The Woodshed Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  Henry went with Jessie to see Grandpa Cole. It was not a long walk.

  Grandpa was sitting outdoors, reading.

  “Do you know when your brother is coming?” Henry asked.

  “Not till July first,” said Grandpa Cole. “When New York gets hot, he comes up here. He hates to travel.”

  Jessie said, “We want to see him when he comes. Where will he live?”

  “Right here with me,” said the old man. “He’s good company for me. He can remember everything.”

  “I hope he can,” said Henry, laughing. “We want to ask him a lot of questions.”

  “I am afraid we will bother him,” said Jessie.

  “No bother. He’ll like it. I like it too. It’s good to see nice young folks like you. I hope you will come often.”

  “I’m sure we will,” said Henry. Then Henry and Jessie walked home.

  They found Violet on the back steps reading a big book. She looked up at her brother and sister. They saw at once that she was very much excited.

  “Henry!” said Violet. “This is a wonderful book for us! It’s all about the Revolutionary War. And it tells how John Hancock and Sam Adams had to hide!”

  The two older Aldens sat down beside Violet. “Tell us about it,” said Jessie.

  “Yes,” said Henry. “Go on.”

  “I found this book in the parlor,” said Violet. “See, it has lots of pictures. Here is a picture of that old gun!”

  “Just exactly like it!” said Henry, looking at it.

  “Now you see,” said Violet, “if John Hancock had to hide—”

  “There were lots of his men who had to hide, too!” finished Jessie.

  “Right!” said Henry. “I know many men were with him, all over the place. You’ve got something, Violet!”

  Benny came around the corner. “What’s Violet got?” he asked.

  “News,” said Henry. “Sit down, Benny. She’s found news about our mystery from an old, old book.”

  He told Benny about it and showed him the pictures.

  “This is neat!” cried Benny. “Do you think any of those men hid in our woodshed?”

  “Well, no,” said Henry slowly. “Not the same woodshed anyway. But a very old one fell down about a hundred years ago. This one is not old enough.”

  “Goodness!” said Benny. “How old was the old one?”

  “It must have been built in Colonial days,” said Henry. “What else did you read, Violet?”

  “Oh, John Hancock’s men got all the guns they could. They got bullets and gunpowder. They hid them in lots of places. One time they hid guns in a load of hay. The Redcoats stood and watched the load of hay go by. They never thought of looking in the hay!”

  “Violet!” said Henry. “What a girl you are! This is the best news we have heard.”

  Benny said, “I wonder what the Redcoats would have done to the man with the hay cart if they had found the guns?”

  “They would have shot him dead!” said Violet.

  “Violet!” said Henry again.

  “Yes, that’s right,” said Violet. “There were many brave men in those days. They were always in danger. But they went on getting guns and ammunition and hiding it. The Redcoats were always trying to find it.”

  “Anything else?” asked Jessie.

  “One more thing I read,” said Violet. “We lost the battle of Bunker Hill just because we ran out of ammunition.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Henry. “Here comes Sim. Let’s ask him something.”

  They all went to meet Sim. He had a big can of milk for them, and one of cream. Maggie took the cans and Sim looked at the children.

  Henry said, “Sim, do you know where the old, old woodshed used to be? Not this one, but the one that fell down?”

  “Yes, I know that. Right in the very same place.”

  “Good!” cried Henry. “How do you know?”

  Sim scratched his head. “Of course, I wasn’t there.” He—looked at Henry and laughed. “I’m not quite a hundred years old, but my father told me. This woodshed stands right where the old one was. That’s all I know.”

  “That’s enough!” cried Jessie. “Do you think anyone hid there from the Redcoats during the war?”

  “Maybe. I can’t tell you that,” said Sim, shaking his head. “Why do you want to know?”

  “We just want to find out where all the stories about why nobody will live in this house came from,” said Violet softly.

  “I see,” said Sim. He smiled at Violet. “I’d help you if I could.”

  “You have,” said Benny suddenly. Then as Sim went away he said, “I have an idea!”

  “What’s your idea?” asked Henry.

  “Let’s go back to the woodshed and take a flashlight. We might find a clue.”

  “Not after two hundred years, Benny!” said Jessie.

  “I bet nobody ever looked,” said Benny. “Of course they didn’t find anything if they didn’t even look.”

  After lunch Henry found his big flashlight. Benny found his, too.

  “Do come with us, Sam!” begged Violet.

  “Go ahead, Sam,” said Aunt Jane. “You leave your work whatever it is. This is more important. I don’t want to be afraid all my life.”

  So Sam nodded his head and agreed to go along. He knew that Violet and Benny were safe with Henry and Jessie, but Miss Jane had asked him to go.

  Sam had been quietly watching to see if anything unusual were going on around the farm. But not a thing seemed out of place and he had seen no one.

  As they came up the hill, Watch walked along with Jessie. But as they came near the woodshed, he put his nose to the ground and ran on ahead. When he reached the door, he ran around the woodshed barking.

  Henry kicked the door open. He went in with his flashlight.

  “What in the world!” he cried. They all went in. There was the little table back in the corner. There was the bench, the bed, the dishes, the cans, the egg.

  The children just stood still and looked at each other.

  CHAPTER 8

  A Light in the Dark

  Benny was the first to speak. He said, “Well, this shows two things. Somebody’s living here. And his hiding place can’t be very far away.”

  “That’s right, Benny,” said Henry. “Nobody could move all these things very far and then move them right back again.”

  “I say we’d better look for a hole in this cabin,” said Benny. “Maybe there’s a cellar.” He began to flash his light on the floor. Henry did the same. They found nothing.

  “This is a funny floor, anyway,” said Violet. “Just dirt.”

  Sam said, “I’d take up that bed and look under it.”

  “Yes,” said Henry. “Sorry, Watch. You’ll have to get off the bed.”

  Benny pushed him off gently. Watch shook himself and sat down.

  The children moved the blanket carefully. They moved the thick bed of hay under it.

  “Now, look!” said Jessie. “Do you see what I see? That dirt has been moved!”

  “That’s right, Miss Jessie,” said Sam. “And not very long ago either. I wish we had a shovel.”

  “We don’t need a shovel,” said Henry. “We need a shingle. And I know exactly where I can find a shingle!”

  Henry went over to the shelf and came back with a shingle. “I saw it under the cans the first day,” he said. He knelt down and pushed the shingle into the soft dirt. He worked and worked to find a hole or a crack.

  “Let me try,” said Benny. “I love to dig.” He knelt down and began to dig away the dirt.

  “Certainly that dirt has been moved,” said Violet. “See how soft it is.”

  Then Benny found the crack.

  “I’ve got it!” he shouted. “It’s heavy! I hope I don’t break the shingle!”

  “Oh, I hope not!” cried Jessie. “Let Henry help you, Benny.”

  Henry took the shingle and lifted. And up came a cover.

  “A wood cover!” shouted
Benny. “I bet there’s a cellar under this woodshed!”

  Perhaps it was not a cellar, but there was surely a big hole under the cover. Some of the dirt fell in. Benny flashed his light down the hole.

  “Stairs!” he cried. “I’m going right down!”

  His foot was on the top step.

  “Oh, no, you’re not,” said Sam. He shook his head. “I couldn’t let you. What would your Aunt Jane say if you got into trouble?”

  “What trouble could I get into, Sam? There are only a few stairs.”

  “Who knows?” said Sam. “Might be somebody down there.”

  “Oh, no, Sam!” said Benny. “Watch would be right down there by now. And he would bark. And look at him!”

  Watch was lying down chewing some hay. He was not interested in the hole.

  “I’ll go down myself,” said Sam. “I’d like to see what’s down there.”

  “You’re too tall,” said Benny.

  “Well, I can bend over,” said Sam. “I am going first, that’s sure.”

  “Take the biggest light, Sam,” said Henry.

  Sam took the big light and put his foot on the first stair. The stair did not break. Sam moved slowly. He sat down on a stair and flashed the light ahead.

  The Aldens held their breath.

  “Well, what do you know!” he called. “It looks like a tunnel!”

  “A tunnel?” called Henry. “Can you crawl through it?”

  “Yes, but I’m not going to,” said Sam. “Hello, what’s this?”

  “Well, what is it?” called Henry.

  “I don’t know. It’s something made of tin. I’ll bring it up.”

  He passed up a very queer looking thing. Jessie took it and turned it over in her hands. “This is an old candlestick,” she said. “It looks very, very old.”

  “Maybe somebody had to have a candle,” called Sam. “It’s as dark as a pocket down here. It’s not a bit wet, though.”

  “That’s because it’s on a hill,” said Henry.

  “Can’t I come down now, Sam?” asked Benny. “You see how quiet Watch is.”

  “Well, come on,” said Sam. “There’s plenty of room.”

  “Let’s all go down,” cried Benny. But Watch did not like this. He saw Benny go down out of sight. Then when Henry started, he got up and began to bark.

  “All right. All right!” said Jessie. “You go down yourself, Mr. Watch.” She pushed him gently down the stairs. “You’re a bother, though.”

  “No,” said Sam. “Watch is no bother. He’s a help.”

  “Why do you think Watch is a help, Sam?” asked Benny.

  “A dog knows,” said Sam. “He would bark his head off if there was any danger. A dog can smell danger.”

  At last everyone had come down the stairs. They had two flashlights.

  “It’s spooky down here,” Jessie said, looking around her and shivering a bit.

  “There’s your tunnel,” said Sam.

  Watch ran in, but he soon turned around and came back.

  “Maybe it isn’t a tunnel, Sam. Maybe it’s just a cave,” said Henry.

  “Maybe,” said Sam.

  “Here’s a lot of junk,” said Benny. He kicked a box with his foot. “Ow!” he said. “That box is made of iron!”

  “Take it,” said Henry. “We can open it later.”

  “You know what I think?” said Benny. “I think we’d better get out of here. Suppose somebody put that cover on, we’d be in a fix!”

  “Right!” said Henry. “We ought to leave somebody up in the cabin to watch out.”

  Without another word, they all went up the stairs. They put the cover on and stamped on the soft dirt. They put the bed back.

  And then they went home to Aunt Jane with a very old candlestick and a very heavy iron box.

  CHAPTER 9

  What Was in the Box

  Aunt Jane was not in the house. No dog came to meet them. Aunt Jane’s dog, Lady, always stayed with her. Benny called out, “Aunt Jane!” When nobody answered, Henry called, “Lady! Lady!”

  A bark came from the yard behind the house. There sat Aunt Jane reading Violet’s big book. She looked up.

  “Well, how did you get along?” she asked.

  Benny could hardly wait to tell her about the hole under the woodshed. Then Jessie gave her the old candlestick.

  “What an old candlestick!” cried Aunt Jane. “This is the kind they used at the time of the Revolutionary War!”

  “That’s what Jessie thought, Aunt Jane,” said Violet. “And we found an old iron box, too.”

  “Open it right away!” said Aunt Jane. “It looks like a candle box. The kind they used to pack candles in.”

  “Somebody sat there in the dark with a candle,” said Henry. “Why would they do that, Aunt Jane?”

  “I have an idea, Henry! I got it from this old book. You just open that box and we’ll see.”

  “I’ll have to break the top off, I’m afraid,” said Henry. “See how rusty it is.”

  “All right. Break it!” cried Aunt Jane.

  “I’ll get a hammer and chisel,” shouted Benny. “I’ll be right back.”

  Off he went to the house. He soon came back and Henry started to work. Little by little the cover opened. At last it fell off.

  “Well, what is it?” cried Benny. “Just a lot of old black powder.”

  “Gunpowder!” said Aunt Jane with shining eyes. “I read about gunpowder in Violet’s book. Somebody dug that hole to keep ammunition in!”

  “You’re right,” said Henry quietly. “I think we have found one of the places where they hid ammunition!”

  “Then they took it to Concord,” said Jessie.

  “In a load of hay!” said Violet.

  They all looked at each other.

  Henry said, “Aunt Jane, we decided not to go into the tunnel. We may find a lot more things later.”

  “We thought somebody might shut the cover down,” said Benny. “And there we’d all be. Next time we’ll leave somebody outside to keep watch. Where’s Sam?”

  But Sam had gone back to work.

  Aunt Jane said, “Sam must go with you every time. Remember that.”

  “I think so, too,” said Jessie. “That dirt looked as if it had been moved only yesterday. Some stranger is around here.”

  “He’s stealing eggs from the Beans,” said Benny. Everyone laughed.

  Benny went on slowly. Talking about the Beans had made him think of something. He said, “Aunt Jane, why didn’t you marry this Andy Bean?”

  “All right, I’ll tell you, Benny. Nobody ever asked me before.”

  “I wasn’t very polite to ask you, was I?” said Benny.

  “No,” said Aunt Jane. “But I don’t mind. I was quite silly. Andy Bean did ask me to marry him and I said no. My reasons were very silly. I know that now. The first reason was that he was two years younger than I was, but he was big and he looked older. What do you guess the second reason was?”

  “What?” asked four voices.

  “I didn’t want to be called Mrs. Bean!”

  Violet patted Aunt Jane’s hand. “I don’t think that was too silly.”

  “Well, I do,” said Aunt Jane. “I have been sorry a thousand times. Andy was a fine looking, clever boy. He had a nice crooked smile. His younger brother owns the Bean farm now. His wife is the Mrs. Bean who told you about the eggs, Benny.”

  “Don’t we have the most exciting adventures!” cried Benny. “Something new is always happening.”

  “Yes, Benny,” said Aunt Jane laughing. “Ever since I met you something nice has happened every day. Before that nothing happened.”

  “Well, tomorrow we’ll explore that cellar again,” said Henry. “I’ll read that old book myself. I’d like to know what to look for.”

  “We might find an old gun,” said Benny. “Maybe an old flintlock.”

  “Benny Alden!” cried Violet. Her eyes were like stars. “Do you know what you just said? Maybe that cellar is
where Andy Bean found his old flintlock!”

  Everyone was excited until Jessie said, “No, I don’t think so. Don’t you remember that somebody gave it to Andy?”

  “That’s right, Jessie,” said Benny. “They said it was somebody hiding in this house! And that’s why the stories have been told and nobody will live here.”

  “Well!” said Henry. “We’ll find out if it takes all summer.”

  “Don’t forget,” said Aunt Jane softly, “it may.”

  Henry smiled at his aunt. Maybe it would take all summer, but the mystery would be solved. And it would be solved quickly if some of his and Benny’s ideas proved to be right.

  CHAPTER 10

  Back to the Woodshed

  The next day Maggie saw an old man in overalls coming to the back door. He had a basket of eggs.

  “Are you selling eggs?” Maggie asked.

  “Yep,” said the old man.

  “Where did you come from?” she asked again.

  “Beans’,” said the man.

  Benny heard him from the next room. He laughed. He said to Violet, “He doesn’t talk much, does he?”

  “I wonder who he is?” said Violet.

  “I know who he is,” said Benny. “He is the Beans’ hired man. I saw him working there when I went over.”

  Maggie told the man, “We will have plenty of eggs later. Sam is going to raise chickens.”

  “Yep,” said the man.

  “We do want two dozen eggs now,” Maggie went on. “Put them in this pan.”

  Benny and Violet listened.

  “Have you lost any more eggs?” asked Maggie.

  “Yep,” said the man.

  “Can’t you say anything but ‘yep’?” Maggie laughed.

  “No,” said the man. He did not laugh.

  “Well, come every week,” said Maggie. “What’s your name?”

  “Willie,” said the man.

  “My, my! A grown man called Willie! You ought to be William.”

  The man did not answer. Then he left.

  Benny went into the kitchen at once. “What’s the matter with him?” he asked. “Can’t he talk?”

  “Well,” said Maggie, “he doesn’t act very smart to me. Maybe he doesn’t know very much. Not very bright. He can’t help that. Maybe he’s a good worker. He sells very nice eggs.”