The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (33 page)

“Don’t you worry any more, Joe,” said Henry. “Camping is the thing we like to do best in the world. It makes us think of Boxcar days and last summer on Surprise Island. But you don’t mind if we still look for clues, do you?”

“Mind—no!” said Joe. “I expect to look for clues myself. Just don’t be disappointed, that’s all.”

Then Joe hurried around and began to pack with a will. This time the children were glad to see a smile on his face.

“We’ll paddle faster today,” he told them, “because we are so hungry. We can’t see Old Village from here, because the lake turns. But we ought to get there by noon.”

Into the canoes went the things again, and into the canoes went the six people. Off they went on the last part of their long journey. They paddled for a long time.

All at once Benny asked, “Joe, what would happen if I put a Grey Ghost fly on a line and threw it in the water behind the canoe?”

“Well,” answered Joe smiling, “you might lose your rod, and then again you might catch a fish.” He was delighted to give Benny something to do. Then the boy would not feel so hungry.

“I’m going to try it,” said Benny. This time he put on the fly right. Then he threw the line out behind the canoe.

“What are you trying to do? Break your rod?” shouted Henry from the other canoe.

“No,” called Benny. “I’m fishing.”

On they went. Benny watched his line for a while.

Suddenly Henry shouted, “There goes your rod!”

Benny jumped and caught it just as it was about to slide out of the canoe.

“Boy! You’ve got a big one,” cried Joe, stopping to look back. “Pull him in slowly, Ben! Don’t you lose him! Don’t get excited, whatever you do!”

Violet smiled. Joe was as excited as Benny.

How the big fish did fight to get away! But Benny played him carefully, and slowly brought him to the side of the canoe.

“Want me to help, young fellow?” asked Joe.

“Please,” said Benny. He was afraid he would lose the big fish.

Joe leaned out and pulled it quickly into the canoe.

“A big lake trout! And a beauty,” he cried. “He will feed us all. Too bad you didn’t catch him yesterday.”

“Isn’t that always the way!” cried Benny. “We starved yesterday, and now just as we get near a store, we catch a fish.”

“Never mind,” said Joe. “We’ll eat him yet.”

He took up his paddle again. It was almost noon when they went around the last look. Then they could see a road that came right down to the beach from Old Village.

“Here we are at the end of Bear Trail,” Alice said, laughing; “and we have found neither a clue nor Bill. Joe, aren’t you excited now?”

“Excited? Yes, I am,” said Joe. “I’m hungry, too. Look ahead at the beach. See that man waiting to meet us? Someone always meets canoes.”

Joe and Henry paddled faster without knowing it. Soon the canoes slid up on the beach. The man helped pull up the canoes.

“Hello, strangers,” he said. “Taking the Bear Trail trip?”

“Yes,” said Joe. “Right now we are looking for some place to eat. These children are almost starved. Is there any place to eat in Old Village?”

“Yes, sir!” said the man. “I run it myself. I call it Jim’s Place. I’m Jim Carr. I’ll cook you anything you want. Bacon, ham, deer, hamburger—”

“Oh,
hamburger!”
yelled Benny. “I want hamburger!”

“So do I,” laughed Jessie.

Jim laughed too. “Leave your things,” he said. “Nobody will take them. My place is right up on the road.”

The children saw it at once. There was a board over the door, saying in black letters, JIM’S PLACE. They all walked down the road toward it.

“I suppose most of the campers eat with you?” asked Joe.

“Right,” said Jim. “They stay overnight sometimes. Then they go back to Mr. Long’s store by road.”

“We may do that,” said Joe.

Jim’s Place was the biggest house in Old Village. As they went in, they looked around. Everything was very clean. There were three tables, and a delicious smell of onions in the air.

“I won’t be long,” said Jim. “Sit down and make yourselves at home. Hamburger and onions and potatoes for everybody.”

They sat down and looked at each other. They could hardly wait. Soon Jim came in with big white plates filled with hot food. “Eat all you want,” he said. “More in the kitchen. I just made two big apple pies. Maybe I can find some cheese to go with it.”

Everyone began to eat. Never did food seem so good to the hungry children. “You see, we didn’t have any breakfast,” Benny said to Jim.

Jim laughed.

“That’s really true,” said Joe. “We got caught in the rain, and lost most of our food.”

“Too bad,” said Jim. He went into the kitchen to get a pie. Soon a whole pie had disappeared, and also some fine yellow cheese he had found.

“Oh, I do feel better,” cried Violet. “I’m ready for anything.”

“Glad to hear that,” said Henry, looking at her. “You do look a little better.”

Then Alice said to Joe, “We ought to stay in Old Village for one night, anyway. I think Violet ought to sleep in a bed in a house.”

“You can do that all right,” answered Jim Carr with a laugh. “You see that little old house across the street? I don’t really own it, but I take care of it. It has been empty for many years. When campers want to stay overnight, I let them use it. I bought a lot of folding cots. The campers don’t seem to mind sleeping three in a room.”

Jessie stopped to count. “We wouldn’t either,” she said.

“Right!” said Alice with a smile at Jessie. “You and Violet and I in one room, and Joe and Henry and Benny in another.”

“There are two rooms,” said Jim. “Three with the kitchen.”

Henry said, “My! Everything is working out well, isn’t it, Joe? Is there anything interesting to see in Old Village, Jim?”

“Oh, yes,” said Jim smiling. “Some people go hunting for deer and moose. Then there’s an old hermit over in the woods. Lives all alone. People like to catch sight of him, he looks so queer with his long white beard. Then there are Indians up the road. They make baskets to sell. People always go and watch them make baskets when they stop over.”

“Oh, let’s go up and see the Indians,” said Jessie. “Do they mind? Are they old?”

“No, they don’t mind. They like it. Yes, one of them is very old. He has lived there all his life. Loves to talk.”

“Ho-hum,” said Benny looking at Henry.

“That’s what I say too,” said Henry softly to Benny. “You mean the old Indian might give us a clue?”

“Maybe,” said Benny, smiling to himself.

Henry paid for their dinner, and they all went off up the road.

“Joe,” began Jessie, excitedly, “maybe this old Indian has heard of Bill, long ago. We can ask him.”

Soon they could see an Indian girl sitting on the steps of an old house making a basket.

“My, doesn’t she work fast!” said Alice. “See her fingers fly.”

“I wish I could learn to do that,” said Violet.

“You can. I will teach you,” said the Indian girl who had heard every word. “It is not hard at all. See, I have just started this basket. See—I go in and out, over and under, with this sweet grass.”

The girl worked slowly so that Violet could see what she did. Soon she held out the basket. “You try it now,” she said.

Violet took the basket, and soon her clever fingers were going in and out, over and under, just as the Indian girl had done.

“Wonderful, Violet!” said Alice. “You can do anything with your fingers.”

“Yes, she can,” said Henry smiling. Then he thought surely Benny would say something about his sister Violet as he always did.

He looked around. But Benny was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh,
where
is Benny?” he called.

“Benny! Ben-
ny!”
shouted Joe as loud as he could.

But there was no answer. Benny had disappeared.

I
t was true. Benny was not there.

“Oh, what has happened to Benny?” said Jessie, beginning to cry.

“Now, don’t let’s get upset,” said Joe’s strong voice. “I think I know what has happened. Benny has gone off by himself to find the hermit. He hasn’t been gone long, and we can surely find him. Don’t you cry, Jessie. We’ll go and hunt for him.”

“Wouldn’t we save time by asking Jim?” asked Henry.

“Right,” said Joe. With that, they all ran back to Jim’s Place.

Jim came to the door when he saw them running toward him.

“We’ve lost Benny!” cried Jessie. “You know which way to hunt, don’t you? We think he went to find the hermit and surprise us.”

“Well, now,” said Jim, “the first thing, don’t you get scared. We’ve got Indians here in Old Village that can find anything in these woods. The little boy hasn’t been gone long. Did you ask the little Indian girl to help you?”

“Oh, dear,” said Violet. “I forgot all about the Indian girl. I just dropped the basket and ran. We all did.”

“Better go back, then,” said Jim. “I’ll go with you. Rita is a better guide than I am. She can walk in the woods and never make a sound.”

When Jim told Rita, she stood up at once and looked sharply into the woods. “I saw the little boy at first,” she said. “But I did not notice when he went. I’m very sorry. We’ll start this way.”

Rita leaned over and looked at a bush. “Yes, I think he went down this path. Keep right behind me. It is easy to get lost in these woods if you get off the path.”

It was a strange sight—six people walking behind the Indian girl in a straight line down the path. Sometimes it seemed as if there were no path at all.

Jessie walked just behind Rita. Soon she said, “Rita, Benny would never know this was a path. He may have gone off it long ago.”

“No, he couldn’t, a little boy like that,” said Rita. “He couldn’t get through. This is the only way he could go. He went this way all right. I can see where he stepped, and this is the way to the old hermit’s cabin.”

On they went, over rocks and stones and branches.

“Now, call him,” said Rita, turning around.

Henry put his hands up like a cup and called “Ben-
ny!
”

Then Joe did the same.

They all listened. There was no answer.

“We’ll find him just the same,” said Rita shaking her head. “If I can’t, my father can.”

They all hurried on. For a long time they walked without talking.

Suddenly the Indian girl stopped. “Be careful now,” she said. “We are near the hermit’s cabin. If we scare him, the hermit will run away, and then he won’t help us.”

Slowly and quietly they all walked along the path. Then all at once they saw the cabin. They stopped. For on the steps sat an old man with a long white beard. Beside him, smiling and talking away happily, sat Benny.

“Oh,
Benny!”
whispered Jessie.

“Sh!” said Rita.

But the hermit had seen them. “Come,” he said to Benny, taking his hand. “You are lost.”

Jessie could not wait. She cried out, “Oh, Benny, you scared us so!” With that, everyone began to talk to Benny, so nobody could understand a word.

“The hermit is nice,” said Benny when he could make them hear. “He was going to take me back when I got ready to go. His name is Dave Hunter.”