Houseboat Mystery

  Benny climbed up into the wagon and sat down beside the old jockey.

  “How is Dolly today?” he asked.

  “Fine,” said Sam. “See her ears now? She knows we’re talking about her.” Indeed, her ears were turned backwards.

  “I’ve been thinking, Sam,” said Benny. “It seems to me that you are in some kind of trouble.”

  The old driver turned to the young boy and said, “That is surely kind of you. Most people don’t care about an old carriage-driver.”

  “I care,” said Benny.

  “I know you do,” said Sam.

  “Well, Sam, are you in trouble?”

  “No, not exactly,” said Sam.

  “What do you mean, not exactly?” asked Benny.

  “Well, I got no trouble myself, but I hear that my brother Jeff has. So I feel poorly. Yes, boy, I’m sure enough worried about Jeff.”

  The man and the boy sat a while without saying a word.

  Then Benny said, “Sam, my grandfather is a smart man. Maybe he could get Jeff out of trouble.”

  “No, boy. Nobody could do that,” Sam answered.

  Benny put his hand on Sam’s arm. “Now, Sam! What a silly thing to say! You don’t know what my family can do when we get started. But how can we help you when we don’t know what the trouble is? Don’t you trust me?”

  Sam drew a long breath. “I’d like to trust you, boy. I’d surely like to!”

  “Well, then, tell me about Jeff. Has he done anything wrong?”

  Sam turned and looked at Benny. “I know Jeff wouldn’t do anything wrong. I don’t believe it! I never believed it!”

  “Who says he’s done something wrong?” asked Benny.

  “Well, somebody says he has,” answered Sam. “But I can’t tell you who it is. Then I’d be in trouble.”

  “You’re in trouble now,” said Benny.

  Sam was thinking. He looked at Benny for a long time. He knew he could trust Benny. Sam took a deep breath and said, “I’m going to tell you, boy. A man comes to me every month and I give him half my pay. If I don’t, he says he will tell the police about Jeff.”

  “I see,” said Benny, nodding his head. “So that is why you can’t afford to feed Dolly enough.”

  “Yes, that’s why. I give Dolly as much as I can. But I have to eat, too.”

  Benny nodded again. Then he said, “Would you believe me, Sam, if I said you would be out of trouble soon?”

  “I don’t know,” said Sam. “That would be a great day.”

  Benny began to climb out of the wagon. He said, “Well, don’t worry anymore, Sam. It won’t be long now!”

  Benny walked away. As he looked back, he saw three people getting into Sam’s wagon. He stepped out of sight. He waited until Sam had turned the wagon around and trotted off. Then Benny walked slowly down the street looking for Jeff. He found him outside an old-fashioned house waiting for his customers.

  Benny looked up at Jeff and said, “May I come and sit with you a minute?”

  “Sure,” said Jeff. He was surprised.

  When Benny was in the front seat, he said, “You don’t know me, Jeff, but Sam does.”

  “Yes, I know you,” said Jeff. “Sam told me all about the Aldens. He said the old man is very kind.”

  “You mean my grandfather?” asked Benny. “He isn’t old.”

  “Oh, I don’t mean old,” said Jeff. “He’s just grown up.”

  “I wonder if you would talk to me, Jeff,” asked Benny.

  “Oh, yes, I’d like to talk to you. Any of your family. I’d be glad to.”

  “Well, then,” said Benny, “tell me this. Are you in trouble?”

  Jeff turned around to Benny just as his brother had done. “No,” he said. “But don’t tell Sam.”

  “Why?” asked Benny. “I won’t tell Sam.”

  “I just worry about Sam,” said Jeff. “I hear tell he is in trouble. So I worry all the time.”

  Benny said, “Do you think Sam has done anything wrong?”

  “No!” said Jeff. “Sam wouldn’t. He’s my twin brother.”

  “But somebody told you he has. Is that right?” asked Benny.

  “Yes, that’s right. But I still don’t believe him. And don’t you tell, boy!”

  “I won’t,” said Benny. “You know, Jeff, I thought something was wrong.”

  “Now why did you ever think that?” asked Jeff.

  “Well, because Molly is so thin,” said Benny.

  “Think of that!” said Jeff. “Nobody cares about an old thin horse.”

  “You care a lot about Molly, don’t you?” asked Benny.

  “Oh, yes. I brush her and brush her. See how she shines?”

  “But you don’t feed her very well,” said Benny quietly.

  “No,” said Jeff sadly. “But I do the best I can.”

  “I know that,” said Benny. He began to climb down. He had learned what he wanted to know. Then he had an idea. He said, “By the way, Jeff, have you seen two men in a big black car driving around April Center? I’m interested in cars and it’s a special one.”

  Jeff looked quickly at Benny and then away. It seemed as if he was going to nod, but he said, “Two men in a black car? I see lots of men and lots of black cars. They all look alike to me.”

  Jeff looked so worried that Benny said, “Jeff, don’t worry anymore. In four or five days everything will be all right.”

  “What do you mean, boy?” asked Jeff.

  “I can’t tell you that because I don’t know what it will be myself. But you’ll see very soon.”

  “Don’t you tell Sam!” Jeff warned.

  “No, I won’t,” promised Benny. He almost ran to find his family. He felt light as a feather! How wonderful it would be when Sam and Jeff were happy again, and Molly and Dolly had enough to eat. He was sure Henry and Jessie could think of some way to help the old jockeys.

  Benny found his family just leaving an old house. Jessie saw Benny coming.

  “Oh, let’s go home,” she said. “We can hear all about Sam and Dolly on the boat where nobody is listening.”

  “Let’s give this heavy bag of oats to Sam first,” said Henry.

  Jeff came by just then with an empty wagon. He heard what Henry said. “I’ll see that Sam gets it,” he said, stopping his horse.

  “Good,” said Henry. “Please take some oats for Molly, too.” Henry lifted the bag into Jeff’s front seat. “Thank you,” said Henry. “That will save time.”

  “Thank you,” said Jeff, driving off.

  The houseboat, The Mrs. McGregor, was just as they had left it. Henry poled it out into the river, and the Alden family sat down on the deck to talk. Benny told his story to the end.

  Then Henry said, “You did well, Ben. We know now what is bothering Sam and Jeff. Let’s think of everything else that seems wrong. First, that vase was lost at the auction. And Mrs. Young and her sister are worried, too.”

  Jessie said, “Don’t forget the waitress in the restaurant.”

  “Yes, the waitress,” agreed Henry. “Then the smoke on this boat. Oh, by the way, Ben. A policeman came into the old house while we were there, and I told him about our clock. He said he would tell Mr. Rivers.”

  “Good!” said Benny.

  “We still don’t know why the boy in the red cap ran away from the auction so fast,” said Violet.

  “And remember, the two policemen said something strange was going on up and down this river,” said Mr. Alden.

  Benny said, “And the black car!”

  “Right. The black car and the two men,” said Jessie. “Do you think the black car has anything to do with all these people, Henry?”

  Henry replied, “Yes, that is exactly what I do think.”

  Benny added, “But remember, we’ve still got four or five days!”

  CHAPTER 7

  Mystery in a Picture

  The next day at breakfast Benny said, “Let’s name the houseboat The Sam and Dolly today. That would make Sam laugh i
f he could see it.”

  The family always ate on the deck now. They liked it better than the galley.

  Benny looked at the row of gulls sitting on the railing. “The only trouble with eating out here is you gulls,” he said. “You watch every bite.”

  Jessie said, “I wonder where all those gulls go. They just come here for meals.”

  Mr. Alden replied, “They must go fifty miles down the river to the ocean.”

  When breakfast was over, the gulls flew away. Benny climbed up the ladder to change the name of the houseboat. It was The Sam and Dolly today.

  Violet was holding a glass of orange juice in her hand. She stood up to watch Benny and stepped back to see better. Her foot hit the sandbox. Splash! Orange juice went everywhere. It was all over the clean white sand.

  “Oh, look where it went!” said Violet. “We need that sand to put out fires. Wait! I can get it off.” She took a spoon and a cup. Then she very carefully scraped off every bit of wet sand.

  “I don’t think I lost a spoonful of sand,” she said.

  “No harm done,” said Jessie. “We promised to keep the sandbox filled up to the line and it is.”

  The Aldens floated slowly down the beautiful river. They sat on the front deck.

  Benny was looking straight down the river from the roof. He said, “Something is right in the way. What is it?”

  Henry said, “It looks like an island.”

  It was indeed an island, but a very small one. Here the river was a little wider. As the Aldens floated nearer, they saw that the island was made of rock. A few bushes grew here and there on small spots of sand. As they came still nearer, a great crowd of sea gulls rose in the air, calling and screaming.

  Benny climbed down the ladder. “This is where the gulls live!” he said. “There must be a million.”

  Henry laughed. He said, “Hold on, Ben. Not a million, but a lot of gulls for one small island.”

  There were some posts in the water. Henry said, “This was once a dock. You can see where it was. Let’s float in. We’ve already scared the gulls anyway.”

  The gulls had flown off, but when the boat stopped moving, the birds began to come back. One by one they came. Some sat on the posts. Some landed on the rocks. The place was soon thick with gulls.

  “Let’s call this Gull Island,” Benny said.

  Henry pointed at an enormous gull on a post. “What a picture that would make!” he said. He rushed to the cabin to get his camera.

  “Take two pictures,” said Jessie. “One may not come out very well. Oh, look at the duck!” She pointed at a bird which was flying back again behind the rocks. “Let’s go ashore and see where it went.”

  The Aldens stepped into the water from the boat and waded ashore. The gulls rose in the air, screaming loudly. The Aldens climbed over the stones and looked over the top of the big rock. There was the duck swimming around in the water. Seven baby ducks followed her. Sometimes they put their bills in the water and caught bugs. Sometimes they turned upside down.

  Violet said, “Aren’t they cute, Henry? See if you can get a picture of a duckling upside down. You can only see its tail.”

  Henry snapped the camera. He said, “I think two of them were upside down, and the mother duck, too.”

  Something made Benny look away from the island toward the riverbank. There stood a lovely white bird!

  “Look, Henry!” Benny whispered. “Take a picture. It’s a white heron.”

  Benny waded back to the boat and asked Grandfather for the field glasses. He looked through them at the bird. It was beautiful, standing on one leg in the water, its lacy white topknot blowing in the wind.

  “That’s an egret,” said Grandfather. “Sometimes they fly this far north. Take its picture, Henry.”

  The bird was quiet, and Henry could work slowly. He snapped one picture and then another.

  Benny looked through the field glasses again. All at once he whispered, “Henry! Something is behind that egret. Something white. Just look.”

  Henry looked in the camera finder. Then he looked toward the bird as if he were going to take another picture.

  Benny whispered, “I think it’s a man in a white shirt.”

  “Right, Ben,” agreed Henry. “But why is he hiding behind a tree? He thinks the tree hides him, but I can see an arm sticking out on each side.”

  Snap, went the camera. “I have a picture of two arms and two shoulders,” said Henry. “I wonder if he came here to watch us? And why?”

  “I don’t know,” said Benny. “But I think that is just what he’s doing.” Then one arm moved.

  “Keep watching him,” said Benny excitedly. “If he starts to leave, take another picture.”

  A minute went by. Suddenly the man moved. He didn’t walk or run. He bent down and scrambled through the bushes. Henry snapped two more pictures before the man was out of sight.

  “I hope these pictures are good,” Benny said.

  Grandfather said, “It’s too bad Henry doesn’t have his long-distance lens on the camera.”

  “I do,” said Henry. “All these pictures will be big. And now the next thing is to get these pictures printed.”

  “Right,” said Benny. “Let’s watch for a landing.”

  The four Aldens climbed aboard the houseboat, and Henry poled it away from the island. Soon they were floating down the river.

  Benny and Henry watched the riverbanks for a landing. Benny was looking for something else, too. He thought he might see the man in the white shirt again, but he did not. Once he thought he saw a car parked in the woods, but he wasn’t sure. It was not far from Gull Island.

  At last The Sam and Dolly came to a landing. Even in their excitement the Aldens did not forget to lock the houseboat.

  When they found a drugstore in the small town, Benny spoke to the clerk. He said, “We have some very important pictures in our camera. How soon can we have prints?”

  The clerk laughed. He said, “I’m sure you must have pictures of the President of the United States. I do develop my own pictures. I’m not very busy so I’ll develop the film right now if you hand it over.”

  “Oh, thank you!” said five voices. “We’ll wait.”

  The clerk began to think the pictures were really important. “You can sit at the counter,” he said. “I’ll hurry.”

  In less than half an hour the man handed Henry prints of the pictures. The Aldens crowded around and Violet said, “Those pictures are large. That lens is a wonderful thing, Henry.”

  Then Benny said one single word, “Look!”

  He pointed at the white shoulders of the man in the bushes. Right behind him was a very faint picture of a face!

  “There were two men,” said Benny.

  Henry studied the picture. “There certainly is another man,” he agreed.

  Violet said, “Do you think the men were watching our houseboat? They must have some reason for hiding from us. What could it be?”

  “Benny and I think the men were watching us, too,” Henry said. “They wouldn’t hide if they weren’t doing something wrong.”

  “Do you think we ought to give these pictures to the police?” asked Benny.

  “Yes,” said Grandfather. “But let’s go back to the houseboat first.”

  “Yes,” said Henry. “I have a feeling somebody wants to get on the houseboat when we are not there. It happened once. It could happen again.”

  Henry and Benny soon poled the boat away from the landing. Once again they were in the middle of the river.

  Henry put the pictures in his suitcase.

  “A boat is coming!” called Jessie.

  “I see it,” said Grandfather. “It’s the Coast Guard. Maybe they have heard of a houseboat with too many names and want to look us over. The Coast Guard has to do that. It has to find out what every boat is doing. And if any boatman is breaking the law, the Coast Guard can go aboard and search the boat. It can even arrest a boatman.”

  Two men were on the Coas
t Guard boat. They steered carefully around The Sam and Dolly.

  The men shouted to Henry, “Want to drop your anchor?” Henry threw it overboard at once.

  “Come aboard,” called Grandfather. “My name is James Alden.”

  “Yes, I know,” said the older man, smiling. He had several large fish on a string. He stepped aboard the houseboat, but the other man stayed on the Coast Guard boat.

  “We just pulled these fellows out of the river. Would you like them?”

  Jessie smiled and took the fish with thanks.

  The stranger went on, “The houseboat has so many names that I wanted to see the crew.”

  “Well, these are my grandchildren,” said Mr. Alden. “This is Captain Henry and his first mate, Benny. Jessie is the cook, and Violet the washerwoman.”

  “I’m Commander Williams,” said the man. “I hope the washerwoman is stronger than she looks.”

  “Yes, Violet is a tough girl,” said Benny. “Come and see our laundry tub. Come right through the cabin to the rear deck and I’ll show you.”

  The Commander went along with Benny. He noticed that everything was clean. He even noticed the fire pail and the sandbox. But before he had time to look for a laundry tub, Violet had jumped into the river and was climbing into the rope seat.

  “Well, I never saw anything like that!” exclaimed Commander Williams. “Did you make it?”

  “Henry made it,” said Violet. “I do the washing, and Jessie hangs it out.” Then she swam off and climbed up on the deck.

  “Your boat is all shipshape,” the commander said. “You do very well with your housekeeping. Do you enjoy this kind of life?”

  “Oh, we’re having a neat time!” answered Benny. “Something new every day.”

  “Is that so?” said the visitor. “What, for instance?”

  Suddenly the Aldens looked serious and Mr. Alden said, “I’m really very glad you came, Commander.”

  “We all feel that something is wrong,” said Henry.

  “Wrong with the houseboat?”

  “The houseboat is all right. The trouble is along the river,” said Henry.

  Benny said, “We’re beginning to think there is something mysterious going on.”

  “Well, I must tell you that the police officers think this, too,” said Mr. Williams. “They asked the Coast Guard to help. We often work together. They think something is going on, but they need some proof.”