“That’s a kerosene lamp,” the grocer told him. “They come in mighty handy where there isn’t any electricity.” He looked at the bags of groceries and frowned. “Surely you’re not aiming to carry all this clear out to Lambert’s?”
“There are four of us,” Henry reminded him.
“No matter,” he said. “I might find you a ride with somebody going that way.”
The children looked at each other, then Jessie smiled at him. “That’s very nice of you,” she said. “But we like walking. But we need to know the way to find Owl’s Glen.”
A little later, as they set off with a suitcase in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other, Henry spoke quietly. “Look back,” he said. “Isn’t that Mr. Jay watching us there by the post office?”
Jessie glanced back, nodding. “You’re right,” she said.
“Where?” Violet asked. But by the time she turned, he had turned away and disappeared down the side street.
“I don’t like it when people spy on us and I don’t know why,” Benny said.
“None of us do,” Jessie told him. “But we won’t have to wonder about him any more. Our boat will go back down the river to St. Louis this afternoon. He’ll be on it, and we’ll probably never see him again.”
“I do like mysteries, though,” Benny admitted.
The road to Cap Lambert’s was mostly downhill. Tall bushes and trees grew close to its side, shutting off the light. The road crossed a stream that was marked POSSUM CREEK. By the time they saw a log cabin up ahead, it was getting dark.
“Do you suppose that’s Cap’s place?” Jessie asked, stopping. The chimney of the low cabin sent a thin wisp of blue smoke into the sky. The giant pine trees cast such a deep shade that the cabin’s porch was in full darkness.
“I don’t hear any owls,” Benny said, setting down his suitcase and groceries. “But let’s stop and see anyway. My legs are tired of this road. It sure is dark here. Maybe the cabin is haunted.”
Jessie laughed. “Benny! What an imagination you have.”
As Henry unlocked the gate, a sudden screeching came from the porch. With a flash of red and a beating of wings, a brightly colored rooster flew squawking down the walk at them. Benny yipped with delight and ran to meet the rooster.
“Doodle,” Benny cried, kneeling, forgetting his fears.
The rooster stopped with his wings still spread. As he cocked his head at Benny, a gruff voice came from the porch. “Get back here, Doodle, you crazy rooster. What’s going on out there, anyway?”
Before anyone could answer, Benny had run up to the porch. “You must be Cap Lambert,” he said in a rush. “How did you get hurt, anyway? I hope you’re feeling better.”
“What is this?” the old man asked, peering at him from the shade. “Go away, whoever you are.”
The girls looked at each other with wide eyes as Henry stepped forward to join Benny. “We’re the Alden children,” he said.
The man on the porch was sitting in a high-backed chair. His bandaged leg was propped on a stool. A pair of crutches leaned against the wall. He looked terribly old in the dim light. His gray hair stuck out under his cap, and his full curling beard was gray, too. “I guess my message didn’t reach you. That’s a pity.”
“Oh, but it did!” Benny said. “We came anyway.”
The rooster had come back up the walk. He flapped up to sit on Cap’s shoulder and stare at the children.
“You must be Benny,” Cap Lambert said. “Your grandfather told me you were a talker.”
Benny nodded and turned to introduce Henry and the girls.
“You got my telegram and came on anyway?” Cap asked when he had nodded at each of the children. He was frowning a little. “What was that Alden thinking of?”
“It was our idea,” Jessie admitted. “We had to talk Grandfather into letting us come.”
“You should have saved your breath,” Cap Lambert grumbled. “I’ll have to turn you around and send you right back. There’s no one here to care for you, and it’s not safe around here anyway.”
“Oh, but we came to take care of you,” Violet said, telling him how they had convinced their grandfather. He listened, still frowning.
“You make a fair case,” he finally admitted. “I’ve been afraid to go out on the rough ground with this bad ankle. I called the mailman in to send that telegram for me and haven’t left the cabin. There was enough feed in the bins to take care of the chickens for a while, and the eggs can wait in the nests. My horse Pilot gets his water from a spring-fed trough and has plenty of hay. The garden and orchard just have to tend themselves.”
“We’re good with chickens,” Benny told him. “And horses, too. We learned out on Aunt Jane’s ranch.”
Cap looked at them and sighed. “There’s nothing to do tonight, I guess. You might as well take your things inside. We’ll worry about getting you back to town tomorrow. I suppose you’re hungry, too.”
“I’m always hungry,” Benny told him, grinning.
“But you don’t have to worry about food,” Jessie said quickly. “All of us like to cook, and we brought things for dinner. Henry and I will fix it while Benny and Violet help you inside.”
Jessie’s plan worked perfectly. By the time Cap was installed in his rocking chair by the hearth, the water was boiling for spaghetti, and tomato sauce was simmering on the back of the old wood stove. Violet found a red-and-white-checkered cloth for the round oak table and went outside to look for some flowers for a centerpiece. As she picked a bunch of wild daisies at the edge of the woods, she heard a kitten mew. She stood very still, looking for it, but she never did find it.
Cap Lambert sniffed the air and winked at Benny. “I believe I’m as hungry as you are, Benny,” he said. “I’ve been getting along on cold things I could rustle for myself.”
Even though the cabin needed a good cleaning, it looked cozy and friendly with the five of them gathered around the table.
“We were all sorry to hear you were hurt,” Henry said. “Tell us about your accident.”
Cap Lambert’s voice had lost its gruffness as they made friends. His color was better, too, after eating two heaping plates of hot spaghetti. But his voice sounded worried as he tried to explain. “That was the strangest thing ever. I know every inch of this place with my eyes shut. There never had been any deep hole out there by the garden before. But there I was with my foot down in it and my ankle twisted under me. It hurt too much to do anything but hobble back inside. By morning that ankle was as big around as my head, and I’ve been laid up ever since.”
“Are you sure it’s not broken?” Violet asked, looking at him with concern.
He nodded. “I can move my foot around. It’s just too sprained and swollen to walk on. That’s why I asked the mailman to send that telegram to your grandfather.”
“That’s not enough reason to keep us away,” Henry said. “We’ll have fun taking care of you and your place.”
“But I had other reasons besides that to keep you from coming,” Cap said, his voice getting lower and angry again. “Things just aren’t the same around here anymore. I feel too far from everybody, and strange things happen that I don’t understand, like a hole coming in the ground overnight.”
“You must have neighbors,” Jessie said.
“I used to,” he said. “But just this spring my neighbor Roger Hodges got killed in a car accident. There’re only his wife and children left over the hill, and I haven’t seen Susie or Ned since summer came.” He looked up at Jessie. “I miss those kids. Susie’s about your size, I’d guess, and Ned has just turned ten.”
“Like me,” Violet said, rising to clear the table. Then she paused and glanced over at Doodle, perched on the back of Cap’s chair. “Do you have a cat?” she asked Cap.
He looked up and shook his head. “Never in this life,” he said. “Why do you ask?”
She smiled. “I was sure I heard a kitten out in your yard. I couldn’t find it. But a bird flew out of
that same bush. It couldn’t have been a bird, could it?”
He laughed. “I’m not much on birds, but I’d say it was a strange bird that would make the noise of a cat.”
CHAPTER 4
Weird Noises, Strange Lights
Benny finished the last of the milk in his pink cup and handed it to Violet. He frowned, still thinking about Cap’s accident. “You might feel closer to people if you had your telephone fixed,” he said.
“I had that thing disconnected myself,” Cap told him crossly. “I was getting calls that didn’t make any sense. That phone would ring and when I’d answer it, no one would say anything. I knew there was somebody there because I could hear breathing.”
Henry and Jessie exchanged glances. Why would anyone call Cap up and then just breathe?
“I must say it’s nice to have your company tonight,” Cap went on. “But I’ll get you into the hotel in town tomorrow. You’ll be safe there until your grandfather comes.”
“We’ve had lots of adventures alone,” Benny protested.
Cap nodded, but his frown didn’t go away.
Cap was no housekeeper. Although the house had electricity and running water, it was otherwise very simple. Jessie finally found a dishpan and a drying rack. When Henry came to help her and Violet with the dishes, she shook her head. “Maybe you and Violet should check things outside. The chickens will be asleep, but you might check on the horse.”
Cap nodded. “I would appreciate your checking on Pilot,” he said. “He’s probably lonesome and would like a pan of oats.”
When Violet and Henry came back from the barn, the tiny kitchen was shining. “My, you are good workers,” Cap said. “Everything’s done, and it’s too early to go to bed.” Then he chuckled. “How about you make us up a big bowl of popcorn? We can take it out on the porch and get better acquainted.”
Benny clapped his hands. “I love popcorn,” he said.
“So does Doodle,” Cap told him. “That’s why I haven’t made any since I hurt my ankle. He can eat it faster than I can get it off the cob and into the pan. I’ll tell you where it is, and we’ll take this rascal outside until it’s done.”
The children had never seen popcorn still on the dry cob. Jessie shelled it while Henry heated the heavy pan on the stove. Within minutes the popcorn was exploding under the pot lid while Henry shook it to keep it from burning.
“I’ve never eaten popcorn this good,” Violet said when they were settled on the dark porch. “Where do you get it on a cob like this?”
Cap’s laugh was warm and rich. “I grow it right out there in my own garden.”
“I love gardening,” Jessie said. “Tomorrow I’ll go see if it needs weeding.”
The crickets sang in the darkness as Cap told them about his life as a riverboat pilot. The children told Cap about their friend from the boat, Paul Edwards. He nodded. “There’re a million and one stories about that river to keep a writer going,” he said. “I believe I recognize that name.”
Benny, leaning against Jessie on the steps, fell asleep, dropping his bowl and spilling the last kernels of corn.
“Doodle is dead asleep for the night,” Cap laughed, “or he’d be after that corn in a minute. Let’s turn in. This night has been a rare treat for me. Who would have thought you kids could be such a big help?”
Doodle had his head under one wing on Cap’s shoulder.
“Where does Doodle sleep?” Violet asked.
Cap looked a little embarrassed. “He has a cage in my room. I’ve kept him there since I was hurt. While the foxes can’t get into the chicken yard if the gate is closed, the hawks can fly in. I was afraid he might get carried off. If I cover his cage, he doesn’t crow until I get up.”
Cap’s small cabin was cozy. The living room with its giant fireplace, Cap’s bedroom, and the kitchen formed the main part of the house. The children were to sleep on the screened porch that ran clear across the back. Jessie and Violet had narrow but comfortable cots at one end, with Henry’s and Benny’s at the other.
As they climbed into their cots, Violet asked Jessie, “Do you think he means to let us stay?”
Jessie laughed softly. “We just need to be so helpful that he can’t spare us. Let’s see who can do the most useful things.”
“And who can solve the mystery, too,” Benny said. “Holes just don’t dig themselves, you know.”
“You’re right,” Henry said. “Here we were hoping for one mystery and we get a whole bunch of them. Telephones don’t ring and breathe without someone else on the line, either.”
“But who would do a thing like that?” Jessie asked.
“And why would they want to?” Violet added. “Well, we need to find a whole lot of things if we’re going to help Cap.” Violet dropped her head on her pillow. “For that, I need a good night’s sleep.”
Once the lights were out, Jessie fell asleep almost instantly along with the others. When the strange sound wakened her, she sat up, startled. Violet stirred and whispered something in her sleep, but the boys slept on.
With her quilt around her shoulders, Jessie went to the window to stare out into the woods. The barn was a larger shadow against the uneven darkness beyond. She listened to the noisy darkness, the droning of insects, and the thumping of frogs. The sound that had wakened her was different, but more like a whistle than a birdcall. She had never heard a birdcall anything like that.
She was still trying to figure out what it could have been when she saw the light moving back among the trees. Could someone be out there with a flashlight? She saw it shine weakly, then disappear to a glow again a few yards away. It was always at the same height. She tiptoed to Henry’s side. He woke up at her touch and whispered, “What’s wrong?”
Jessie signaled him to silence and pointed to the woods. He sat up and stared out as she had done. When the light appeared, he caught her arm, whispering, “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Finally the light disappeared behind the barn.
“That’s weird,” Henry whispered. “I can’t figure out how you could make a light move like that unless someone was carrying it.”
“That makes it scary,” Jessie said. “Nobody has any business out there at night.”
“Maybe Cap would know what it was,” Henry said thoughtfully.
Jessie shook her head. “I don’t think we should say anything about it. He’s already too nervous. Remember how he looked when he told us about hurting himself — in a hole that hadn’t been there before? And those spooky telephone calls? If he thought any more strange things were going on, I’m sure he’d make us go stay in town.”
“You’re probably right,” Henry agreed. “Tomorrow we’ll all go explore out there. We’re sure to find some clues.”
CHAPTER 5
Will-o’-the-Wisp
When Jessie woke up again, she heard a lot of different sounds. The horse whinnied in the barn as Henry talked to it. She heard the chickens fussing in their yard, and a noise like a kitten crying “Mew” over and over. Violet was in the kitchen putting on water to make coffee for Cap.
“What a good idea,” Jessie told her. “Cap probably wants coffee first thing, just like Grandfather does. Oh, and I wanted to tell you. I heard a kitten cry, too.”
“We’ll keep watching for it,” Violet said.
Jessie nodded in agreement. “Now, what can we cook?”
“I found a ham bone in the refrigerator,” Violet told her. “I’ve cut off a bowlful of little pieces. If there are eggs out there, we could have an omelet with toast and jam.”
“Wonderful!” Jessie said. “There’s a wire basket hanging on the porch. I’ll go look for eggs.”
She found eggs in every nest, altogether a dozen plus two. Henry, coming from the barn, opened the back door for her to carry them inside.
The ham sizzling in the skillet and the rich coffee smell brought Cap swinging out of his room on his crutches. Doodle rode on his left shoulder. “I’ve never smelled an
ything as good as this morning,” he said, peering at the ham before he sat down. “Was there really that much meat on that bone?”
“Sure was,” Violet told him. “With enough left over for soup.” She smiled at him. As she spoke, she whipped six eggs in a bowl with a fork, then added them to the ham.
“I hope that Susie and little Ned are getting on as well as you do,” Cap said. “They have their mother, at least.”
“Don’t they ever come over to see you?” Benny asked.
“Not these past months,” Cap told him. “They must be visiting grandparents off somewhere. I miss them, too.”
The omelet had been divided up and was half eaten when Benny looked at Cap. “What was that funny light I saw out in the woods last night?” he asked.
“Lightning bugs?” Cap asked.
Jessie and Henry exchanged glances. So much for keeping the strange lights a secret from Cap!
“It didn’t dance. It flickered,” Benny said.
Cap’s face darkened, and his voice sounded doubtful. “There’s such a thing as a will-o’-the-wisp,” he said. “They say it flickers in marshy places.”
“Will-o’-the-wisp!” Violet cried. “I love that name.”
Cap shook his head, looking very grumpy. “If you’re seeing such strange lights as that, I don’t want you stepping out of this house after dark. You hear?”
The children nodded and went back to their breakfast. But Jessie caught Henry’s eye. Any mention of strange things upset Cap. She was sorry Benny had seen the light. They needed to solve these strange little mysteries fast so the old man’s mind could be put at ease.
When the breakfast dishes were done, the four children told Cap that they wanted to explore his little farm. The garden was just beyond the barn with the orchard on the far side of that. Suddenly Henry, who was still prowling around the barn, called to the others. “Come look,” he said. “I want you to see something.”