The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

Queer Coincidence ● 9

    NEXT MORNING, the telephone jangled as Miss Trask was getting breakfast.
    “I’ll get it!” Trixie called and took up the receiver. “Hello?” She rattled the button and answered again, puzzled: “Hello?”
    “That’s funny!” Trixie said, perplexed. “I was sure there was someone on the line, but nobody said a thing.”
    “Wrong number!” Honey said. “It happens all the time. People have a hard time remembering seven or eight digits when they look them up in the directory.”
    “I’m not so sure it was a wrong number,” Trixie said thoughtfully. “My dad said once that thieves sometimes telephone to learn if anyone is at home.
    We didn’t hear one word from the police about the robber who was here.”
    “I told you before that as long as that thief didn’t steal anything, you probably won’t hear a word,” Dan said. “I don’t think that call was anything but a wrong number. Let’s all wade into the waffles Miss Trask is making. Boy, look at the real maple syrup, too!”
    “You eat this waffle you just baked, Miss Trask. I’ll bake the rest of them. I know you’re in a hurry to get to the hospital, since you didn’t go last evening.” Trixie poured batter into the waffle iron, then waited for it to brown.
    “Where are you going today?” Miss Trask asked as Jim pulled out her chair and pushed the syrup jug where she could reach it.
    “Bedloe’s Island. Statue of Liberty!” Barbara and Bob chorused. “I’ve wanted to see it all my life!” Barbara added breathlessly.
    “Not quite that many years!” Mart grinned. “It’s not ‘Bedloe’s Island’ now, either, Barbara. It’s ‘Liberty Island.’ ”
    “Whatever you call it, that’s where we’re going,” Trixie answered gaily. “If we get back from there in time, we may go out dancing, then have a light dinner. We want to go to the Empire State Building for a view of the city at night.”

    The Bob-Whites and their friends had to scramble for the subway to get to the Battery Park in time for the nine o’clock boat. It ran only on the hour, and Jim thought they would need to spend at least two hours on the island to see everything that they wanted to see.
    They boarded the small ferry just as it tooted its last call. Soon they were bobbing in the bay. From the rail they looked back at the shoreline and the sparkling towers of mid-Manhattan. The bright sun of midday tinted the roofs with gold until they blended in one shining blur.
    In the bay, husky little tugs steamed and snorted as they nudged huge barges on their way or pulled freighters into place. The water was alive with craft of every kind, from small powerboats to huge liners heading for the open sea.
    “I wish I had as many eyes as a fly or a spider,” Barbara said as she ran from one side of the ferry to the other, excitedly calling out to Bob the new things she saw.
    “I’ll settle for the sight of the Statue herself, over there ahead of us,” Ned said.
    “Isn’t she huge?” Barbara sighed. “Isn’t she perfectly beautiful?”
    “I’ve seen it many times, but every time is a new thrill,” Honey agreed. “Look, the ferry’s stopping.”
    “I’m going way up to the very top,” Bob said, “to that little balcony right under the torch. See it up there?”
    Dan shook his head. “Nope, you’re not. Nobody can go up there anymore. I don’t know why. But don’t worry, Bob, because you can see just as much from that balcony that runs around her head.”
    As they drew near the great base of Liberty, Jim said, “Bartholdi, the man who designed the statue, had a genius for symbolism. Look at her bare feet. They show her humility. The broken chains of slavery lie next to her feet. In her left hand, she holds a tablet symbolizing our Declaration of Independence.”
    “I don’t see how you can tell all those things from here,” Barbara said. “Her feet are so huge they’re all I can see.”
    “I can’t see anything but her feet right now, myself,” Jim said, smiling. “I know the other things are there, though.”
    They went inside the base of the statue and looked around eagerly.
    “Let’s climb up to the first balcony,” Mart suggested, “or anyone who wants can take the elevator and we’ll meet you there.”
    “No, you don’t,” Jim said. “We’ll all climb, or we’ll all take the elevator. We can’t lose sight of each other for a minute, after the queer things that have been happening.”
    “I guess