The Mystery of the Velvet Gown

“We have neglected them terribly.”
    They started toward the woods on the north side of Glen Road, when suddenly Trixie reined Lady to a halt. “Stop!” she hissed, and the others slowed their horses.
    “What is it?” Jim whispered, but Trixie had already swung out of her saddle and dropped to the ground. She began running toward the woods.
    “Hey!” Jim called after her. Then they heard a crackle of branches and the roaring of a car’s engine. The three boys all swung down from their mounts and raced after Trixie.

Jewels and Jealousy ● 10

    WHAT WAS IT?” Honey demanded as the others returned to the clearing where she had stayed to watch the horses. Mart was limping, and blood dripped from a gash in his leg. “And what happened to you ?” she cried.
    “At least you had enough sense to stay behind and watch the horses,” Jim said sheepishly. “We would have been in a fine mess with Regan if they had gotten away the way Trixie’s ‘spy’ did.”
    Trixie broke in excitedly. “I know there was someone there! He was holding something in
    front of his face—a camera or a pair of binoculars. When you called after me, Jim, he ran. You all heard the car start! I wish we could have gotten a good look at him, but we couldn’t run through the snow fast enough. And then Mart tripped over a branch and went flying.“
    “Old eagle eyes here,” Mart said, gingerly pulling back the tear in his jeans and examining the bloody gash.
    Brian tied a clean handkerchief loosely around Mart’s leg. “You’ll live,” he told his brother. Then he turned to Trixie. “Maybe that guy was just a friendly neighborhood bird watcher.“
    “Friendly neighborhood bird watchers don’t take off like jackrabbits when they’re spotted,” Trixie retorted stubbornly. “That man was spying on us—I know it!”
    “Maybe he was afraid of getting caught for trespassing on private property,” Honey said. “Ah, a sane, sensible explanation,” Mart sighed. Trixie glared. “You saw him run! You said you did! I don’t think he was a bird watcher, but Honey may be right; he probably was afraid of getting caught, and not for trespassing, either. I have a sneaking suspicion that our sneaky spy was Peter Ashbury.”
    Brian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Trixie, I think you’ve got Ashbury on the brain. Anything the least bit mysterious that happens within the next week you’ll blame on him. You may be right about his being a crook, but what in the world would he be doing here in the woods, on a cold Sunday morning?”
    Trixie blushed. “I... I don’t really know. But let’s just ride down that road and take another look. Maybe we’ll find a clue. How’s your leg, Mart?”
    “As Dr. Belden said, I’ll survive, Trixie, but I don’t see any point in looking again.”
    “If you don’t want to come along, then don’t,” she said impatiently, and she turned Lady toward the old lane.
    Mart sighed in resignation. “It is very tempting not to go with her,” he said, as if Trixie weren’t there. “If she’s angry enough, she won’t speak to us, which would be a nice reprieve. But then, again, she might stumble onto something interesting....”
    “Stumble!” Trixie cried indignantly. “It looks as though you’re the only one who’s stumbling today.”
    “Sure—on one of your wild-goose chases!” Mart retorted. Trixie gave him a look that matched the morning’s chill.
    “Okay, that’s enough!” Brian laughed. “I don’t know about you two sometimes. Let’s all go take another look at the tire tracks.”
    “What I don’t understand,” Honey said, “is how someone could drive on that old road with all this snow. It certainly hasn’t been plowed or sanded all winter.”
    “Whoever it was wasn’t driving a car,” Jim explained. “We took a look at his tire tracks before, and he had either a small truck or a four-wheel drive vehicle. But I agree with Trixie: Let’s go take another look. Maybe we will find a clue. He might have dropped his driver’s license or something.”
    Trixie glanced sharply at Jim, but when she saw that he was half-teasing, she laughed good-naturedly. “I’m sorry I got so snappy. Sometimes I do act like a moron. It’s just that I get so excited—”
    “We know,” Brian said, chuckling.
    The Bob-Whites made their way over to the old back road and followed the fresh tracks out to the highway. They found nothing along the way that would identify the trespasser, and