The Mandie Collection (31 page)

“Thank you, Mr. Shaw,” said Dimar.

“We will be careful,” Sallie assured him.

As the men started to leave, Uncle Ned took Mandie's hand. “Papoose, be careful,” he cautioned.

“I will, Uncle Ned,” Mandie promised. Then turning to Uncle John, she said, “We'll bring home all the rubies we find.” She laughed.

Uncle John winked. “Yes, you be sure to do that.”

As the men left, the young people made a dash for the tools.

“I think I'll use a hoe,” Mandie stated, taking a long-handled one. “It might be easier to handle than a pick.”

The others chose various hoes, shovels, and picks and scattered about in the mine, beginning their task.

Dimar took Hilda over to the far side and showed her how to use a hoe. “Dig. Like this,” he explained, digging into the dirt.

Hilda watched and then took the hoe to imitate him. She laughed and kept digging away.

Dimar moved away from her for fear of being hit and began his own search.

They all rushed to see who could get a sieve of gravel to wash first. Uncle John had provided sieves for each of them, and there was a lot of splashing and excitement as they washed the gravel and searched for something that might look like a ruby.

“Oh! Is this one?” Celia cried, holding up a dark-colored rock she had washed.

The others crowded close to examine it.

“It looks like just an old rock to me,” Mandie said.

“Yeah, it's just a rock,” Joe agreed.

“Oh well, there are lots more,” Celia said, dumping the contents of her sieve in the pile of discarded gravel in the corner.

“Yes, there are more than we can ever sift through,” Sallie remarked as she continued digging.

“I wish it was summertime and school was out, so we could have more time. We might find something then,” said Mandie.

“But your Uncle John will be selling the mine by then,” Celia reminded her.

“Yes, and that other man may be getting a rich mine. We will never know because we do not have time to do much,” Dimar said as he looked over at Hilda digging away in the corner.

“Hey, less talk and more work, or we'll never get done,” Joe called loudly.

“Joe is right. We must concentrate on what we are doing, or we may overlook a ruby,” Sallie agreed, bending to fill her sieve.

Hilda stopped digging and stooped to examine the gravel, jabbering incoherently.

Everyone looked over at her.

“What is it, Hilda?” Mandie asked, hurrying to her side.

Hilda pointed to what looked like a piece of broken pottery sticking out of the ground. Mandie bent to pick it up, but Hilda snatched it and quickly put it in her apron pocket. When the others crowded around, Hilda kept her hand tightly over her pocket and backed away.

“What is it, Mandie?” Celia asked.

“It looked like a piece of broken pottery, but it was so dirty I'm not sure,” Mandie replied.

“Hilda, will you let us see what you found?” Dimar asked, approaching her cautiously.

Hilda backed away quickly and kept her hand over her pocket.

“It's all right, Hilda. Go ahead and dig. You may find something else,” Mandie told the girl.

As the others went back to their digging, Hilda finally picked up her hoe and moved over to a corner by herself to resume digging.

“Well, at least someone found something,” Joe said.

The morning slipped away rapidly, and no one else found anything. But the girls' aprons had become very soiled, and everyone's shoes were full of dirt.

‘Whew!” Mandie said, standing on one foot to empty the dirt out of her shoe. “It must be time to go eat.”

“Not tired, are you?” Joe asked, pausing to wipe a dirty hand across his face.

“Not until I stop,” Mandie said. “As long as I am digging, I don't think about being tired.”

Celia tried to shake the dirt off her apron. “I sure need a bath,” she said.

“Do you think we can get cleaned up enough to be allowed to sit at the table and eat?” Sallie laughed.

“I think so,” Mandie replied.

“Maybe this afternoon we will find a ruby,” Dimar remarked. “Maybe we will find several rubies.”

“Yes,” Hilda spoke up.

When they returned for the noon meal, Elizabeth met them at the door and quickly looked them over. “I suppose you're not as dirty as I thought you would be,” she said. “Get washed now and get to the table.”

“Oh, what fun it was, Mother!” Mandie exclaimed as the young people filed into the hallway.

“But no rubies yet,” Joe added.

“Of course not.” Uncle John spoke up from the doorway to the parlor. “You couldn't have that much luck,” he laughed.

“Hilda did find something,” Celia said, turning to the girl who was hovering at the edge of the group. “Show us what you found, Hilda.”

Hilda backed off, keeping her hand on the pocket of her apron.

“I think it was only a piece of a broken bowl,” Mandie said.

“All right. Get washed, all of you—and hurry,” Elizabeth told them. As they scampered in different directions to wash, Mandie took charge of Hilda. “Come on, Hilda. We've got to wash so we can eat,” she said.

When they all returned to the dining room, the young people ate as though they were starved to death. The morning's exercise had whetted their appetites.

Mrs. Taft stopped eating and watched them. “You all must be in a big hurry to get back to that digging,” she said.

“Oh, yes, Grandmother,” Mandie replied.

Hilda shook her head violently.

Dimar spoke to her gently. “Do you not want to go back to the mine and dig with us?” he asked.

Hilda shook her head again.

Grandmother Taft smiled at Hilda. “That's all right,” she said. “She can stay here with us older folks this time.”

Mandie wondered why Hilda suddenly didn't want to go back, but she also felt a little relieved. “Are you going this afternoon, Uncle Ned?” she asked the Indian, who had been silent during the meal.

“Not today. Later,” he replied.

“We have guests coming this afternoon,” Uncle John explained, “and we want Uncle Ned to meet them.”

“That's all right. We'll be fine,” Mandie assured the old Indian. But she continued watching him. He seemed to be in bad spirits and wasn't joining in the conversation. Actually, Grandmother Taft acted as though she had a secret, too. Perhaps they were involved in some kind of conspiracy. Mandie was anxious to find out what it was.

Elizabeth looked around the table and saw that all the young people had finished eating. “You may go now,” she said. “But please be careful.”

“And remember. You must all be back here before the sun goes down,” Mrs. Woodard reminded them.

The young people scrambled to their feet.

“I wish you could go, Uncle Ned,” Mandie urged, stopping by his chair as she left the room.

“Later, Papoose. I promise,” Uncle Ned said, squeezing her hand. “If Papoose get in trouble, I will go.”

Mandie didn't understand what he meant, but since the others were leaving, she released Uncle Ned's wrinkled hand and hurried from the room.

As they guided their ponies back toward the mine, Mandie called to the others, “Let's go down by the river first and see if that tunnel is still closed.”

“I was going to suggest the same thing,” Joe called back.

They carefully made their way through the underbrush toward Rose Creek. As they came within sight of the end of the tunnel, they were amazed to see a man and a woman, carrying heavy bags, get into a boat.

“The dress! That woman is wearing that dress!” Mandie cried as she raced her pony forward. She squinted but she couldn't see their
faces. By the time the young people got to the creek bank, the man and woman had rowed far out into the water.

Mandie put her hands on her hips. “Of all things! Get this close and still not close enough!”

“They probably are carrying gems from your uncle's mine in those bags,” said Dimar.

Joe laughed. “In those bags? We dug all morning and couldn't find a single stone, and you think they had bags full of them?”

“Of course. That is why we cannot find any. They got them all,” Dimar replied.

Joe laughed again.

“I wonder who they are,” Sallie said as the boat moved out of sight around a bend. “Do you suppose the dress belongs to that woman or do you think she just found it in the farmhouse and put it on?”

“I sure would like to know. I still have the sash,” Mandie said, patting her apron pocket.

“Now we do have a mystery, don't we?” Celia said.

“And as far as I'm concerned, it's going to remain an unsolved mystery,” Joe declared. “Come on. Let's get busy.”

The entrance to the tunnel was still closed, so Joe led the way around to the front entrance of the mine. There they tied up their ponies and went down in to continue their work.

Although they worked hard that afternoon, digging and sifting gravel, they didn't find a single interesting thing. They checked the tunnel entrance several times to be sure the man and woman had not returned, but there was no sign of them.

The young people got home in plenty of time to bathe and change clothes before sundown.

As they all sat down to supper, Mandie could hardly wait to share her news about the strangers. “Uncle John, we saw a woman wearing that dress we found in your old house,” she began excitedly. “And there was a man with her. They got into a boat down by the end of the tunnel and disappeared.”

Elizabeth put down her fork. “What!” she exclaimed.

“You saw a woman wearing the dress you found?” Uncle John questioned her. “What did she look like?”

“We couldn't get close enough to tell. They were carrying some heavy bags. And the back entrance to the tunnel is still closed.”

“Seems like some shenanigans are going on down at that mine,” Dr. Woodard said.

Uncle Ned and Mrs. Taft leaned forward to listen.

Elizabeth looked worried. “Strangers at the mine? John, what is going on?” she asked.

“I don't know, dear,” he replied. “Something strange for sure.” Turning back to the young people, he asked, “Did none of you get close enough to see who they were, or what they looked like?”

There was a chorus of no's as the young people shook their heads.

“You'd better not go back to that mine again unless an adult is with you,” Elizabeth instructed. “We don't know who these people are.”

“Why get worried over a couple of strangers, Elizabeth?” Mrs. Taft asked. “There are strangers everywhere that we don't know.”

“Elizabeth is right,” John said. “It will be safer if they don't go back unless one of us is with them. That place is more or less isolated.”

Mandie turned to Uncle Ned, who had not said a word. “Uncle Ned, will you go with us tomorrow? Please?” Mandie begged.

The old Indian shook his head. “Sad, bad mine. Better Papoose not go.”

She looked at her uncle. “Uncle John, please go with us so we can go back tomorrow.”

“I can't tomorrow morning. I have something else to do. Maybe I can tomorrow afternoon,” he said.

“I am beginning to wonder if you should go back there at all, even with someone with you,” Mrs. Woodard cautioned. “We don't know who those people are.”

“I think it will be safe if we go with them,” Dr. Woodard replied.

“We'll be back before noon tomorrow, Mandie, and we'll go to the mine right after we eat,” Uncle John promised.

Mandie sighed. “Well, then, I suppose we'll have to wait until tomorrow afternoon,” she said, not realizing what lay ahead.

CHAPTER SIX

MANDIE AND JOE IN TROUBLE

The next morning was cool and cloudy, and when Mandie, Celia, and Sallie awoke, Hilda wasn't in her bed. Dressing quickly, the three girls ran down to Liza's room to see if Hilda was there. But Liza was already up, helping in the kitchen. There was no sign of Hilda.

“Liza, did Hilda sleep in your room last night?” Mandie asked as the girls entered the kitchen.

“Not so's I'd notice,” Liza replied. “Is dat girl missin' agin?” “Yes,” said Sallie. “Do you know where she might be?”

“Dat girl might be anywheres,” Liza answered with a sigh. “Guess we better start huntin.' ”

“Huntin' for what?” asked Joe as he and Dimar joined the girls in the kitchen.”

“For Hilda,” Mandie replied.

“She's missing again,” Celia added.

Joe shook his head. “I know you care a lot about her, Mandie, but sometimes . . .”

“I know what you mean,” Mandie admitted.

“We should look for her in the house first,” Dimar suggested.

“Right,” said Joe. “The five of us could search the whole house in a short time if we split up.”

In less than a half hour, the five young people had searched all three floors of the house, the secret tunnel, the stables, and everywhere else they could think of. But there was no sign of Hilda anywhere.

When they started questioning the servants, the servants all said they hadn't seen her since the night before—all except Jason Bond. He remembered seeing her very early that morning standing out by the gate.

“What was she doing out there?” Dimar asked.

“Just starin' into space,” the caretaker responded. “That's all.”

The men had already left for the morning, so when the young people told Elizabeth about Hilda's disappearance, she called the servants together and asked for their help in finding the girl.

“Oh, I feel so responsible,” said Mrs. Taft after the servants left on their search. “Maybe I shouldn't have brought her here.”

“Nonsense, Mother,” Elizabeth replied. “The servants will check with all the neighbors and some of our friends in town, and I even asked Jason Bond to see if she might have tried to find her way back to the mine.”