The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (3 page)

“No, indeed,” said Henry. He was beginning to want to live in the boxcar, too.

“We’ll stay here today, anyway,”

“Then can I have my dinner here?” asked Benny.

“Yes, you shall have dinner now,” said Henry.

So Jessie took out the last loaf of bread and cut it into four pieces, but it was very dry. Benny ate the bread, but soon he began to cry.

“I want some milk, too, Jessie,” he begged.

“He ought to have milk,” said Henry. “I’ll go to the next town and get some.”

But Henry did not want to start. He looked to see how much money he had. Then he stood thinking.

At last he said, “I don’t want to leave you girls alone.”

“Oh,” said Jessie, “we’ll be all right, Henry. We’ll have a surprise for you when you come back. You just wait and see!”

“Good-by, Henry,” said Benny.

So Henry walked off through the woods.

When he had gone, Jessie said, “Now, children, what do you think we are going to do? What do you think I saw over in the woods? I saw some blueberries!”

“Oh, oh!” cried Benny. “I know what blueberries are. Can we have blueberries and milk, Jessie?”

“Yes,” Jessie was beginning. But she suddenly stopped, for she heard a noise. Crack, crack, crack! Something was in the woods.

J
ESSIE WHISPERED
, “Keep still!”

The three children did not say a word. They sat quietly in the boxcar, looking at the bushes.

“I wonder if it’s a bear,” thought Benny.

Soon something came out. But it wasn’t a bear. It was a dog, which hopped along on three legs, crying softly and holding up a front paw.

“It’s all right,” said Jessie. “It’s only a dog, but I think he is hurt.”

The dog looked up and saw the children, and then he wagged his tail.

“Poor dog,” said Jessie. “Are you lost? Come over here and let me look at your paw.”

The dog hopped over to the boxcar, and the children got out.

Jessie looked at the paw and said, “Oh, dear! You poor dog! There is a big thorn in your foot.”

The dog stopped crying and looked at Jessie.

“Good dog,” said Jessie. “I can help you, but maybe it will hurt.”

The dog looked up at Jessie and wagged his tail again.

“Violet,” ordered Jessie, “please wet my handkerchief in the brook.”

Jessie sat down on the stump and took the dog in her lap. She patted him and gave him a little piece of bread. Then she began to pull out the thorn. It was a long thorn, but the dog did not make any noise. Jessie pulled and pulled, and at last the thorn came out.

Violet had a wet handkerchief ready. Jessie put it around the dog’s paw, and he looked up at her and wagged his tail a little.

“He wants to say ‘Thank you,’ Jessie!” cried Violet. “He is a good dog not to cry.”

“Yes, he is,” agreed Jessie. “Now I had better hold him for awhile so that he will lie down and rest his leg.”

“We can surprise Henry,” remarked Benny. “Now we have a dog.”

“So we can,” said Jessie. “But that was not my surprise. I was going to get a lot of blueberries for supper.”

“Can’t we look for blueberries, while you hold the dog?” asked Violet.

“Yes, you can,” said Jessie. “Look over there by the big trees.”

Benny and Violet ran over to look.

“Oh, Jessie!” cried Benny. “Did you ever see so many blueberries? I guess five blueberries! No, I guess ten blueberries!”

Jessie laughed. “I guess there are more than five or ten, Benny,” she said. “Get a clean towel and pick them into it.”

For awhile Jessie watched Benny and Violet picking blueberries.

“Most of Benny’s blueberries are going into his mouth,” she thought with a laugh. “But maybe that’s just as well. He won’t get so hungry waiting for Henry to come back with the milk.”

She carried the dog over to the children and sat down beside them, the dog on her lap. With her help the towel was soon full of blueberries.

“I wish we had some dishes,” Jessie said. “Then we could have blueberries and milk.”

“Never mind,” said Violet. “When Henry comes, we can eat some blueberries and then take a drink of milk.”

When Henry came, he had some heavy bundles. He had four bottles of milk in a bag, a loaf of brown bread, and also some fine yellow cheese.

He looked at the dog.

“Where did you get that fine dog?” he cried.

“He came to us,” said Benny. “He is a surprise for you.”

Henry went over to the dog, who wagged his tail. Henry patted him and said, “He ought to be a good watchdog. Why is the handkerchief on his foot?”

“He had a big thorn in his foot,” answered Violet, “and Jessie took it out and put on the handkerchief. It hurt him, but he did not cry or growl.”

“His name is Watch,” remarked Benny.

“Oh, is it?” asked Jessie, laughing. “Watch is a good name for a watchdog.”

“Did you bring some milk?” asked Benny, looking hungrily at the bottles.

“I should say I did!” replied Henry. “Four bottles!”

“Poor old Benny!” said Jessie. “We’ll have dinner now. Or is it supper?”

“It must be supper,” said Henry, “for soon we’ll have to go to bed.”

“Tomorrow we’ll eat three times,” said Jessie.

Now Jessie liked to have things in order, and so she put the laundry bag on some pine needles for a tablecloth. Then she cut the loaf of brown bread into five big pieces. The cheese was cut into four.

“Dogs don’t like cheese,” remarked Benny. The poor little boy was glad, too, for he was very hungry.

Violet put the four bottles of milk on the table, and Jessie put some blueberries and cheese at each place.

“Blueberries!” cried Henry. “Jessie, you had
two
surprises for me!”

“I’m sorry we haven’t any cups,” Jessie said. “We’ll have to drink out of the bottles. Now all come and sit down.”

So supper began, “Look, Benny,” said Henry. “You take some blueberries, then eat some brown bread, then some cheese, then take a drink of milk.”

“It’s good!” said Benny. He began to put more blueberries into his mouth.

The dog had supper, too. Jessie gave him bread as he lay on the ground beside her, and he drank milk out of her hand.

When supper was over, there was some milk left in each bottle.

“We’ll have the rest of the milk for breakfast,” said Jessie. “Tonight we are going to sleep on beds. Let’s get some pine needles now.”

Soon the children had a big pile. Henry jumped into the boxcar, and Jessie gave him the pine needles. He made four beds in one end of the car.

“This side is the bedroom,” said Jessie.

“What will the other side be?” asked Benny,

“The other side?” asked Jessie. “Let me think. I guess that will be the sitting-room, and maybe some of the time it will be the kitchen.”

Then she said, “Come, now. Come and get washed.” She took the cake of soap and went down to the brook.

“That will be fun, Benny,” said Violet. “We’ll splash our ‘paws’ in the brook just as Little Brown Bear does.” She knew that Benny did not like to be washed.

The children were all very hot, and so they were glad to splash in the cold water. Benny put cold water and soap on his face with the others and dried his hands on a towel.

“We’ll have to have a line to dry the towels on,” said Jessie.

So she took the string out of the laundry bag and tied one end of it to a tree. The other end of the string she tied to the boxcar. This made a good clothesline. When she had washed one towel and Violet had washed the other one, they hung both towels on the clothesline.

“It looks like home,” said Henry. “See the washing!” He laughed.

Jessie was thinking.

“We ought to get some water to drink before we go to bed,” she said. “But what shall we put it in?”

“Let’s put all the milk into two bottles,” said Henry. “Then we can fill the other two with water.”

“Good,” said Jessie. “You go alone to the fountain, Henry. You can hide if anyone comes along.”

Henry went out very quietly, and soon came back with two bottles full of cold water. Benny drank a little, but he was almost asleep.

The other children helped him into the boxcar. Then they all climbed in, Jessie carrying the dog. He lay down at once beside her.

“It is so hot that we’ll leave the door open,” said Henry.

Soon they were fast asleep, dog and all. The moon came up, but they did not see it. This was the first time in four days that they could go to sleep at night, as children should.

T
HE NEXT MORNING
Jessie woke up first, and she got up at once, for she was the housekeeper. The dog sat in the door of the car and looked at her as she jumped down to get the milk for breakfast. Then he jumped down after her.

Jessie walked down by the little brook and stopped to look at the waterfall. It was beautiful.

“I must look in the refrigerator,” she said with a laugh.

It was a funny refrigerator. There was a rock behind the waterfall, and the night before Jessie had put the two bottles of milk in a hole in this rock. Now she took out the bottles and found that the milk was very cold.

“Is it good?” called Benny, who sat in the car door.

“It is delicious!” cried Jessie. “It is cold, too.”

She got up into the car with the milk and sat down beside Benny. Then the four children drank the milk for breakfast.

Henry said, “Today I’ll go to town and try to get some work to do. I can cut grass or work in a garden or something. Then we’ll have something besides milk for breakfast,”

He washed his hands and face and started out.

“I’m so glad you have a dog, Jessie,” he said. “Good-by! I ’ll be back at noon.”

The children looked after Henry, and then they looked at Jessie.

“What are we going to do now, Jessie?” Benny asked his sister.

“Well, Benny,” answered Jessie, “we’ll go exploring and look for treasures. We’ll begin here at the car and look and look until we find a dump.”

“What’s a dump?” asked Benny.

“Oh, Benny!” said Violet. “You know what a dump is. Old tin cans and old dishes and bottles.”

“Are old tin cans and dishes treasures?” Benny wanted to know.

“They will be treasures for us,” answered Jessie, laughing.

“And wheels?” asked Benny again. “Will there be any wheels on the dump?”

“Yes, maybe,” replied Violet. “But cups, Benny, and plates, and maybe spoons. You like to drink milk out of a cup.”

“Oh, yes,” agreed Benny politely. But anyone could see that his mind was still on wheels.

The explorers started walking down the old rusty tracks, with Watch hopping along on three legs. The other paw, still tied up with Jessie’s handkerchief, was held off the ground. But the dog looked very happy. He liked these kind children.