The Mystery of the Ghostly Galeon

“And I don’t know about the bear, either. But I will.”
    All the same, she crossed her fingers. She knew she was going to need all the luck she could get— and not just with the bear.

More Worries • 17

    AS THE DAY WORE ON, Trixie found herself growing more and more uneasy. Everyone guessed that Miss Trask was, too, though she did her best to hide it.
    She had listened quietly to the Bob-Whites’ excited account of what must have happened to the wily old captain so many years before. She had congratulated them warmly on having solved the ancient mystery. Then she had urged them all to go and enjoy themselves.
    “After all,” she said, “there’s nothing more we can do now except wait.”
    Trixie had gone reluctantly with her friends to explore the surrounding countryside. Even an enchanting drive through parts of the beautiful Catskill Mountains had failed to arouse her interest, however.
    It was dusk when the Bob-Whites returned to the inn. Trixie was glad to scramble out of the station wagon and run indoors, but in no time at all, she was back.
    “There’s still no word from Mr. Trask,” she told her friends breathlessly. “Even the police seem to have given up. They still expect him to return in time to grab the headlines in tomorrow’s newspapers.”
    “Yeah,” Dan said, climbing out of the car, “I can see it all now: HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF, SECOND MAN VANISHES FROM MYSTERIOUS INN.”
    “There’s something we haven’t really thought of,” Trixie said slowly. “Just suppose Mr. Trask didn’t mean to vanish.”
    Honey rolled down her window and stared up at her friend. “You mean, you think he’s been kidnapped?”
    Trixie nodded. “Can you think of a better explanation for what’s happened?”
    Mart clambered out of his seat and glared down at his sister. “Oh, for crying out loud, Trix! That’s the craziest thing I ever heard.”
    Jim, at the wheel, frowned. “No, wait,” he said. “Let’s hear what Trixie has to say.”
    “The whole thing just sounds so strange to me,” Trixie began. “We know that Mr. Trask was really looking forward to this weekend. He invited his sister here specially, didn’t he? We also know he’d borrowed a lot of money from wealthy Mr. Morgan, and he was about to pay it back.”
    “But we don’t know that for sure,” Honey pointed out. “Some people think he doesn’t have the money to pay back.”
    “But if he didn’t have it,” Trixie said carefully, “why did he invite his sister here to celebrate? I thought the whole idea was to show her what a success he’s made of the inn. We’ve seen for ourselves how popular it is.”
    “And now that he’s set up the cave and the ship,” Di murmured thoughtfully, “it’ll be more of a tourist attraction than ever.”
    “It’s so popular,” Jim said, “that one of the big hotel chains has been after Mr. Trask to sell out to them. They’re willing to pay plenty.”
    “I didn’t know that, Jim!” Trixie cried.
    “Gaston told me,” Jim explained.
    “If that’s true,” Brian said, “then it might be to someone’s advantage to try to make Mr. Trask sell Pirate’s Inn.”
    “Suppose,” Trixie answered, “that the hotel chain sent someone here. And suppose that someone tried to make trouble by—”
    “By causing odd accidents during the summer,” Honey put in excitedly, “and setting a fire in a guest’s bedroom—”
    “See?” Trixie said. “The idea’s not so crazy!” Dan was still frowning. “Even if all that’s true, it still doesn’t help us know what happened to Mr. Trask.”
    “But what if the spy, or whoever it is who’s working for the hotel chain, managed to steal all of Mr. Trask’s money from Pirate’s Inn?” Trixie asked. “He tried to rob the place before, remember? And what if Mr. Trask had just found out who the thief was? He was about to tell us, when Mr. X—”
    “Who’s Mr. X?” Mart interrupted.
    “I’m coming to that,” Trixie said impatiently. “Mr. Trask was about to unmask the villain when he was kidnapped.”
    “Here we go again,” Mart exclaimed. “It’s another Lucy Snodgrass plot. Anyway, Mr. Trask wasn’t about to unmask anybody. He was going to explain how Captain Trask disappeared. Then he was going to show us the galleon. I suppose you’ve already decided whom to accuse as Mr. X.
    “Weasel Willis,” Trixie announced. “I’m certain of it. The hotel chain has paid him to cause trouble. And that’s just what