“I hope we made the right decision to leave tomorrow instead of right away,” Jessie said worriedly.
The Aldens and Rob were seated around the fireplace in the bunkhouse, eating dinner. They planned to leave very early the next morning for White Pine.
“Jessie, look at the weather,” Henry said. He scraped the last bit of beef stew off his plate. “We couldn’t have gotten very far in all this rain.”
“I just hope we won’t run into Angela or Matt.” Violet frowned. She put her plate down and curled up on the soft rug in front of the fire.
Aunt Jane yawned. “After we clean up, I think we should stop worrying and go to bed,” she said. “Remember, we have to be up very early tomorrow.”
The sun was just rising when Aunt Jane and the Aldens pushed their canoes into the lake the next morning. Aunt Jane had assured Henry they would be all right using just one paddle for each canoe.
Henry sat in the back of his canoe. To keep it on course, he paddled first on the left, then on the right, then on the left again. Aunt Jane did the same in her canoe.
Rob carried the coin collection with him. He sat in Henry’s canoe behind Violet.
By noon, the two canoes reached the small rapids. “I can’t believe this is the last part of the trip already,” Benny said. He sounded sad.
“Just be glad we’ve found the coins and so far no one has bothered us,” Jessie said.
“I’m afraid you spoke too soon.” Aunt Jane pointed in front of them. Up ahead, they saw a large wooden canoe with red lettering on the sides. It was Angela!
“Oh no,” Jessie groaned. “Henry, look up ahead!” she called to the other canoe.
Rob rummaged in his day pack for his binoculars. “She’s alone,” he said. “We’ll be all right.”
“She may not even know we have the coins,” Violet said.
“Let’s stop here for a minute,” Aunt Jane called to Henry. She wanted to study the rapids.
“Look, Henry. See how small the waves are? That means the current isn’t very strong. We’ll be all right, even with just one paddle for each canoe.”
“Yes.” Rob smiled at Henry. “Just keep the canoe going in the same direction as the current and we’ll be fine.”
Aunt Jane took the lead. Henry followed.
“Hey, this is fun!” Benny exclaimed. Small waves splashed against the canoe and sprayed his face.
He looked back at Henry’s canoe. He could see that Henry, Violet, and Rob were enjoying the rapids, too. Then he looked ahead for Angela’s canoe.
Already, they had caught up to her. Her canoe had too much equipment in it and was riding very low in the water. When she went over the rapids, a lot of water went into her canoe. It sank lower and lower.
While Benny watched, Angela’s canoe hit a rock under the water and rolled over. She was thrown out into the current.
“Help! Help!” she screamed.
“Aunt Jane, Henry, look!” Benny yelled.
Henry had already seen what had happened. He headed his canoe toward the shore. Aunt Jane followed.
Angela was in the water, struggling against the current.
“Angela!” Henry yelled from the shore. “Try to get to that rock!” He didn’t know if she heard him or not. She may have had the same idea because she slowly swam to the big gray boulder and clung to it.
Henry waded into the water and threw hera long rope. After several tries, Angela finally caught it. She clung to the rope while Henry and Rob pulled her in to the shore.
Angela’s knees and elbows were bleeding. Her face was bruised. She shivered from the cold water.
Jessie grabbed a sleeping bag to wrap around her. Aunt Jane and Violet found bandages in the first-aid kit and put them on her worst cuts. Rob gave her hot coffee from his thermos.
“My canoe, can you save my canoe?” Angela asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Rob answered. “Your canoe was swept downstream.”
“But all my equipment was in it,” Angela said in despair. “I’ve lost everything.”
“Well, at least you’re alive and not too badly hurt,” Rob said gently.
“Yes.” Angela nodded. “Thanks to you all. You’ve been nicer to me than I deserve after the way I’ve treated you,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Rob asked.
“Well, I tried to scare you all away. I didn’t want anyone to find … .”
“Find what, Angela?” Rob prodded her a little.
“Oh, never mind. I’m not myself right now.” Angela became quiet.
Everyone could see Angela was very tired. No one had the heart to ask her any more questions.
Angela changed into some of Aunt Jane’s dry clothes. When she was ready, the others bundled her into Henry’s canoe and headed quickly for White Pine.
“We should get you to a doctor,” Violet told her.
Angela shrugged. “I’m not badly hurt,” she said.
When they arrived at the dock in White Pine, they were met by Grandfather, the local sheriff, and Lorenzo Espinosa.
“Grandfather!” Benny ran to him and was swept up in a big bear hug.
“It’s good to see you!” Grandfather smiled warmly.
“Your grandfather was worried about you. A motorist just reported a canoeing accidentin the rapids,” the sheriff explained.
“Yes, I was afraid something had happened to you.” Grandfather gave Benny another hug.
“I was worried, too,” Lorenzo said. He looked very happy to see the Aldens again. “I was in town filing a report with the sheriff about all the strange happenings in the woods,” he explained.
“Oh, Grandfather, we have so much to tell you!” Benny exclaimed.
“So I gather.” Grandfather ruffled Benny’s hair. “Lorenzo was just telling me about some of your adventures.”
“I see something did happen to one of your party.” The sheriff nodded toward Angela. Rob and Henry were helping her out of the canoe onto the dock. Angela still held Jessie’s blue sleeping bag around her shoulders.
“I’ll need to ask all of you some questions about the accident,” the sheriff said. He gently led Angela to a big wooden picnic table by the dock. The others followed.
Angela told the sheriff her canoe had hit a rock and tipped over. She praised AuntJane, the Aldens, and even Rob for rescuing her. “They saved my life,” she said. She looked as if she were near tears.
When the sheriff finished his questioning, Rob turned toward him. “I’m a private detective,” Rob explained. He showed the sheriff his detective’s license. Angela stared at it with her mouth wide open.
“I would like to turn in a valuable coin collection these children found on their canoe trip.” Rob pulled the brown leather pouch from his jacket pocket. “It’s Mr. Orville Withington’s collection.”
The sheriff nodded. “I know about that case.”
Angela gasped and turned very pale. “How did you ever find it?” she sputtered.
“What do you know about this?” the sheriff asked sharply.
Angela didn’t answer. Instead, she put her hands in front of her face and burst into tears. She cried for a long time. Jessie quietly handed her some tissues. Everyone else looked a little uncomfortable.
When she began to calm down, the sheriff said, “I’m going to have to ask you some more questions.” He pulled out his notebook. Angela nodded and gulped.
“I stole Mr. Withington’s collection,” she began in a low quavery voice. “Matt—Mr. Withington’s chauffeur—and I had planned the robbery for a long time.” Angela sniffed and blew her nose.
“So you are Eliza Fallon,” Rob said.
Angela nodded. “Yes, that’s a made-up name. My real name is Angela Tripp.”
“How did the coins end up in the woods?” the sheriff asked.
Angela sighed and hugged Jessie’s sleeping bag more tightly around her shoulders. “Matt helped me steal the coins,” she began. “I hid them in the woods and wrote a riddle on the big boulder as a signal. Matt and his brother Bill were to find the coins and smuggle them out of the country.”
“Why did you split up like that?” Jessie couldn’t resist asking.
“We didn’t want anybody to know wewere in this robbery together,” Angela said.
Rob scratched his red beard. “What went wrong?” he asked.
Angela frowned. “Matt and I were supposed to get married. A few months after the burglary, we had a big fight and broke off our engagement.” Angela stopped talking and dabbed her eyes with one of Jessie’s tissues.
“So you didn’t want Matt and Bill to find the coins?” the sheriff asked.
“No.” Angela shook her head forcefully. “I did everything I could to scare them away. I made sure Matt and Bill pitched their tent in poison ivy,” she said proudly.
“It worked,” Henry said. “The last time we saw them, they both had pretty bad cases.”
Angela couldn’t help smiling a little.
“Did you try to scare us too?” Benny blurted. He’d been waiting for the right moment to ask Angela about the wolf.
“Yes,” Angela nodded. She looked very tired. “I made a tape of wolf calls to scare campers away. I also made lots of campfiresat odd hours and I even shined a light in your tent one night, Jessie.” Angela sighed heavily before continuing. “I even dug a hole near your tent, Rob.”
Rob looked down at his ankle. “It seems to be getting better,” was all he said. He exchanged glances with the sheriff.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to come with me.” The sheriff led Angela away. |