The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (82 page)

“But why?” said Benny. “And why does Larry have to hide his work?”

Captain Snow said, “I will tell you that. Tom Cook is a selfish man with a quick temper, but I think he really does love Larry.”

“He doesn’t show it much,” said Benny.

“No, that’s the trouble with them both,” agreed the captain. “I think Larry is afraid his father would spoil his experiments if he knew about them.”

“Larry cooked a wonderful supper,” said Violet. “We heard his father was proud of him. He made five hundred dollars for the street lights.”

Captain Snow got up. He said, “Well, I’ll try to help him all I can. I know how interested he is in science. And he seems to have found some good friends.”

After a minute Henry said, “Now the next thing is to make Larry really friendly.”

“How?” asked Jessie.

Violet said, “He is a little friendly now, but that’s because we helped him with the supper.”

“What could we do, Grandfather?” asked Jessie. “Something that would give him a good time?”

“Wait till morning,” said Mr. Alden. “Something may come up.”

Something did come up. And it was very different from anything they had thought of.

T
he next morning Jessie looked at Violet. “What in the world is the matter with you?” she asked.

“Mosquitoes,” said Violet. Her face was red and puffed.

“Does your face hurt?” asked Jessie. “I would hardly know you. We’ll have to do something.”

“I can hardly open my mouth,” said Violet.

“I heard the mosquitoes,” said Jessie. “Look at my arm.”

The boys came down to breakfast.

“Hello! Hello!” said Benny. “What happened to you, Violet? You look fat in the face.”

“Mosquito bites,” said Jessie.

“I had some, too,” said Mr. Alden. “The wind has changed. Now it comes off the land. That always means mosquitoes.”

Henry said slowly, “We have five windows.”

“We have a screen door but no screens on the windows,” said Benny. “I have an idea. Let’s put screen cloth on the windows and get Larry to help us.”

“And what about poor Violet?” asked Mr. Alden.

“Mr. Hall will have something for her bites,” said Jessie. “I hope he has screen cloth, too.”

Violet could hardly eat.

Henry said, “I’ve finished breakfast. I’ll run over to the store.”

Soon he came back with a great many things. He had something for Violet’s face, a roll of screen cloth, a big box of tacks, and two small hammers.

Jessie covered Violet’s face with white stuff from Mr. Hall’s.

“You don’t need to help, Violet,” said Benny. “You can’t see the tacks.”

“The next thing is to find Larry,” said Jessie. “Now, Benny, don’t say anything about seeing him out in his father’s boat. And don’t ask him about what he does in the summer kitchen. He’ll tell us when he’s ready.”

Benny said, “Oh, Jessie, I’m not
that
dumb.”

The Aldens walked up and down the street and looked at Larry’s house. Mrs. Cook was out in the yard.

“Where’s Larry?” asked Henry.

“I don’t know. He’s out.”

They could see that the Sea Cook was in.

At last they went down to the wharf. There was Larry, reading a book.

“Hi, Larry,” shouted Benny. “Will you come and help us?”

“What doing?” asked Larry, shutting his book. “And where is the other sister?”

“You wouldn’t know her,” said Benny. “She is all mosquito bites. One eye is all shut.”

Jessie said, “We want to put screens on five windows.”

“You don’t need me,” said Larry.

“Count us,” said Benny. “We have five windows and four people.”

Larry laughed. He got up, put his book under his arm, and they all walked down the street.

Larry looked at the high windows. Then he looked at the screen cloth. “You can’t put this on from the outside,” he said.

“No,” said Benny. “We are going to put it on from the inside. We’ll show you. We have done it before.”

“I’d like to see how you do it,” said Larry.

Then Violet came out.

“I’m very sorry about your face,” said Larry. Then he began to cut screen cloth.

Grandfather sat out on the rocks. He laughed to himself. Everyone was tapping or cutting. Grandfather could hear them talking. Once he heard Larry laugh. Then he got up quietly and went to the store.

Grandfather said to Mr. Hall, “Do you think Larry Cook would like steak?”

“Steak?” said Mr. Hall, “I don’t think he ever had much.”

“We’ll try it then,” said Grandfather. “Five pounds of steak should be enough.”

“Potato chips,” said Mr. Hall.

“Pickles,” said Grandfather.

“How about a pie?” said Mr. Hall.

“I’ll need rolls and two pies,” said Grandfather. “Make them cherry.”

Mr. Hall put all the food in a big bag. Grandfather went quietly back to the rocks. He could hear that the pounding had stopped. He found two pieces of old iron. He hit them together. It sounded like a bell. Grandfather looked up and saw Benny at his window.

“Is that a dinner bell, Grandfather?” shouted Benny.

“Come down and see,” said Grandfather.

Laughing, they all ran to the rocks. Grandfather showed them what he had bought.

“We’ll need a fire for that steak,” said Larry.

“Right,” said Henry. “Here’s our fireplace. We can use our grill.”

Everyone began to gather dry wood, but it was Larry who built the fire.

The Aldens noticed that Larry never looked toward the summer kitchen. He did not know that they already knew a great deal about something that interested him very much.

“I forgot you were a cook,” said Benny.

“How do you like your steak?” asked Larry. “Well done?”

“No, he likes it burned up,” said Henry.

“He won’t get any burned up steak from me,” said Larry.

“I want mine very rare, my boy,” said Mr. Alden.

“I know,” said Larry. “Rare but not raw.”

“Good!” said Mr. Alden. “I shall enjoy this meal.”

They could hardly wait for the fire to burn down, but Larry would not put the steaks on. At last the fire was just right. Larry counted, “Two rare, three medium, and Benny’s well done.”

“That means I’ll have to wait till last,” said Benny.

Jessie put butter on the rolls. Mr. Alden’s steak was done first. Larry took his own off and moved the rest to the hot part of the fire. Soon everyone was eating a steak sandwich.

“Poor Grandfather,” said Benny. “No coffee.”

“I don’t need coffee today,” said Grandfather. “Just give me a pickle.”

When they had picked up after lunch, Larry began to think he should go home. He said, “I had a fine time.” He looked at Violet and smiled. “I hope you’ll have no mosquitoes.”

“Thank you for helping us,” said Violet. “Come again soon.”

“Maybe I will,” said Larry.

After he had gone, Jessie said, “I think we are really friends with Larry now. Don’t you, Grandfather?”

“Yes,” said Mr. Alden. “You did exactly right.

You gave him something interesting to do. Then you all worked together. That’s the best way to make friends.”

“Well,” said Benny, “I wish that we’d get to be such good friends that Larry would tell us about his work. Maybe he thinks he can sell that stuff and get rich.”

“I think he’s more interested in it as science work,” said Henry. “But that’s just a guess.”

Then they all sat looking at the beautiful blue sea. Violet said, “It never seems to rain here. Every single day has been sunny. I wonder why?”

“Yes,” said Mr. Alden. “So far it has been sunny for three weeks. But you will find it isn’t always that way. In fact I think I feel a storm coming up now.”

“I don’t,” said Benny. “There isn’t a cloud in the sky.”

“Maybe not today,” said Grandfather, “but soon. It is lucky we have a nice tight lighthouse to stay in. We’ll see some big waves.”

“Oh, I love big waves,” said Violet. “They are so beautiful dashing on the rocks. And we are right by the water—almost in the water.”

The storm did not come that night. The family had supper on the rocks. They had a fine night with no mosquitoes.

“Pretty good screens,” said Benny.

All the next day they swam or sat on the beach in the sun. Then the family had supper on the rocks. Just as they finished, Grandfather said, “Look! The storm! The wind has changed!”

Sure enough, clouds were speeding across the sky.

Jessie and Henry gathered the supper things together.

They hurried into the lighthouse just as the first drops began to fall.

“Just a little rain,” said Benny, laughing. “It feels good on my head. I like to get my hair wet.”

W
hen the Aldens had shut all the windows and looked out at the sea, they changed their minds about the rain. This was no little rain. This was a storm.

The sky became very dark. There was thunder. The rain fell in sheets. The wind made a terrible noise around the lighthouse.

“You do know about the weather, Grandfather,” said Benny. “You said a storm was coming, and boy! here is a storm.”

“There goes a telephone pole,” shouted Henry. “Nobody can telephone out of this town tonight.”

“I hope no one is out in a boat,” said Violet. “The waves would tip it over.”

The waves dashed up against the lighthouse. They even ran down the road and covered it with water.

The storm grew worse. Lightning made the whole beach light. The thunder sounded very loud over the water.

“I don’t care for this at all,” said Violet. “It seems dangerous.”

“It is dangerous,” said Grandfather quietly. “I surely hope nobody is out in a boat.”

The storm did not stop. It grew even worse. The waves covered the whole wide beach. Suddenly there was a loud knock at the door.

“Who in the world is
that?”
shouted Benny. “I hate to open the door. The rain will pour in.”

But Henry opened the door. It was Mr. Cook.

“Have you seen my son?” he cried. “Where is my son?”

“Come in, quick!” said Henry. “We don’t know where your son is. We haven’t seen him today.”

“Oh, oh!” cried the man. “My wife told me to look in the little house first, but he isn’t there. He must have taken my boat! He’s out in my boat! What shall I do? He will tip over. Nobody could handle a boat in this storm!”

Henry said, “Is there any Coast Guard around here?”

“In Ashland,” Tom Cook cried. “They haven’t time to get here.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Henry. He dragged on his raincoat and went to open the door.

“Where are you going, Henry?” asked Grandfather sharply.

“I’m going for the Coast Guard. The telephone’s out. We can’t do a thing alone.”

Mr. Alden opened his mouth. Then he shut it again. He knew Henry had to go.

Henry was backing the car around. “Get in,” said Henry to Mr. Cook. “Quick!” And off he drove through the water that covered the road, splashing it high as he went.

After Henry and Mr. Cook had gone, Mr. Alden was very quiet.

At last Violet said, “Henry will make it. He always does.”

“I hope you’re right, child,” said Mr. Alden. “I am worried. If Larry is out in the open sea in this, I don’t see how he can ever get to land.”

“Maybe he knows the weather, too,” said Jessie. “Maybe he started out for home before the storm came.”

“How awful that the light in this lighthouse is gone!” said Benny. “If we could only light that, he could find his way better.”

“The reflector is left,” said Jessie. “Maybe a small light would show a little.”

Everyone had a flashlight that would stand up. Benny carried them all to his room at the top and set them around. The reflector did show a little light through the storm.

By this time they heard voices outside. The neighbors had come to the lighthouse to find out about the Cook boy. They all knew his father’s boat was gone.

“Come in, everybody,” said Jessie. Everyone was dripping with water. “My brother has gone for the

Coast Guard. They will go out from Ashland and look for Larry.”

Then Jessie and Violet saw Mrs. Cook. She looked pale, but she smiled at the girls.

The neighbors were wonderful. They had seen storms before. A woman told Jessie to heat a lot of water and make coffee for the Coast Guard men. She herself helped.

The men who had come went out on the beach to see if they could see anything. They stood in the waves up to their knees. But soon the water was up to their waists. They went back to the rock seats. They all had flashlights and some had enormous field glasses.

“The Coast Guard is quick,” said Mrs. Cook. “They will be out to sea before your brother can get home.”

Jessie and Violet put their arms around her.

The light in the top of the lighthouse showed a little through the heavy rain. It seemed like ten years before a man shouted, “I see the Coast Guard boat! And I see the Cook boat!”

Henry and Tom Cook drove up as the man spoke.

“Oh, where?” begged Mr. Cook, getting out. “Show it to me.”

The man gave him his glasses and told him which way to look. The boats were still right side up, but they often disappeared in the waves. Then Henry went down to the beach, too.

“What will they do?” Henry asked.

“They’ll take the boy off and tie his boat to the Coast Guard boat. I hope they will see our light and come here to our beach. The little boat can get through the waves here.”

Men looked through their glasses. “They’re tying the boat on now. They must have the boy.”

“If I ever get my son back, he can have anything he wants,” cried Tom Cook. “Anything at all. Anything in the world!”

“He’s a smart boy, your Larry,” said Henry. “Maybe you know that.”

“Yes, I know that. If he only comes back safe!”

“He will,” said a fisherman. “The Coast Guard is coming fast this way. They wouldn’t come now if they didn’t have the boy aboard.”

“Oh, thank you!” cried Mr. Cook. “Can you really see their boat?”

“See for yourself.” The fisherman gave him his glasses. The rain was still pouring down. It was still thundering. Everyone was soaking wet. But they could see the Coast Guard coming through the great waves. The Sea Cook II was tied on behind it.