The Hudson River Mystery

time Honey and I jumped in. You should have trusted us. It’s a lucky thing all four of us didn’t drown.”
    The two freckled towheads were silent.
    ”And fifth,” Brian went on, ”I think you boys are due for some sailing lessons. You don’t seem to know much about slacking off, which is one of the basic maneuvers in sailing.”
    Brian launched into a detailed lecture on proper sailing techniques, completely commanding the two boys’ attention. Trixie and Honey also gazed at him, full of admiration. Loyola had disappeared in the direction of the car.
    Jeepers, is Brian ever going to make a super doctor , Trixie was thinking. I wonder if he’s thought about becoming a ped — pedia—doctor for children. He’s got those kids wrapped around his finger....
    As lost in thought as she was, it was still Trixie who first noticed the small houseboat cruising toward them around a bend in the cliff. Across its side, The Kruller II was spelled out in bold black letters. Trixie jumped up and pointed excitedly. Directly behind the houseboat, attached to it with a rope, was the Quarter Moon , right side up and as cute as ever.
    ”Hurray!” Carl squeaked. He and Ken scampered down to the water’s edge.
    Brian sighed but also looked pleased. ”Let’s hope they know more what they’re doing this time,” he said to Trixie and Honey.
    The houseboat drifted in closer to shore. Suddenly a white-bearded figure appeared in the bow. Trixie gasped.
    ”So that’s where Bunker disappeared to!” she murmured. To the others she said, ”That’s Bunker, the man I was talking to up the cliff. He’s a—well, I guess he must be what he said he is—a commercial fisherman.”
    Bunker waved when he caught sight of Trixie. ”Bet you think I’m pretty dim-witted, little lady,” he shouted. ”By the time I caught on to what you were saying about those two boys and their boat, there wasn’t time for me to explain that I was going to fetch my boat and see if I could help them.”
    ” ’Little lady?’ ” Brian muttered, grinning. Trixie felt herself blush and hoped that Bunker couldn’t see it. ”That’s what he calls me,” she said. ”And don’t you dare pick up the habit,
    Brian Belden!” To Bunker, she yelled, ”You’re not dim-witted at all—you’re a hero!”
    ”Come on, boys,” Bunker was saying. He maneuvered the catboat so that it was barely a few feet from shore. Then he threw the boys a couple of flotation cushions.
    The boys slipped into the water and started to wade out.
    ”You’re sure you’re all right?” Brian called anxiously.
    The boys waved vigorously at the Bob-Whites and shouted their thanks.
    ”Maybe my dad will send you a reward!” Ken yelled to Brian.
    I won’t hold my breath,” Brian dryly remarked to the girls.
    ”By the time they get home,” said Trixie, ”they’ll probably have the story switched around so that they were the ones who rescued us. ”
    Seemed to me you were the one giving the orders, not doing the rescuing,” Honey teased.
    Jeepers, it’s a good thing someone was paying attention—what with your nose buried in a book, and Brian’s buried in specimens!” Trixie turned back to smile at Bunker. She felt terrible about having misinterpreted his behavior. ”Why Kruller ?” she called.
    ”Eh?”
    ”Why did you name your boat the Kruller, instead of the Bunker, or something?”
    Bunker was near enough by this time for Trixie to see his saddened expression. ”Lawrence Krull was my fishing partner—and my best friend, too,” he answered. ”I named it after him.”
    To Trixie, the obvious next question was, what had happened to the first Kruller? She didn’t have to ask.
    ”Krull went down with our first boat right here in the Hudson about two years ago,” he went on.
    ”Oh, I’m sorry,” said Trixie.
    Bunker shrugged. ”He left me everything he owned. Sort of a joke, I guess! What little there was I used to buy this houseboat.” Bunker’s attention was diverted to the boys, who were climbing aboard their catboat. ”Now, little fellows, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to tow your boat for a bit, just to make sure you get off to a good start.”
    He and the boys waved good-bye again, and in another minute, they were out of the Bob-Whites’ hearing.
    Trixie squeezed Brian’s arm. ”You sounded so —so professional when you were talking to those kids, Brian.”
    ”Well, it’s plain they’re not used to following anyone’s advice,”