Mystery of the Spider's Clue (4 page)

“Right,” said Jessie, and she sat down beside Henry.

Benny opened a book. Then a frown crossed his round face.

Violet pulled her chair closer to her younger brother. “Why don't we work together,” she suggested. She knew Benny would have trouble with the harder words.

Benny looked relieved. “Two heads are better than one,” he whispered. “Right?”

Violet smiled. “That's just what I was thinking.”

They hadn't been there very long before Jessie spotted a silver-haired man across the room. He was wearing faded jeans and a black T-shirt. Although his back was to them, he looked familiar.

Just then the man turned around. He stared right at Jessie, then he turned on his heel and hurried away. At that moment Jessie realized where she'd seen him before—he was the man who'd ducked behind the trees the other day!

Jessie tried to collect her thoughts. Why had the mystery man disappeared so quickly again? Had he followed them to the library?

The other Aldens still had their heads bent over their books, so Jessie decided not to say anything. She didn't want to frighten the younger children. After taking a long and careful look around, she breathed a sigh of relief. The man was nowhere to be seen.

Although she kept glancing over her shoulder, Jessie returned her attention to the nursery rhymes. A short time later, Violet and Benny found a rhyme with a cow in it. But the cow was jumping over the moon. And there wasn't any mention of sheep or haystacks. Then Henry showed them one about Little Bo Peep losing her sheep, but that wasn't right, either.

“Maybe I was wrong,” Jessie whispered. “Maybe those lines weren't from a nursery rhyme.”

Henry suddenly looked up. “You weren't wrong,” he said. “Listen to this.” He began to read quietly from the book.

Little Boy Blue,

Come blow your horn.

The sheep's in the meadow,

The cow's in the corn;

But where is the boy

Who looks after the sheep?

He's under a haystack,

Fast asleep.

“Hooray!” Benny cried, almost shouting. Then he clamped a hand over his mouth.

He had forgotten where he was for a moment.

“You were right after all, Jessie,” Violet whispered, looking at her sister with admiration.

Jessie agreed that they'd found another piece of the puzzle. But where did it fit into the mystery?

Henry didn't know, either. “But I have a feeling,” he said, “that if we can figure out what this Little Boy Blue clue is trying to tell us, then we'll know where to find the hollow tree.”

Jessie thought about this for a minute. Then she nodded. “I think you're right, Henry.”

Outside, Benny said, “I can't wait to tell Sam about this!”

“Let's tell him right now,” suggested Violet, and the others nodded.

As they rode their bikes back through town, Henry noticed that Jessie was unusually quiet. He could see something was troubling her. “Is anything wrong?” he asked.

Jessie slowed her bike to a stop at a red light. When she was sure the younger children were out of earshot, she told him about seeing the mystery man again.

“Are you sure it was the same man?” he asked.

“I can't be certain,” admitted Jessie. “But I think so.”

“You might be right, Jessie,” Henry said thoughtfully. “But even if it was the same man, it could just be a coincidence that he happened to be at the library, too.”

Jessie had to agree Henry had a point. “Maybe I
am
making too much of this. I suppose it could be a coincidence.” But there was a small part of her that didn't believe it for a minute.

“Watch is a good buddy of mine,” Sam said when the Aldens arrived with their dog. “Feel free to bring him along with you anytime.”

At the sound of his name, Watch ran over to the couch where Sam was resting. The little dog jumped up and began to lick Sam's face.

Sam laughed as he scratched Watch between the ears. “What'd I tell you?” he said, looking over at the Aldens.

“Watch always likes coming here,” said Henry.

Benny was bouncing up and down in his chair. “Guess what.” He couldn't wait to tell Sam all about their day. “We figured out two clues already!”

“Did you really?” Sam asked, surprised to hear this.

The children took turns telling Sam all that had happened. Henry finished by saying, “The first few lines really were from a nursery rhyme. The one about Little Boy Blue.”

“What . . .?” Sam looked startled. For a moment, he just stared off into space as if in a trance.

Henry and Jessie exchanged glances. Why was Sam surprised by the nursery rhyme?

“Is anything wrong, Sam?” Violet asked.

Sam didn't answer.

“Sam?” Jessie asked.

Suddenly Sam jerked his head around. “Oh!” He seemed to have forgotten for a moment that he had company. “I'm sorry. I . . . I was lost in thought.”

“Is everything okay?” Henry wondered.

Sam didn't answer right away. He had a faraway look in his eye. “Everything's fine,” he said at last. “I just couldn't help remembering something. You see, that was my brother's favorite nursery rhyme. When he was small, I mean. That's how Simon got the nickname Blue.” Sam smoothed his droopy mustache. “We all had colors for nicknames back then. Everybody called me Red, and Thomas was Brown. And then of course there was Pinky.” Sam's voice had dropped so low, the Aldens could hardly hear him.

“Was Pinky your dog?” asked Benny.

“I don't let the past bother me anymore,” said Sam as if he hadn't even heard Benny's question. “No point in crying over spilled milk.”

“Oh,” said Benny, still not sure who Pinky was.

Violet felt awful. It was plain that the past
did
bother Sam. Their visit was supposed to cheer him up. Instead, Sam's eyes were suddenly filled with sadness.

The children tried to change the subject. They asked Sam about washing windows instead, and he gave them some tips. By the time the Aldens were ready to leave, he was his usual cheery self again.

“I've got a hunch,” he told them, “if you can figure out that Little Boy Blue clue, it'll lead you right to the hollow tree.”

Jessie nodded. “That's what we thought, too.”

But outside, Violet said, “It's a very strange clue. How are we ever going to figure it out?”

The other Aldens looked at one another. Nobody had an answer for that question.

“The millionaire sure left hard clues,” Benny said the next morning.

The Aldens were standing on the front lawn of Mrs. Spencer's house. They had arrived to wash the outside of her windows. Just moments before, the elderly owner had come out to greet the children before going back inside the house.

“I wonder who he was,” Benny went on. “The mysterious millionaire, I mean.”

Henry turned on the hose. “There's no way of knowing,” he said as he filled the buckets with water.

Jessie added cleaning solution to the water. “It's funny that he wanted to keep his identity such a secret.”

“We know one thing for sure,” said Benny. “The millionaire was somebody who liked mysteries.”

Violet nodded. “And he was good at making them up, too.”

“But we're even better at solving them!” Benny was quick to remind them.

Jessie laughed. “I wonder just how good we are at washing windows.”

“There's only one way to find out,” said Henry.

With that, everyone grabbed a rag and set to work. Henry leaned the ladder against the house and climbed up to reach the top windows. Jessie, Violet, and Benny tackled the lower windows. While they worked, the children were each lost in thought about the mysterious millionaire and his strange clues.

“You really ought to take a break, children,” a voice called out to them some time later. “If you're interested, I have some cold apple cider.”

Violet turned to see Mrs. Spencer poking her head out of an opened window. Wisps of snowy-white hair fluttered in the breeze.

“Apple cider sounds great, Mrs. Spencer,” Violet called back to her, while Benny let out a cheer. The four children had been working hard all morning and were ready for a break.

Henry stepped down from the ladder. “I guess we're done here anyway,” he said. The Aldens stood back to admire their work.

“We did a good job,” Benny said proudly, and the others agreed.

Inside, Mrs. Spencer poured apple cider into tall glasses while Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny sat around the table in her cheery little kitchen.

“What dear children you are!” said Mrs. Spencer, smiling over at them. As she sat down, she reached into her pocket and pulled out some dollar bills. “I want to give you a little something for—”

Jessie shook her head firmly. “Please put your money away, Mrs. Spencer.”

“You deserve a reward for your hard work,” insisted Mrs. Spencer.

“Grandfather says hard work is its own reward,” Violet told her quietly.

Mrs. Spencer hesitated for a moment. Then she tucked the money into her pocket again. “Your grandfather is a wise man,” she said. “And a lucky one, too.”

Benny looked puzzled. “Lucky?”

“He's very lucky indeed to have such wonderful grandchildren.” Mrs. Spencer gave them a happy smile. “Just look at how the sun comes shining through those clean windows! Oh, I shall enjoy watching the birds even more now.”

The children chatted happily with the elderly woman. She talked for a while about Sam and how good he'd always been to her. Later, when she got up to answer the phone, the Aldens cleared away the empty glasses, waved good-bye, and walked back outside.

“Mrs. Spencer is such a sweet lady, isn't she?” Violet said.

“You know what I think?” Benny piped up as he helped give the rags a good wringing-out. “I think this is why Sam washes windows.”

“What do you mean, Benny?” asked Henry.

“I think he does it because he likes making people happy.”

Jessie nodded. “Sam's always thinking of others.” She hung the buckets over the handlebars of her bike. “I just hope we can solve the mystery for him.”

“Oh, if only we could figure out that Little Boy Blue clue!” cried Violet. “I can't stop thinking about it.”

“And we won't stop,” Henry said firmly. “Not until we come up with an answer.”

Everybody nodded except Benny.

“I'm too hungry to think,” he said.

Henry laughed. “We get the hint, Benny. Let's go home and get something to eat.”

It wasn't long before the Aldens were enjoying a delicious lunch of cheese sandwiches, Mrs. McGregor's homemade potato chips, and crisp apples.

“If we can't figure it out,” Henry said, “we'll have to ride up and down the streets again.” The children were still talking about the Little Boy Blue clue as they sat in the kitchen of their grandfather's big white house.

“You're right, Henry.” Jessie poured Benny another glass of milk. “And that means going back to the Morningside neighborhood to hunt for the hollow tree. We didn't quite finish checking out all the streets.”

Benny swallowed a bite of his sandwich. “We searched
most
of them, though,” he reminded them. “We went all the way up Ice Pond Road almost as far as—” Benny stopped talking. He was suddenly staring wide-eyed at his brother and sisters.

“What is it?” asked Henry.

“We . . . we got almost as far as
Blue
Street!”

Henry, Jessie, and Violet looked at Benny in amazement. “Of course!” cried Jessie.

“The Little Boy Blue nursery rhyme's telling us to go to
Blue
Street!”

Henry gave his younger brother a big smile. “Great thinking, Benny!”

After they finished lunch, the children went out to the boxcar to study the map again.

“It's a very long street,” observed Violet, pointing on the map to where Blue Street started and where it ended. “Any idea where we should begin?”

“I'm not sure,” Jessie answered, without taking her gaze off the map. “But at least we've narrowed it down to just the one street—even if it is a long one.”

Henry smiled a little and said, “I think we can narrow it down even more. I have a feeling we should be looking right about here.” Henry put his finger on the map just where Blue Street crossed Ice Pond Road.

“Why do you say that, Henry?” Violet asked curiously.

“Remember how the Spider's Clue poem goes?” asked Henry. Then he began to recite: “
When the sheep in the meadow/ And the cow in the corn/ Do a figure eight/ In the early morn.
” Then he straightened up and looked over at his brother and sisters. “Does that remind you of anything? The part about the figure eight, I mean.”