Mountain Top Mystery (8 page)

But Dr. Osgood was there. He said, “I shall be working here most of the summer. You know, my head man is a fine young scientist. He is having the time of his life. He knows those fossils even better than I do.”

Benny had been looking thoughtful. Suddenly he said, “Why don’t we go home, Grandfather?”

Everybody stopped eating to stare at Benny. He was usually the last person to want to go home.

“Well, why not?” Benny went on. “I’d like to see Watch again. We’ve been away quite a few days.”

“That’s an idea,” said Grandfather. “Our real work here is ended. I shall keep track of David anyway, and Lovan, too. We can get here anytime in two hours.”

Jessie said, “David will be a different boy, Grandfather. I think his Indian friends didn’t treat him well. He was not from their tribe. If he’s treated right, he’ll act right.”

Just as she spoke, a figure appeared in the door. It was David and he was indeed a changed boy. The whole family stared at him and listened.

“Oh, Mr. Alden!” he cried. (This didn’t sound like David at all!) “My aunt and I are going to be fine together. She needs me, and I sure need a family.” He put out both his hands to shake hands. “Aunt Lovan talks now, a steady stream!”

“So do you, Dave,” said Benny, laughing. “What are you going to do first?”

“Well, I’m going to get my dog.”

“What kind of a dog is he?” asked Jessie.

“Oh, he’s a hound dog. He came to me. He didn’t have any home either. He’s white with black and sort of yellow. He has long soft ears. His tail wags so fast you can’t see it.”

Everyone was thinking the same thing, “David loves his dog.”

“What’s his name?” asked Violet.

David stopped short. Then he said, “I hate to tell you. I always called him
Mine.
He was the only thing I had.”

“That’s OK,” said Benny. “When you call him, you can say Miney, Miney, Miney!”

“I never have to call him,” said David, shaking his head. “He’s always with me.”

Grandfather said, “Sit down, my boy, and eat your supper. Don’t you want a ride to Maine?”

“No. I’ll go the same way I came. It won’t take me long.”

“We are going home, too, Dave,” said Henry. “We want to get that silver cleaned and sold. And Grandfather wants to buy your aunt’s woodland on both sides of Flat Top. When he owns it, Lovan can be sure the trees will not be cut. Mr. Carter knows collectors who buy old silver.”

“And that necklace,” said Jessie. “Lovan doesn’t need to worry about money again.”

“She’s going to pay me by the week,” said David. “I’ll have to buy some heavy clothes if I work outdoors and some clothes for school, too.”

“David!” said Grandfather. “I won’t worry about you another minute. You are a man for sure. And that’s what your Aunt Lovan needs—a strong young man. I know you must be disappointed that this treasure isn’t yours, but—”

“Never mind that, Mr. Alden!” said David, putting out his hand. “I don’t want to hear it. Just wait till I get my dog. Then we’ll be all set.”

“We’ll go to see your aunt later and say goodbye,” said Grandfather, “and now we will say goodbye to you for awhile.”

David pushed back his chair. His supper was finished. He looked at them all, one by one. He said, “But I don’t know—I don’t know—” Violet had tears in her eyes.

“Don’t say anything, Dave,” she said. “Just don’t say anything.”

Benny said, “I can’t say goodbye to Dave, either.”

“I know what you mean,” Jessie said. “Dave is a good friend and it seems as if we have known him for a long time.”

The next day was spent getting ready to leave. Mr. Alden wanted to talk with Dr. Osgood. He also wanted to see the rangers about Lovan Dixon and David.

Late in the afternoon the family drove over to see Lovan. They found her sitting on her dinosaur step, finishing a basket.

Somehow Lovan seemed different to them. There was a new happiness in her face.

“I have been looking for you,” she said.

“You have?” asked Benny.

“Yes, the ranger told me,” said Lovan. “He came over with my canned stuff. I have to get powdered milk for David. When you see him again you won’t know him. I’m a good cook.”

“He looks better already,” said Grandfather. “David stands straight now and looks you right in the eye.”

While Mr. Alden was telling Lovan about her woodlands and the treasure, the girls watched her fingers with the basket. They saw that she had put white beads all around the top of the basket. Now she was winding a border of sweet grass for the edge. She came to the last stitch and fastened the grass very tightly. She held it up a minute and then started to get up.

“Come in,” she said.

She walked across the room and took another basket from the table. It was just like the other basket, but the beads were light purple. She turned around and gave the white one to Jessie and the purple one to Violet.

“A sewing basket for you,” she said, “made with love.”

The girls were so pleased that they could hardly speak.

“We need these so much!” said Jessie. She smelled the sweet grass.

“We’ll always think of you when we use these,” said Violet. “It is the nicest present you could have given us.”

“Thank you, Lovan,” said Grandfather. “Those are very thoughtful presents, and they are all your handiwork.”

“Do sit down,” said Lovan. She knew the young people would sit on the floor at her side.

“One more thing,” said Grandfather, “if you are going to feed David and pay him by the week, you’ll need money before I can buy this land. Now this is
my
business. I want David to be educated. And here is some money to start on. A ranger will come to bring you money. You make out a check and he will cash it. You’ll be surprised how much a boy can eat.”

“And a dog, too,” said Lovan, smiling. She took the money. “I will take care of David like a son. I can teach him many things myself. And there is a school not too far away.”

“Well,” said Mr. Alden, getting up, “we must go. We’ll just say goodbye for now.”

“No, no!” cried Lovan. “Don’t say goodbye. Say, ‘Come again’”

“That’s the way to talk,” said Benny. “We’ll say come again soon, so why say goodbye?”

CHAPTER
14

Time for Celebration

T
he Aldens had been gone only one day when David came back from Maine with his dog.

It was night when David came, but he was sure of his way through the woods. He and his dog made almost no noise, but David found Lovan at the door of her cottage, waiting and listening.

The old Indian woman was smiling. She liked the way the dog trotted at David’s side.

“This is Mine, Aunt Lovan,” David said. “Let him sniff at you, then speak to him. He won’t bite.”

But Lovan knew what to do better than David. She opened the door wide so that the dog could smell the cooking. It was a delicious pot roast cooking with turnips and carrots and onions and potatoes. The dog trotted happily into the cottage. He turned to Lovan and sat up with his two front paws hanging down.

“He’s smiling,” cried David. “Doesn’t that look like a smile?”

“Good dog,” said Lovan. “Shake hands.”

Now Mine had never learned to shake hands. But when the old lady took his paw in her hand he wagged his tail as well as he could while sitting on it. He seemed to know that Lovan was the one with the supper.

“Your supper is too hot, Miney,” she said. “It’s just right for you, David. Sit right down. Are you about starved?”

“Very near,” said David. “I didn’t want to stop to eat. But now it must be the middle of the night.”

“It’s one o’clock,” said Lovan. She began to cut many thin slices off the meat. Then she piled a soup plate with vegetables. She put corn muffins on another plate and poured a large glass of milk. Mine sat still watching every move.

David said, “We ought not give Miney good meat like this. He eats scraps.”

“Well, some other time, David,” said Lovan. “Tonight it is a party.”

“Miney is glad,” said David. “I’ll cut some of my meat for him. It’s cool enough now. He likes everything—bread and vegetables and candy.”

Mine wagged his tail all the time he was eating. He licked up the last bit and went over to Lovan and put both paws on her lap.

“Good dog,” she said, patting his head. “You are mine, too.”

“I’m glad you like him,” said David.

“Did you have any trouble with the other Indians?” asked Lovan.

“No. They didn’t want my dog. They have two or three others. I didn’t even tell them where I was going. They didn’t ask.”

“I see,” said Lovan. “And now let’s all go to bed.”

Things went along well and a month soon went by. Then the Aldens came back. As they drove into the woods they heard a dog barking.

“That’s Miney!” said Benny, laughing.

Just then David and Lovan appeared around the corner of the house. The dog barked.

“Quiet,” said David. He stopped.

The Aldens could hardly believe what they saw. “You must have gained ten pounds, Dave!” shouted Benny.

“I guess so,” said David, laughing. He was delighted to see his good friends.

“What are you working on behind the house?” asked Henry.

“Come and see,” said Lovan with a smile. “We are both outdoor people. So Dave made this place to eat.”

Under the great pine trees was a large wooden table. On each side was a bench.

“The benches are long so we can have company,” said David.

“Company like us!” shouted Benny.

“Let me show you what else we are doing, Mr. Alden,” said David. “Aunt Lovan and I are making an Indian book.”

“Let me see it. That is the best thing I have heard yet,” said Mr. Alden. “We don’t want to lose the best parts of Indian life.”

By this time the Aldens were in the house, looking at the Indian book pages.

“It isn’t half done yet,” said David. “We are writing down the old stories in the Indian language. And we have drawn Indian pictures to go with them. We are trying to make them look like the ones Indians used to draw. Then Aunt Lovan is telling how to make designs. Here is a design for a basket, and here is one for a blanket. We both remember songs, but I have to learn how to write them down.”

Just then Mr. Carter put his head in the door. He said to Lovan, “If you are worrying about feeding this crowd, we brought dinner for everyone.”

“Thanks for telling me,” said Lovan. “Really I haven’t enough food for everyone. But we can cook whatever you have. Look over there. See what David built?”

It was an outdoor fireplace made of stones.

“Just in time!” yelled Benny. “Because we’ve got real steak today. We’re celebrating!”

When they all sat down at last, Mine went under the table and lay down on Henry’s feet. Benny looked under the table. He said, “I do wish you’d choose my feet, Miney. But I suppose Henry makes you think of David. He’s about the same size.”

Everyone was talking. Violet was talking to David. Benny was talking to Lovan. Jessie was talking to Mr. Carter. Henry looked at Grandfather. “What a noise!” he said.

“But a good noise,” said Grandfather. “Listen and you’ll hear all the news.”

Lovan was telling Benny that David had bought her a warm blanket with her new money. David was telling Violet that Lovan had made colors to paint with from things in the woods. Mr. Carter told Jessie that David was going to school in the fall.

“David is going to be even busier,” said Grandfather. “Dr. Osgood tells me that he has tried him out on the mountain, and he’s going to hire him as a helper in the summers.”

“I didn’t know there were such interesting things in the world,” David said.

So here was David Walking-by-Night with a real job, and a new aunt, and a family to help him, and a good hound dog. What more could he want?

When the Aldens packed up to go, Benny said, “No we won’t say it! We’ll say we’ll ‘come again soon.’”

So that was it—come again—no goodbye.

On the way home, Benny said, “Oh, by the way, what will we do next summer, Grandfather?”

“Don’t you wish you knew!” teased Grandfather.

“You mean
you
know?”

“I didn’t say so, did I?”

“No, but your face looked so.”

“Dear me,” said Grandfather, “I must be more careful about my face!”

Benny teased for quite awhile. Then he stopped for he knew that Grandfather would not tell them until he got ready.

“Well, it’s OK with me,” he said at last. “Anyway whatever we do will be another story, huh, Gramps?”

About the Author

G
ERTRUDE
C
HANDLER
W
ARNER
discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book,
The Boxcar Children,
quickly proved she had succeeded.

Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car—the situation the Alden children find themselves in.