The Red Trailer Mystery

and we’re back safely, she’ll understand why we had to do it without telling her."
    "I know," Trixie agreed. "She’s an awfully good sport. I was terrified back at the table that she’d start the troopers looking for Joeanne."
    "Miss Trask knows we want to find her when we find Jim," Honey went on. "But if we don’t find one or both of them by tomorrow, she’ll have to notify Mr. Rainsford as well as the police."
    "We’ve got to find one of them this evening," Trixie said grimly. Then she chuckled. "You’re always calling yourself a fraidycat, but I notice you don’t seem at all scared at the idea of going into the woods after dark tonight."
    Honey’s hazel eyes widened in surprise."Of course not! It’ll be as light as day with that big moon shining. It’s still almost as bright as it was last Wednesday when you and I and Jim went for a moonlight ride. Remember?"
    "I sure do," Trixie said. "And I haven’t forgotten how Reddy kept delaying our start Oh, golly," she interrupted herself. "That reminds me. Where are those dogs now?"
    Miss Trask joined them as they stopped by the swimming pool. "You girls look tired," she said. "I’ll run along to the movie and let you topple into bed. You must go to sleep early if you want to look for Jim the first thing tomorrow morning."
    She smiled and hurried past them on her way to the parking lot.
    "Those dogs," Honey groaned. "I can’t remember now whether or not they were with us when we found Jimmy Crow’s towel rack. Can you?"
    Trixie thought for a minute. "Reddy was. I was so disappointed and turned around to go home so suddenly I almost tripped over him."
    "That’s right," Honey went on, "and I do remember now. He was with us when we got back to the trailer. He barged by us when we opened the door and jumped up on the couch where Miss Trask was reading. She pushed him down and brushed off his muddy paw prints. I just took it for granted that Bud was with us, too."
    They hurried to the Swan, and, sure enough, Reddy was there, looking bored and hungry. But there was no sign of the little black cocker spaniel puppy.
    "We’re perfectly awful, Honey," Trixie said as she opened a can of dog food. "We don’t deserve to have pets if we can’t take better care of them. The water in their pan hasn’t been emptied and refilled for ages, I’ll bet."
    "I did it this morning," Honey said quickly. "That’s what I was doing when Miss Trask burned herself. Oh, dear, Trixie, where do you suppose Bud is?"
    Trixie grinned suddenly. "At least, we have a good excuse now to go back to the woods across the road. He must be around there. Maybe his sense of direction is no better than ours. He’s nothing but a puppy, so when he got tired of looking for us, he may have collapsed under a tree and gone to sleep."
    "I hope so," Honey said as she followed Trixie out of the Swan, carefully shutting Reddy inside. "The first thing I’m going to do when we get back home is to teach him to heel."
    Trixie laughed. "You’d better first train him to come when called. He’s as bad as Reddy, who only comes if he hasn’t anything better to do."
    "It seems to me," Honey complained as they hurried down the Autoville driveway, "that we never have less than three things to look for at the same time. Wouldn’t it be heavenly if Bud met Jim in the woods and we found them both at the camp?"
    "Bud doesn’t know Jim," Trixie objected. "Reddy does, but you always shut Bud inside die house when we went up to the Mansion."
    "Bud knows Joeanne," Honey pointed out. "He’s spent a whole morning in the red trailer. Maybe he’s asleep in the tent with her right now."
    "It’s too hot and too early for anyone to be asleep," Trixie said. "The movies started at eight, so it’s only a little after that now."
    They walked along in silence until they came to the Pine Hollow road. As they rounded the bend, they saw that Mr. Currier’s automobile was no longer there. Then they cut through the woods.
    With the aid of their flashlight and the bright moonlight, they easily followed the path, and in a short while they arrived at the little camp in the clearing. There was no sign of life, and Bud did not appear in answer to their shouts and whistles.
    "The ashes are cold," Trixie said, patting the remnants of the fire between the two forked sticks. "Nobody has been cooking here today."
    Honey lifted the mosquito-net flap to the tent. "Everything is exactly as we left it," she sighed. "Even that wrinkle in the