The Black Jacket Mystery

by Campbell, Julie

  Trixie stopped Susie a few feet behind Honey’s horse and sat silent, staring at the dark-faced boy.

  Dan Mangan scowled at them both. “I can make it okay. I don’t need a lift.”

  “But there’s no need of your walking when we’re going to the same place,” Honey said gently. “If you’d rather ride alone, Trix and I can double up, and you can take Starlight, here. She’s very gentle.”

  “I told you I don’t want to ride,” he said loudly, his scowl deepening. “You can’t give me orders, even if I do work for your pa.”

  Honey’s pretty face flushed and her eyes showed that she was hurt. She was gathering up her reins to ride on without answering when Trixie spoke angrily.

  “If you ask me, Hon, he just doesn’t dare try to ride. He’s afraid!” Trixie didn’t really mean it, but she had to say something unkind to punish the boy for hurting Honey’s feelings.

  “Oh, yeah?” Dan’s lip curled. “Big talk, freckles. Climb down and I’ll show you.” He put his books down on a rock.

  “Okay!” Trixie was out of the saddle in a flash. “Be sure you know which side to get on. Susie’s particular.”

  She handed over the reins as Dan Mangan swaggered up beside Susie.

  Susie’s ears went back as Dan swung on, and she snorted. Trixie stepped back at once. “Take it easy, cowboy,” she advised. “Maybe you’d better lengthen the stirrups. I keep them pretty short.”

  “Who’s riding?” Dan answered shortly, and as he spoke he slapped the reins against Susie’s neck. “Come on, move!”

  Susie moved promptly. She kicked up her heels and bucked. And then, ignoring Dan’s attempt to hold her in, she made a dash for a stand of spruce close to the trail.

  “Stop her!” Honey called excitedly.

  But it was too late. Susie had run under a low-hanging limb and unseated her rider. Dan Mangan went head over heels into the brush beside the trail, and the horrified girls saw him land hard and lie facedown in the snow.

  The Black Leather Jacket • 8

  FOR A MOMENT after the accident, the girls were too horrified to do anything but stare at Dan Mangan’s limp body as he lay sprawled in the snow patch beside the bridle path.

  Then Trixie, swallowing hard and trying to sound very brave, told Honey, “You go catch Susie before she runs too far, while I see if Dan s hurt.”

  Honey started after the mare, but she didn’t have to go far. After brushing Dan off against the low-hanging tree limb, the saucy little mare had trotted only a few feet away into the brush and was now browsing peacefully.

  Trixie went up to Dan slowly, hoping hard that he wasn’t badly hurt. She had had a course in first aid at school, but everything she had been taught was jumbled up in her mind, now that she was facing a real crisis.

  Then, as she knelt beside him, she was relieved to see Honey hurrying to join her. Maybe Honey could help with a suggestion, even though she had had no training that Trixie knew of.

  “Dan! Dan Mangan!” Honey knelt on the other side of Dan. He was lying very still, apparently unconscious. “Maybe if we turned him over—” she whispered.

  Trixie shook her head. “Better not. I’ve heard it’s best never to move an accident victim till you’re sure you won’t do him worse harm by disturbing him. But we can’t leave him here!”

  Honey agreed hastily. “Maybe one of us should sit here by him, while the other brings Mr. Maypenny.”

  “Guess you’re right,” Trixie said uneasily. But before they could talk over which would go and which would stand by, the victim moaned and stirred. He rolled over onto his back suddenly and tried to sit up, only to fall back and hold his head. A large lump on the front of his forehead showed where he had landed on the hard ground.

  Trixie gave a big sigh of relief. “Guess there’s nothing broken, after all,” she told Honey.

  Dan snatched his hands from his face and stared at the two girls with an unfriendly scowl. They both noticed a long tear in the sleeve of his black jacket.

  But aside from the bump and the tom sleeve, he seemed to be unhurt.

  “Hi! How do you feel?” Honey asked quickly. Dan touched the bump on his head and winced. “What happened?”

  “Susie brushed you off on a tree limb,” Honey explained. “I hope you aren’t hurt?”

  “Nah!” Dan scrambled unsteadily to his feet and stood swaying. “I’m okay.” He even tried to smile at Honey.

  “You don’t look it,” Trixie stated frankly. “You should have lengthened those stirrups. You then would have had better control of Susie. I guess you don’t know very much about riding.” She didn’t mean to sound smug, but that was how it sounded, even to her own ears.

  Dan Mangan glared at her. “But you know all the answers, don’t you, freckles?”

  Trixie bit back a retort. She knew she deserved the reproof. She was sorry she had spoken that way.

  “And now I suppose you’ll run and tell old Maypenny I tried to break your horse’s leg or something!” Dan sneered, his dark eyes angry.

  “I will not!” Trixie was getting angry. “And you ought to be ashamed to speak about your grandfather so disrespectfully!”

  “My which? Haw! That old square from squaresville?” Dan laughed harshly. “He’s no relation of mine, and quit saying so!” He was brushing the

  snow from his clothes as he spoke, but they both noticed that when he felt the tear in his jacket sleeve he looked worried and fingered it uncertainly, pulling the two edges of the tear together.

  Honey spoke hurriedly and with a friendly smile. “If you’d like, I can mend that for you so it won't even show. ÏÏ1 get a needle and black thread from Mr. Maypenny.”

  For a moment Dan looked as if he intended to accept Honey’s friendly offer. Then he glanced at Trixie and saw her staring critically at him. He flushed and told Honey with a frown, “Don’t bother. I don’t need anybody’s help.”

  Honey drew back as if she had been slapped. It made Trixie furious. “You could at least say thanks!” she told him bitingly. “You’re just lucky if Honey doesn’t tell Mr. Maypenny that you tried to ride one of her horses and you didn’t know how and it was a wonder you didn’t break its neck!” She had to stop for breath.

  “Go on, tell him!” Dan turned to Honey. "And you can tell your rich pa, too, while you’re at it! I won’t be stuck in this hick town long enough for it to make any difference to me!” And with that, Dan Mangan picked up his books and strode off up the bridle path.

  The two girls stared after him. He slipped and slid a bit on the snowy ground, but he stayed on his feet till he went out of sight among the trees.

  “He makes me want to chew nails!” Trixie stormed.

  But Honey looked troubled. “Did you notice how sad he looked when he saw that tear in his jacket?”

  “No, I didn’t,” Trixie snapped. “He looks just plain mean to me, all the time!”

  “Or scared, maybe,” Honey guessed.

  Trixie’s eyes widened. “Hey, maybe it’s horses he’s afraid of. He doesn’t want anybody to know it, and that’s why he pretended he knew how to ride!”

  “That’s it, of course!” Honey agreed quickly. “And he got angry with you because you guessed it!”

  Trixie nodded gravely. “It’s too bad he has to leave soon. We could get Regan to teach him. I bet he’d get over being afraid of horses once he learned to ride.”

  “And if we don’t start riding again pretty soon,” Honey reminded her, “we never will get to Mr. Maypenny’s to look at his almanac.”

  “Come on, then.” Trixie laughed. “But don’t go offering Mr. Dan Mangan a lift when we catch up with him. We’ll just ride right along without him.” But they never did catch up with Dan Mangan that day. For a half mile or so they rode abreast along the bridle path and then went single file as it narrowed. Trixie, riding ahead, studied the imprints of Dan’s boots in the snow, until suddenly they disappeared on a rocky stretch in the shelter of an ancient evergreen. She knew that he had st
ruck out from the trail, probably on a shortcut or to look at the rabbit snares Mr. Maypenny always set at the boundaries of his property to keep “varmints” out of his winter vegetable patch.

  There was no sign of the boy at Mr. Maypenny’s, and they decided not to say anything about the accident. Mr. Maypenny seemed glad to see them and offered them hot chocolate if they wanted it.

  “No, thanks, Mr. Maypenny.” Honey smiled at him. “Were late, and we’ll have to start right back.”

  “That’s too bad, youngsters. I was hoping you could stay a little and visit with the boy Danny. He says he’s met you all at school.”

  “That’s right.” Trixie nodded. “Will he be here long?”

  “Rest of the term, I hope. The boy’s a help already, even though he’s innocent as a babe about farm life.” He interrupted himself abruptly. “But here I am gabbing, when you’re wanting to look at the almanac. Here it is, hanging right by the stove, where I can look at it every morning and know what to expect outdoors!”

  “We thought the twenty-seventh would be about right, on a Saturday—” Trixie was thumbing over the pages. “ ‘Clear and cold.’ That’s elegant! I hope your almanac is telling the truth!”

  “Hasn’t missed yeti” Mr. Maypenny asserted. Then he looked sheepish and corrected himself, “That is, all except the hurricane last November. Book said ‘fair weather that time.”

  “Oh, well.” Trixie held back a grin. “Anybody can make one mistake, especially a small one!”

  But as she and Honey rode back toward Glen Road a few minutes later, they had a good laugh about the almanac and the hurricane.

  There was a little scraped place on the mare Susie’s flank, and the girls had to explain to Regan how it had happened.

  His face darkened as they told him about Dan Mangan’s accident with Susie. “He must learn to keep off the horses,” he said grimly when Trixie had finished.

  “I bet he won’t try again,” Trixie laughed.

  “But he should,” Honey argued. “Mr. Maypenny says he hopes Dan will stay till summer vacation. And it would make things lots easier for Mr. Maypenny if his helper could ride. He could cover lots more ground.”

  “So he could,” Regan agreed heartily. “Maybe we can spare old Spartan for the lad to use. I don’t get him out as often as I should. I’ll speak to Miss Trask about it next time I see her.” Regan beamed at them.

  Trixie thought, watching him, He certainly looks a lot happier than he did before he went to the city about his experiment, whatever it is. Maybe it’s working out so he’U be rich and famous.

  Regan was telling Honey, “Tell the boys I’U be

  glad to help them build the booths for the carnival.”

  “They’ll be glad to hear that.” Trixie grinned. “But maybe you’d better tell them. They’d think I begged you to help, so I could get out of some of the work.”

  Regan chuckled. He seemed in high good spirits. “Don’t worry! I’ll put ’em straight. I might even swing in Maypenny and the Mangan boy for good measure! They’ll be glad to do what they can, too.” Suddenly Trixie remembered something. “But Dan told us he was leaving very soon. Remember, Honey?”

  Honey nodded. “I’d forgotten that.”

  Regan’s face was stern. “He did, eh?” He was silent a moment, as if he were thinking it over. Then he said abruptly, “Well, run along to the farm, girls. I’ll take care of the horses and the tack today. I’m caught up on all the rest of my work.”

  “Jeeps! Thanks a lot, Regan. We are late, and Moms has choir practice tonight, tool” Trixie grabbed Honey’s hand and drew her out of the barn with her. “Let’s scoot!”

  But once they were on their way down the driveway, they didn’t hurry a great deal. Trixie had something on her mind that was bothering her, and Honey noticed it after a couple of her own remarks received grunts for an answer.

  Honey stopped suddenly and faced her friend. “All right. What is it now? What are you wondering about this time? You’d better tell me.”

  Trixie looked serious. “You know, Honey, it’s a funny thing. Remember I thought Dan looked like somebody I knew, but I couldn’t think who it was? I know now.”

  “Goodness! Who?”

  “Regan!”

  “Oh, Trix! That’s silly. Regan has red hair, and Dan is very dark.”

  “I know, but just the same, there’s something around their eyes that’s the same.”

  “Well, I can’t see that. I think Dan Mangan looks more like Mr. Maypenny. They have the same sharp, stuck-out chin.”

  Trixie looked startled. “I didn’t notice that, but they do have, don’t they? That’s funny. I guess maybe our hunch that Dan is Mr. Maypenny’s grandson makes more sense than thinking Regan’s related to him, at that.” She seemed disappointed.

  “I agree,” Honey said, “no matter what Dan says.”

  “Oh, dear.” Trixie sighed. “I thought I had a brand-new mystery.” She clutched Honey’s arm suddenly and pointed down the drive toward the cottage clubhouse. “Hey, the door’s open! Wonder who’s in there.”

  “Let’s find out!” Honey answered, and they ran down the driveway toward the cottage. “I hope Jim’s home!”

  But when they went inside, there was no one in the pretty little “conference” room with its table and chairs. The posters were spread out in readiness; the paints were unopened, just as the boys had left them to wait for Jim to come back from the field trip to the Catskills.

  Honey poked her head around the end of the plywood partition that closed off the storage area where their summer and winter sports equipment was neatly stacked. It was darker in there. “Nobody here!” she called out.

  A moment later she gave a shriek and came backing away. “An animal! I saw some kind of a wild animal in there!” She grabbed Trixie and pulled her toward the front door. “Come on; let’s get out of here!”

  “What kind of an animal?” Trixie’s curiosity was stronger than her fears. She took a step toward the partition, but Honey held on to her arm.

  “Don’t go! It’s big and fuzzy and has beady eyes!” Her teeth were chattering. “I’m sure it’s a bear!”

  Jim’s Advice • 9

  A BEAR?” TRIXIE GRABBED Honey's hand. “Let’s get out of here!”

  They ran for the door, sure that the bear was close on their heels. But when they were safely outside the cottage clubhouse and dared to look back, there was no sign of the bear. The doorway was empty.

  “Thank goodness! He probably was as scared of me as I was of himl” Honey giggled nervously. “Now what do we do to get rid of him?”

  “Get rid of whom?” Jim s voice came as a surprise. Both Trixie and Honey knew that Jim was supposed to have gotten back late the night before, but neither had seen him yet.

  He was standing behind them, several cardboard posters tucked under his arm and a grin on his face.

  “Oh, Jim! I’m so glad you got back! There’s a horrible big bear in our clubhouse! What can we do to chase him out?” Honey asked a little hysterically.

  “A bear? In there?” Jim didn’t seem too worried.

  “I’d better call Regan,” Trixie suggested hastily.

  “No need,” Jim assured her confidently. “It’s probably only a cub, and I can handle it. Just wait here.”

  “But it looked big to me!” Honey protested. “Please don’t get hurt, Jim.”

  “No chance,” he boasted and strode bravely toward the doorway.

  “Here, grab this and let’s help.” Trixie was handing Honey a length of firewood from the pile against the toolshed and taking a second piece for herself.

  “Hit him on the nose, if you get a chance,” Trixie instructed Honey. “It’s their most vulner—” She bogged down uncertainly on the long word. “I mean, it hurts beasts the most to be hit on the nose!”

  “I should think so.” Honey shuddered.

  Up ahead, Jim disappeared into the clubhouse, and for a moment the two girls held back, listening fearfull
y. There was no sound of a struggle inside the cottage.

  “Maybe it went to sleep when we went away,” Trixie whispered hopefully, edging nearer.

  They got close enough to the doorway to peer inside, but it was too dark in there for them to see anything. And there wasn’t a sound.

  “I guess we’d better go on in. Jim may need us,” Trixie told Honey under her breath.

  They both wanted to run away, but they went through the open doorway, and there, on the conference table, was a bear, black and fuzzy and staring at them with shiny eyes. But it wasn’t a live bear. It was standing on a platform with rollers, and it was wearing a pretty red leather harness.

  Jim was grinning at them from the other side of the room. “Meet Mister Bear!” He laughed.

  “Jim! It’s darling!” They made a rush for it. “Where did it come from?” Honey asked.

  “We dragged it home from Sleepyside,” Mart’s voice came from the doorway. “The toy-shop man, Mr. Martin, donated it as a prize for the best skater under ten years old at the carnival!” Mart and Brian were coming in with their arms loaded with stuff. “Wait till you see all the loot we picked up! Everybody thinks our carnival is a great idea. We practically sold all the space in the program!”

  “And we have the principal’s permission to use the printing press at school to run the programs off!” Brian added proudly.

  “I hope you informed this bear trainer that he’s supposed to do the posters!” Trixie wrinkled her nose at Jim. She hadn’t forgiven him for fooling her and Honey.

  Jim grinned at her. “They gave me all the bad news, and I’ll start working the very first thing after school tomorrow, Madam President.”

  “What about the lumber company?” Honey asked as they unmapped some of the prizes.

  “We asked for the flooring, and it looks like we’ll get it. How’s that?” Mart gloated.

  “Perfect! Everything’s just perfect!” Trixie said dreamily.

  “Except Moms was looking for you when we stopped by there just now,” Brian told her dryly.