The Mystery on Cobbett's Island

great,” Mart said. “If only someone would accentuate the positive, Slim would be okay. He apparently knows a lot about boats and motors, and he said himself that he was a good shot, which isn’t a bad skill if you use it right.”
    “Do you know what he said when I asked him what he’d like to be?” Abe asked them.
    “A policeman, maybe, or a fireman?” Trixie suggested. “That’s what seems to fascinate most boys when they first start thinking about a career.”
    “No, you’re way off,” Abe said. “He wants to be a ferry pilot, and, you know, I bet he’d make a good one.” On the way back to The Moorings, Peter offered to take his family’s station wagon to Easthampton the next day, since Tom would probably be packing the Wheelers’ cars for the return-trip.
    “Don’t forget to bring the tin box with you,” warned Trixie as they were separating for the night. “I think I'll take the letter and the chart, too,” she added, “so Mrs. Hall and Ed can see how it all happened.”
    “We can hide the box until after lunch and then give it to Ed,” Honey suggested, “that is, if we can manage to keep the secret that long.”
    Early the next morning, Trixie woke to find the sun shining brightly. She nudged Diana a couple of times to awaken her, and then the two of them went into the next room. Honey was still sleeping soundly and made mumbled protests at being disturbed, but she finally pulled herself out of bed, shaking her head to get fully awake.
    “You two are perfectly horrible to disturb my dreams,” she said drowsily. “I had just had an invitation to a dance from a tall, handsome man when you woke me up.”
    “Was he dark or light?” Diana asked her.
    “Dark. He had black hair, and, come to think of it, he looked a lot like Brian,” Honey replied with a smile.
    “Sorry for the interruption, old dear, but your dreams will have to wait. Remember, this is the day when we make Ed’s dreams come true,” Trixie said. “Come on. Let’s get dressed. I heard the boys banging away up-stairs ages ago.”
    As Celia was serving breakfast a short time later, the phone rang. “I'll get it,” Brian said, heading for the hall. “It’s probably Peter.”
    “Or Mrs. Hall,” Trixie suggested, her face clouding. “Maybe Di was right and Ed can’t meet us.”
    Any fears the Bob-Whites may have had were groundless, however, for Brian came back, smiling broadly, to say the call was from Ed. “He wants us to come over early because the surf conditions are ‘Go,’ ” he announced, “and he wants to be sure we’ll have plenty of time to swim before lunch.”
    “What a relief!” cried Trixie. “I didn’t dare think too much about today; so many things could have gone wrong.”
    “Like the weather, for instance,” Jim said. “Do you realize we’ve had perfect weather every day since we got here except for the first humdinger of a storm and the early morning fog?”
    “The weatherman probably feels so guilty about throwing that storm at us, he’s been trying to make up for it ever since,” Mart chuckled.
    They got to the beach in Easthampton about ten-thirty and found Ed waiting for them at the entrance to the parking lot. Trixie recognized him immediately from the picture his mother had shown her. After greeting him, she introduced Peter and the other Bob-Whites. Ed had an easy manner, and, although he was older than they, he seemed genuinely interested in what they had been doing during their vacation. When they reached the bathhouse, everyone seemed to be talking at once.
    They changed into their suits and then made their way across the warm sand to the edge of the water. At first sight of the long stretch of beach, the opalescent colors of big breakers, and the long view of blue ocean to the horizon, the Bob-Whites were speechless. Even Cobbett’s Island, surrounded by the protecting waters of the bay, was nothing like this. They found it an awesome sight—even a little frightening.
    Ed and Peter, who had swum many times in the surf, showed them how, by waiting until a wave was just at the point of breaking, they could dive through it. Honey was the first to catch on, and she made a beautiful shallow dive, disappeared for a few seconds beneath the breaker, and then bobbed up out beyond the combers. Mart was rolled over a couple of times before he got the knack of it. He pulled himself out of the undertow, his hair full of sand, undaunted and ready to go back for more tries.