"You can say that again!" said Henry, laughing.
"I ate an egg," said Benny. "Can I go now?"
"Yes, go along. I know you can hardly wait to get down to the fire,"
said Aunt Jane.
The children ran all the way. They soon saw a big crowd of people who
had come to see the fire. The little pink house was gone. Smoke was
still rising from the burned wood, and it was still very hot.
"Hi, Ben!" called a voice. It was Mike. He came running over to Benny.
He cried, "That was our house that burned, Ben. We all got out, and it
was Spotty saved us."
"What are you going to do, Mike?" asked Henry. "Where is your mother?"
"She's right over there," said Mike pointing. "She and my brother Pat
can sleep next door in the blue house, but I am going to stay with Mr.
Carter."
"Mr.
Carter!"
cried Jessie. "What Mr. Carter? Do you mean Mr. John
Carter?"
"I guess so," said Mike. "That's his name anyway.
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Do you know him? He's nice and very friendly."
"He works for Grandfather," said Jessie. "We met him last summer, but we
didn't know he was still here. Where does he live?"
"In the green house right near the mine. He has lots of rooms he don't
use."
"Doesn't"
said Benny.
"Now don't you go teaching me, Ben!" said Mike.
"Where is Mr. Carter, now?" asked Violet just in time to stop a fight.
"Right over beside my mother," said Mike. "Come on, they are looking at
us."
"Well, well, Mr. Carter!" cried Henry. "We are so glad to see you again.
You always seem to pop up when there is trouble."
"I try to," said John Carter with a twinkle in his eye. "Hello, Jessie!
And Violet. Benny is still his same old self."
"What will happen to Mike's family?" asked Henry.
"All these houses belong to the Uranium com-
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pany. So when the place cools off, the pink house will be built again,"
replied the man.
"How about the things inside? The washing machine?" asked Jessie.
"I don't know, but insurance will take care of some things later."
"Aunt Jane said Mike could come up to our house," said Violet.
"Oh, did she indeed!" said Mr. Carter, laughing. "You'll have a lively
time! Don't you want me, too?"
"You would be a big help," said Jessie, smiling.
"You can have a whole room, Mike, if you come to Aunt Jane's," said
Benny. "You'd better ask your mother if you can come."
"Yes, I'm willing, and thankful, too," said Mrs. Wood. "But tell Miss
Alden to send Mike back if he gets too much for her."
Then Benny asked suddenly, "Mike! Have you had anything to eat?"
"No!" shouted Mike. "It all burned up. I didn't have any milk, or any
oatmeal, or any eggs-"
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Fire! 33
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"Come on, Mike!" shouted Benny. "I could eat another egg myself. Let's
all go to the restaurant!"
Mr. Carter looked at Jessie and laughed. He said, "I wonder what's the
matter with me? I never even thought of breakfast! And Mrs. Wood, you
must be starved. We'll all go to the restaurant and have breakfast."
"We follow Benny as usual," said Mrs. Wood smiling. "He has the ideas."
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CHAPTER 4
At the Big Table
Let's all sit at the big table," said Henry. "Then we can talk."
"I don't want to talk. I want to eat!" shouted Mike.
"Then you can keep still all you want," said Benny. "We'll do the
talking."
"But I'll say something if I want to," argued Mike.
"Well, make up your mind," returned Benny. "You're the one that said you
didn't want to talk."
"I only said I was hungry," said Mike.
"Oh, stop it, Mike," said his mother. "All this talk
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about nothing. Don't you know you have no home?"
"That sounds awful," said Jessie. "Tell me, how did you know the house
was on fire?"
"The dog," said Mrs. Wood. "Spotty was down in the cellar. He sleeps
down there. He barked and barked. I knew something was wrong, so I went
down to see. There was fire on all four sides. I let the dog out and
woke up Mike and Pat."
"You didn't wake me," said Mike. "I was awake."
"Yes, you were, son," agreed his mother. "I will say you were going down
to get the dog yourself."
"Spotty was the most important one," said Mike, "because he can't open
doors."
"By the way, where is the dog?" asked Mr. Carter.
"He's tied up at the blue house," said Pat. "He was in the way, barking
at everyone."
"Yes, we had to leave Watch and Lady at the ranch, too," said Jessie. "A
fire is no place for dogs."
"It is very queer that the fire started in four places at once," said
Mr. Carter.
"I wonder if anyone set the fire," said Henry.
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"Oh, no!" cried Mrs. Wood. "Why would anybody set fire to our house?"
"What do you plan to do now, Mrs. Wood?" asked Mr. Carter.
"I really don't know," she answered. "I'm staying in the blue house with
my good neighbor, Mrs. Smith, for tonight."
Breakfast came then. The eight hungry people went to work on the bacon
and eggs, toast, and cereal and milk. For a minute the restaurant was
very still. Then the children heard a man say, "I heard that the boy who
lived there set the house on fire just for fun."
In an instant Mike was out of his chair. He ran over and faced the man
who had spoken. "I did not!" he shouted. "Who says I did?"
In another minute all four children were behind Mike.
"Mike never did!" shouted Benny. "He wouldn't! Who says he did?"
The man laughed a little. He was very much sur-
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prised. "Well, don't get so excited, sonny," he said.
"Don't get excited?" yelled Mike. "You told a lie about me!"
"I didn't say it," said the man. "I said I heard it."
Then Henry spoke. "Can you tell us who told you? You must know this
story is very bad for Mike."
"Well, well," said the man. "You're not afraid to stand up for a friend,
are you?"
"No, sir," said Henry.
Jessie said, "Mike likes fun, yes. He gets into trouble. But he would
never set his own house on fire."
Then Benny went right up to the man. He said, "Mike wouldn't set a fire
in the cellar anyway. His dog was there."
"So his dog was there," repeated the man. "That settles it. I believe
you."
"Who told you?" asked Mike. He was not yelling now.
"I don't know him," said the man. "He was a stranger to me. He stood
beside me in the crowd,
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At the Big Table 39
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watching the fire. I think that he wore a blue hat."
"I'll ask him," said Benny, "if I ever see a man with a blue hat."
The man looked at the four of them. "I wish I had as many good friends
as you have, Mike," he said. He looked at Benny. "This one here is a
wonderful friend."
"He don't always stand up for me," said Mike.
"Doesn't," said Benny.
"Now look here, Ben!" said Mike. "Don't start that again!"
"You see how Mike is," said Jessie. "He will fight over nothing. But he
would never set a fire. Come on back, boys, and eat your breakfast."
The children moved away. All this time Mr. Carter had sat still
watching. "Well, Jessie!" he said. "That was just like a play! I am very
proud of all of you."
"Why didn't you come over, too?" asked Benny.
"You didn't need me," said Mr. Carter laughing.
"You children did it much better than I would. But the man could see I
was with you if you needed help."
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Mike began to eat again.
"That gave me a good appetite," he said.
"Your appetite was all right before," said Henry, laughing.
"I like to have you with us, Mike," said Violet, laughing. "Now if you
weren't here, I couldn't eat my breakfast at all."
"That's right," said Henry. "She couldn't."
"Now everyone watch out for a man with a blue hat," said Benny drinking
the last of his milk.
"That man would change his hat, Ben," said Mike.
"Maybe he will have a black hat next time. Maybe no hat at all."
"I'll watch, too," said Mr. Carter. "You can be sure of that."
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CHAPTER 5
The Empty Room
I have to go up to the uranium mine," said Mr. Carter. "You can all come
with me if you want."
"I think I'll go to my neighbor's," said Mrs. Wood. "I'm all tired out
with Mike's doings."
"Yes, I'll go with you, Ma," said Pat. "Maybe I can help around the
place, to pay for taking us in."
"The rest of us will go with you, Mr. Carter," said Benny. "It's our own
mine after all, and we haven't seen it yet. You come too, Mike."
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The Empty
"Well, Benny, you are asking for trouble," said Henry laughing.
"I'm no
trouble"
cried Mike. "I might help you. I know a lot of things."
Soon they were on their way to the mine in Mr. Carter's car. When they
arrived, they could see great machines at work. Workmen were everywhere.
Mr. Carter stopped his car at a large building. It had a small office in
one corner.
"I'm going into the office for a few minutes," said Mr. Carter. "You may
stay in the car and watch the men. But you must not go any closer than
you are now.
"Can't we go into the big building?" asked Benny.
Mr. Carter said, "Oh, yes, you can do that. But it is empty. Just one
big room. Nothing to see. I'll be back soon."
When Mr. Carter had shut the office door, Mike said, "I bet he's going
to find out about insurance on our things and tell someone in there
about the blue hat."
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"Yes," said Benny. "Let's see what is in that empty room."
Benny got out of the car and quietly walked into the big, empty room.
Jessie followed him. They stood looking around.
"A big room going to waste, Jessie!" said Benny.
"Yes, Benny," said his sister. For a minute they said nothing more.
Jessie was thinking about what Benny had said-a big room going to waste.
"Look, Benny!" she said excitedly. "Do you remember what Mrs. Wood said
about baking?"
"Yes, I do. She said she loved to bake pies and she didn't like to
wash."
"That's just right, Benny! Now listen! If we could get a good stove-"
"Mrs. Wood could bake in it," finished Benny.
"And right here in this very room," said Henry.
One by one the others had come inside, too.
Then another gentle voice said, "I'm sure Grandfather would let us buy a
stove." It was Violet. She was smiling.
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"My mother likes to make pies the best," said Mike. "On pies she is a
wizard."
Henry laughed. "Well, now that we are all here, let's get together on
this."
"My mother could sell pies to the miners," said Mike. "There's about a
million men, I should say. We could make money. And I could eat pies
whenever I wanted to," Mike finished.
"If we had a stove," said Benny.
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"Not quite a million men," said Henry. "Maybe a hundred or more."
"Maybe we could all live up here," said Mike.
"You wouldn't want to live here, Mike," said Benny. "Wait till you see
your room at Aunt Jane's. Right next to me."
"We'll ask Mr. Carter what he thinks," said Jessie. "He knows everything
and he will settle it."
But it was really Mrs. Wood who settled it.
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CHAPTER 6
Mike's Mother's Place
Benny began to talk the minute he got into the car. Mike began to talk
too.
"Wait, boys," said Mr. Carter. "One at a time! I can't hear a word you
say."
"I'll talk first," said Mike.
"Well, you can this time," agreed Benny. "It's about your own mother,
after all."
"That's right, Ben," said Mike. "Thank you. Mr. Carter, my mother works
hard at her washing, but she don't-doesn't like it."
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Mike's Mother's Place
"Yes, Mike," said Mr. Carter. "But what do you want me to do about it?"
"We've thought of a good job for her," said Mike. "She loves to make
pies. So why not make pies and sell them? She gives away millions of
pies."
"Now, Mike," said Benny. "Mr. Carter won't believe you, if you say
millions."
"Well, dozens, then," said Mike.
"Good for you, Mike," said Mr. Carter laughing. "I do believe you, for I
have eaten many of those pies myself."
"Well, there you are," said Mike. "Everyone likes Ma's pies and everyone
will buy them."
Then Mr. Carter said, "I think you are wasting time telling me about
this plan. Why don't we go ask your mother? She is the one to decide."
Mrs. Wood was surprised when they all came back to Mrs. Smith's blue
house.
Henry said, "Hello, Mrs. Wood. We want you to come up to the office at
the uranium
mine for a few minutes."
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"All right," said Mrs. Wood. "I'd like to go. I know the night watchman
up there, and I'd like to take him a cherry pie."
"You mean you've made another pie already?" asked Violet.
"I made four more," said Mrs. Wood. "They are for the kind people who
helped me get out of my burning house. One is for your Aunt Jane, Benny.
My neighbor gave me the shortening and filling for the pies, and I will
pay her back in washing."
Mike winked at Benny. "Maybe, yes," he said. "And maybe, no."
The children talked and laughed all the way to the mine. They could
hardly wait to show the room to Mike's mother. At last they all stood in
the big empty room.
"See this room going to waste!" cried Benny. "Now if you had a nice
stove-"
Mrs. Wood put her arm around Benny. "What a kind little boy you are,
Benny!" she said in a low voice. "I begin to see now what you are all
planning for me."
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"You mean you like the idea of making pies for a living?" asked Jessie.
"Wouldn't you get tired of making pies?"
"I'd never be tired of making pies, my dear!" cried Mrs. Wood. "I love
to mix them up, and roll them out, and fill them with cherries, apples,
peaches, or blueberries. And best of all I like to see people eat them."
A man behind them said, "I'd rather eat them than watch other people eat
them." Everyone turned around.
"The night watchman!" cried Mike. "Hello, Mr. McCarthy!"
"Hello yourself, Mike," said the man.
"Oh, Mr. McCarthy," said Mrs. Wood. "Here's a cherry pie I made for you.
I hope you will like it." She gave him the cherry pie.
"Is there anyone in the whole world that doesn't like your pies?" asked
Mr. McCarthy. He looked at the children. "What's this I hear about
selling pies?"
Mike began to jump around. "See this room!" he
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shouted. "Ma can have a stove in that corner. She can bake her pies in
it. She can sell them at that big window and we will all help her."
"Well, well," cried Mr. McCarthy. "And which of you thought of this?"
"My sister Jessie was the first to think of it," said Benny. "But I was
next to the first, wasn't I, Henry?"
"Yes, you were," said Henry. "We have to buy a sink and a refrigerator,
Mr. McCarthy. And we have to ask Mr. Gardner, the boss, for the use of
the room."
"We can ask Grandfather to let us buy the sink and things," said Violet.
"Suppose this grandfather of yours won't let you buy all that?" said Mr.
Mike's Mystery Page 2