The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (25 page)
Read The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve Online
Authors: Gertrude Chandler Warner
T
HE
D
ISAPPEARING
S
TAIRCASE
M
YSTERY
T
HE
M
YSTERY ON
B
LIZZARD
M
OUNTAIN
T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
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PIDER
’S C
LUE
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HE
C
ANDY
F
ACTORY
M
YSTERY
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HE
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YSTERY OF THE
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UMMY’S
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URSE
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HE
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YSTERY OF THE
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TAR
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UBY
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HE
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TUFFED
B
EAR
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YSTERY
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HE
M
YSTERY OF
A
LLIGATOR
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WAMP
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HE
M
YSTERY AT
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KELETON
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OINT
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HE
T
ATTLETALE
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YSTERY
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OMIC
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OOK
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YSTERY
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REAT
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HARK
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YSTERY
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REAM
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YSTERY
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IDNIGHT
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YSTERY
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HE
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YSTERY IN THE
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ORTUNE
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OOKIE
T
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LACK
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IDOW
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PIDER
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YSTERY
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ADIO
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YSTERY
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YSTERY OF THE
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HOST
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INDERS
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EEPERS
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YSTERY
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LUE IN THE
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HOST OF THE
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ONES
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WORD OF THE
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ILVER
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NIGHT
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AME
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TORE
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YSTERY
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YSTERY OF THE
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RAIN
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IANT
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YSTERY
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OW
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ATCH
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OUND
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AMED
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REAT
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ETECTIVE
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ACE
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HE
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HOST AT THE
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OVIE
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YSTERY OF THE
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OMATOES
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 1949, 1977 by Albert Whitman & Company
ISBN: 978-1-4532-0756-7
This 2010 edition distributed by Open Road Integrated Media
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New York, NY 10014
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The Yellow House Mystery
GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER
Illustrated by Mary Gehr
ALBERT WHITMAN & Company, Chicago, Illinois
Contents
CHAPTER
1
The Cave
F
our lively children lived with their grandfather Alden in a big house. The children’s father and mother had died years before. Their cousin Joe lived in the big house too. He was grown up and his cousins thought he was great fun.
First there was Henry Alden, who was sixteen and in high school. Jessie Alden came next. She was in high school too. Violet was a pretty dark-haired little girl of twelve, and Benny was seven.
Benny was on his way home from school one day in Spring. The minute he went into the house, he heard the telephone ringing. Then he heard Mrs. McGregor, the housekeeper, answering it.
“It’s for you, Benny,” she said. She was excited. “It’s your cousin Joe.”
Benny went to the telephone. “Hello, Joe,” he said.
“We’re going to blast, Benny!” Joe called over the telephone. “The men are almost ready to blast the top off the cave. They say that you children can come over to the island, if you stay right with me. You get the others and come along over.”
“O.K. Joe!” cried Benny. “We’ll come just as quickly as we can.” He hurried to the hall to tell his brother Henry. For this cave was one the children had found themselves the summer before. They had crawled in to see how far they could go. Without trying, they had found some Indian tools in the sand which Joe said were very wonderful.
Now, their grandfather had sent some men to the island to take the top off the cave, so that it would be easier to dig the things out.
“Was that Joe? What did he want?” asked Henry. He came out into the hall.
“He said the men are going to blast the cave open!” shouted Benny. “Last summer he told us we couldn’t come that day, and now he says we can.”
Benny ran upstairs two steps at a time, calling, “Jess! Jess! Vi! Vi!”
“Well, what’s the matter now, Benny?” asked Jessie, looking up from her school work.
“The men are going to blast the cave on Surprise Island, and we have to hurry and go over.”
“Who said so?” asked Jessie.
“Joe,” answered Benny. “He just telephoned to me.”
“But we can’t go without Grandfather,” said Violet, softly.
“Grandfather is just driving into the yard,” Henry called loudly up the stairs. “Hurry and come down before he puts the car away!”
Mr. Alden could not understand a word at first, because everyone talked at once. But his driver seemed to be turning the car around anyway. Mr. Alden was smiling to himself about something.
“Did Joe call you, too, Grandfather?” cried Henry.
Mr. Alden laughed. “Well—” he said, “we’ll go down to the dock and over to the island in the motorboat.”
“I hope Captain Daniel will have the boat on this side,” said Henry. “Joe seems to be in a hurry, and the men won’t wait for us for very long.”
“Oh, I hope they won’t blast until we get there,” cried Benny.
“I don’t think they will,” said Mr. Alden smiling. “If Joe sent for you, he will wait until you have time to get there.”
“Of course he will, Grandfather,” said Jessie. “There is Captain Daniel on the dock already.”
It was true. Captain Daniel smiled when he saw the four children coming with their grandfather. He liked them all.
“I’m waiting,” he said, “and Joe is waiting on the island and so are the workmen. Joe said they won’t blast until you are all there.”
“Good. I’m glad,” said Benny, getting into the boat and sitting down.
They were soon on their way across the water to the island where they had spent such a happy summer the year before. They were all thinking of that exciting day when they had found the cave.
Benny looked at the captain. “I don’t suppose you remember the Indian things we found in that cave, Captain?” he said.
“Indeed I do,” said the captain with a laugh. “You children didn’t know then that Mr. Joe dug up things for a living. But I did. I knew Mr. Joe when he was a little boy.”
“Remember how excited Joe was?” cried Jessie. “He wouldn’t even let us dig any more inside the cave.”
“That was all right though, Jessie,” said Henry. “He wanted things done right. These workmen know how to dig better than we do.”
“And here we are, going to blast the top off the cave!” said Benny.
“There’s Joe now,” said Jessie. “Who in the world is that with him? It’s a girl!”
“That’s not a girl,” said Benny. “That’s a lady.”
“Well, anyway, she isn’t very old,” said Jessie.
“She’s awfully pretty,” said Benny, as they came nearer.
“Hello, children,” cried Joe, as the boat stopped at the dock. “This is Alice Wells. She came over to look at the Indian things you found. She knows lots about such things.”
“That must be interesting work,” said Jessie to Alice, shaking hands. She liked Alice at once. She had such a beautiful smile.
“Yes, it is,” said Alice. “I feel as if I knew every one of you. This is Benny, I’m sure. And Violet. And Henry. Joe has told me so much about you all.” She smiled at Mr. Alden as if she already knew him well.
