The Red Chipmunk Mystery (5 page)

“Gosh!” Djuna said and he could hardly believe that it was his own wallet that he held in his hand. “I never expected to see it again! I’m certainly much obliged to you.” When Djuna saw the ten-dollar bill nestling in the back of his wallet his face lit up and he added, “You know I’m
awful
hungry! I’d be glad to treat you to some supper if there is a place around here where we can buy some.”

“Gosh! I don’t believe there is any place around here to buy any supper, and besides if the police see me they’ll send me back to camp and I won’t be able to see my brother. I’m pretty hungry, too, but we can probably find something in the morning.”

“I have a few water biscuits,” Djuna said, after a few minutes. “Let’s go on to the porch of the house and eat them.” He peered ahead at it in the gathering shadows and giggled. “Gee! It looks spooky, doesn’t it?”

“Aw, there’s nothing to be afraid of around here,” Buddy said. “Let’s eat the biscuits quick and then we’ll have time to find a place to sleep.”

The boys and Champ approached the frowning old house slowly. When they reached it they all sat down gingerly on the bottom step and Djuna divided the six biscuits he had left. When they had finished they stole around the house and peeped in a couple of the windows but it was so dark they couldn’t see anything. They went out to the barns and stables, and in a high loft next to the carriage shed they found an abundance of hay for a bed. They had just scooped out a place in the hay to sleep for the night when a screeching noise sounded outside in the gloom three times in succession.

“Jeepers! What was that?” Buddy asked.

“Just an owl, I think,” Djuna replied. But he didn’t sound too sure about it.

There was a complete silence for a time and then Djuna said, “I want to thank you again for finding my wallet and giving it back to me.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” Buddy said and he sounded half-asleep already. “I’d have given it back to you sooner if I had known where to find you.”

The owl hooted again. But now it was hooting for its own entertainment. Both the boys and Champ were fast asleep.

THE WONDERFUL WAGON

D
JUNA
and Buddy were awakened the next morning by Champ when the sun was well over the horizon. Champ was barking at swallows that were flitting in and out of the sunlight that came through a shuttered opening high in the loft.

The two boys opened their eyes and looked at each other and then all around in puzzled wonder for a moment. Then they remembered the night before and Djuna said, “Jeepers! I wonder what time it is?”

“I don’t have any watch,” Buddy said, “but I think I can tell by the sun when we get outside.” They both got up and brushed themselves off as well as they could and went through the stables to a door that led into the carriage shed.

“This is where my grandmother used to keep all her carriages,” Buddy said, trying to push back an unruly lock of red hair to get it out of his eyes. “I remember, when I was just a little kid I used to come out here and see the coachman polishing up the harness and stuff.”

“I suppose she used this for a garage, too,” Djuna said. “I see some grease on the floor over there.”

“Oh, no. That’s probably axle grease,” Buddy said. “My father told me she wouldn’t ever ride in a car. She wouldn’t even have one. She just had horses and carriages.”

“Gee, that’s funny,” Djuna said. “It must have been an awful long time ago because now you hardly ever see a horse and carriage.”

“Oh, it was,” Buddy said. “It was an awful long time ago. I can hardly remember it. I was only six or seven years old when I used to come here. But I do remember my father said they sold all the horses and carriages, and everything at an auction after my grandmother died. Everything, and the old place has just stood here empty ever since.”

They went out of the carriage shed into the bright sunlight, and Buddy put up one hand to shade his eyes and looked at the position of the sun in the sky very carefully. Djuna watched him and when he said, “It’s about half-past seven,” Djuna just nodded and didn’t say anything because he had never tried to tell the time by the sun.

As they wandered down the weed-grown road from the carriage shed by the gloomy old house they hardly looked at it because they were both busy with their own thoughts. Even Champ was unusually silent as he trotted along beside them.

Suddenly Buddy said, “Do you know what? I bet I could eat a whole—a whole horse.” Djuna snickered.

“I was thinking about the same thing. I bet I could too,” he said. “Let’s go down the valley road as fast as we can, and maybe we can buy some breakfast at a farmhouse. I’m starved and I can tell Champ is, too, by the look of him.”

After they had ducked under the rusty chain at the entrance to Hilltop they stood for a moment looking down at the rapid little Herring River and the dusty road that wound close to it and the haze that was slowly rising off the lowlands in the heat of the day.

“Do you suppose they are cooking something good in that house with the smoke coming out of the chimney, across the river?” Buddy asked, and he licked his lips.

But Djuna didn’t hear him. He was staring down at the ground; and when he didn’t answer Buddy turned to watch him while he bent down and looked even closer.

“
What’s
the matter?” Buddy said. “Did you lose something again?”

“No,” Djuna said thoughtfully. “I was looking at these car tracks. A car came up here and you can see where it turned round.”

“Why wouldn’t they turn round?” Buddy asked. “They probably thought this road went some place, but when they got up here they found out it didn’t, so they had to turn around. Let’s go! I’m
really
starving.”

“That’s so,” Djuna said. “This
is
the end of the road. But you’d think any one would know it just came up here before they started up it.”

“Gee!” Buddy said as they started down the winding road. “How can you know what any one else thinks unless they
tell
you?”

“You can’t, really,” Djuna said slowly. “But I like to try to figure it out, because lots of times people don’t tell you the truth.”

“You certainly do think of the craziest things,” Buddy said, and then he groaned. “Boy! Am I
hungry
!”

When they got down on the valley road and started west, with the sun on their backs, they supposed it wouldn’t take very long before they reached a place where they could get something to eat. But they soon discovered that the farmhouses along that stretch were on the other side of the river and there wasn’t any bridge.

They plodded along, mostly in silence, and had gone almost two miles before the first house loomed ahead. A big grin of joy spread across Buddy’s freckled face when he saw it and he said, “Gosh! I’ve gone so long without anything to eat I don’t know whether I’ll be
able
to eat.”

“I guess if someone put a big bowl of dry cereal and sliced peaches and real cream and sugar in front of you, you’d be able to eat it all right,” Djuna said, and any one hearing him say it would have thought that that was
just
what he would be able to get when they reached the farmhouse.

“Well, I don’t think I would refuse it,” Buddy said. “What shall we have
next
?”

“Hey! We haven’t had that yet,” Djuna said, “But I think what I’d like next would be some scrambled eggs and bacon and some toast with jelly—–”

“And a nice big, cold glass of milk,” Buddy put in. “Only I think I’ll have a drink of water before I have anything else. What do you think we ought to say to them when we get there?”

“Let’s just ask them if we can’t buy some breakfast,” Djuna said. “It doesn’t make any difference to
me
what it is.”

“I don’t care either,” said Buddy. “Just as long as it’s something we can eat.”

In another couple of minutes they were in front of the square grey house that stood a little way back from the road. All the blinds on the east side and the front of the house were drawn to keep out the sun. Just as they started in the driveway to go to the back door a large black shepherd dog came charging around the back corner of the house with its fangs bared, snarling viciously. Fortunately, and only a few feet before it reached them, it was thrown back on its haunches when it came to the end of the heavy chain attached to its collar.

“
Jiminy crimps!
” Buddy said, and Djuna made a hasty grab at Champ’s collar as he started to rush forward and snarl defiance.

“Stop it, Champ!” Djuna said, as he snapped Champ’s leash on his collar. They retreated hastily to the road, dragging Champ behind them.

“I think,” Buddy said, drawing a huge sigh of relief, “we’d better go to the front door.”

“Sure,” Djuna agreed. “After all, we’re not tramps. We’re willing to pay for what we get.”

They mounted the front steps, knocked on the front door and waited with bated breath for an answer. When they heard footsteps approaching they grinned at each other and both looked a great deal happier.

“Who’s there?” a woman’s voice said from inside without opening the door. The voice was harsh and not at all inviting. The grin froze on the boys’ faces and Champ barked once to show he didn’t like it either.

“Two—two boys and a dog,” Djuna said, in a moment, when he could think just what to say. “We’d like to get some breakfast, please.”

“
Breakfast!
” the woman shouted back. “I
washed
my breakfast dishes over two hours ago. My man’s been out in the field workin’ since six o’clock and you tramps—–” She broke off and her voice rose as she said, “
BREAKFAST!
”

“But, ma’am, we’re not tramps,” Djuna said stoutly. “We’re just two boys on our way to Riverton and we’re quite willing to pay for whatever we can get.”

“Breakfast!” the woman snorted again as though she wouldn’t ever forget the word.

“I just said breakfast because—because—–”

“Because it was the first thing you thought of,” Buddy whispered.

“Because it was the first I thought of,” Djuna repeated. “We’re awful hungry and we’ll eat anything you want to sell us.”

“I can’t sell you no thin’,” the woman snapped. “My husband forbids me to open the door when he’s out in the fields. An’ besides, what are you whisperin’ about? There can’t no good come of them kind of actions. You get on your way or I’ll—–”

“But, ma’am,” Djuna pleaded, and he wished the woman would wait just long enough to let him explain.

“You get on your way right now or I’ll turn the dog loose on you,” the woman broke in. Champ barked three times, to say, “
Let him come!
”

The two boys looked at each other and Buddy shrugged his shoulders and started for the steps. They went out to the road and started west again in silence, Champ turning back to growl softly at the shepherd dog every few steps.

“You know, I bet her food would be stale, anyway,” Buddy said, breaking the silence. They both giggled at that for a moment and somehow they didn’t feel
quite
so hungry.

The boys had covered close on another mile, with Champ trotting wearily along behind them, when something caused Djuna to turn to see if Champ was all right. He stopped abruptly and turned around when he saw Champ sitting in the middle of the road about a hundred feet back with his red tongue hanging out so that it almost touched the dust.

“What’s the matter?” Buddy said as he turned and saw Djuna running back towards Champ.

“He’s thirsty,” Djuna shouted back. He felt pretty bad when he thought that Champ hadn’t had a drink all morning. He picked Champ up in his arms and was climbing over a fence into a field when Buddy joined him. “I’m going to take him over to the river so that he can get a drink,” he explained. “You know his legs are awful short.”

“Maybe his legs
are
short,” Buddy said, “but he’s about the bravest dog I ever saw for his size. You know, if you hadn’t stopped him, I think he would have gone for that big black dog back there.”

“Sure, he would,” Djuna said proudly. “He’d fight an elephant if the elephant were nasty to him. He pretends to be fierce with people because he knows most people will understand, but he’s really very gentle.” Champ lifted his head and licked Djuna’s cheeks to add strength to his words. “But he won’t take any back talk from another dog, no matter how big he is.”

“I wish he were
my
dog,” Buddy said.

They climbed over another fence and Djuna put Champ down on the edge of the Herring River. Champ bobbed his head up and down a couple of times to show that he appreciated what had been done for him and then he began to drink, while Djuna and Buddy found a place where they could do the same thing and duck their heads afterwards. When they stood up Buddy pulled a comb out of his pocket and combed back his shock of red hair. “They made us comb our hair every morning after we’d washed, at camp,” he explained, “so I always carried my comb in my pocket. It’s kind of a nuisance, but you can use it if you want to.” Djuna took the comb and used it without saying anything.

But when they were back on the road they all felt very much refreshed until they began to remember how hungry they were again. It was Djuna who spoke about it first, this time.

“What kind of soles do you have on your shoes?” he asked Buddy. Buddy looked down at his feet and said, “Rubber, I guess. They’re the same kind of camp shoes I have every summer. Why?”

“I was just thinking about a story I read one time,” Djuna said. “It was about a man who was lost someplace and didn’t have any food. Maybe it was on a desert island. I forget, exactly. But when he couldn’t stand it any longer he took the soles off his shoes and cooked ’em over a fire for a long time and then ate them. Mine are rubber, too.”

“Jeepers! He must have been awfully hungry,” Buddy said, and added after a moment of thought, “Rubber would smell terrible if you cooked it.”

“Oh, I’m not that hungry
either
,” Djuna said. “But I was thinking, too, suppose we never come to another house?”

“You always come to another house if you keep on long enough,” Buddy said, reasonably enough. “There’s a place called Dean’s Mills along here someplace, unless we’ve lost it.”