined Paul in the laundry and it wasn’t long afterwards that Jenny heard a wild yell from Paul. Running outside she was in time to see her brothers racing across the paddock, chasing a boy, and then disappear into the trees. Wanting to be in at the finish, Jenny ran off and followed them. She was in time to meet them coming out, holding on to a strange boy about the same age as Greg.

They dragged him into the house and sat him down at the kitchen table.

Mrs Brown came in too and sat down opposite the boy, who looked very frightened.

“Now then,” said Greg, “let’s have it. Who are you, and why have you been pinching our eggs?”

The boy hesitated and then the words came tumbling out.

“My name is John Blake. We came to live in a cottage on the other side of the village, and then a few weeks ago my Dad just walked out and we haven’t seen or heard of him since. There is just my Mother, brother Bill and myself. We haven’t any money and Bill and I have been pinching bits and pieces of food. Mother hates it and so do I, but we have to live somehow. I’m sorry about your eggs.”

There was silence around the table for a moment or two and then Mrs. Brown said “How did you manage to sneak in so often?”

“Oh, I watched very carefully, and it only took a minute when no one was about. We were desperate the other day though and my brother made that phone call for Paul. We hadn’t been able to take any food for several days, and were very hungry.”

“How old are you John?” asked Greg.

“I’m just 15,” replied John. “Why?”

“Well,” said Greg, “Mr. Thomson, the Butcher, is looking for a boy he could train, and he might give you the job, if you are interested.”

“Oh, gosh, that would be great.” said John, “I’d be very keen to get a real job.”

“Well, meet me, on Monday morning, about 7.30, outside the Butcher’s shop and I’ll introduce you. I’ll leave out the bit about the eggs though.” said Greg, with a grin.

“Now John, just give me time to pack a basket, and then I want you to take us over to meet your Mother and Bill,” said Mrs. Brown.

Shortly afterwards, Mrs Brown and the three children, accompanied John through the village and down a side lane to a tiny cottage, where a frail looking lady and a young boy, met them.

“Mum, this is Mrs. Brown, Greg, Paul and Jenny. They caught me stealing their eggs, but have been very kind. Instead of calling the police they are going to help me get a job, and wanted to come and meet you.”

The children all sat around outside and talked, while Mrs. Blake took Mrs. Brown inside. The cottage inside was poorly furnished but very clean, and Mrs. Blake apologised for John’s thieving. She hadn’t heard any word from her husband and didn’t know why he had gone off but was still hoping that he would return so they could all be together again. If John could get a job they would be able to manage though.

Mrs. Brown insisted that she accept the contents of the basket, and said that she would be happy for them to have eggs every week, as a gift.

On the way home later, the Browns all decided that they liked the Blakes and would do all they could to help them settle happily in the village.

When they told Mr. Brown about the day’s excitement, and about Mr. Blake disappearing, he had some news to add to the tale. Some of the men at the factory had been discussing a patient at the local Hospital. It seemed that several weeks before a man had been found wandering around, quite a distance from the village, and no one knew who he was. He was running a high temperature and was quite ill so had been put into the Hospital. Since then he seemed to have lost his memory although his health was getting better.

Perhaps it was Mr. Blake, and if Mrs. Blake was taken to see him, his memory might come back.

Later in the afternoon Mr. Brown went over to see Mrs. Blake and take her to the Hospital. Mrs. Brown and the children waited impatiently for his return, and knew as soon as they saw him that the story had a happy ending. It was Mr. Blake and he was going to be alright.

What a wonderful ending to an exciting few days, and the mystery of the missing eggs.

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