Mike's Mystery

  Mike's Mystery (Boxcar Children #5)

  Gertrude Chandler Warner

  CHAPTER 1

  Yellow Sands

  The four Alden children could hardly wait to get back to Mystery Ranch.

  Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny had planned for weeks what they would

  do.

  "We'll go on that dear old train!" said Violet. "Remember Mr. Carter who

  helped us carry our bags, Jessie?"

  "I'll carry the bags!" shouted Benny. "Mr. Carter won't be on the train

  this time."

  "Maybe I'll carry some of the bags, old boy," said

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  Henry. "But you know we won't get off at Centerville."

  Jessie nodded at her older brother. "Yes, we will get off at Yellow

  Sands now. I think that is a beautiful name. Our uranium fields looked

  just like yellow sand."

  Grandfather said, "Sam will meet you. Maybe Sam will carry the bags."

  The children laughed. "Fighting over old bags," said Benny.

  "Too bad Watch has to ride in the baggage car," said Henry. "But they

  don't allow dogs anywhere else on the train."

  "I'll ride in the baggage car, too," said Benny. "Then he won't mind."

  Mr. Alden laughed. He said, "I'm afraid you can't do that. But you can

  go and see him once in a while. Then he will know you are near by."

  At last the day came when they were off to Mystery Ranch where Aunt Jane

  lived.

  Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny loved Aunt Jane

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  and they were to visit her for the summer vacation.

  Once she had been a very cross old woman. But now she was a very

  pleasant lady.

  When they got off the train at Yellow Sands, they all looked for the old

  black horse. But instead they saw Sam and Maggie with a station wagon.

  Sam took care of the ranch, and Maggie took care of Aunt Jane.

  "Hello, Sam!" cried Benny. "Where's Snowball?"

  "Snowball's all right," said Sam smiling. "I always thought that was a

  funny name for a black horse."

  "I named him," said Benny. "I thought it was a funny name, too. Where is

  he?"

  "He is taking it easy these days," said Maggie. "He stays out in the

  field all the time eating grass. This car goes faster."

  "You mean you can drive it, Maggie?" asked Jessie.

  "Yes," said Maggie smiling. "Sam says I drive all right."

  "Let's go," said Sam. "Now that Watch is out of the baggage car, we are

  ready."

  Everyone carried a bag. In no time they were going

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  through the new gate to Aunt Jane's house. At the top of the gate were

  big letters saying,

  Mystery Ranch.

  How glad Aunt Jane was to see them! Watch did not care much for Aunt

  Jane's new dog, Lady. But when lunch was ready, Watch lay down at

  Jessie's foot, and Lady lay down at Aunt Jane's foot. So all was well.

  "Oh, this place has changed in just this one year," Aunt Jane said. "You

  would never know it. There is one long street down the middle of my old

  hay field."

  "Is it a real street?" asked Benny.

  "Oh, my, yes! There are lots of stores and a church, and a school and a

  High School."

  "I can't imagine it," said Henry. "We shall have to go and see it soon."

  "Go any time you like," said Aunt Jane. "I know you are just dying to

  see that street."

  "We want to see you, too, Aunt Jane," said Violet.

  "Well, you've seen me now," said Aunt Jane.

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  Yellow Sands 13

  [PICTURE NOT SHOWN]

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  "Lunch is over. So you go along and enjoy yourselves."

  "Be back for supper," said Maggie. "We are going to have a fine supper."

  "Oh, we will get back long before supper," said Jessie. "We just want to

  see what the old ranch looks like."

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  CHAPTER 2

  An Old Friend

  The ranch belonged to the four Alden children. So, of course, they

  wanted to see how it had changed since last summer when uranium had been

  found.

  Benny said, "I suppose Grandfather had to get hundreds of miners to work

  in the uranium mine. And the miners have lots of children, and they must

  have clothes and something to eat, and a school and a church. So that's

  how the town grew."

  "Right!" said Henry with a smile. "You have it all worked out." The four

  children went out the back door.

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  "Yes, Watch, you can come," said Henry to the dog. "Can Lady come too,

  Aunt Jane?"

  "No," said Aunt Jane. "Lady always stays with me."

  Watch was delighted to go with the four children, so he barked and

  barked. He ran along barking. On they went, past the hen houses. These

  were all mended and painted. They went through a field to the street. It

  was very strange to see a city street in the middle of the old field.

  "There's a five and ten," said Benny, "and a big super-market! We won't

  need to hoe any vegetables if we don't want to."

  "What a beautiful dress shop!" said Jessie. Then she almost bumped into

  a boy about Benny's age. He was walking with his hands in his pockets

  and he was whistling.

  When he saw the children he stopped and stared at them. Then he said,

  "Hi, Ben! Don't you know me?"

  Benny took one look. "Mike! Mike Wood!" he

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  yelled. "It's Mike, Henry! Remember he came to the picnic on Surprise

  Island?"

  "Well, I'd never forget that," said Henry. "It is Mike, sure enough! You

  came over to our picnic and your dog had a race with Watch."

  "Yep," said Mike. "That was my dog Spotty. He's out with my brother Pat

  now. I remember how he beat your dog in the race."

  "Oh,

  no!"

  cried Benny. "He never did! Watch was the one that beat

  Spotty! Don't you remember?"

  "No, I don't," said Mike. "I know Spot beat Watch."

  "He didn't either!" shouted Benny. "Spot was a stranger. He didn't even

  know which way to run!"

  "Stop, you boys," cried Henry. "Don't fight the minute you meet."

  "Well, Mike started it," shouted Benny.

  "I did not! You started it," shouted Mike.

  "Boys!" said Henry. "Stop this minute. Aren't you friends?"

  "We're friends," said Benny, "unless Mike tells lies

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  about Watch. Watch won that race and I won't give in for anybody."

  "Well," said Mike, "maybe he did. But it wasn't a fair race, because

  Spotty didn't even know the way."

  "O.K." said Benny. "That's all I care. If you say Spott
y didn't beat."

  "Well, maybe he didn't beat," said Mike, "but how could he beat when he

  didn't know where to run?"

  "Well, he couldn't," said Benny. "That's what I said. He couldn't and he

  didn't. I never said it was a fair race."

  "Mike," said Jessie pleasantly, "how did you happen to come out here?

  You're so far from where we saw you last."

  "I know," said Mike. "But we like it here. My Uncle Bob invited us to

  live here when my father died. Uncle Bob said he could give Pat a job.

  Remember Pat? My big brother?"

  "Oh, yes," said Henry. "He was the one who almost got drowned at the

  picnic."

  "Well, Pat works at the mine for my Uncle Bob.

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  An Old Friend 19

  [PICTURE NOT SHOWN]

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  Not in the mine, but outside. I do all sorts of work for the mine, too.

  We all work. Mother washes the miners' clothes."

  "Where's your house?" asked Henry.

  "Over there," said Mike, pointing. "That pink one. The houses are all

  alike, only different colors. Each house has a yard around it, but the

  grass is dry and brown. My house has an electric stove and a washing

  machine. It's different from our old house back home. Come and see my

  mother."

  "All right," said Henry. "We'd like to."

  "Pat isn't home, but my mother is," said Mike. "She is making a pie,

  maybe, and we could have some to eat."

  They reached the door of the pink house. "Ma, look who's here!" said

  Mike.

  Mrs. Wood was indeed making pies. She was taking the third pie out of

  the oven. When she looked up and saw Benny, she laughed out loud.

  "Hello, Benny Alden!" she cried.

  "You have never seen the rest of us," said Jessie,

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  laughing. "But you have seen plenty of Benny, when he went to school

  with Mike back in the East."

  "I've heard lots about you," said Mrs. Wood. "Benny is a great talker.

  He's a fine boy. It does Mike good to play with him."

  "It does Ben good to play with me," said Mike loudly.

  "Yes, I think it does," agreed Henry.

  Mike looked up in surprise. He did not know what to say. He thought

  Henry would not agree with him. "Ma makes pies for the neighbors," he

  said.

  "And you are surely neighbors," said Mrs. Wood at once. "So take your

  choice. I have cherry, apple, and blueberry pie. All hot." She began

  cutting the three pies. The smell was delicious and the pie crusts were

  brown and flaky.

  "I didn't really have much lunch," said Benny.

  "Pull up your chairs around that table," said Mrs. Wood. "And Mike, you

  get a bit of cheese out of the refrigerator."

  "Where's Pat?" asked Mike, getting the cheese.

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  "Gone to the bank. It's pay day. He puts Uncle Bob's money in the bank

  every week. You go get him, Mike, and tell him to come home and see the

  company."

  Mike ran off down the street. Mrs. Wood watched him with a smile.

  "He's not a bad boy, is Mike," she said. "He's just a big talker."

  "We know that," said Jessie, smiling too.

  "He'd do anything for his friends," said his mother. "He helps the men

  at the mine a lot, even if he fights, too. They joke with him and argue

  with him, but they like him."

  Henry said, "This is the best apple pie I ever ate."

  "I agree," said Jessie. "The cherry must be even better than the apple."

  Violet laughed softly. "I was going to say the same thing about this

  blueberry."

  "I'm glad," said Mrs. Wood very quietly. "I love to bake pies the best

  of anything. I wish I had time."

  "Haven't you time?" asked Jessie, puzzled.

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  "No, dear," said Mrs. Wood. Her voice sounded sad. "I wash all day to

  earn money to help keep us. I'm lucky to have a washing machine. Here's

  Pat now."

  When Pat came in, he said at once, "Hello, Ben! You used to come down to

  our house and play with Mike."

  "This is Jessie," said his mother. "This is Violet, and this is Henry."

  "Oh, I know them all," said Pat. "They saved my life on that picnic."

  "Our cousin Joe did that," said Henry. "He is a fine swimmer."

  Then Mike said, "When I met Pat, he was just coming out of the bank."

  "It seems too funny to have a bank here," said Jessie. "This whole place

  used to be great fields of long grass."

  "We have almost everything," said Pat. "We have a newspaper every day.

  The newspaper office is right by the bank."

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  "Oh, yes," cried Benny. "I saw the paper up at Aunt Jane's. The Daily

  News. It had a big picture of the uranium mine buildings on the front

  page."

  "Yes, the mine is almost always on the front page," said Mike. "Here it

  is. We saved this one, because Pat is in the picture. See, right there?

  That's Pat. Standing by the short man. Gosh, that's funny. I've seen

  that man before some place. He don't live here."

  "Doesn't," said Pat.

  "Well, doesn't, then," said Mike. "You say

  Don't

  to me often enough."

  "That's very different, Mike," said Pat.

  "Well, it don't sound any different to me," said Mike.

  Jessie laughed. "Mike makes me think of Benny, sometimes," she said.

  "They both love to argue."

  "I'm not arguing," said Mike. "I'm thinking. That short man in the

  picture don't-doesn't-live around here. He's a stranger. But I know I've

  seen him before."

  Pat looked at the picture. "I don't remember him

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  [PICTURE NOT SHOWN]

  at all," he said to his younger brother. "I didn't even know when they

  took the picture."

  Mike was very quiet for a while. He kept looking at the picture.

  "We must go," said Jessie. "We want to go into every store on the street

  and see all the sights."

  "I'll go with you," said Mike. "I can show you everything. I've been

  here two months."

  It was true. Mike did know everything. He

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  showed them the door of the super-market which opened all by itself. He

  showed them a garage where new cars were for sale. Jessie bought five

  big straw hats in one store. The sun was very hot, so they all put on

  the hats. Everyone in the stores seemed to know who the children were.

  Aunt Jane had put their pictures in the paper many times since they

  owned the ranch where uranium had been found.

  At last Jessie said, "Come on, let's go home. Maggie said she had a fine

  supper."

  "Thank you, Mike, for showing us," said Violet.

  "See you tomorrow, Mike," said Benny.

  "Yep," said Mike. He went off whistling. He didn't know then that

  tomorrow would be so exciting.

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  CHAPTER 3

  Fire!

  The children slept soundly. They all woke up once to hear a loud,

  strange bell ringing. But they thought it was midnight, so they all went

  to sleep again. When they came down in the morning, Sam and Maggie were

  talking about a fire.

  "What fire?" asked Henry.

  "Didn't you hear the firebells ringing and ringing in the night?" asked

  Sam. "Here comes the paper boy. The news will be in the paper."

  Sam took the paper. It was full of pictures. Benny

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  looked over his shoulder. "It's Mike's house!" yelled Benny at the top

  of his voice.

  "The paper says that it was the Wood's house that had burned to the

  ground."

  "Let me see the paper, Benny," Jessie cried. "I can read faster."

  "I can read fast enough," said Benny excitedly. "See that picture? It's

  Mike all right."

  "I'm afraid it is," said Jessie, trying to read. "That lovely new, pink

  house, and the washing machine and electric stove!"

  "No lives were lost," read Benny. "Not even the dog. Their big dog,

  Spotty, who slept in the cellar barked and gave the alarm. The fire had

  started in the cellar, and by the time the fire engine came, the whole

  house was burning. The fire seemed to start on all four sides of the

  house.

  "Nothing was saved except clothing and bedding. When Mrs. Wood saw that

  the house could not be saved, she put some sheets on the floor, threw

  all the clothes from bureau drawers and closets on the sheets,

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  tied them up, and threw them out of the window."

  "Well, wasn't that smart?" said Jessie. "That costs the most of

  anything, doesn't it, Aunt Jane? The family clothes and bedding?"

  "Yes, my dear," replied her aunt. "I wonder what the Wood family will do

  now."

  "I have to go right down there," said Benny. "I have to see Mike."

  "Wait a minute, Benny," said Aunt Jane. "You must eat your breakfast,

  first. When you get down there, you won't come back for a long time. I

  know you!"

  Benny knew that this was true, so he sat down and tried to eat. They all

  tried to eat, but everyone was thinking about the fire.

  "Mike could come here for a few days," said Aunt Jane, "if he has no

  other place to go."

  "Oh, Aunt Jane, thank you!" said Jessie. "You are very kind. But I don't

  think you want Mike. He would upset everything."

  "I don't mind being upset," said Aunt Jane. "Benny

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  and Mike would be something amusing to watch."