The Mystery of the Black Raven

Jessie stared at the ceiling, trying to sort her thoughts. But she was too tired to think about the mystery anymore. The Wilsons weren’t the type to listen at doors. Were they?

  Soon she was asleep herself.

  Early the next morning, the Alden children went downstairs to breakfast. They located a table in the back where they could review the mystery in private.

  “Miss Parker’s letter is definitely a clue,” Henry declared. “We must keep it a secret between Miss Parker, Grandfather, and us.”

  “Someone else might know about it. I’m pretty sure someone was listening to us last night,” Violet said. Then she told the boys how she had seen the door to the Wilsons’ room slowly closing. “But they’re too nice to spy,” she added.

  “They are nice,” Henry agreed. “But we can’t let that fool us. Remember yesterday, when they were talking about selling the nugget watch chain to buy a house and furniture?”

  “That was just talk,” Violet said.

  “Well, someone took Grandfather’s scrapbook and statue. We shouldn’t trust anyone,” Henry said.

  “Not even Miss Parker?” asked Benny. He liked her a lot.

  Jessie tugged at her ponytail. “I think Henry’s right. We really can’t trust anyone. Suppose Miss Parker is in trouble and she needed to keep the scrapbook and raven another year, for luck.”

  “Why wouldn’t she just tell the others about the letter at the reunion dinner and ask to keep them?” Violet reasoned. “Or at least tell Grandfather. I’m sure he’d let her have them another year.”

  “Stealing from Grandfather seems like a lot of trouble,” Henry said. “Violet’s right. Miss Parker doesn’t seem like the sneaky type.”

  “Okay, let’s rule out Miss Parker,” Jessie said, relieved.

  Before they could name any other suspects, the rest of the reunion party joined them.

  “All set for a big day?” Grandfather asked the children, signaling the waiter for a pot of coffee. “We’re going to pan for gold!”

  “I hope I find lots of gold,” Benny said eagerly. He jumped up from the table. “Let’s go!”

  Grandfather laughed. “Wait a second, Benny! We haven’t even had breakfast yet!”

  Miss Parker joined them, giving the Aldens a knowing wink. Jessie figured the older woman was glad they were on the case.

  The Wilsons claimed the table next to them. Jennifer was as cheerful as always. Today she wore a pastel yellow sweater with geese stitched on the front. Her dark hair was held back with a yellow headband. Steve wore a plaid red-and-black shirt.

  “I’ve decided to dress like the miners,” he joked.

  The Pittmans were late, as usual. They came into the dining room squabbling over who had gotten the least amount of sleep the night before.

  “That mattress is a killer,” grumbled Mrs. Pittman. “I’d be better off sleeping on the floor, except it’s so cold.”

  “I wish I had my pillow from home,” Monique griped, drooping in her seat.

  After they had all ordered, Grandfather told them about the day’s activity plan.

  “We’re walking down to the Skagway River,” he announced. “The cruise ships dock there, so we can look at those.”

  “Who wants to look at a bunch of dumb old boats?” said Mark Pittman sourly.

  Ignoring the teen’s remark, Grandfather went on. “Then we’ll head for the beach and let the young people pan for gold. The oldsters can pan, too,” he added with a chuckle.

  “How long is this trip going to take?” asked Mr. Pittman.

  “We’ll be gone the better part of the day,” Grandfather replied. “I’ve already arranged for the hotel to fix us box lunches. That way we won’t have to run back into town and find a restaurant.”

  Mrs. Pittman nodded. “At least box lunches are cheaper.”

  “I hope I don’t get a peanut butter sandwich,” said Monique, wrinkling her nose. “Or yucky old bologna.”

  “I’ll take yours!” Benny offered. He loved both peanut butter and bologna.

  Grandfather cleared his throat. “I’m sure the hotel will fix nice lunches. As Benny suggested, we can always trade with one another.”

  Monique and Mark rolled their eyes at each other, bored before they had even begun the day. Violet hoped the teenagers wouldn’t spoil Benny’s fun. Her little brother was so excited about panning for gold.

  When breakfast was over, the group met outside the dining room.

  The hotel clerk was looking around the lobby. A cart with white rectangular boxes and small backpacks waited by the desk.

  “Howie?” the clerk called. “Where is that boy?”

  Benny saw where Howie was. The bellhop was hiding behind the totem pole with the raven carved on it. The young man had been listening to the reunion group’s plans.

  Why was the bellhop so nosy?

  CHAPTER 6

  Panning for Gold

  The desk clerk finally noticed Howie standing behind the totem pole. He called the bellhop over.

  “You should have packed these lunches into those backpacks by now,” the clerk scolded. “Do it quickly. We don’t want to delay this party.”

  In no time, Howie slid a white box into each of the nylon packs and distributed one to each of the reunion members.

  “Mine is red,” Benny remarked.

  “So is mine,” said Miss Parker, slipping the straps over her shoulders. “Our packs will be easy to spot.”

  The group left the lobby and walked down Broadway. It was warmer today. Soon everyone had peeled off the extra jacket or sweater.

  “Here’s a hardware store,” Grandfather said, stopping at a building.

  “Why are we going into a stupid old hardware store?” grumbled Monique.

  “To buy pans,” answered Grandfather. “You want to pan for gold, don’t you?”

  “It sounds like work,” Monique said, blocking the doorway.

  Miss Parker took the girl’s hand and led her into the store so the rest could enter. “Don’t be silly, Monique. It’ll be fun! Who knows what we’ll find?”

  Grandfather picked out four round tin pans for the Aldens and a small, inexpensive shovel.

  Mr. Pittman said, “I suppose I have to fork over good money on tools for my kids, too. Something they’ll use once.”

  “I’ll purchase all the pans,” Grandfather said generously, adding two more to the pile on the counter. “We’ll share the shovel.”

  At the last minute, Steve bought a pan for himself and Jennifer. “Maybe we’ll get lucky!” he said.

  Get lucky. Jessie thought about Steve’s words as they walked down to the harbor. Violet thought she’d seen the Wilsons’ door closing last night. The Wilsons were newlyweds; they didn’t have much money. Could they have stolen the scrapbook and raven statue to bring them luck?

  Two huge cruise ships were moored in the harbor. One was called the Sea Star, the other Princess of the Waves. The ships were enormous.

  “I want a boat like that when I grow up!” Benny exclaimed.

  “How are you going to sail it?” asked Henry, smiling.

  “I think you need a big crew to help you run such a big boat. Don’t you remember that cruise we took?” Violet asked.

  “You’ve been on a cruise?” Edie Pittman asked sharply.

  “Yes,” said Jessie. “Grandfather took us. We had a great time.”

  “Okay, we’ve seen the ships. Big deal. When are we going to get this show on the road?” asked Mark.

  The coastline curved inland where the cruise ships were anchored in deep water, then jutted out again. That was where the daily ferry docked. The group followed a long spit of land. Gulls shrieked overhead, sometimes dipping low.

  At last the reunion party reached the beach where they were permitted to pan for gold. A guide who worked there explained the rules.

  “While you’re with me, you may pan as long as you like,” he said. “And you may keep whatever gold you find.”

  The reunion party members weren?
??t the only tourists on the beach. Other tour groups were trying their luck as well.

  Violet got her pan out of her pack. “Okay, Grandfather. How do we do this?”

  James Alden pulled the shovel from the strap in his own pack. “There’s a trick to it. I want everyone to watch.”

  The reunion group gathered around as he shoveled a scoop of gravel from the water’s edge. Then he added a scoop of water to the gravel in the pan. Squatting, he swirled the water in the pan.

  Then he carefully poured off the gravel and water, frowning at the silt remaining in the bottom of the pan.

  “Nothing,” he pronounced. “Not a grain of gold. But that’s how you do it. Swirl the water in the pan, but not too fast. Gold is heavier than water, but you don’t want to dump it out with the other rocks and sand.”

  “Let me try!” Benny said eagerly. Taking the shovel, he filled his pan.

  “Not too much,” Grandfather instructed, dumping out the excess. “You have to be able to swirl the water.”

  Soon everyone had a turn at the shovel and was busy swirling his or her pan.

  “This isn’t easy,” Jessie remarked. “I keep tipping my pan over!”

  “Imagine doing this all day long, day after day,” said Miss Parker. “That’s what many of the old miners did.”

  Violet emptied her pan. “What does the gold look like?”

  “Bright, shiny, and yellow,” Miss Parker answered. “It can be tiny flecks or a nice big nugget.”

  “Well, those old-timers certainly didn’t get rich doing this,” Mark said, filling his pan for the third time.

  Grandfather nodded. “You’re right, Mark. Panning wasn’t the most effective way to find gold. Besides panning, miners also used the rocker method.”

  “What’s that?” asked Benny. He pictured the rocking chair back home.

  “The rocker was a special device,” Grandfather replied. “Miners built a box on a curved base. On top of the box was a wire screen. Stones bigger than half an inch couldn’t go through it. One miner shoveled gravel on the screen, then rocked the box as another man added water to wash stones through. Below the screen was a piece of cloth. Smaller gold nuggets would drop on this cloth and they could pick them up.”

  “That sounds like hard work, too,” remarked Henry.

  “It was,” said Miss Parker. “People thought when they got here they could simply pick gold nuggets out of the creek beds. They found out otherwise.”

  Benny was swirling very carefully. He wanted to be the first to find gold! But every time he poured off the water and rocks, there were no bright yellow flecks on the bottom.

  “Hey!” squealed Monique. “I think I found some!”

  Everyone crowded around as Monique held out her pan. In the saucerlike bottom were tiny bits of bright stones.

  “Congratulations,” Grandfather declared. “You have definitely struck gold!”

  “Oh, my gosh!” Monique danced around. “What should I do with it? Is it mine to keep?”

  “It ought to be, given the cost of this trip,” said Mr. Pittman. He offered Monique his handkerchief. “Here, put the stones in this.”

  “As the guide said, any and all gold you find is yours,” Grandfather told her. He helped Monique tie a knot in the corner of the handkerchief so the grains wouldn’t fall out.

  “I can’t believe it!” Monique was still saying. “I found gold!”

  Jessie was amazed that something had excited the other girl. For once Monique wasn’t acting bored and mopey.

  But her brother jeered, “Don’t go bananas over those itty-bitty little specks.”

  “You’re just jealous because you haven’t found any!” Monique retorted.

  Suddenly Violet felt sorry for Monique. Her brother wasn’t acting nice at all. “Monique, did you swirl your pan a certain way?” she asked the other girl. “Maybe we’ve been doing it wrong.”

  “Well—” Monique began.

  But Mark tossed his pan down. “Oh, this is for babies.”

  “I’m not a baby,” Benny said. He wished he had been the first to find gold, but he was glad for Monique. Now he was determined to be the second one to find gold.

  The kids spread out down the beach while the grown-ups found a sunny spot to have lunch. Benny had to be called twice before he quit panning long enough to eat.

  When it was time to go back to the hotel, Benny still hadn’t found a single grain of gold.

  His shoulders bowed, he stowed his pan in his pack.

  Henry was about to go cheer up his brother, but Monique reached Benny first. She offered the knotted handkerchief to him.

  “You deserve this,” she said. “You’ve worked harder than any of us today. I bet you shoveled a hundred times!”

  Benny’s eyes were round. “You mean it? I can keep your gold?”

  “As a present from me,” said Monique.

  “Are you sure you want to give it away?” Henry asked.

  She shrugged. “It’s mine. I can give it away.”

  Benny ran ahead to show Grandfather.

  Henry walked alongside Monique. “That was very nice. Benny will never forget it.”

  “He’s a cute kid. You’re all nice. I know my family can be a pain sometimes—” She stopped, smiling. “I was hoping we could be friends.”

  “Well … sure,” Henry replied. Monique chatted all the way back to the hotel, but Henry was suspicious. Why the sudden change? Was Monique friendly because she wondered what the Aldens knew about the theft?

  What was even more odd, he decided, was that Monique and Mark never once said anything about the theft of the scrapbook and raven statue. Did that mean they were the thieves?

  It had been a long day, Jessie thought. That afternoon the group did more sightseeing, then had dinner at the Dockside Restaurant.

  It was fun eating and watching the cruise ships leave, all lit up like Christmas trees. But she was glad when they were finally back at the lodge for the evening.

  After Grandfather fetched their keys at the front desk, the children said good night and walked up to the third floor.

  Jessie put the key in the lock and turned it. As she pushed open the door, she had a strange feeling.

  “What is it?” Violet asked, switching on the lamp.

  Jessie stood perfectly still. The room looked just as it had when they had been there earlier. The housekeeper had made the twin beds and vacuumed the rug. But something was different…

  Then she noticed what was wrong. She and Violet kept their hair ribbons and barrettes in two piles on the dresser. The piles had been moved. Not much, but pushed aside. It was as if someone had been in a hurry, looking for something.

  “Someone has searched our room,” Jessie declared.

  From across the hall, Henry and Benny bounded over. “Look what we found!” Benny cried.

  Henry held out a folded sheet of hotel stationery. In printed letters were the words:

  GO HOME IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU!

  CHAPTER 7

  The Missing Scrapbook

  Jessie stared at the note. “Something really weird is going on here,” she said. “You guys better come inside.”

  Henry and Benny went into the girls’ room. Benny still carried the knotted handkerchief Monique Pittman had given him.

  “The stuff on our dresser has been moved,” Violet told the boys. “Jessie spotted it first. We usually keep our hair ribbons in two piles by the lamp.”

  Benny nodded. “They look kind of messy now.”

  “Exactly,” Jessie said. “Like someone brushed them aside—”

  “While he or she was searching the dresser drawer,” Henry finished. “Looking for what, I wonder?”

  Jessie shook her head. “And now this note! What does it mean?”

  “Someone wants us out of here,” Benny said soberly.

  “They also want something we have,” Violet added. “But what?How can anybody think we have the scrapbook or raven? Why would we take it f
rom Grandfather? That would be silly.”

  Henry thought about the night before. “Wait a minute! Violet, you heard someone outside this door last night when Miss Parker was here.”

  “When she was talking about that old letter—” Violet clapped a hand over her mouth. “Do you think the person who listened came back today to take the letter?”

  “But it belonged to Miss Parker,” Jessie said with a frown. “She took it back with her. I saw her put the envelope in her tote bag. So that doesn’t make sense.”

  “Unless,” Benny said, “the person who listened didn’t hear everything. Maybe he only heard part of what we were talking about.”

  “Good point,” Henry said, nodding. “What is it Grandfather says? ‘Eavesdroppers seldom profit.’”

  “What does that mean?” asked Benny.

  “It means eavesdroppers can’t often use the information they overhear. It doesn’t do them any good,” Jessie replied. “Okay, we have someone who wants Miss Parker’s letter. Only he thinks it belongs to us, so he searched our room for it. When he didn’t find it, he got mad and put a note under your door. Why not our door?”

  Violet was studying Henry’s note. She knew that handwriting…

  “Mark wrote this,” she blurted.

  “Are you sure?” Henry asked.

  “Remember last night when his dad was talking about being somebody? Mark began doodling on his paper napkin,” she answered. “He wrote his name, then drew ravens.”

  Henry tapped the note. “If Mark wrote the note, then maybe he’s the guy who broke into your room.”

  “And maybe the same one who stole the scrapbook and statue,” Jessie concluded. But the pieces didn’t fit. “Why would he do that? And why tell us to get out of town?”

  “As a joke?” Violet suggested. “I’ve tried to like those two, but it’s hard.”

  Benny held up his handkerchief. “But Monique gave me her gold! I think she wants to be friends.”

  “That’s what she said,” Henry said. “Still, I have a funny feeling about her and Mark. I think they might have another motive.” Henry put the note in his shirt pocket. “Well, we’re not going to solve this mystery tonight. Tomorrow everybody needs to be extra alert. Remember, we can’t trust anybody yet.”