At the sound of howling, Violet sat up in bed. “Lad!” she cried when she recognized his special howl.
She slipped from her bed and went to the window. Outside it was raining softly and too foggy to see very well. For a second, Violet thought she saw a grayish figure move across the lawn. But when she rubbed the fogged window to see better, there was no one there except the three sleeping rabbits and one sleeping crow in their outdoor cages.
“I must have dreamed Lad was howling,” she said. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, then went back to bed.
Finally a real animal woke her up for good. “Oh, Watch, it’s you,” she said and yawned as he pushed against her leg with his nose. “Finally, it’s morning,” she said with an even bigger yawn. “What a long night. I’m so tired.”
Violet heard the clink of glasses and silverware coming from the kitchen. Everyone’s up already, she told herself. She ran her fingers through her brown hair and quickly pulled on some lavender shorts and a flowered T-shirt.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Mr. Alden said to his granddaughter when she appeared in the kitchen.
“Are you feeling well, Violet?” Mrs. McGregor asked. “You look a bit peaked this morning.”
“I am tired, Mrs. McGregor,” Violet told the housekeeper. “The rain woke me up during the night. I thought I heard Lad howling.”
“Rain? I don’t think it rained,” Mrs. McGregor said as she broke an egg into the frying pan. “It’s bright and sunny, just like yesterday. You’ll feel fine once you have a nice big breakfast like Benny’s.”
“I can’t eat right now,” Violet said. “Not until I check the boxcar.”
The animals heard Violet coming and started up some real howling. Violet slid open the heavy boxcar door and looked inside. She hardly ever raised her voice, but this morning she did. “Henry! Jessie! Benny! Grandfather! Come out back!”
Watch was the first to bound out to see what the excitement was all about. When he reached the boxcar, he didn’t like what he saw at all. Another dog! Another cat! Was there no end to the animals who were taking over the Alden house?
“Where did this pooch come from?” Henry asked.
A large white dog with black markings looked out at everyone with frightened eyes.
“And look over here!” Benny said.
“There’s a big gray cat in this cage! Where did it come from?”
“Who are these two animals?” Mr. Alden asked his grandchildren. “Do you suppose Dr. Scott dropped them off from the shelter last night??
Violet shook her head. “These animals couldn’t be from the shelter. They weren’t there yesterday.”
“Dr. Scott wouldn’t just leave them here without letting us know,” Jessie added. “Maybe someone was here last night, Violet, and you really did hear something going on.”
By this time, the boxcar was noisy with barking dogs, crying cats, and five Aldens all talking at once.
It was Henry who noticed the new dog rubbing noses with Lad. “Lad knows this dog, too!” Henry said. “The hook on the dog’s tag broke off, but his collar looks just like Lad’s.”
“Not just the collar—the whole dog looks like Lad!” Jessie said. “Only this dog is white where Lad is black, and black where Lad is white. They both must belong to Miss Newcombe.”
“I guess I wasn’t dreaming after all,” Violet said. “Someone brought these animals here during the night. I wonder who?”
The Aldens heard Jessie’s newspapers hit the sidewalk. “You’ll have plenty to do today,” Mr. Alden said. “Papers to deliver, two new pets to look after, and another mystery to figure out.”
Henry was in the boxcar getting leashes for Watch, Lad, and the new dog when all the dogs started howling and barking at the same time. Then Watch broke away and raced to the front yard.
“What’s the matter with these dogs?” Violet asked.
“I thought I heard a car door slam,” Jessie said.
When the Aldens reached the front yard, all was quiet. The bundle of newspapers was where it was every morning. Everything was still except for a very nervous Watch, trailed by Lad and the new dog, who looked plenty nervous, too.
“I wonder what this is all about,” Henry said, trying to calm all three dogs.
Violet checked down the street where the dogs were looking. “I’m sure they didn’t bark for nothing, especially Watch. He never barks unless something is wrong.”
Jessie bent down to sort out her newspapers. Turning pale, she cried, “Here’s what’s wrong!” She held up a torn, dirty sheet of paper. “Someone must have just stuck this inside my newspaper bundle after it was dropped off.”
Henry grabbed the paper and read it out loud: “ ‘This is your last warning. Mind your business!’ ”
“So that’s what upset the dogs,” Jessie said. “Well, whoever wrote this will have to write a longer note next time, because I’m going to go right on minding Miss Newcombe’s business until we find her!”
The Aldens never did a faster job of helping Jessie with her newspaper route. They even set the dogs to work carrying papers up to people’s porches, and the route was finished in record time.
“All done,” Jessie told everyone when all the newspapers were gone. “Now let’s get to Miss Newcombe’s house right away. I kept one paper out, and I’m going to deliver it there no matter what!”
The Aldens listened carefully for traffic when they reached Fox Den Road. No rusty pickup truck was going to surprise them this time!
When they got to Miss Newcombe’s gate, Jessie whispered, “Look, the No TRESPASSING sign is still up, but the gate’s open today. Violet, you and Benny wait out here while Henry and I go up to the house and ring the doorbell.”
Violet, Benny, and the three dogs stayed out of sight of the house but well away from the road. They looked on as their brother and sister marched straight up to the house and rang the bell.
When the door finally opened, they heard Jessie’s clear voice speak out. “Good morning. I’m delivering free copies of the Greenfield Daily News this week. Would you like one?”
Through the bushes, Benny and Violet could see that the man talking to Jessie was one of the same men who had been at Mr. Seed’s hardware store! He was staring angrily at their sister. “We don’t want any paper in this house,” he finally answered. “And if you see the fellow who put this milk in the cooler, tell him not to come back. We don’t want any deliveries. Especially from you snoopy kids, you hear?”
This didn’t stop Henry. “Maybe someone else in your house would like our paper,” he told the unshaven man. “Home delivery saves a lot of car trips to town. Won’t you check with the other people in your household?”
For an answer, Henry got a door slammed in his face.
“Did you see anyone else in there?” Violet asked when Jessie and Henry came back to the gate.
“No one,” Henry answered. “Just that man. He was one of the men who bought the dynamite at Mr. Seed’s.”
Jessie’s brown eyes grew large and bright. “You know who else he is? The same man I heard on the phone. I’m sure of it. He finishes what he’s saying with ‘you hear.’ As if we couldn’t hear a loud voice like that!”
Violet shivered. “Do you really think it’s the same person, Jessie? Why would Miss Newcombe let someone like that live in her house?”
Henry looked worried. “Maybe she didn’t let them in, Violet. Maybe they scared her away.”
“Well, that man didn’t scare these dogs away. Look, they want to go back to the house,” Benny cried.
Sure enough, Lad and the white dog were pulling hard on their leashes and half dragging Benny up the driveway toward the house again.
“They know this is their home,” Violet cried. “Well, I’m just going to march up there and see what happens. Let’s see what the man has to say about that!”
This time, four Aldens and three dogs went up to the porch. Violet rang the bell.
The door flew open. “I told you, I don’t want what you’re selling, you hear?” the man shouted when he saw a porch full of Aldens and dogs. “Now, git!” he said.
Suddenly, Lad pulled so hard on the leash, it slipped from Benny’s hand. He dashed into the house! Before the Aldens had time to think about their manners, they were in the house, too.
With Watch and the new dog, Benny and Henry flew down a hallway.
“Lad! Lad! Come back!” Benny yelled. He chased the dog to the back of the house.
“You kids stay out of this house and keep those hounds out, too,” the man shouted. “I say, get out of here!”
Henry hurried back and stood in front of the man. “We won’t leave without our brother or the dogs!” he said. Then Henry ran off again to find Lad.
Jessie stood tall, too. “That black dog and this white one live in this house,” she told the man.
“No one lives here but me,” the man said.
Violet was shaking, but she spoke up all the same. “Where is Miss Newcombe?” she demanded. “This is her home.”
The man stepped toward Violet. “And what business is that of yours, little girl? None at all, I say. I’m in charge of this property now, and I don’t have to explain anything to trespassers!”
By this time, Henry had caught Lad by the leash, and Benny was right behind. “Don’t worry, we’re leaving. But you can’t keep us from looking for Miss Newcombe,” Henry said.
Before anyone could stop Benny, he spoke to the man, too. “We have a deed to her house, and my grandfather is going to bring it to the state capital to see who owns this house.”
“We’ll see about that!” the man warned. “Now get off this property, you hear?”
When everyone was safe at the end of the driveway, Jessie put her arm around Benny. “Are you all right, Benny?”
“I’m good,” Benny said, “but that man is bad. And I think there are other people in that house, too. I heard a door bang and some footsteps while I was chasing Lad.”
Henry led his brother and sisters out the gate. “Benny’s right. When I ran to the back of the house to follow Benny and Lad, I thought I saw someone disappear into a back room. Another man. They’re the same men who bought the dynamite at Mr. Seed’s and who nearly ran us over with their truck.”
“I can’t believe strange people would be in a nice old woman’s house,” Violet said. “And to act as if Lad didn’t live there! Why, anyone could see both dogs knew that house very well.”
When the Aldens peeked through some evergreens at the house, Jessie stared longer than anyone else. “Look, Henry. The truck that tried to run us over is parked back there,” she whispered.
Henry took a look. “It’s the same pickup truck! That man who answered the door isn’t alone in there, I’m sure of it. I’m going to sneak around the side of the house and see what that truck says.”
Violet and Benny looked on as Jessie and Henry walked through a clump of trees that led toward the house.
With each footstep, Jessie and Henry seemed to crack a branch or an acorn or scare a bird out of a bush. They were sure the men in the house could hear every snapped twig and crunched leaf.
“I think we can get a good look through those loose stones,” Jessie told Henry when they got to the wall that surrounded the property.
“I’ll take out this rock from the wall,” Henry said.
A chipmunk dashed out from the space where the rock had been, and Jessie and Henry jumped back.
“Whew!” Henry said.
He and Jessie bent down low. They peered through the wall opening. Now the rusty truck was only a few feet away.
Jessie read the peeling sign on the side of the truck. “It says, ‘Wolf Demolition.’ In smaller letters it says, ‘We take down buildings any size.’ ” Jessie’s eyes opened wide with worry. “Do you think they’re going to tear down Miss Newcombe’s house, Henry?”
Henry shook his head. “I guess that’s why they bought all that dynamite. But maybe Miss Newcombe hired them for that. This is the last piece of farmland so close to town. It’s probably more valuable to build on it than to keep it as a rundown farm. Maybe Miss Newcombe needs money, and wants to sell the land to somebody who wants to build on it.”
Henry and Jessie ducked when they heard the door squeak open. They took turns peeking through the stones. The unshaven man stood on the side porch smoking a cigarette while he talked to some other men still inside the house.
“We’ll just let her in the house to get her things, and that’s all,” one deep voice said from inside. “If she even comes back. I think we scared her good.”
“Maybe. She’s got a few days to get back. Then we’ll turn this place into dust,” another voice said. “Can’t believe the old lady’s been sitting on this gold mine, and it ain’t even hers. Too bad the boss took so long to get that land search done. We’d better make sure those kids don’t start snooping around the Land Records office at the capital before we get there.”
“Don’t worry about that,” the man on the porch said. “They’ll never get there in time.” He put out his cigarette in the window box and went inside.
Henry and Jessie could no longer hear the three voices, but they’d heard enough. They crept back through the woods to find Violet and Benny.
“Did you find out anything?” Benny asked.
“We found out that truck is from a demolition company that’s going to tear down Miss Newcombe’s house,” Henry said.
“The men in there said this isn’t even her house,” Jessie added. “At least that’s what we think they said. We only heard a little.”
“We heard enough to know that Miss Newcombe’s home is in danger,” Henry said. “We have to find her, and we have to get the deed up to the state capital right away!” |