The Mystery on the Mississippi

silence. In the marsh around them, a fish occasionally jumped and fell back into the water, the splash echoing and reechoing.
    Gradually, on shore, animals that had been frightened by the presence of Lontard and the Aguileras took courage again from the silence and continued their stealthy hunt for food, making small, unfamiliar noises. Muskrats swished through the grasses, hunting clams, cracking them with a snap, and sucking their rubbery flesh. The peeping of small tree frogs rose shrilly above the bass arrumph of bullfrogs.
    Trixie, listening, struggled mightily at the cords that held her. She rolled over and pushed her back against Honey, hoping that maybe their captors had left at least one of her friend’s fingers free to work at the knots.
    Honey seemed to sense her intent, but if her hands were not as closely bound as Trixie’s, they were so numbed by the pressure of the cord that they were useless.
    Back in her throat, Honey made strange bleating noises, but if they meant anything, Trixie could not interpret them. She answered, though, with glugging moans, for any human sound in the great black void gave her courage.
    From up the river, a towboat whistled mournfully, and far off, on the Illinois side of the river, another boat answered. As it slowly made its way downriver, the boat threw its searchlight from shore to shore. Surely they'll see this old wreck , Trixie thought. But what good will it do us? It's probably been rotting here for nearly a hundred years.
    Gradually the light from the towboat disappeared, and the floor under the girls rocked in the wake of boat and barges.
    If only I could talk to Honey! Trixie thought. If only I could tell her why I couldn’t tell Lontard where the papers are. I know she thinks I should have told. She doesn't realize that I was trying to save us from sure death, once he knew the authorities were on his track. On his track? Trixie’s heart quickened. Could the police possibly know about the Aguileras? Know the whereabouts of Lontard? If they did, perhaps.... No, the time was too short now for any help to come. When Lontard had searched their room in the motel without finding the papers, he would return immediately, dispose of both of them in some frightful way, and then be off.
    Frantically Trixie’s mind explored every possible source of hope—and ended in a blind alley. There seemed nothing to do but accept, numbly, the fate that seemed inevitable.
    In the darkness that followed the passing of the towboat, Trixie heard again the furtive rustling of animals and birds outside. Slowly, too, she became aware of sounds nearer to her. She raised her head. In the corner of the old room, she could see bright pinpoints of eyes that glittered in the faint moonlight. Then she heard the scurry of little feet and the squeaks of hurrying mice. She bumped her body to frighten them away. Honey must not know they were there. She was so afraid of mice. Slowly, hopelessly, she realized how unimportant this was, in the face of the more horrible things they now had to fear.
    The mice, frightened by her movements, soon disappeared. Stillness came again, absolute stillness. A cloud passed over the moon and blackness surrounded Trixie and Honey. Finally, exhausted emotionally and physically, the two girls slept.

A Key ● 16

    DAYLIGHT WAS REACHING through the shattered windows of the pilothouse when Trixie awakened with a start. Honey, close to her, didn’t move.
    Trixie had been dreaming—a horrible nightmare. She was glad to awaken and find her dream just a dream. Then reality swept over her, and she realized that no nightmare could be worse than the thing that was actually happening to her and Honey.
    When she tried to move, her body would not respond. The tight bonds had slowed her circulation, numbing her arms and legs. I must move , she thought, and I must move Honey. Summoning all her strength, she threw her body feebly against Honey’s. Her friend stirred, awakened, realized where she was, and moved her body closer to Trixie.
    Trixie was surprised that Lontard and his accomplices had not yet returned. She well knew that the time would soon come when they would know the fate that was in store for them. Her first waking thoughts were prayers for help.
    The sun was just coming up. There was no sound from the shore except the stirring of birds in their nests. There was no sound on the river. Towboats must have tied up for the night, and fishing boats had not yet