The Mystery at Bob-White Cave

unload the supplies.”
    When Linnie drove the mules into the yard and turned them expertly, just at the lodge’s back door, the boys and Trixie and Honey were there waiting and waving. Jacob wriggled his body ecstatically and jumped onto the seat with his mistress.
    I see you’re safe after the storm,” Uncle Andrew said as he handed the supplies into waiting arms. “Linnie told me you were off in the woods or down at the lake fishing. Did you have any trouble?”
    “We sure did—” Honey started to say.
    Trixie put her hand firmly over her friend’s mouth and hushed her. “We’ll tell you all about it later, when you’re eating the bass we caught. What on earth is in all those boxes?”
    “Take them inside, and before Mrs. Moore stows them away, you can see what’s in them. What trouble did you have, Trixie?”
    But Trixie had gone through the lodge door.
    The boys unharnessed the mules for Linnie and led them to the shed. Mart was rewarded with a swift kick from Shem, while the other mule, Japheth, looked at him with a wild eye.
    “A person never could get much attached to a mule, that’s for sure,” Mart said, rubbing his hip where the blow had landed.
    “They’re one-man mules—or one-girl mules,” Brian said. “They’re crazy about Linnie. She never even ties them in the shed. They’d never wander off from where she is; they just follow her around the way Jacob does.”
    The minute Trixie’s uncle walked into the kitchen, Mrs. Moore told him what had happened to his niece that afternoon. His face drained white. He paced up and down the room, clenching and unclenching his hands. “That’s one I didn’t count on,” he kept repeating. “When I invited you here, I thought you’d not be in any more danger than getting your feet wet. You haven’t been here two full days, and already Trixie has been attacked by a wildcat. Oh, Trixie!”
    “I’m all right. I wish everybody would stop worrying. I’m safe. I’m alive.”
    “You just don’t know these woods,” Mrs. Moore said.
    “I really can take care of myself,” Trixie said quickly. “Back home we get in lots of tight places, but we always get out of them. Moms and Dad think we all have to learn to look out for ourselves.”
    “If you don’t mind, since I’m responsible for you, I’ll call the turns while you’re here, Trixie.” Uncle Andrew’s voice was kind but firm. “I have a few bad memories, you’ll remember, of how you went after the sheep thieves on my farm in Iowa. This is terrible!”
    “She’s off on another hunt now,” Mart said. “She’s after some ghost fish.”
    Uncle Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Ghost fish?” So they told him all about the story Trixie had found in the scientific magazine.
    “A five-hundred-dollar reward!” Trixie said. She went to get the magazine from the table in front of the fireplace. “Did you ever see a fish like this?”
    “I can’t say I ever did. I’ve never gone cave crawling, though. I just like to go after bass. That’s my sport.”
    Conversation continued as Mrs. Moore put a delicious dinner on the table, but no one seemed able to eat much.
    “Bass are all right to eat, and it’s fun catching them,” Trixie said, “but I’m dying to start hunting those ghost fish. I want to get up at dawn tomorrow and start. Just think... five hundred dollars toward a station wagon for handicapped children!”
    “I am thinking about it,” Uncle Andrew said, “but I’m thinking more about the danger you’d run into if you tried spelunking. I’m still shaking from your run-in with the wildcat.”
    “Spelunking?” Honey asked.
    “Of course!” Mart said, tilting his nose knowingly. “Amateur cave-exploring, that means. Professionals are called speleologists. The science is speleology. It comes from the Greek word spelaion, meaning ‘cave.’ All kinds of scientists are interested in caves. Some of them want to find the sources of underground water. Medical researchers look for molds that may lead to new antibiotics. That editor,” Mart explained to his uncle, “is looking for ghost fish in three stages of evolution—sighted, half-blind, and eyeless—so doctors can learn more about the effects of environment on blindness....” Mart was breathless.
    “Well, la-de-da!” Trixie said. “Where did you learn so much about caves and spe—spe—”
    “Spelunkers?By keeping my eyes open, Trixie, and by reading instead of sleuthing.”
    “Never mind, Mart,”