“I’m surely glad you came home to help,” Mrs. Belden said. “This has been a day when everything seemed to go wrong. I haven’t had a minute to feed the chickens, and Bobby has been so cross.”
“I wasn’t cross,” Bobby called from the couch in the den. “I just wanted to get up and play with Reddy, and Moms never letted me.”
“That’s another thing,” Mrs. Belden said. “I haven’t seen Reddy since morning. He always keeps Bobby amused. He’s never stayed away from him this long before. Open a can of his food and go out and call him, please, Brian.”
Brian called, “Reddy! Here, Reddy! Come, Reddy!”
But no Reddy came bounding out of the woods as he usually did at the first sound of his name.
“He didn’t come when I called, Moms,” Brian said and put the can of dog food on the table in the kitchen.
“It’s strange,” Mrs. Belden said. “He probably chased a rabbit far into the heart of the game preserve. The Wheelers’ gamekeeper, Mr. Maypenny, won’t like that at all.”
“Mr. Maypenny is away,” Trixie said.
“I want my dog,” Bobby wailed. “My dog is losted. Please find my dog.”
“He isn’t lost, lamb,” Trixie said. “He’ll be home soon.”
Trixie wasn’t sure of what she was saying. She could see that her mother was concerned, too, and that Brian was worried. The whole family loved the playful Irish setter.
“He is too losted. I’ll go and hunt for him myself,” Bobby insisted.
“I’m sure he’ll be home soon,” his mother assured him. “Trixie will read to you, Bobby.”
“Don’t want another old story. I only like the ones Brom tells me. Where’s Brom? Is he losted, too? He didn’t come to see me for two years!” Bobby was tired of being kept in the house all the time, and he was unreasonable.
“Look out the window, lamb,” Trixie said. “That’s right, you may get up and go to the window. See who’s there!”
“It’s Jim!” Bobby cried. “He’s riding Jupiter! Moms, may I go out and see Jupiter and Jim?”
“No, you may not, Bobby. Why do you continue to ask me if you may go out-of-doors when the doctor said you couldn’t until the weather grows warmer?” Mrs. Belden was tired or she would never have lost patience with any of her children, and least of all with Bobby.
Bobby did not notice, however. He put his face up against the window. Jim turned Jupiter so the big horse’s black nose was pressed against Bobby’s, with just the glass between.
“Come in, Jim, and talk to me,” Bobby insisted. “Bring Jupiter in to see me!”
Jim laughed. “I can’t do that, Bobby,” he called, “but I’ll put Jupiter out in the barn. Then I’ll come in for a while.”
“Give Jupiter some oats to eat!” Bobby shouted. “Call Reddy, too, please. I’m afraid Reddy is really losted, Moms,” he said as he lay down again on the couch in the study. “Jim will go and find him for me.”
“What’s this about Reddy?” Jim asked when he came in through the kitchen.
“I don’t know,” Trixie answered. “He doesn’t come when we call him. It’s never happened before, especially if he hasn’t been fed all day. Did you call him?”
“As loud as I could call when I came out of the barn,” Jim said. “Don’t you think someone should go and hunt for him?”
“I thought so, but Moms is worried. She doesn’t want us to go far from the farm. She thinks a blizzard is coming. Bobby is fretting so, though.”
Trixie turned to her mother, “Moms, won’t you please let us go? Brian and I know our way through all the woods around here. We’ve been in blizzards before. Please!”
“If you don’t let Trixie go and find my dog I’ll get sick again,” Bobby called from the study.
“I’ll go with you to look for Reddy,” Jim said. “I can leave Jupiter in the barn here till I come back. Don’t you think it would be all right if the three of us were together, Mrs. Belden?”
Trixie looked expectantly at her mother.
“I just don’t know what to say,” Mrs. Belden replied. “If your father were only here,” she added, “but he is in New York on business. He won’t be back till tomorrow.”
“Reddy’ll just die if they wait till tomorrow,” Bobby cried. “Pill … eease let Trixie go and find my dog.”
“What’s all the fuss about, Moms?” Brian asked. “You’re not usually so reluctant to let us do anything.”
“I’m nervous,” Mrs. Belden said. “It sounds foolish, but I’m afraid something will happen.”
“What kind of something?” Trixie asked. “You’re imagining things.”
“Maybe I am,” her mother agreed. “Why don’t you let the boys go by themselves?”
“Trixie is the one who will find my dog,” Bobby cried. “I want Trixie to go.”
“Very well,” Mrs. Belden said. “But if it starts to snow hard you come back, will you?”
“If we think the storm is turning into a blizzard, we will,” Trixie answered, exultant. She loved to be out in a storm. She loved any kind of adventure, and almost any kind of hazard. In a few minutes she was back with her big car coat, and with a woolen scarf to tie over her head.
“Jim, you take this heavy sweater,” Mrs. Belden said. “You’re just dressed for riding. Do you have your flashlights? Remember, Trixie, this is no adventure. You’re going to find Reddy, and when you find him, you come right straight back home!”
“Brian and I will try to curb her curiosity,” Jim said and winked at Trixie as the three of them left.
The thing Jim liked best about Trixie was her spirit of adventure, her readiness to go anywhere any time and not hold back, afraid, as so many girls did.
Lately Jim had been noticing, too, that Trixie was a pretty girl. Just now his eyes brightened in approval at the picture she made in her great red car coat and scarlet scarf. Her eyes were as clear blue as a summer sky, and her cheeks flushed pink with excitement.
Trixie looped a leash over her arm. It was an indignity Reddy seldom suffered. He hated a leash, but he must be taught that he could not run away.
They set off briskly through the woods. From time to time they stopped to call the setter. “Reddy! Here, Reddy! Come, boy!”
There was no response.
“Maybe someone picked him up,” Jim said. “Someone in a car over on Glen Road.”
“It would take a squad of mounted police to get Reddy into a strange car,” Trixie said. “I’m worried.”
“Now don’t go feminine on us,” Brian warned.
“Brian Belden, you’re worried yourself!” Trixie said.
“Both of you had better be a little worried,” Jim said, pushing his way through the path. “Do you see how the wind has changed? Where is the sun?”
“It’s getting late in the day,” Trixie said. “It must be past four o’clock. No, Jim, you’re right! Listen to that wind!”
“It’s about ten degrees colder, too,” Brian said, beating his chest to keep the blood circulating. “Where is that dog? Here, Reddy! Here, Reddy!”
“How do you know he even came this way?” Jim asked.
“He always has followed this path, or gone into the woods on this part of the preserve,” Trixie answered. “He’s here in the forest somewhere.”
“But where?” Brian asked. “I don’t like the way that wind is acting.”
“Now who’s scared?” Trixie asked.
“Maybe you should go back, Trixie,” Jim suggested.
“I’ll never do that,” Trixie answered. “I’ll go back when both of you go back, and not before. I don’t think I’d go back even then. Just think of listening to Bobby cry all night long if we don’t find Reddy. No, I’m going right on.”
“You’ll have to do the explaining to Moms,” Brian said, “if we get lost. I hope you know where we are. I don’t. Do you, Jim?”
“I … don’t … think … so,” Jim said slowly. “Trixie, let’s make one last attempt to call Reddy. Then we m
ust turn back. Okay?”
“Yes, Jim,” Trixie said meekly. “But I don’t want to give up.”
Brian and Jim beat back the snow-covered bushes on each side of the path and called, “Here, Reddy!”
There was no answering bark, only silence.
“Here, Reddy!” Trixie called softly, coaxingly. “Here, Reddy boy! Come, Reddy!”
A half moan, half bark answered her.
“He’s near here!” she called to the boys. “Right around here someplace. Where are you, Reddy? I’m coming!”
The whimper and bark grew a little louder. They turned in its direction. The snow was coming down in a thick heavy cloud. Even beneath the trees the fall was so dense they could see only a little way ahead of them in the fast-gathering dusk.
“Reddy?” Trixie kept calling. “Reddy?” The answering whine was so near she almost stumbled over the big red dog lying on the ground.
“What is it, Reddy?” Trixie asked, down on her knees at his side. “Good Reddy, good dog, are you hurt?” Reddy licked her hand in welcome.
“He’s caught in a trap,” Brian said, kneeling on the dog’s other side. “It must be his leg—yes, there it is. Quiet, fella, I’ll try not to hurt you. His foot is caught—just the tip. Thank goodness it isn’t any worse.” Brian released the trap.
“Good Reddy!” Trixie said, hugging their pet. “Is his foot broken, Brian?”
“No, but it must hurt pretty bad. There, there, Reddy boy!” Brian lifted the big dog into his arms.
“Who’d be so cruel as to set a trap around here?” Trixie asked. “I hope you’ll ask your father to have Mr. Maypenny look into it right away, Jim.”
“It’s an old fox trap, all rusted,” Jim announced. “There’s a bounty on fox pelts now. Someone must have found this old trap someplace and set it to try to make some money. Poor Reddy!”
“It could have been worse,” Brian said. “I know you don’t think so, boy,” he said, as Reddy snuggled his damp nose against Brian’s neck.
“I’d say Reddy’s in better shape than we are right now,” Jim said. “I haven’t the slightest idea where we are. I just know there’s the granddaddy of a blizzard raging right now and we’re a long way from nowhere.”
“I guess we should have listened to Moms,” Brian said.
“And left Reddy out here to die?” Trixie asked scornfully.
“Of course not,” Jim said placatingly, “but we are in a bad spot. I don’t even know where the main path is now, do you?”
Trixie looked about her and shook her head.
“It’s getting darker and darker, too,” she said.
“We’ll try going in this direction,” Jim said and flashed his light. “Put your head down, Trixie, and you won’t get the full force of the wind.”
“Let’s stay close together, all of us,” Brian said. “We can’t afford to get separated. Coming, Trixie?”
Reddy cried plaintively in Brian’s arms.
“I’m coming, and we will find a way out!” Trixie answered, her voice vigorous and sure.
“That’s the girl!” Jim answered. Then he stumbled and fell in the snow.
Chapter 10
A Caller in the Night
“Jim’s hurt!” Trixie cried to Brian. They had been walking along the path single file, with Trixie between the two boys.
“What happened?” Brian asked as he pushed Trixie aside to bend over Jim.
“He stumbled over something and fell,” Trixie said. “Watch out!”
She was too late. Brian went down headfirst over Jim’s body.
“Brian!” Trixie called frantically. “Jim!”
On the ground they were both making queer choking noises. The swift swirling snow obscured everything around them, even the trees close by.
Terror-stricken, Trixie circled the fallen boys. “Jim!” she called. “Oh, he’s been killed!”
“I’m not dead,” Jim said, gurgling, “but if you can’t get this elephant to roll himself off me, I may be.”
“Then why are you making such queer noises, as though you can’t get your breath? Brian, too,” Trixie added, her voice tense with anxiety.
“Can’t you tell laughing when you hear it?” Brian asked, getting up and brushing the snow from himself, only to have it replaced by more. “I like the way you called out to Jim, too, Trixie. Fine sister you are, you weren’t concerned when I fell.”
“I was, too,” Trixie said, exasperated, “but you picked a queer time to be funny and play tricks.” She was furious at both of them. “We may not even be alive an hour from now unless we can get under cover someplace. Just think, it’s black dark, and Moms must be terribly worried because we aren’t home. I can’t stand much more of this storm.”
“You may be right about it’s not being any time to play jokes,” Jim said, “but it isn’t any time to cry, either. What do you suppose made us both stumble? I can’t see an inch ahead of myself.” He picked up his flashlight where it had fallen.
Reddy, who had jumped from Brian’s arms when he stumbled, rubbed his wet body against Brian’s legs, whimpered, and held up his sore paw.
“I know it hurts, fella,” Brian said. “I can’t do anything about it right now, though. Trixie, we’re really up against it. There must be a shelter of some kind around here.”
“There is!” Jim cried excitedly. His flashlight hunted around on the ground near him. “It was a log walk that I fell over. Unless I miss my guess it leads to some kind of refuge. That’s it, see? Right ahead!” The boys forced the door of a log house that stood on the edge of a small clearing. The fury of the storm drove girl, boys, and dog inside, then slammed the door with mighty force.
“Just in time!” Trixie panted, exhausted.
Jim’s flashlight danced around the room. There was no furniture … yes … along the wall were three old benches piled high with heavy feed sacks.
“Mr. Maypenny must use this for a place to store provisions for the animals and birds,” Jim said. “Sure thing, it’s an old schoolhouse. Mr. Maypenny used to go to school here himself. Jeepers, it’s cold!”
Brian’s flashlight had been seeking out corners, too. “There’s a stove!” he cried. “Looks like a wood burner!”
“No wood for it, though,” Jim said. “None that I can see. Do you see any, Trixie?”
“Not yet,” Trixie said, her own flashlight seeking anything they could use. “There’s a lantern!” She picked it up. “And a folder of matches right by it!” she said, as she snapped the light and lit the lantern. She swung its yellow light around into corners hunting stored wood. There were only two or three logs near the stove.
“There must be a woodpile nearby,” Jim said. “I’ll go out to see if I can find it.”
He opened the door, but the wind roaring through the opening threw him back into the room.
“You can’t go out there,” Trixie said. “You’d never find your way back. You’d freeze to death!”
“Where do you think you’d rather freeze,” Brian asked, “inside or outside? There isn’t much difference. I’ll go.”
“Nobody will go out in this storm,” Trixie said determinedly. “We’ll burn the benches.”
“Just three of them?” Jim asked. “How long would they last? And what would we use to chop them up? No, we’ll have to find the woodpile.”
Trixie pulled off her mittens, blew on her fingers to warm them, thinking all the while. Suddenly an idea came to her. “I heard old Brom telling Bobby a story the other day about a storm,” she said. “Let me think—what did he say they did? Oh, yes, he told about getting wood from outside. Let me see … one man would stand just outside the house, and the other man tied the end of a rope around his waist. If the first man got lost before he could find the wood, he would pull on the rope to let the other one know, and he’d pull him back to safety.”
“We can try it!” Jim exclaimed. “Only where will we find a rope?”
There was no sign of a rope around the old scho
olroom. There was nothing but some twine used to tie the feed sacks.
“That idea is out,” Jim said. “Think of something else, Trixie. It’ll have to be quick, too, because it must be almost zero in this room right now.”
Jim blew his breath out. It came back to him in a cloud of steamy vapor.
“The school bell!” Trixie exclaimed. “It must have a rope! Right over there in the corner, Jim, back of you, in that little closet. Open the door!”
Jim opened the narrow door. There hung the frayed rope that was attached to the bell! Inside the small closet there was a narrow ladder. Jim climbed it, unfastened the rope, and dropped it to the floor.
“It’s almost worn through in several places,” Brian said, running it through his hands. “We’ll have to try it, though, Jim. Let’s go!”
Each boy wanted to be the one to go out into the storm. They could only decide by drawing lots, so Trixie held two pieces of straw. Jim drew the shorter one.
“I’ll fasten this end of the rope around my waist,” Brian said, “and stand right there outside the door.”
“I’ll put the other one around my waist,” Jim said.
Outside it were as though an angry giant had wrapped his great arms around the little schoolhouse trying to crush its sides and frosting its panes with his icy breath. Jim, caught up in the rush of wind, waved his arm gallantly and shouted, “Geronimo!” as he dashed into the storm.
While the talk had been going on, Reddy had rushed nervously back and forth across the room in front of the door. When Brian and Jim went out, he tried to dart ahead of them, but Trixie caught and held him. “You stay with me,” she commanded. “Down, Reddy!”
Before he left Jim had fastened his wrist watch around Trixie’s wrist. Seconds ticked away … minutes.… From time to time Trixie opened the door a crack to speak to Brian.
He and Jim had arranged a signal. If Jim found the woodpile he would jerk once on the rope. If he wanted to come back, he would jerk twice.
“Did you feel any motion on the rope yet?” Trixie asked Brian.
“Nothing,” he answered and huddled against the house. “Of course it slackens and tightens as he goes through the blizzard. It’s like the North Pole out here, Trixie. Go back indoors!”
The Mysterious Code Page 8
