The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (44 page)

“Do you know the name of these yellow stones, Mr. Pond?” asked Violet. She picked one up and gave it to him.

“No, I don’t know much about stones,” he said. “This yellowish rock makes a fine powder. I know that Indians long ago used it for their sand paintings.”

“Sand paintings?” asked Benny. “I never heard of sand paintings.”

“They are very interesting,” said Mr. Pond. “They are beautiful, too. The Indians took sand of all colors: blue, green, red, yellow, black, brown. They looked for a nice, flat place, and painted it with colored sand. They put the different colors in the right places. They would make a round sun like this.”

Mr. Pond quickly made a big yellow sun on the ground, to show Benny how it was done.

“Do you think there are any sand paintings in our field now?” Benny asked hopefully.

“No,” answered Mr. Pond, smiling. “There haven’t been any Indians here for many years.”

“I’d rather have Indians here than whoever is living in that hut,” said Jessie.

“I think you’re right,” said Mr. Pond. “But don’t worry about that. we’ll go to Stony Creek tomorrow and tell the sheriff, Mr. Bates, about this.”

He glanced at Henry, and the boy understood that Mr. Pond would tell the sheriff about some other things, too.

E
arly the next morning, the four Alden children climbed into Mr. Pond’s car. He had come to take them to Stony Creek. They were going to see the sheriff, Mr. Bates.

Mr. Pond was very quiet. He was worried about these nice children. He liked them, even though he had only known them a short time. And he was worried about Jane Alden, too. He had known her for many years. He knew well enough that she had always been cross and hard to get along with. But he was very sorry for her. He didn’t want any of them to be upset by these three strange men.

They drove up in front of the courthouse in Stony Creek and Mr. Pond stopped the car.

“Come right in,” called Mr. Bates. “I’m glad you came. I don’t often have so much company.”

“Hello, Bates,” said Mr. Pond. “These are the Alden children.”

“I had already guessed that,” said Mr. Bates. He took his guests to a small back room and shut the door.

They all sat down.

“Well, what brings you here?” asked Mr. Bates.

Mr. Pond said, “We came to see you about police business. There is something going on in the Alden woods. It looks as if someone has been living in an old hut there.”

Mr. Bates didn’t look surprised. He just waited for Mr. Pond to go on.

“That isn’t all,” Mr. Pond said. “Three strange men tried to make Miss Jane Alden sell her ranch. They told her it was no good. Say, Bates, you act as if you knew something that I don’t. What do you really think about all this?” Mr. Bates just sat and smiled.

“Maybe you won’t have to worry about those men any longer,” he said. “And I don’t think anyone will be staying in that hut, either. But I’ll wait and let Mr. Carter tell you all about it.”

“Mr. Carter? Who would that be?” asked Benny.

“He is a very important man,” Mr. Bates said, still smiling. “Here he comes now.”

A car stopped just behind Mr. Pond’s. A good-looking young man got out. He was very tall. He had soft brown hair. When he stood in the door, Jessie and Violet looked at him with their mouths open. Then they looked at one another.

Jessie could hardly talk. “Oh, Violet,” she whispered, “Our Mystery Man!”

“Are you surprised?” asked Mr. Carter, laughing.

“We certainly are,” said Benny. “We thought you might be a bad man. That is, Henry thought so, anyway.”

“Benny!” Henry said, blushing. “I didn’t really think that, Mr. Carter. I just thought the police should—I mean—well, you were a stranger, and—”

“That’s all right, Henry,” said the Mystery Man, smiling again. “That was a smart thing to think.”

“But if you’re not a bad man, who are you?” asked Benny.

“Well, I’ve been working for you, but you didn’t know it.”

“Working for us?” asked Benny. “You don’t look like a ranch hand.”

“There are many ways to work,” Mr. Carter said. “And one of them is looking for uranium.”

“Uranium!” Jessie cried. She had finally found her voice again.

“Yes,” said Mr. Carter. “My job is to look for uranium. I found a field of it right on your ranch.”

“Do you mean that all of that Indian dust is really uranium?” asked Violet.

“It certainly is,” Mr. Carter answered, looking at all the surprised faces around him.

“But why were you looking there?” asked Violet. “And who are those three tough men?”

Mr. Carter answered slowly, “I work for a man you may have heard of. Mr. Alden of Greenfield.”

“Grandfather!” the children cried.

“Yes. Mr. Alden hired me to look for uranium for him. There is a lot of it in this part of the country. But when I found it on your ranch, I also found that someone had been there first.”

“That must be those three men!” Henry said.

“Yes. They were looking for uranium, too. But they are not honest. When they found a place that had uranium, they tried to buy the land cheap. They didn’t tell people what they had found.”

“That’s just what they tried to do to us,” Violet said.

“Yes,” Mr. Carter went on, “but Mr. Bates and I caught up with them. You won’t be bothered by them again.”

“Are they the ones who stayed in that hut on our ranch?” asked Jessie.

“Yes. But I had an eye on them. They couldn’t have hurt you,” Mr. Carter said.

Henry spoke slowly, “This means that the ranch is worth a lot of money, doesn’t it?”

“It certainly does,” said Mr. Carter.

“Wait till I tell Aunt Jane!” shouted Benny.

“Can we tell people?” asked Henry.

“I suppose so,” said Mr. Carter. “It is no longer a secret. I’m afraid your ranch will not be quiet much longer. Your place will soon be full of strangers. Maybe some of them will try to take rocks away from your uranium fields.” He looked worried for the first time since he had come in the door.

“What can we do?” asked Jessie. “It would be terrible to upset Aunt Jane just when she is getting better.”

“Can you help them, Mr. Pond?” asked Mr. Carter.

“No, I’m afraid not,” said Mr. Pond. “It is too big a job for me. I think the children need a smarter man than I am. And they need someone with enough money to dig a mine.”

Henry said, “I think I know the very man.”

The four children shouted together, “Grandfather!”

M
r. Carter spoke, “I think your grandfather will be glad to help. I can go to Greenfield and tell him the whole story.”

He looked at his watch and got up quickly. “Good-by, children, and the best of luck.”

In one minute he was gone.

Benny said, “Mystery men work fast, don’t they?”

“There’s just one thing wrong,” Henry said. “Aunt Jane didn’t want Grandfather to come to her ranch. Maybe she will be angry if he comes to help us.”

“Well, maybe she will be good and glad!” said Mr. Pond, laughing. “She ought to be thankful if he will come. She won’t like it when people begin to go across her land.”

The children were quiet all the way home. They were wondering how to tell Aunt Jane.

“Let’s not worry,” said Violet at last. “Things always work out all right for us.”

But even Violet was in for a surprise.

Watch met them at the door, barking and wagging his tail. Maggie was smiling in the kitchen. Aunt Jane was laughing at them from the front room! She was sitting in her long chair, all dressed. The children had never seen her in a dress before.

“Dear Aunt Jane!” cried Violet. “You are up and dressed! I was never so glad in my life.” She bent over and kissed the little old lady.

Aunt Jane was surprised at the kiss. But she was very pleased.

“I will bring the kitchen table in here,” said Henry.

“Why not eat on the table that is in here?”

“But that is your very best table,” said Jessie.

“It is your table, remember,” said Aunt Jane. “I’d like to eat on it, if you want to use it.”

A happy family sat down to supper that night.

“Now, tell me everything that happened in Stony Creek,” said Aunt Jane.

The children took turns. They told her everything. They told her what a fine man the Mystery Man was. They passed quickly over the three tough men, because they did not want to frighten her.

“They caught them anyway,” said Benny, “So no more trouble from them.”

At last, everything had been told except one thing—Grandfather.

“About these strangers,” said Benny. “Mr. Carter says this place won’t be quiet any more. Everyone will come to see the uranium. And maybe some will take away rocks.”

Aunt Jane nodded. “What does he think we ought to do?”

“He says we can’t take care of it ourselves,” began Henry. “We must have help from some man who can do things in a big way and who has money to have a mine dug.”

Aunt Jane said slowly, “I know one man who can do it. My brother, James.”

For a minute the children could not speak. Then Jessie cried, “Oh, he could, Aunt Jane!”

“And now I wonder if he
would,”
said Aunt Jane, “after the way I’ve treated him.”

“I’m sure he would,” said Jessie excitedly.

“Well, I hope so,” said her aunt. “I could never stand hundreds of people running all over my ranch—your ranch. I’ll send your grandfather a night letter.”

“If you will write a night letter,” said Henry, “I’ll take it to Tom Young’s house and have him send it tonight.”

“You care a lot for your grandfather, don’t you?” asked the old lady, with a sharp look.

“And we care a lot for you, too,” said Henry.

“Get me some paper at once, Henry,” said Aunt Jane, “before I change my mind.”

The children were very quiet while their aunt wrote the night letter. They were afraid every minute that she would change her mind.

“Listen to this,” she said at last. “‘Will you take over all business of the uranium fields, now owned by your grandchildren? For once I am glad to have you for a boss. The children and Watch send love. Jane.’”

“Perfect!” said Henry.

Next morning, right after breakfast, a telegram came for Aunt Jane.

She read it aloud, “‘I shall be glad to take over this business. You do not have to see me. Decide how much land you want to keep for yourself and we will build a fence around it. I will send a guard for the house. James Alden.’”

“A guard for this house!” cried Benny. “Isn’t this exciting!”

Jessie called, “Look! Here’s a car already!”

The car was full of telephone men. One of them asked Aunt Jane very politely where she wanted the telephones.

“Telephones?” asked Benny. “Are you going to put in two?”

“We have to put in four,” he said. “I guess you folks don’t know what you are in for.”

“No, I guess we don’t,” said Henry. “I think I had better go to town and telephone Grandfather now. I may not have a chance later.”

Henry left with Watch.

How wonderful it was to talk with Grandfather!

“Now, listen carefully,” Mr. Alden said, “Your aunt’s ranch must always be kept a pleasant place for her to live. So, when you have time, let her decide where the fence should go. Then she could always do anything she wanted with the ranch itself. Do you understand?”