The Happy Valley Mystery

girl,” Jim went on, “didn’t dress up just to impress me or any other boy. She never does. She’s genuine and so comfortable to be around. She’s my choice of the two. Right now her sandy curls need combing, and she sure could use some lipstick!” Trixie’s heart did a backflip. She reached frantically for her lipstick, then gave up and smiled. “That was sweet,” she said. “I’ve been a cat, and all the time I secretly thought Dot was super. Say, Jim, what I want to find out, and soon, is who those men are who sold the committee the lambs for tonight. I think they may be the thieves. Ned told me he’d let me know right away if he ever saw them again.”
    “That’s a big help.”
    “It isn’t much, is it? But right now it’s the only lead I have. I’ve hardly had a chance to talk to Honey about it. And the others don’t even know I have a clue.”
    “We’ll have to huddle on it when we get back to Happy Valley Farm and then plan the next move,” Jim said. “Trixie, I think the dance is beginning to break up. The music has a slow beat. Is it getting late?”
    “Probably midnight or near it,” Trixie said. “Ned told me they have to stop dancing then. It’s a school rule that’s strictly enforced at Rivervale High.”
    “He told me that everybody gangs up at an all-night diner up the street. He wanted us to meet him there. Shall we?” Jim asked.
    “Let’s do,” Trixie said enthusiastically. “Maybe I can learn something more about those men.”
    The music stopped. The orchestra put away their instruments. Brian, Honey, Mart, and Diana found their coats and located Jim and Trixie.
    “I’ve something exciting to tell you!” Trixie whispered. "Wait till we get in the station wagon. Oh, there’s Ned, and he’s alone. Maybe he wants to ride back with us. Ned... Ned!”
    Ned came toward them swinging his coat over his arm.
    “Do you have any room for me?” he asked. “Dad dropped me off early this afternoon. I told him I’d bum a ride back with someone. Are you sure there’s room?”
    “Loads of it,” Honey and Diana chorused.
    “Do you want to stop at the diner?” Ned asked. “It’ll be a madhouse. Everyone tries to get waited on at once.”
    “I’m not a bit hungry,” Trixie said.
    “I’m not, either,” Honey said, “but we did promise to stop there, didn’t we, Di? Say, Trixie, what’s the exciting thing you were going to tell us?”
    Quickly she briefed them on what she had learned from Ned.
    “Trixie Belden,” Honey said, so excited she grabbed
    Brian’s arm and almost sent the wagon into a ditch. “Trixie Belden, I never saw anything like the way you manage to hunt things out! What next?”
    “Wait for the next move they make, it seems to me,” Jim said.
    “Go and eat,” Mart said. “We sure can’t go hunting those men at midnight. I’m hungry, if nobody else is. That girl I sat next to at the table talked such a blue streak it kept me busy answering her. And then all I could say was yes,’ uh-huh,’ no.’ ”
    “That was Pam Watson,” Ned said, grinning. “She’s a nonstop talker. Yakety-yakety-yak.”
    “She’s cute, anyway,” Mart said. “And she can dance like nobody’s business. Did you see us?”
    “Who could miss it?” Diana asked. She’d had such a wonderful time dancing that she hadn’t seemed to notice what Mart was doing. Now, however, she had to tease him a little.
    I can learn a lot about how to act with boys just by watching Di, Trixie thought. It comes natural to her, though. Aloud she said, “Well, let’s go in. What’s the matter with you, Ned? What are you sputtering about?”
    “That—that—that truck!” Ned managed to say. “That one just pulling out—over there, Brian—those are the two men who sold us the lambs. Watch out. Duck in here, back of the bus from Indianola High. There, they’ve pulled out now.”
    “After them!” Trixie commanded Brian.
    “Give them a chance to get started,” Ned warned.
    “Don’t let them know were following them! Now, Brian, they’ve turned off toward the Raccoon River. Slow—but let’s be sure to keep them in sight!”
    “Are you sure they’re the same men?” Trixie asked. “I couldn’t be more sure,” Ned said. “The one in that heavy lumber jacket—he’s the one we talked to. Say, if that wasn’t a lucky break!”
    “It was,” Trixie agreed. “Don’t lose them, Brian. Can’t you go a little faster?”
    “He can,” Jim answered, “and then