The boys got their unpacking done before the girls had finished. “Now can we go and explore?” Benny asked, almost jumping up and down with excitement.
“Go on ahead,” Violet told him. “We’re almost through. We’ll meet you up on deck.”
The cabins were small and shining clean, with two bunk beds in each one. Violet and Jessie unpacked the clothes they would wear on the boat and hung them in a tiny metal closet. After they finished, they went up on deck to look for Henry and Benny.
One of the ship’s officers was going up the narrow stairs in front of them. “Excuse me, sir,” Jessie said. “Have you seen two boys — a tall one and a short one — come this way?”
The man only glanced at them before looking away so his face was half hidden. Then he nodded. “I believe you’ll find the Alden boys on the top deck,” he said with no warmth in his voice.
Violet looked back as she and Jessie climbed the narrow stairs. “How did he know our last name?” she wondered aloud.
“I saw him checking our names off a list when Henry handed in our tickets,” Jessie said. “He looked at Grandfather and us very strangely then.”
“That’s the second strange thing about that Mr. Jay,” Violet said thoughtfully.
Jessie looked at the man who was disappearing into the crowd. Then she laughed. “Now you are being mysterious. How did you know his name? And what was the second strange thing about him?”
In spite of Jessie’s teasing, Violet didn’t even smile. “His name is written on that gold-colored pin he’s wearing,” Violet said. “And didn’t you notice how he wouldn’t look us in the face? It was almost as if he didn’t want us to see what he looked like.”
Jessie nodded. “You’re right. He’s not at all friendly.”
Then they were at the top of the stairs. The boys were at the rail looking up at a huge bridge spanning the river.
“I wonder when we’re going to leave,” Benny asked. “I want to see the paddle wheel turn.”
One of the ship’s officers turned and smiled down at him. “First we’ll have dinner and let it get dark,” he told Benny. “You want to see the fireworks, don’t you?”
“Oh, yes,” Benny said. Then he grinned at the man. “But I’m not sure which I like best, dinner or fireworks.”
Their first meal on board was served on long tables where they all could take what they wanted. Violet’s eyes widened at the huge table of beautiful food. She filled her plate with melon and strawberries, along with chicken, cheese and bread. Benny tried to take at least some of everything, but Jessie talked him into stopping when he started piling on the second layer.
When they went back up on deck, a tall man with a red mustache and glasses was standing by the rail. “Here,” he said, stepping aside to make room for them. “Take my place. I can see over your heads.”
Henry thanked him, then stared up at the bridge that crossed the river. “What a great bridge,” he said.
The man nodded. “It’s called the Eads Bridge,” he said. “It was built back in the nineteenth century.”
Jessie looked at him and smiled. “You must read a lot to know things like that.”
He smiled. “I do,” he said. “But it’s my business, too. I write articles for newspapers. I’m always looking for interesting things to write about. I’m Paul Edwards. If you’re the Alden children, we’ll be having meals together. I saw your names on my table list.”
“Look,” Benny cried, pointing back toward the city. Fireworks had begun to explode above the tall buildings of St. Louis. Rockets and bright flashes rose into the sky on both sides of the river.
“I wish Grandfather could see this,” Violet whispered.
Benny was leaning against Henry by the time the fireworks ended in a giant burst of color that filled the sky. The ship began to move. “I’m thirsty,” Benny said, his voice suddenly sad. “And I just remembered that I forgot something important.”
Jessie laughed and opened her bag. “It couldn’t be this, could it?” she asked, handing him the pink cup he had kept ever since finding it in the dump when they lived in the boxcar.
He smiled, taking it from her with both hands. “Thank you, Jessie,” he said softly, his voice happy again.
She hugged him. “Now what do you say we go to bed so we’ll all be perky tomorrow?”
“If you say so,” he said. “But I’m not at all sleepy.” He grinned at himself when a wide yawn caught him right in the middle of his words.
Mr. Edwards was right. He was assigned to their table along with some other friendly people. They all agreed that bacon and eggs had never tasted better than that morning.
Up on deck, they watched a tiny tugboat moving upstream, pushing a huge barge of lumber past them. The sailors on the tug shouted and waved their caps at the children as they passed. Jessie looked down and saw Mr. Jay watching them from the deck below. The minute he saw her looking at him, he turned on his heel and walked away.
“We have a mystery man,” Jessie whispered to Henry.
“What’s the mystery about him?” Henry asked.
“His name is Mr. Jay, and no matter where we are, I see him staring at us,” she said. “But the minute I look at him, he gets away as fast as he can. It’s almost as if he were spying on us but didn’t want us to know it.” “He never smiles,” Violet added. “And he’s the only man on the ship who isn’t really polite to us.”
Henry frowned. “That is mysterious,” he said. “Be sure to point him out to me the next time you see him.”
That night after sunset, Mr. Edwards led them to the very top of the boat where the pilots worked. “See how they play those beams of light across the water in front of us?” he asked.
“What would happen without them?” Jessie asked.
“The boat could get stuck on a sandbar,” he said, “and have to be pushed off. In the old days, outlaws often lurked along the river. Sometimes they came aboard and robbed people.”
“Like pirates?” Benny asked. “I know about pirates.”
Mr. Edwards nodded. “About the same,” he said. “Wolf Island up ahead was well known for the bad men who hid there to attack passing boats.”
“Do you write about things like this in your articles?” Jessie asked.
He nodded. “I just published a story about a half a million dollars in gold coins that’s supposed to be buried up there south of Hannibal in one of those valleys.”
“That’s where we’re going,” Benny told him, practically bouncing out of his chair.
Mr. Edwards laughed. “Stories of buried treasure never seem to die away, but nobody ever finds any gold, either.”
There was so much to see and do that the day passed quickly.
After Jessie and Violet pointed out Mr. Jay to the boys, Henry agreed that he seemed to be everywhere.
“Like outlaws along the river,” Benny said.
“Well, not exactly,” Henry laughed, but he wondered. Why would a stranger like that be spying on them and then act as if he were afraid they would recognize him?
“Have any of you ever seen this Mr. Jay anywhere before we got on board?” Henry asked.
“Never,” they agreed, shaking their heads.
Before they knew it, the ship was being towed to shore at Hannibal. Jessie sighed. “This was such fun that I hate to see it end.”
They said good-bye to Mr. Edwards and thanked him for his wonderful stories. Then, their suitcases in hand, they streamed off the boat with the other passengers.
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