The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (20 page)

In spite of what he had said earlier about staying in bed, Benny opened the swinging door of his room, and came out wearing his red sweater. He was carrying the little toy boat which was in the package his grandfather had given him.

“I like my new boat,” said Benny, proudly. “Let’s make it go, Henry.”

“Put it in that pail of water, Benny,” said Henry. “You play with your boat while we get ready to work.”

The girls helped Henry put the table in the corner under the window. Then Jessie brought the bird books and some heavy paper.

“I’m going to use my new pen,” said Violet. “Grandfather knew I needed a new one.”

“He knew I wanted a set of things like this, to fix cuts,” said Henry. “It will be handy to have when we go on picnics or exploring.”

Grandfather had given Jessie a set of six cooking spoons.

“Are you going to use your new spoons today, Jessie?” asked Violet.

“I might,” said Jessie. “I have a good idea for dinner this noon. I think you’ll like it, but I won’t tell you what it is until we have finished painting the birds.”

“Let’s get to work, then!” cried Henry. “I’ll cut out paper birds and you girls color them.”

“Cut out a picture of every bird we have seen,” said Jessie. “The bird book tells all the names.”

The children worked all morning. Suddenly Benny said, “Henry, I think Joe ought to have stayed here to see Grandfather.”

“I think so, too,” said Henry.

“It seems very strange,” said Violet, “for him to go off without telling us.”

“We’ll ask him when he comes back,” said Jessie. “And now, I’ll tell you my surprise for dinner. I am going to make an apple pie.”

“But you never made a pie,” said Henry, looking up.

“No,” said Jessie, “but I’m going to now.”

She took a pan of very small green apples out of the cupboard.

“Where did you get them?” asked Benny.

“Near the yellow house,” said Jessie. “There are two apple trees there.”

“I’ll get them ready,” said Violet.

“Good! And Henry, won’t you smooth off one of those boards for a pie-board?”

Jessie washed the new board. Then she picked up a big empty green bottle. “This is my rolling pin,” she said. “I am going to try to make some good pie crust.”

So over and over she rolled the crust. She put some butter on it and rolled it out again. But when Jessie put the bottom crust in the pan, the crust was not big enough.

“Put a patch in it,” said Benny.

Jessie took a little more crust and smoothed it over the edge of the pan with her fingers. “This is going to be a very deep pie,” she said. “And there will be lots of apples in it.”

Benny watched Jessie roll out the top crust. “Make it big enough this time, Jessie,” he said. “There are lots of apples.”

Jessie rolled the top crust a little thinner. It was just right. When the pie was in the oven, she began to boil some sugar and water in a saucepan.

“What’s that for?” asked Henry. He began to take the things off the table.

“Just wait,” said Jessie. “I think it’s going to be the best thing about this pie. You see there isn’t any sugar in the pie yet, so there is no juice to boil over. Why don’t you get out the bread and milk and set the table? Then everything else will be ready when the pie is done.”

When the crust was nice and brown, Jessie took the pie out of the oven. She lifted up the top crust with a knife, and carefully poured the hot juice over the apples. Then she let down the crust again.

Just as Jessie was about to cut the pie into four pieces, there was a knock at the barn door.

“Who in the world can that be?” cried Henry. He was so surprised that he almost dropped his cup.

When Henry opened the door, he was even more surprised to see a tall man standing there.

“I’m sorry,” said the stranger, “but I went to the fisherman’s hut, and nobody was at home.”

“Won’t you come in?” asked Jessie.

“Thank you. It is a cold day,” said the man with a smile. “Oh, I see that you are about to have dinner. I’ll just stay long enough to ask you something.”

“Won’t you sit down?” said Henry.

“Thank you. My name is Browning,” he said as he sat down in the company chair. “A young man who went exploring for me last year has been lost. I heard that he was dead. Then later I heard that he was living on the Alden Island. This is the Alden Island, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” said Henry. “But there is nobody on the island but Captain Daniel and his friend Joe.”

“Who is this Captain Daniel?” asked Mr. Browning.

“Oh, Captain Daniel is old,” said Henry, “and I’m sure he never went exploring. He has been with my grandfather for years.”

“How about his friend Joe?” asked the man.

“He’s nice. He’s my best friend in all the world,” said Benny, proudly “all but Jessie, and maybe Watch and Captain Daniel—and of course Violet and Henry and my grandfather—”

“You have a lot of best friends,” said the man, laughing. “Tell me, what color are Joe’s eyes and hair?”

“He has brown hair and brown eyes,” said Benny, “and he has a violin.”

“I don’t think he is the one I know, then,” said the man. “I never heard that he played the violin. Just the same, I should like to see your Joe.”

“Won’t you wait for him? He is sure to come back soon,” said Jessie. “Why don’t you stay to dinner and help us eat our first apple pie?”

The man looked at the big pie and said, “If you are sure there will be enough, I think I will.”

So the pie was cut into five pieces. Violet quietly got an extra cup of milk and set another place, and the stranger sat down to a strange dinner.

“When I look at that pie,” said Mr. Browning, “my mouth fills up with water.” And certainly everyone was watching Jessie as she took out the big juicy pieces.

“Milk seems to go with apple pie,” said Henry.

“I never knew pie could be so delicious,” said Mr. Browning when dinner was over. “But now, if I may, I think I will see if I can find Joe.”

“We think that Joe is more than a handy man,” said Henry.

“Joe knows everything in the world,” said Benny. “He knows all the flowers and the birds and the clam shells, and Indian things.”

“Indian things!” cried Mr. Browning. “It must be the very one. He was the head of a museum before he went away. I
must
see him.”

But Mr. Browning did not see Joe. Captain Daniel came back to the island without him. He said that Joe had gone away for a day or two.

“Is he coming back?” asked Benny, getting ready to howl.

“Oh, yes,” said Captain Daniel. “He will come back, all right.”

When Mr. Browning left, he told Jessie that he was glad he came, for now he had met a girl who could make a wonderful apple pie with an old green bottle for a rolling pin.

T
he children were waiting upon the dock when Joe came back. But it was too late then to find Mr. Browning.

Jessie began, “You know, Joe, Grandfather said we should never build a fire outdoors unless someone older helped us. Now we have such a good place for a picnic, we thought we’d invite our school friends over for a picnic on the beach. They have never seen the island.”

“I’ll be glad to help you build a fire, if that’s what you want,” said Joe.

“Oh, thanks, Joe,” said Jessie.

The four children invited their friends over Captain Daniel’s telephone. All of them said that they would come. Henry’s friend was a tall boy named Morris Wilder, and Jessie’s friend was Morris’ sister, Marjorie. Violet invited her friend, Barbara Black. Benny surprised them by saying that he wanted to invite Mike Wood, a little boy who was always in trouble.

“Mike and Benny will be quite a pair!” cried Henry. “But I suppose he can invite anyone he likes. We all did.”

“We’ll have fish chowder for dinner,” said Jessie. “We can always get some fish from Captain Daniel.”

“And we’ll all pick blueberries after the others get here,” said Henry. “That will be something to do.”

When the guests arrived, Watch was very excited. Mike had brought his big white dog, Spotty, with him. Jessie had a hard time trying to keep the dogs from fighting, but after a lot of barking Watch and Spotty were friends.

“Let’s race the dogs, Ben,” cried Mike, who could never be still very long.

The two boys held the dogs for a minute, and then let them go. Both dogs seemed to understand, for they raced to the beach where they dropped, panting, on the sand beside Joe. Watch knew the way, and got there first.

“Spotty got there first!” shouted Mike.

“He did not!” cried Benny. “He didn’t even know the way!”

“Benny, Benny!” said Henry. “Don’t start the picnic fighting.”

“Watch got there first and you know it,” said Benny.

“Spotty is better than Watch,” said Mike.

“Spotty is not better than Watch!” shouted Benny. “Watch can run faster than Spotty, and he got there first in the race!”

“You started this fight, Ben!” said Mike.

“I did not start it!” shouted Benny.

“Yes, you did, too!” shouted Mike.

“Now, you listen to me, young fellow,” said Morris, catching Mike’s hand. “You stop, or you’ll have to go home.”

Mike began to jump up and down, when suddenly he jumped on a very sharp shell. Then Mike sat down holding his foot and crying at the same time. Henry sat down, too, and tried to look at Mike’s foot. He took out his box of things for fixing cuts.

“Keep still, now, Mike,” he said. “You’ve got a long cut here, but it’s not deep. Let me fix it.”

The cut foot was a big help to everyone. It kept Mike in sight all morning, while the four older children and Joe picked blueberries.

At noon, Jessie and Violet watched while Joe made a fire and boiled some water. Henry and Morris cut the potatoes and onions and the chowder was soon ready.

Everyone enjoyed the chowder, and the boys had made enough extra for supper, too. After blueberries and milk, Jessie and Violet washed the dishes in the ocean, while Benny and Mike walked away slowly.

“Keep an eye on Mike, Henry,” said Jessie.

“I can see them. They are just sitting over there on the rocks,” said Henry.

But the next time he looked, the boys had gone.

“Where could they go?” he cried, getting up quickly. “There’s no place for them to go, because I can see the whole beach!”

But the little boys were not in sight. As Henry climbed upon the rocks, he was very glad to hear Benny’s voice.

“I wonder who left the bottle here?” said Benny.