The Second Girl Detective Megapack: 23 Classic Mystery Novels for Girls

by Julia K. Duncan

  “Bobby, honey,” Virginia said, “Gale has something to tell you.”

  “Yes, Bobby,” Gale said smiling broadly, “remember me telling you I might meet a fairy when I was riding back to the ranch?”

  “Did you?” he demanded eagerly.

  “I did,” Gale said gravely. “I told her all about you and how fine a man you are. I told her you wanted more than anything in the world to go to school and what do you think?”

  “What?” Bobby asked, his wide, earnest gaze fixed on Gale’s face.

  “She gave me this.” Gale handed Bobby the check and at his puzzled expression continued: “It is worth a whole lot of money, enough to send you to school for a couple of years.”

  He looked dazedly from one smiling face to the other and back at Gale. “I’m goin’ to school?” he said in a dazed voice.

  “Yes, darling, as soon as it opens for the term,” Gale said.

  To their surprise his lip puckered and he flung himself on Gale, hiding his face on her shoulder with a smothered sob. Across his blond head, Gale and Virginia exchanged a smiling glance, tears not far from the surface of either pair of clear eyes.

  “Bobby,” Gale murmured, “aren’t you glad? Don’t you want to go to school?”

  “Course I do,” he said, choking, “t-that’s why I’m cryin’.”

  “Gosh,” Carol said when the girls rode away, leaving an ecstatic, beaming Bobby behind them. “I never knew it was so nice to play Santa Claus. We’ll have to do it often,” she said slyly tucking her handkerchief back into her pocket.

  “I’m so glad you suggested giving the money to Bobby, Gale,” Val said, a suspicious thickness in her voice.

  “So am I,” Janet declared, “but hang it all, I almost cried with him.”

  “I guess we never realized before how fortunate we were,” Phyllis said, contemplating the blue sky overhead. “Didn’t it do something to you just now? I feel all sort of big inside. Like—like I wanted to be nice to everybody in the world.”

  “It does make you happy just to make somebody else happy,” Madge agreed. “He is such a cunning little chap.”

  “And worthy of anything we might do for him,” Virginia declared. “His mother has raised him with the best manners of any youngster in Arizona.”

  “What happened to his father?” Valerie asked.

  “He used to work in a silver mine,” Virginia said. “He and several other men owned it in partnership. Bobby’s father was killed trying to rescue one of the other men from a cave-in or something. I don’t know the exact facts. Bobby’s mother is wonderful with sewing and my mother and some other ladies from Coxton keep her supplied. That is the only way they get along.”

  “I wish we had had two thousand dollars,” Janet said.

  “But if Bobby’s father owned a silver mine why don’t they have money?” Madge asked.

  “The mine never amounted to much,” Virginia answered. “It was only a small vein of silver and it didn’t last very long.”

  The girls returned to the ranch house, each with a little warm glow in her heart. Making Bobby happy as they had done, had shown each one how much happiness there is in giving joy to some one else.

  The Wilsons had prepared a festive program for their guests’ last night at the ranch. There were music and dancing and chatter and laughter. The hilarity kept up for hours.

  “You know,” Janet said, “I feel like celebrating tonight—for Bobby.”

  “Strange as it may seem, I was thinking the same thing,” Phyllis declared.

  “I used to get the jitters every time I thought of Pedro and his knife,” Val confided to Gale in a secluded dark corner of the porch where they had gone for a breath of air between spurts of gaiety. “Now I’m glad we did meet them as we did.”

  “Why?” Gale wanted to know.

  “Well, look what we did with the money,” Val said. “It was worth all our adventures to see that little boy’s face this afternoon.”

  “He was just about overwhelmed,” Gale smiled softly. “It is amazing that he could be so starved for knowledge and contact with other youngsters his age.”

  “Tomorrow we shall leave all this,” Val said, motioning to the trees and sky, lit by the giant yellow moon and sparkling stars, and the ranch house and the corral.

  “Wasn’t it a worth while summer, though?” Gale asked. “We’re all so much better able to cope with the studies and struggles we’ll have this, our last term, in high school.”

  “Where are you going to college?” Val asked suddenly.

  “Why—I don’t know—” Gale said vaguely. “I want to go to Briarhurst. I don’t know if I shall, though.”

  “That’s my aim, too. I shall probably—”

  “Say, aren’t you having a good time?” Carol demanded through the window.

  “Sure we are,” Val declared.

  “Then come in and join the party,” Carol commanded.

  “The queen commands,” laughed Gale. “We have to obey.”

  The two went back to the living room and danced some more. The noise kept up until the wee hours of the morning when, out of sheer necessity, the girls went off to bed. Each had a vague suspicion that they would not be able to get up the next morning and get the early start on which they had planned.

  CHAPTER XXI

  Adios

  Their fears were confirmed. About ten o’clock the next morning Gale and Valerie managed to leave their beds for breakfast. But when they appeared in the dining room they discovered that they were the first and only ones to make their appearance. Mrs. Wilson despatched Valerie to bestir Phyllis and Madge and Gale departed to rouse Carol and Janet.

  She knocked loudly on their door but all remained blissfully quiet. She peeped around the corner of the door and beheld her two friends curled like kittens, enjoying their nap.

  “Hey!” she yelled. “Last call for breakfast.”

  “Huh?” Carol cocked one sleepy eye in her direction while Janet remained in dreamland.

  “I said,” Gale repeated painstakingly, “it is the last call for breakfast.”

  “I don’t want any,” Carol said, turning over and burying her head in the covers.

  “Come on, get up,” Gale urged, shaking her friend, “we want to get an early start.”

  “Let’s go home tomorrow,” Carol begged. “I wanta sleep.”

  “We have to leave today,” Gale insisted. “There can be no more putting it off. Come on, turn out, or I’ll pour cold water on you!” she threatened.

  At that declaration Carol managed to sit up, but she was half asleep as she tried to struggle out of her pajamas.

  “Lazy bones, get out of there,” Gale demanded of Janet.

  The latter squinted frowningly at Gale. “Must you bother me?” she demanded. “Go away!”

  “Not until you get up and dress,” Gale said calmly. “We’ve got to get started.”

  “I want my breakfast,” Janet said.

  “Well, you won’t get a bite unless you get up this minute!” Gale declared vigorously.

  “In that case,” Janet yawned, “I reckon I’ll do without it. Good night.”

  Gale went to the door. “Virginia,” she called, “bring me a bucket of cold water. The colder the better!”

  “What’s that for?” Janet demanded.

  “To pour on you,” Gale said calmly.

  “I’m up!” Janet declared, tossing back the covers and jumping out of bed.

  She was up, but it took her and Carol at least another half an hour to complete their dressing. When finally they appeared for breakfast, it was lunch time. After lunch there was frantic last minute scrambling to collect baggage.

  The old car in which they had arrived at the K Bar O was brought to the front of the ranch house and there the girls viewed it with frowns.

  “That tire is certainly flat,” Carol declared. “It looks like a deflated pancake.”

  “Jim and I’ll have it fixed in no time,” Tom offered.


  “Brothers are good for something,” Janet murmured satisfactorily to Virginia.

  “Where’s Phyllis?” Gale asked.

  “I don’t know,” Janet said. “Isn’t she in the house with Val?”

  Gale went into the living room and called but neither Phyllis nor Valerie answered.

  “Perhaps she is down at the corral kissing her horse goodbye,” suggested Carol brightly.

  “Go see,” Janet said.

  “Go yourself,” Carol murmured lazily.

  “I have it,” Janet said. “We’ll both go. Maybe Loo Wong has an extra piece of cake,” she whispered in Carol’s ear.

  “The way those two departed I’ll bet they were thinking of food,” Madge commented.

  “Phyllis isn’t down at the corral and neither is Val,” Janet informed them when, after a lengthy absence, she and Carol returned.

  “Were you eating anything?” Madge demanded suspiciously.

  “Of course not,” Carol said with dignity. “Didn’t we just have lunch?”

  “Then wipe that chocolate icing off your tie,” Madge said laughingly.

  “Look. Here they come. What in the world is Phyllis carrying?” Carol demanded wonderingly.

  “A cactus,” Janet giggled. “What are you going to do with that?” she asked.

  “Take it home with me,” Phyllis grinned, “for a souvenir. You can sit on it in the car,” she invited.

  “Thoughtful of you,” Janet grimaced.

  “There’s your tire all fixed,” Tom said, dusting himself off as he straightened up from his work.

  “Gee, I’m glad it went flat here and not ten miles away,” Phyllis sighed. “Just think, we might have had to fix it.”

  “I hope the old thing holds together until we reach Phoenix,” Janet said, looking the car over. “I wouldn’t want to walk.”

  “Why that car is good for years yet,” Carol declared, a twinkle in her eye.

  “Sure, if it just sits in the garage,” agreed Phyllis.

  “It’s getting rusty already,” Janet said.

  “Well, there is one consolation,” Carol murmured, “the horn can never rust away.”

  “Why not?” Janet wanted to know.

  “Because it’ll break up in honks!” Carol answered.

  Carol had been sitting on the porch step with Janet, but suddenly she found herself catapulted into the dust.

  “That’s for that terrible joke,” Janet said firmly. “Another one like that and we will make you ride on the rear bumper.”

  “We better get going,” Madge put in. “It is getting late.”

  The girls had had such a good time and they had grown fond of Virginia. It was hard to say goodbye.

  “I wish you were coming East with us,” Gale said sadly.

  “Couldn’t you?” Phyllis asked eagerly.

  Virginia shook her head. “No can do. But maybe I can visit you some time. I hope you can come out here again, too.”

  “You will let us know how Bobby gets along in school?” Val asked. “We’ll want to know.”

  “Of course,” Virginia assured them. “I want you all to write to me, too. Don’t forget.”

  After their goodbyes were over the girls piled into the car, Gale at the wheel. Ineffectively she pressed her foot on the starter. There was a whirr but the engine refused to break into the longed-for roar. The girls exchanged exasperated glances.

  “I suppose we’ll have to get out and push,” Carol groaned.

  “Nothing doing!” Janet balked at the suggestion. “What’s the matter with the old thing anyway, Gale?”

  Gale replied with a shrug of her shoulders and climbed out. She opened the engine hood and looked at the complicated array of gadgets. She knew a little, not much, about an automobile engine.

  “Everything looks all right,” Tom declared. “I’ll get under and see what’s what.”

  “How’s it?” Phyllis asked, leaning over the door.

  “A couple bolts loose,” Tom yelled back.

  Several minutes later Tom reappeared, streaked with grease but triumphant.

  “Try it now,” he suggested.

  But the car refused to obey the summons to action.

  “Lizzie certainly isn’t a lady!” Janet declared impatiently. “Maybe she wants to be coaxed.”

  “I’ve got it!” Gale said suddenly with a snap of her fingers.

  “Goodness, hold onto it whatever it is,” Phyllis begged.

  Gale grinned sheepishly. “We should have thought of it, sooner. I’ll wager we haven’t any gas.”

  Tom looked at the tank and laughed. “Dry as the desert,” he declared. “But there is a five-gallon can in the bunkhouse. I’ll get it.”

  The gas tank was filled and the engine responded readily now to Gale’s pressure on the starter. They said their goodbyes again.

  “Goodbye, goodbye, parting is such sweet sorrow,” Janet said sorrowfully, clinging to Virginia’s hand.

  “Now I know it is time to go,” Carol said. “When Janet quotes Shakespeare things will begin to happen.”

  The car rattled and wheezed as it began to move.

  “Hey, hold everything,” Phyllis called to Gale. “Here comes Loo Wong.”

  Once more their departure was halted. Loo Wong had packed a lunch and he proceeded to present it to Janet with a low bow and a wide grin.

  “Loo Wong wish many happiness. Bid all tloubles goodbye fo’lever.”

  “Same to you, Loo Wong, and many of ’em,” Janet declared. “Girls, what would we have done without Loo Wong?”

  “We couldn’t do without him,” Carol declared. “He makes the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten.”

  “Don’t forget how to make fudge, Loo Wong,” Valerie called.

  The Chinaman bobbed up and down, hands hidden in wide sleeves and his face wreathed in smiles.

  “This time it is really goodbye,” Gale called. “Don’t forget to write, Virginia!”

  The car wheezed and rattled out of the ranch yard onto the dusty road. Handkerchiefs fluttered until the car was swallowed up in a cloud of dust and the ranch house was hidden from view. They had a long trip ahead of them and they settled down comfortably for their last glimpse of Arizona scenery.

  “Ah, now let’s eat,” proposed Janet. “Ouch!” Unwittingly she had leaned against the cactus plant Phyllis had stored in with the baggage.

  “Get along, Liza,” Gale said, patting the steering wheel encouragingly as the engine coughed. “Don’t let us down now,” she pleaded.

  So, with the girls hoping that the old car would hold together until they reached Phoenix where they would take the train to the East, let us leave the Adventure Girls. Those who have enjoyed the six girls’ adventures may join them again in The Adventure Girls in the Air, when they have some exciting times with airplanes and find themselves in new and surprising situations.

  THE ADVENTURE GIRLS IN THE AIR, by Clair Blank

  CHAPTER I

  The Crash

  The airplane circled low over the shore, its motor a loud humming noise. The begoggled head of the pilot peered over the side at the little group of people on the beach as he sent his plane zooming up again.

  “Must be from the Army field below here,” vouchsafed one sunburned young man, raising himself on one elbow to peer up at the plane.

  “It isn’t an Army plane though,” another added.

  “He must be trying to smash himself up as quickly as possible,” declared Carol Carter.

  The other five girls and three boys present agreed heartily with her.

  The plane, its engine roaring, dove straight for the blue waters of the Atlantic, only to zoom upward again when the waves threatened to engulf it.

  The young people, when nothing happened, turned their attention to something else. Airplanes were familiar to them.

  “How did you make out in your English exam today?” Carol asked her friend, Janet Gordon.

  The girl in the bright red bathing suit made a wry face and si
ghed. “I believe I established a new record for low marks.”

  “But you don’t want to flunk in anything this term!” Phyllis Elton said aghast. “It is your Senior year!”

  “You won’t be eligible for the college exams if you do,” added Valerie Wallace.

  “I’ll make it up,” Janet said confidently, as usual not letting anything worry her.

  “Have you decided what college you are going to?” Bruce Latimer asked as he let a handful of sand trickle slowly down Gale Howard’s back.

  She wriggled away from him. “I like Briarhurst,” she answered.

  “That is where we all want to go,” supplied Madge Reynolds. “Do you think you can make it, Phyllis?”

  Phyllis Elton looked at the blue water lapping the shore and a little sigh escaped her.

  “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I want to, more than anything—but my Aunt—”

  The others knew Phyllis’ life was governed completely by her Aunt’s whims and commands. Since babyhood Phyllis had lived alone in a big stone house with Miss Fields. Her friends were not allowed to visit her, nor she them if her Aunt knew it. However, when Phyllis had started High School she became chums with the Adventure Girls and now every moment she could get away from the big house was spent with one or the other of them.

  “Why does your Aunt object to Briarhurst?” asked David Kimball.

  Phyllis shrugged. “Why does she object to anything? Why doesn’t she let me have friends—give parties—like other girls? I never know why she objects to things—she just does.”

  “I wouldn’t stand for it,” said rebellious Janet.

  Phyllis smiled slowly. “What can I do? She is the only relative I have in the world. I can’t do anything but what she lets me.”

  “What college does she suggest?” Peter Arnold wanted to know.

  “Stonecliff,” Phyllis said shortly.

  “Not that place!” Carol cried. “It is like a prison there!”

  “I know it.” Phyllis sighed.

  “The girls aren’t allowed any fun at all! You aren’t going there!” Madge wanted to know.

  “I shall probably go wherever my Aunt chooses to send me,” Phyllis said, and her young voice was cold with anger and rebellion. “If she insists on Stonecliff, it will be Stonecliff.”