The Marshland Mystery

Honey sighed, “a waste of money. I suppose that’s the old Martin mansion where the partner of Captain Kidd lived.”
    “Dad said that people only suspected that he was Kidd’s partner.” Then Trixie added, “But I bet he was, all right. All sorts of things could have gone on in a spot that must have been at least a day’s journey from the city. And the Hudson is only a short distance away. There’s a swamp to hide in, besides.”
    Honey stole a quick look at Trixie as her friend was speaking. Trixie was getting the look that showed she was beginning to make plans. “Trixie Belden, you can just forget it,” she said, shaking a finger at her. “I know what you’re thinking.”
    “Huh?” Trixie looked surprised, and then she laughed. “We could just take a little bit of a look around in there. You know, I’ve heard about old places like that having secret passages underneath, especially when something unlawful was going on, like pirating. Suppose we just happened to find a trapdoor or a secret panel, and there was a tunnel, and—” Trixie’s vivid imagination had gone to work.
    Honey interrupted hastily. “And cobwebs and spiders and rats and maybe—” she gulped—“maybe skeletons. Ugh! You’re not going to talk me into exploring that house!”
    Trixie sighed. “Okay, scaredy-cat. But it would be fun to look around outside. Maybe we could even find some antique doorknobs or stuff like that and sell it to make some money for the B.W.G. treasury!”
    Honey looked at her gravely. “You know you’re just making that up. If there had been anything like that left, after a big fire that did as much damage as this one did, it would have been taken years ago. But if you simply must go exploring, I’ll go with you.”
    “I knew you would! Come on; let’s wheel our bikes in as far as we can and walk the rest of the way.” She started off almost at once, and Honey followed her up a narrow driveway almost overgrown with weeds.
    The weeds in their path were not half as tall as they would be later in the season, and they could see well ahead, so there was little danger of suddenly encountering a snake. Overhead, brown squirrels chattered angrily at them from the branches, and birds swooped low over their heads, as if trying to scare them away from the newly filled nests. There was a chorus of twitters, chirps, and indignant songs going on all around them.
    “Any minute now, that blue jay is going to land right on my head!” Trixie called back to Honey. “She missed me by inches that time!”
    Now they were close to the big ruined house. It rose high above the tallest of the trees that had once marked the borders of the formal sunken garden. A tangle of vines, reaching almost three stories high, softened the blackened outlines of windows.
    The two girls stood together and looked upward at the fresh green that stretched across the empty windows.
    “Can’t you imagine old Ezarach Martin up there with his spyglass, looking out over the trees toward the Hudson, watching for Captain Kidd’s longboat to bring the loot from some hidden cove down the river?” Trixie spoke softly, as if someone might be up there listening.
    Honey stirred uneasily. “I don’t think he could see as far as the river,” she said. As Trixie suddenly looked thoughtful and started around toward the rear of the house, Honey called after her, “But you don’t have to climb up there and find out. Please, Trixie, let’s go back to the road now.”
    But Trixie had disappeared around the corner of the house, and a moment later Honey heard her calling excitedly, “Honey! Come look at what I’ve found!”
    With her heart in her mouth, Honey ran as quickly as she could.
    Trixie was peering over a broken wall into a small plot of ground at the rear of the big house.
    “What is it?” Honey called as she ran.
    “A rose garden!” Trixie said, turning wide blue eyes to her friend.
    Honey slowed down to a walk, disappointed. “Oh, is that all? Gosh, Trix, you’ve seen dozens of rose gardens. What’s so remarkable about this one?”
    “This one is being taken care of,” Trixie told her.
    “How can it be,” Honey asked, “when nobody lives here? And why should somebody who doesn’t live here come and take care of a rose garden?”
    “I dunno,” Trixie admitted, “but you just take a look yourself.”
    Honey came and peered over the wall. The rose garden was very old. The main branches of the rosebushes were thick and