Houseboat Mystery Read online

  “That’s probably why that other family named this boat The Blue Heron,” said Benny. “Maybe they saw a lot of blue herons.”

  In a little while the Aldens began to put things away. Jessie put the food on the shelf. She came back on the deck to get the box of salt. Just as she picked it up, a bird flew right in front of her.

  “Oh!” cried Jessie, jumping back. The salt slipped out of her hand and rolled along the deck, over the edge, and into the water.

  “Oh, how could I?” said Jessie. “Now we haven’t any salt. And we must have salt.”

  Grandfather said, “Don’t worry, Jessie. We’ll just watch for Second Landing and get another box of salt.”

  In about half an hour Benny called out, “There it is. That must be Second Landing.”

  “Yes,” said Henry. “And it looks as if there are several buildings there.”

  Henry poled The James H. Alden up to the dock. The Aldens remembered what Mr. Rivers had said. They locked the houseboat, windows and all. Henry made sure it was tied up safely and the anchor dropped.

  As usual, Benny was in a hurry. He was the first one on the dock and the first one on the narrow path. As he went through the bushes, he didn’t see a stone in his way and tripped over it and fell. When he stood up, he was covered with dirt and grass stains.

  Jessie brushed him off and said, “Well, I guess I’ll have to wash these clothes, Ben. When we get back to the houseboat, you pull up a pail of water from the river.”

  Violet added, “You can put on your swimsuit while your clothes dry. We can hang them on that little clothesline on the houseboat.”

  “Oh,” said Benny, “that’s a lot of work. I don’t care much how I look.”

  “Yes, Ben, we know that,” said Henry with a smile.

  “There’s your store,” said Benny, pointing. A sign said, “Eric A. Martin, Groceries.”

  The whole family went into the store. “I need a box of salt,” Jessie told the man behind the counter. “Ours rolled overboard.”

  The man laughed and took some salt off the shelf. “Are you the folks in the Rivers houseboat?” he asked.

  “That’s right,” said Violet. “How did you guess?”

  “Almost everyone forgets something or loses something,” said Mr. Martin. “They come in here because it’s the first place to stop.”

  Henry asked, “Do you have any clothesline?”

  Everybody stared at Henry. Jessie said, “There’s a fine clothesline on the boat, Henry.”

  Mr. Martin said, “Yes, I have two kinds. Cotton and plastic.”

  “I think I want cotton,” said Henry. “It’s softer.”

  “Yes, it is softer and it stretches more,” Mr. Martin agreed.

  “Good,” said Henry, looking at the bunch of line. “Not too many feet in one bunch. I’ll have to take two. I want a ball of string, too, please.”

  “What in the world do you want with two bunches of clothesline and a ball of string?” asked Jessie.

  “Secret,” replied Henry. “I don’t want to tell because I may not have good luck.”

  “Oh, you will, Henry,” said Benny. “I know you. You must have a secret idea.”

  “Let’s buy some bananas,” said Jessie. “They’re a good dessert, and there’s no cooking.”

  Mr. Martin nodded. “Yes, you must have everything shipshape on a boat. You can’t cook too many things.”

  Violet was looking out of the window. She said, “Grandfather, there’s a restaurant on the other side of the street.” “It’s a good one, too,” said Mr. Martin. “Very good food.”

  Violet went on, “It’s almost noon. I think it would save time to eat lunch here. We have so much to do on the boat.”

  “Good!” said Grandfather. “We’ll do that.”

  The Aldens said good-bye to Mr. Martin and walked across the street with their groceries.

  There were only two men in the restaurant, having lunch. They sat off in one corner. The Aldens sat down at a big table on the other side of the room.

  The food was excellent, and they all chose ice cream for dessert.

  “Noice cream for a while,” said Jessie. “It won’t stay frozen on a houseboat.”

  Benny and Grandfather were facing the two men. Benny looked at them and decided he didn’t like them. He didn’t really know why, so he said nothing.

  Mr. Alden looked at the strangers, too. He thought, “I wonder what they are talking about. It seems to be nothing good.”

  This was such a small restaurant that a husband and wife ran it alone. The man was the cook and his wife was the waitress.

  Benny noticed the woman as she came out of the kitchen. She went over to the table where the two men sat. She asked, “Do you want more coffee?”

  One of the men said, “Yes, I’d like some more.”

  But when the waitress put down the cup, Benny saw her slip a small envelope under the saucer. Then she looked back toward the kitchen where her husband was. But the man was too busy to notice. He went on cooking.

  The man at the table put the envelope into his pocket and tried to smile at the woman. But it was not a real smile. The waitress walked quickly over to the Aldens’ table.

  The men kept their heads down as they talked in low voices. When the Aldens started to go out, Benny heard one man say roughly to the other, “What do you mean—find out? Nobody has found out yet. And it’s three years.”

  When the Aldens were in the street, Benny said, “I don’t like those men in there.”

  Henry looked at his brother and said, “What’s the matter, Ben? You always like everybody.”

  “Well, I don’t like them,” said Benny. “That’s for sure. You were sitting with your back to them. You didn’t see them. What do you think, Grandfather?”

  “I agree with you perfectly, Benny,” said Mr. Alden. “I didn’t like them either. They are up to no good.”

  “Well, we’ll never see them again,” said Jessie, “and I’m glad.”

  The Aldens started back toward the houseboat. Benny looked back at the restaurant and stopped suddenly. He could just see the front part of an expensive black car parked a little beyond the restaurant.

  “I’ve seen that car before,” Benny thought to himself. Then he knew! It was the heavy black car that had almost hit them the day before!

  “Two men in a hurry,” he thought. He decided to say nothing right away.

  By now the Aldens had reached the houseboat. “It seems like home already,” said Violet.

  Benny said, “Now don’t drop the salt again, Jessie.”

  Jessie got the salt safely aboard. Benny carried the clothesline and string for Henry. Mr. Alden and Henry untied the boat, and Henry poled it out into the middle of the stream. It floated beautifully, and yet it went slowly.

  Benny asked Henry, “Are you going to tell your secret now, Henry?”

  “No, but I’m going to work on it. We’ll need it very soon. You can guess if you want to.”

  Just then Jessie said, “Benny, change your clothes and I’ll wash your things out.”

  “Oh, let’s watch Henry first,” Benny answered.

  Jessie herself wanted to watch when Henry brought his clothesline on the deck and began to measure it. He made many long loops. Then he laid the middle of each loop on the deck and crossed it with another rope. He tied this place together with string.

  “What in the world!” said Violet. “Are you making a chair seat?”

  Henry looked at his sister in astonishment. “How did you ever guess?” he said. “It doesn’t look like anything so far.”

  “You mean I’m right?” asked Violet. “I was only guessing.”

  “Well, you guessed right,” said Henry. He crossed another line and tied it.

  “Why do we need another chair seat?” asked Benny. “We’ve got enough chairs, and someone can always lie down.”

  “This is different,” said Henry. He tied the last cord. What he had made looked like a square piece of net w
ith very long ends. “Remember that big hook on the back of the boat? But wait. I’ll put on my swimming trunks first. You change, too, Benny.”

  When the boys came back, the family went down to the rear deck. Henry hung the loops on the hook so that the seat was over the water. He made a fine dive off the boat. He swam back and came up beside the new chair seat.

  But when Henry got into the seat, it began to go down, down, down! The ropes stretched so much that Henry was soon up to his neck in water.

  Everyone began to laugh. “A joke on me,” said Henry. “I thought I could sit in this seat and wash Benny’s clothes. Then we wouldn’t have to take all that water on board.”

  “It’s a good idea, though,” said Mr. Alden quickly. “Maybe you can still make it work. Make the loops shorter.”

  “You’re too heavy, Henry,” said Benny.

  Then Violet said, “Maybe I’m not. Let me do the laundry!” She went inside and put on her swimsuit. Henry climbed out of the seat and Violet climbed in. There she sat, just up to her waist in the river.

  “Good for you,” said Mr. Alden. “Too bad there isn’t any laundry.”

  “Oh, but there is,” said Violet. “Benny, just hand down your shirt and shorts and the cake of soap.”

  “You can’t hold the soap,” called Benny. “What will you do with it?”

  “Well,” said Violet looking around at the water, “put the soap dish on the deck and I’ll put the soap in it every time I use it.”

  She soaped Benny’s clothes and rubbed and rinsed them in the river.

  “Pass them up to me, Violet,” said Jessie. “I’ll hang them on the real clothesline. There’s nothing so homelike as having washing on the line.”

  Then they all went swimming. The water was cool and lovely. Even Mr. Alden was floating beside the boat.

  “This is the nicest place,” said Benny. “If you want to go swimming, just jump out the window.”

  After their swim, the Aldens were glad to sit on the deck. Everyone was so hungry that they had supper at five o’clock.

  Henry took his last bite and said, “I think we should find a place for the night before it gets any darker.”

  “You and Benny find one,” said Jessie. “Violet and I will wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen.”

  “Galley, not kitchen,” said Mr. Alden. And after that it was always the galley.

  The boys found a fine place to stay for the night, where the branches of the trees hung over the houseboat. They left the windows open, but locked the doors.

  In his bunk, Benny turned this way and that. He could not get to sleep. He kept remembering those two men in the restaurant and the little envelope and the big black car parked outside.

  CHAPTER 3

  Trouble Brewing

  The first morning on The James H. Alden was bright and sunny. As soon as Benny was dressed he climbed up the ladder to change the name of the boat to The Henry J. Alden.

  “This boat is all yours, captain,” he called to Henry as he came down again.

  Henry went out on the deck to look. He began to laugh. “You did well, mate,” Henry said. “Come and see for yourself.”

  Benny looked up and began to laugh, too. The name was nedlA .J yrneH ehT!

  “Well, it looked okay to me,” Benny said, climbing up the ladder again. “But it’s backwards to everyone else.” He soon changed the letters to read the right way.

  Jessie was in the galley looking out the window. “It’s so cool and pleasant on this boat,” she said. “I suppose it’s because we’re on the water. Oh, the boat is moving sideways!”

  “Don’t worry, Jessie,” said Henry. “Mr. Rivers said it doesn’t do any harm. The boat will straighten out by itself or I can pole it back.”

  Henry did not need to pole the houseboat. It soon turned slowly by itself.

  Henry went inside the cabin. He looked up and said, “Look, there’s a fishing pole up there and a fishnet with a long handle. I think I’ll go fishing.”

  “Not a very good day for fishing, Henry,” said Benny. “The sun is too bright.”

  “It’s okay, Ben,” said Henry. “I think I’ll try my luck anyway.” Henry took down the pole and fishnet and looked at the line and hook.

  “What are you going to use for bait, Henry?” asked Benny.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Henry. “This is one time I have to use what we’ve got.”

  Benny thought a minute. Then he said, “Didn’t we see a lot of little minnows yesterday? Maybe we could catch some of them in that net.”

  “Good for you, Ben!” said Henry. “Minnows are the best bait of all. They swim near the shore, where the water isn’t so deep. I’ll pole in nearer.”

  Both boys began to pole. When they reached shallow water, they looked over the side. Sure enough, they saw hundreds of minnows swimming around.

  “This is easy!” said Benny. He bent over with the net and pulled up a lot of the tiny fish.

  “Now we’re all set,” said Henry. He poled back into the deeper water. He set two chairs on the rear deck. Then he put a tiny minnow on his hook. He threw the fishline out over the water and sat down with the heavy pole. Benny sat down beside him. The boat floated gently along. Everything was quiet.

  Grandfather and Violet went out to the front deck. They smiled at each other. Violet said, “I wouldn’t count on having fish for lunch today.”

  Mr. Alden nodded. “I’m afraid you’re right if you mean fish from the river. But Jessie can give us tuna fish.”

  Just then Jessie came out on the deck to watch the river with Violet and Grandfather.

  “This is the most peaceful trip we’ve ever had,” Jessie said.

  Mr. Alden, sitting in a deck chair, said, “Yes, it is.”

  A half hour passed.

  Benny chattered away to his brother. The sun shone hotter than ever. Nothing happened. Not one fish had pulled at Henry’s line.

  “I was afraid of this,” said Henry. “I’m not even sure there are any fish in this river.”

  “There must be some fish, Henry,” said Benny. “If there weren’t any, this boat wouldn’t have had a fishing pole on it. I wish we had two poles.”

  “Here, Benny, you take this one,” said Henry. He handed the pole to his brother. “We can take turns catching nothing.”

  Benny took the pole. He could see the line and the minnow still in the water.

  Jessie and Violet came over to see how the fishing was going. They were both smiling.

  Benny turned around with a frown on his face. “We’re not doing too well,” he said. “But you have to have patience when you’re fishing.” Then suddenly something pulled at his line.

  “I’ve got you, old boy!” he called to the fish. He pulled in the line and found a big silver fish caught on the hook.

  “A bass!” said Henry. “Don’t lose him, Ben! He can flop back.”

  Benny was quick. He jerked the fish over the railing and it lay on the deck, flapping wildly. Suddenly a great cloud of gulls flew over the boat, calling and screaming.

  “You can’t have my fish!” Benny shouted to the birds. “How did you find out I caught a fish, anyway?”

  It was a real mystery. One minute not a gull was in sight. The next minute, there were over a hundred. Gulls sat on the top of the boat and along the sides. They were not a bit afraid. They flew around and around looking for food.

  Benny carried his fish safely inside the galley.

  Jessie said, “The gulls are so beautiful. It’s too bad not to feed them. Wait. Here’s a piece of banana skin. They might like that.” She threw it over the water as far as she could. A gull caught it in his bill. She threw another.

  Henry laughed, “Well, I guess gulls will eat anything.”

  Benny brought some bread crusts out of the galley. Each time he threw one over the side of the boat, a gull snapped it up before it landed in the water.

  Henry went inside and came out with his camera. “That ought to make a pretty pi
cture,” he said. “You two pretty girls throwing rubbish at the gulls.”

  They all laughed.

  When Henry looked at Benny’s fish, he said, “It’s a big bass. It is plenty big enough to feed this family. I’ll clean it for you, Ben. The gulls can have the head and tail for dessert.”

  After a delicious lunch, Jessie said, “Oh, dear! We’ll have to stop again for ice and milk.”

  Mr. Alden said, “I want to mail my letters, too.”

  Henry began to watch for a landing place.

  At Pomfret Landing Jessie said, “Let’s go to the post office first and get the ice and milk last. Then the ice won’t melt.”

  The Henry J. Alden was soon locked up, anchored, and tied. The family walked down the path from the dock to the small town.

  All at once they saw a familiar black car roaring down the main street. It was soon out of sight.

  “It’s that black car again!” Benny cried. The Aldens saw that it was the same car that had almost hit their car on River Road. And Benny remembered that he had seen it parked near the restaurant where they had stopped for lunch the day before.

  “Whoever drives that car always seems to be in such a hurry!” said Jessie.

  “I wonder whose car it is,” said Henry. “It certainly doesn’t belong in a small town like Pomfret Landing.”

  “Well, maybe we can find out just who does own that car,” Grandfather said.

  The Aldens walked up the main street to the post office. As they opened the door, the man behind the counter was saying, “Here’s your stamp, Mrs. Young.”

  The little lady, who was wearing a black dress, put down her money and took the stamp.

  The Aldens watched politely, but the lady did not look up. She slipped out of the door like a shadow.

  Mr. Alden bought a sheet of airmail stamps, some stamped envelopes, and some postcards.

  Benny said, “I guess the lady who just left doesn’t write many letters. She only bought one stamp.”

  “That’s right,” said the clerk. “Mrs. Young isn’t exactly poor, but she has a lot of trouble. She and her son live with her sister up the street. They own a candy store.”