The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

creepy! I wish we could point him out to you.”
    “Trixie seems to have mixed him up with that little man who was one of the pair who followed us from the antique shop,” Mart said. “How do we know she’d ever recognize the man she saw this morning? The guy who tagged us certainly wasn’t sleek or well dressed. Forget the whole thing, Trixie, before you get into it beyond your depth!”
    “I won’t forget it, Mart Belden,” Trixie cried. “I won’t say anything more about it if you aren’t interested, but I won’t forget it. Go on, now, and say whatever you have to say, someone, about the United Nations, since nobody seems interested in my story.”
    “I am!” Barbara cried.
    “Gosh, so am I!” Bob said, awed.
    “And me, too,” Ned added. “Everything happens so fast around here that I never know who to listen to first. Trixie may be entirely right about that man, Mart. He could very well be the same one who followed us. I sure wish we could get a glimpse of him ourselves. We could soon tell if he is the same one.” Ned was destined to have his wish.
    Just as the Bob-Whites and their friends were about to get into a waiting cab at the edge of the plaza, Trixie gestured frantically toward a man standing nearby. In the cab, after it had started, she gasped, “That was the man we saw in the gift shop. He listened while you gave the address of our apartment to the cab driver, Jim! Did you see him?”
    “I saw him, Trix, and I give in,” Mart said. “He is one of the men we saw at the antique shop. I wonder where his buddy is and what the heck they want with an Incan idol.”
    “That’s something we’ll have to find out. I don’t like the looks of the whole business,” Jim said. “Shall we go back to the apartment now?”
    “Maybe it’ll be a good thing if we don’t,” Brian suggested. “If he’s following us in another cab, we can throw him off if we don’t go right back. He may think he didn’t hear the address correctly.”
    “I guess you all forget that he couldn’t have wanted our address at all,” Honey said. “If he is one of the men who followed us before, he surely knows where we live. He followed us home from the antique shop, didn’t he?”
    They all laughed, Trixie hardest of all. “You see, Honey, I always told you that you were the smartest member of our firm. That man had some other reason for standing around when we were leaving.”
    “Counting noses, I guess,” Mart said. “There’s safety in numbers, you know. He’s pretty sure he can’t do anything if we all stick together. Moral: All stick together!”
    “I think you’re right,” Trixie said soberly. “He’s probably furious after seeing how many of us there are.”
    “I don’t think I can stand it if things keep happening as fast as they have happened!” Barbara exclaimed.
    “I can,” Ned said quickly. “I love it. Gosh, it’s a real mystery, for sure. About the only thing I can do when I get back home is to join the police force and get to work. What are we going to do now?”
    “I have an idea,” Brian said. “How about us guys going to Lou Tannen’s Magic Shop while you girls explore the grocery stores and delicatessens on Fiftieth Street and Second Avenue?”
    “That’ll be neat!” Mart said. “Then we’ll all get dinner together back at the apartment. Is it a deal?” he asked the girls.
    “It’s a good idea, except for one thing,” Honey answered slowly. “We just got through agreeing that we should all stay together from now on.”
    “Of course!” Brian exclaimed. “Now it’s my turn to be a birdbrain.”
    Jim laughed. “Not you, Brian. Anyway, I don’t think we all have to stay together all the time. How about splitting up into two sections? Dan and I will go with the girls, and you and Mart can go with Ned and Bob to the magic shop. Will that be okay?”
    “I don’t see why not,” Brian replied. “Mart can put on a magic show for all of us after dinner back in the apartment. See if you can find some of those card tricks you used at my birthday party, Mart.”
    “I will if you six will promise not to come home with just a can of spaghetti and meatballs,” Mart agreed.
    “He likes kooky foods,” Dan explained in mock seriousness, “like gnat’s eyebrows....”
    “And Brazilian fried ants...”, Jim added. “Chocolate-covered...” Dan went on.
    “Ugh, I won’t have any appetite for dinner, I can tell that,” Barbara said, rubbing her