The Canoe Trip Mystery (8 page)

When she began to calm down, the sheriff said, “I'm going to have to ask you some more questions.” He pulled out his notebook. Angela nodded and gulped.

“I stole Mr. Withington's collection,” she began in a low quavery voice. “Matt—Mr. Withington's chauffeur—and I had planned the robbery for a long time.” Angela sniffed and blew her nose.

“So you are Eliza Fallon,” Rob said.

Angela nodded. “Yes, that's a made-up name. My real name is Angela Tripp.”

“How did the coins end up in the woods?” the sheriff asked.

Angela sighed and hugged Jessie's sleeping bag more tightly around her shoulders. “Matt helped me steal the coins,” she began. “I hid them in the woods and wrote a riddle on the big boulder as a signal. Matt and his brother Bill were to find the coins and smuggle them out of the country.”

“Why did you split up like that?” Jessie couldn't resist asking.

“We didn't want anybody to know wewere in this robbery together,” Angela said.

Rob scratched his red beard. “What went wrong?” he asked.

Angela frowned. “Matt and I were supposed to get married. A few months after the burglary, we had a big fight and broke off our engagement.” Angela stopped talking and dabbed her eyes with one of Jessie's tissues.

“So you didn't want Matt and Bill to find the coins?” the sheriff asked.

“No.” Angela shook her head forcefully. “I did everything I could to scare them away. I made sure Matt and Bill pitched their tent in poison ivy,” she said proudly.

“It worked,” Henry said. “The last time we saw them, they both had pretty bad cases.”

Angela couldn't help smiling a little.

“Did you try to scare us too?” Benny blurted. He'd been waiting for the right moment to ask Angela about the wolf.

“Yes,” Angela nodded. She looked very tired. “I made a tape of wolf calls to scare campers away. I also made lots of campfiresat odd hours and I even shined a light in your tent one night, Jessie.” Angela sighed heavily before continuing. “I even dug a hole near your tent, Rob.”

Rob looked down at his ankle. “It seems to be getting better,” was all he said. He exchanged glances with the sheriff.

“I'm afraid you'll have to come with me.” The sheriff led Angela away.

CHAPTER 11

Mr. Withington

T
he following day, Grandfather drove the family station wagon up a long, winding gravel driveway. Ahead, the Aldens could see a very large brick house with white shutters.

A maid met them at the door. She led them to a comfortable living room with a large bay window overlooking a rose garden. A kind-looking gentleman greeted them.

“I'm so happy you came.” Mr. Withington shook Grandfather's hand warmly. “Rob told me so much about your family.”

Mr. Withington turned to Henry, Jessie, Violet, Benny, and Aunt Jane. “I can't thank you enough for finding my coin collection. It really means so much to me.” He beamed at all the Aldens.

Benny was busy looking at a large tray with a chocolate layer cake and strawberries on it. Suddenly, the doorbell rang again. A moment later, the maid came in with Rob.

After greeting everyone, Rob helped himself to some tea from the silver tea set on the piano. Mr. Withington sat in a comfortable armchair by the fireplace. The others settled themselves around him.

Rob reached in his jacket and brought out the leather pouch of coins. “Here they are,” he said, handing them to Mr. Withington.

Mr. Withington accepted the coins gratefully, but he looked a little sad just the same. “I still can't really believe Eliza and Matt were responsible for all of this.”

“Yes, unfortunately they were.” Rob looked sad, too. “They planned this robbery long before they started working here.They're both wanted for burglary in other states.”

“I wonder why they left the coins in the woods in the first place,” Jessie said as she helped herself to some lemonade the maid brought.

“They wanted to hide them until all the publicity had died down a bit,” Rob explained.

“If Angela knew where the coins were, why didn't she just take them out of their hiding place in the woods after Matt and she broke up?” Henry asked.

“It's almost impossible to travel to Timberwolf Lake in the winter,” Rob explained. Mr. Withington nodded. “They had to wait until the spring before they could go and get the coins.

“Besides, Angela is the type of person who likes to play games. She liked the idea of scaring Matt almost as much as she wanted the coins,” Rob said.

“She sure did a good job scaring us, too,” Benny mentioned. He took the big glass ofmilk the maid handed him. His glass had little red canoes all over it.

Mr. Withington opened the pouch of coins and spread them out on the coffee table in front of him. Violet picked up a pretty silver coin with a willow tree on it and held it up to the light.

“That was one of the first coins to be minted in the colonies,” Mr. Withington explained to her.

Violet smiled at him. “You know,” she said, turning to Rob, “I still don't understand how Angela had time to steal all our canoe equipment at the bunkhouse.”

“She moved very quickly. She saw you arrive in the canoe and stole everything before she even went to the bunkhouse to meet you.” Rob had picked up a large gold doubloon and was examining it.

“She must have thought her job was over with Matt and Bill off the trail,” Mr. Withington remarked.

“Yes, she never dreamed she'd have so many people to scare off, this early in the canoeing season. That was the trouble. She had no time to take the coins out of their hiding place. She never thought some children would be able to find them.” Rob smiled at the Aldens.

“What about the attempted robbery in the local museum?” Grandfather wondered. He poured more milk into his tea.

“Oh, Angela did that, too,” Rob said. “She thought they might have some rare colonial coins that would add to the value of Mr. Withington's collection.”

“Goodness, she thought of almost everything,” Mr. Withington said.

“Yes, she even knew where Matt and Bill were. We picked them up this morning. They're still itching from their poison ivy,” Rob chuckled.

“Will we ever get our camping equipment back?” Benny asked.

“I'm afraid it sank with Angela's canoe,” Rob said.

Mr. Withington cleared his throat. “I'm planning to replace the equipment you lost,” he said. “It's the least I could do.”

“Thank you, Mr. Withington.” Violet beamed.

“Ernie will thank you, too,” Henry said, smiling.

“Now, why don't you all have something to eat, if you're hungry,” Mr. Withington said.

“Oh, I'm always hungry,” Benny said. He helped himself to some chocolate cake and took a big bite. “You know, the hot dogs on the trail were good,” he said. “But this is much better!”

Everyone laughed.

About the Author

G
ERTRUDE
C
HANDLER
W
ARNER
discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book,
The Boxcar Children,
quickly proved she had succeeded.

Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car—the situation the Alden children find themselves in.

When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner's books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens' independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible—something else that delights young readers.

Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.

The Boxcar Children Mysteries

T
HE
B
OXCAR
C
HILDREN

S
URPRISE
I
SLAND

T
HE
Y
ELLOW
H
OUSE
M
YSTERY

M
YSTERY
R
ANCH

M
IKE'S
M
YSTERY

B
LUE
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AY
M
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T
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W
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M
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T
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L
IGHTHOUSE
M
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M
OUNTAIN
T
OP
M
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S
CHOOLHOUSE
M
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C
ABOOSE
M
YSTERY

H
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M
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S
NOWBOUND
M
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T
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M
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B
ICYCLE
M
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M
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S
AND

M
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W
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B
US
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