Mandie Collection, The: 4 (56 page)

“Oh, Jonathan, it looks like you will be able to visit your aunt and uncle in Paris after all,” Mandie said excitedly.

During their European travels Senator Morton had tried to contact Jonathan’s relatives, where the boy wanted to stay for a while. His father was always away somewhere tending to his vast business and was always leaving Jonathan in boarding schools in various countries. Jonathan was tired of all this and was hoping his father would permit him to stay in Paris with the aunt and uncle who worked for a branch of an American newspaper.

“Don’t celebrate yet,” Jonathan said, frowning. “My father has to give permission, remember? And Senator Morton hasn’t heard from him yet.”

“I think your father will allow you to stay with your relatives, Jonathan,” Celia said.

“If we can get a chance we’ll talk him into it,” Mandie said, laughing. And then she looked at the boy and asked, “Or would you rather go home to New York and live there, in your own house?”

Jonathan looked at the floor, shuffled his feet, and replied, “If that could be possible. I mean, if my father would stay home instead of traveling all over the world all the time. But even then I’d still like to stay with my aunt and uncle until time for school to start. Then I could go home to New York.”

The manager had stood behind the counter, watching and listening, and now he said, “If you please. I must hold the message for your Honorable Morton.”

“Oh, yes, sir,” Jonathan said, handing the paper back to the man. “Thank you for letting me read it.”

The manager nodded, smiled, and said, “You will please inform your Honorable Morton that the message awaits him?”

“Yes, sir, I will,” Jonathan told him.

The three walked across the huge room to stand by the front door as the crowd still moved about the hotel.

“Oh, I wish Uncle Ned would hurry up and get into town,” Mandie said as she watched the people. “I thought he would have been here before now.”

“You think he could help us find that man, don’t you?” Jonathan asked.

“I know he could. After all, he’s full-blooded Cherokee, and the

Cherokees are experts at finding people or things,” Mandie said. “He always knows what to do when I get involved in something.”

“Well, are we going to stand here and waste all that precious time we have before your grandmother and the senator come back?” Jonathan said, his lips turned up in a mischievous grin.

“I was thinking about that, but I haven’t decided what we ought to do next,” Mandie replied, holding on to Snowball as he squirmed to get down. “We could go walk on the streets and watch out for that man with the painting, or we could go back down to the old boat where the bearded man is.”

“The bearded man whose name is Alex. Remember the other man called him Alex?” Jonathan reminded her.

“He called him that, but if he’s a criminal that may not be his real name,” Mandie replied.

“And the man with the painting y’all talk about, he wouldn’t still be carrying around a painting with him, I’m sure,” Celia said.

“No. If he stole it he’d probably hide it somewhere,” Mandie agreed. “But I know what he looks like.”

“We look sorta dumb just standing here by the door. Why don’t we go walk outside?” Jonathan suggested as various people looked at them as they passed by.

“And watch for that man,” Mandie said, leading the way through the doorway into the street.

The three stopped outside to decide where to walk.

“We’ve been down to the wharf several times. Why don’t we go the other way?” Jonathan suggested.

“No, no, no!” Mandie said excitedly, quickly walking toward the wharf. “There goes that man!” She pointed ahead through the crowd as she held on to Snowball and lifted her long skirt to hurry after the man.

Jonathan and Celia looked in the direction she pointed and hastened after her.

Mandie kept watching for a glimpse of the man as she hurried past the people strolling on the avenue. He was evidently in an awfully big hurry the way he was pushing between people. Jonathan got ahead of Mandie and called back to her and Celia, “Come on!”

“No, Jonathan! We don’t want him to see us. We just want to see
where he’s going,” Mandie told him as she grasped his coattail to slow him down.

“All right, why didn’t you say so?” Jonathan said, pulling his coat from her hand as she came alongside him. Celia was close behind.

“And here you’re going to be a detective!” Mandie teased. “If he sees us he’ll disappear again.”

The short dark man ahead that Mandie had decided was the one they had seen with the painting suddenly slowed his steps and began browsing in the shop windows along the way.

“I wonder what changed his mind about hurrying,” Mandie said to her friends as they stayed a short distance behind him.

As she spoke the man suddenly began almost running. He turned into a nearby alley. Mandie realized it was the same place they had lost him the day before. She called “Come on!” to her friends as she ran after him.

The three had almost caught up with him when he abruptly stopped, pushed open a door, and entered. The young people hesitated as they came to the door. It was impossible to see what lay inside.

Mandie immediately made a decision and turned to her friends. “I’m going inside.” Before they could speak, she pushed open the door and rushed inside. Celia and Jonathan followed. There was no sound and no sign of anyone.

“It’s so dark I can’t see anything,” Celia whispered. She reached for Mandie’s hand.

“Hold on to me,” Mandie said softly as she squeezed Celia’s hand and made her way forward.

“I’ll bring up the rear,” Jonathan told the girls as he stayed right behind Celia.

They seemed to be in a stone passageway that went downhill. The air was chilly and smelled of fish. Snowball, in Mandie’s arms, was trying his best to get down. Evidently the odor affected him.

The stone floor was full of holes and bumps and caused them to trip now and then. Mandie found it hard to keep looking ahead to see the man and at the same time watch where she was walking. Suddenly the tunnel curved and she fell on some steps as the floor lowered. The jolt freed Snowball and he ran off ahead of her.

“Are you hurt?” Jonathan asked as he helped Mandie get to her feet.

“No, but Snowball ran away,” Mandie said, quickly brushing off her long skirt and hurrying on.

“Snowball, come back here. You hear me?” Mandie called after the kitten as he raced ahead.

There was light filtering into the passageway now from open grills high above on the walls. Mandie could see an opening in the distance and she knew Snowball would go through it. She held up her long skirts and ran faster. Jonathan and Celia stayed right behind her.

“Well, look at this!” Mandie exclaimed as she paused for a moment at the end of the passageway. They were outside on the wharf near the old boat. She saw Snowball racing out onto the pier. He could fall into the water.

“I’ll get him,” Jonathan called to her as he sprinted onto the wooden pier and managed to grasp Snowball by his tail. Snowball angrily turned on him and was about to scratch when Mandie got to them and stooped down to swat at the kitten.

“Don’t you dare!” Mandie told the white kitten. She picked him up and scolded him. “Snowball, you cause so much trouble. I may have to leave you in the hotel from now on.” Snowball meowed as though he understood but swished his tail in agitation.

Celia caught her breath and said, “I’ll carry him part of the time, Mandie.”

“Thanks. I’ll hold on to him until he calms down,” Mandie told her. “That man has disappeared again. He could have gone into any of the openings in the sides of the tunnel.”

“Or he could have come out here and gone onto the boat,” Jonathan reminded her.

The three stood looking at the old boat. There was no sign of anyone on it.

“Let’s go on the boat and look around,” Mandie told her friends. “We can at least see if that bearded man, Alex, is still there.”

The three walked toward the edge where the rope ladder was swinging.

“I’ll stay here and hold Snowball for you, Mandie,” Celia offered.

“No. I’ll take him with me because I want you to come with us,” Mandie replied. “Some stranger may see you alone here on the pier and it could be dangerous.”

Celia hesitated and then agreed, “Well, all right, but I hope I don’t fall into the water.”

“You won’t if you’ll just hold tight to the ladder,” Jonathan said. “I’ll go ahead and reach back for Snowball, Mandie, so you can have both your hands free,” he added as he started down the ladder.

At the bottom he stopped, and Mandie handed the kitten down to him as she clung to the top.

“Come on, Celia,” Mandie coaxed her friend as she looked back up at Celia. “I’ll wait here for you.”

Celia carefully descended the rope ladder and finally stood on the crossbar underneath with her friends. Jonathan then gave Snowball to Mandie until he was halfway up the other ladder on the side of the boat. He stretched back and took Snowball and shoved him over onto the deck of the vessel. The girls followed. Mandie watched Celia in case she needed any help and saw that her friend had no problem at all with the ladders.

The three hurriedly crouched behind the trash pile on the deck and waited to see if anyone heard them.

“Let’s look through the window,” Mandie whispered as she began creeping toward the window in a lowered position. Her friends followed.

They cautiously peeked in the window and saw the man, Alex, lying on the bunk bed staring at the ceiling as great sobs came from his throat. Then he suddenly sat up on the side of the bed. The three quickly ducked down out of his sight. And when they did Mandie lost hold of Snowball, and he ran across the deck to the cabin door, which was slightly open.

Mandie sighed in anger as the kitten pushed through the crack and into the cabin. The young people raised up enough to watch through the window to see where Snowball went. The kitten walked over to Alex and rubbed around his ankles. Alex ignored him for a few moments; then he looked down at the white kitten and picked him up.

“Well, where did you come from?” he said. “Just like my baby’s kitten, you are.” He rubbed Snowball’s fur and held him up against his bearded face.

Snowball evidently didn’t like the rough beard and he wriggled until the man put him down. The kitten ran back outside on the deck
and Mandie captured him. The three peeked through the window to see what the man was doing.

Alex shook his head and looked about the litter-strewn cabin. “Must have been a dream, that kitten, come back from the dead.” He stretched out again on the bunk bed.

“We might as well go and look somewhere else for that other man,” Mandie whispered to her friends.

As the three started moving toward the ladder on the side of the boat, Mandie heard a noise. She gasped. “Quick! Someone is coming!”

The young people scrambled for cover behind the trash pile. They watched to see who was coming up the ladder. As a head appeared over the side, Mandie decided it was the man they’d been following. He was carrying a large bag.

He stepped over onto the deck and went directly to the cabin. The three crept near the window to look and eavesdrop. The man put the bag on a shelf near the bunk bed and spoke to Alex.

“Get up, Alex,” he said, bending over him. “I want to talk to you.”

“Go ’way!” Alex mumbled crossly.

“Alex, you have to stop this. And you have to leave this boat,” the man insisted, standing there looking at Alex. “This has lasted long enough.”

Alex jumped from the bed and stood towering above the other man. “I said go! And I be meaning that! This boat is my home and I won’t be leaving it.”

“But, Alex, you can’t live like this—” the other man said.

Alex moved toward him. “I live like this if I want. Now go!” He shook his fist at the man.

The other man left so suddenly that he caught the three young people looking through the window as he came out onto the deck. Surprised, he paused to look at them, then simply said, “Poor fellow, he needs all the help he can get.” He turned quickly and disappeared down the ladder.

Alex had followed the man outside, and when he saw the three young people, he waved his hands wildly in the air, shouting, “Go! Get off my boat! Go ’way!” He moved threateningly toward them.

Mandie pushed Celia to go first down the ladder and then she scrambled down after her by one hand as she held Snowball in the other
arm. Jonathan was close behind her. The three stood on the crossbar below and caught their breath.

“Whew! That was close!” Jonathan said.

Mandie, glancing overhead, saw the man named Alex looking down at them.

“It’s still close. Let’s go!” She led the way up the other rope ladder and they all collapsed on the floor of the pier.

“You saw that other man close up,” Jonathan said as they sat there. “Do you still think he was the same one we saw with the painting in the hotel?”

Mandie thought for a moment. “Well, yes, I believe he is. In fact, his voice even sounded the same.”

“Mandie, almost all the people we’ve heard speaking English talked with an English accent and so did he,” Celia said.

“Anyhow, I think he was the same man and now he has disappeared again,” Mandie insisted. She stood up as she held tightly to Snowball and shook out her long skirts.

“What do you suggest next?” Jonathan asked as he and Celia also rose.

“I think we ought to go back through that tunnel and explore it for hidden doors and rooms or whatever, someplace where he could hide because he disappeared into that tunnel,” Mandie replied.

“But if that was the same man we just saw here, he came to the boat,” Celia said.

“But we got here first so he detoured somewhere,” Mandie said. She began walking back off the pier and her friends followed. At the wharf she looked around. “Let’s see now. The opening to that tunnel must be that way.” She pointed to the left.

As the three hurried in that direction, Mandie realized she was right. This was the place they had come out of the passageway. She stopped to speak to her friends. “Now let’s be extra quiet in case he is inside. And this time I have Snowball’s leash wrapped around my wrist so he can’t get away again.”