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Authors: Gertrude Chandler Warner

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BOOK: Great Bicycle Race Mystery
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“It’ll be dark soon,” said Henry. “Where can they be?”

“They’ll be here,” Grandfather said.

Henry glanced at his grandfather and Benny. He was sure Grandfather was right. He had nothing to worry about. But he couldn’t help it. He knew how fast Jessie had been riding. And all three of them had left right after lunch. He hadn’t seen them since then.

“If they had a flat tire or bike trouble, wouldn’t we have passed them on the road?” he said.

“Maybe they stopped for water at someone’s house,” Benny said. “And we passed them then and didn’t see them.”

“Maybe,” said Henry.

Grandfather said, “Even if they are having problems, the sweep wagon will pick them up.”

“Not the sweep wagon!” Benny said. “Then they can’t be in the raffle.”

The sun was down. It would be dark soon. A few riders were still trickling in as the other riders who had gathered cheered them on.

A crew member said to another crew member, “I bet the next thing we see is a sweep wagon fall of riders.”

“You’re right. I see it, just coming over that hill way up the road,” said the other crew member.

“Jessie!” cried Benny, jumping up and down.

Sure enough, Jessie came pedaling into the camp. Right behind her were Soo Lee and Violet.

Jessie pulled to a stop and spun to look back down the road. “We beat it!” she gasped. “We beat the sweep wagon.”

She, Violet, and Soo Lee were all breathing hard.

“What took you so long?” Henry asked.

“We were getting just a little bit worried,” put in Grandfather.

“Got lost,” panted Soo Lee. “Tell you about it at dinner.”

“Dinner,” said Benny. “Where’s dinner?”

“This way, Benny,” said Grandfather.

“I’ll show you where to check your bikes at the bike corral,” said Henry. “And walk you to your tents. They’re right across the row from Grandfather’s and mine.”

“I’m staying with you, Jessie,” said Benny.

Jessie managed a smile.

The sweep wagon rolled into camp and the crew began to close the camp gates.

Jessie turned. Her eyes widened. “It’s a whole tent city,” she said. “It’s huge.”

“I guess you’d better show us around, Henry/’ said Violet, “or we might get lost again!”

Grandfather smiled and took Benny’s hand. “We’ll meet you at dinner,” he said.

“Someone changed the signs,” Jessie concluded. She, Soo Lee, Henry, and Violet stood in a long, long line that snaked from the dining tent all the way across the park where the tent city had been set up.

The line hadn’t moved in a long time. Some of the riders had sprawled in the grass, waiting for dinner. The last light of day was fading in the west.

“We weren’t the only ones who got lost,” Violet said. “But we met the others on our way back and told them, and they turned around. So they didn’t have to ride as far as we did.”

“Sabotage,” said Henry. “Someone wanted you to get lost. Or to not finish.”

“Maybe they wanted to wreck the whole ride,” said Benny.

“Maybe—” Violet broke off. “Look,” she said. “Remember that man we saw this morning, talking to Ms. Whatney and Ronald? He just walked out from behind the dining wagon. And he’s headed this way.”

The man was still wearing his scruffy coat and backward hat. He walked slowly, his eyes traveling over the tent city: the riders, the tents set up for dining and repairing bicycles and selling Eagle Mountain T-shirts. The man saw the Aldens watching him and raised his eyebrows.

The outdoor lights came on, and now they could see him clearly. He was older than he had first appeared to be.

“Are you a rider?” Benny blurted out.

“No,” said the man. “But I can see that you all are. How’s it going?”

“We’ve had some bad luck today, but it’s fine,” said Jessie stoutly.

The man’s eyebrows rose higher. “Bad luck? You’ve had good weather. Looks like a great volunteer crew.”

“Not enough water at the first stop,” said Henry. “Someone sabotaged it.” He watched the man closely as he spoke. The man didn’t appear surprised.

“Really,” he said.

“And someone put up signs that made us get lost,” Soo Lee said. “We almost didn’t make it back to camp before the sweep wagon.”

“Oh?” the man said.

“And someone stole my brother’s bike the night before the race and wrecked it,” Benny put in.

“Hmmm,” said the man, looking at Henry. “But you’re here.”

“The bike shop gave us a tandy bike,” Benny explained.

Now the man changed expression. He looked puzzled.

“A tandem bike,” Henry explained. “Lent to us by our bike shop, Greenfield Wheels.”

“Ah,” said the man. “Well, you’ve had some tough luck. But it could be worse.” He drew back one corner of his mouth in what might have been a smile and walked away.

“He’s weird,” said Soo Lee.

“Definitely,” agreed Jessie.

“Do you think he sabotaged the water and moved the signs?” Henry mused. “Nothing we told him seemed to surprise him.”

“You’re right,” Jessie said, staring after him. The man went around the corner of a tent and, following two signs that said BIKE CORRAL and INFORMATION TENT, he disappeared.

Jessie shivered. “Did you hear what else he said?” she asked. “He said, ‘It could be worse.’ That sounded like a threat.”

“It did,” Soo Lee said softly. And although it was a warm night, she shivered a little, too.

CHAPTER 7
“I’m Hungry!”

A grumble went down the line. A crew member ran out of the dining tent, followed by another. They raced past.

“I don’t believe this,” one of them said as she ran by.

“What’s going on?” asked Benny.

A moment later, another member of the dining hall crew walked down the line. “Dinner will be delayed,” he announced as he walked. “Come back when we ring the bell. It will be at least an hour.”

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Jessie inquired.

The crew member shook his head. “We got everything set up. We were ready to unload the food and start dishing it out. And then we discovered that someone had tampered with the lock on the food wagon.”

“It’s broken?” asked Violet.

“No. Looks like someone put glue in it. It’s going to take a locksmith to get it open,” he answered. He shook his head again. “I just hope the food doesn’t spoil.”

“Me too!” said Benny.

Henry said, “Did you see anybody suspicious around the food wagon?”

“Ha,” the crew volunteer said. “Like anyone would have time to notice. We’ve all been too busy to notice
anything.”

“I’m
hungry,”
said Benny.

“I have some snack bars in my tent, Benny,” said Soo Lee. “You can have one.”

“Maybe we could all have one?” Jessie asked hopefully.

“There might be enough to go around,” Soo Lee said. “Let’s see.”

They went back across the park to the tents. Soo Lee had enough snack bars for everybody. She even had one left over. They took the snack bars to a picnic table overlooking a small pond.

“If I had my fishing pole,” said Benny, “we could catch fish and cook them for dinner. I wonder who put glue in the lock? I guess whoever it was, wasn’t very hungry.”

“Whoever it was is trying to sabotage the ride,” said Henry. “Too many things have gone wrong.”

“Your bike. The water mess at the first rest stop. The fake directions. And the glue in the lock,” said Violet, counting each one on her fingers. She held up four fingers.

“Wow. And we haven’t even started the second day of the ride yet,” said Soo Lee.

“Who could it be? Do you think whoever wrecked your bike is the same person who did everything today?” asked Jessie.

Henry said, “Well ... it could be. After all, Al came by the lemonade stand and knew which bike was mine. And he was at the water stop this morning when we got there.”

“That’s right,” said Jessie. “He could have gotten there early and slipped in and opened the spigots.”

“Or it could have been Ms. Whatney and Ronald. He knew about the water and he was glad it happened. And he was right there, remember?” Soo Lee pointed out.

“And they could have driven ahead in their car and changed all the signs around,” Henry said.

“Or the mysterious stranger could have done it,” Benny said. “With the backward hat. He knows Ronald and Ms. Whatney. And we saw him walking away from the mess tent tonight.”

Henry rubbed his forehead. “They all seem suspicious, don’t they? But Ms. Whatney wants to buy Eagle Mountain and make money by cutting down the trees and putting up a resort, so she has a reason.”

“Or it could be someone else,” said Violet.

“But how do we figure out who did it?” asked Soo Lee.

“We’ll have to watch everyone very carefully from now on,” said Henry. “Tomorrow, Benny and I will keep an eye out for Ms. Whatney and Ronald.”

“And the mysterious stranger,” said Violet. “Soo Lee and I will help.”

Soo Lee nodded distractedly. She was looking in the direction of the dining tent.

“And I’ll ride extra fast and try to stay near Al to keep an eye on him,” Jessie promised.

Soo Lee stood up.

“Soo Lee? What is it? What’s wrong?” asked Violet.

Soo Lee grinned. The sound of a bell floated through the early evening dusk.

“Dinnertime!” she announced.

But their troubles weren’t over. Soon after dinner, the lights went out in the camp. Soo Lee and Violet, who had been brushing their teeth, had to hurry, shining their flashlights up and down the rows of tents to find their own.

Other flashlights crisscrossed the rows of tents as other riders looked for their sleeping spots. Each row had a letter and each tent had a number.

“N,”
whispered Violet. “Here’s our row.”

“We’re near the end,” Soo Lee reminded her. As they walked past the tents, they could hear people talking in soft, sleepy tones. Everyone was tired.

They stopped in front of their tent. Violet crawled in, then Soo Lee followed. Soo Lee leaned out. “Good night,” she called softly to Henry and Grandfather, and to Jessie and Benny, who were in the tents across from Soo Lee and Violet.

Behind her, Violet said, “Sleep tight.”

“I will,” said Benny, his voice muffled.

“Night,” called Jessie.

Grandfather and Henry didn’t say anything. The only sound that came from their tent was a quiet snore.

Violet pulled up her sleeping bag. Soo Lee snuggled down into hers.

“Good night, Violet,” whispered Soo Lee.

“Good night, Soo Lee,” Violet whispered back.

She turned off the flashlight and yawned.

And then she screamed as something dark and smothering swooped down on her.

“Help! Help!” cried Violet, thrashing her arms above her head.

“Oh, oh, oh,” shouted Soo Lee, punching and kicking.

“Ow!” said Violet as Soo Lee kicked her in the leg.

“Ouch!” said Soo Lee as one of Violet’s thrashing arms caught her in the shoulder.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Henry’s voice came to them through the darkness. “Your tent collapsed.”

Struggling out of the tent with Soo Lee, Violet became aware that they weren’t the only ones who’d been kicking and shouting for help.

Violet blinked. “Wha-at?” she managed to say.

“It’s not just your tent,” Jessie announced. “It’s the whole row. Look at that.”

Now volunteers came running with flashlights.

“Just a tent problem, folks,” a woman called as she hurried along. “The night crew will fix it in no time.”

“Look at this,” Jessie said. She had gone to the end of the row. The Aldens followed her voice until they found her. She had her flashlight pointed down at something on the ground. “It was deliberate. Someone made those tents all come down on purpose. All the rear tent pegs at this end of the row have been linked together with a single piece of thin rope looped over each peg. Whoever did that only had to yank the rope and all the rear tent pegs came up. Boom. The tents collapse,” Jessie said.

Henry squatted to examine the rope. “Just plain cord,” he said. “But whoever did this is pretty smart. It’s simple and quick. All he—or she—had to do was walk by and pull. No one would even notice.”

As Henry had predicted, no one had. Dozens and dozens of bikers had been up and down the rows of tents since they were put up. “Anyone could have tied the pegs together,” said Henry.

BOOK: Great Bicycle Race Mystery
3.04Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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