The Mystery of the Headless Horseman

attention whatsoever. He was delighted to see them, and he wanted them all to know it. He uttered short, sharp barks as he dashed forward, as close as he dared to the horses’ feet, then dashed back again to chase his own tail.
    He caused such a commotion that the Bob-Whites had trouble holding on to their horses.
    “Mart! Do something!” Trixie yelled, as Susie plunged beneath her.
    “Reddy!” Mart shouted from Strawberry’s back. “Roll over! Play dead!”
    Instantly, Reddy sat. His tail, though, seemed to have a life of its own. It still twitched from side to side, causing brown leaves, dead twigs, and dark earth to cling to it.
    “Voilà!” Mart said proudly in the sudden silence. “One only has to know the correct commands, you see.”
    “Oh, Mart, do send him home,” Trixie said. Mart raised an eyebrow. “Are you admitting, my dear sister, that I have the ability to control our canine friend?”
    Brian laughed. “He’s got you there, Trixie.
    Reddy obeyed Mart immediately.”
    “But that’s not fair!” Trixie cried. “Mart was supposed to teach Reddy to do as he’s told.”
    “Correction!” Mart sounded smug. “I was supposed to teach Reddy to do what we want. Reddy is doing what we want. He’s sitting quietly.” Trixie sighed. “I guess I’ve lost our bet, after all,” she said. “Then again, maybe it’s worth a week of bedmaking at that.” She looked at their dog. “But you’d better do what we want right now, Reddy, my boy, or it will be the worse for you!”
    Reddy looked up and grinned at her.
    “Do let him stay,” Di pleaded. “He’ll keep us company.”
    “No sooner said than done,” Mart announced promptly. “Reddy! Go!”
    Reddy instantly moved close to Strawberry’s side and showed every indication of following them obediently.
    Trixie sighed again. “Now, if we can only solve our other troubles, we’ll really have something to celebrate.”
    They moved off again through the trees. Reddy’s tail, with its interesting accumulation of forest souvenirs, waved in triumph as he padded along beside them.
    When they reached the barn, Trixie could see that it looked even more dilapidated in daylight. A broken plow lay rusting beside it, and a pair of nesting doves had made their home under its rotting eaves.
    “Wow!” Mart breathed. “Will you look at that! It doesn’t seem as if anyone’s been near this place in years.”
    “Except for this!” Trixie cried. She leaned from her saddle and pointed to something on the soft ground.
    The Bob-Whites slid from their horses and gathered around to see.
    “It’s a hoofprint,” Dan said, frowning. “Why, that’s funny. It looks as if it was made—”
    “—by a horse wearing socks!” Di cried.
    Trixie was excited. “I really think we’re on the right track at last!”
    The Bob-Whites looped their reins over the low-hanging branches of a tree and hurried inside the barn.
    It took no more than a glance to tell the Bob-Whites that Trixie had guessed correctly. In a far corner stood a horse, his coat softly gleaming. He was as black as Jupiter and, Trixie thought, almost as beautiful. His hooves still wore the rags that allowed him to move soundlessly through the forest.
    “So there he is,” Trixie said softly, “the horse who wore socks. And when we thought he disappeared into thin air that night, he really didn’t. In the dark, we just thought he did because he made no noise.”
    Honey shuddered. “I know now that the ‘ghost’ was only Harrison dressed up to look spooky,” she told Jim. “But I keep on expecting the headless horseman to appear....”
    Her voice faded into terrified silence. She looked past her brother’s shoulder toward the far side of the barn. The other Bob-Whites turned swiftly.
    An apparition was walking toward them. It was enveloped in a black cloak that covered its wearer from the top of the hideously wide, headless shoulders to the tips of its white sneakers. The cloak had a small tear in its broad skirt.
    “Pretty effective, eh?” Mart’s voice said.
    In another moment, Trixie could see his flushed face as, laughing, he lifted the whole contraption from his head.
    “Mart!” Trixie exclaimed. “You scared us all!”
    “I found this hanging on a peg over there,” Mart said. “The cloak’s rigged up on a wooden frame, see?” He showed them how it fitted across his shoulders. They saw the tiny eyeholes that allowed its wearer to see.
    “The headless horseman rides