The Red Trailer Mystery

such."
    Trixie moved toward the door as a loud clap of thunder broke the outside stillness. "Well, I’m glad you’ll save the beans, after all," she broke in when Mrs. Smith stopped for breath. "Thanks a lot for the wonderful tea."
    "Come again soon," Mrs. Smith called to them from the back steps as Honey and Trixie hurriedly mounted their horses.
    They waved good-bye and trotted toward the main road as the thunderclaps continued.
    "It’s going to rain all the rest of the day," Honey moaned. "Now we can’t look for Jim or the abandoned barn or anything."
    "Yes, we can," Trixie said grimly. "We’ve got to, between showers. Well wait at the riding academy until this storm blows over and then start out again. It’s the kind of a day when the sun shines half the time. See? It’s struggling to come out from behind those clouds now."
    Sure enough, it poured for about fifteen minutes after the girls returned their horses, and then the rain stopped as abruptly as it had begun.
    "It’s awfully hot and muggy," Honey complained. "Let’s not walk far. Can’t we go looking for the barn tomorrow?"
    "We can, but we won t," Trixie said firmly. "I have a feeling that barn is not far from where we saw the bicycle tracks and the blue jeans."
    "You must be crazy," Honey said wearily. "It’s in exactly the opposite direction. At least the old orchard is."
    Trixie shook her head. "While Mrs. Smith was going on and on about her new hired help, I was trying to get my bearings, and now I’ve a nice little map in my mind."
    Honey sniffed, but Trixie ignored her. "In the first place," she began, "we know that three big routes converge just north of the Smith farm. It stands to reason that one of them forms the northwest boundary line of the Smith property. It also stands to reason that since they sell their vegetables, there must be a road from the garden to that main highway. It would be silly to drag the stuff all the way out to this road, when the garden is such a short distance from the other route."
    "That makes sense," Honey admitted. "But what are you driving at?"
    "It must have been the road from the main highway to the garden that the Darnell family got stuck in during the rain on Sunday. They were probably riding along as carefree as could be, thinking that the man who owns the Robin was still away from home. Then the news came over the radio that he had returned unexpectedly and reported the theft to the police. What would you do in that case?" Trixie demanded.
    "Get off the main roads just as soon as possible," Honey said.
    Trixie nodded. "That’s just what they did, and the next thing they knew they were stuck in the mud on the Smith property."
    "I follow you closely," Honey agreed, "but what’s that got to do with the abandoned barn?"
    "Follow me even more closely from now on," Trixie said and grinned. "Follow that road the Darnells got stuck on down to the old orchard. After it passes the vegetable garden, you probably wouldn’t know it was a road, since it may not have been used after those old apple trees stopped bearing six years ago."
    "Oh," Honey gasped, "then that is the old road Jeff and his bushy-haired friend were talking about, and it must go right on down from the orchard to the abandoned barn."
    "It has to," Trixie said, "since they were planning to drive the van along it. It’s a wonder the van didn’t get stuck in the mud, too, but heavy as it is, it must be much easier to manage than a trailer."
    They had walked about half a mile through the fields by this time, and Honey interrupted suddenly with, "Where are you taking me? Trixie Belden, if we get lost again, I’ll lie right down and die!"
    "We should be almost there," Trixie said, laughing. "But first I want to ask you a question. If that old barn is so well hidden that Mrs. Smith doesn’t even know about it, how on earth did Jeff's foxy friend discover it?"
    Honey looked at her blankly. "I’ll have to give up without even trying," she admitted.
    "Simple," Trixie said with a grin. "He must have seen it from the clearing where they hid the van before we happened upon it. The driver’s seat is so high he could look right over the trees and down into the hollow."
    "Then why," Honey demanded, "did they have to drive that van miles out of the way and through the Smith property to get to the barn?"
    "Because," Trixie explained smugly, "there is no other way of getting to it except on foot. You couldn’t drive even a light truck through these