“I’m scared,” Benny admitted.
Violet gulped. “Take my hand. We’re not far from the farm.”
Guided by the moonlight, Violet and Benny made their way home, stumbling over rocks and large branches in their path.
“Things sure look different in the dark,” Benny muttered as two bats fluttered over them.
“Ugh.” Violet shuddered. She let go of Benny’s hand and almost dropped her flashlight so she could cover her hair. “I can’t stand bats.”
Benny and Violet were very happy to see the farmhouse in the distance, lit with a warm light from the lamps in the living room.
Twenty minutes later, all the Aldens and Seymour were in the secret passageway. Carefully they shone their flashlights on all the suits of armor.
“Oh, no!” Violet groaned. Just as she had feared, one of the helmets was missing.
“That’s the most valuable helmet in the collection.” Seymour sounded angry. “That thief sure knows what he’s doing.”
That night, before they went to bed, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny met in Jessie and Violet’s bedroom. Jessie sat on the large bed, her notebook in hand. “We have to do something before anything else disappears,” she said firmly. “At least we have some leads.”
Henry nodded. “We suspect Blake Ambrose is involved.”
“And someone from the farm must be helping him,” Jessie added. “Remember, Seymour told us that only the farm workers know how to get inside the secret passageway. Someone from the farm must be involved, too.”
“Now we just have to find out who,” said Benny. He sat with his legs crossed on Jessie’s bed.
“Blake knows Veronica,” Violet said. “I wonder if he knows anyone else who could be helping him.”
“I think Veronica and Blake are our two most likely suspects,” Jessie said. “But we shouldn’t forget about Martin, Mike, and Jeff. I think anyone who works in the orchard is a suspect.”
“Oh, not Martin,” Benny protested. “He’s always been so nice to us.”
“He has,” Henry agreed. “But Martin does spend a lot of time with Veronica. And if she’s involved, chances are he may be, also.”
“I guess so,” Violet said reluctantly.
“What have Mike and Jeff done to make us suspicious?” Jessie asked. She was busy writing in the notebook with a green fountain pen.
“Well, they aren’t very likely suspects,” Henry admitted. “After all, Seymour has known them a long time, and we haven’t caught them behaving suspiciously.”
“No, they seem to work very hard,” Jessie remarked. “Still, if we really want to find out what’s going on, we should probably observe them as well.”
The others nodded.
“Veronica and Martin are usually together, so it shouldn’t be too hard to keep track of them,” Jessie added. “Why don’t Violet and I watch Martin and Veronica, and you two can observe Mike and Jeff,” she said to Henry.
“That’s fine with me,” said Henry. “I don’t want to deal with Veronica. It shouldn’t be too hard to keep an eye on Mike and Jeff. They’re usually in the orchard pruning trees.”
“Who’s going to watch Blake Ambrose?” Benny wanted to know.
“If he is working with someone from the farm, we might as well wait and have one of the workers lead us to him,” Jessie said.
“The only problem with this plan is that it could take a long time for us to catch the thief in action,” Henry said.
“That’s true,” Jessie agreed.
“You know, I have an idea,” Violet said quietly. The others turned to look at her. “The thieves must be making those markings on the tree late at night. I doubt anyone would try to mark it up during the daytime.”
“True,” Henry agreed.
“So,” Violet continued, “why don’t we camp out in the orchard late at night near that tree and see what happens.”
Benny made a face.
“We’ll take lots of flashlights this time,” Violet said, looking at Benny. “And extra batteries.”
“And extra sweaters and maybe blankets,” added Jessie.
“It’ll be too cold to camp out for the night,” Henry said. “It’s too bad we don’t have a tent or something.”
“A tent would be too noticeable,” Jessie remarked.
“We should probably plan to do this tomorrow night,” Henry said.
The others agreed.
The following day, Jessie and Violet tried to keep track of Veronica and Martin. Henry and Benny found many excuses to go into the orchard to help Mike and Jeff. No one noticed anything suspicious.
That night after dinner, the Aldens waited until everyone had gone to bed before creeping out to the orchard. After much discussion, they had decided not to tell Grandfather or Seymour of their plan. They knew Grandfather would worry, even though he trusted them to take care of themselves. And they were afraid Seymour would forbid them from going.
Tonight the moon was very full and low in the sky. “That’s a Hunter’s Moon,” Henry said. “It usually comes out in the middle of November.”
“It seems brighter out here than it was last night,” Benny remarked.
“There aren’t as many clouds,” Violet observed. “But it’s a lot colder.”
“I’ll say,” Benny agreed as he stamped his feet to keep warm. He could see his breath in the cold night air. Violet pulled up the hood of her purple parka. Jessie rubbed her hands together.
“We won’t get as cold if we keep moving,” Henry suggested as he led the way into the orchard. As the Aldens walked past the scarecrow, they noticed he had fallen over and now lay in a crumpled heap on the ground. Benny noticed his clothes were missing.
“The farm probably doesn’t even need a scarecrow this time of year,” Jessie said. “Not much is growing.”
“Once we’re in the orchard, we should probably turn off our flashlights,” Henry suggested. “We don’t want to attract too much attention.”
“But with all these trees around, it’s hard to see,” Benny pointed out.
“We’ll guide you, if you need the help,” Henry assured him as Benny obediently turned off his light.
“Don’t those tree branches look like claws in the moonlight?” Benny pointed out.
“Oooh, they do,” Jessie agreed, shuddering a little. “And what’s that noise?”
“What noise?” Benny wanted to know.
“Sssh.”
The four Aldens heard the sounds of twigs snapping, then a long, drawn-out, “Whooooooo.”
“That’s that owl we heard last night,” Violet said.
“Whooooo. Whoooooo. Whoooooo.”
“That doesn’t sound like an owl,” Jessie whispered to Violet.
At that moment, a scarecrow came out of the trees and appeared before the Aldens, waving his arms in the moonlight.
“Aaaagh!” Benny shrieked. |