Haunted Cabin Mystery (6 page)
“Tell Cap to get well soon,” the mailman added, putting his car in gear and starting off. Henry walked back to the porch thoughtfully. It was one thing for Mr. Jay to hang around town and act strange, but hearing that he was walking up and down Cap's road really bothered Henry.
Cap's letter was from Mr. Alden. He read it aloud. Grandfather Alden had gotten the children's message from Mrs. McGregor and appreciated hearing from them. He told Cap not to worry about the kids, that they were doing what they liked to do best. He said to expect him this coming Saturday. He was eager to see all of them.
“We need to fix a good fancy meal for my old friend,” Cap said. “You probably need to ride Pilot into town again. I'd hate not to give your grandfather a hearty welcome.”
“We could use a few things,” Jessie said. “Maybe we could go tomorrow. That would leave us time for other jobs.”
“What other jobs?” Cap asked. “You've done plenty!”
Violet grinned at him. “Oh, Cap,” she said. “Even though your ankle is ever so much better, you'll still have to use that cane for a while. We've thought of lots of little things to help with before we leave.” She didn't add what she was really thinking â that they meant to solve the mysteries before they went off and left him alone.
“Like climb the trees and pick the apples,” Benny said.
“And weed and thin the garden,” Violet put in.
“And I'd like to clean up the barn,” Henry said. “I want to sweep up the loose hay to save it for Pilot.”
Cap threw up his hands. “I give up,” he said. “But groceries for your grandfather's dinner come first. Agreed?”
W
e need a really good grocery list,” Jessie told the others. “Cap wants Grandfather's dinner to be special.”
“And it's our last chance to cook for Cap,” Henry added. Everyone wanted to add something. It was late when they finally finished the list and went to bed.
They were barely asleep when the wind rose. Before Jessie and Henry could even get the windows closed, a cold rain came blowing in, too. Lightning sliced across the sky, followed by crashing thunder.
“Come on, Henry,” Jessie cried, pulling the yellow oilskin ponchos from the hooks by the door. “I'll check the chicken house windows. You check on Pilot.”
Leaning into the driving rain, Jessie ran to the henhouse while Henry closed the windows and doors of the barn. Violet and Benny were huddled together under a dry blanket watching the storm when they got back inside. The thunder had wakened Cap. He stood in the door, frowning. “You kids all right? Not scared, are you?”
Violet shook her head. “It's beautiful,” she said.
The thunder finally growled away, but the rain kept coming. It settled into a slow steady drumming against the closed porch windows. It was still falling the next morning.
“We're stuck here today,” Cap told them. “Possum Creek is probably up over our road.”
Violet made hot biscuits to eat with honey and scrambled eggs. “Maybe you'd like some of that canned ham with these biscuits,” Cap suggested.
“Let's save it for when Grandfather comes,” Jessie said. “In case the storm keeps us from getting to town.”
Since they couldn't work outside, the children cleaned the inside of Cap's windows. After supper they made a hearth fire and roasted marshmallows until Cap went off to bed.
Henry went out to check on Pilot one last time. He came back within minutes, his poncho dripping. Jessie could tell from his face that he was upset. He motioned to the others to gather close. “Somebody's been out there since I shut the barn up. One of the windows I had closed was open, and hay was scattered all over the barn floor again.”
“The wind could have done that,” Violet said, looking thoughtful. “Did you turn on the lights and look around?”
Henry shook his head. “I was afraid Cap would see them from his bedroom window.”
“I know where there's a big flashlight,” Benny said. “I found it when I was straightening some shelves.”
Jessie reached for her shoes. “That's wonderful. Let's go out with the flashlight.”
“That's a good idea,” Violet said. “We need to find an answer, even if it's only the wind.”
“Do we all have to go?” Henry asked, looking at Benny.
“Don't even think about leaving me here,” Benny told him. “After all, I'm the one who found the flashlight.”
Since they had only two ponchos, the children doubled up in them. They made their way to the barn between great puddles of rain. Henry stopped outside of the window he had found open. “There,” he said, shining the flashlight on the ground. “Footsteps, right in the mud.”
“Are you sure they're not yours?” Violet asked.
“Positive,” Henry said, holding up his boot. “See, my soles are smooth, and these have a waffle weave on them.”
There were more waffle-weave footsteps inside the barn. The children looked at each other. “Why would anyone want to poke around out here during such a storm?” Jessie asked.
“Maybe they felt safe because the floodlight was off,” Henry suggested.
“And we couldn't hear them for the thunder,” Benny added.
“But why do they come here at all? Why are they doing this? They
can't
just be trying to scare Cap!” Violet said.
Jessie kicked some hay aside to clear a path. “Look, Henry,” she said. “Here's a hole with a loose board over it that you missed.”
He knelt beside her and shook his head. “I didn't miss it,” he said. “It's been pried up again. See that old rusty nail I used to fasten it down?”
Violet was walking past Pilot's stall when she stopped and stood frowning. “What's wrong?” Benny asked her.
“It smells funny in here,” she said. “Not like wet hay and horses, but a sharp kind of smell.”
Henry sniffed and nodded. “That's kerosene,” he said. “You know, the liquid they burn in lamps. I know the barn didn't smell like that when I was in here before.”
“It's dangerous to have that kind of lamp around all this loose hay,” Jessie said. “It could start a fire.”
“Lamp,” Violet cried. “Remember that funny flickering light we saw? If it had been a flashlight, someone would have pointed it ahead and up and down. But a lamp ⦔
“You're right,” Henry said. “You carry a lamp with a handle that goes over the top. It would always be at about the same height. It would also
seem
to flicker when you went behind a tree or a fence post.”
Jessie sat down on an overturned bucket with her chin in her hands. “Who
could
be coming here to stamp around in the mud, carrying a lamp?”
“Or to dig holes in the barn and orchard,” Benny added.
“Or to pick vegetables and steal a chicken and eggs?” Violet reminded them.
“We need two things, a who and a why,” Jessie said.
“If we could find out
who
it was, we'd probably know the why,” Henry told her.
Benny stood very still, thinking. “Do you remember what Mr. Edwards said about the pirates lying in wait to grab people?” he asked dreamily. “Couldn't we do that? Then we'd grab the who, and make them tell us the why.”
Henry stared at Benny, then laughed softly. “There's our Benny, figuring out exactly what needs to be done.”
“The hayloft,” Benny went on. “If we were hidden in the hayloft, we could see anyone who came in down here.”
“Nobody's said
anything
about that strange scary whistling noise,” Violet reminded them. “Could that be some kind of a signal? If so, maybe there are at least two people in this gang.”
“Now we're getting somewhere,” Henry said. “We need to make a plan. Let's go back to the cabin and figure out exactly what to do.”
“The door,” Benny whispered. “I just heard a door bang at the cabin.” When they rushed to the barn window to look out, they saw Cap in his white nightshirt leaning on his cane in the clearing. Then the awful whistle sounded from the direction of the orchard. It was dark in the shadow of the barn, but they could see a bulky shadow leaping away into the trees.
Violet gasped. “There it is again. That's the same thing I saw running away when I was in the henhouse.”
“The dwarf,” Benny whispered. As they spoke, Cap turned and walked back toward the cabin.
“But now we do know something for sure,” Henry said. “There have to be at least two people. One person stands guard and whistles to the other one as a warning.”
“Let's go figure out what to do,” Jessie said, shivering. “I can't believe that they'll dare come back tonight.”
T
hat night they talked a long time. They went over their plan until each of them knew exactly what to do. They talked so late that Thursday morning came too fast.
Again the sky was dark and overcast. As they sat down for breakfast, Cap said, “Not much of a night for sleeping, was it?”
Henry was flipping golden brown pancakes in an iron skillet. Violet carried them to the table on warmed plates.
“Did you have trouble sleeping?” Benny asked Cap.
“Some,” he said. “How about you?”
“When I did sleep, I did it good,” Benny told him.
“Then nobody heard any animals crashing around or strange cries or anything?” Cap asked.
Violet put her fork down and looked up at him. “Well ⦠” she began.
Jessie interrupted her quietly. “Come on, Violet, let's do the dishes since Henry cooked.”
“I felt terrible at breakfast,” Violet told Jessie. “Ever since we've been here, we've done nothing but keep secrets from Cap. It makes me feel dishonest.”
Jessie nodded. “I feel the same way, but it's almost over. If we can catch the people who are making him so nervous, keeping secrets from him will be worth it.”
When the sun still hadn't come out by afternoon, Cap shook his head. “At this rate, you won't be able to get to town on Pilot tomorrow, either. I don't know what we're going to feed your grandfather on Saturday.”
“We'll do fine if we can get into the garden tomorrow,” Violet said. “But it's probably pure mud out there now.”
“Worse comes to worse, I can tell you how to build bridges into the garden,” Cap told her.
“Grandfather will be able to get here without building bridges, won't he?” Benny asked Cap with a worried look.
The old man nodded. “He'll have no problem in one of those big cars he always rents. It's not like having a horse loaded with four kids and a bunch of groceries.” He glanced around. “Is that Henry back out at the barn again? Pilot's going to be lonesome when that boy leaves.”
Jessie knew what Henry was doing out there with Pilot. He was fixing the barn lights so that all of them could be turned on with a single switch just inside Pilot's stall. She was really proud of the plan they had worked out. And they had all gone over it so many times the night before that she was positive it would work.
Every single one of them had a different job. Jessie herself would be the lookout in the hayloft. She would have the flashlight. The minute she saw anyone creeping into the barn, she would wink the flashlight three times out of the window of the loft.
Benny was to stay on the back porch and keep watching to see her signal from the hayloft window. The minute he saw Jessie flash the light three times, he would switch on the floodlight and make the whole barnyard as bright as day.
Violet would be standing inside the barn, just inside Pilot's stall where she could reach the switch Henry had fixed. When she saw the lights go on outside, she would turn on all the lights inside the barn. Whoever tried to come in there would be covered with light from both inside and out of the barn.
Henry was to stand just inside the chicken yard fence. He got that job because he was the biggest and the fastest runner. He would leave the gate open a little bit so that he could get out and start running fast. He would race across the yard and slam the barn door and lock the prowler inside. That way he couldn't run away before they caught him. Everything
had
to work perfectly.
That was the longest day ever. When dinnertime finally came, nobody was even hungry. “You kids
must
be excited to see your grandfather,” Cap said when Benny turned down a second helping of spaghetti.
Finally, it felt strange to be in bed fully dressed except for their shoes. They hardly breathed waiting for Henry to decide it was time to go out and take their places.
“It's so noisy tonight,” Benny whispered.
“It sounds that way because we're being so quiet,” Jessie told him. But it was noisy. The frogs croaked. Off in the woods, the screech owl gave its trembling eerie call, sending a shiver up everyone's spine.