The big bus bumped off the highway and stopped in front of the bus station. Benny, who was sitting next to the window, stared out. Suddenly he poked Henry.
“Wake up, Henry!” Benny said excitedly. “Something’s going on at the bus station.”
“What? Where?” asked Henry. Now he was wide awake and leaning forward to look out of the window, too.
Something was going on, but it was hard to tell what it was.
Three men with lunch boxes were waiting for the bus. Someone had given each of them a pink paper.
Then the Aldens saw who was passing out the papers. The two boys, Jud and Troy, were waving more papers and saying something.
The Aldens could not hear because the bus windows were closed. But they could guess the boys wanted the men to read the papers.
Suddenly everyone—the men and the boys— looked around behind them.
The door of a large car opened and out stepped a man who was plainly very angry. He did not turn off his motor or shut the door. Instead he made a quick rush at Jud and Troy.
The boys were startled. The man grabbed the papers from the boys’ hands. He tore the sheets in half and threw them on the ground.
Everyone gasped.
While the men waiting for the bus edged out of the way and the people on the bus watched, something strange happened.
The man pointed at his car and plainly said “Get in!” to the boys. He pushed them in front of him and into the back seat of the car. He slammed the door, jumped in himself, and with a screech of tires pulled away from the bus station.
No one had had time to do a thing.
“Well!” said Benny. “What’s going on?”
Violet leaned forward and whispered, “You—you don’t think the boys were kidnapped, do you? It all happened so fast.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Henry answered. “The two boys seemed to know the man.”
Now Benny noticed Frank standing on the bus station steps, his hands on his hips. He looked as surprised as everyone else. But he did not rush to help Jud or Troy. Like the men, he just watched.
The bus driver was impatient. He called out, “All aboard! Let’s go. I’m late already.” The men with their lunch boxes and sheets of paper got on, not saying a word.
The driver released the brake, turned the bus, and was out on the highway. Looking back, Benny just had time to see Frank pick up the torn papers.
All kinds of questions buzzed around in Benny’s head and Henry’s too. Benny felt that if he could just see one of those papers, he might find some answers.
The three men who had just gotten on the bus were sitting in the back. Benny couldn’t call out to them. He couldn’t even turn around enough to see if the men were reading the pink papers.
“Who was that man?” Henry asked Benny. “I feel sure I’ve seen him.”
“Me, too,” Benny said. “Now where? Greenfield? No, I don’t think so.”
The boys said nothing for a minute, and then Benny said, “Wait, I know! It was at the hobby fair this afternoon. How could I have been so stupid? That was Mr. Pickett. Mr. Pickett of the paint factory. I’m sure of it!”
“You’re right, you’re absolutely right,” Henry exclaimed. “Of course it was Mr. Pickett. His factory is near the bus station. He must turn off the highway there.”
“Or was he coming to see Frank?” Benny suggested.
“I don’t know,” Henry answered. “There was that letter he sent Frank . . .”
“He was mad at Jud and Troy. That’s sure,” Benny said thoughtfully. “Wow! I wouldn’t want someone to come after me that way!”
Henry nodded. “You know, Ben, there is something funny going on. The boys went with him. They didn’t try to escape or run away.”
“That’s right,” Benny agreed. “They looked mad, too. And surprised.”
“Well, they couldn’t have been too surprised,” Henry said. “After all, they did wave those signs against the paint factory in front of Mr. Pickett at the hobby fair. They knew they made him mad then. They didn’t seem to care too much if they did make him mad.”
“There’s something else I don’t understand,” Benny said after a moment. “Frank just watched. He didn’t help the boys. And he didn’t help Mr. Pickett. Wouldn’t you think he’d be on one side or the other?”
“You’re right, Benny,” said Henry. “Nobody did a thing. That’s something to think about.”
The bus rolled along and Benny and Henry stared out of the window. They were quiet. Benny was thinking again about the sheets of paper being passed out. If he could just get one . . .
“East Greenfield,” the bus driver announced. The three men who had gotten on the bus at Plainville Junction came forward.
“Another day gone,” the driver said as he opened the bus door. “Well, see you tomorrow. Take care now.”
“So long,” the men said. One of them waved.
Benny looked at Henry. “You know, those men must work at Pickett’s factory. I never thought of that before.”
“Sure,” Henry agreed. “They must catch this bus home from work every day. The driver knows them.”
“I wonder what they thought about how Mr. Pickett acted,” Benny said. Then he felt a gentle touch on his sleeve.
It was Violet. She pushed a printed paper around the back of his seat so that no one else would notice.
“One of the men who rode on the bus threw this down as he got ready to get off,” Violet whispered.
The paper was folded over several times. Benny opened it and read “Town Meeting.”
Underneath there was a message printed by hand. It read: “Come and save the river. It is not too late. You can help.”
“So!” Benny exclaimed. “Jud and Troy don’t give up. They want Mr. Pickett’s workers to vote against him at the town meeting. And Mr. Pickett is their boss. Vote against your own boss. How about that!”
“It looks that way,” Henry said. “I’d like to know what’s going on now. Why did Mr. Pickett push the boys into his car? I suppose he tried to scare them some way.”
“Probably turned them over to their parents,” Benny said. “I’ll bet there was trouble.”
“I don’t think they’ll have a chance to go to the town meeting tomorrow,” Henry said.
“Not a chance,” Benny agreed.
“Greenfield!” the driver called out. The Aldens jumped down from the bus, happy to get home.
“Dinner!” exclaimed Benny. “Am I starved! Let’s go!”
When he undressed for bed that night, Benny thought about Jud and Troy and all that had happened on this one day.
“I wonder if we’ll read in the newspaper what happened at the town meeting,” he said to himself. “I’d like to know what Mr. Pickett really did with Jud and Troy. Too bad—perhaps I’ll never know.”
As he was falling asleep, Benny thought, “I’d just like to know how it all comes out. I’ll have to think about it . . . tomorrow.” But he was too sleepy to go on.
CHAPTER 7
The Snooper
The next morning Benny lay in bed wondering what excuse he could give to get back to the bus station. He couldn’t think of anything.
He wondered what had happened to Jud and Troy after Mr. Pickett had driven off with them. Would they get to the town meeting? What were they planning to do?
Benny wondered about Frank, too. Frank had said someone was too big for him to fight. What did that mean? He was a chemist. Maybe he had a new kind of paint he wanted Mr. Pickett to make.
There was a lot going on that Benny did not understand. He wanted to listen, to ask questions, maybe to help.
Then Benny thought, “Our raincoats! We left our raincoats at the bus station. Hooray!”
He dressed quickly for breakfast. But to his surprise he found everyone dressed and eating breakfast, too.
Benny began, “Henry, guess what? We forgot—”
“Our raincoats,” finished Henry. “We were just talking about that. W
e’ll have to go back and get them.”
“We should call Frank before we start off,” Jessie suggested. “We have to be sure that our raincoats are still at the bus station.”
The telephone lines had been repaired after the big storm. Soon Benny was speaking to Frank on the telephone.
“Yes,” Frank told him. The raincoats were there. He was wondering if he should mail them to the Aldens.
“Oh, no,” Benny said. “That’s too much trouble. My big brother Henry can drive over today and get them. Will this morning be all right?”
To Benny’s surprise, Frank didn’t like that idea at all. He said he had planned to be away from the station for two hours.
“I’m sorry,” Benny said. He didn’t want Frank to be angry with the Aldens. “We don’t want to be any bother. We can come later and get our raincoats.”
This time Frank agreed.
Benny hung up the telephone and turned around to the others. He said, “I don’t understand Frank at all. You’d think he’d be glad to have us get the raincoats. I don’t think he wants us to come at all. He sounds as if—as if he’s hiding something. I wonder what’s going on.”
“Perhaps he wants to go fishing,” Jessie suggested. “I don’t think the bus station keeps him very busy.”
Benny shook his head. “Why wouldn’t he say he’s going fishing? There’s nothing wrong with that. We would understand.”
Henry had been thinking. He said, “There is that big town meeting about the paint factory tonight. I wonder if Frank plans to go.”
“Remember how we saw Mr. Pickett at the bus station last night,” Benny said. “Maybe he came to see Frank. It was an accident he caught the boys passing out those papers.”
“Frank doesn’t trust those boys,” Jessie said. “He likes to keep his own secrets.”
Benny agreed. “You remember how he asked what in the world we were doing when he came back after the storm and saw the chair under the shelf. He thought we were fussing around with his things. Really, we were wrong. We had no right to look at Frank’s things, even if we didn’t touch them.”
“Do you think those chemistry books have anything to do with this mystery?” asked Jessie.
“Well, we won’t find out what’s going on while we sit here,” Henry said. “We’ve never even seen Mr. Pickett’s paint factory. Maybe we should visit it and then get our raincoats from Frank.”
“Good idea,” said Benny. “Let’s go.”
It was a fine summer day. The storm of yesterday seemed like a bad dream. The Aldens were glad to have an excuse to drive out in the country and visit the bus station again.
“I’m glad we decided to do something,” Violet said. “I can’t stay at home on a day like this.”
“Neither can I,” said Benny, laughing.
Henry did not follow the road the bus took to Plainville Junction. He chose a back road that crossed the red bridge near the bus station.
“It is a lovely river,” Jessie said. “Grandfather called this country empty. But it isn’t really. Remember Jud and Troy’s wildlife exhibit at the fair? I never knew so many kinds of plants and animals could be found in such a little space.”
Suddenly they noticed a flight of wild ducks overhead. The ducks all dropped down into the river and dived to the bottom to find food. However, they came up right away, flapped their wet wings, and flew up the river, flying very low.
“Honk! Honk!” they cried.
Jessie said, “Look at that! The river is spoiled. The ducks can’t find food. I hope the chemicals won’t hurt them.”
“I don’t think they stayed long enough,” said Henry. “Just look at that triangle of ducks. They always follow the leader.”
All the ducks except the leader were honking. Then all at once they stopped and the leader honked all alone. “Honk! Honk! Honk!”
Benny laughed and said, “The leader keeps saying, ‘Well, if you all want to pass, go on!’ ”
Henry looked up the road toward the bus station. He slowed down suddenly. He saw a bright-colored pickup truck parked beside the road near the station. He could just make out the words “Pickett’s Perfect Paints” on the back of the truck.
Benny saw the truck, too. “Looks as if Frank has company,” he said. “Do you think that’s why he didn’t want us to come?”
“I don’t know,” Henry said. “Might be. I’ll drive past the station slowly. Let’s see if it looks closed.”
Violet could see the bus station better than the others.
“There’s a card in the window,” Violet reported. “It says ‘Buy tickets on bus.’ I think the station is closed.”
“That’s funny,” Benny said. “I’m sure I saw somebody going around the station.”
“I’ll park the car where it can’t be seen from the station,” Henry said. “Then we’ll walk back and take a look around.”
“Maybe someone’s up to some mischief,” Benny said. He thought about the weeds and the chemistry books. Did they have something to do with the paint factory? Or were they for something else? Perhaps someone from the paint factory wanted to find out.
The big trees along the road hid the Aldens as they walked toward the bus station. No one talked. They didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps nothing at all was going on.
“Look!” whispered Benny, and he pulled Jessie out of sight behind a tree.
A man who moved like a gray shadow came around the small building. When the Aldens could see him better, they found he was wearing gray coveralls. It was a work uniform of some sort. A big paint can was stitched on the back of the suit.
Yes, it had to be somebody from the paint factory, Benny decided. Then he had an idea. Could it be Mr. Pickett dressed up as a worker? What could he want?
The man stood on tiptoe and looked in the window at the side. He knocked gently against the glass. Was he planning to break it?
The stranger walked around to the front door. He tried to open it. The door was locked. He pushed. Then he used his shoulder, but the door did not open.
The Aldens watched from behind the trees. Suddenly the man seemed to give up. He turned around and sat down on the doorstep.
“What now?” Benny whispered.
The man felt in a pocket. He pulled out a piece of paper. Then he felt in other pockets until he found a pencil. He sat still for a moment, then he began to write.
CHAPTER 8
Tricked Twice
Not one of the Aldens moved. They watched the man on the bus station steps. What was he going to do?
Henry motioned to Jessie and Violet. He wanted them to stay where they were. He whispered to Benny, “Come with me.”
Benny nodded and tiptoed behind Henry. The girls stayed where they were, out of sight.
Henry led Benny back toward their station wagon. He said in a low voice, “Let’s see if we can find out what that man wants. If he’s up to some harm, maybe we can learn what it is and tell Frank.”
“If there’s a good reason for his actions, then we won’t have to worry,” Benny said.
“Here’s my idea,” Henry went on. “We’ll walk toward the bus station as if we want to catch a bus. When we get near the man, say something to me like, ‘I thought we’d never find this bus station.’ You know, stuff like that.”
“OK,” Benny said. “Let’s go. I hope he hasn’t gone.”
“I’m sure he hasn’t. We’d hear the truck start,” Henry said.
The boys walked along quickly. They tried to act as if they were not doing anything unusual.
As they came near the bus station they saw the man on the steps, stooping down near the door. They couldn’t tell what he was doing.
Benny said loudly, “Am I glad to see the bus station! My feet hurt.”
Jessie, hidden behind a tree, nearly laughed aloud.
“I hope we haven’t missed the bus,” Henry said.
“You haven’t,” said the man on the steps, and Benny jumped.
“You’re—you’re s
ure?” he asked.
“Naw, you haven’t missed it,” the man said. “The fellow who keeps this station has it all closed up. Nobody at all around.”
Henry said, “But we have to buy tickets.”
“Read the sign,” the man said. “You buy your tickets on the bus. Where you want to go?”
“Greenfield,” Benny said quickly.
“You got a long wait. No bus until this afternoon. You been visiting around here?”
Benny swallowed. He was supposed to be asking the questions, not answering them. He looked over at Henry.
“We were visiting Jud and Troy,” Henry said. Those were the only names he knew of anyone nearby.
“Down on the river? What did their dad do to them after they passed out those papers last night?”
Henry had to think fast. He didn’t know what had happened to the boys. So he just said, “They got in trouble, all right. Did you come to the bus station for something?”
The man shrugged. “I told the foreman at the plant it wouldn’t do any good. But he wanted me to come to see if Frank was around. One of the machines broke and we need a new part to fix it. The part was supposed to come on the bus yesterday. You can send packages on the bus, you know. Faster than the mail.”
“Did Frank have the package?” Henry asked.
“How do I know? Frank isn’t here. I just pushed a note under the door. I’ll come back later for it. Got to get back to work now. Tell Frank hello for me— if you see him.”
“For you?” Henry asked.
“Yeah, tell him Bill was here. Have a good wait.”
The workman walked down the steps and headed for the truck.
When the truck was out of sight Henry and Benny began to laugh.
“You never had a chance to find out a thing,” Henry told Benny. “Bill was asking all the questions.”
Jessie and Violet came running up. “What was going on?” asked Jessie. “Do you think the man was snooping around?”
“He wanted a package that came on the bus,” Benny said. “That was all. I guess he thought he’d take it if he could get in. It’s something to fix some machinery at the paint factory.”