The Happy Valley Mystery

mysteries than this one! Not for boys and girls, she repeated. I’ll show theml
     

On the Trail • 6
     
    TUESDAY THE SKIES were sunny. The mood of the day was reflected in the faces of everyone at the breakfast table at Happy Valley Farm. The trouble of the night before seemed to be forgotten.
    “Around noon I’ll let the sheep out into the pastures again,” Mr. Gorman said. “There’s hardly a trace of the snow left. Unfortunately, as it melts, all that water will get to the river, and sooner or later there’s liable to be trouble there. Do you think you can all find something to do today?” he asked the Bob-Whites.
    “We’d like to help you,” Jim said. “Is there anything a bunch of amateurs can do?”
    “I don’t plan to do much outside of the house today,” the manager said. “Ben will probably come back sometime this morning, and I’ll run into Des Moines and pick him up at the bus station. Maybe he’ll take some of you fishing in one of the bayous. Trixie, I don’t know what you girls will find to do. If you have to do some detective work, you can try and find out where Blackie has hidden her new batch of kittens.”
    Trixie didn’t think that last remark was funny at all. Jim evidently didn’t think so, either.
    “Finding kittens shouldn’t be too hard for Trixie,” he told Mr. Gorman. “You see, the sheriff of Westchester County thinks she has some kind of second sight. She’s been responsible for the capture of some pretty tough criminals.”
    “Now, now, Jim, I find that hard to believe,” Mr. Gorman said.
    “Its true,” Honey said loyally. “I know because I helped her, and Trixie and I are going to have our own detective agency when we finish college. If you’d give her any chance at all, she could tell you who’s been taking Mr. Belden’s sheep.”
    “Is there some kind of crystal ball she looks into?” Mr. Gorman teased. “Go ahead, Trixie, do all the solving you want to do. Would you like to read my palm?”
    “Stop teasing her,” Mrs. Gorman said as she set a plate of steaming hot pancakes on the table. “We can be glad of any help we can get with the sheep. Sheriff Brown doesn’t seem to be getting anyplace. He’s new,” she explained to the Bob-Whites. “Tom Benton used to be the sheriff, and he was a good one.”
    “Joe Brown hasn’t had a chance to show what he can do,” Mr. Gorman said, then changed the subject. “Satan’s Baby and Black Giant could stand a run, Jim, if you and Brian want something to do. Or, if one of you has a driver’s license, I’m sure Ben wouldn’t mind if you were to take his old jalopy and explore the country around here. I’ll get the key for you.”
    “I have a license,” Brian said, “and so has Jim. We’ll be careful.”
    “If you use Ben’s car, don’t remove the boat he has roped on top of it,” Mr. Gorman said. “He keeps it there so he has it handy anytime he wants to go fishing, and he doesn’t want it touched. There’s an artificial lake up the road a way... Waterworks Park. You may want to see it. East of here a few miles, you’ll find the old Army post. It’s an abandoned cavalry garrison. Since you like horses so well, you may find the old stables and the parade ground interesting.”
    “Right now,” Mrs. Gorman interrupted, “maybe you girls would like to go down to the main road after the mail. It’s too nice to stay in.”
    “I’ll go,” Trixie said quickly. “There just might be a letter from Moms. Coming, Honey? Di?”
    Blackie the cat ran up to them as they left the house. She rubbed her arched back against Trixie’s legs. “I know,” said Trixie, and she bent over to stroke the cat’s back. “You want to show us your new babies. We’ll look for them when we come back from the mailbox.”
    She straightened up. “And just maybe, later on,” she said to the girls, “we’ll find something much more important than little new kittens! Maybe!”
     
    As they neared Army Post Road, Diana said, “Somebody seems to be having some trouble over there on the highway near the mailboxes. Do you think it’s the postman?”
    “Hardly, in a truck that size,” Trixie said. “Look!” she cried and stopped halfway down the hill. “That man!”
    “What man?” Honey asked.
    “The one with the black beard,” Trixie said. “You know—I saw him out in the field the first night we were here.”
    “Are you afraid of him?” Diana asked, drawing nearer to Trixie and taking her