The Mystery of the Man in the Tall Black Hat

by Margaret M. Sandberg

  Tod made a face. He waited until Barney had finished and then watched him wad up his lunch sack and put it back inside the squirrel cage.

  “You’d better pick up those scraps of lettuce,” he suggested.

  Barney gathered up the lettuce he had discarded and tossed it into the cage. “Mom always puts lettuce in my sandwiches. I keep telling her I don’t like it, but she puts it in anyway,” he explained, reaching for his shoes and socks. “She thinks it’s good for me.”

  The boys were lost in their private thoughts as they skirted the lake.

  “Let’s try getting out this end,” suggested Tod, looking up when they reached the end of the gravel pit.

  “It looks awful steep. I don’t know if I can make it.” Barney shifted the squirrel cage into his other hand.

  “Sure you can. Just be careful, and when you get tired, stop and rest.” He glanced at the cage. “It would probably help if you didn’t drag that thing along.”

  Tod almost wished he hadn’t suggested climbing out when he began to look for the easiest way up. “I’ll try first. You watch for any rocks that come down.”

  Barney clutched his squirrel cage tightly and started the climb a dozen feet away. Every few seconds he had to stop and rest. Tod was several feet above him and to his right.

  Tod discovered that climbing was more difficult than he had thought it would be. He began to worry about Barney lugging all his weight up the cliff. He stopped to rest and looked down.

  Barney had stopped and was shifting the squirrel cage to his other hand. He swayed a little, and Tod held his breath. He noticed that Barney had closed his eyes. He wished he had taken the squirrel cage. Barney began to climb again, and as Tod watched, it seemed as though for every step he took he slid back the same amount. The squirrel cage kept banging against the rocks. What a dumb thing to bring, thought Tod.

  “Barney! I’ll wait here. Come over toward me and hand me the squirrel cage,” he called.

  Barney didn’t answer but began to climb slowly toward Tod. When he reached him, he held out the squirrel cage. “Thanks,” he puffed.

  “Think you can make it?”

  “I’m not—going to—stay—here,” Barney panted. “I’m not going—back down there.” He paused to catch his breath. He shut his eyes tight as he started to look down. “I’ve got to make it!”

  “Well, we’re over halfway to the top. Come on.” Tod continued upward while Barney rested. The next few minutes they were both too busy and too exhausted to talk. Stones and sand continued to give way beneath their feet at every step. The pit was filled with the deafening noise and echo of rocks clattering down the bank behind them.

  Tod turned and looked down when he neared the top. Barney was climbing very slowly. Suddenly he began to slide. “Dig your heels in!” Tod yelled.

  It happened so fast Tod didn’t have time to pray, but Barney had already stopped sliding. He braced himself firmly against the side of the cliff before he continued to climb. Tod was thankful that he was carrying the squirrel cage. He remembered a verse he had heard in Sunday school. “Before they call, I will answer.” Tod was sure the Lord was watching over them.

  When they finally reached the top, Tod stooped down and grabbed Barney’s hand. He pulled and both boys flopped down at the top to rest.

  “Man, I’m really beat,” panted Tod. His legs felt like jelly and his heart pounded loudly. Barney lay puffing alongside him.

  A light breeze rustled the branches of the fir trees, and a cloud momentarily blotted out the bright sunshine. Tod felt a sudden chill, but the sun soon reappeared, and they lay enjoying its warmth. When Tod sat up Barney rolled over on his back shielding his eyes from the sunlight with the back of his hand.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever be rested,” he groaned.

  “You really had me scared when you started to slide,” said Tod. “I guess I shouldn’t have suggested we come up that way.”

  “Thanks for taking the squirrel cage.”

  Tod started to answer, when he noticed a movement in the woods about fifty feet away. He turned his head slowly. The branches of a fir tree swayed as the breeze sighed through them. He decided he was imagining things, when a moment later a figure stepped from between the bushes.

  The man in the stovepipe hat was standing looking directly at them. He lifted his cane and shouted. Both boys jumped to their feet and started to run. They skirted the end of the pit and had reached the far side before they stopped to look back. There was nobody there.

  They hurried along the far side of the pit until they again reached the road on which they had entered the pit earlier.

  “I’ll bet he is from the mental hospital,” stated Tod. “Let’s call them up and ask.”

  Barney looked questioningly at his friend. “I don’t think that’s too good an idea. Wouldn’t we feel sort of stupid asking if a man in a stovepipe hat was missing?”

  Tod grinned. “I’ll think up some way to find out.”

  They walked rapidly through a short wooded area and out onto the highway which bordered the woods at right angles. As they neared the cemetery on the right of the road, a dull scraping sound reached their ears. Tod’s heart skipped a beat. Then he began to laugh.

  “We really are spooked,” he admitted sheepishly. “Look. It’s the caretaker raking the gravel walks.”

  Tod began to trot, with Barney panting and puffing behind him. They slowed to a walk as they passed Wildwood Church and a short time later entered the Mitchell house. The screen door banged shut behind them.

  “Hey, Mom! Is there anything cold to drink?” When there was no response Tod opened the refrigerator door and took out a carton of milk. He reached for a glass from the shelf above the sink and poured it full. “Want some, Barn?”

  Barney had already reached for a glass and as Tod set the carton on the counter he helped himself. “Got any cookies?”

  “Look in the cookie jar.”

  As they drank their milk and ate cookies, Tod was thinking. “I’m going to call up the hospital and ask if anyone is missing,” he said finally. He located the phone book and hunted for the number. “I don’t have to tell them everything.” He dialed, and a moment later a woman’s voice answered.

  Tod wished he had thought out what to say. “Uh—I was wondering,” he began. “Is anyone missing from your hospital?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “We—that is, my friend and I—saw this strange man—real tall—and he was wearing a black stovepipe hat.”

  “Young man, is this some kind of joke? As far as I know none of our patients is missing.”

  Tod hung up the receiver.

  “I told you you would feel stupid.”

  “OK, so I feel stupid.” Tod thought for a minute. “Maybe she’s not allowed to give out that kind of information.”

  “Yeah. Other hospitals don’t always tell you what you want to know. Like this one time when my aunt was real sick—” He stopped talking abruptly as Tricia came into the room.

  “Who’s sick?” she asked.

  “Nobody’s sick,” answered Tod.

  “Barney said something about somebody being sick,” insisted Tricia. “Are you trying to hide something, Tod? You look funny.”

  “I do? Must be because I’ve been running. Barney and I ran partway home from the gravel pit.” He paused. “That reminds me. Did you and Donna see anything when you were up in the woods?”

  “Tod Mitchell. What are you getting at? Why all the mystery?”

  “Come on, Barney,” suggested Tod. “Let’s go outside where we won’t be bothered.” He cast a disgusted look at his sister.

  The boys wandered out toward the woodshed. They stood looking into their polliwog pond. “What did they say?” asked Barney.

  “Nobody’s missing.”

  “If nobody’s missing at the mental hospital, then that means—”

  “That means either they aren’t telling us the truth, or else that man isn’t a patient. We’ve g
ot to find out who he is!”

  Tod looked at Barney. There was something strange about him.

  “How are we going to find out?” asked Barney.

  Tod kept looking at Barney. The more he looked at him the less he was thinking about the man in the stovepipe hat.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Barney.

  Tod’s eyes lighted up. “Barney, I know what it is. Your squirrel cage! Where’s your squirrel cage?”

  Barney’s face showed dismay. “We left it at the gravel pit. We’ll have to go back after it!”

  4

  The Squirrel Cage

  “It’s too late to go back up to the gravel pit today,” said Tod. “Besides, I have to go on my paper route pretty soon.”

  “I don’t want to lose that cage,” Barney said thoughtfully, “but I sure don’t want to go back up there by myself.” He looked questioningly at Tod. “Could we go first thing tomorrow morning?”

  “If you hadn’t taken that thing with you in the first place it wouldn’t have caused us so much trouble.”

  “So, we didn’t need it for anything! How was I supposed to know?”

  “I just can’t figure you out, Barn. No matter where we go you always take something extra along. Just don’t drag anything else up to the gravel pit tomorrow.”

  After Barney had gone home Tod went in search of his mother to let her know he was leaving for his paper route. He found her in her workroom, ironing.

  “Guess what happened with the squirrel cage!” Tod exploded.

  Mrs. Mitchell smiled. “Did Barney catch a squirrel?”

  “I’ll say not. It just got in the way all the time, and then he left it at the gravel pit.”

  “How did he manage to do that?” Mrs. Mitchell asked, as she reached into the clothes basket for a dampened shirt.

  Tod couldn’t tell her they had climbed up the side of the pit. She would be frantic and maybe not let him go up there again. Nor could he tell her about the strange man they had seen. He thought hard for a moment before he realized his mother was waiting for his answer.

  “We were resting at the top of the pit, and when we got ready to go he just forgot it, I guess. He wants me to go back with him in the morning and get it.”

  “It’s too bad he took it up there for nothing.”

  “He used it for one thing; he carried his lunch in it.” Tod laughed as he turned to go.

  “Oh, by the way, Tod. I got the book you wanted from the library. It’s on the stand in the living room.”

  * * *

  Barney was over early the next morning. “You may go, Tod, if you come right back and do your work,” agreed his mother.

  Instead of cutting through the woods as they had done the previous day, the boys followed the road. As they walked along they heard the bird songs and the wind moaning through the trees. Off in the distance a freight train tooted for a crossing.

  It’s good to be alive, Tod thought as they passed Wildwood Church.

  Barney was plodding alongside him with his usual heavy breathing. Everything was so hard for Barney. “Lord, please help Barney to want to know you,” Tod prayed silently.

  The boys instinctively slowed as they neared the road which led to the gravel pit. They were conscious of the deep shadows in the woods and the closeness of the bushes pressing in about them. The slight snap of a twig brought Tod to a halt, and he felt a crawling sensation along his spine as he peered into the woods. The wind rustled through the leaves. It seemed like it would take forever to reach the pit, but at last they left the road and made their way around it.

  With relief they passed the area where they had come up to the gravel pit the day before and where they had seen the man in the stovepipe hat. A little farther they saw the squirrel cage where they had left it near the far end.

  “Look, Tod,” Barney reached for Tod’s arm. “There’s something in it.”

  Tod stopped. “I can’t see anything except your lunch sack.”

  A moment later he saw something moving about in the cage and it wasn’t Barney’s lunch sack. Both boys dashed for the cage.

  “Barney, it’s a rabbit—a rabbit!”

  At the boys’ sudden approach the creature became frantic and tried to break out of its prison. The boys knelt down in front of the cage and the rabbit froze, huddled in one corner.

  “He’s scared, Barney. Shall we let him out?”

  “No, let’s keep him,” he said, smiling happily. “How do you suppose he got caught in there? I shut the door when I put my lunch sack inside.”

  “It probably came loose when you were banging it coming up the pit,” Tod guessed.

  “But why would a rabbit go inside?”

  “Remember when I told you to pick up your scraps of lettuce? I saw you toss them into the cage. He probably was hungry and went inside after them.”

  Barney was excited. “See, Tod. My squirrel cage did come in handy!”

  “I think you should let him loose. Look how scared he is.”

  The rabbit hadn’t moved. He wiggled his nose, and his big eyes looked terrified.

  “Here, little rabbit. I won’t hurt you,” Barney pleaded. He stood up and lifted the cage. The rabbit jumped in fright. Barney tried to calm it with quiet talking as they started back along the rim of the pit.

  “What kind do you think he is, Tod?”

  “Probably a cottontail.”

  “Won’t my mom be surprised!” exclaimed Barney. Suddenly he was quiet. “I just hope she won’t be too surprised.”

  Tod was chuckling when he entered his house.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Mrs. Mitchell.

  “You’ll never believe it, Mom. Not in a million years.” Tod could hardly keep from laughing long enough to tell her. “Guess what we found in the squirrel cage.”

  “A squirrel?”

  “A rabbit! A cottontail rabbit. Barney’s so excited.”

  There was a light tapping at the kitchen door. Tod’s merriment turned to seriousness when he saw a sad-faced Barney standing there, tears welling up in his dark eyes. In his hand he was holding the squirrel cage.

  “What’s the matter, Barney? What happened?”

  “My mom won’t let me keep him,” he explained. “She just hollered and said I couldn’t keep a dirty old rabbit.”

  “Bring him in. I want my mom to see him.” Tod led the way into the house, through the kitchen, and into the living room.

  Mrs. Mitchell smiled when she saw the rabbit. “Oh, he’s so tiny—and so frightened. What are you going to do with him, Barney?”

  “I don’t know. My mom won’t let me keep him at our house.”

  “Mom,” Tod pleaded. “Could we keep him for Barney? He wouldn’t be any trouble. We could put the squirrel cage out back by our polliwogs, and nobody would even know he was there.”

  “I really think you should let him loose,” she said as she looked at the boys. “But,” she added when she saw the dismay in their eyes, “I think perhaps we can try it for a few days.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Mitchell,” said Barney, smiling for the first time since he had arrived.

  Barney was very particular when he chose a place for the rabbit to live. After much discussion he finally located a large box and placed the squirrel cage on top of it. While he fussed over his rabbit, Tod went about his weeding as he had promised. In a few minutes Barney came out to the garden.

  “What shall we feed him?” he asked.

  “Why don’t you give him some of this lettuce for now,” Tod suggested, as he stooped down and broke a few leaves from the crisp lettuce plant.

  “Won’t your dad be mad? That lettuce isn’t very big yet.”

  “That’s OK. I didn’t pick much.”

  As soon as Tod had finished his work, the boys went into the house to study up on rabbits.

  “Yup! It’s got to be a cottontail,” Tod concluded after looking at a number of pictures in the encyclopedia.

  “What does it say about feeding it?”
asked Barney, trying to read along with Tod. “Here, I’ve found it: ‘grain, like rolled oats or barley; greens, like lettuce and cabbage; and roots, like carrots and parsnips.’ They also need lots of fresh water and some salt every day.”

  “Those shouldn’t be hard to find,” said Tod. “We’ll have most of them in our garden pretty soon—except for oats and barley, and we can find them in the kitchen cupboard.”

  “Wait,” Barney said as he continued to read. “It says we should have a roof over the rabbit in case it rains. I hadn’t thought of that. Can we make a roof, Tod?”

  “It shouldn’t be hard. We just need a piece of wood. Maybe we can find an old shingle around someplace.”

  Tod took a couple of small bowls from the cupboard in the kitchen, and while Barney filled one with fresh water, Tod found the rolled oats and filled the other. When they returned to the back of the woodshed, Barney carefully put the bowl of water into the cage.

  “Tod,” he said. “He hasn’t even moved. The lettuce we put in is still there.”

  “Let me put this oatmeal in,” said Tod as he lifted the door and reached inside. “He’s probably not hungry yet. Anyway, he’s still scared. Maybe he doesn’t feel like eating.”

  They went into the woodshed and looked around for something to use as a roof. They found a smooth board which they placed on top of the cage.

  “That’s about all we can do for him, I guess,” said Tod.

  They turned their attention to the polliwog pond. The black fishlike creatures were moving lazily in the bottom of the pond. Tod poked a stick into the water, and as they skittered about, the boys looked for signs of legs. The black wriggly life in the frog eggs still had not hatched.

  “You know something, Barney? We have to feed our tadpoles, too. I forgot all about that!” exclaimed Tod.

  “What do you think they eat?” asked Barney.

  “Probably most anything—flies, or dead bugs. Maybe slime, for all I know.”

  “I think there’s some fish food at our place. I had a fish once and it died, but I never used all the food.”

  “Why don’t you go get it and then we can finish our reservoir,” suggested Tod.