The Indian Burial Ground Mystery

then turned and headed
back to the kitchen.
    “I must have more food,” he announced. “Great art cannot flourish in a
vacuum.”
    By now, Honey was doubled over with laughter. Trixie started to laugh,
too.
    “Well, maybe I was making a mountain out of a molehill,” Trixie finally
said. “But I’m not going to give up.”
    “I feel much safer now,” Brian put in as he followed Mart into the
kitchen. “Knowing that Trixie is around eases a lot of my irrational fears.”
    Trixie didn’t like being teased by her older brothers, and it was with
great self-control that she managed not to throw the pillow she was holding at
Brian.
    “Come over to our house for supper,” Honey said. “At least we Wheelers
appreciate you.”
    “I’ll go ask Moms.”
    As Trixie and Honey wandered out into the backyard to speak to Mr. and
Mrs. Belden, they ran into Bobby. His face was smudged with long streaks of
dirt, and he was waving something triumphantly in his hand.
    “I’m an arpyologist , too,” came his happy
voice. “Look, Trixie, I found a real, genuine Indian arrowhead. Dad said so!”
    Trixie looked at the little piece of sharpened stone that Bobby held in
his hand.
    “Why, Bobby, you did find an arrowhead,” she gasped in delight.
“Honey, take a look at this.”
    Honey turned the beautifully shaped piece of flint over in her hands,
marveling at its loveliness. “We could show Professor Conroy this arrowhead,”
she said.
    Bobby reached out and snatched his possession from Honey’s hand.
    “No!” he said. “Don’t give it to anyone.”
    “Don’t worry, darling,” Mrs. Belden said soothingly. “They wouldn’t give
away your arrowhead. I’m sure Professor Conroy will be able to find one of his
own. But it is interesting.”
    “The fact that Bobby can find an arrowhead right in our backyard shows
that there must have been Indians in this area years ago,” Mr. Belden said.
    “Professor Conroy is very smart,” Trixie told her father. “He’s
obviously chosen the right place for this dig.”
    “I’m putting my arrowhead away in a special place,” Bobby said, and he
ran into the house.
    “Will you be working on the dig?” Trixie’s father asked.
    “Yes, Dad. I arranged it with Mrs. Beales at
the hospital.”
    “Isn’t it neat,” Honey said happily. “A real Indian burial ground, right
on the game preserve.”
    “That’s right,” Trixie said. Then she had a thought. “Neat—but creepy,
too. What if there are ghosts?”
    “Ghosts?” Honey laughed. “Don’t be silly. There’s no such thing!”
    “ Ooooeeeeooo ,” Trixie howled eerily. “We’ll
soon see, won’t we?”
    The two girls burst out laughing, and then Trixie asked permission to
have supper with the Wheelers. Mr. and Mrs. Belden agreed. Then they watched
the two girls hurry off down the footpath that connected Crabapple Farm with
the Manor House.
    “Well, I’m certainly glad they have something interesting to keep them
occupied this summer,” Helen Belden said when the girls were out of earshot.
    “Maybe we can get through a whole two months without a mystery,”
chuckled Mr. Belden.
    “Don’t count on it, dear. After all, you know our Trixie. If there isn’t
a mystery brewing today, she’ll make sure one starts tomorrow!”



3 * The Dig
     
    The last days of school flew by, and
Trixie didn’t fail the math final, after all. Monday morning, Mrs. Belden
dropped the girls at the hospital to pick up their candy striper uniforms and
attend the first-day orientation meeting. The information was familiar to
Trixie, but the new faces she saw in the group made her realize how important
it was to know exactly what a candy striper should, and should not, do.
    “All right, girls,” Mrs. Beales was
concluding, “tomorrow morning, bright and early. If any of you have any
questions about the work, come up to the front of the room and I’ll try to
answer them.”
    “Quick,” Trixie whispered to Honey. “Let’s go to the preserve. I’ll bet
we’ve missed practically everything!”
    “Don’t be silly, Trixie,” Honey said with a laugh as she followed her
impetuous friend out of the building. “How could we have missed everything if
they just started setting up this morning?”
    “Because,” Trixie said, “we’re not even there yet. We have to change out
of our uniforms, have some lunch— Oh gosh, I can’t bear the thought of missing
even the littlest part! Don’t you feel the same way?”
    “I guess