The Yellow House Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  CHAPTER 5

  The Next Move

  Mr. Alden read the letter again. Then he said, “Jessie, you say we don’t know any more than we did. But I think we do.”

  “Right,” said Jessie, laughing. “I think so myself, now. We know there is something up in Maine anyway.”

  “Yes, and we know more than that,” said her grandfather. “I had better tell you one other thing. Just before Bill disappeared, he sold two fine race horses for your great-grandfather. But he never paid over the money. He kept saying he would, but he never did. I always thought his brother got it away from him, and Bill went away to get it back. I may be wrong.”

  Joe said, “Maybe Bill was afraid to come back without the money.”

  “That’s what we thought,” said Mr. Alden. “You see, the week after Bill disappeared, his brother Sam was killed by a car. So he couldn’t help us find Bill.”

  “Did Mrs. McGregor know about the race horses and the money?” asked Jessie.

  “Yes. Poor Margaret! She never got over it,” answered Mr. Alden. “But she never thought Bill took the money.”

  “We know more than that, Uncle James,” said Joe. “We know it has something to do with Bear Trail.”

  “Do you know what Bear Trail means?” asked Benny.

  “Yes, I went over Bear Trail when I was fifteen years old,” answered Joe.

  “So you did, my boy!” cried Mr. Alden. “On that trail you have to go miles in a canoe, and then carry the canoe. You were very strong when you came back from that first trip.”

  “I liked it so well that later I was a guide for two years,” said Joe. “But I haven’t seen Bear Trail for a long time.”

  “Where is this Bear Trail?” asked Alice.

  “Let’s go home,” said Joe for an answer. “I can show you on the map.”

  “O.K.” said Benny. “I don’t think we’ll find any more clues in this room.”

  When they were driving home, Alice said, “I can’t think what the little house in Maine means. Bill’s yellow house is on Surprise Island.”

  “We’ll have to solve the other mysteries first, I guess,” said Henry. “Then maybe we will understand the rest.”

  “You all sit on the porch while I get the map,” said Joe, stopping the station wagon at the front steps.

  Soon the map was open on the porch table. The children sat around it. Joe began to point with his pen.

  “Bear Trail starts from the highway right here,” he said.

  “Then you come to a lake. Here it is. There is a camp on this lake. Anyway, there used to be.”

  “That’s where the canoe comes in?” Benny asked.

  “Right. It’s a beautiful trip. I think I know exactly where to go from here. You paddle the canoe as far as you can. Then you get out and carry the canoe. The woodsmen call that a ‘carry.’ You can go miles and miles this way. You don’t see a house for days.”

  Henry looked at his grandfather. Jessie did the same. Everyone on the porch was looking at Mr. Alden as he sat in his easy chair.

  “Yes, yes! I know what you want!” he said, smiling and nodding his head. “You all want to go up to Maine and hunt for Bill.”

  “Yes, that’s it, Grandfather,” said Benny. “But you always let us do things in summer when there isn’t any school. Joe and Alice want to go too.”

  Mr. Alden looked at Joe sharply. “Do you?” he asked.

  “Yes, we really do,” said Joe, after looking at Alice. “We both love a mystery. We both love camping and canoeing. Alice is a great paddler in a canoe, and I have two weeks left before I have to go back to work.”

  “Well, if you want to spend your two weeks that way, it’s all right with me,” said Mr. Alden at last.

  “He means we can all go!” shouted Benny. “Don’t you, Grandfather?”

  “I suppose so,” said Mr. Alden. “You’ll have to carry a lot of things with you. Those ‘carries’ are hard work, my boy.”

  “Henry’s strong,” said Benny. “He could carry a lot of things. And so could Alice. She’s very strong, too.”

  “Well, well! Thank you, Benny,” said Alice, surprised.

  “We’ll all be stronger when we get home,” said Henry. “I’ve been wondering what that letter means, Grandfather. Just as Alice said, ‘Your little house in Maine.’ His yellow house is on Surprise Island.”

  “I don’t know myself,” said Mr. Alden. “But I know that Bill built the yellow house on Surprise Island. He did all the work himself with the help of his brother.”

  “Brother? Does this brother have anything to do with this mystery?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so,” said Mr. Alden. “I never liked his brother. He was always in trouble.”

  “You think Bill’s brother wrote the letter?” asked Jessie.

  “I certainly do,” said Mr. Alden. “I think S. M. means Sam McGregor.”

  “Ho-hum,” said Benny.

  “Now what does that mean—Ho-hum?” asked Joe, laughing.

  “It means we’d better stop talking and get started on this trip,” said Benny.

  “What a family!” said Joe. “Always doing something exciting.”

  Mr. Alden said, “You might as well get some of your things ready right away.”

  “Oh, let’s,” said Benny, jumping up.

  Joe stood up too, and began to think aloud. “We can get two canoes up there,” he said slowly. “Do you think you could carry one, Henry, with one of the others to help you?”

  “I’m sure I could,” said Henry. “We can’t take too many things. We’ll have to carry food, and packs on our backs, won’t we?”

  “That’s right,” said Joe. “We can get tents up there too. There is a store on that first lake where we can buy what food we need for the trip. We don’t have to carry the canoes very far.”

  “We can go to Maine in the station wagon, Joe,” said Violet softly.

  “Right,” said Joe, smiling at his little cousin. “I knew that was a good thing to buy. Now you children get to work and write down the things you want to take. We can get blankets up there, too.”

  “No, sir! You take blankets from here, Joe,” said Mr. Alden suddenly. “Get your clothes and blankets made into packs right here where I can see them. I’m not going to have Violet get cold sleeping in the Maine woods.”

  Soon there was a great noise around the house. The children ran up and down stairs. Watch went up and down every time. Then Joe showed them how to make sleeping bags. First the blankets were put on the floor and folded once. Then they were sewed on one side to make a bag. Their clothes were put in piles on the blankets.

  “Now fold them over and over this way,” said Joe, “and put these straps around them. I have a lot more straps in my camping things.”

  “I see,” said Benny. “The strap goes around your back. Mine isn’t heavy at all. I could carry some bacon and eggs too.”

  “Bacon,” said Henry, “but no eggs. We can’t take eggs, can we, Joe?”

  “Not whole eggs,” said Joe. “Dried eggs. We can have scrambled eggs. Dried milk and canned milk, both.”

  “Dried everything,” said Benny. “I don’t care.”

  Before night came, the family was ready for the trip.

  Then Joe turned to his uncle. “Don’t be worried, Uncle James,” he said. “I promise you we will stop and eat on the way up. We’ll eat well before we go on the canoe trip. Then we will be all right for a few days, if we don’t have so much to eat.”

  “Good,” said Mr. Alden. “Everything is ready then.”

  “No,” said Jessie. “Nobody has said anything about Watch.”

  “Oh, we can’t take the dog!” began Joe. “He might tip the canoe over.”

  Then he looked at the faces of the four children. They were thinking fast. He went on, “Really, I don’t think we had better take Watch.”

  “You’re right, Joe,” said Henry at last. “We can’t take Watch. But he will have a good time at home.”

  “
Yes,” said Mr. Alden. “Watch will keep me from being lonesome, and I will keep him from being lonesome.”

  Benny made them all feel better by saying, “Let’s have him stay home. But don’t let’s tell him he can’t go until tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Starting for Camp

  It was a pleasant ride to Maine. They ate lunch on the way. Soon after lunch, Joe turned into a bumpy side road and drove carefully through the woods. Suddenly he pointed ahead to a pretty blue lake on the side of the road. “There is the end of our station wagon ride.”

  The children looked out as he steered the station wagon up to the door of a little store, and stopped. “All out!” he said.

  “Now for the fun!” cried Alice. “What a lot of things we’ll buy here!”

  The storekeeper came to the door to see who was stopping.

  “You don’t remember me, Mr. Long,” said Joe. “But I was a guide up here once.”

  “Sure I remember you. You’re Joe Alden. Glad to see you. Going on a canoe trip? These all your children?”

  “No,” laughed Joe. “This is my new wife, and these are my four young cousins.”

  “How do you do?” said Benny politely. “Oh, Mr. Long, you have canoes over there.”

  “I have everything for a canoe trip,” said Mr. Long with a smile. “Going three in a canoe? I can fix you up all right. You’ll need two. You’ll need some tents, too.”

  They all went into the store. “Oh, look!” cried Benny, happily. “All kinds of tin dishes and tin cans. And let’s have some pancakes for breakfast!” He took down a box of pancake flour.

  “Benny,” said Jessie, kindly, “I think you’d better let Joe tell us what to buy. He knows what we can carry.”

  “Well, yes, Jessie,” said Joe. “But Benny is right about the pancakes. Just wait until you smell them cooking in the early morning.”

  Mr. Long put the things in a big bag. “Flour, salt, sugar, bacon, dried eggs, canned milk, potatoes, beans, onions, canned fruit,” said Alice. “We won’t go hungry with that.”

  “Tin dishes to eat out of and tin dishes to cook in,” said Jessie.

  They went outdoors to look at canoes.

  “I can take care of your station wagon,” said Mr. Long. “Just leave it here.” He turned over two canoes and helped Joe push them half into the lake.

  Joe thanked him. Then he said, “Just a minute, Mr. Long. We want to ask you something before we go. We are really up here to look for an old man who is lost. He would be about seventy years old now, but he has been lost for almost forty years.”

  “His name is Bill McGregor,” said Benny.

  “Never heard of him. I’m sorry,” said Mr. Long, shaking his head.

  “We’re sorry, too,” said Violet sadly.

  Mr. Long looked at the gentle little girl. “I’ll keep my ears open,” he said. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything about your man.”

  “Please do,” said Joe. “We’re about ready.”

  “I want to go in the canoe with Joe!” cried Benny, jumping up and down.

  “Well, you can,” said Joe after thinking a minute. “You are light and I am heavy. Henry, I will take Jessie, too. You take Violet and Alice.”

  “That’s nice,” said Alice. She smiled at Violet. “I’d like to go with you, and I can help Henry paddle if he needs me.”

  “I’ll put the bag of food, the tent bag, and one blanket roll in the middle of our canoe, Benny,” said Joe. “Then you sit down near them and don’t move.

  “Henry’s canoe can carry the other blanket roll and the bag of dishes.”

  When everything was loaded, Mr. Long gave the canoes a last push into the lake.

  “Oh, isn’t this lovely!” cried Jessie, as her canoe began to slide through the smooth blue water. “What a beautiful lake this is.” She looked back to see Henry taking up his paddle. Then both canoes were on their way.

  “Keep near me, Henry,” Joe called back. “Then we can shout to each other.”

  Benny was looking at a spot in the lake. “Is this water very deep, Joe?” he asked.

  “Oh, yes, very deep.”

  “Is it deeper than a tree?” asked Benny, still looking at the spot.

  “Oh, yes, much deeper than a tree in the middle,” answered Joe laughing. “Why do you ask?”

  “Well, there’s a tree growing in the lake over there, almost in the middle,” cried Benny. “But it’s moving!”

  “Moving? A tree?” cried Joe. “Why—it’s a moose! He’s swimming across the lake. Those branches are his antlers, Benny. Hoo-hoo, Henry! Look! A moose!” He pointed at the moose as he shouted to Henry.

  But the swimming animal had heard the shouts. He had seen the canoes. He turned around and began to swim as fast as he could toward the shore. When he got near the edge, he splashed through the shallow water and ran out of sight into the bushes.

  “Well, well!” said Jessie. “Always something interesting on a canoe trip. Wasn’t he a big one, though.”

  “Keep your eyes open,” said Joe. “You may even see a bear.”

  “Really, Joe?” asked Jessie.

  “Well, not right here,” answered Joe. “They don’t come down here very much. But we may see a bear before we go home.”

  “And fish!” cried Jessie. “Did you see that fish jump right out of the water?”

  “Yes, I did,” said Joe. “He was a big fellow.”

  “Let’s go fishing!” cried Benny.

  “We can’t stop now,” said Joe. “We’ll have to paddle right along to make camp for the night.”

  “Are you going to build a fire, Joe?”

  Joe smiled. “Yes, indeed,” he said. “I can build a fire because I was a guide once. Nobody can build a fire in the Maine woods except a guide.”

  “I’m glad you’re a guide, then,” said Benny. “What are you going to cook for supper?”

  “A secret,” said Joe laughing. “And we may have company. Yes, I think I can promise you company.”

  “Who in the world could it be?” Jessie asked. “You don’t mean Bill, do you?”

  “No, not Bill,” said Joe quickly.

  Then Jessie remembered that Joe had talked quietly with Mr. Long in front of the store. No one else heard a word the two men had said.

  “I bet that’s a secret, too,” said Benny.

  “Right,” answered Joe.

  CHAPTER 7

  Company in the Woods

  Henry paddled almost as fast as Joe for about two hours. Then Joe could see that Henry was behind him. “Tired, Henry?” Joe shouted, slowing down and waiting for Henry to catch up.

  “A little, Joe,” Henry shouted back. “How far is it?”

  “Not very far now,” said Joe. “Look over there!” He pointed at a spot down the lake. “Three trees! Camp!”

  Henry saw the spot at once. “I can paddle that far,” he called back.

  So they started out once more.

  “It will take some time to get the camp ready for the night,” Joe told Jessie. “I want to get there long before dark.”

  “We have to get supper, too,” said Benny.

  “Don’t forget the company,” said Joe, winking at Jessie.

  Everyone was now looking at the three trees. As they came nearer they could see a beach where canoes could land. Near the beach there was an open place.

  Soon, with a strong push of his paddle, Joe sent his canoe up on the beach. Henry’s canoe came along beside it, and Joe and Henry jumped out.

  They helped everyone out. Then they pulled the two canoes up on the beach almost out of the water, and tied them to a tree.

  “So they won’t float away,” said Benny, watching.

  “Take everything out,” cried Joe. “Put it in this open place. Here’s one of the best camping places in Maine.”

  “A long wooden table all made!” cried Henry. “And places to sit. That’s good.”

  “What a nice smell here,” said Violet to Alice. “I just love t
he smell of evergreen trees. It makes me think of the dear old boxcar days.”

  “I don’t see any company, though,” said Benny, looking around.

  “Well, you will,” said Joe. He seemed to be very sure. “The first thing will be a campfire because we are so hungry. The next thing will be the tents, because we will soon be sleepy.”

  He took out an axe. “Here is a path. We’ll follow it and cut down two small trees, not evergreens though. These trees must be just right. Look at this picture. See, the top must have a fork. But the fork must be one-sided, so we can drive the tree into the ground.”

  All four children looked at the picture, and started to walk down the path.

  “Wait a minute,” said Joe. “There is something else we must find. Do you see the pail hanging over the fire on a long branch? We must have a long branch like that, with a fork at the top, and another to hang our water pail on.”

  “But trees don’t grow like that,” said Jessie. “All branches grow one way, don’t they, Joe?”

  “You just look around,” said Joe, smiling. “You might find one.”

  First the children began to look for a tree that was not an evergreen. It was Violet who saw the first one. Joe said the fork was just right. Henry began to cut it down. Jessie and Benny soon found another just like it.

  “Joe! Wait! I hear something,” called Jessie suddenly.

  They all stood still and listened. Far in the woods they heard someone whistling. Joe laughed. “Company!” he said.

  The whistling came nearer. “Hi!” shouted Joe.

  “Hi!” answered a deep voice. Just then, the children saw a white-haired man in a brown coat, carrying a very large pack. His face was brown from the sun, his blue eyes were kind.

  “This is Mr. Hill, children,” said Joe, smiling at the stranger. “Mr. Long tells me he is one of the best guides in Maine.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t say that,” laughed the man. “I suppose you are Joe Alden. Want me to build your shelter-half and cook you some cornbread?”

  “Cornbread!” cried Alice. “I just love cornbread.”

  “Me too!” shouted Benny. “But what’s a shelter-half?”

  “You would ask that, Benny,” said Henry laughing. “But we don’t know, either.”