Summer Camp Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  Violet tried not to think about her neatly packed trunk sitting in Dark Harbor. She looked up when Lizzie came in. “Did Jessie send you over to tell me something?”

  “No,” Lizzie answered. “I came to see Kim.”

  Kim turned around. “What’s up, Lizzie? I was hoping you’d be in my group. I have to teach my campers everything, even not to forget their trunks.”

  “I have a message,” Lizzie said. She handed Kim a piece of paper.

  Kim read it over. “Hmmm. I guess it’s okay. You’d better go to your own cabin now.”

  Lizzie didn’t move. “Can’t I stay a little longer? Or overnight? I’m sure my dad would let me. I could put a sleeping bag in the corner. I wouldn’t take up much room.”

  Violet had an idea, but she was too shy to say anything right away. Finally she decided to speak up. “What if Lizzie and I switch? That way she could be a Seal and stay here in Birch since you’re friends already.”

  Kim and Lizzie looked at each other.

  “Please, Kim,” Lizzie pleaded. “Can I stay here?”

  Before Kim had time to answer, there was a knock on the cabin door.

  “Come in,” Kim called out. “Oh, hi, Sarah. I thought the Senior Counselors had a meeting in the office.”

  “It’s over,” Sarah said. She looked around until she spotted Lizzie sitting on Kim’s bed. “Aha! I see you kidnapped one of my favorite campers,” Sarah joked. “Lizzie, I think you forgot which cabin you were assigned to. You’re with Jessie Alden and me over in Cedar. It’s time to start the fun. We can’t do that if one of the Dolphins in our pod is missing. Let’s go, kiddo. Jessie’s waiting.”

  Lizzie didn’t move from Kim’s bed. “But . . . but, we were just talking about Violet changing places and being a Dolphin instead. Then I could stay in Kim’s group like last session.”

  “No way!” Sarah said, smiling. “Last session, you were such a great camper, I kept wishing you were on my team. And now you are. Off we go!”

  Violet looked on as Sarah led Lizzie back to Cedar Cabin. She tried not to think about how strange everything seemed on her first night at camp. Jessie was just two cabins away, but that seemed as far away as Greenfield.

  “I have an extra stuffed animal,” one of the girls said, holding out a floppy fur rabbit. “You can borrow him until your trunk comes, Violet.”

  “If it comes,” Kim said before shutting the lid of her own trunk.

  CHAPTER 5

  Footprints in the Sand

  A spiral of blue-gray smoke arose from the campfire near Evergreen Lodge. The hamburger and hot dog smells from Camp Seagull’s first cookout began to fade. Now that the day was nearly over, the first day of camp was fading, too.

  Benny pulled his stick from the fire. On the end was a melted, golden brown marshmallow. He slid it between two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate. “Yum,” he said after tasting his s’more treat. “Cookouts are my favorite.”

  “So are breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” Henry kidded.

  Jessie and Violet laughed at Henry’s joke, along with the campers nearby.

  “I’m glad Kim let us sit together for dessert,” Violet told Jessie.

  “Me, too,” Jessie said. “Here, you can have my s’more. I’m full from our cookout,” Jessie said. “Are you having fun with the Seals?”

  Violet stared into the fire. “I’ll like camp better when I can go on nature walks or start making pottery. Kim is upset with our cabin because of my trunk. She said I lost points for our team.”

  Jessie frowned. “Well, be sure to mention that since Henry and I are both Dolphins, our team will lose twice as many points for leaving our trunks behind. Ginny was a little upset, but she asked Mr. Pines to bring them to camp tomorrow morning when he drops off the day campers.”

  Violet wriggled her toes to warm them near the fire. “I’ll still lose for cabin inspection. Kim’s cross with me.”

  “That’s just her way,” Jessie said. “She’s probably upset that Rich and Ginny changed the Olympics from sports to a lot of other activities. Don’t worry. You’ll help the Seals win with your crafts and the way you help other campers. Oh, listen,” Jessie said, “it’s the bugle tape again.”

  “I have a few announcements before Henry takes down the flags for the night,” Rich began. “Counselors, remember to walk your campers to the dock at seven-twenty. Mr. Pines will have the ferry ready to bring the day campers back to Dark Harbor for the night.”

  Benny was glad to hear this. “I like camp,” he said to Jessie, “but I like seeing Grandfather ‘s’more.’ ”

  “Good one,” Jessie said, laughing at Benny’s joke. “Uh-oh. S’more bugle music is coming on. Let’s stand up for Flag Ceremony.”

  Henry walked over to the flagpole and lowered the camp flags as the campers watched quietly. When the flags reached the bottom of the ropes, everyone cheered for Henry. He carefully folded the flags for the next day and brought them to Evergreen Lodge.

  Jessie’s and Henry’s Dolphins gathered near one another to walk back to their cabins. The sun slid behind the mountains. The wind picked up and whistled through the pine trees.

  “Have you seen Lizzie?” Jessie asked Sarah, the Senior Counselor. “She keeps disappearing on me.”

  “I saw her with Kim walking to the Bogs — you know, the camp bathrooms,” Sarah said. “Go ahead with the other girls. I’ll make sure Lizzie gets to the cabin.”

  “Brrr. I’m an ice cube,” Benny said as all the Dolphins made their way through the woods.

  “How are we going to stay warm in the cabins when it’s so dark and cold?” a girl named Daisy asked Jessie.

  “At lights-out, we’ll close the shutters and the doors and get under the covers,” Jessie said. “The cabins are small. Our body heat will warm them right up.”

  “Not my body heat,” Benny said. “I’m going to be at Grandfather’s hotel in a big old bed with lots of quilts.”

  “Sssh,” Henry said. He didn’t want his overnight campers to start thinking about the warm beds they left behind at home. “Our cabin will be snug and warm.”

  “And dark,” one little boy said as the groups walked deeper into the woods. “The lights from Evergreen Lodge are getting far away.”

  “But the light from my flashlight is right here,” Henry told his group. He turned on the big flashlight Mrs. McGregor had given him to keep in his backpack. “See?”

  The flashlight helped the children find their way through the woods. Unfortunately, the light made the children see shadows everywhere, too.

  Daisy stayed close to Jessie. “I wish you’d brought your dog, Watch,” she said as everyone huddled near one another on the walk to the cabins. “Look. Now Seal Rock looks like Monster Rock again.”

  Jessie and Henry looked out over the water. They didn’t say anything right away. Indeed, now that evening was coming on, the dark, smooth rock did look like the back of some giant creature in the water.

  “It’s only the mist and the ocean moving,” Jessie said in her soothing voice, “not Monster — I mean, Seal Rock.”

  The Dolphins weren’t far from their cabins when they heard a branch crack in the woods.

  “Ooooh! What was that?” Benny said. “Did a tree fall down?”

  Jessie stepped ahead. “Watch my campers, Henry. I’ll run ahead.”

  Jessie found her own flashlight. She walked quickly for about ten feet. She noticed a broken tree branch close to Cedar Cabin. She dragged it off the path and walked back to her campers. Jessie shined her flashlight on the damp sandy path. Daisy, still nervous, was right by her side.

  “Look!” Daisy screamed.

  The other campers screamed, too. They grabbed on to Jessie’s arms and legs.

  “There, there, girls. Why are you screaming?” she asked her jittery campers.

  Daisy pointed to the ground in front of them. “Footprints! Monster footprints!”

  Jessie looked closely at the ground. She wanted to believe Daisy
’s eyes were playing tricks. Then she saw what Daisy saw — huge claw prints, nearly a foot wide, one in front of the other.

  Jessie’s mind raced. She needed to stay calm for her Dolphins. She waved her flashlight around the nearby woods. She saw two pairs of eyes flash back. But they weren’t monster eyes, unless the monsters were wearing Camp Seagull T-shirts. The figures ran off into the woods.

  “Somebody played a silly trick on us so we’d scream,” Jessie said. “Sarah says one team does that at the end of the week to make the other team lose points. But it’s not supposed to happen the first few nights. Our monster didn’t come from the ocean but from Camp Seagull.

  “And we won’t scream again,” she went on. “We just have to find the monsters who played the trick.”

  When the girls arrived at their cabin, Sarah was waiting. “I didn’t find Lizzie. I thought she caught up with you. So it was you guys screaming outside. That’s what Kim said, anyway. She just raced in here to remind me to take away points for screaming.”

  “Was she wearing a camp T-shirt?” Jessie asked.

  “We’re all wearing camp T-shirts,” Sarah answered with a laugh.

  “I wish we weren’t going to lose points for screaming,” Jessie said. Then she cheered up. “I just thought of something.”

  A couple of girls pulled on Jessie’s sleeves. “What? What?” they asked.

  “If we find the person who made the monster footprints, that person’s team will lose points for scaring people,” Jessie said. “Not that we’re scared — right, Dolphins?”

  “Right!” the Dolphin girls cheered.

  CHAPTER 6

  Trouble for Jessie

  Jessie’s cabin soon sounded as if it were filled with chipmunks. The Cedar Cabin campers were settling in.

  “There you are,” Jessie said when Lizzie finally showed up for the cabin meeting. “We had a bit of excitement in the woods. Somebody tried to scare us, but we didn’t get scared — not too much, anyway. Right, girls?” Jessie asked. “Come on in, Lizzie,” Jessie continued. “Leave your sneakers outside, though. They’re all wet and sandy. And next time, stay with our cabin group, okay?”

  Lizzie stepped on the porch to remove her sneakers. When she came back, she stood in the doorway barefoot. The other girls arranged themselves on the beds and the floor close to Jessie. Lizzie stayed where she was.

  “Okay, Dolphins, let’s talk about some ideas you might have for the Big Idea Medal,” Jessie began. “I’ll write down your ideas. After that, we’ll vote on one to give Ginny and Rich.”

  “I know,” Daisy began. “We could have Be Nice Days. We would put slips of paper with our names on them in a box and choose one every day. Then we all would do nice things for that person on her day.”

  “Or at lights-out time, I could sing my favorite song,” another girl piped up. “That’s to help anyone who can’t fall asleep. My mom does that. Is that good, Jessie?”

  “It sure is. I’ll write it down on my list.”

  Jessie found a notepad and began writing the girls’ suggestions.

  “Can we write down sharing chocolate?” a girl in pigtails asked.

  The girls giggled, even Jessie.

  Lizzie Pines didn’t giggle, though. “Food is not allowed in the cabins,” she told everyone. “Junior Counselors have to know the rules.”

  “Lizzie’s right,” Jessie said. “No chocolate or any food in Cedar Cabin. Thank you, Lizzie.”

  “Where’s your trunk?” Daisy asked when she noticed Jessie only had a backpack on her bed. “Didn’t you bring one?”

  Jessie felt her whole face get red, even her ears.

  Before Jessie could explain what happened, Lizzie interrupted. “The Aldens left their stuff at the ferry. Cedar Cabin is going to lose points.”

  “What about your pj’s and teddy bear?” Daisy asked Jessie. She double-checked that her own pajamas and teddy bear were right there.

  “I’m really sorry I let you girls down by forgetting my trunk,” Jessie said. “But maybe I can help make up for it. While I was listing your ideas, I thought of a way to combine all of your suggestions into one super Big Idea.”

  “How?” some of the girls asked at the same time.

  “Me and My Buddy could be the name for all of your ideas,” Jessie said. “One camper who’s good or strong at something helps another camper who isn’t. Since everybody’s good at something, and everybody needs a little help at other things, we all get to help our Buddies or have a Buddy help us.”

  After the Dolphins added more ideas, Jessie tapped her pencil against the wooden beam over her bed. “Hear! Hear!” Jessie began. She read off the list: “ ‘Teach Someone to Make Her Bed. Teach Somebody How to Do Something Hard. Help a Friend to Not Be Afraid of the Dark.’ ”

  Jessie kept writing until her girls couldn’t think of anything else. “Those will all be part of our Me and My Buddy Big Idea.”

  The chattering started up again as the girls talked about who could be Buddies for each other. They didn’t notice that not everyone was still in the cabin. A few minutes later, they heard a knock on the door.

  Ginny stepped into Cedar Cabin. “Inspection.” She began to look around. She noticed how tidy everything was. All the trunks were shut. All the beds were made. All the sand and cobwebs had been swept away.

  “Nice work, Dolphins,” Ginny said. “Except for Jessie’s wayward trunk, I’m giving you full points for a perfect cabin.” Then Ginny noticed everything wasn’t quite perfect in Cedar Cabin. “Goodness, Jessie, where’s Lizzie?”

  All eyes turned to Jessie. She got up from her bed and ran to the porch. “She was here just a second ago.” Jessie looked down. Lizzie’s sneakers were gone, with Lizzie in them!

  “I’ll need to talk with you about this,” Ginny said. “I’m in a bit of a rush, but I’ll wait here a few minutes while you go find her. Check the Bogs first.”

  Jessie headed to the girls’ bathrooms. When she arrived, several of Kim’s Seals were busy filling a water bucket with soapy water. Violet spotted Jessie in the mirror.

  “Kim told us we have to wash down the cabin floor,” Violet explained. “She said we didn’t have any good activities for the Big Idea. I guess she wants us to get lots of points for making our cabin super clean. We have to hurry.”

  “Sorry,” Jessie said. “Did you happen to see Lizzie in here?”

  Violet nodded. “Not here, but she was in Birch when we all came to the Bogs. Want me to get her?”

  “No, I’ll go,” Jessie answered.

  Jessie stopped by Birch Cabin. Kim looked up. “If you’re looking for Lizzie, she left for the ferry.”

  Jessie got to the point. “We need to talk with Lizzie about not coming here without telling me. If we both talk to her, we can explain that the groups have to stay together for safety reasons.”

  “Fine,” Kim said. “But I can’t help it if she wants to be in my group and not yours. Anyway, she went to see her brother and her dad. It’s not a big deal.”

  But it did turn out to be a big deal. When Jessie came back to Cedar Cabin alone, Ginny stepped onto the porch. “Jessie, it’s time for the day campers to go back to Dark Harbor. Camp Seagull isn’t just about the Olympics. It’s also about responsibility. Lizzie is your responsibility.”

  Jessie looked down at her flip-flops. First her trunk was missing. Now one of her campers was missing. “I know. She already went to the ferry. I . . . uh . . . guess we’ll meet her there.”

  Ginny’s face grew very serious. “After the ferry leaves, ask Sarah to watch the cabin. Then please take some time to go over the rules about knowing where your campers are at all times. It’s our most important safety rule.”

  To Jessie, every word that Ginny said felt like a stone falling on her head. “I know. I’m so sorry. I’ll be much more careful.”

  Jessie walked slightly ahead of her Dolphins as they made their way to the ferry. She didn’t want them to see that she was upset.

  H
enry’s group caught up with Jessie’s.

  “What’s the matter, Jessie?” Henry asked.

  Jessie took a deep breath to steady her voice. “Lizzie left the cabin without telling me. I overheard her tell Zach she wants to be in Kim’s cabin. Then I didn’t know where she was when Ginny came by. When she and Kim don’t follow the rules, I’m the one who looks like I don’t know what I’m doing, and my campers lose points, too.”

  Henry nodded. “Same here, Jessie. Only Zach’s the one who makes me feel like I shouldn’t be here — like he’s in charge of Camp Seagull or something. He won’t do anything with the Dolphins.”

  CHAPTER 7

  The Disappearing Flags

  The next day, Henry Alden didn’t need an alarm clock to wake up. When Dave Baylor, the Senior Counselor, arrived to supervise the campers in Driftwood Cabin, Henry was already up and dressed.

  “Rich was right about you Aldens being early birds,” Dave said. “I’ll make sure you get points toward the Rise and Shine Medal.”

  Henry grinned. “We could use those points. I left my trunk at the ferry in Dark Harbor,” he told Dave. “I slept in my clothes, so that saved time. I always get up early, though.”

  Dave sat down on Henry’s cot. “So does everybody around here. Just blast Rich’s tape recorder with that bugle music. I guarantee campers will jump out of their beds like bedbugs. I’ll get everybody in Driftwood Cabin around the flagpole by seven. That’s when Boo brings over the day campers on the ferry. See you.”

  Camp Seagull was still quiet when Henry walked toward Evergreen Lodge. On the way, he went by Cedar Cabin, hoping to see Jessie. Like her brother, she was an early bird.

  Sure enough, she was up and saw Henry go by. She stuck her head out the window over her bed.

  “Hi, Jess,” Henry whispered. “I see you slept in your clothes, too. I sure didn’t like having my campers find out I left my trunk in Dark Harbor. Makes me look as if I don’t know what I’m doing.”