The Mandie Collection (52 page)

Uncle Ned returned her hug.

“Well, it seems I got left out of all this,” Joe teased. “I think we'd better be going, though, or the day will be gone.”

“Let's go back up to the attic,” Mandie suggested. “Uncle John, come with us. I have something I want to ask you about.”

“Yes, go to attic,” Uncle Ned said quickly. “More things belong to Ruby in wardrobe with dolls. Come,” he said, leading the way to the attic. Taking them directly to the huge wardrobe, he indicated the big drawer at the bottom.

“That's the drawer where we found the map, remember?” Mandie said.

Joe pulled the drawer out.

“It looks like a lot of papers to me,” Uncle John said.

“Under papers,” Uncle Ned directed them. “Under papers.”

The young people quickly began removing papers and envelopes and finally came to a small Bible at the bottom.

When Mandie picked it up and opened it, a paper fell out. “Why, it's a copy of the treasure map,” she said.

“And the Bible belonged to Ruby, didn't it?” John asked.

The old Indian nodded.

Mandie turned the map over and read out loud a handwritten note on the back, “ ‘Had to tack the other copy of my map behind the sideboard for the time being because I lost the key to my trunk. I must remember that the rhododendron bush is the one growing near the huge rock.' ”

“More clues,” Joe said.

“What else is in the drawer?” Sallie asked.

Mandie sorted through various cards and letters addressed to Ruby, several school books, pencils, hair ribbons. “Uncle Ned, how did you know about all this?” she asked.

“I put there. All I could save. Father of Ruby not want to see anything belong to her. I hide all this,” he replied.

“Let's take that copy of the map back downstairs and show it to Dr. Plumbley,” Joe suggested. “That is, if he's still here.”

“He's still here,” Uncle John said. “I came up to find y'all to say good-bye to him.”

“Come on,” Mandie urged, taking the map with her as she led the way downstairs. “Maybe he can help us figure out this note.”

“I hope so, but I doubt it,” Joe said.

“Yes, things have changed so much since then,” Sallie added.

Uncle Ned followed last with a bowed head and stooped shoulders. “Samuel Plumbley know much,” he muttered to himself.

CHAPTER NINE

MORE CLUES

Halfway down the attic steps Mandie stopped. Uncle John was right behind her. “I forgot to show you something, Uncle John,” she said. “Let's go back for just a minute. Uncle Ned, you, too. Joe and Sallie, you know what it is. We'll catch up with you downstairs in a minute.”

“Don't take too long,” Joe told her as he and Sallie went on down.

Mandie took Uncle John and Uncle Ned straight to the trunk where she had found the baby clothes. She picked up the portrait and held it up for them to see. “Look what I found in this trunk. It must be your mother, Uncle John, and either you, or my father, or Ruby as a baby,” she said.

“I've never seen that before,” Uncle John said. “But yes, that's definitely my mother.”

“Uncle Ned, do you know which baby it is?” Mandie asked.

The old Indian moved closer to look. “That is Ruby. I here when man paint picture. These baby clothes belong to Ruby. Talitha save. Hope she have other little girl to wear clothes. But only boys, Jim and John.”

“Why did she put this portrait in the trunk? Why isn't it hanging somewhere?” Uncle John asked.

“Father want everything of Ruby taken away—everything. I take things, hide in wardrobe. Talitha hide clothes here—this and other trunk. Everything else give away,” Uncle Ned replied.

Uncle John put his arm around Mandie as he held the portrait on top of the baby clothes. “Where shall we hang this?”

“In the library,” Mandie said quickly, “where my grandmother's portrait is.”

“I'm not sure we can find enough wall space in the library to hang this there,” Uncle John said.

“All we have to do is move my grandmother's portrait to one end of the fireplace and hang this one at the other end,” Mandie suggested. “I believe they're the same size.”

“Now why didn't I think of that?” Uncle John asked. “We'll do that before you go back to school. Let's just leave it here for now. I imagine Dr. Plumbley is getting impatient with us by now. He was getting ready to leave.”

“Oh, no!” Mandie exclaimed as she rushed ahead of them down the stairs. She still had the copy of the map in her hand that they had found in Ruby's Bible.

In the parlor Joe and Sallie were trying their best to keep Dr. Plumbley talking so he wouldn't leave until Mandie got there. Elizabeth watched in amusement nearby.

“Here's Mandie now with the other copy of the map, Dr. Plumbley,” Joe said as Mandie came through the doorway.

Uncle John and Uncle Ned followed her into the room and sat down near Elizabeth.

“I have it,” Mandie said, waving the paper in the air as she hurried forward to sit on a chair near the doctor. “Read the note on the back, Dr. Plumbley. Do you have any idea where this huge rock is that she said is near the rhododendron bush?”

Dr. Plumbley examined the paper, then handed it back to Mandie. “There are lots of rocks around this neck of the woods. And there are quite a few that a ten-year-old child would call huge.”

“Do you remember any special rock that Ruby knew about?” Joe asked.

“Maybe one that was a little different?” Sallie added.

Dr. Plumbley thought for a minute and then shook his head. “No, I'm sorry. I can't remember any special rock offhand,” he said, “and I'm afraid I'm going to have to be leaving.” He stood.

All the young people jumped up.

“Dr. Plumbley, please go with us to look for this rock,” Mandie begged.

“You know the area better than we do,” Joe said.

“And you lived not far from the buried treasure, according to Ruby's map,” Sallie said.

Dr. Plumbley laughed and looked at the adults, who were watching him. “What am I going to do with these young people? There are three against one,” he said, shaking his head.

Uncle John laughed. “I'd say you'll have to give in to their wishes, or you'll never have another day's peace until you return to New York,” he said.

“They can be persistent,” Dr. Plumbley admitted.

“Sallie and Joe have to go back to school tomorrow, and I have to go Wednesday. We don't have much time. Please help us,” Mandie pleaded.

“With you helping we could find this thing in no time, whatever it is,” Joe said.

Dr. Plumbley looked from one to another of the young people. “Just what is it you want me to do?” he asked.

“Go with us to the place where your house used to be, and help us find the rock pile, persimmon tree, and rhododendron bush that are on the map,” Mandie answered. “They're all near where you lived.”

“And if I don't go?” the doctor asked.

“We won't get another holiday until Christmas. We'll have to wait until then to finish searching,” Joe said.

“But that buried treasure has been in that spot for fifty years. It will stay there a little while longer, I'm sure,” the doctor said, smiling.

“We do not know that it has been there for fifty years. Someone else may have already found it. We will not know until we find the place on the map,” Sallie said.

“Why, even the spot may be gone,” Dr. Plumbley reasoned. “Things may be so changed we'll never find it.”

“Then you'll go with us?” Mandie asked.

Dr. Plumbley threw up his hands and laughed. “I surrender,” he said. “Lead the way.”

“Thank you!” Mandie grinned.

Joe and Sallie echoed her gratitude.

“Amanda, don't y'all be gone too long,” Elizabeth said, as the group started to leave the room.

“We'll be back soon, Mother,” Mandie replied.

“Wish us luck,” Joe said, laughing.

“I hope you find whatever it is,” Uncle John called to them.

As they went out the parlor door, Dr. Plumbley spoke to Mandie. “I must tell my friend that I'll be back soon. Remember, he's cooking supper for me.”

“And we need to get his hoe and rope again,” Joe said.

“The quickest way is through the kitchen,” Mandie said, leading the way down the hall. “Come on.”

As they entered the kitchen, Jenny stood at the table peeling potatoes. She looked up.

Mandie walked over to her and introduced Jenny to Dr. Plumbley as Abraham's wife.

Dr. Plumbley extended his hand. Jenny ignored the gesture and rushed over to the sink. “Y'all be on yo' way. I'se got a meal to cook.”

“It was nice meeting you, Jenny. I hope I see you again sometime,” Dr. Plumbley said.

Mandie quickly headed out the back door. “I don't think she was very nice to meet,” she whispered to Sallie.

When they were all outside, Snowball came running to Mandie in the yard. She picked him up and carried him with her to the gardener's house.

Abraham sat on the front porch, rocking. “ 'Bout time you come back, Samuel,” Abraham fussed.

“I'm not back yet. You see, these nice young people have asked me to go on a treasure hunt with them. I just wanted to let you know I'll be back soon,” Dr. Plumbley replied.

“Well, if you ain't back soon, I'll eat without you,” Abraham warned.

Joe picked up the hoe and the rope from the end of the porch. “May we borrow these again, Abraham?” he asked.

Abraham nodded his head but said nothing.

“Do you want to go with us?” Mandie invited.

“I ain't gwine nowhere. And if y'all agwine, well, git!” Abraham snapped.

“Oh, you're grouchy just like Jenny,” Mandie teased, petting Snowball in her arms.

“Dat Jenny ain't got nuthin' to do wid me, grouchy or not. Now git!” He rose and opened the front screen door. “And hurry back, Samuel, if you wants any supper.”

“I sure do want some supper, so I'll be back soon,” the doctor promised.

Using the hoe like a walking stick, Joe led the way across the road past the cemetery to the dirt pathway.

“I've been down this pathway many a time,” Dr. Plumbley remarked, looking around as they walked along. “But, my, how things have changed! This path used to be much bigger, wide enough for buggies and wagons to go down it. And now it has just about disappeared under all these weeds and bushes.”

“Wait till you see what we have to go through,” Mandie warned.

“Joe had to chop out a pathway where it had all grown up,” Sallie said.

When they came to that particular place, Dr. Plumbley couldn't believe all the trees growing there.

“This was wide open cow pasture when I left here forty-eight years ago,” Dr. Plumbley said. “Guess I am getting old, no matter what Abraham says.”

“I hope things haven't changed so much that you can't recognize these other places on the map,” Mandie said.

“We'll see,” the doctor answered.

When they came to the end of the path, they stopped to look across the road at the house with the sign Fine Food Since 1852.

“My grandparents' house was right where that big fine house sits now. It was only an old four-room house, two rooms downstairs and two upstairs. They were upstairs when the fire happened,” Dr. Plumbley said softly, staring at the boardinghouse. “If they'd been downstairs, someone might have been able to save them. But the roof caught fire and that house went up like a bunch of kindling. If they could have only lived until I was grown and educated, I could have done so much for them.”

Mandie took the doctor's big hand in hers. “But Dr. Plumbley, you probably wouldn't have gone to New York and become a doctor, would you?”

“Maybe. You see, I lived with my aunt in New York. Her husband died, leaving her with some money they had saved. She wanted me to have it to use toward my education. I did repay her, though. I insisted on that.”

“Well, what do we do now?” Joe asked.

“If you don't mind, I'd like to go over there and look around,” Dr. Plumbley said.

“Come on. We've been inside and met Mr. Jud Jenkinson, the man who owns it now,” Mandie said.

“Not inside. I'd just like to look around the yard,” the doctor said.

They crossed the road and followed Dr. Plumbley around the house to the back yard. He stood there, looking about. The young people silently watched and waited.

“There it is!” the doctor exclaimed, pointing downhill and walking ahead. “It's still here.”

They followed as he came to stop by a straggly old apple tree.

The doctor reached to touch the limbs. “The frost has already got the leaves, but this is the apple tree I remember,” he said. “I used to swipe the apples and take them down there to eat.” He pointed downhill to a small creek. “My grandmother always wanted to save them for pies and applesauce. And if she caught me, it was too bad. I wouldn't be able to sit down for a week.” He laughed.

The young people smiled at each other.

“What did she whip you with that hurt so bad?” Mandie asked.

“She didn't do it. She'd get my grandpa to take his old leather razor strop and just about wear it out on me,” the doctor said. “It sure hurt, but she knew what she was doing. She was teaching me to distinguish right from wrong. She was a good woman.”

“Was your house in exactly the same spot as this one?” Joe asked.

“As far as I can tell, according to the well over there, our house was sitting directly behind this one,” he said. “But then this big road has been cut through here, so it's hard to tell for sure. Things don't look the same.”

“If this road wasn't here, what kind of a road did you have then?” Mandie asked.

“Just the dirt path we came down from the cemetery. It curved past our house and dead-ended into the creek down there,” the doctor said. “This new road cut into part of it.”