The Mysterious Code

raise money?”
    “A bake sale?” Honey
asked.
    The boys threw up
their hands and hooted.
    “You could teach
skiing,” Diana told them.
    “Heck, everyone
around here knows how to ski,” said Mart. “I wouldn’t have any pupils.”
    “Well, you think of something
then, smarty,” Trixie said.
    “Nobody would come
to an amateur play we’d give,” Honey said.
    “We have them free
all the time at school,” said Brian. “No, it has to be something quite
different, and something we can all help with. If it isn’t, I don’t think Mr.
Stratton will consider it.”
    “Anything I can
think of would take forever to raise any money,” said Diana, “like baby-sitting
and reading to sick people and... Trixie Belden, you’ve thought of something!”
    “I have!” Trixie
said exultantly. “I’ve exactly the right thing... an antique show!”
    “A what?” Mart
asked.
    “An antique show!”
Trixie repeated.
    “How could we have
an antique show?” Mart asked.
    “Well, you know how
it is, here in the East,” Trixie said, her words falling over one another in
her eagerness to explain. “Everyone is interested in
antiques.”
    “Yeah, and everyone
has them,” Mart said woefully, thinking of the four-poster bed in his room at
home and comparing it with the neat bunk beds he had seen pictured in a
magazine.
    “Nobody ever has enough antiques,” Trixie
said. “Anyhow, we’d exhibit some of the rare ones owned by people in the
country around here, so other people could see them.”
    “We could charge
admission!” Diana said breathlessly.
    “Of course,” Trixie
said. “The big thing, though, would be to gather up old broken furniture from
all around, repair it, refinish it, and sell it The boys could do that.”
    “And what may I ask,
would you be doing in the
meantime?” Mart asked.
    “I’d make some rag
dolls to sell.” Honey answered instead of Trixie. “And some aprons.”
    “I don’t know what I
could do, but it sounds perfectly super, Trixie,” Diana said.
    “You and I can take
our sleds and gather up a lot of small things—chairs, footstools, and little
tables,” Trixie said. “We can call on people to ask them to let us show their
antiques, too. I think we could get Tom, your chauffeur, to pick up the bigger
things; couldn’t we, Honey?”
    “I’m sure he’ll
help,” Honey said.
    “You and Di can help
sand the old furniture, too,” Mart said. “Taking the old finish off is the
worst part.”
    “We’d be glad to,”
Trixie said, so in love with the project she would agree to do anything.
    “We can all put it
over,” Brian said, “but it’s going to mean a lot of hard work, because each of
us has other chores at home.”
    “And extra schoolwork
to make up for being away in Arizona,” Trixie moaned. “It isn’t impossible,
though. Let’s shake hands on it, Bob-Whites!” They all shook hands solemnly.
    “For goodness’ sake,
keep your fingers crossed,” Trixie went on. “I think I hear Mr. Stratton coming
down the hall. He just has to let us do it.
Just think, we’d be doing something to help all those children, and maybe save
the Bob-Whites, tool”

“The
Winnah!” • 3
     
    The B.W.G.' s were busy with pencils and paper when
Mr. Stratton came in.
    “Well, it looks to
me as though you’ve been doing some planning,” he said. “You don’t look nearly
so dejected, either,” he added.
    “No, sir, were not,”
Jim said. “We think Trixie has thought of something that may appeal to the
board members. If you only approve of it, we’ll really work hard to make it a
success.”
    “It isn’t a question
of my approval,” Mr.
Stratton said. “You know who the board members are and how seriously they take
their work. We have the finest schools in Westchester County. Sleepyside Junior-Senior High School is their special pride, and they are pretty much upset
over the situation here just now. Recently they’ve had a complaint, too, from a
source they respect, about possible secret societies here. They want the school
to be everyone’s school.”
    “But we’ve already
told you that we started our club because we don’t have a chance to work and
play with others after school,” Trixie said.
    “The bus is right
there waiting for us as soon as school is out,” Diana reminded him. “We don’t
have any chance to be with the other kids.”
    Mr. Stratton smiled.
“The meeting is to be held this evening, you know. Hadn’t you better tell me of
your