The Canoe Trip Mystery (6 page)

Henry agreed. “We don't have too much further to go,” he said. “We can all sleep in one tent if we have to. Our big problem will be finding new paddles.”

“Why don't we try to find some long poles in the woods?” Jessie suggested.

“That might work,” Henry said, but he sounded doubtful. “Still, it would be hard to find just the right size and shape. Even if we did, it would be hard to grip rough wood for a very long time.”

“We have two paddles in our canoe,” Aunt Jane reminded him. “Just take one of ours. We can both manage with only one paddle.”

Henry looked serious. “The only problem is we have some small rapids to cross just before White Pine. It might be hard to dothat with only one person paddling.”

“I think we'll be all right,” Aunt Jane said. She was an excellent canoeist, and she knew Henry was very skilled as well.

“It looks like another storm is coming,” Jessie remarked. “We might as well stay at this campsite another night and not try to cross rapids in this weather. We still have time before we're supposed to meet Grandfather.”

“Good idea,” Violet said. She stood up and wiped the cracker crumbs from her lavender shorts. “Besides, now that we're finally on Catfish Lake, we should be looking for clues to solve that riddle.”

“That's what I was thinking,” Benny said.

“Oh, my goodness, there's Rob,” Aunt Jane said. “I'd forgotten all about him.”

Rob slowly limped toward them from the bunkhouse. He looked very pale, and there were big dark circles under his eyes.

“It seems like his ankle is worse,” Aunt Jane said softly.

“You're here!” Rob exclaimed to Aunt Jane, Jessie, and Benny as he came closer.

“Yes, we made it,” Aunt Jane laughed. “It was lucky Henry and I planned our route before we left. I knew he would be heading to this campsite.”

“Would you like some peanut butter and crackers?” Violet asked shyly.

Rob rubbed his eyes and sat down beside Aunt Jane. He looked very worried. “No, thank you. I think I'll just make myself some coffee. I'm not very hungry.”

“Did you know we were robbed?” Henry asked him.

A little more color seemed to drain from Rob's face. “No, I had no idea,” he said.

“They took everything we left in the canoe,” Henry explained.

“Even the paddles,” Benny added.

“Angela?” Rob asked.

“We're not sure.” Henry looked closely at Rob. “But she's gone now.”

“What a shame.” Rob shook his head.

“We're staying here another night,” Benny announced. “There are some things we want to look for in the woods.”

Henry gave Benny a warning look, but Rob didn't seem to notice.

“Okay,” Rob said, but his thoughts seemed faraway. “I'll be in the bunkhouse if you need me. I need to catch up on some sleep.”

As they walked through the woods in back of the bunkhouse, Jessie told Henry all about meeting Matt and Bill.

“They didn't act like forest rangers,” Benny added.

Henry sighed. “I think we should sit down and talk about all this.” He pointed to some big boulders under the trees. When they were all seated, he told Jessie, Benny, and Aunt Jane how mysterious Rob had been acting.

“He hasn't been himself since we ran into Angela,” Violet added.

“That doesn't mean he took our stuff,” Jessie said. She hated to think that Rob might be a thief.

“I can't prove he took anything.” Henry sighed. “All I know is he wasn't in the bunkhouse all evening. After he met Angela, wedidn't see him again until this morning.”

“He didn't seem to like Angela any more than we did,” Violet added.

“No, but I think he knows more than he's letting on,” Henry remarked.

Jessie pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of her rain jacket. “I think we should make a list of all the people we suspect,” she said.

“It seems like no one wants us on this trail,” Violet said. “But I still think Angela is the most suspicious.”

“I think so, too,” Benny added.

“But,” Henry said, “how would she have had time to take all our things, pack them away somewhere, and get away?”

“I'll put Angela on the list along with Lorenzo, Rob, Matt, and Bill,” Jessie said. “All of them, except maybe Rob, have tried to talk us out of continuing our trip.”

“Well, Matt and Bill didn't really try to stop us,” Benny said.

“No,” Jessie agreed. “But they seemed suspicious. They said they were forest rangers, but they didn't act like real rangers,” Jessiereminded her brother. “And they asked a lot of questions.”

“Do you think Lorenzo is really a scientist?” Benny asked.

“I don't know,” Jessie answered. “There are certainly people on this trail pretending to be things they aren't.” Jessie wrote
scientist
with a question mark next to Lorenzo's name.

“It's funny, everyone's acting so strange,” Violet remarked. “What do they think we know?”

“Or what do they think we'll find out?” Henry said.

“Let's see.” Jessie was still busy writing. “I believe Lorenzo was the only person we talked to about the riddle.”

“That's right,” Henry nodded. “And we didn't talk to anyone about the coin robberies.”

“We won't know anything about the coins unless we look for some clues,” Benny reminded his family. Everyone agreed. Benny ran on ahead and disappeared in a grove of pine trees.

Jessie put away her paper and chased afterhim. “We don't really know what we're looking for,” she said as they both stopped to catch their breath.

They were surrounded by pine and oak trees. The trees were so tall, they blocked out what little light there was that day.

Benny walked on ahead while Jessie waited for Violet to catch up.

“I wish it weren't so overcast,” Violet commented when she reached her sister. “It makes this forest look very eerie.”

“There's a big meadow up ahead,” Benny said, running back to his sisters. “I also saw another old house.”

“Really? Let's go see it,” Jessie said. By then Henry and Aunt Jane had joined them. Together, they all walked quickly through the woods to the meadow.

The meadow around the house was large and overgrown. Clumps of buttercups and daisies grew near the house.

“Oh, look at all these beautiful flowers!” Violet said. Her eyes were shining.

“Oh, Violet, don't waste time pickingflowers. Come see the big old house.” Benny took his sister's hand.

“Okay. Benny, I'm coming.” Violet laughed and ran toward the house with her brother.

“Careful, those steps don't look too safe,” Aunt Jane warned Benny and Violet.

The house was built of wood and painted a faded mustard yellow. It had white shutters and a porch that sagged. The porch steps were broken and so were many of the windowpanes.

“This house must be about one hundred years old,” Henry said.

Benny climbed onto the porch. “I don't think anyone lives here,” he said.

“No, it looks abandoned,” Henry agreed.

Benny pulled on the ornate doorknob. “It's locked,” he reported. He tugged some more, but soon gave up and went around to the back.

“Hey!” he called to the others. “I've found something else!”

They found Benny standing by an oldstone well near the back of the house.

“That's an old well, Benny,” Henry said. “It must belong to the house. It was probably built before there was running water.”

“That's it!” Violet's eyes were shining. The others looked puzzled.

“What's it?” Henry asked.

“Remember the riddle?” Violet asked. Jessie smiled and pulled a piece of paper out of her big pocket.

“‘Silver and gold coins, so well hidden,'” she read.

“Of course,” Henry smiled. “The coins are hidden
in a well
!”

“And we are near Catfish Lake,” Jessie reminded them all.

Henry leaned over the edge of the well.

“Can you see anything?” Benny asked a bit impatiently.

“Be careful,” Aunt Jane warned Henry.

“Don't worry, Aunt Jane,” Henry said. He was leaning so far into the well, his voice sounded muffled.

“Well, do you see anything?” Benny repeated.

“No,” Henry answered. “Maybe I should go back for my flashlight.”

“I have an idea,” Jessie said. “Why don't we first see if any of these stones are loose?” She began prying the stones on the top.

Henry, Violet, Benny, and Aunt Jane set to work helping her. To Benny it seemed as if more than an hour had gone by before Violet shouted, “I found a loose stone.”

The others crowded around her. The loose stone was three rows down from the top of the wall.

“Careful,” Henry warned. “You don't want all the stones around it to fall out, too.”

“This is the only stone that's loose,” Jessie pointed out.

Slowly, Jessie and Violet wiggled and pried the stone until it came out from the wall of the well.

“Is there anything behind it?” Benny asked.

“Yes, I see something,” Jessie reported excitedly. She reached in the hole and slowly pulled out a brown leather pouch.

“Wow, it's really heavy,” she said as shedropped it onto the ground.

They all sat in the long grass by the well and watched Benny unbuckle the pouch. Inside were almost one hundred gold and silver coins.

“Oh, some of these coins are so pretty,” Violet exclaimed. She held up a silver coin with an oak tree engraved on it. “This one is dated 1652.” She laid the coin on a rock.

“Most of them seem to be early American colonial coins,” Aunt Jane said. She fingered a large gold piece from the 1700s with an eagle on it.

“Look at this one!” Henry almost shouted. He held up a heavy gold coin. It had an engraving of a sunrise coming up over mountains on one side. On the back was an eagle with a shield and the date—1787.

“Do you know what that is?” A familiar voice spoke behind them. Without waiting for an answer, the voice continued. “It's a famous gold doubloon. Some collectors would do anything to get their hands on it.”

The Aldens turned to find Rob staring at the coins laid out on the rock.

CHAPTER 9

Rob's Story

“I
guess I owe you an explanation,” Rob said. He put his walking stick down and sat by the Aldens in the long grass.

“You've just found one of the most valuable private collections of early American coins in the country,” he continued.

“Was it stolen about a year ago?” Henry asked, remembering the conversation in the pizzeria.

“Yes.” Rob nodded. “From Mr. Orville Withington. He hired me as a private detective to try to find it.”

“So you're not a burglar?” Benny sounded very relieved.

“Benny,” Jessie groaned.

Rob chuckled. “No, Benny, I'm not, but I don't blame you for being suspicious of me.” He sighed. “You see,” he explained, “I really couldn't tell anyone my identity.”

“What made you think the coins would be hidden here in the woods?” Aunt Jane asked.

“Well, it was a hunch, really,” Rob answered. “To answer that question, I think I'd better start at the beginning.”

Aunt Jane and the Aldens nodded and waited, a bit impatiently, for him to go on. Rob leaned against the big granite boulder and continued his story.

“You see, Mr. Withington is a very wealthy and also a very kind man. I always thought that some of the people who worked for him took advantage of his good nature.”

“You think someone who worked for him took the coins?” Henry asked.

“Yes,” Rob answered. “Even the police strongly believed it was an inside job, and there were a number of possibilities. Mr.Withington employed a cook, a maid, a housekeeper, a chauffeur, a personal secretary, several gardeners, and an illustrator.”

“An illustrator?” Violet asked.

“Yes, she was doing drawings of the coins to be published in a book. The collection was stolen before she could finish.”

“Who did Mr. Withington suspect?” Jessie wondered.

“Well, he didn't really suspect anyone at first. He's very trusting,” Rob said. “But the police thought the robbery must have been done by someone who knew Mr. Withington's habits extremely well. Nothing but the coins were taken, and nothing else in the house was disturbed.

“When Mr. Withington hired me,” Rob went on, “I checked up on all the people who worked for him. The illustrator, the chauffeur, and two of the gardeners had been with him less than a year. All the others have worked for him for a very long time and are like his family.”

“Like Mrs. McGregor is to us,” Bennywhispered to Jessie. She nodded at her brother.

Rob cleared his throat. “Right after the robbery, the illustrator left rather suddenly. At first, Mr. Withington thought it was because there was no more work for her.”