The Mystery at Bob-White Cave

little cot stood, neatly made up, and beside it were an old kitchen chair and a rickety table with a kerosine lamp.
    When Trixie started to draw her light away, she saw something that made her gasp. Just inside the door, off to one side, stood a bait bucket.
    “It’s mine!” she cried. “Just look at it! Someone who lives here stole my fish. Maybe Slim lives here. I
    never heard anyone say where he does live. I wish I could go in there and get my fish!”
    “That’s one thing I won’t help you to do, break into someone’s house,” Jim said positively, “and no other Bob-White will, either.”
    “I wasn’t going to break in. I only said I wish I could get my bait bucket. I’ll never see it again if I have to wait till Uncle Andrew gets the sheriff to search this place.”
    “And I say it probably isn’t your bait bucket at all,” Mart said. “Everyone around this lake has a bait bucket.” He backed away from the window. “I think it’s a good idea to go home.... There!” he added triumphantly as they went around the house. “You completely forgot what Linnie told you, didn’t you, Trixie? She said she saw that wildcat’s pelt nailed to this cabin, and there it is! Do you think someone who saved your life would be likely to steal from you and set fire to Mrs. Moore’s cabin?”
    Trixie hung her head. “I guess not, Mart, but I’m baffled. Say, nobody’s even mentioned the Englishman. Linnie thought he lived here. I saw that dip net and bucket in his boat. Maybe he took my fish.”
    “There you go again, guessing,” Brian said, shaking his head. “You’re a dedicated flatfoot, all right. If the , Englishman took your fish—and that’s pretty improbable—then who set the fire? Who fired those shots in the woods just now?”
    “There’s only one person mean enough to fit the whole picture,” Trixie answered.
    “Right!” Mart said. “We’ll be smart if we leave it to the sheriff from now on.”
     
    Back at the lodge, all was still and dark.
    “Thank goodness,” Trixie said, “we didn’t waken Mrs. Moore or Uncle Andrew. Listen! Listen!”
    The katydids and frogs were quiet. In the hush, out on the lake below, they could hear the soft and regular splash of oars. The moon shone bright from a cloudless sky, and, as they all watched, a boat slid into its silver path, a lone figure at its oars.
     

Unexpected Meeting ● 13
     
    IN SPITE OF their expedition into the woods the night before, the Bob-Whites were up early. Trixie, Honey, Linnie, and Mrs. Moore were stirring around in the kitchen when Uncle Andrew came in.
    “I guess you didn’t rest any better than I did last night, did you?” he asked. “Most of the night I kept hearing queer noises. I imagined I heard someone moving about the house. I got up once and didn’t see anyone and decided it was just my imagination. Did you hear anything?”
    Trixie looked at Honey questioningly before answering him.
    “Go ahead,” Honey said. “We agreed before we came downstairs that we should tell Uncle Andrew all about last night. It doesn’t matter, now that it’s all over.”
    Uncle Andrew looked puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
    So Trixie told him. The boys came into the kitchen while she was talking, looked sheepishly at one another, then interrupted her to add details she had forgotten.
    “I told Mama, too,” Linnie said. “She didn’t like it.” Uncle Andrew’s face was red. “I don’t like it, either,” he said emphatically. “I should have know that Trixie wouldn’t rest until she went after that fish. I didn’t think I’d have to sit up all night and watch. I guess I should be glad she didn’t go alone. Trixie, you constantly keep me on pins and needles!”
    “I’m sorry,” Trixie said contritely. “I couldn’t stand not knowing what happened to my fish.”
    “Now that you’ve been there, you don’t know any more than you did before. I want to get to the bottom of the matter. I’m going to White Hole Springs to talk to Sam Owens. I suppose Slim is a hundred miles away from here by this time. He probably set the fire and skipped. The stranger you saw, man or spirit, doesn’t sound to me like a criminal. The sheriff will throw some light on the matter.”
    “If Slim is gone, who fired that rifle?” Trixie asked. “That’s one of the things we must find out. When we do, we’ll know whom you saw out on the lake at midnight last night, too. Are you planning to row across to that cave