“Wow,” said Benny. He stuffed a leaf in his mouth and blinked in surprise at how strong the flavor was.
Maris looked at the sky. “It’s getting dark. Time to get back,” she said.
One by one, the Aldens scrambled up the side of the stream bank to where their hiking boots waited by the log.
And then Henry said, “Oh, no!”
“What is it, Henry?” asked Violet.
“My hiking boots!” said Henry. “They’re gone!”
“Gone?” Jessie looked around. “Are you sure?”
“They were right here with everybody else’s,” Henry said. He pointed. “Now they’re not.”
“Uh-oh,” said Benny. His eyes widened. “It’s Stagecoach George. He’s been here.”
“No ghost did this,” said Maris.
“Maybe it was an animal,” suggested Violet.
“I guess it could be,” Maris said. “But it doesn’t make sense. Why would an animal take a pair of boots? One boot, maybe. Animals might make a meal on the leather. But a pair of boots?”
Henry said, “My feet are cold.”
“Of course they are,” said Maris. “Come on, Henry. Let’s get back up to the cabin. You can put on a pair of wool socks. You do have extra socks, don’t you?”
“I do,” said Henry, looking a little more cheerful.
“We’ll stay here and look around for the boots,” said Jessie.
After Henry and Maris had gone, Benny, Violet, and Jessie scouted for Henry’s missing boots. But they didn’t find the boots, or even a clue about what had happened to them.
“I don’t understand,” Violet said as they walked back up to the cabin. “Do you think it’s the same person who took our food?”
“It could be,” Jessie said. She looked around. “Or maybe it is an animal.”
“A raccoon wearing Henry’s boots,” said Benny. He laughed at the idea.
Jessie smiled. But she knew that a raccoon hadn’t stolen Henry’s boots.
Henry stayed in the cabin the rest of the afternoon. “I’ll cook dinner, since I can’t hike,” he said.
“I’ll help,” said Benny loyally.
“We’ll do a little more work outside,” said Maris. “And keep an eye out for Bobcat.”
But once again, by suppertime no Bobcat had appeared.
No boots, either.
And their troubles were just beginning.
In the middle of the night, Violet sat up. “What was that?” she whispered.
No one answered. Everyone else was asleep.
Violet heard it again. A faint tap-tap-tapping.
Her fingers tightened on her sleeping bag. “Who’s there?” she said in a louder voice.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It was coming from outside the cabin.
Someone was tapping on the cabin wall!
Quietly, carefully, Violet leaned over and poked Jessie in the next bunk.
“Umpf,” mumbled Jessie.
Violet poked her again.
“What?” said Jessie hoarsely.
“Shhh,” Violet warned. “Listen.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Now the sound was coming from across the cabin.
“Do you hear that?” Violet whispered.
“I hear it,” Jessie said in a low voice.
Tap.
Tap.
Whatever it was sounded as if it was walking around the cabin.
Suddenly Benny said, “Violet?”
“Shhh,” warned Violet.
Tap. Taptaptap.
The sound grew louder.
“It’s the ghost!” cried Benny. “It’s the ghost of Stagecoach George!”
He tumbled out of his bed and hurled himself toward the cabin door. It was very dark, but Violet could just see Benny’s shape in the dim light from the glowing stove.
“Benny, wait,” hissed Jessie.
“W-what?” said Henry, waking from a deep sleep.
“What is it?” Now Maris was awake, too.
Benny didn’t answer. He had his flashlight out. He threw the door open and raced into the night.
“Benny!” shouted Violet. Grabbing her own flashlight, she raced after him. Jessie was close behind.
“What’s going on?” Maris said.
Violet stumbled out into the night. She saw the beam of Benny’s flashlight disappear around the corner of the cabin.
She switched her own flashlight on and followed.
“Violet? Benny?” Jessie called behind her.
“This way!” Violet called back.
She rounded the side of the cabin.
“Benny!” she gasped.
But Benny had disappeared.
CHAPTER 7
Tap, Tap, Tap
“Benny!” shouted Violet.
Jessie ran up to her. “Where’s Benny?” she asked.
“Help,” squeaked a little voice from nearby. “Help! Help!”
“It’s Benny,” gasped Violet.
“Help!” Benny called again.
“Benny? Where are you?” Violet called.
“Over here!” Benny said.
They scrambled down through the bushes and tumbled out onto the Blizzard Trail near the cabin. Benny was sitting in the middle of the trail.
“Oh, good,” he said. “There you are! I was afraid you were lost.”
“We weren’t lost! We thought you were!” said Jessie indignantly.
“No,” said Benny. “I dropped my flashlight and it went out. Or I might have caught the ghost.”
Maris burst out of the bushes behind them and skidded to a stop. “Benny! Violet! Jessie! What on earth is going on?”
“Here’s your flashlight, Benny,” said Violet. She reached over and picked it up. “But I think it’s broken.”
“Is everybody all right?” Henry shouted from the door of the cabin. They could see him against the light from the stove inside. He was holding a flashlight, too, waving it back and forth like a searchlight.
“We’re fine!” Maris called. “We’re on our way back.” To Benny she said, “Are you hurt?”
“Nope,” said Benny. He jumped to his feet. “I almost caught the ghost!”
“Ghost! I don’t want to hear it. At least, not until we get back to the cabin. Then you can tell me what happened,” Maris said.
They went back to the cabin. Henry had put another log on the fire and it was warm inside. Everyone sat down, and Violet and Benny told about the tapping sound on the cabin wall.
“Tapping?” Maris repeated. “That was no ghost. It was a tree. A branch.”
“I don’t think it was,” Jessie said.
“Me either,” said Violet.
“It sounded like a person,” said Benny. “Or the ghost of a person. Like this.” He leaned over and tapped on the cabin wall. “Only it came from outside.”
“And it moved around the cabin, like someone was circling us, tapping on the walls,” said Jessie.
“And then when I ran out, I saw something run into the woods. Toward the trail. But I tripped and dropped my flashlight and everything got dark, so I stopped chasing it,” Benny added.
“You saw a ghost, Benny?” asked Henry.
“Well ... no ...” Benny admitted. “But I did see something run into the woods.”
Maris pressed her hand to her forehead. “I don’t believe this,” she said, almost to herself. “Why would anyone be out here in the middle of nowhere, tapping on the cabin walls?”
“I don’t know, but whoever or whatever it was, I bet you all scared them away,” said Henry.
“Maybe it was whoever took your boots,” said Benny. He paused. “Except I don’t think a ghost would come out during the day to take someone’s old boots.”
“No, no, no,” said Maris. “Stolen boots, ghosts tapping on walls. What is going on? If I didn’t know better, I’d say this mountain really was haunted.”
No one spoke for a long minute. Then Jessie said, “Haunted, or maybe someone who doesn’t wan
t us here is trying to scare us away.”
“But why?” said Maris.
“Carola doesn’t want a trail up here,” Violet reminded Maris.
“Neither does Bobcat,” Jessie added.
But Maris was shaking her head. “No!” she said again. “I don’t believe Bobcat would do something like this. Or Carola, either.”
“Both of them knew you were coming up here,” Jessie argued. “Either one of them could have flattened your truck’s tires out in front of the diner.”
“And both of them are skilled enough to hike around in the woods, day or night, without getting lost,” Henry said. “Carola could have followed us up here and taken our food. And my boots. And tapped on the walls.”
“Or maybe Bobcat never really went back down the mountain,” said Violet.
Henry took a deep breath. “Or there might be another reason that someone is trying to scare us away,”
“Like what?” said Maris.
“Maybe someone has found Stagecoach George’s treasure,” said Henry.
To Henry’s surprise, Maris suddenly laughed. “No one’s ever going to find that treasure, Henry, even if it does exist. People have been looking for years,” Maris said. “Enough mysteries, okay? Let’s get to sleep. We’ve got lots of work to do in the morning.”
“But—” Benny began.
“No,” said Maris firmly. “Not another word about ghosts or mysteries or treasure or anything else.”
So Benny kept quiet. But he knew that all the Aldens would get up extra early in the morning to look for clues.
Even though they got up at sunrise, the Boxcar Children didn’t find a single clue.
“Those smudges in the mud behind the cabin here could be footprints,” Jessie said. She sighed. “And we could have made them ourselves in the dark.”
“Do you really think someone could have found the hidden treasure?” asked Violet.
“I know someone is trying to scare us away,” Henry said. “I just don’t know why.” Just then someone in front of the cabin shouted, “Wake up in there, you sleepyheads!”
The Aldens hurried toward the sound of the voice. They found Carola and Rayanne standing in the clearing.
“Carola! Rayanne!” Jessie exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
CHAPTER 8
Someone’s Out There!
Carola looked surprised. “Hiking,” she answered. “What does it look like?”
“I thought you didn’t like hiking,” Violet said to Rayanne.
Rayanne struggled out of her backpack. “Did I say that?” she said. “Well, when Carola told me she was going to hike up this way, I thought I’d give it a try.” She made a face. “But this new backpack I bought is a pain. And so are these shoes.”
“Once they’re broken in, they’ll feel better,” said Carola. A sudden smile creased her face. “It’s the people with all the fancy new stuff that get lost up here. Someone sells them expensive new gear. Tells them it’ll be sure to make them into real wilderness wonders.”
“Like that history teacher who broke his leg,” added Rayanne.
“Chuck,” said Benny.
“Him!” said Carola. “Ha. I’ve never met anybody who went hiking with so much new stuff and so little experience. It’s a wonder he didn’t get more lost!”
Rayanne said, “Well, sounds like he learned his lesson. He keeps warning people to stay away.”
“And talking about ghosts. Ha!” said Carola. “Crazy talk, if you ask me.”
Maris opened the cabin door. “Carola and Rayanne! Hi,” she said. “If you’ve got any extra coffee and are willing to share, we’ll provide the hot water.”
“Sure,” said Carola. “Didn’t you bring enough coffee? I’m surprised at you, Maris.”
“It got stolen,” said Benny. “So did the rest of our food. And Henry’s hiking boots.”
“Did you see Bobcat on the trail?” asked Henry.
“Stolen? What? Did Bobcat steal your food and boots?” asked Rayanne, sounding bewildered.
“No, no, no. It’s a long story,” said Maris. “Come on in.”
As Rayanne and Carola drank coffee, the Aldens ate their oatmeal and told the two newcomers everything that had been happening. When they’d finished, Carola said, “Could’ve been bears that took your food, but it doesn’t sound right. It does sound like you’ve been having a blizzard of bad luck. But then, that goes with this mountain.”
“Did you both just hike up the mountain?” asked Henry.
“Yep. Met Carola at the trailhead this morning, near where Maris’s truck is parked. She waited until my days off at the diner so I could come with her,” Rayanne told them.
“Have you seen any bears?” Violet asked. “We haven’t.”
Carola looked a little embarrassed. “No,” she said shortly.
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then Rayanne said to Maris, “Is there any reason someone would be out to get you?” she asked.
“No,” said Maris firmly.
But Henry said, “We think someone might be trying to scare us away. Keep a trail from being built on Blizzard Mountain.”
All four Aldens looked hard at Carola.
“Well, that’s interesting,” she said.
Rayanne asked, “Did you find any clues? Footprints, for example? You can tell a lot from footprints. The soles of shoes can tell you almost as much as someone’s fingerprints, you know.”
“No. No footprints,” said Jessie regretfully.
Carola put down her coffee cup and stood up. “We’d better get a move on, Rayanne.”
To Maris and the Aldens she said, “And we’ll keep an eye out for anything suspicious. If someone is trying to scare you away and we find out anything, we’ll let you know.”
“Have a good hike,” Maris said. “I’ll walk you to the trail’s edge.” She and Rayanne headed toward the Blizzard Trail.
Carola stopped at the door to look back at the Aldens.
“If someone is trying to scare you off this mountain, maybe you should leave,” she said. “I know I would.”
Then she was gone, too.
“Wow,” said Henry. “Do you think that was a warning?”
“A warning,” said Jessie solemnly, “or a threat.”
“Then Carola is the one who’s trying to scare us off the mountain?” asked Violet.
“I’m not sure. She could be,” said Jessie.
“But she just hiked up here with Rayanne,” said Benny.
“That’s what she said, Benny. She could have been following us, though. And then hiked down to meet Rayanne this morning,” Jessie said.
“Unless it’s Bobcat who’s been trying to scare us,” said Henry.
“Or maybe Bobcat and Carola are working together,” said Jessie.
“What about Rayanne?” Violet suggested. “She asked a lot of questions.”
Benny nodded. “She sounded like one of us. Like a detective.”
“I wonder why she’s up here. She doesn’t even like mountains, remember?” said Henry.
“Maybe she’s pretending she doesn’t like mountains,” Violet said.
“I guess it’s possible, Violet,” Henry said.
Benny said, “I think it’s the treasure. The ghost is trying to keep us away from it.”
Henry frowned. “There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Henry said. “But you might have a point.”
“You think it’s Stagecoach George, too?” Benny asked, looking very surprised.
Jessie and Violet looked startled, too.
“Maybe not a ghost,” said Henry. “But what if someone has found the treasure, or a clue to the treasure? Maybe it’s not a ghost, but a person trying to keep us away.”
Jessie’s eyes sparkled with sudden excitement. “Maybe you’re right, Henry! Remember, in the diner people talked about hikers coming up here to look for the lost treasure. What if someone has found it?”
“But why haven’t they taken it?” asked Violet.
“Because it’s so heavy. Gold is heavy. Maybe they found it and now they have to come back to get it,” said Jessie.
Just then, Maris came back. “Let’s get to work,” she said. “I think this weather could turn bad any day now. We need to get finished up here and get back down the mountain.”
As she walked away, Jessie said to the others, “Maybe we shouldn’t tell Maris about what we talked about. We don’t want to worry her until we’ve figured out the mystery.”
“Oh,” Benny said. “Okay.”
“Who’s going to help me on the trail?” Maris called.
“I will,” said Jessie.
“Since I don’t have any shoes, I guess I’ll work around the cabin,” said Henry.
“Benny and I will stay with you, Henry,” said Violet. “And keep you company.”
“And look for treasure,” said Benny under his breath.
But by late afternoon, the only treasure that had been found was a penny wedged in the floorboards of the cabin and a scrap of purple cloth caught on a splinter of wood near the cabin door. Violet tucked the scrap of purple in her backpack to keep as a souvenir of the trip and Benny put the penny in his pocket.
When Jessie and Maris returned, they were both dusted with snow. Violet showed them the scrap of purple cloth she’d found and Benny told them about his new penny.
Then Jessie said, “I found something, too.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a handful of small, shiny green leaves.
Benny knew what it was at once. “Wintergreen!” he said.
Maris smiled and said, “Right, Benny. We thought we’d use it to make some hot tea to go with dinner.”
“Dinner,” said Benny at once. “Good!”
After dinner and hot tea, Maris checked to make sure the cabin was locked up tight, windows and doors. Then it was time for bed.
In no time every one of the Aldens had scrambled into a sleeping bag. “I’m going to sleep like a log,” Jessie announced.
No one answered. Everyone had fallen fast asleep, just like that.
And a moment later, Jessie did, too.
But no one slept like a log that night.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOH!” Something wailed right outside the cabin wall.
Jessie bolted up.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOH!”
“Hey! What’s that?” Benny said.