The Mystery at Bob-White Cave

you?”
    Uncle Andrew gave her a thumbnail sketch of their business in town.
    “Minnie Hawkins couldn’t believe what I told her about Slim’s goings-on,” Mrs. Moore said thoughtfully. “It appears to her and me that nobody’s done anything about investigating that Englishman you fished out of the lake and that ghost at the cabin. She didn’t have too good a word to say for Slim, but she thought if he was mixed up in the burning, the Englishman and the ghost were in on it, too.”
    As they neared the ghost cabin, Trixie said suddenly, “Can’t we possibly stop for one minute and look in that shed?”
    “Not that!” Mrs. Moore said quickly. “I don’t want any more traffic with ghosts.”
    “It’s broad daylight, and you can wait here in the wagon, you and Linnie and Uncle Andrew. We just want to take one more look around... please? I have a feeling we should. Just for a minute.”
    “Then pull up, Linnie, please. We’re late, but fifteen minutes more isn’t going to make much difference. Just don’t be longer than that, Trixie!”
    “We won’t. Thanks a million!” Trixie jumped down from the wagon and was halfway up the winding trail before the others started.
    Mrs. Moore, in the wagon, covered her eyes and sat tapping her foot.
     
    “Was your hunch right?” Uncle Andrew asked as the Bob-Whites came running back.
    “I’ll say it was!” Trixie said excitedly. “It looks as though Mrs. Hawkins was right. The culprits must be holing up in that ghost cabin. Just down the slope in back, we saw Mr. Glendenning digging away at the rocks with his pickax. He had a magnifying glass, and he kept examining the things he knocked off the cliff.”
    “That isn’t any indication that he’d set a fire,” Uncle Andrew said, his eyes twinkling.
    “No, it isn’t,” Trixie agreed reluctantly. “But what we found later shows that he’s what they call an accessory after the fact. We saw a gasoline can in the corner of the old shed near the house and, right next to it, a bundle of rags. I brought one along for evidence.” Trixie tossed a dirty rag into the wagon next to Uncle Andrew.
    “Phew! It’s soaked with gasoline,” Uncle Andrew said. “Well, that certainly is fire-starting material, Trixie. I’ll take it to Sam Owens.”
    “Does that let Slim out?” Honey asked.
    “As far as the fire is concerned, maybe,” Trixie said thoughtfully. “But he did steal our fish. I wish we had some way of keeping him out of Bob-White Cave.”
    “A way may turn up,” Uncle Andrew said. “There’s more to this whole business than meets the eye.”
     

Sinkhole Suspense • 15
     
    DID ANYONE NOTICE this note Moms tucked in with the letter we got in town yesterday? I didn’t spot it till just now. Bad news.”
    Brian came into the living room, where the other Bob-Whites were assembling their gear, getting ready to go across the lake to the cave.
    “I didn’t see any note,” Trixie answered, “just her letter. What is it?”
    “She must have added it after she wrote the letter,” Brian said. “We’re going to have to go back home this coming Friday. And that’s just three days from now.”
    “Heavens! Three days! We have a thousand things to do here. Why did Moms say we had to go home so soon?” Trixie took the sheet of paper from Brian and read it aloud.
     
“Your father just brought in the mail, and there was a letter from your Aunt Alicia in Philadelphia. Uncle Mart has to go to the hospital for observation, and she wonders if I could come and stay with her. Of course I telephoned and told her I’d go. He is to go into the hospital next Monday, so I want to be there Saturday. That means I’ll have to ask you to cut short your stay in Missouri. I’m sorry about this, but I know you will understand.
“If you can arrange to fly back from Springfield on Friday, Daddy and Bobby and I will meet the plane. I’m getting lonesome for all of you, and Bobby has been lost without you. When it is possible, send me a telegram to let me know when to expect you.”
     
    “That’s terrible about Uncle Mart,” Trixie said and folded the note. “I guess we really should go back as soon as we can.”
    “Friday will be all right, won’t it, Trix, as Moms suggested?” Brian asked. “Your heart is set on collecting those specimens, and, gee... Jim and I did want to have a try for some rocks. What do you think, Uncle Andrew?”
    “It’ll be good for your Aunt Alicia to have your mother with her.