Jessie and Violet ran to him at once. “Isn’t this about where we saw the flickering light last night?” he asked.
“It looks right to me,” Jessie said, looking around for Benny, who had seen it, too.
“Where did Benny go?” Henry asked.
“He was with us in the garden,” Violet said, looking back. When Benny didn’t answer Jessie’s call, they all three ran toward the woods, calling his name.
Suddenly his little round face appeared above them from the dense foliage of an oak tree. “Here I am,” Benny cried happily. “I found a squirrel house.”
Henry went to the foot of the tree and looked up. “Squirrels don’t have houses, Benny,” he said. “They have nests. Where are you, anyway? I can’t see you.”
“Right up here. Come see for yourself,” Benny called. “This house is full of nut shells like squirrels leave, and a lot of trash. Oh,” he said suddenly, “and a fire truck.”
Violet frowned. Henry was right. Squirrels lived in nests instead of houses, and they didn’t play with fire trucks, either. “I want to see, too,” she called up to Benny.
Henry had already shinnied out of sight up into the tree. “Be careful,” he called down to his sisters. “There is a tree house up here, but the wood is old and rotten.”
Soon they were all crammed into the little house. Its roof was slanted with holes cut out for windows. “Isn’t it great?” Benny asked. “And look!”
He held up a tiny metal fire truck with only three wheels and most of the red paint worn off. Violet turned the little truck in her hand. She said quietly, “I’m sure that this tree house belonged to Cap’s son Jason. And this must be his fire truck. Cap must have loved his son very much to make him such a nice playhouse. He must still miss him a lot, too.”
“But he’s never once mentioned him,” Jessie said.
“Maybe it hurts Cap to think about him,” Henry said.
“Can I take the fire truck?” Benny asked, holding the toy tightly in his hand.
Henry looked at his sisters. “I think it would be all right if you don’t let Cap see it,” Violet said. “Seeing it would only remind him and make him feel even more sad.”
“I could stay up here forever,” Benny said. “I love this place.”
“It is great,” Henry agreed, “but Cap will worry if we’re gone too long.”
“What were you going to show us back by the barn?” Jessie asked Henry. “Did you find a clue there?”
“Not exactly a clue,” he said, leading them to a place near the end of the barn. “I just wanted to show you something. This is where we saw the light. Right?”
When Jessie and Benny nodded, he told them to feel the ground. “Why, it’s as dry as an old bone,” Jessie said.
“Then we can’t have seen a will-o’-the-wisp as Cap suggested. That only happens on wet marshy ground,” Henry reminded them. “We saw something else flickering out here.”
“You’re right,” Jessie said. “And Violet and I found something really confusing in the garden, too. Cap said he hasn’t been out in his garden since his accident.”
“But everything is perfect out there,” Violet added. “The beans and tomatoes look as if they have been picked every day. The carrots have even been thinned, and none of the spinach has gone to seed.”
The children stared at each other. “Do squirrels and possums eat vegetables?” Benny asked.
“They do,” Henry said, “but they just bite chunks out. Only a person would thin carrots and spinach.”
“But who?” Jessie asked. “There’s no one around here. There’s not even a house close by.”
Henry shook his head. “The more we look for answers, the more questions we get,” he said. “Let’s not upset Cap more by telling him about this. What do you say?”
Benny nodded. “His ankle never will get well if he just swings around on those crutches all the time being worried.”
Violet made soup with the ham bone and vegetables. It smelled so good that everyone wanted to eat early. The boys made popcorn, which they all ate out on the porch.
That night before going to sleep, the children held another whispered conversation. “We can’t go another day without getting in touch with Grandfather,” Jessie said. “If he doesn’t hear from us, he might get worried. He might even think he has to come get us.”
“Oh, he mustn’t!” Violet cried. “Cap really needs us. And we can’t leave here until we solve these mysteries.”
Benny, lying in bed on his stomach, said, “Just call home and tell Mrs. McGregor. Grandfather is always in touch with her. And be sure to ask how Watch is, too.”
Jessie grinned. Benny always had a good plan. And she didn’t mind that he thought of Watch as his dog even though he really belonged to Jessie herself.
“I’ll call Grandfather. Who wants to walk along with me to town?” Henry asked. “I need to buy some other things, too.”
“I’d love to go,” Violet said. “We’ve got plenty of soup left over for lunch, and we’d be back for supper.”
“Check the peanut butter before you go,” Benny mumbled drowsily.
CHAPTER 6
Scrambled Eggs
Violet woke up just before dawn. She dressed silently, thinking of what would taste the best for breakfast. She decided on French toast with honey.
She took down the egg basket, wishing the sun would come up faster. The minute she stepped outside, things began to happen. The chickens began squawking, and a small dog she’d never seen before darted past her. She gasped as she looked after him. For a minute she was tempted to run back inside until it was light. But that was silly. She’d never been afraid of the dark. What harm could come from a reddish-looking little dog with a plumed tail?
She couldn’t see a thing as she slid her hand into the warm nests and felt for eggs. When she had emptied all the nests, she had eight eggs. She stood still, frowning.
This was curious. Jessie had found fourteen eggs the day before. If the chickens laid eight eggs every day, Jessie should have found a lot more than fourteen eggs. What had happened to the eggs the hens had laid before they got there? Cap said he hadn’t gathered them since he got hurt.
Violet shook her head. This really was a strange place! The other mysteries they’d solved hadn’t been like this. None of these puzzling things seemed to have anything to do with each other.
She was about to leave the henhouse when a low, strange whistle sent an icy shiver up her back. The piercing sound was so close that her breath came short. Was this the same noise Jessie had heard? For the first time Violet was truly scared! Before the sound even died away, something went crashing off into the bushes. It sounded like an animal — a big animal. For a moment, she couldn’t move.
She took a deep breath. As she stepped out into the darkness, she saw something disappearing into the trees. It was still too dark to see it clearly. It looked lumpy and black and was bent over. The funny way it ran made it even scarier. She knew it wasn’t a bear, but she couldn’t think of what else it could be. Whatever it was scared her so much that she forgot all about her basket of eggs and ran for the cabin.
She was almost to the back porch when Cap came around the side of the house on his crutches. Violet must have looked as scared as she felt because he stared at her a minute. Then he said, “Violet, what’s wrong?” Before she could answer, he motioned her to follow him. “Come on, my dear. Come around to the porch with me.”
Violet looked down at her egg basket and gasped. Broken eggs were pouring out between the wires of the basket in a golden stream. “Never mind that,” Cap said impatiently. “Come along with me. You can tend to those eggs later.”
She followed him with a thundering heart. What had she done to make him sound so cross? Once into his chair, he looked up at her, still frowning. “I want to know exactly what scared you out there,” he said in a stern voice. When she couldn’t think of how to answer right away, he went on impatiently. “Was it a whistling?”
She nodded. “An awful whistling, and a red dog, and something running off into the brush.”
He frowned. “The chickens woke me up,” he said. “Did you see anything like a hawk around the henhouse?”
“Only that little red dog,” she told him. She had seen that other thing, but she couldn’t possibly describe it.
“Did it have a sharp nose and a big plume of a tail?”
“I didn’t see its face, but its tail was bushy.”
He sighed. “That was no dog, Violet. That was a fox. Foxes and hawks both rob chicken houses and carry off hens. How many hens do I have out there now?”
“I never thought to count them,” she admitted.
He glanced at the morning light that was flooding into the clearing. “Would you mind going to see how many there are?” he asked. “You won’t be scared, will you?”
She shook her head and ran back to the henhouse. She counted the hens twice to be sure she had the number right.
“Eleven,” she told Cap when she got back to the porch. “All snow white.”
He stared at her. “No red hen at all?”
She shook her head, “All white.”
He sighed. “That’s worse than I feared. When I got hurt, I had eleven white Plymouth Rock hens and a beautiful Rhode Island red hen named Rhoda. She was my special pet, and Doodle’s, too. Although it sounded strange, that whistle we heard may have been a hawk or an eagle.” He shook his head. “We’ll miss poor Rhoda. But thank you, Violet. I’m glad I didn’t risk losing Doodle by leaving him out there. He’s been my best friend since our old dog died. But you still must have found a lot of eggs.”
“Not too many,” she admitted. “Jessie found fourteen yesterday, and I only found eight today.”
He frowned. “That’s not near enough eggs. I tell you, Violet, strange things are going on around here. If you children weren’t such good company, I’d get you into the safety of town if I had to walk you there on these crutches.”
She smiled at him. “We don’t want to go until you’re well. But I’d better see how many of those eggs I ruined.”
Two eggs were completely broken and had spilled out on the ground. Five others were so badly cracked that she had to empty them into a bowl to save them.
Cap’s coffee was ready when Henry came in and looked into the bowl. “Scrambled eggs today?” he asked.
“I cracked these,” Violet told him. She started telling him about the whistle and the running figure. Jessie and Benny came in from the porch to listen.
“That sounds like a dwarf out of a book,” Benny said.
She stared at him. “That’s exactly what it looked like, all dark and hunched over and running in that strange way. All I could think of was a bear, but it wasn’t that big.”
“It woke me up making a scraping noise out there,” Benny said. “I heard the same noise the night we saw that funny light. It comes and goes, then comes and goes again. Remember when we got here, I said maybe the house was haunted.”
Before they could ask Benny any more, Cap appeared.
Henry smiled at him and changed the subject quickly. “You’re just in time for coffee,” he said. “With breakfast coming right up.”
When Cap was settled with his coffee, Henry went back to the stove. “You do the eggs, Violet, and I’ll make French toast,” he said. “Big breakfast for a big day!”
Cap and Benny both groaned when they had finished off plates of buttery scrambled eggs and golden French toast covered with honey. “I’m glad I’m not walking into town with you,” Benny said. “I’m so full I’d have to waddle.”
Cap looked at him. “What’s this about a trip to town?”
“Violet and I need to go to town and call home,” Henry told him. “Grandfather checks with our housekeeper. He’ll get the message and know we’re here and having a fine time.”
Cap shook his head. “No man ever had more thoughtful children than you four. You could ride Pilot into town and back.”
“Could we?” Henry asked. “That would be wonderful!”
“But I want to ride the horse, too,” Benny said.
“Then you go in my place,” Violet said quickly. “I’ll give you the grocery list Jessie and I made.”
“Are you sure you don’t care?” Benny asked, looking concerned.
Violet leaned to touch his shoulder. “I’ll go next time.”
Pilot held very still as Henry put the harness over his head. “He looks happy to be going for a ride,” Violet said. “He’s probably been lonely, too, like Cap.”
Benny crossed the barn floor carrying a saddle blanket when he suddenly fell with a thud and yelped with pain.
“What happened?” Jessie asked, kneeling beside him.
Benny blinked to hold back his tears and hugged his right knee with both arms. “I tripped and fell,” he said.
“No wonder you tripped,” Henry said, kneeling beside him. “A big board has come loose under this hay.”
Benny, up on his feet, stared down at it. “Look, there’s a deep hole underneath it,” he said. The children gathered around to examine the hollow place where the earth had been dug away under the barn floor.
“How could that have happened with the barn all closed up?” Jessie asked. “Holes have to be dug! And they’re dangerous,” she added. “Someone could get hurt.”
“Cap has already,” Benny reminded her.
“But he didn’t fall here in the barn,” Violet reminded him. “He was outside, over by the water trough. He told me.”
“Come look here,” Jessie called. “I found another board loose, and still another one. And all of them were hidden under the hay with big holes dug underneath.”
Henry stood silently for a moment, frowning as he tried to solve the puzzle. “We need to figure out what made these holes.”
“Or who made them,” Benny said, still rubbing his knee.
CHAPTER 7
The Cat Bird
The girls left Cap and Doodle dozing on the front porch. Violet climbed a tree and handed the apples down to Jessie. When her bucket was half full, Jessie stepped back and fell flat, her apples rolling off in all directions. “What happened?” Violet asked. “Are you all right?”
Jessie looked up from the ground. “There are holes all around here. They’re like those at the barn except these have soft dirt thrown back in them so you can’t see them.”
Violet climbed down and helped gather up the apples. Then, they walked around and found over a dozen holes. “I thought Cap was just nervous,” Jessie said on the way back to the house. “Now I’m feeling nervous myself.”
Violet nodded. “I wasn’t nervous this morning, I was scared. I like mysteries to make better sense than this.”
“Me, too,” Jessie said. “We have all questions but no answers.”
Back in the kitchen, Jessie sorted the apples. She kept the perfect ones for eating. She and Violet peeled the others for cooking. Violet sang happily as she got out lard and flour and salt.
“What are you going to make?” Jessie asked.
“A surprise apple pie,” Violet said.
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Jessie said, looking doubtful. “I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find a pie pan anywhere. I did find a lot of books stacked behind the roasting pan.”
The girls looked at each other and laughed. “That’s just too strange. Now how can I bake a pie without a tin?”
“How about turnovers or dumplings?” Jessie asked.
“Dumplings,” Violet cried. “With raisins and cinnamon.”
When her dumplings were bubbling in the oven, Violet took her turn at stirring the simmering applesauce. Jessie began to read one of the books. When the applesauce was done, she took the book with her as they joined Cap and Doodle on the porch.
“Look!” Jessie said. “I found the bird that makes the noise like a kitten. It is called a catbird or a Missouri mockingbird. I even found a picture of it.”
“Let me see,
” Cap asked, reaching for the book. “I declare, you’re right, Jessie. This picture is exactly like the bird Violet described.”
“I’ve never heard of a catbird before,” Violet said.
“Listen to what it says here,” Cap said, reading aloud from the book. “It gets its name from its call note, a complaining ‘mew’ like a cat.” Still smiling, Cap looked inside the front cover of the book. He slammed it shut and handed it back to Jessie with a cross look on his face.
Jessie waited until Cap went back to his own reading to look at the inside page. She almost wished she hadn’t. The words were written in a childish scrawl: “This book belongs to Jason Lambert.” It brought tears to her eyes to think that Cap had a son who was no longer his friend.
Benny chattered steadily on the way to town, but Henry only half listened. Violet and Jessie had written down their grocery list, but he wasn’t sure what he needed until he asked someone. He had a plan. He only hoped that what he wanted to do was possible. He was grateful that their grandfather always gave them enough money.
“That’s the grocery store up ahead,” Benny said.
“First we call home,” Henry told him.
Mrs. McGregor answered on the third ring and laughed when she heard Henry’s voice. “I told your grandfather you’d get in touch,” she said. “He’s going to call back tonight. Do you want me to give him any messages?”
“Only that we love him and we’re all fine,” he said. “And Benny sends his love to Watch.”
“Tell him Watch is fine and loves him, too.”
Benny beamed. “Now the grocery store?” he asked.
“Now the hardware store,” Henry told him. “You like hardware stores, too, remember?”
“Maybe a little,” Benny admitted.
Once he explained his plan, the woman who waited on Henry knew right away what he needed. “Is there a light fixture on the porch you described?” she asked.
Henry told her there was only an electrical outlet under the window. Then she brought him a floodlight with a heavy-duty extension cord. “You’ll need to fasten the cord against the house so it won’t whip in the wind. And this bracket to rest the floodlight in. Does Cap have a fox after his hens?”