The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (63 page)

“Tell me something, Peter,” said Mike. “How did you happen to make your bed in the cave?”

“I thought it would be fun,” said Peter. “Once I read about some children who were all alone. Then it rained so hard, I had to get somewhere out of the rain. Those rocks make a fine roof. I used to sit and watch the rain before you came to the island.”

Henry whispered to Benny. “Don’t tell him about us now. Later you can.”

Mike looked at Peter and said, “Did you take our crackers that day?”

Peter looked upset. “I am sorry about that,” he said. “I have been here so long, and everything was free. I could take anything I wanted. Bananas, fish, coconuts, oysters, crabs and sugar cane. When I saw the crackers I took those, too.”

“It’s all right,” said Mike. “Nobody thinks I took them now.”

Henry said, “Peter, why didn’t you call out to us before? Were you afraid of us?”

“Yes, I was,” said Peter. “Mr. Anderson said I must keep very still if I saw anyone on this island. I mustn’t let anyone know I was here.”

“I suppose he meant dangerous men like cannibals,” said Henry. “But there aren’t any more cannibals around here.”

“I didn’t know,” said Peter. “You might be dangerous! I have watched you for a long time, and now I know you are all right.”

“A good thing we found you!” said Henry.

“We know you can take care of yourself,” said Jessie. “But you can live with us and have some of our food. And we are going away soon. Don’t you want to go along?”

“Yes, I do,” said Peter. “I miss my father and mother. I used to live near Boston.”

“We’ll take you to Boston,” said Benny. “Just as soon as our ship comes. And we’ll find your mother and father for you.”

“Here, old fellow!” said Henry. “Don’t promise! We’ll try. And if anyone can find your parents, Grandfather can.”

Mike said, “Look how brown you are, Peter.”

“Oh, I’m just sunburned. I have been living in the sun for so long.”

“Come on, Peter,” said Henry. “We’ll take you to see Lars and my grandfather.”

Peter did not ask who they were, because he knew very well. He said, “I watched you the day you came to the island. My, I was scared when I saw the ship! I watched you when you found the turtle shell. I heard every word you said. I watched you find my boat, and I was afraid you would take my boat away.”

“Yes, we heard you whine and moan,” said Benny. “I thought someone was in trouble and it was you.”

The family began to walk back to the houses. Jessie said, “Didn’t you almost forget how to talk, Peter?”

“Oh, I always talked to myself,” said Peter. “I talked all day, until you came. And then I had my bird to talk to.”

“What can he say?” asked Mike.

“She,”
said Peter. “Old Myna is a girl. She says ‘Good morning’ and ‘Good night’ and ‘Hello, Peter,’ and ‘Thank you’ and ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Look out, it’s hot!’”

“I can see she is quite a talker,” said Henry. “She must be a lot of company for you.”

“Yes, I love old Myna. That’s her name, because Mr. Anderson said it was a myna bird.”

“Isn’t it better to have people for company, Peter?” asked Violet.

“Oh, yes,” said Peter. “That is why I came to help Benny out of my trap. I thought the time had come. And you were all alone without the others.”

“It’s wonderful,” said Jessie. “Won’t Grandfather and Lars be surprised!”

But just then Lars was going very fast and very quietly back to the house. When the children came home, Lars was sitting there on the top of the hut still fixing the roof.

“Lars!” shouted Benny. “See what we found! Our Mystery!”

Lars looked up and saw Peter. “Oh, a boy!” Lars said. “Where did you find him? Mr. Alden! Come and see this boy!”

Mr. Alden came to the door and looked out.

“It’s Peter, Grandfather!” said Henry. “He has lived here for six months!”

Mr. Alden tried to wake up. He thought he was dreaming. He said, “Six months! How could he?”

“He lived just the way we do,” said Benny. “Only he never had any crackers or milk or meat.”

Lars said, “Now, Peter, come and sit down and tell us about this. Did you come in that lifeboat that is all filled with sand?”

“Yes, sir,” said Peter. “Mr. Anderson and I came in it six months ago.”

Lars and Mr. Alden looked at each other.

Then Mr. Alden came and sat down too. He said, “Peter, I’d like to know more about the shipwreck. I suppose it was a shipwreck. Can you bear to tell me?”

“Oh, yes,” said Peter. “I’d
like
to. Maybe it won’t seem so bad if I tell somebody. There was a terrible storm in the middle of the night. We were all seasick. Then the ship hit a reef and began to go down. The sailors got three lifeboats over the side. I was in one with my mother and father and Mr. Anderson. Then some others got in and the boat tipped over. Everybody went into the water. I couldn’t see a thing.”

“Do you think your parents were saved?” asked Mr. Alden gently.

“I don’t know,” said Peter. “Maybe. But it was very dark, you know. I was going down. Suddenly I felt Mr. Anderson lifting me into a boat again. When I woke up, I was here. We never saw any other boat after that.”

“Your parents think you were lost, then,” said Grandfather.

“Yes, I’m sure they do, if they were saved.”

Lars said, “Some people got picked up, because the paper said they were taken to San Francisco.”

“Is that so?” said Peter. He looked at Lars quickly. “Maybe my father and mother were saved. But they would never know about me. Mr. Anderson and I never saw any ship.”

“The wreck must have been quite far away,” said Grandfather.

“Yes, it was, because Mr. Anderson told me he rowed a whole day and a night. I didn’t think anyone would ever come. I wish you would cut my hair!”

“Henry can cut hair very well,” said Mike.

Violet took her scissors out of her workbag and gave them to Henry.

Henry began to cut. He said, “You’d better save this long hair, Peter. Someday you’ll like to see it.” Then he cut Peter’s hair like Mike’s.

“You look fine now,” said Henry.

“You did well to live alone, Peter,” said Lars. “I think you are very brave.”

“I had to be,” said Peter. “I’m sorry about my clothes. Don’t they look terrible?”

Everyone had noticed what Peter was wearing. He looked very strange. He was wearing lots of big leaves that were tied with brown strings. And many more brown strings hung down.

“I got some strings off coconuts,” said Peter, “and I tied leaves together. One time I lost a button when I washed my clothes. Then they just wore out.”

Mike got up. He ran down to the box. He came back at once and held out his hand to Peter.

Peter took one look. Then he cried, “My button! I lost it in a pool right down there!” He pointed. “I never could find it.”

“You couldn’t find it, because our fish ate it,” said Mike. “Then we ate the fish.”

“May I have my button?” asked Peter. “I’d love to keep it.”

Grandfather got up. “Yes, Peter, keep it,” he said. “Henry, go and fix up some of your clothes for Peter. He will feel better, if he looks better.”

The two boys went into the house at once. Soon they came back. Peter looked like a different boy.

Henry said to Lars, “When do you think the
Sea Star
will come back?”

“Well, well!” said Lars. “This is the first time anyone has said one word about the
Sea Star!
She may come any time now.”

Jessie said, “You see we didn’t want to leave Blue Bay. And now we do. We want to find Peter’s father and mother.”

“I’ve almost forgotten what they look like,” said Peter. “But I will know them!”

Grandfather said quietly, “What is your last name, Peter? Peter what?”

“Horn,” said Peter.

“Horn!” shouted Mike and Benny at once.

“Our teacher!” said Benny. “That was our teacher’s name, too. I
knew
it made me think of
cows.
”

“Cows?” asked Jessie. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, cows have horns,” said Benny.

“Oh, dear!” laughed Jessie. “You are the funniest boy!”

“Peter Horn,” said Mr. Alden slowly. He was thinking.

“My father’s name is Peter Horn, too,” said Peter.

“That will help, my boy,” said Mr. Alden. “We’ll try to find them. But you understand they may not be alive, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” said Peter. “I was just thinking what would I do, if we went home, and we didn’t find them.”

“Don’t worry about that, Peter,” said Henry. “You can live with us and be part of our family.”

Peter could not believe his eyes when everyone smiled and nodded—even Mr. Alden himself.

G
randfather was thinking. He said, “Benny, you must not think that Peter’s mother is your teacher, just because she had the same name. There are many people named Horn.”

Lars said, “What happened to Mr. Anderson?”

“I don’t know,” said Peter. “He said he was going swimming near a sandy beach, but he never came back.”

“Do you mean a very green bay?” asked Mike.

“No, I mean the one on the other side of it, where the boat is.”

Nobody said a word. But everyone thought, “Shark Bay! How lucky we were to have Lars with us!”

Jessie said suddenly, “Are you hungry, Peter?”

“Not very,” said Peter. “But you do have some more crackers, don’t you? You see they make me think of bread. I haven’t had any bread for six months.”

“Six months!” cried Violet.

“That’s why I took the crackers, Mr. Lars,” said Peter.

“That’s all right,” said Lars. “Don’t worry.”

“I did worry,” said Peter, “when I saw you were blaming that other boy.”

“Me,” said Mike.

“Yes, Mike, I am awfully sorry.”

“Think nothing of it!” said Mike. “Come on, Ben!”

The two boys raced for the sea biscuit. It was such fun to see Peter eat crackers. He seemed half starved.

“Wait till you see what we have for supper,” said Benny. We’re going to have stew and a pudding!”

“A pudding? Oh, yes, I remember what a pudding is,” said Peter. He stopped eating for a minute. “A pudding is sweet.”

“Yes,” said Mike. “Ours is made of coconut milk, sugar cane, and bananas.”

“Sounds good,” said Peter. “My mother used to cook good things. I hope we can find her.”

“Well, if Grandfather can’t find her, nobody can,” said Benny. “He has ways.”

Mike said suddenly, “You can have my blanket, Peter.”

Peter said, “You are a very kind boy, Mike. But I wouldn’t know what to do with a blanket. I can sleep on a rock. I am hard all over.”

“You must show us how to climb trees,” said Henry.

“It’s easy,” said Peter, “if there is something you want at the top of the tree.”

Mr. Alden was listening to all this. He was wide awake now. He watched Peter carefully. “A good boy,” he thought. “Just think of one of our children living here for six months!” He shook himself. He had a plan which he did not tell to anyone. But he told them all, “Now we have eight in the family.”

It was a happy family at supper. Lars gave his spoon to Peter. He took the big cooking spoon himself. They all began to eat meat stew.

All at once a voice said, “Look out, it’s hot!”

“Who said that?” cried Mike.

“It’s old Myna,” said Peter. He made a funny noise with his mouth and down flew a dark purple bird. It had white on its wings and orange on its head.

“Hello, Myna,” said Peter.

“Hello, Peter,” said Myna.

“Oh, make him say something about me!” begged Mike.

“Her,” said Peter. He took the bird on his finger and said, “Myna, say ‘What’s the matter, Mike?’”

The bird said nothing.

“She won’t talk for us,” said Benny. “She is afraid.”

“Oh, no, she’s not afraid,” said Peter. “She has to study every new word.”

Peter said it again two or three times. He fed the bird a piece of meat.

“Look out, it’s hot!” said Myna. Then she went right along without stopping, “What’s the matter, Mike?”

Mike was delighted. “What a talker!” he said “Maybe we could teach her to sing.”

“Oh, she can sing already,” said Peter. “Myna, sing ‘My country, ’tis of thee.’” He hummed it.