The Mystery of the Ghostly Galeon

of Weasel Willis.

Fire! ● 6

    TO TRIXIE’S IMMENSE RELIEF, Honey’s worried face appeared almost immediately at Weasel’s shoulder.
    “Are you all right?” she cried, helping her friend to uncurl herself. “Oh, Trix, you have no idea how scared I was. I thought we’d never get you out of there!”
    “It’s a good thing I wasn’t too far away,” Weasel remarked mournfully. “Otherwise, I can’t think what would have happened.” He watched Trixie trying to restore the circulation to her cramped limbs. “Of course, I’m not surprised,” he added. “Heaven only knows we’ve had our share of bad luck around here lately. We’ve had termites in the woodwork. There’ve been odd accidents in the kitchen. We’ve had our help quitting for no reason at all. And now you get stuck in that shaft. I suppose, before we know it, the Sea Fox will come sailing up the Hudson River as a warning to us all.”
    Trixie had only been half listening to him. She was still trembling from her frightening experience, and his mournful recital wasn’t making her feel any better.
    All the same, she couldn’t resist asking, “What’s a sea fox?”
    “It’s a ship,” Weasel said slowly, “a galleon, actually. Once it was home to a gang of pirates. Many’s the time it sailed these waters when old Captain Trask was alive.” He sighed heavily. “Now all that’s left is a legend.”
    “What sort of legend?” Honey asked.
    “People around here say that the old captain swore he would protect his family forever,” Weasel answered. “And so, whenever something awful is about to hit one of the Trasks, his phantom galleon shows up again.”
    Honey peered fearfully over her shoulder at the darkening windows behind her. “A g-ghostly galleon? Are you joking?”
    Weasel shook his head sadly and hurried away.
    “Of course he was joking,” Trixie told Honey later, as they stood, shaken, outside the entrance to the dining room. “It’s the silliest story I ever heard. He probably made it up.” She drew a deep breath. “I don’t trust that man, Honey. I don’t know why Mr. Trask keeps him on here. I know he can’t help having only one eye, but at least he could shave.”
    Honey smiled. “He does look scary, doesn’t he? All the same, he did come right away when I told him what happened.”
    “Why did it take so long to find somebody?” Trixie asked.
    Honey frowned. “It was really strange, Trix. When I ran for help, I found most of the staff just standing around talking outside. It was as if they were waiting for something to happen.” She paused. “I’m afraid there’s other news, too. One of the waiters told me definitely that our dumbwaiter idea is no good. It wasn’t part of the original inn. So when Captain Trask disappeared, that shaft wasn’t even here. One of the later Trasks built it. Later, they bricked up the part that opened into the wine cellar, because they never used it.” She stared at Trixie’s face. “Hey, are you really okay? You look terrible!”
    All at once, Trixie did feel terrible. After what had just happened, Honey’s news was almost more than she could bear. Her knees wouldn’t stop shaking, and she felt as if she didn’t care anymore about vanishing pirates or ghostly galleons. Every bone in her body ached as if she had run a ten-mile race—all of it uphill.
    When she and Honey reached the upstairs landing, it didn’t help at all when she discovered that the other Bob-Whites had returned from their brief walk. Their cheeks were rosy, and it was obvious that they’d had a wonderful time.
    Laughing and talking, they were visiting back and forth between one another’s rooms.
    “Tomorrow I want to explore the cliffs,” Di was saying. “Tonight we walked in the other direction, but I’m simply dying to see what’s beneath them. Do you suppose there’s a beach?”
    Mart was standing in the doorway of his “cabin.” He was about to answer her when he caught sight of Trixie and Honey.
    “Why the long faces, O squaws?” he sang out. “Were your exploratory perambulations unavailing?”
    Trixie had been hoping to limp along the passage without causing any comment from anyone. But before Trixie could stop her, Honey had told the whole sad story of the narrow escape to five frowning Bob-Whites.
    Brian, immediately concerned, pulled Trixie inside his room. He insisted that she should stretch out full length on his bed. In an instant, she was surrounded by her worried