The Mystery of the Screech Owl (8 page)

The children strapped on the snowshoes stacked on the porch. Trying to walk in the fluffy snow made them laugh until they got the hang of it.

“Here!” said Patty. “Look at these!”

Down by the pond, fresh footprints marked the snow. The tracks led into the woods, toward the tree house.

“I bet these prints take us right to the tree house!” said Jessie. “They must belong to the man who lives there.”

They set off into the trees. When they reached the clearing, Violet, who was in front, gave a cry.

At the base of the huge maple tree lay a crumpled figure.

CHAPTER 10

Benny's Guess

V
iolet said, “That's the man we saw in the square the other day!”

Henry was the first to reach him. The bearded man was lying on his side with one leg twisted beneath him. Henry checked the man's breathing, then peered into his eyes.

“He's conscious,” Henry concluded. Carefully, he straightened the man's bent leg and felt his ankle.

When the man moaned, Jessie asked, “Is it broken?”

“Sprained, I think.”

The boys helped the man sit up.

“Do I feel foolish,” the man said, his teeth showing in a rueful grin through his beard. “I guess I'm not as young as I think!”

“Can you stand?” Henry asked him.

The big man struggled to his feet, then winced with pain. “Not very well.”

“He needs to get inside,” said Jessie. “His clothes are wet.”

“Violet, find some strong branches,” Henry said. He took off his scarf and wound it around the man's ankle.

Violet returned with several sturdy branches. Henry chose two that were long enough to fit under the injured man's arms.

With Henry and Aaron on either side of the man, the children snowshoed through the woods to Broken Moon Pond. When they led him up to the main cabin, the man nodded.

“I know my way, thank you,” he said.

He limped inside, with the Aldens and Andersons trailing, and sank into the nearest chair.

Grandfather turned from the stove. “I see we have a guest. I'm James Alden. And you are?”

“Orville,” Benny blurted.

Everyone stared at him.

“Orville?” repeated Jessie. “Where on earth did you get that name?” She knew the stranger hadn't spoken a word during their trek through the woods.

The man laughed. “The lad is right. My name
is
Orville!”

“How did you know that?” Henry asked Benny.

Benny shrugged. “I just guessed. That was the name on the boat we found. I bet it's the name on the owl page in the nature journal. And … he
looks
like an Orville.”

Grandfather smiled. “You made what is known as an educated guess. I can see you are injured, Orville. Benny, would you bring that stool over?”

Henry helped the man take off his wet jacket and boots. Violet draped one of the plaid wool blankets over his shoulders while Jessie fixed a pot of tea.

With his foot propped up, Orville sighed with relief. “Much better, thank you. I feel foolish falling out of my own tree house. But I suppose I shouldn't have tried to climb that slippery ladder at my age.”

“You built the tree house!” Jessie exclaimed.

“I did indeed,” Orville replied. “My parents owned this camp. I became interested in nature when I was about Benny's age.”

“You kept a notebook,” said Patty. “We've seen it.”

Orville sipped his tea. “That notebook was the start of my career. I'm a naturalist — a special kind of scientist. I still watch birds and animals, only now I take photographs.”

Grandfather snapped his fingers. “Now I remember where I've seen your name! You're Orville Dupré—I've seen your work in many nature magazines.”

Orville nodded. “It's an interesting life and I'm suited to it. I was a loner as a child. I preferred drifting on the pond in my boat or drawing in my notebook. I built the tree house to better observe wildlife.”

“That's some tree house!” Henry said admiringly. “A person could live in it.”

“I did,” Orville said with a chuckle. “Not all the time, because I soon grew weary of eating canned beans.”

Benny had a thought. “You like owls, don't you? That's why you carved an owl on the stick that makes the ladder come down.”

“I am fond of screech owls. Now perhaps you can answer a question for me. Where did you find my field notebook?” asked Orville.

“It was stuck in the dresser in the bedroom Violet and I are using,” replied Jessie. “We take it with us on our walks in the woods. Yesterday I left the notebook behind in the tree house. When we found it, somebody had torn a page out.”

“I did it,” Orville admitted. “I was looking through my journal when I accidentally ripped that page. I wondered how my notebook suddenly appeared in the tree house. Then when I came back today, it was gone again. I thought maybe I had dropped it off the catwalk. I was going out to look for it when I fell off the ladder.”

“I used to come here as a boy myself,” said Grandfather. “I don't remember you, though.”

Orville chuckled again. “There were a lot of Dupré children. My cousins and I were forever running in and out of the cabins, hiking in the woods, swimming in the pond. I miss the camp. This is my first time back in years.”

“Why don't you live here?” Benny asked. If he owned that neat tree house, he'd stay in it forever.

“My work takes me all over the world,” replied Orville. “I'm not in one spot for very long.”

Grandfather brought a pot of potato soup to the table. As he served everyone, he said, “I suppose that's why you are selling Broken Moon Camp.”

Orville looked downcast. “I wish my cousins and I could keep the place. But they don't come here anymore, and I need the money.”

“My parents would like to buy the camp,” Aaron told him. “We love it here.”

“Why, that's wonderful!” Orville said. “I would be delighted to see Broken Moon Pond owned by caring people.”

“The Andersons have been discouraged from buying the camp,” Henry stated.

Orville looked surprised. “Discouraged? How?”

“The ghost boat, for one thing,” Jessie answered.

“Ghost boat?” Orville frowned in confusion.

Violet hastily explained. “It's not really a ghost. At night, somebody pulled your old boat across the pond to make it look like a ghost was rowing it.”

“Then the boat disappeared,” said Jessie. “After we found it.”

“Very peculiar,” said Orville.

“And there was that scary noise,” Benny added. He imitated the sound.

“The screech owl,” said Orville. “They call out at night around here.”

“We saw one last night,” Henry said. “But other times, I think a person was making the noise to scare us.”

Grandfather frowned. “I don't understand. The Andersons are buying the camp. Why would someone try to scare
us
?”

“I think I have that figured out,” said Jessie. She spoke to Orville. “The caretaker left before we got here. He didn't meet the Andersons, either. But he knew a family with four children was making an offer on the camp. The person who wanted to scare off the buyer didn't know which family it was.”

“So they tried to scare us, too?” asked Benny. “Just to be on the safe side?”

Orville put down his soup spoon. “None of this makes sense. My cousins and I wish to sell. We don't want to frighten anyone off!”

“We thought maybe one of the sellers was trying to block the sale for some reason,” said Henry.

Orville shook his head. “It isn't anyone in my family. I have no idea who might be blocking the sale of Broken Moon Pond.”

Jessie was busy thinking. The clues had always pointed to different people — the clerk in the store who pretended not to speak English, the waitress at the café who gave them bad service, André Plessis.… Now the pieces clicked into place.

“I know who is behind all this,” she announced.

Everyone turned toward her.

“Who?” asked Grandfather.

“Well, I thought about the strange things that have happened, like the man in the store who spoke English, but not to us,” she began. “It seemed like everybody was a suspect. But why would the village shopkeeper try to keep the Andersons from buying Broken Moon Pond?”

Violet grabbed Jessie's arm in her excitement. “It isn't any one person, is it?”

“No, it's
all
of them!” Jessie said triumphantly.

“Wow!” said Henry, impressed. “How did you come up with this?”

Jessie grinned. “I made a good guess!”

At that moment, someone knocked at the door. Grandfather got up to answer it.

André Plessis stood in the doorway. He saw Orville inside and exclaimed, “It is you! My old friend! You have come back!”

“Please come in,” said Grandfather. “And join us.”

“Thank you,” André said. “But I have eaten.” He sat down at the table.

“André and I grew up together,” Orville said to the Aldens. “I taught him how to imitate the call of the screech owl.”

“That was you!” Henry accused. “You were outside our cabin making that sound!”

André ducked his head.

“And you pulled the boat at night,” added Benny. “I bet you made the boat disappear, too.”

“Yes,” André admitted. “I did those things. I am not proud of it.”

“But why?” asked Orville. “Why would you bother the Aldens with tricks?”

“I thought they were buying the camp,” André replied. “We heard in town a family with four children wanted to buy Broken Moon Pond. This camp has always been in your family. It should not be sold.”

“So you tried to discourage the buyers,” said Orville. “Only you ‘scared' the wrong family!”

“I thought the villagers were protecting ‘tree house man,'” Jessie said to Orville. “When they saw you outside the sugar hut, they were startled. They acted like
they
had seen a ghost.”

“It has been many years since I was here last,” said Orville. “The people of Nibelle are proud of my work as a naturalist.”

“They probably feel Broken Moon Pond is rightfully yours,” Grandfather agreed.

“Who else was in on this scheme?” Orville asked André.

“Claude, at the general store,” André answered. “He pretended not to speak English when the children were in his shop. Also Berthilde at the café. She gave the Aldens bad service and then told them the camp was haunted.”

“You should be ashamed!” Orville said. “I will straighten this out with the Anderson family. But I can't walk on this ankle yet. Could they come here?”

The Anderson children fetched their parents. Orville and André explained the situation and apologized on behalf of Nibelle.

“If the villagers are this loyal, they must be great people,” said Mr. Anderson. “We still want to buy the camp.”

“Wonderful,” said Orville. “I ask only one thing — that I be allowed to visit my tree house whenever I can.”

“We wouldn't even have known about the tree house if the Alden children hadn't found it,” said Mrs. Anderson.

“My grandchildren have a way of finding things,” said Grandfather affectionately. “Especially mysteries!”

 

The sun shone brightly the next morning, melting the snow. It would be a great day for the sugar festival.

Orville had stayed with the Aldens the night before. His ankle was better and he rode with them to Nibelle.

The narrow streets were jammed with booths and people. Balloons bobbled from every lamppost.

“I'm entering the log-sawing contest!” Henry said.

“I'll enter the pancake-flipping contest,” said Grandfather. “They are using snow shovels to flip the pancakes! That ought to be a challenge!”

Benny found his own contest.