by Andre Norton
"That—maybe that's being sneaky," Christie retorted. "You heard Mother say stay here."
"I'm not a sneak! You take that back!" Neal flared, his face flushing, his hand balling into fists. "I want to help Dad—and you say it's sneaky."
"Well, maybe not exactly sneaky. But you know Mother wouldn't want us to go as far as the cave."
Neal kicked a scrap of wood, sending it flying against the corral poles. Pinto had taken even the burros out to graze before he had left. The station seemed very lonely just now.
"I don't know what good it's going to do for us just to sit around here all day!" he burst out. "We could be opening that box, seeing what's in it."
Christie wavered. Maybe if Mother had known how important it was, she might have said they could go. But she had not and they were now bound by their promises.
Neal realized that, too. He kicked at another stick and then walked slowly toward the house. "All right, so we clean up," he said in a discouraged voice.
Christie looked sharply at the twins. "You two are to stay right here with Baron and Shan, remember?"
Perks nodded. Parky was squatting on his heels watching something on the ground with such absorption that he did not appear to hear.
"Parky!" Christie moved to stand over him.
"Yeah, I heard you." But he did not look up and Christie had to be content with that much of an answer.
Neal cleared off the table and stacked mugs and plates ready to wash while Christie went to make up the bunks.
"The stove fire's out," Neal called. "But some of the water still in the kettle ought to be warm yet. I just won't put any cold in with it."
She heard a lot of splashing, which meant Neal was washing up. But Christie's mind was busy with other thoughts.
Lady Maude must be worth a lot of money, and if they weren't going to be able to keep the station, then the plan of the museum would not work. Father must have spent a lot here buying things to turn the station into a motel. Mr. Toner might not pay for that because, as Toli-ver and Libby had said, he only wanted the water. If they could sell Lady Maude, maybe the money would help out a lot, bring enough to take them home again. Only—she felt a kind of pain even thinking of selling the doll.
Where could you sell her? To a museum, Christie supposed, or to some lady who collected old dolls." But how did you discover which museum or collector would want her? Did you advertise in a paper? Christie moved more and more slowly between each fold of blanket and smoothing of pillow.
"Hey, Chris, I'm finished washing—you come and wipe!" Neal called. "I'll sweep up while you do."
Hurriedly, Christie tidied the last bunk and came back to find Neal vigorously using the broom. He was just moving dust around instead of out, she told him indignantly as she reached for a dish towel.
"Just giving it a lick and a promise—that's what Pinto says when he sweeps," Neal announced. "Hurry up—we'll get the twins and go over to Toliver's. No use sticking around here." But he did come back to put the clean mugs back on the shelf while Christie carried the pan of dishwater to the door and poured it over the small bush Pinto had said was used to such refreshment.
It was when she looked around that she was aware of the unusual quiet. The twins— There was a sharp cry and she saw Shan tugging to reach to her. His leash had been made fast to a stone. But Baron and the twins were gone.
"Perks! Parky!"
As there was no answer to her urgent call, Neal came out.
"Neal—the twins—Baron—they're gone!"
"They probably ran on over to Toliver's. They knew we were going there."
"They weren't to go alone, Neal. We should have made them wait inside where we could watch them!"
"Oh, it's only a little way and Baron's with them."
"But there're snakes—and things." Christie felt shivery inside. She ran to Shan and gathered him up. "We've got to hurry and make sure they are there."
"Come on." Neal was already running down the trail toward the meadow. Surely the twins would have gone that way and not wandered off, thought Christie as she stumbled along.
She had hoped to overtake the children, or at least hear Baron's barks. But that did not happen. Libby sat on the step of the truck, a big bowl on her knees. She was stirring a mixture in it.
"Hi, Christie—" Then, seeing the expression on the other girl's face, Libby quickly put down the bowl and came to meet her. "What's the matter?"
"The twins—they've gone! Did they come here?"
Libby was already shaking her head. "I just came out. Mother told me to wait for you and bring you along. She's gone to paint and she took a picnic up canyon for us. Toliver went with her."
"But the twins!" Christie looked around wildly. They must have wandered into the bush. Baron—could Baron help? Neal already had his fingers to his lips and gave the carrying whistle that the big dog always answered.
"They may have gone to the cave," Libby suggested.
"Let's see!" Neal started on at a run.
"May I leave Shan here?" Christie detached Shan's claws from the tight hold on her shirt.
"Put him inside the van." Libby took up her bowl. When it and the protesting Shan were shut in, the girls pounded after Neal, who was almost out of sight.
As they reached the far end of the meadow Christie was startled by the nicker of a horse. Tied by reins looped over a bush was a golden mare with a creamy mane and tail. She was switching her tail back and forth impatiently.
"That's Spun Sugar, Marlene's horse," Libby said.
A short way beyond, the stamping, tail-switching Spun Sugar was at the entrance to the cave. A tumble of stones spilled out from the neat pile the boys had left. The girls could hear raised voices.
"Neal—Parky—•" Christie recognized two of those voices as she pushed between the rocks to the cave entrance.
"Don't you dare touch that!" A shrill voice screamed. "Everything in here belongs to my father. You take anything and he'll have you arrested for stealing! You'd better get away from here fast."
"It's ours! We found it!" Perks now wailed loudly.
"Ouch! You nasty little boy! Bite me, will you?" There came a sound that could only be a slap followed by an outraged cry not of pain but of temper.
Parky! He used to bite—but that was only when he was little. Christie scrambled on into the cave, sending rocks tumbling. One of the camp lights was on and in its glow she saw that Lady Maude's box was open and the Lady herself partly unwrapped so she could be clearly seen.
Neal was holding Parky in spite of the little boy's struggles, his flying fists beating the air. Perks stood before Marlene, hitting out at the older girl as wildly as her brother fought to do.
"Perks!" Christie rushed to grab her sister. "Perks, behave yourself!" But she had difficulty restraining the child, who was red-faced now and screaming in rage.
"She slapped Parky, she did, she did!" The uproar Perks made was deafening.
"He bit me first!" Marlene had backed against the wall, staring at both furiously angry twins as if they were wild animals.
"She was going to take Lady Maude. She wouldn't let go of the box!" Perks continued. "She's mean, mean, mean!"
"Perks!" Christie shook her little sister. "Calm down, Perks. Stop it!" Now her voice was beginning to sound as shrill as Perks's.
"Get them out of here." Neal pushed the resisting Parky ahead of him. Christie tried to follow his suggestion with Perks, though it was all she could do to force the little girl to take one step at a time. Meanwhile she heard a loud barking, as if Baron, having gone off on some business of his own, had returned to find his family in trouble and was voicing a warning about what he was going to do to remedy that.
Somehow they got the twins outside. Once in the open, they began to calm down. Parky refused to answer any questions and Perks cried loudly as Christie tried to find out what had happened.
"I'll tell you what happened," Marlene exclaimed. She had a tear in the sleeve of her shirt, and there
were dark smudges on her jeans. "I saw these—these little monsters sneaking around, pulling out rocks to open up that cave. So I watched to see what else they were doing. That way I found this treasure of yours. They had just opened the box and were taking out that old doll when I caught them."
"Perks!" Christie's real horror was plain in her voice. What if the twins had dragged Lady Maude out, broken her fine china head, or gotten her dress torn and dirty?
"We were going to hide her and keep her safe!" Perks wailed. "You and Libby, you said she was worth a lot of money and we wanted her for Daddy! Then she"—Perks stabbed a finger toward Marlene—"said Lady Maude belonged to her and she was going to take her right now. When she couldn't let go of the box, Parky bit her. He had to—she wouldn't let go!"
"Just like an animal!" Marlene broke in. "Don't you teach your little brother to act human? Just like a dirty little animal—"
Christie gave Perks a push in Libby's direction and confronted Marlene. "You—you shut up! Parky's no animal. He was just too excited and frightened. And you've no right to Lady Maude either!"
"So? Well, this cave is on my own father's land, and what's found here belongs to us! And—"
Marlene moved as if to return to the cave, but the four Kimballs plus Libby formed a solid barrier between her and its entrance. She stopped, but it was plain she was not yet defeated.
"You just wait and see! I'm going right home now and tell my father, and you'll see what happens to you then! Your little brother bit me and tore my shirt. See? Right here. You're keeping things that belong to us. My father, he'll fix you! Just wait and see!" She turned her back on them and went toward > her mare.
Neal moved as if to stop her, but Libby caught him back.
"Don't make it any worse," the Navajo girl advised him. "She can cause trouble and she
Danger for Lady Maude
will. What are we going to do about that now?" She nodded at the cave.
"There's just too much for us to take it all away," Neal said.
"Take the mail sack, Lady Maude, and the strongbox," Christie advised. "The rest is mostly old clothes. We can show Mother and Father and they'll know who it really belongs to."
"Chris—Chris, can Marlene do something bad to Parky 'cause he bit her?" Perks caught her sister's hand in both of hers and squeezed it tight.
"Parky shouldn't have bitten—he knows that," Neal said.
"Don't care!" Parky scowled at his brother defiantly. "She was going to take our stuff. She's nothing but an old stealer, so she is! I couldn't make her let go, so I bit her!"
"You know what Daddy said about biting," Christie reminded him. "Now, we don't know how long it will be before she comes back—"
"Yes." Neal turned to the cave. "We'd better get those things to the station as quick as we can."
The mailbag was light enough for Perks and Parky to carry between them. But Lady Maude's box needed both Christie's and Libby's full strength to transport it. Neal, with frequent pauses to rest cramped fingers, carried the strongbox. The meadow seemed to have doubled in length when they crossed it so burdened.
"Yoooohooo!" Toliver ran to meet them from the van. "What's the matter? Why are you bringing that stuff here?"
Neal and Libby between them told him what had happened at the cave, while Perks and Parky dropped down beside Christie where she sat in the grass, one arm laid protectingly over Lady Maude's box.
"Christie, can—can she put me in jail?" Parky's face was not red with anger anymore. He did not look at his sister but stared at the ground. Perks squeezed up against him, putting an arm around his shoulders.
"No, I don't think so. But you shouldn't have done it—you know that."
"There was no other way I could stop her— she pulled so hard," he said miserably, and smeared one hand across his eyes.
"What made you go to the cave in the first place? If Marlene hadn't seen you there she wouldn't have known anything about it!"
"We wanted to get Lady Maude—for Daddy," Parky said.
"I'm going for Mother." Toliver broke away from Neal and his sister. "If old G.T. comes riding in here he won't listen to any bunch of kids. And Dad's gone off prospecting with Grey Eagle." The Navajo boy started to run and Libby went into the van, coming out with a thermos jug and two paper cups.
"Here, Parky, Perks, drink some of this lemonade. You're all hot—it'll make you feel better."
Perks had cried so much she had hiccups and Parky's face was streaked with dust and tears. They drank what she had poured for them slowly. Christie stood up and drew a little away to whisper to Libby.
"Can Marlene really make a lot of trouble? About the bite and the things from the cave?"
"She can try." Libby did not give her any comfort. "Let's get these boxes and the mail-bag into the van. Toliver will tell Mother all about it on the way back and she'll know better what to do. It'll take Marlene some time to ride home, and maybe her father won't be there. We can hope they won't come here until your folks are back, too. I wish Dad were here, but he won't be back until late tomorrow."
Christie shivered. It sounded as if they were in real trouble. Mostly it was her fault. If she had watched the twins more carefully, as Mother had expected her to, they would never have gone to the cave. Then Marlene would never have known about it. Parky was only a little boy. Surely they could not do anything to him really. But she was not sure of that.
She was still feeling cold inside when Mrs. Wildhorse came back with Toliver. The Navajo woman did not seem upset—only surprised at their finds. She agreed that they should leave those in the van for safekeeping—all except the mailbag.
"That should be delivered to the post office."
"They're dead letters." Parky had regained some of his usual assertiveness. "Neal said letters can't be delivered when they are dead."
"Perhaps they can't be delivered to the right people," Mrs. Wildhorse agreed, "but they are mail, in an official pouch, and must be taken to the office in town. I wonder how long they have been in that cave."
"The papers packed around Lady Maude have the date eighteen seventy-five on them," Christie said. "They were from London. Please, can Marlene just take Lady Maude and the rest of the things?"
"Not right away, and maybe not at all. We shall tell the sheriff about this and he will take charge. Perhaps even the court will have to decide about the true ownership. There's something even more important to think about now."
"You mean who's going to have the station?" Neal asked.
"Yes."
"Please, can you tell us more about that?" Christie wanted to know. "Mother and Father were so busy and they went to town so early.
All we really know is what Marlene told us— that her father and not Daddy owns it."
"I don't think anyone knows the truth just yet, Christie. You see, when the stage line was established Arizona wasn't even a state—it was a territory. Mr. Bright, who started the stage line, had a grant from the territorial government to build the stations. But this particular one was built only with the permission of the Navajos by a special treaty. s
"Then for a while it served also as an army post. So there have been a number of different 'owners.' The stagecoach rights were given to last a good many years, and they were renewed again right after Arizona became a state because no railway ran in this direction and there was another silver strike back in the mountains about fifty years ago. So, though the real stage had not run for a good many years, a transportation company was formed on their old charter and the station used again.
"Your father and his partner bought these rights from the representative of that old company. Now Mr. Toner says that because the stage line stopped using the station, they lost their claim and had no right to sell to a private person. It is all very complicated and may have to be taken to court."
"That would take a long time, wouldn't it?" Neal asked doubtfully.
"I'm afraid so."
"And we can't wait a long time," Neal said. "We
have to have the station open for business as soon as the highway is ready—Dad has said that several times. So it looks as if Mr. Toner may win after all."
"Why did the man sell it to Daddy if it didn't really belong to him?" Christie wanted to know.
"He thought that it did, and he will have to go to court, too," Mrs. Wildhorse said.
"But that still doesn't mean that Marlene can have Lady Maude and the rest of the things does it?" Perks leaned against Christie, again pulling at her hand. "It doesn't, does it?"
Christie could not answer that—she was too afraid that the answer might be yes, and inside now she felt as hot and angry as Parky must have been back in the cave. Nobody was going to get Lady Maude—not if she could help it!
Christie Writes a Letter
"You found all this hidden in a cave?" Father stared at the mailbag, Lady Maude's box, and the strongbox where they sat on the long table in the station house.
"There're some trunks and bags in there, too," Neal said. "But they've mostly just got clothes in them. And a shotgun—"
"But why would anyone wall up luggage and mail in a cave?" Mother questioned.
"Pinto told us a story about how once some men going east offered a lot of extra money to a driver to get them through when the Apaches were raiding. The driver knocked out the station man when he said they shouldn't go. They might have taken this extra weight out of the coach to go faster. But they were never heard of again," Neal continued.
"Why leave luggage in a cave instead of in the station itself?" Father wondered. "Well, no matter how it got there, you found it. And this"—tie picked up the mail bag—"will certainly cause quite a stir. Its contents will be delivered quite a few years late."
"Dead letters." Parky relished those words. "Neal said they're dead letters."
"But Marlene can't have Lady Maude, can she?" Perks piped up. "She doesn't own her— or the treasure in there, either—" She pointed to the strongbox.
"It'll be for the court to decide." Father suddenly looked very tired. "Might as well get this into town tomorrow." He put the mailbag on top of the strongbox.
