The Mystery on Cobbett's Island

brought Tom, in a black raincoat, followed closely by Celia. Their worried expressions changed to smiles when they saw that all the Bob-Whites and Miss Trask were safe.
    “What happened to you ?” Tom asked Mart as he noticed his soaked clothes.
    “Oh, I swam across. I didn’t trust that ferry!”
    Everyone was full of high spirits after the tension of the trip, and when the luggage was brought in, Trixie said, “Honey, I’m dying to see the whole house. Mart, you ought to get into some dry clothes. Come on, everybody, let’s explore.”
    Celia led the way upstairs from the entrance hall and showed them the rooms they were to occupy. The girls were in a suite of two large rooms with a pink tiled bath between. Each of the rooms had twin beds covered with candy-striped spreads, thick cream-colored rugs, and attractively painted desks and dressers. Flowered chintz curtains hung at the big bay windows, which looked out over the water.
    “We’ll have to draw lots to see who sleeps where,” said Trixie.
    “Or we could play round robin and sleep in a different bed each night,” Di suggested.
    The boys went on to explore the large room on the third floor, where they were to sleep. It had a distinctly nautical atmosphere, for the windows, instead of being rectangular, were round like portholes. At the foot of each bed was an old sea chest with rope handles at the ends and the original owner’s name painted on the front. All the beds were covered with practical gray spreads decorated with large blue anchors, and instead of rugs, there were mats of woven rope. On the white walls were pictures of sailboats. Jim noticed a brass wind gauge just outside that was registering gale force winds.
    “Gee, this is great,” said Brian, throwing himself down on one of the cots. “Those rooms the girls have look like the Waldorf-Astorbilt. This looks like a place to be lived in.”
    He was interrupted by Jim, who suddenly asked, “Say, do you hear someone calling?” As they listened, they could hear through the roar of the wind what sounded like someone calling for help. The three boys ran to the windows, but could see no one, so they raced downstairs, calling out to the girls as they dashed past their rooms. They ran out through the front door, led by Jim. The girls followed.

An Emergency ● 3

    TRIX,YOU AND Di and Mart go around the back of the house, and the rest of us will go the other way. We’ll see if we can find who was calling,” said Jim when they all got out on the porch.
    “Okay, and if anyone needs help, just whistle,” Trixie said as they all dashed down the steps and off through the rain.
    The Moorings was set in the middle of a large piece of land fronting on the bay, which was just across the road. On either side of the house were well-kept lawns, now strewn with branches and leaves that had been torn from the trees by the wind. Flowering shrubs and shade trees had been planted along the sides of the house and near the high brick wall that surrounded the property. With Trixie in the lead, she and Mart and Di turned the corner of the house, then heard the cries more clearly. Rounding a large bush, they saw a man lying in the grass.
    “Oh, you poor thing!” cried Trixie as she knelt down beside the stranger. “What happened? Where are you hurt?” she asked, for it was obvious that he was in pain.
    “It’s my leg. I’d just finished fastening a loose shutter up on the second floor, when the wind caught me and the ladder, and the next thing I knew I was down here. I’m afraid it’s broken, because every time I try to get up or move, it hurts like the very dev—I mean, like the very blazes!” Despite his pain, he managed to smile up at Di and Mart, who were now anxiously bending over him. When Trixie realized this was an emergency, she gave a shrill Bob-White whistle, which brought the other three running from the opposite side of the house.
    “It’s his leg, Brian,” Trixie said hurriedly. “It may be broken.”
    Brian, whose ambition was to become a doctor, quickly sized up the situation and took charge. He asked Diana to run into the house for blankets. “We’ll need them to cover Mr.— What is your name, by the way?” he asked with a reassuring smile as he knelt down beside Trixie.
    “Elmer Thomas, son,” the man replied, “but everyone around here calls me El. I’m the caretaker. That is, I was the caretaker until a few minutes ago. I guess I won’t be much good for a while