Mandie Collection, The: 4 (48 page)

“He knew he’d better mend his ways enough to save you or he might’ve been blamed if you’d drowned. He was the only one anywhere near the lake when you fell in,” Jonathan reminded her.

Celia asked, “Do y’all think his grandmother will allow him to marry Lady Catherine even though she has no money, which they need so badly to renovate the castle?”

Mandie’s blue eyes sparkled as she said, “I believe the baroness will agree to their marriage because, first of all, they are definitely in love, and because Lady Catherine does have a title, and those things seem to be so important to these Europeans.”

“I myself see no use for such things, but over here they’re important,” Jonathan agreed. “I’m glad the United States is not that way.”

“Oh, but some families in the United States do try to pick out their sons’ and daughters’ marriage partners,” Celia said.

“Well, no one is going to pick out my husband for me if I ever decide to get one,” Mandie said, quickly tightening her hold on Snowball’s leash as he tried to jump ahead.

“Since that is usually done for money in the United States, you won’t have to worry about it,” Jonathan teased. “Think of all the wealth you’ll inherit someday.”

“Jonathan Guyer!” Mandie exclaimed, stopping to give him a sharp look. “Money doesn’t mean a thing to me as long as I have something to eat and wear and a place to live. Money can’t make a person happy and you should know that.”

Jonathan immediately became serious as he said, “You’re right. I have firsthand knowledge of that. Maybe if my father didn’t have so much money, things would be better between us.”

“He’d certainly have more time to spend with you,” Mandie agreed. “Maybe he realizes that now since he thought you had been kidnapped when we found you.” The three walked on.

“Senator Morton promised to discuss things with him,” Celia added.

“Just consider yourself lucky to have a father, Jonathan. Remember Celia and I have both lost our fathers,” Mandie reminded the dark-haired boy.

“Yes, I know,” Jonathan said, walking faster. Snowball tried to pull
loose from Mandie’s grasp on his leash. “Watch that cat. We don’t want to have to chase him all over Belgium. After all, we’re only going to be here a few days.” He grinned his mischievous grin.

“Mandie, I am so grateful to your grandmother for allowing me to come along on this trip to Europe with y’all,” Celia said. “I’ve really enjoyed all the countries we’ve been in.”

It was the summer of 1901 and the girls had come to Europe with Mrs. Taft during their vacation. Senator Morton, a family friend, had escorted them.

“I have, too,” Mandie said. “But it will soon end, and we’ll have to return home and go back to school.” She sighed.

“We have had some interesting adventures,” Jonathan said. “So far, we’ve been able to solve all the mysteries we’ve become involved in.”

“And we still have Holland, Ireland, and what other countries Grandmother decides to visit, and then back to England,” Mandie said.

“And onto that huge ship again to go home,” Celia added. Turning to Mandie, she said, “I think we’re pretty well traveled for thirteen-year-olds.”

“I think so, too, until I remember all those private schools in all the different countries that Jonathan has been attending all his life,” Mandie said, smiling at Jonathan.

“But I’m also a year and five months, lacking four days, older than you are,” Jonathan teased.

Celia smiled and said, “And I’m three months and five days older than Mandie.”

“Oh, for goodness’ sakes, y’all try to act so old—sometimes,” Mandie said, putting on a serious air. She glanced back to see where her grandmother and Senator Morton were. They weren’t on the walkway behind them. “Where did Grandmother and Senator Morton go?” She stopped to gaze around.

Celia and Jonathan immediately looked for them.

“And we promised we’d stay within their sight,” Celia said.

Jonathan suddenly pointed across the roadway. “There they are, over there looking at the merchandise in that vending cart.”

The girls then saw the adults.

Mandie breathed a sigh of relief as she pushed a wisp of blond
hair under her bonnet with one hand and held tightly to Snowball’s leash with the other. “I sure am glad we didn’t lose them. We might get lost.”

“Yes, since we only got here this morning,” Celia added.

“But I’ve been here before. I won’t let us get lost,” Jonathan promised.

“Grandmother made it clear that we weren’t to get out of her sight,” Mandie reminded him. Then smiling she added, “She wants to be sure we don’t get involved in another adventure.”

“So if we happen to run into another mystery, we can’t pursue it,” Jonathan said, grinning mischievously.

“Well, things will probably be better when Uncle Ned gets here,” Mandie said. “She trusts him to watch over me because he promised my father he would when my father died.”

“But he wasn’t sure about when he would catch up with us after we left him in Germany,” Celia said.

Uncle Ned, the old Cherokee Indian, had been Mandie’s father’s friend. And he had always turned up when Mandie needed him. He was not really Mandie Shaw’s uncle and was not really related to her, but Jim Shaw had been one-half Cherokee. Mandie was proud of her Indian heritage and often visited her Cherokee relatives in North Carolina. Uncle Ned managed to follow Mandie on this journey to Europe, and he kept in touch with her through the different countries she visited with her grandmother and her friends.

“He knows how long we’ll be staying here, so he’ll be sure to arrive sometime soon,” Mandie said.

Suddenly Snowball jerked the leash out of her hand and raced toward the water where several boats were docked. The three young people raced after him.

“Snowball! Come back here!” Mandie called to him, holding up her long skirts as she ran.

Celia and Jonathan were right behind her. The kitten slid to a stop as he pressed his front claws into the floor of the old wooden pier. Then leaping into the air, he landed in one of the small boats. The men working around the boats yelled at him in a foreign language that Mandie couldn’t identify, and she realized Snowball wouldn’t understand what they were saying either.

“He’s American,” she called to the man. “He can’t understand
you.” She reached the edge of the pier and stooped to see how she could rescue the cat from the boat.

“Look at what he’s doing!” Jonathan exclaimed. “That’s a fishing boat and he is trying to get to the fish.”

Mandie couldn’t suppress a smile as she watched Snowball trying to push up the lid of a huge basket on the boat. Then she frowned and yelled at him, “Snowball, come here! Right this minute!”

The workmen had stopped work to stare at the young people. Then one of the men stepped over into the fishing boat and looked down at the cat.

He called to them in French and Jonathan understood and replied. The man carefully scooped up Snowball and stepped out to hand him to Mandie.

“What did the man say, Jonathan?” Mandie asked. She grabbed her white kitten and held him up to look into his blue eyes. “You naughty kitten!”

“He just said for us to be still and he’d catch the cat, and I thanked him,” Jonathan explained.

“Oh yes, thank you!” Mandie called to the man who took off his hat and waved it at them.

“Snowball, I’m not going to carry you everywhere we go. You are going to behave and walk on the leash like you’re supposed to do,” Mandie told him. “Do you understand?”

Snowball meowed sadly and pushed his head against Mandie’s chin, purring loudly. Mandie set him down and wrapped the end of the leash around her wrist.

“He thought he was going to get a free fish dinner,” Celia laughed.

“And those men would have put a stop to that,” Jonathan said.

Mandie looked around the pier. “Jonathan, are these all fishing boats docked here?”

“I believe so,” Jonathan said. “Let’s walk along the water and look at them.” He led the way and the girls followed. They stopped to look at each boat.

When they came to a curve in the shoreline, they found no more fishing boats. But Mandie looked ahead and spotted another boat in the distance.

“There’s one more,” she said. “Let’s go that far and then come back.”

“That may not be a fishing boat, Mandie, because it’s isolated from the others here,” Jonathan said as the three walked toward the distant vessel.

As they came nearer, Mandie looked at the peeling paint on the small boat and the dirty windows in the tiny cabin.

“It looks like it’s deserted,” she told her friends. “I don’t believe it’s being used for anything.”

“It sure looks dilapidated,” Jonathan commented as they crowded close to the edge trying to see inside.

“It seems to be just flopping around in the water and not properly tied up,” Celia said.

Mandie looked around for some way to get onto the boat. Its side rose high enough that they couldn’t just step over into it. And there didn’t seem to be any steps or ladder to board it.

“How can we get into it?” she asked her friends.

“Mandie, we might fall into the water,” Celia cautioned her.

“Look at the deck,” Jonathan said. “Some of the boards are hanging loose. I’d say from the condition of that boat, it has been abandoned a long time.”

The girls looked where he pointed. The wood seemed to be old and rotten.

“Well, I’d still like to look inside,” Mandie insisted as she picked up Snowball and walked around. Turning to Celia she held out Snowball and said, “Would you hold him for me? I’m going to see how close I can get.”

“Mandie, please be careful,” Celia warned as she took the kitten.

Mandie moved cautiously to the edge of the pier. There was no railing to hold on to, only the old wooden planks of the floor to keep her from falling in. Jonathan followed closely behind her. Celia stood grasping Snowball and holding her breath as she watched at a safe distance from the edge.

Suddenly there was a loud moaning sound that seemed to be coming from inside the boat. Mandie and Jonathan stopped in surprise.

“What was that?” Mandie whispered to the boy.

“Whatever it was, I’m sure it must have come from the boat,” Jonathan replied.

The two stood there for a moment waiting and listening. The sound didn’t occur again. They edged their way forward. Mandie could feel the old planks shake and move beneath their feet. She reached for Jonathan’s hand to steady her.

“I don’t think it will fall in,” Jonathan said, looking down at the floor. “It’s just old and wobbly.”

At that moment the moaning sound came again—then silence.

“Do you think someone is inside the boat and is hurt or something?” Mandie said softly.

“It could be some kind of animal if the boat has been deserted,” Jonathan replied. “Let’s see if we can get nearer.”

The two slowly moved toward the last plank of the pier. As Mandie watched the boat bob slightly up and down in the water, she became dizzy-headed and tightly squeezed Jonathan’s hand and closed her eyes.

“I think I’d better go back,” she admitted as she turned around.

“We’ll have to figure out some other way to get near the boat,” Jonathan decided as he held her hand and they slowly made their way back to where Celia waited.

“I’m glad to see y’all made it back,” Celia remarked.

Suddenly a loud moan filled the air and then ceased. The young people looked at one another.

Mandie turned back toward the boat. “Jonathan, there is someone on that boat and they sound like they’re dying or something. We need to find out what’s wrong,” she said, starting to walk back out on the pier.

“Wait!” Jonathan said, quickly grasping her hand. “We have completely forgotten something—your grandmother and Senator Morton.”

“Oh goodness, you’re right!” Mandie exclaimed as she looked around. The area they were in seemed to be deserted. “We’d better find them at once!”

She took Snowball in her arms and led the way back in the direction they had come. Her friends quickly followed. Finally they reached the street where the vendor’s cart was and where they had seen the adults. There was no one there except the vendor now.

“Oh, Jonathan, can you ask that man if he knows which way my grandmother went?” Mandie said.

“If he speaks French I can,” Jonathan replied, hurrying toward the man who was sitting on a small stool behind his cart.

The girls waited and watched. Mandie knew the man evidently understood Jonathan’s French, as he stood up and waved to his left up the street. Jonathan hurried back.

“He said they walked that way,” Jonathan said, pointing the same direction the man had.

“Oh, I hope we can find them. My grandmother will be furious with us,” Mandie said as they hurried up the street.

They walked so fast they went right past Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton, who were at a shopwindow, without even seeing them.

“Amanda!” Mrs. Taft called.

Mandie turned quickly back and saw her grandmother and rushed over to her.

“It’s time to get back to the hotel,” Mrs. Taft said.

“Yes, Grandmother,” Mandie said breathlessly as she looked at her friends. Evidently they had not even been missed.

“This way,” Senator Morton said, motioning to the cross street.

The adults walked ahead and the young people followed at a distance where they could talk. They huddled close together as they went.

“Whew! That was pure luck!” Mandie murmured with a shake of her head. “How are we going to get into that boat? We’ve just got to find out who or what is inside it making that terrible noise.”

“Here we go again, Mandie,” Celia warned her. “Your grandmother said no more adventures, remember?”

“Well, this is not exactly an adventure,” Mandie protested as she held Snowball tightly in her arms. “There may be someone on that boat who needs our help.”

“We don’t even know what plans your grandmother has, so we can’t decide on when or how we’re going to return to that boat,” Jonathan reminded her.

“The only thing I know for sure that Grandmother is going to do is visit an art museum somewhere in Antwerp. I don’t believe she has any friends living here to visit,” Mandie told them.