We need a really good grocery list,” Jessie told the others. “Cap wants Grandfather’s dinner to be special.”
“And it’s our last chance to cook for Cap,” Henry added. Everyone wanted to add something. It was late when they finally finished the list and went to bed.
They were barely asleep when the wind rose. Before Jessie and Henry could even get the windows closed, a cold rain came blowing in, too. Lightning sliced across the sky, followed by crashing thunder.
“Come on, Henry,” Jessie cried, pulling the yellow oilskin ponchos from the hooks by the door. “I’ll check the chicken house windows. You check on Pilot.”
Leaning into the driving rain, Jessie ran to the henhouse while Henry closed the windows and doors of the barn. Violet and Benny were huddled together under a dry blanket watching the storm when they got back inside. The thunder had wakened Cap. He stood in the door, frowning. “You kids all right? Not scared, are you?”
Violet shook her head. “It’s beautiful,” she said.
The thunder finally growled away, but the rain kept coming. It settled into a slow steady drumming against the closed porch windows. It was still falling the next morning.
“We’re stuck here today,” Cap told them. “Possum Creek is probably up over our road.”
Violet made hot biscuits to eat with honey and scrambled eggs. “Maybe you’d like some of that canned ham with these biscuits,” Cap suggested.
“Let’s save it for when Grandfather comes,” Jessie said. “In case the storm keeps us from getting to town.”
Since they couldn’t work outside, the children cleaned the inside of Cap’s windows. After supper they made a hearth fire and roasted marshmallows until Cap went off to bed.
Henry went out to check on Pilot one last time. He came back within minutes, his poncho dripping. Jessie could tell from his face that he was upset. He motioned to the others to gather close. “Somebody’s been out there since I shut the barn up. One of the windows I had closed was open, and hay was scattered all over the barn floor again.”
“The wind could have done that,” Violet said, looking thoughtful. “Did you turn on the lights and look around?”
Henry shook his head. “I was afraid Cap would see them from his bedroom window.”
“I know where there’s a big flashlight,” Benny said. “I found it when I was straightening some shelves.”
Jessie reached for her shoes. “That’s wonderful. Let’s go out with the flashlight.”
“That’s a good idea,” Violet said. “We need to find an answer, even if it’s only the wind.”
“Do we all have to go?” Henry asked, looking at Benny.
“Don’t even think about leaving me here,” Benny told him. “After all, I’m the one who found the flashlight.”
Since they had only two ponchos, the children doubled up in them. They made their way to the barn between great puddles of rain. Henry stopped outside of the window he had found open. “There,” he said, shining the flashlight on the ground. “Footsteps, right in the mud.”
“Are you sure they’re not yours?” Violet asked.
“Positive,” Henry said, holding up his boot. “See, my soles are smooth, and these have a waffle weave on them.”
There were more waffle-weave footsteps inside the barn. The children looked at each other. “Why would anyone want to poke around out here during such a storm?” Jessie asked.
“Maybe they felt safe because the floodlight was off,” Henry suggested.
“And we couldn’t hear them for the thunder,” Benny added.
“But why do they come here at all? Why are they doing this? They can’t just be trying to scare Cap!” Violet said.
Jessie kicked some hay aside to clear a path. “Look, Henry,” she said. “Here’s a hole with a loose board over it that you missed.”
He knelt beside her and shook his head. “I didn’t miss it,” he said. “It’s been pried up again. See that old rusty nail I used to fasten it down?”
Violet was walking past Pilot’s stall when she stopped and stood frowning. “What’s wrong?” Benny asked her.
“It smells funny in here,” she said. “Not like wet hay and horses, but a sharp kind of smell.”
Henry sniffed and nodded. “That’s kerosene,” he said. “You know, the liquid they burn in lamps. I know the barn didn’t smell like that when I was in here before.”
“It’s dangerous to have that kind of lamp around all this loose hay,” Jessie said. “It could start a fire.”
“Lamp,” Violet cried. “Remember that funny flickering light we saw? If it had been a flashlight, someone would have pointed it ahead and up and down. But a lamp …”
“You’re right,” Henry said. “You carry a lamp with a handle that goes over the top. It would always be at about the same height. It would also seem to flicker when you went behind a tree or a fence post.”
Jessie sat down on an overturned bucket with her chin in her hands. “Who could be coming here to stamp around in the mud, carrying a lamp?”
“Or to dig holes in the barn and orchard,” Benny added.
“Or to pick vegetables and steal a chicken and eggs?” Violet reminded them.
“We need two things, a who and a why,” Jessie said.
“If we could find out who it was, we’d probably know the why,” Henry told her.
Benny stood very still, thinking. “Do you remember what Mr. Edwards said about the pirates lying in wait to grab people?” he asked dreamily. “Couldn’t we do that? Then we’d grab the who, and make them tell us the why.”
Henry stared at Benny, then laughed softly. “There’s our Benny, figuring out exactly what needs to be done.”
“The hayloft,” Benny went on. “If we were hidden in the hayloft, we could see anyone who came in down here.”
“Nobody’s said anything about that strange scary whistling noise,” Violet reminded them. “Could that be some kind of a signal? If so, maybe there are at least two people in this gang.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Henry said. “We need to make a plan. Let’s go back to the cabin and figure out exactly what to do.”
“The door,” Benny whispered. “I just heard a door bang at the cabin.” When they rushed to the barn window to look out, they saw Cap in his white nightshirt leaning on his cane in the clearing. Then the awful whistle sounded from the direction of the orchard. It was dark in the shadow of the barn, but they could see a bulky shadow leaping away into the trees.
Violet gasped. “There it is again. That’s the same thing I saw running away when I was in the henhouse.”
“The dwarf,” Benny whispered. As they spoke, Cap turned and walked back toward the cabin.
“But now we do know something for sure,” Henry said. “There have to be at least two people. One person stands guard and whistles to the other one as a warning.”
“Let’s go figure out what to do,” Jessie said, shivering. “I can’t believe that they’ll dare come back tonight.” |