The Mystery of the Blinking Eye

Honey. It’s my last one, so you may have to divide it.”
    Honey took the candy bar eagerly, stripped off its wrapper, broke it, and offered it to the others.
    “Shove it in your mouth in a hurry if we’re going to make the train!” Mart suggested. “Look at that gang making for the subway station. Watch out there, sir. Watch where you’re going!”
    A shabbily dressed man had shoved Trixie rudely against the stone wall of the subway entrance, then pushed ahead of her to block her way on the stairs.
    “Hey there, you!” Jim called. He and Brian and Ned closed in on thp man just as he made a quick grab for Trixie’s purse. The man missed it, cursed, turned, and ran down the steps two at a time. Jim and Brian took off after him, shouting back to the others to stay close together.
    “It was no use!” they reported, panting, when they rejoined their friends at the foot of the stairs after a few moments.
    “He just disappeared,” Jim said, frustrated. “Trixie, I believe it was your friend with the scar.”
    “It couldn't be,” Trixie moaned, her voice trembling. “How could he possibly know we were going to be here?”
    “Keep on walking, kids,” a man back of them said impatiently. “Forget that guy! He didn’t get your purse, miss, did he? Call yourself lucky. Thieves hang out at these entrances. They’re after tourists like you. If you dangle your purse at the end of your arm, don’t blame anyone but yourself if a thief gets it. If you lived in New York, then you’d know what to expect.”
    “We do live in New York,” Jim said crisply. Then he ignored the man and urged the others to hurry.
    “See, now?” Trixie exclaimed as they huddled close together in subway seats. “That’s more of the prophecy coming true!”
    Mart was unconvinced. “I sure don’t recall anything as sensible as ‘Statue of Liberty’ or ‘Bedloe’s Island’ in that stuff the Mexican woman wrote.”
    “You don’t?” Honey quoted softly, “ ‘Watch out for thieves; they’re everywhere.’ ”
    “Gosh, Honey, Trixie already quoted that about the thief who broke into the apartment.” Mart smiled.
    “If you weren’t so impatient, if you didn’t interrupt, if you’d listen for a minute, Honey would tell you the rest. Go on, Honey,” Trixie urged.

“Watch out for thieves; they’re everywhere,
At home, on island, dead beasts’ lair.”

    “Now, what do you say to that, Mart Belden? ‘On island,’ the prophecy said. We just left an island, didn’t we?”
    “You win, Trix. But I still say it’s just a queer coincidence.”
    “Didn’t he call our stop?” Jim asked. The group jumped to their feet, hurried through the door onto the platform, and filed up the stairs.

Trapped! ● 10

    ITWAS AFTER TWO o’clock when Trixie and her hungry friends arrived at the large hotel east of Central Park.
    Ned held the door open as they went into the lobby. “Oh, boy, listen to that music!” Mart exclaimed. “It’s Freddy Fedder’s piano. I’ve got a couple of his albums back home!” Ned exclaimed. “And that’s Max Meader on the guitar!”
    Barbara stood listening breathlessly. “Max Meader!” she sighed. “Isn’t this wonderfully wonderful? That crowd! The music! And something smells wonderful, too.”
    “It’s food, at last,” Honey sighed.
    The huge room was almost filled with young people —some dancing, some sitting at tables eating or sipping soft drinks.
    “They have a buffet here where we help ourselves,” Trixie explained. She led the way toward a long table. “Don’t hold back. Take all you want, because one price includes everything.”
    Part of a huge ham stood ready to slice. Many kinds of cheese, jars of peanut butter, and jelly were available for sandwiches. There were hot hamburgers, crispy French fried potatoes, catsup, mayonnaise, plenty of lettuce, pickles, cookies, cakes, milk, colas. It was an array of food that stretched the length of the long buffet.
    A man on drums beat out a staccato background for guitar and piano. The twins’ feet shuffled to the rhythm as they moved along the line, filling their plates.
    “You were the one who said he didn’t want to waste time dancing,” Barbara told Bob, right behind her, as his feet, too, caught the tempo.
    “Put dancing and food together and watch me work!” Bob chuckled. “Cake, Barbara?” He put a huge piece of chocolate cake on Barbara’s plate.
    Luckily they found a table big enough that they could all sit