The Brown Fox Mystery (15 page)

“Okay,” they said as they went up the ladder like a couple of frightened monkeys.

When they arrived at the Lakeville Station a tall, thin man with watery eyes and one leg off at the knee, stumped up to the window and asked them what they wanted.

“I’d like to send a telegram, please,” said Djuna, “if the telegrapher is here.”

“I’m the telegrapher,” the man said in a tired voice. He pushed a pad of telegraph blanks and a pencil at Djuna and stood waiting.

“I guess I’ll have to sit down and figure out what I’m going to say,” Djuna said after a moment of worried concentration.

“Take your time, son,” the man said as Djuna and Tommy sat down on a long bench to compose their telegram.

It was very nearly a half hour before Djuna took his completed telegram back to the window. It was addressed to Mr. Socker Furlong, in care of the
Morning Bugle
, and read:

After Djuna had paid for the telegram he told the operator that he would wait around the station, or over at Scatterly’s store until an answer arrived.

“That’s all right,” the operator said. “If I can’t find you I’ll give the telegram to Captain Ben and he’ll bring it to you.” He stared at Djuna for a moment and added, “It’s a mighty funny thing what happened to that little ol’ lady. Captain Ben told me about it.”

“Yes, sir,” Djuna said and moved toward the door because he was afraid that his voice would break if he talked any more about Miss Annie.

But when he and Tommy got outside the station Djuna saw something sitting on a freight truck on the platform that drove Miss Annie out of his mind for the moment.

He saw a large packing case on the truck and he stared at it because he knew that he had seen it before, or one just like it. Then it came to him. He had seen it in the old icehouse at the north end of the lake when he and Captain Ben had gone there the day before!

Djuna went over and looked at the case carefully and saw that it had been shipped by Jones and Baldwin, and was consigned to a firm in a city that he knew was at the end of the branch railroad line that ran through Lakeville.

“What’s the matter with you?” Tommy asked impatiently. “Let’s go over and see if we can help Captain Ben organize—”

“I want to talk to the station agent first,” Djuna said and went back inside the station.

“Could I see the freight agent, please?” Djuna asked as the same tall, thin man stumped up to the window.

“I’m the freight agent, and I’m also the ticket agent,” the man complained in his tired voice. “What do you want?”

“I just wanted to know if there is sawdust in that packing case outside on the freight truck,” Djuna said. “I happened to notice that Jones and Baldwin, the men who are working over in the icehouse, sent it, and I was wondering if they had sent any before this one.”

“Yes, that’s what’s in it,” the man said sourly. “This is about the sixth one they’ve sent out of here, but I doubt if they ever send any more.”

“Would you mind telling me why?” Djuna asked.

“No, I don’t mind tellin’ you,” the man said. “They left here on that nine-eighteen train this morning.”

“That’s the one that goes around the lake and then north to Raritan?” Djuna asked. “Did they buy tickets?”

“That’s right. It waits on the sidin’ up beyond the north end of the lake for the train that’s due here at nine-thirty to come through. Of course they bought tickets,” the man said and started to turn away.

“Did they say they weren’t coming back again?” Djuna persisted.

“That’s just what they said,” the freight agent replied. “Lem Brayne brought ’em over here in that battered old jalopy of his and I heard Lem tell ’em that he would meet them in the city this evenin’. I guess Lem is pullin’ out again, and it’ll be good riddance. Now, are there any more questions you want to ask about other people’s business?”

“Ye—yes, please,” Djuna said eagerly. “If—if I pay for it, would you wire to the freight agent in Raritan, where that case out on the freight truck is addressed to, and ask him if the other cases Jones and Baldwin sent there have ever been called for?”

“Wire to ask if they’ve ever been called for?” the freight agent said in amazement. “Why should I? What business is it of yours?”

“I guess it’s none of my business,” Djuna said miserably. “But—” He stopped, and then he gulped and went on desperately. “You see,” he said, “I think if I knew whether those cases had been called for it might help me to find Miss Annie Ellery.”

“Well, I’ll be hornswoggled!” the freight agent exploded, and his voice wasn’t so tired now. “Say! If it’ll help find that little ol’ lady you can bet I’ll send a wire to find out if they’ve ever been called for. Sit down, sonny, I’ll git it right off!”

The man disappeared from the window and just as his telegraph key began to rattle the station door opened and Tommy stuck his head in the door and said, “Jeepers! Come on, will you? The airplane that is going to search for Miss Annie just landed on the lake! What are you waiting for?”

“I’m going to wait here for a while,” Djuna said, although he could hardly suppress the urge to go look at the amphibious plane that was going to search for Miss Annie. “You go ahead. I’ll be over to the landing in a little bit.”

“Okay,” said Tommy and he disappeared.

The minutes dragged along like hours as Djuna carefully read all the notices and signs posted on the walls and bulletin board inside the station. Although he read each sign with painstaking care he had no idea what he had read when he finished because other thoughts, thoughts that had to do with Miss Annie, were racing around in his mind like a squirrel in a cage.

When there wasn’t anything more to read inside he went out on the platform again and read the address on the packing box filled with sawdust. He was just copying the address down in his notebook when the station door opened and the freight agent and telegrapher came limping out. He had a very peculiar expression on his face and was muttering to himself as he came to a halt in front of Djuna.

“I’ll be hornswoggled if I know how you knew it, sonny,” he said, “but you was right. Them cases they shipped to Raritan before ain’t ever been called for. And our agent tried to locate the firm they were addressed to in the telephone book and there ain’t no such firm listed in the telephone book.”

“Thank you,” Djuna said. “Thank you very much. I—”

“That’s all right,” the freight agent interrupted and he was looking at Djuna in such a funny way that Djuna began to squirm under his gaze.

“What I’d like to know,” he went on, “is how in the name of Pithlahchascotee you can find that little ol’ lady by knowin’ them cases o’ sawdust wa’n’t called for in Raritan?”

“Oh, I can’t
exactly
,” said Djuna and he wished the man would stop asking him questions he couldn’t answer. “I just thought maybe they hadn’t been called for, and, if they hadn’t, it might fit in with a lot of other things that have happened. I don’t know just where it fits but it’s
got to
fit some place, you see.”

“No, I don’t see,” the man said and he looked more puzzled than ever, “but—” Then he stopped speaking to cock his head on one side and listen as the telegraph sounder began to click inside the station.

“They’re callin’ me,” the freight agent said as he started toward the door. “You better come inside. This might be an answer to your message.”

Djuna went inside and stood at the window and watched as the man tapped out an answer to his code call and then stuck a telegraph blank in his typewriter and sat down in front of it as the message began to come in. After a few seconds the man looked up at Djuna and nodded and Djuna knew that the message was from Socker Furlong.

After the man had confirmed the message with his own key he pulled the telegraph blank out of his typewriter and limped to the window to put the message in front of Djuna. It read:

“They’re coming!” Djuna exclaimed, and he would probably have danced up and down with joy if he had been alone with Tommy.

“Who are
they?
” the freight agent wanted to know.

“Two friends of mine,” Djuna said, “who are going to help me find Miss Annie.” Then he hurriedly changed the subject and said, “How much do I owe you for that telegram to Raritan?”

“You don’t owe me nothin’,” the freight agent said.

“What time will Mr. Furlong get here, do you think?” Djuna asked as he started to edge toward the door before the man asked him any more questions.

“I don’t know when he’s leavin’,” the freight agent replied, “but the next train from the south is No. 28 that gets in at eight-thirty this evenin’, an’ the next one after that don’t get in until one o’clock tomorrow mornin’. But what I want to know is—”

“Well, thank you, very much,” said Djuna as he opened the door. “I’ve got to see Captain Ben now. Good-by.”

He heard the freight agent shouting a question after him as the door closed and he started to run. He found Tommy gazing dejectedly down into Captain Ben’s boat from his perch on a piling at Scatterly’s dock.

“Socker Furlong and Sandy MacHatchet are coming on the first train they can get!” Djuna told Tommy. “But the first train won’t get here until eighty-thirty this evening, and if they miss that one they won’t get here until one tomorrow morning. Where’s Captain Ben?”

“He went some place with the Chief of Police and a couple of troopers,” Tommy said. “I—I asked the Chief of Police what we could do when you came over from the station and what do you think he said?”

“Golly, I don’t know,” said Djuna, but he could tell from the way Tommy looked that it had made Tommy pretty mad.

“He said, ‘You can go home and keep out of the way!’” Tommy said bitterly. “Then Captain Ben said he thought we better go on home, too. He said he had ordered some groceries and meat and things from Miss Winne for us to take home with us, and he said we’d have to get our own supper tonight because he might not be able to get over to our cottage until late, if he got there at all. I told him we could, all right.”

“Jeepers,” said Djuna, “of course we can. What happened to the airplane?”

“It only stayed on the lake a few minutes and then flew away,” Tommy said. “It’s an am-amphi—”

“Amphibian,” said Djuna. “It can land either on water or on the ground.”

“Yeah. That’s right,” Tommy said. “Let’s get our groceries.”

They went in Scatterly’s store and Miss Winne told them what was in their order and what to get for luncheon and how to cook their supper.

When she had finished Djuna said, “Would you please ask Captain Ben to meet the eight-thirty and one o’clock trains from the south? Tell him Mr. Furlong and Mr. MacHatchet are going to arrive on one of those trains.”

“Why, of course. I’ll be glad to, as soon as I see him,” said Miss Winne. Then she peered at Djuna anxiously and said, “Are you sure you boys are going to be all right?”

“Oh, sure,” Djuna assured her.

After Tommy and Djuna had put the box of groceries in their rowboat Djuna went over to Captain Ben’s boat and got the sixty-foot coil of rope that was lying in the prow and carried it over and put it in their rowboat too.

“Chattering chimps!” said Tommy, his eyes round. “What in the world are you going to do with that?”

“I—I’m not sure, yet,” Djuna said and a curious little smile lurked at the corners of his mouth. “But maybe we’ll have more to do with finding Miss Annie than the Chief of Police.”

“Hoddy-doddy!” said Tommy. “
What
are we going to do?”

“I told you I’m not sure yet.” Djuna said mysteriously. “As soon as I have figured it out I’ll tell you.”

When Tommy and Djuna had finished their luncheon of tongue sandwiches, large goblets of milk and store cake, and had fed Champ again, Djuna suggested that they go over to the McKelvey cottage and see if they could borrow Andy’s heliograph so that they could practice with it.

“Jeepers!” said Tommy. “Don’t you think we ought to be looking for Miss Annie instead of practicing on that?”

“No, I don’t,” said Djuna very seriously. “I sort of agree with the Chief of Police that there are so many people looking for her now that they’re getting in each other’s way.”

“But what do we want to practice with that for?” Tommy wanted to know.

“Because we might need it,” said Djuna and he didn’t try to explain what he meant by such a confusing answer.

“I think you know a lot more than you’ve told me,” Tommy said suspiciously.

“I don’t, honest,” said Djuna. “I’m just making a lot of guesses and trying to make them fit together. As soon as they really go together I’ll tell you.” Much to Djuna’s relief Tommy let it go at that.

When they arrived at the McKelveys’ Mrs. McKelvey wanted to know all about Miss Annie and what was being done to find her. After they had told her everything they knew, Mrs. McKelvey told them Andy and Don had gone to the city with their father.

When she saw Djuna’s expression, she said, “Was there anything special that you wanted?”

“I was going to try to borrow their heliograph so that Tommy and I could practice.” Djuna told her.

“Of course you can borrow it,” said Mrs. McKelvey with a smile. “I’ll get it for you. Do you want the tripod, too?”

“No, thanks,” Djuna told her. “Just the heliograph.”

Mrs. McKelvey disappeared and when she came back she was carrying the heliograph in the leather case Mr. McKelvey and Andy had made for it. There was a leather strap fastened to the case that you could slip over your shoulder to carry it easier.

“There you are,” she said as she handed the case to Djuna. “I don’t think Andy will want it back before day after tomorrow because he’ll be in the city most of the day, tomorrow, too.”