The Mandie Collection (30 page)

“I wonder how it got here,” Joe said, looking around the edge of the water.

“I wonder where the dress is,” Sallie said.

“Someone probably put it on and wore it,” Dimar ventured.

“And lost the sash,” Celia added. “How could anyone lose a sash and not know it?”

“That would be easy if it came untied and you didn't know.” Mandie held Snowball tightly with one hand while she put the sash in her apron pocket.

Joe looked puzzled. “I wonder why your Uncle John didn't mention this tunnel.”

“He said he hadn't been in the mine—that it was closed when he was a child, and he hired those men to open it. So he wouldn't have known it was here,” Mandie replied.

“But the workmen would,” Dimar surmised.

“And they would have thought Mr. Shaw knew it was there,” Joe reasoned.

“Yes,” Hilda agreed.

Surprised, everyone turned to look at her. The girl smiled and hung her head as she clung to Dimar's hand.

“Hilda, you are improving all the time,” Mandie told her.

“That is because I am teaching her,” Dimar said with a smile.

“Then you'd better keep on teaching her,” Joe stated.

“I plan to,” Dimar replied.

“Whew! I'm starving!” Celia announced. “And I ate a big meal at noon.”

“Me too,” Mandie said, heading back toward the tunnel. “Let's go to the house and get something to eat. It must be time for tea by now.”

“Are we going back through that tunnel?” Celia asked.

“Sure. We came through it all right, didn't we?” Mandie walked to the entrance.

Joe pointed to his left. “Look! There's a pile of timbers behind those bushes over there.”

The others stopped to look.

Dimar examined the boards. “It does not look like new wood,” he remarked.

“No, it's probably been here a long time,” Mandie agreed.

“All right. Is everybody ready?” Joe lighted the lantern again to go back through the tunnel, and Dimar did the same.

Back inside the mine, Mandie stooped to pick up a handful of gravel and let it trickle through her fingers. “As soon as Uncle John shows us how to do it, we'll begin looking for rubies,” she said. “It's hard to believe that such beautiful gems hide in dirt like this.”

Her friends all stooped to examine the gravel beneath their feet.

“But that is where they come from,” Dimar said. “This man who wants to buy the mine from your uncle must think there are rubies in this mine.”

“Yes, I suppose he does, but I don't know anything about him. I think when he was a boy he used to work here with his father,” Mandie replied.

“I've been thinking about that, too, Mandie,” Joe said, running his fingers through the dirt. “That man must know something about this mine. He must think that it's valuable in some way, or he wouldn't be wanting to put out good money to buy it.”

“I know, but Uncle John hasn't told me anything about his dealings with him,” Mandie replied.

“He might have already been here and found some rubies,” Sallie suggested.

“I don't see how he could. It has been boarded up all these years,” Mandie replied.

“It is easy to tear down boards,” said Dimar.

“Oh, you're all making it a big mystery,” Celia said, sounding a little frightened. “Maybe there's nothing to it.”

“Does the man live near here?” Sallie asked.

“I don't know. All I know about him is what I said, that he used to work here when he was real young. Maybe he just wants the land to build on or something,” Mandie said.

“I do not think anyone would want to build on top of land that might have rubies in it,” stated Dimar, “but I am sure Mandie's uncle knows what he is doing.”

“You're right, Dimar,” Celia agreed. “All I know right now is that I'm hungry.”

“Me too,” said Joe. “Let's go.” As he led the way up the steps with the lantern, the others followed, and they raced back to the house on their ponies. Dimar, even though he was leading Hilda's pony, won the race, and Hilda seemed to enjoy the wild ride. Dimar grinned at the others as they caught up with him and Hilda at the gate to the Shaws' house.

“Dimar, we promised we would behave,” Mandie reminded him. “It's a wonder Hilda didn't fall off her pony, you were going so fast.”

Dimar gently helped Hilda down. “It was not so bad. I am teaching her to ride like a Cherokee.”

“Come on. Let's find the food,” Joe said, heading up the long walkway to the front door.

Liza, hearing them approaching, opened the door and waited for them.

“De tea, it be ready,” she told them. “Did y'all find any rubies?”

“No, Liza, we didn't even look. Uncle John has to show us how,” Mandie replied. “None of the grownups are here. Let's have tea in the sunroom.”

“All you has to do is dig in de dirt, and I'm sho' you knows how to dig in de dirt,” Liza insisted, following them to the sunroom.

Mandie thought for a moment and said, “I guess you're right, Liza. If the rubies are in the dirt, all we have to do is dig.”

Aunt Lou appeared at the doorway. “Liza, come here, git dis food,” she called.

Liza obeyed and came back with two large platters loaded with sweetcakes and other goodies. Setting it in the middle of the tea table, she went out and returned with the steaming teapot and cups and saucers.

The Negro girl stood back and surveyed the table as the young people poured the tea and quickly cleaned off the platters. “If dat ain't 'nuff to eat, I can git Jenny to send in mo,' ” Liza teased.

Everyone laughed.

“I think we'll be doing good to eat all this, Liza,” Mandie said. “After all, we have to save room for supper.”

“It certainly is a lot of food,” Sallie agreed.

“Dat's whut comes from bein' de richest man dis side o' Richmond. It means you kin have anything you wants to eat,” Liza said, dancing out of the room.

Everyone looked at each other and laughed.

“Let's go back to the mine after we eat and see if we can find some rubies in that dirt,” Celia suggested. “Like Liza said, all we have to do is dig.”

“All right,” Mandie agreed. “Whoever that dress belongs to might show up, too, looking for the sash.” She patted her apron pocket where she had put it.

“I refuse to get involved in another one of your adventures, Mandie,” Joe said. “I'll go back to the mine but only to look for rubies.”

“Well, that's what we're all going for,” Mandie insisted.

As soon as all the food was gone, the group rode back to the mine. They decided to enter by way of the tunnel they had found on their last trip. Riding around to the river side of the tunnel, they dismounted and looked for the entrance. They found it, but it was all boarded up.

“Now, how could that be?” Joe asked, exasperated. He beat on the timbers nailed over the tunnel entrance.

“I don't see how anyone could have closed that up so fast,” Mandie said.

“And who would do such a thing?” Sallie asked.

“Maybe it was the person that dress belonged to,” Mandie answered.

“Mandie! Stop that!” Joe sputtered. “That dress was in the farmhouse and not in this mine.”

“But we found the sash here, remember?” Celia defended her friend.

“Well, anyway, we'll have to go around to the other entrance to get inside the mine unless we want to tear all this down,” Joe decided.

“We have no tools for that,” Dimar reminded him.

“You're right, Dimar. We'll go around to the front.”

Riding around to the other entrance, they tied up their ponies, lighted the two lanterns and descended into the mine.

After the boys used the tools to loosen the dirt, they all scratched around in it for a long time, but they couldn't find anything that they thought might be rubies.

Tired and dirty, they returned to the house just in time to get cleaned up for supper. The adults had already come back.

Mandie related the day's events at the table. “Uncle John, did you know there was a tunnel in the mine that comes out by Rose Creek?” she asked.

Why, no, I don't know anything about a tunnel,” Uncle John replied.

Mandie related how they found the tunnel in the first place and then later found it all boarded up.

“Evidently someone else knows about it, too, if it was open to begin with and then closed when they returned,” Dr. Woodard remarked.

Uncle John turned to Uncle Ned. “Do you know anything about this?” he asked.

“Sad, bad mine,” the old Indian grunted. Then he went right on eating.

“Uncle Ned, I wish you would tell us whatever you know about the mine,” Uncle John told him.

“Put memory away,” Uncle Ned insisted.

Uncle John sighed and turned to Mrs. Taft. “You were living here in Franklin when I was a boy. Did you ever know anything about this mine?”

Mrs. Taft cleared her throat. “Nothing that I can think of, John.” She, too, went right on eating.

“I don't know what to think,” Uncle John said to Dr. Woodard.

“I don't either,” the doctor replied, “but I suppose the important thing is to get these young people started on their gem hunting and get it over with.”

“You're right,” Uncle John agreed. Turning to the young people, he said, “Tomorrow morning we'll take you to the mine and get you started on this mining expedition.”

Excited, the young people all spoke at once.

“But you are to be on constant watch for any strangers. Do you all understand that?” Uncle John asked.

“Yes, sir,” they chorused.

“John,” Elizabeth said quickly, “do you think they'll be safe there without any adults? With all these strange happenings, I'm not sure we should allow them to stay there without an adult present.”

“Well, since there are six of them, I imagine there is safety in numbers.” John winked at the young people. “I know I'd hate to come up against the lot of them.”

“I still don't know,” Elizabeth said uncertainly.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE WOMAN WITH THE DRESS

“Now, this is how you go about it,” Uncle John told the young people as they stood about in the ruby mine the next morning. “You have to get this pump going, like this, in order to get water into the trough.” He pumped the handle up and down, flooding the trough with water.

“Will the water stay in the trough?” Mandie asked, watching closely.

“For a while. It slowly runs out the end down there.” Uncle John pointed. “But it will stay long enough for you to get a sieveful of gravel washed. Then, if you pump like this, you will notice that the water flows back through the trough. In other words, you are reusing part of the water. Part of it is lost into that trench over there, which becomes a stream as you fill it with water, and then it will flow out to Rose Creek and into the river.”

Uncle Ned stood by, silently disapproving of the whole operation.

Dr. Woodard watched. “And you must not pump too fast or the trough will overflow, and you'll get all wet,” he reminded them.

“What about the gravel? Won't the trough get full of gravel when we wash a lot of it?” Joe asked.

“No, not if you do it right,” Uncle John replied. “You see, you fill the sieve only partially full of gravel, like this, and dip it into the
water without turning it sideways so you won't tilt the gravel out into the trough. The water comes up into the sieve through the bottom and washes the gravel. The tiny particles that are small enough to go through the wire in the bottom of the sieve will go on into the water. But those aren't important. They will all wash away. If you find any rubies, they will be in larger pieces.”

“Joe, dig some gravel to put in the sieve,” Dr. Woodard told his son. Joe took the shovel and loosened some dirt and gravel as the others watched.

Uncle John held out the sieve. “Now put enough in this sieve to fill it about half full,” he instructed.

Joe did as he was told.

Uncle John turned back to the water trough with the sieve and lowered it straight down into the water without tilting it. The water washed over the gravel, and the tiny particles floated away. He shook the sieve and then set it on the edge of the trough. Running his fingers through the washed gravel, he stirred it around.

The young people watched breathlessly.

“Any rubies?” Celia asked.

“I'm afraid not. It's all rock,” Uncle John replied, looking closely at what was left. Then he straightened up. “That's all there is to it,” he said.

“But what do we do with what's left in the sieve?” Mandie asked.

“Oh, that. You just dump it over there somewhere away from wherever you want to dig. Otherwise, you'll be digging up the same gravel again,” he explained.

“This is going to be a very interesting experience,” Dimar remarked. “Perhaps I will find a ruby.”

“Remember to look at everything very closely,” Dr. Woodard cautioned. “I've told you what a ruby should look like. It will be dark and rough, and you could easily mistake it for an ordinary rock,” he said.

“Are we staying all day?” Celia asked.

“No, you must come home to eat at noon. That way we'll know you are all right,” Uncle John replied.

“But we can come back here after we eat, can't we?” Mandie asked.

“I suppose so—if you're not too tired after all the work you're going to do,” Uncle John teased. “Whoever does the digging is going to be worn out.”

“We can all do our own digging. There are enough tools over there for all of us,” Mandie decided.

Uncle John took a step backward. “Dr. Woodard, Uncle Ned, and I have somewhere we have to go,” he informed them. “We're going to leave you here, so please be careful. Don't get too close to each other when you're digging or someone could be hit,” he warned. “I'm depending on you all to act like the intelligent young people I know you to be.”