"That's what I thought, too," said Henry.
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CHAPTER 7
A Stranger
Henry and Jessie did not say any more about the Indian boy, but they did
not forget him. Once in awhile they both wondered where he came from and
why he was there. They also wondered why he did not want to be seen.
There was plenty to think about while they were still climbing. In some
places the path was almost blocked by the fallen rocks. They had to
climb over them or walk around them.
Benny called back, "It's lucky nobody was on this trail when these rocks
came down!"
66
Grandfather said, "I was just going to say we should be ready to dodge
if any more come down."
"I think somebody is behind us," said Henry. "We'd better be careful not
to send any more down on top of him."
"I
hope
somebody is behind us," said Mr. Alden with a laugh. "Otherwise
we'll have no lunch. John Carter is supposed to bring up enough lunch
for us and the workmen and Dr. Osgood."
"Well, he'll have a heavy load," said Benny. "That will be lunch for
nine people!"
"Don't worry about John Carter," said Grandfather. "He'll manage."
When they were quite near the top, they heard noises. It sounded like
chopping and pounding, and that was exactly what it was. The two workmen
were soon seen chopping down bushes and small trees to the left of the
path. There were no trees or bushes near the top; there it was all rock.
The workmen had cleared a spot that looked like a good place to sit and
watch what was going on.
67
There was some lumber, a strong ladder, and a long, flat plank. The
plank had been placed near the opening to the cave and was held down
with rocks.
Dr. Osgood was standing on the plank and bending over to look into the
dark hole.
Benny said, "I guess Dr. Osgood couldn't wait."
The explorer held a bright light in his hand. His glasses were pulled
down and he was too busy to notice the Aldens.
Grandfather sat down on the dry grass. He said, "I think Dr. Osgood
wants to see first what kind of a hole it is. Just see whether it will
be worth exploring or not."
"Oh, dear!" cried Benny. "I hope it turns out to be worth exploring.
Wouldn't it be awful if we had to give up and go home?"
"I don't think we will," said Henry. "Look at him now."
Dr. Osgood had both arms and his head in the hole. The Aldens could see
only a pair of legs.
Just then Dr. Osgood looked up from the hole and
68
turned half around. He called to the workmen, but the Aldens could not
hear what he said. However, the workmen did and called back, "Very good,
sir!" They were used to working with Dr. Osgood.
Then Dr. Osgood started to climb down to talk to Grandfather. He sat
down beside him and pushed up his glasses again.
"Well, Percy, what's the good word?" asked Grandfather.
"A very good word," said Dr. Osgood, nodding. He wiped his face with a
big red handerchief. "Now, you know I never saw Old Flat Top before it
was flattened." He smiled at the young people. "But I have good reason
to think the first cave was on the back of the mountain. Then something
happened like a small earthquake. The back was pushed down and closed up
that hole. But this front end of the cave was
not
squashed. So it is
just the same as it has been for many years."
Benny said, "Then this front hole is really the back of the cave."
69
A Stranger 69
[PICTURE NOT SHOWN]
70
"Right," said Dr. Osgood. "You'll be a cave-digger some day."
"Are you going to blast?" asked Benny.
"No, I don't think so. We can drill as far as we need to. The other end
is completely closed, they say. However, we'll wait and see. Hello, here
comes my help."
"Oh, I thought it was
my
help," said Grandfather, "with some lunch."
"It's both," said Henry, who could see the trail. He looked down. Two
more workmen were dragging a heavy load of lumber. John Carter was
behind, a large knapsack on his back.
Henry said, "Dr. Osgood, what did you see when you put the light in the
cave?"
"Well, I could see about ten feet with the light," said Dr. Osgood. "The
hole grows larger. I should say if we crawled in about fifteen feet we
could stand up. It surely has not been touched by human hands for about
two hundred years. Maybe a bit less; maybe a bit more. However, I saw no
treasures. You must be
71
A Stranger
willing to explore and find
nothing.
That's why this job takes patience.
Lots of my work goes for nothing. Wasted."
"I wouldn't like that," said Benny.
"No, I can see that you wouldn't," said Dr. Osgood.
He got up quickly from the ground and climbed up to the workmen. He
began to put blue chalk marks on many of the rocks.
When he had gone, Grandfather said quietly, "Did any of you notice an
Indian boy in the crowd?"
"Yes!" they all cried.
Henry said, "We thought Lovan told us that she was the last Indian
around here. That surprised us."
"Maybe she doesn't know about this boy," said Mr. Alden.
John Carter sat down with the family. He said, "I did try to talk with
the boy. But I had to order the lunch. I couldn't take enough time. But
I will."
"Good!" said Mr. Alden. "Maybe he doesn't live here anyway. Maybe he
heard of this work on Flat Top."
72
"He heard fast, then," said Benny.
"Well, news travels fast," said Grandfather thoughtfully.
"I hope he won't bother Lovan," said Violet.
"Well, after we get down we'll see that he doesn't," said Mr. Alden.
"Right now, we are trying to find Lovan's treasure."
"Wouldn't it be awful if somebody stole it last night?" exclaimed Benny.
"Well, it is possible," said John Carter. "They had all night, if they
were good climbers and worked quietly."
73
CHAPTER 8
The First Find
Couldn't we go up that ladder," asked Benny, "and look in the hole?"
"Not yet, young man," said Dr. Osgood. He pushed up his glasses. "We
don't want any more accidents. When we get the staging done, it will be
safe for any of you to get up to the cave."
Mr. Alden said, "Percy, the old Indian woman Lovan told us that her
great-great-grandfather hid that leather bag in a cave. Now suppose this
was the cave. Would that be near this door or near the opening in the
other side, do you think?"
74
"I
should say he crawled in and hid it as far back as he could," said
Dr. Osgood.
Benny said, "That would mean the leather bag could be right under our
noses! I hope they will get that staging done fast. I can hardly wait!
Can you, Mr. Carter?"
Mr. Carter said, "No, I can hardly wait, either. But right now I am
hungry. Aren't you all
hungry?"
"Always!" said Henry and Jessie together.
"Well, then, how about a bit of lunch?" said John Carter. "You've had a
three-hour climb, and we all need food. And you should see the lunch!"
"Oh, we'll never eat all this food!" Jessie said as she watched the
lunch being unpacked.
"Don't forget, it is for the workmen, too," said Dr. Osgood. "And me!"
Then Henry noticed that Benny was sitting still and saying nothing.
"What's the matter, Ben?"
"Well, I simply can't decide which sandwiches I like best!" said Benny.
"I like them all best."
75
"Shut your eyes and point, then," said Mr. Carter.
Benny did so. He was pointing at the cheeseburgers.
"That's exactly what I do like best, really!" he cried. "Cheeseburgers!"
"I thought you didn't know," laughed Violet.
"Yes, I thought so, too," said Benny. "And I just love to dunk
hard-boiled eggs!" He opened his salt and pepper and "dunked" his egg in
the salt as he spoke. Then he bit off a huge bite.
"Delicious!" he said.
Everyone agreed. The piles of sandwiches went down very fast. But there
were plenty for the workmen when Mr. Alden called them to lunch. When
the workmen sat down, the Alden family waited on them. Henry gave them
hot coffee. Violet passed the pickles. Mr. Carter got out the cold
drinks. Jessie gave each one an egg and salt. Benny sat down with them
and had another sandwich. He said, "You haven't really got very far on
the staging, have you?"
"No," said the head man. "It takes three days. You see a staging must
not fall. And it has to rest some-
76
where. It takes time to make a place to hold it."
"Don't you keep wishing that you could take time off and look in the
cave?" asked Benny.
"Yes," said a man. "But if we do, the staging has to wait, and it takes
that much longer to finish it. Dr. Percy has had a look. That's enough
for me. He thinks it is worth while, so I'm not wasting my time."
Henry said to Dr. Osgood, "What do you think could be in the lost bag? A
French nobleman expected to sell whatever it was for enough money to
live here. So it must be worth something."
"It could be jewelry," said Dr. Osgood. "French noblemen often had to
sell jewels to keep alive. It could be gold coins or silver. It could be
silver candlesticks or vases or mirrors or spoons. I don't know."
"I know you, Percy!" said Mr. Alden. "You're not really interested in
that leather bag, are you?"
"Well, no, not much," said Dr. Osgood. "I always hope to find something
important in a cave."
"What could be more important than Lovan's treasure?" cried Benny.
77
"Well, you're right, boy, if you are thinking mostly of Lovan. But for
the whole country, stones could be more important. They are to me." He
threw his head back and tried not to laugh.
Grandfather shook his finger at his old friend. "You're up to something,
Percy! Have you found something already?"
"I suppose I shall have to show it to you," said Dr. Osgood. "At first I
thought I'd put it back and let Benny find it. But Benny wouldn't like
that if he found it out."
"No, I wouldn't," said Benny.
"Here it is," said Dr. Osgood. He took a flat stone out of the biggest
pocket of his overalls. It was about six inches long. He gave it to
Henry, not Benny. "Take care!" he said.
"A fossil," said Henry. He took the stone carefully in both hands. It
was one flat stone, but it was split down the middle.
"Take off the cover," said Dr. Osgood. "Careful now!"
78
Henry lifted the top half and they all bent over to look.
"A little fish!" cried Benny.
"Yes, a fossil fish," said Dr. Osgood. "It is millions of years old."
"What kind of a fish?" asked Benny. He was sure Dr. Osgood knew
everything.
"I don't know," said Dr. Osgood. "You may be sure that many people will
study this fossil. See the backbone? Every little bone shows on both
halves."
"Does that mean that once this mountain top was under water?" asked
Jessie.
"Yes," said Dr. Osgood, nodding, "and this is the proof. I'd rather find
this than ten leather bags."
Dr. Osgood said, "And now you'll be surprised to hear this. I think you
had better start down the mountain. The weather doesn't look too fine to
me."
"It looks beautiful to me," said Benny, looking at the deep blue sky.
"But of course you would be right. Are you coming, too?"
"No, I'll stay. I'll keep my head man and we'll come
79
down later in the helicopter."
Jessie did not have to be told twice. She was already packing the
things.
Three hours later they reached the store. They all went in, and Mr.
Carter said to the ranger, "Did you see the Indian boy this morning in
the crowd?"
"Yes, he is new around here. Before I had time to talk to him, he had
gone."
"Gone!" cried everyone.
"Yes, gone. And what's more, he's still gone. Nobody around here ever
saw him before. And nobody knew how he got here."
"That's very funny," said Henry. "I should think somebody would have
spoken to him. There was such a crowd. Would you guess he was up to no
good?"
"Well," said the ranger. He stopped. Then he went on, "We know nothing
about him. He may be lost and need help. That's really why we're going
to find him, come what may."
80
CHAPTER 9
Caught in the
Rain
Mr. Alden walked around the store looking at everything. There were no
Indian baskets left. He said, "Let's go to see Lovan again."
"Don't get caught in the storm," said a ranger.
"Storm? It looks pleasant to me," said Benny.
"Well, you get to know the weather around these mountains," said the
ranger. "I was glad to see you come down so early. Dr. Osgood will be
all right. He knows the weather, too."
What they did not know was that snow had suddenly begun to cover the top
of Old Flat Top. Dr.
81
Caught in the Rain
Osgood and his workmen were just running to get the things packed on the
helicopter to take off in a hurry.
The Aldens piled into the station wagon and drove down to Lovan Dixon's.
The sky was still blue with hardly a cloud. It was very warm. They found
Lovan hoeing in her flower garden next to the house.
"I want to get the earth stirred up before it rains," she said to her
visitors.
Grandfather laughed. "You think it is going to rain, too," he said.
"Oh, yes," said Lovan. "But come in."
"What beautiful flowers!" cried Violet. "Every one is such a lovely
color."
Lovan looked at the eager little girl. She said, "Little Violet, you
take these scissors and cut a big bunch of every flower you like. Don't
be afraid to pick a lot. They like to be picked. They blossom all the
more."
Mr. Alden smiled. But he had come on business, so he was glad to go into
the house a
nd ask questions.
"I wonder if you ever heard of an Indian boy
82
around here about high school age?" he asked.
"No," Lovan shook her head. "I am the only Indian left around here. All
my brothers died, and my only sister died. She had a daughter, but she
died, too."
"Didn't your sister's daughter have any children?"
"I did hear that she had a son, but that baby died when she did. They
had moved into Maine with the Maine Indians by then."
"What was that baby's name?" asked Henry.
"I don't know. We had quarreled and I never did learn the baby's name."
Mr. Carter said, "We saw a young Indian boy this morning. He looked
unhappy and seemed to be afraid. He hid behind the crowd, and now he has
disappeared."
"Oh, dear!" said Lovan.
"We'll find him," Benny said.
"How?" asked Lovan. "I thought you said he ran away."
"Yes, he did. But he never could get away with Mr. Carter after him, and
the rangers, and Grandfather."
83
Just then Violet came in with her flowers. They were beautiful-pink and
white roses, old-fashioned sweet pinks, yellow daisies, lavender
heliotrope, larkspur, and sweet peas.
"Let's go right home and put them in water!" Violet said. "I can't let
them fade!" She made a pretty picture standing in the door with her
brown hair, pink cheeks, and the lovely flowers.
84
"Soon," said Grandfather. "Just one more question and then we'll go. Why
did your family leave you?"
"I left
them,"
said Lovan. "I wanted to go to school and nobody else
did. They called me stuck-up because I could read and write. I loved
school. There were children of all ages. When I was older, I helped the
teacher with the little ones. I taught them the good things of Indian
life. I taught them to make baskets and beadwork and moccasins. The
children were very good at making up designs-even the little ones."
"Good!" said Grandfather. "Someone must do that, or we'll lose all the
beautiful things that nobody can make as well as the Indian."
"It's too bad you don't know anything about this strange Indian boy,"
said Henry.
Lovan said slowly, "If he is from my family, his grandmother's name
would be Susan."
"That's something to go on," said Henry.
"Come on, everyone," said Mr. Alden. "Violet wants to go."
"I don't want to go," said Violet, smiling, "I just
85
want to put the flowers in water."
Mountain Top Mystery Page 4