The Mystery at Bob-White Cave

kitchen, a cold cellar was built into the hillside. Inside were shelves of canned meat, fruits, vegetables, preserves, catsup, and pickles. There were jars of sweet butter and crocks of milk. Bins held diminished stores of apples, gourds, carrots, and beets from last summer’s garden, still cool and quite fresh.
    The fire had only singed the porch, but it had blackened the floor and cracked the windows. Later the boys and Uncle Andrew would paint the floor and repair the windows. If Linnie wants us to, Trixie thought, we can show her something we learned from those Four-H girls in Iowa—how to paint cans, fill them with flowers , and have hanging baskets all around this veranda.
    In the living room the walls were pasted over with pictures from calendars. The fire had not reached the inside, but Linnie said, “I wish I could paint these walls. I’d love to have smooth walls like the ones in the lodge.”
    “That won’t take long,” Trixie said briskly. “That is, if you can find the right kind of paint. Let’s go over to the lodge and see what’s there. I know there’s some of the soft pine-colored paint that Uncle Andrew used inside his place.”
    “I’d love that!” Linnie said.
    They found far more paint than they would need and brought old newspapers with which to cover the floor while they painted. Soon all three were brushing busily at the walls.
    “The paint has a latex base, and it’ll be dry before your mother can even get over here to look at it,” Trixie said.
    “She’s out telling your uncle and Mr. Hawkins and the boys what the chicken house has to have. She won’t be in here for a long time. Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you ever saw?” Linnie, brush in hand, stood off to look at a finished wall. “Even those old lace curtains’ll look better when we put them back up.”
    “Would you like other curtains better, maybe some like those I made for Mr. Belden’s living room?” Honey asked. “If you would, I think there’s some material left. They’d be a little skimpy, but they’d look better sill-length in here, anyway.”
    “That beautiful flowered material?” Linnie’s eyes glowed. “Mama won’t mind nearly so much having her flowers burned up if she can have flowers inside the house. I can’t wait to see what it’ll look like.”
    “All right. If you and Trixie will paint the bedroom after you get through here, I’ll get going on the curtains. It won’t take long. They only have to be hemmed at the top and bottom. I’ll measure the windows, then run over to the machine in our room at the lodge, and I’ll have the curtains finished in a jiffy.”
    It was lunchtime before they knew it, and the girls followed Mr. Hawkins, Uncle Andrew, and the boys to the big kitchen table.
    As Mrs. Moore went around the table pouring coffee, Bill Hawkins asked, “How’s Slim turning out as a guide?”
    Mart snorted, and, after a moment’s hesitation, Uncle Andrew told Bill the whole story.
    “That looks pretty bad,” their neighbor said. “If you’ll remember, I wasn’t too sure about him. He’s one of a big family, and his father and older brothers don’t amount to a hill of beans. They’re downright ornery. When they moved out of the mountains, Slim stayed behind. He always was a strange one, but I didn’t think he was downright bad. Maybe he took to drinkin’ moonshine or runnin’ with some wild ones way back in the hills. If he set that fire, it won’t take long for the men around here to take care of him.”
    “That’s just why I don’t want to mention his name.
    I’d appreciate it if you didn’t either, Bill. I want Sam Owens to bring him in for a fair trial.”
    “You’re a juster man than I am,” Bill Hawkins said. “He didn’t act fair settin’ that fire.”
    “I’m not certain that he did it, especially after what you told me about the stranger over at the ghost cabin.”
    “But Slim might have been tryin’ to get revenge on you for firin’ him.”
    “It sounds logical,” Uncle Andrew agreed, “but I intend to get the truth. There’s been hanging done in these parts before when people weren’t sure. I’m not going to be a party to such a thing now. Right at this minute, first things first. We’ll get the work done here, and then I’ll talk to the sheriff and see what he says.”
    “Have it your way. Feelin’ flares up quick in the Ozark hills.”
    Uncle Andrew didn’t say any more about Slim to Bill. “Your chicken house is