Snowbound Mystery (3 page)
Benny said, “Now, what’s that?”
Henry called out, “Jessie! Violet! Are you girls all right? Don’t be afraid!”
“What’s the matter?” called Jessie.
“I don’t know yet,” said Henry. “But we’ll find out.”
T
he Aldens got up. It was cold and dark. Not much light came in from the window, and the fire in the fireplace was almost gone.
Henry looked up at the ceiling. He listened. “That must be a squirrel,” he said.
“One squirrel?” asked Benny. “It sounds like a dozen!”
“Oh, dear,” said Jessie. “I’ve been told the only way to get rid of squirrels when they get in a house is to kill them.”
“We won’t do that,” said Violet quickly.
“Don’t worry, we won’t do that,” Henry said. “But maybe we can scare them away. Watch, you lie down! Bring me one of those shovels, Ben.”
Benny was nearest the fireplace. He gave a long-handled shovel to his older brother. Henry began to pound on the ceiling with the long handle.
The noise stopped. Not a sound. After a minute it began again. Watch barked and ran around the rooms. Henry pounded again. The noise stopped.
“Now we’re in a fine fix!” Henry said. “We can stop the noise, but I don’t want to stand here all night pounding with a shovel.”
Jessie said, “I guess we’ll have to try to sleep and let the squirrels play.”
But Henry still stood looking up at the ceiling in the boys’ bedroom. It was made of wide boards and was not plastered.
“Ben, come here,” Henry called. “There’s something funny. The bedrooms have wooden ceilings. But the main room hasn’t any ceiling at all. It’s open to the roof—look, you can see the beams.”
Benny looked up. The squirrels were still running around. He said, “I think when the cabin was new the bedrooms didn’t have any ceilings. Someone must have had them put in later to make the bedrooms warmer.”
“That attic space over the bedrooms is all closed in,” Henry said. “I can’t see any trapdoor or any way to get up there from this part of the cabin. The squirrels must get in through some hole in the roof.”
“They have a fine little home up there, that’s for sure,” said Benny.
“Tomorrow I’ll go up on the roof and see how it looks,” Henry replied. “Maybe we can scare them out and close the hole. Do you think you can sleep, anybody?”
“I can if Watch doesn’t keep barking,” said Jessie. “We know what it is now, so we’re not scared.”
Watch stood wagging his tail and looked up at Jessie. She said, “It’s all right. You can stop barking.”
It was a strange thing. Watch did stop barking. The squirrels scratched and scratched, but Watch didn’t make a sound. Soon they were all asleep, Watch, squirrels, and all.
In the morning the Aldens dressed, and Henry built up the fire before they ate breakfast.
“We’d better go back to the store today and get some advice about squirrels,” said Jessie. “Mr. Nelson must know there are squirrels up in that attic. If he has been here three times, he must have heard them.”
The Aldens got ready as fast as they could. They took their knapsacks. Henry locked the door and put the key in his pocket.
Benny said, “Farewell, you squirrels! Come again never!”
It was a perfect day. It was even more beautiful than the day before. There was not a cloud in the sky. Jessie said, “I don’t think this weather is going to last very long. Grandfather would call this a weather breeder. It means a storm.”
“It doesn’t look like a storm,” said Benny.
“No, Benny, that is what a weather breeder is. A beautiful day that doesn’t last. Oh, well, never mind! We can get along even if it rains all the rest of the time.”
Halfway to the store, Henry stopped suddenly. He grabbed Watch by the collar and pointed with his finger. Everyone looked where he was pointing. It was a deer!
The beautiful animal stood perfectly still. With soft brown eyes, he looked at the strangers. Then Watch gave a bark, and the deer gave a high jump. There was a pile of rocks in front of him, and he went right over them and disappeared.
“What a jumper!” said Jessie. “He must have jumped ten feet. And it was uphill, too. Oh, look, there goes another! Look at that jump!”
“That was the doe,” said Henry. “Her horns aren’t as big.”
“But she can jump as well as the other one,” said Benny.
At last they reached the store. They told Mr. Nelson all about the squirrels.
“Yes,” he said, “I have heard them. Some people might try to poison them. But that wouldn’t work. More squirrels would come. I think your idea of stopping up the hole in the roof is best. Make sure the squirrels are all out, though, before you stop up the hole.”
Mrs. Nelson said, “Tom could let you take some boards and a hammer and nails, couldn’t you, Tom?”
“Sure,” said Mr. Nelson.
Then Jessie told Mrs. Nelson what they wanted to buy. “We want some hamburger and hot dogs for our Benny here, and we want some peanut butter—”
“I wish I could go too,” said Puggsy. “Can’t I go, Mommy?”
“No, you can’t.” Mrs. Nelson shook her head. But she was turning red again, and well she might. For Puggsy went on, “If you let me go, I won’t hunt for anything.”
Tom Nelson laughed, but he was uneasy. He said, “I must tell you that my grandfather built that cabin years ago. I suppose Puggsy thinks it is his cabin.”
“I’m sure he does,” said Jessie. “It’s all right. Don’t worry about him. He could come with us, but he would have to stay overnight.”
“Do you know where the spring water in the cabin comes from?” Henry asked Mr. Nelson.
“Yes, the water runs downhill from the spring. I know it is close to the cabin. You could look for it. I think there’s an old sign.”
“Well, here we go,” said Jessie. “Got everything, Henry?”
“Yes, some good boards and a hammer and nails.”
“We’ll be down again soon,” said Henry as he went out of the store.
When the store was out of sight, Jessie said, “Isn’t that the strangest thing?”
Benny said, “Something is wrong with those Nelsons! They are nice people, too. What’s wrong with them, Henry?”
“I wish I knew,” answered Henry. “I like Tom Nelson. But he certainly is worried about something.”
“One sure thing,” said Benny, “if they want to hide anything, they’d better not take Puggsy along!”
Everyone laughed.
Jessie exclaimed, “Oh, where’s Watch?”
They all looked around, but the dog was not there.
“Watch!” shouted Henry as loud as he could. They listened. Not a sound. Henry put down the hammer and nails and boards he was carrying.
“He can’t be far away,” said Jessie. “Watch!” she called. Then they all heard a faint whine. Instantly they ran toward the sound.
“I can hear Watch, but I can’t see him,” Benny called.
Henry ran toward some bushes. “Easy, old boy, I’m coming,” he called when Watch whined.
Then Henry stopped and pushed the bushes away. Now he saw why Watch had not come.
“It’s a hunter’s trap!” shouted Henry. “Watch has caught his hind paw in a trap.”
Watch lay on the ground trying to lick his hind paw. When he saw Jessie he looked up and wagged his short tail.
“Hold his foot, Jessie,” Henry said, “and I’ll force the trap open.” He picked up a heavy stick to push the jaws of the trap open.
In less than a minute Watch was free. He held up his back paw and hopped on three legs.
But Henry was angry. He said, “Those steel traps are against the law! Somebody is trying to catch a fox, but he’s lost his fox and his trap.”
Henry picked up the trap and took it with him. He did not want to say anything to worry Jessie and Violet, but he did not like the idea of someone setting traps in the woods. He hoped it was not anyone who used the hunters’ cabin. Indeed, he hoped that there were no strangers at all in the woods. But someone had set a trap.
Jessie looked at Watch’s paw, but it was not badly hurt.
They went back to the path, and Benny said, “Henry, I haven’t seen you mad for a long time.”
“Well, I don’t like this,” Henry said. “I wonder if the Nelsons know there is a trapper around here.” He went back to get the nails and hammer and boards.
The family went on without talking. Then when they were almost at the cabin Benny saw something near the path. It looked like an old, broken sign. He saw an arrow and the word “Spring.”
“Look!” said Benny. “Funny thing we didn’t see this sign before. We have been past it three times.”
Henry stopped. “I guess we were always thinking about something else. I’d like to find that spring. We are almost home, and it won’t take long.”
Everyone agreed—all but Watch. He was surprised to see his family go back up the hill. He thought he was going home to lunch. But he turned around, too, and trotted along beside Jessie. He did not even hold up his paw now.
There was a path, but it was a poor one. Henry and Benny were both thinking the same thing, but they did not know it. They were wondering if the spring had anything to do with what the Nelsons wanted to find.
“Not many people come to look at the spring, I guess,” said Violet. “It isn’t very easy walking.”
There was something about it that Violet did not like. Maybe it just seemed too lonely.
“I see it,” said Benny. “See that wooden cover? The spring must be under it.”
The cover was about a yard square. Henry and Benny lifted it from the front edge.
“Good,” said Henry. “It stands up by itself.”
The Aldens bent over to look inside. The sides of the spring were made of flat stones. The water was clear and about two feet deep.
It was just a spring. There was no mystery about it.
“This never freezes,” said Henry.
“Why not?” asked Benny. “How do you know?”
“Watch it, Ben,” said Henry. “See, the water is running in and out all the time? Probably the water comes from a spring ten feet deep.”
The Aldens turned to go home, and at that moment it suddenly began to rain. They all ran.
“These boards are getting wet already!” Henry called as he ran.
“You can’t fix the roof today,” called Benny.
“I never thought it would rain,” said Violet.
“It’s that old weather breeder,” said Benny. “Hurry up, Henry, and unlock the door. My hair is all wet.”
When the Aldens were safely in the cabin, Henry put more wood on the fire. Soon the place was warm and cozy. They sat around the fire, cooking hot dogs on sticks.
“Hold my stick,” Benny said to Violet. “I’ll get my radio. Maybe we can hear a weather report.”
The hot dogs were roasted when Benny said, “Listen, here’s the report.”
“Rain tonight and clearing tomorrow,” a voice on the radio said. “Mild weather will continue.”
“We aren’t going to be like Noah in the ark with forty days and forty nights of rain,” said Benny. “One afternoon and night are enough for me.”
T
he next morning the sun came out.
“What a beautiful day,” said Violet. “It’s perfect after that rain.”
“This is our day to go nutting,” Benny said.
If he had known it, it was their day for something else, too.
“Now what shall we put the nuts in?” Jessie asked, bustling around. “I guess the grocery bags are strong enough.”
“Let’s go right after breakfast,” said Benny. “We haven’t any beds to make. Nobody can make a sleeping bag.”
“I think the nut trees are about halfway to the store,” said Henry.
“Nothing to it,” said Benny. “A short walk.” He took an empty bag and started ahead with Watch.
Nobody knew how many nuts were left under the leaves. The woods seemed to be full of fat gray squirrels. They chased each other in the trees along the way and scolded the Aldens for walking in their woods.
After a while the Aldens found the nut trees. There were a great many of them, close together.
“Here we are,” said Jessie. “Let’s go to work.”
Benny found a long stick and began to turn over the dry leaves. Everyone else got a long stick, too. And there were the hickory nuts! Some had fallen down in their green shells. Some hickory nuts were just lying among the dry leaves, all husked.
“Leave the outside shells on,” said Henry. “We have all day to get them off.”
The bags began to fill. Nobody had been there to hunt nuts except the squirrels.
“How many do we want anyway?” asked Benny. “I have fifty-one.”
“Why do you ask, Ben? Don’t you like to pick them up?” asked Jessie.
“Oh, it’s all right,” said Benny. “But I am thinking we ought to go on to the store.”
“Yes,” said Henry. “Let’s leave the bags of nuts here.”
“No, sir!” said Benny. “I don’t trust those squirrels. They would find them just as soon as we went away, and they could open the bags, too. They might eat the bags and all!”
Benny stood still looking at a tree stump. He said, “Henry, we don’t want to carry four big bags of nuts a mile and a quarter and then back again. Why couldn’t we put the bags in that hollow stump and cover it with heavy branches?”
“We could,” said Henry. “Let’s try it.”