The Mystery of the Ghostly Galeon

laugh. “I got it, but you can keep it, because Jim and I didn’t find anything, either.“
    “Let’s hope Di and Dan have had more luck than we have,” Jim said.
    When the Bob-Whites met at the dining room entrance and compared notes, however, they all had to admit they’d had no luck at all.
    “You wouldn’t believe the places we looked,” said Di, who had a smudge of dust on her pretty nose, “but there isn’t a sign of Mr. Trask.”
    “I even went to the garage at the back and checked to see if his car was there,” Dan said. “It is there, and the hood is stone cold, so he hasn’t used it recently.”
    “Hey, that was using your old cerebrum,” Mart said. “I didn’t think of doing that.”
    “Miss Trask came and helped us,” Di said. “She even took us up to the attic. But there was nothing there except the usual stuff—old lamps and things like that.”
    “Where is Miss Trask now?” Trixie asked.
    Di stepped out of the doorway. “She’s in the dining room, talking to that gray-haired man who seems to be a friend of hers. His name’s Nicholas Morgan.”
    “Honey and I met him outside,” Trixie said slowly, watching as Smiley Jackson served coffee to the pair at the table. “Honey and I think he’s the man Mr. Trask owes all that money to.“
    “Speaking of money,” Dan said, “it’s still missing. We helped Miss Trask search for it, too, but it didn’t turn up, either.”
    “I’m afraid that’s not all,” Di said. “Some of the waiters have got the idea that there isn’t any money to find.”
    “But there must be,” Trixie cried. “Mr. Trask said he was ready to pay back what he borrowed from Mr. Morgan. I heard him say he had the money, all in cash.”
    “When did you hear that?” Brian asked her sharply.
    Trixie flushed and told them about the conversation she had overheard while she was stuck in the dumbwaiter shaft.
    “And that was when Mr. Trask told his sister he was ready to pay back the money tomorrow night,” she finished. “So it just has to be here somewhere. Even Miss Trask thought it had to be thousands of dollars.”
    The Bob-Whites stared at her.
    “Are you certain about this, Trix?” Jim asked at last.
    “I’m certain,” Trixie answered.
    All at once, however, she wasn’t certain at all.

Midnight Mission ● 11

    IT WAS ALMOST MIDNIGHT when the Bob-Whites wearily decided there was nothing more they could do that night. Even Miss Trask urged them to go to bed.
    “I’ve just been talking with Smiley, that nice young man who waited on us tonight,” she told them as she sat in her brother’s office chair. “I admit it sounds strange, but Smiley is convinced that my brother is playing some kind of joke on us. He’s sure Frank will suddenly reappear tomorrow morning when we least expect it.”
    But that doesn’t make sense,” Jim said, rubbing his freckled nose thoughtfully. “Why would
    Mr. Trask do a thing like that?”
    “Frank did say he had two surprises for us,” Miss Trask reminded him. “One was that he had discovered how the captain disappeared. The other must have been—”
    “To show us how it was done?” Honey asked. Miss Trask sighed. “I confess I can’t think of any other explanation. So the only thing we can do now is wait to see what happens tomorrow.” Reluctantly, the Bob-Whites climbed the stairs to their rooms.
    Jim stopped at Trixie’s door. “Don’t worry,” he told her. “It’s all going to work out okay.”
    All the same, Trixie’s thoughts were in a turmoil as she watched Honey get ready for bed. So much had happened since their arrival at Pirate’s Inn. She had been trapped at the bottom of a dumbwaiter shaft. She had heard the legend of the ghostly galleon. Later, she had seen the mysterious ship with her own eyes.
    As if that weren’t enough, a strange fire had been deliberately set in one of the guest rooms. Trixie had received a warning that she was being watched. Mr. Trask had disappeared as completely as if he had vanished from the face of the earth. And now a large sum of money was missing. Or was it?
    Trixie had noticed that Miss Trask had not repeated the rumor that there was little money to find. Had she or hadn’t she believed it?
    “Trix,” Honey asked her, emerging from the bathroom after brushing her teeth, “aren’t you going to turn in? I’m so tired that I don’t think I can keep my eyes open another second.”
    Trixie, however, was still fully dressed in her blouse