“You gave Matthew back to me from the dead,” she reminded them. “The thanks are all on my side. We’ll miss you sorely, Linnie and me and my husband.” Her eyes shone, and her face was flushed with happiness as she stood proudly beside Matthew and waved as long as she could see the wagon.
On the way to town, they stopped for a brief goodbye to the Hawkins family. “Slim’s in good hands now,” Bill Hawkins said. “I delivered him to Sam Owens. We’ll be looking for you next summer,” he told the Bob-Whites.
“We’ve had a wonderful time, and we’ll come back if we possibly can,” Trixie said. “Thanks for everything, Mr. Hawkins.”
In White Hole Springs, the first person they saw was Sam Owens. “I had to take Slim to the jail in Laurel,” he told Uncle Andrew. “Feeling was running too high around here for his safety. There’ll be a quick trial. Then it’ll probably be prison for him, and for a good long term.”
“That takes care of that,” Uncle Andrew said. “Now for the next order of business.”
“I’m almost afraid to go over and talk with that magazine man,” Trixie said.
“How could you miss, with two of each kind?” Mart asked. “The five hundred dollars is as good as in your pocket.”
The editor of the Scientific Digest was excited when the boys set the small galvanized tank on the table in front of him. Quite a lot of people were standing around the room talking. Other tanks and bait buckets stood here and there on the long table.
“Do you actually have specimens of Amplyopsisspelaeus?” the editor asked. He brought out a big magnifying glass and held it close over the tank. “No one has turned up with true specimens so far. Come and have a look, Glendenning!” he called to the Englishman, who was talking to two men at the other end of the table.
Trixie waited breathlessly as they watched the men examine the specimens in the tank they had brought. The editor looked at them from one side, then another. Then, with Mr. Glendenning, he carried the tank to the daylight in front of the window for better examination. Finally he turned and said sadly, “I guess we were expecting the impossible. The Amplyopsisspelaeus hasn’t been found outside the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. I was hoping to discover it here—to show, if possible, a continuation of the underground waterway from Kentucky through Missouri. Your fish may have museum value, and I am sure some cave in the Springfield area will be interested in buying them for exhibition. I’m sorry.”
Trixie’s face was white. She couldn’t speak.
“Don’t you care,” Honey said, tears of disappointment in her own eyes. “We’ll earn that money some other way when we get back home. You’ll think of something, Trixie, just see if you don’t.”
“Maybe I won’t,” Trixie said proudly, “but the Bob-Whites will.”
“That’s the spirit!” Jim applauded. “That’s one of the things I like about you. Say, what’s Mr. Glendenning doing?”
“He’s making some kind of a sign to that editor,” Mart said. “He’s motioning for him to go back and look at your tank, Trixie. Let’s eavesdrop.”
The men were in eager discussion, but their voices were so low the Bob-Whites could hardly hear.
“It can’t be!” the editor said, amazement in his voice.
“I tell you it is,” Mr. Glendenning insisted, holding the magnifying glass close to the tank. “Don’t you see the papillae in rows on the head and jaws?”
“Great guns!” the editor cried. “The Troglichthysrosae!”
“That’s exactly what it is,” Mr. Glendenning said. “Ruth Hoppin found it near Sarcoxie, Missouri, over fifty years ago. No one has found it since. Dr. Carl Eigenmann said the Troglichthysrosae has lived in caves longer and done without the use of its eyes longer than any living vertebrate.”
“What does that mean to these young people?” Uncle Andrew asked.
“It means just this,” the man from the magazine said. “They didn’t find the specimens for which we offered the reward, but they have come up with something more rare. I have to talk to my board of directors, but I can promise this: It will bring a reward at least as great as that we offered for the Mammoth Cave fish. If the young people will leave us their address, we’ll get in touch with them in about a week.”
“Gleeps!” Trixie said, and she sighed a great sigh.
“Gleeps!” the Bob-Whites echoed.
“I know what you mean, and it’s the way I feel, too,” Uncle Andrew said, laughing. “Gleeps!”
Linnie hadn’t said a word since they had deposited the tank in front of the editor. “I can open my eyes now,” she said. “I’ve been praying under my breath all the time that you’d get that reward. I couldn’t have stood it if you hadn’t, after what you’ve done for Mama and me.”
“Linnie, you’re the very best friend anyone could ever have,” Trixie said. “We’re sure going to miss you.”
“I feel just that way about all of the Bob-Whites.” Linnie’s face saddened. Then a big smile spread across it. “But not so much as I would have if my daddy hadn’t come home. Say, isn’t it getting to be almost time for your train?”
Mart glanced at his watch. “We should have just enough time to give the man our address—”
“I’ll take care of that later,” Uncle Andrew interrupted. “Here comes the train around the bend right now.”
Mart scrambled to pick up his luggage. The other Bob-Whites picked up their bags and hurried after Mart.
The local train pulled into the station. Mart and Brian passed the luggage up to Jim, who stowed it away in the end of the dusty passenger car.
Smiling through tears, Trixie and Honey hugged and kissed Uncle Andrew and Linnie. The boys shook hands, helped the girls aboard, then swung up after them.
They waved till the platform faded from sight, then dropped into seats facing one another.
“Jeepers, things certainly happened fast today, didn’t they?” Mart said. “My head’s still spinning.”
“Every day we were at Uncle Andrew’s lodge, things happened,” Trixie sighed happily. “It’s almost the best vacation we’ve ever had.”
“Even if you did manage to get us into a lot of trouble,” Mart said, “beginning when you ran out of the cave without telling anyone and got mixed up with that wildcat.”
“But it wasn’t my fault that Mr. Glendenning was dumped in the water and we had to save him,” Trixie said defensively.
“Or that Slim did that awful thing to the bats in the cave,” Honey said loyally.
“Slim sure was a pain in the neck,” Mart added. “That fire he set could have destroyed the countryside for miles around.”
“And a lot he’d have cared!” Brian pushed Mart over so he’d have more room in the seat. “He’s where he can’t do any more harm now.”
“You can’t blame Slim for the worst thing that happened,” Jim said solemnly. “If you hadn’t disobeyed rules, Trixie, you’d never have been so near death in that sinkhole in the cave.”
Trixie’s face grew very serious. She hated to have Jim displeased with her. Then a smile replaced the frown, and she winked mischievously at Jim.
“I know that was wrong. But a lot of nice things happened, too.”
“That’s right,” Honey seconded her.
Jim smiled and nodded a vigorous agreement. “Of course they did, Trix,” he said. “Nice things always happen wherever the Bob-Whites are. We met Linnie, for instance. That was one of the best parts of our vacation—right?”
“Yes, and we all love her,” Trixie said happily. “Best of all, we did help restore her father to his family. Don’t forget, too, that we found that ghost fish, and I think we’re going to get a reward for it. That means we can help buy the station wagon for the handicapped children, after all. Oh, dear, I wonder if we’ll ever have another project as exciting as this one turned out to be!”
Discovery ● 1
Wildcat Comes to Call ● 2
Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts! • 3
A Trip into Town ● 4
Swim to Safety • 6
Five-Hundred-Dollar Poison • 7
Nothing but Trouble ● 8
Surprise Party ● 9
Fire in the Night ● 10
Operation Fix-Up • 11
Search After Dark ● 12
Unexpected Meeting ● 13
Wild-Goose Chase • 14
Sinkhole Suspense • 15
Lessons to Learn ● 16
Misplaced Memory ● 17
A Just Reward ● 18
Table of Contents
Discovery ● 1
Wildcat Comes to Call ● 2
Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts! • 3
A Trip into Town ● 4
Getting Acquainted • 5
Swim to Safety • 6
Five-Hundred-Dollar Poison • 7
Nothing but Trouble ● 8
Surprise Party ● 9
Fire in the Night ● 10
Operation Fix-Up • 11
Search After Dark ● 12
Unexpected Meeting ● 13
Wild-Goose Chase • 14
Sinkhole Suspense • 15
Lessons to Learn ● 16
Misplaced Memory ● 17
A Just Reward ● 18
The Mystery at Bob-White Cave Page 15
