The Mysterious Visitor

waiting tensely. Mart’s voice was a croak as he whispered:
    "We’re moving faster and faster. Have you noticed it? He must plan to shoot through the intersection."
    "I hope he shoots through a red light," Trixie said. "He won’t get far if he does."
    "Not if Spider is on duty." Mart agreed. He grabbed a frying pan with one hand and a coffeepot with the other. "We’re almost there, Trix. Ready... on your mark... get set... go! "
    Kneeling on the bunk, Trixie threw her ammunition out of the window wildly. She got only a faint, dizzy glimpse of a policeman as they passed him, and hoped that at least one of the pots she had thrown would land somewhere near him.
    Then, without realizing what she was doing, she stuck her head out of the window and yelled: "Help! Help! Spider! Help!"
    Mart dragged her back. "Shut up! Don’t you realize what a fix we’re in if Monty heard you and nobody comes to our rescue?"
    And then they heard a shrill whistle and, a moment later, the roar of a motorcycle and the long, drawn-out wail of its siren.
    It was Mart who was yelling now, but he stopped after Spider shot past them.
    "Pull over, you!" they heard the policeman shout.
    The trailer slowed and finally stopped. The roar of the motorcycle sputtered into silence. Trixie took a deep breath and screamed, "Watch out, Spider! He’s got a gun."
    Without glancing in her direction, the policeman drew his revolver from its holster and said to the driver of the tow car, "What goes on here, anyway?"
    "I don’t know what you mean, officer." Monty climbed out of the sedan, and in the motorcycle headlight, Trixie could see that he was smiling.
    "So you don’t know?" Spider jerked his thumb over one shoulder. "So there’s nothing funny about the Belden kids yelling and throwing pans at me from the windows of your trailer?"
    Monty glanced coolly at Trixie and Mart, who were breathlessly hanging as far out of the windows as they could.
    "I never saw those kids before," he said with a shrug. "Stowaways, no doubt."
    Trixie found her voice then. "He locked us in, Spider. He’s got the key. Make him let us out. But get his gun first."
    Spider patted Monty’s pockets and took his pistol from one of them. "Got a permit to carry this?"
    "Why, certainly, officer." Monty handed him the folded piece of pink paper.
    Spider glanced at it. "Let the kids out."
    With a bored expression on his face, Monty obeyed. Trixie climbed out first. Spider glared at her. "I’ve seen you in some funny outfits, Trixie Belden, but this one beats ’em all. A sweater that’s four sizes too big, pajamas, and bare feet. What do you think this is... Halloween? Get back inside and get dressed properly."
    "I can’t," Trixie wailed. "I haven’t any other clothes with me, Spider."
    "The child is obviously out of her mind," Monty said. "Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll go along. I’m sure you must have notified headquarters from your post before you left it, so a patrol car will be here in a minute or so. They can cope with these problem children."
    Mart spoke up then. "Spider, he’s a crook of the first water. And I—" He stopped as they heard a siren of the approaching patrol car.
    Spider frowned at Mart suspiciously. "You were saying?"
    "I can prove it," Mart finished. "Inside the trailer is a tape recorder. If you’ll let me play back the tape that’s on it now, you’ll see what I mean. It’s this guy’s confession that he’s an impostor, a kidnapper, and—"
    "Oh, Mart," Trixie interrupted. "You don’t have to tell lies."
    "I’m not lying," Mart said. He went back inside the trailer and, as the patrol car stopped behind it, came out with a portable tape-recording machine under one arm.
    Trixie was so surprised she sank down weakly on the trailer step. She could tell that Monty was even more surprised than she was. His thin face was white and pinched with both fright and anger. One of the two men in the patrol car got out and said to Spider, "What is this, a picnic?"
    Spider shook his head. "It’s all beyond me." He pointed to Mart. "I vote we all go inside the trailer and listen to what that tape may have to say." Mart shook his head. "I can’t play it back here. No electricity."
    At that, Monty pulled himself together. "Don’t you see, officers? It’s nothing but a .childish prank. I never saw either this boy or that girl before. When I locked the doors of my trailer, I didn’t know they were hiding inside." He laughed. "A joke’s a joke, but, after