The Secret of the Mansion (11 page)

,’I’m : - so tired I can hardly move,” Honey said as she trailed farther and farther behind. “I guess I’m just not used to so much exercise. I’ve simply

got to rest a minute or I’ll drop in my tracks.”

“Okay,” Trixie said, “but come on just as soon as you can.”

She whistled as she passed through the thicket, and in a minute or two Jim appeared at the window. “Hi,” he called out. “Didn’t expect to see you until

tomorrow.”

“I’ve got bad news,” Trixie panted. “Your uncle’s dying, Jim. It was in the afternoon paper.”

Jim looked serious. “That’s too bad. I wish I dared risk going in to see him. I’m his only living relative, you know.”

,,You mustn’t,” Trixie objected. “The police or somebody would want to know where you’re living and all about you. They’d be sure to notify Jonesy then,

wouldn’t they?”

124 109 Jim nodded thoughtfully. “Just the same, I hate to think of Uncle James dying in a hospital all alone.”

I think we ought to search some more for that money,” Trixie insisted. “He may die without telling anyone where it is.”

I have searched.” Jim reached inside for the shotgun he had been cleaning and, dangling his long legs over the sill, began polishing the barrel with a piece

of oily rag. “I’ve given all the downstairs a thorough going-over,” he went on. “I’ve even rapped the living-room panels from floor to ceiling looking

for a secret hiding place.” He grinned. “And don’t ask me because I looked: there’s not a single sign of a trap door in the cellar.”

Trixie sat down on the sparse grass beneath the window. She suddenly felt as exhausted as Honey had a few minutes before. “There must be a will, or at least

a letter, around somewhere which would tell where the money’s hidden,” she said crossly. “How about that desk?”

Jim shook his head. I found the key to the desk. It was hanging on a ring with a bunch of others on a nail behind the cellar door. There was nothing in

the desk but some pass books to several New York savings banks.”

“Well, my goodness,” Trixie exclaimed excitedly. “That’s something, anyway. You’re the heir, so all the

125 110 money in those banks will belong to you when your uncle dies.”

Jim loaded the gun before he replied. “All those accounts had been closed out years ago, Trixie,” he said quietly. “I’m afraid that proves more than ever

that Uncle James spent or lost all his money.”

Trixie sighed. “I think we really ought to search the top floor, Jim. Right away. If your uncle dies, the story may be written up in the New York papers,

and then there’ll be a lot of reporters snooping around here, and we may never have another chance.”

Jim looked startled. “If it gets in the papers Jonesy will come snooping around,” he said slow .

“Well, then,” Trixie cried triumphantly. “Let’s get ?11 going. Is there a ladder in the barn

Jim frowned. “I don’t like the idea. It seems like prying into something my uncle didn’t want anyone to see.” “Why must you be so stubborn?” Trixie demanded.

“I don’t see what difference it makes. If you searched one floor, why not another? Anyway, the whole place really belongs to you now, Jim!”

“Not exactly,” he said. “Uncle James isn’t dead yet, and he might have changed his will, you know.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sakes,” Trixie groaned. “Let’s try to find the will then.” She added ominously, “If nobody

126 111 ever finds it, you’ll have to go back to your stepfather.” Jim’s face darkened. “I told you I’d never go back,” he said hotly. “I can get a job

at a summer camp.”

“And what about afterward?” Trixie goaded him. “You don’t want to quit school now. Not with only one more year to go and a scholarship for college waiting

for

YOU. “I do want to go to college,” Jim admitted ruefully. “I’d like to get at least a master’s degree so I could teach the boys some subjects myself if

that dream of mine ever comes true.”

Trixie knew he was weakening now. “This old house is worthless, I guess,” she said quickly, “but land around here sells for a thousand dollars an acre.

So

you’ll inherit at least ten thousand dollars when your uncle dies. If,” she finished pointedly, “we find the will.”

“I guess you’re right.” Jim turned to put the gun inside the house but stopped suddenly. “Listen,” he whispered. “Something’s running along the bridle trail

from the Wheeler place.”

“What of it?” Trixie demanded sourly. “It’s probably Reddy chasing a squirrel or a chipmunk.”

“It sounds like a dog,” Jim said, still listening. “But it’s running like crazy and-“

At that moment Honey emerged from the driveway.

112 “Hello,” she called out. “At the last minute, I was too scared of Queenie to go through the thicket alone so I came up this way.” She stopped as she

noticed Jim’s tense face. “What’s the matter?”

Trixie could hear the animal now, racing up the path on the other side of the hedge; and, as Honey’s face turned white, Trixie realized that she had heard

it, too. Whatever it was, it tore ahead, straight into the thicket. It’s not Reddy, Trixie thought wildly. He would have turned off at the down trail to

our house.

There was the sound of something struggling madly in the tangled vines, and then the yellow dog burst into the clearing. Foam was dripping from its vicious

muzzle, and Honey screamed once as it plunged onward, straight at her.

128 113

The Old Ladder

“Stand still, Honey!” Jim yelled as he raised his gun to his shoulder and fired.

The dog leaped convulsively into the air, then dropped dead, not two feet from where Honey was standing. Honey had covered her face with her hands, and

she pitched forward into their arms as Jim and Trixie raced to her side.

“She’s fainted,” Trixie yelled as they carefully lowered her to the ground.

Jim raced around to the well in the back of the house and returned with a tin can full of water. Then, for the second time that day, Trixie bathed Honey’s

face and wrists. The icy cold water brought Honey to immediately, and she sat up with a little moan.

“My nightmare!” she exclaimed, looking first at one and then the other. “It was just like a dream. I couldn’t run.”

“It was a good thing you didn’t,” Jim said. “In the first place, it’s never wise to run away from a dog, anyway. It confuses them if you stand perfectly

still and

129 114 show no sign of fear. And in the second place, if you had run toward us, you would have got between me and the dog, so I couldn’t have shot it.”

He stared soberly down at the dead animal. “Poor old fellow. I had hopes of making friends with him sometime and trying to tame him, but I guess he’s better

off this way. I wouldn’t have been able to take him with me when I go.”

“Jim,” Honey asked impulsively, “you’re not going away soon, are you?”

Jim shrugged noncommittally as he dragged the dog into the field to bury it.

Trixie and Honey rested in the shade while they waited for Jim to return. Honey was still weak from fright and was glad of the chance to lie quietly in

the shade for a few minutes.

When he came back, Honey asked, “Do you think he had rabies, Jim?”

I don’t think so,” Jim said. “Dogs often froth at the mouth in hot weather or because of nervousness.”

“I know,” Trixie put in. “When Reddy was a puppy he used to when he was carsick.”

Honey shuddered. “But suppose he had had hydrophobia and had bitten me, I would have died, wouldn’t V’

“Oh, no,” Jim said easily. “There’s the Pasteur treat-

130 115 ment, you know. Your doctor would have immediately vaccinated you against hydrophobia.” He smiled at Honey sympathetically. “You had a nasty scare.

Feel all right now?”

Honey nodded. “But I’m glad that dog won’t bother us any more.” They told him, then, about Trixie’s accident and how she had thrown the cushion in the mongrel’s

face.

“I was wondering where you got that bump.” Jim grinned admiringly at Trixie. “It took plenty of nerve to do what you did, but it took a heck of a lot more

to do what you did yesterday. You have plenty of courage.”

Trixie flushed uncomfortably. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Sucking the venom out of Bobby’s toe,” he explained. “If you’d had a cut or a sore in your mouth-,, “I never even thought about that,” Trixie admitted.

“If we’re going to do a lot of roaming through these

woods and fields,” Jim said thoughtfully, “we really ought to carry snake-bite kits. They come equipped with a scalpel, suction pump, and tourniquet, you

know. The important thing with snake bites is speed and keeping the victim quiet, so the poison won’t spread. But the most important thing,” he finished,

44is to avoid being bitten. And you, Trixie, ought to be more careful. You were

131 116 all set to barge into that summerhouse this morning. Don’t you know that snakes love to rest in deserted houses?”

Trixie stared, shamefaced, down at her hands, and Honey quickly changed the subject. “Whatever happened to Queenie?”

“She’s okay,” Jim told her. “I saw her tearing across the courtyard just before you came up. She just pretended to be hurt, the way wild birds do, to lure

the dog away from where her nest is hidden in the thicket.”

“I’m glad of that,” Trixie said. “She’s a wonderful little hen. I was wondering how we were ever going to catch her so we could put a splint on her wing.

She scurries away at the first sound of anyone coming near.”

“We would have had to do it at night,” Jim said. “If we could have found her nest. And I doubt if we could have done that.”

“Wait till you see her baby chicks,” Trixie told Honey. “They’re the cutest little balls of yellow fluff with stripes down their backs like chipmunks.”

“I’d love to see one,” Honey said. “But I wouldn’t dare go near them.”

“You wouldn’t have a chance,” Trixie said. “If you think Queenie’s mean while she’s setting, you ought to see her after the eggs are hatched. Boy! She’s

a terror.”

132 117 She turned to Jim. “Come on, it’s getting late. Aren’t we going to explore the top floor?”

“Okay,” Jim said reluctantly as he led the way around to the barn in the back of the house. “But I still

don’t like the idea.”

“I don’t either,” Honey said determinedly. “I wouldn’t go up there for anything in the whole wide world.” “What’s that?” Trixie asked, pointing to an oil

drum which hung from a branch of a large evergreen. Jim grinned. “That’s my outdoor shower. I got so hot and dirty looking for hidden treasure I rigged

it up.” “How does it work?” Trixie demanded.

“Well, first I punched a hole in the bottom of the drum and ran a rope through it, knotting one end and looping the other over the branch. Then I punched

a lot of little holes around the big one. After that all you have to do is fill the can with water, pull on the rope, and stand under your shower.”

“Why, it’s wonderful,” Trixie cried. “I’m going to make one for Bobby. He’ll love it! He’s always begging me to squirt him with the hose.”

“Down at your place,” Jim said, “you probably have a hose, so you can make a permanent shower. Tie the can securely in the fork of the tree, place one end

of the hose in it, turn on the water, and there you are. But,” he

118 cautioned, “you’d better not waste water until we get a good long rain. The well up here is almost dry.”

“Our brook is nothing but a trickle,” Trixie said. “I wish it would rain. With the cistern so low, we’re going to have to bring water soon from the house

to the garden, and that’s an awful chore. I don’t like to carry heavy water buckets.”

They found an old cobwebby ladder in the barn and dragged it around to the house. The girls held the ladder in place while Jim tried one second-story window

after another without success, for the windows had apparently not been opened for years.

“Of course they’re all locked,” Trixie said in disgust. “Nobody would be dumb enough to board up the staircase without first locking all the windows up

there.”

“Well, I’m not going to break in,” Jim said stubbornly. “And,” he finished, “I won’t have to. This one’s stuck but not locked. I can pry it loose with a

hammer and chisel.”

“Great!” Trixie cried. “I can hardly wait to see what’s up there.”

Jim started down backward and halfway to the ground there was a rending, splintering sound as one rung in the old ladder split in two under Jim’s weight.

He struggled wildly to regain his balance, and, although the

135 119 girls used all their combined strength to hold the ladder in place, it swung slowly but surely away from the wall.

It seemed like hours that it swayed in midair and then crashed to the ground, pinning Jim beneath its weight. 120

A Precious Piece of Paper

“Oh, oh,” Honey shrieked. “His back’s broken. I know it is!”

Trixie felt a scream rising in her own throat as she stared dazedly at the crumpled form of the boy. Every freckle stood out in the whiteness of his face,