The Mystery at Bob-White Cave

behind Shem and Japheth. “Slim didn’t know that bait bucket had been returned.”
    “No,” Mart said slowly. “He didn’t. That’s odd.”
    “Did you hear what he said, Trixie, when he kicked the bait bucket over?” Honey asked.
    “I just heard him snarl. Did he say something?”
    “I’m almost sure I heard him say under his breath, ‘That old coot!’ ”
    “Yipe!” Mart yelled and almost fell out of the wagon. “The plot thickens.”
    As they drove past the ghost cabin, it looked deserted. “If we only had time, I wish we could stop here a minute,” Trixie said. “I know Slim was lying about those gasoline rags in the shed over there, but I’d like to look around.”
    “We’ll have to go as fast as the mules can go to get to White Hole Springs in time so I can see the sheriff,” Uncle Andrew said.
    “And so we can be sure to register,” Honey reminded Trixie. “I’ve seen enough of that old haunted cabin to last a whole lifetime!”
    “That’s the way I feel, too,” Linnie said, and she urged the mules on. “You remember Mama said it didn’t pay to say you didn’t believe in ghosts. Didn’t you, Mama?”
    “We have too many ghosts in these hills,” Mrs. Moore said. “It’s a pity that ghost cabin didn’t burn down instead of my chicken house and cow shed.”
    “Even where we live, some of the old Dutch families believe in ghosts,” Mart said. “They call them poltergeists.”
    “That’s right,” Trixie said. “They do. I never did. The Dutch people blame poltergeists when their cattle stray or a barn burns or they find their furniture broken up.”
    “When things like that happen in the Ozarks, we know it’s the work of ghosts and witches,” Mrs. Moore said. “I hope they’ve finished their evildoing now and will let us alone at the lodge. Here’s the Hawkins place. I’ll leave you. Their young people have gone berrying, so just their mother is at home.”
    She got out, and the wagon continued on its way.
     
    In town, they let Uncle Andrew out at the sheriff’s office, then went to the motel where the editor was staying.
    This time they went boldly to the desk and inquired for him.
    “Right over there,” the clerk said, pointing. ,
    A dark-haired young man was scribbling away at a table. He raised his head as they approached.
    “Are we too late?” Trixie asked breathlessly.
    “Are you too late for what?” the young man inquired.
    “To register for the reward,” Trixie answered. “We’ve found one fish, and I’m sure we can find the rest of them if we aren’t too late.”
    “You’ve found one?” the man asked, immediately interested. “A blind fish?”
    “The partly blind one,” Trixie explained. “But we’ll get the others if there’s time. We didn’t know we had to register.”
    “You don’t. What made you think you did?”
    The Bob-Whites looked at one another. “That’s another one of Slim’s lies,” Trixie whispered. “He wanted to get us out of the way this afternoon. Aren’t we dummies to fall for anything he’d say?”
    “I beg your pardon,” the man said.
    “Oh, nothing,” Trixie said hastily. “Are there very many people trying to find the specimens?”
    “I haven’t any way of knowing,” the editor told them. “Judging from the inquiries I’ve had, I’d say there may be a dozen or so.”
    Trixie’s face fell. “Are there any rules we have to follow? All we know is what we read in your magazine article.”
    “That article said it all,” the man answered. “I’ll be greatly surprised if the Scientific Digest has a chance to pay the reward. The specimens we want are really pretty rare. You’re the second person, though, to report finding a fish.”
    “Slim!” they chorused.
    “He doesn’t have it now,” Trixie whispered. Out loud she asked, “Do you happen to know anyone named Sanderson?”
    “No, I don’t remember hearing that name.”
    “Oh, dear. May I ask you another question?”
    “Fire away!”
    Trixie never could understand why so many people found her earnestness amusing. “Do you know if there is any way of protecting our interests in a cave? I mean, if we find a place that seems to be exactly where the specimens can be found, can we have exclusive rights to it?”
    “If the property belongs to you, or if you have the owner’s permission to explore it, then you can have exclusive rights. I know of no other way.”
    Trixie’s face brightened. “We do have the owner’s permission