At that moment three men appeared and surrounded Uncle Victor, the same three neighbors who had chased Victor off when he first followed Emily to Redbud. One of the men was carrying an ax. Another was carrying a pitchfork. And the third was holding a shotgun.
“Well, Victor, we meet again,” said the man with the ax. “I live just up the road from Hilda, and I’m a lawyer.”
“I live down the road from Hilda, and I’m the judge in these parts,” said the man with the pitchfork.
And the man with the shotgun said, “I live over by the river, and I happen to be the sheriff. You are under arrest for kidnapping a child, for extortion by ransom note, and for threatening murder. We are going to see that you are put in jail for a long time, far away from Redbud.”
And there came Aunt Hilda, pushing through the crowd, her arms open wide, Spook dancing happily alongside her.
“Oh, my dear children,” she cried. “I was so upset to find that ransom note. But there came Spook, dripping wet, with the flyer in his mouth. When I opened it and the ribbon fell out, I figured out pretty quick where you must be, and when I followed Spook back to the river, he went to the very spot that the showboat had been docked.”
But there were even more people in the welcoming party, because Emily heard two high-pitched squeals, and who should come rushing toward them but the two ladies—Marigold and Petunia—who had once shared the stagecoach with Uncle Victor and Emily.
“Ohhhh, Tiger Man!” cried Marigold, in a purple hat with yellow flowers bobbing merrily around the brim. “Where are those bad men taking you?”
“Ahhhh, Victor, my love,” gasped Petunia, with her pink cheeks and her large, orange-painted lips. “Wherever you go, we will visit you every day!”
Uncle Victor turned to the sheriff. “Please,” he begged, “make it Alaska! Siberia, even!”
“Sounds good to us,” said the judge.
Emily didn’t feel sorry for her uncle, not one little bit. Now she and Jackson were where they belonged, and no one could ever take them away.
Aunt Hilda didn’t feel sorry for him either. She looked down at the children and just couldn’t stop smiling. “I’ve brought a fried chicken supper for us and a special treat for Spook,” she said. “We’re going to sit right down, have us a picnic, and enjoy the show.”
About the Author
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor says that sometimes after you finish writing a book, you feel as though there’s more to the story, and so you write another. That’s what happened after Emily’s Fortune was published. Once she got Emily and Jackson to Redbud, she wondered what would happen to them next. Surely the Catchum Child Catchers wouldn’t give up so easily. And did you think Uncle Victor was out of the picture? Ha!
Naylor is the author of the Newbery Award winner Shiloh. Her other popular books include the series about the Hatford boys and the Malloy girls, which begins with The Boys Start the War and The Girls Get Even. Her most recent book, Faith, Hope, and Ivy June, centers on a girl in Kentucky coal mine country.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, with her husband, Rex. They have two grown sons and four grandchildren: Sophia, Tressa, Garrett, and Beckett. Mrs. Naylor is the author of over 135 books. Besides doing things with her family, she enjoys snorkeling more than anything in the world.
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