The Mandie Collection (57 page)

That night, when Uncle Ned came, Mandie tried to explain to him about the letters in the trunk. “You see, the letters don't have any names on them, and not even the year. They look so old and crumbly,” she said.

“Papoose, letters belong to someone. Papoose not get into business of other people. Other people be hurt if know Papoose find letters and read,” the old Indian cautioned her.

“We're not going to let anybody know about them,” Mandie said. “We haven't told anyone but you—not even my grandmother or Joe's father. We'd just like to solve the mystery. So will you come back tomorrow afternoon and go with Joe and me into the woods to look for that cabin mentioned in the letters?” she begged. “Please, Uncle Ned.”

“I come,” the old man said as he stood up. “I promise Jim Shaw I watch over Papoose. So I watch over Papoose in woods tomorrow. I wait by great trees in forest for Papoose and Doctor Son.”

“Thank you, Uncle Ned. Thank you.” Mandie rose to kiss the old man's withered cheek.

“I go now. Papoose go back to big house,” he told her.

Mandie ran across the grass in the moonlight, then turned to wave as she entered the back door of the house. Although she couldn't see him, she knew her Indian friend would wait in the shadows until she was safely inside.

Mandie hurried into the kitchen and pushed the bolt across the back door. Suddenly she heard faint footsteps coming down the servants' stairs. Ducking inside the huge pantry, she pulled the door almost shut and held her breath. Her heart pounded loudly.

She listened in fear as the footsteps continued across the kitchen floor. Then there was the click of the bolt as the door softly opened and closed. Whoever it was had gone outside.

Mandie raced up the stairs in the dark, rushed into her room, and ran to the window to look down into the yard. There was April Snow walking across the lawn, and she sat down on the very bench where Mandie had just been with Uncle Ned.

“That was a close call!” Mandie exclaimed in a whisper.

Celia rushed over to see what Mandie was looking at below. “She didn't see you, did she?” Celia whispered back.

“No, thank goodness,” Mandie replied softly, explaining what had happened. “She was about one minute too late.”

Since their window was open, both girls spoke quietly, knowing their voices might carry in the stillness of the night.

“I'd like to know what she's doing out there at this time of the night,” Mandie whispered.

“She's probably spying on you,” Celia said. “Remember that night she locked us out, and Aunt Phoebe had to use her key to let us back in? April knows you go out sometimes late at night, but she hasn't found out why yet.”

“I sure hope she never figures it out,” Mandie replied.

CHAPTER SIX

CABIN RUINS

The next morning Mandie and Celia encountered Miss Hope in the hallway.

Smiling, the schoolmistress smoothed a stray lock of hair into place. “Celia, we'll have another girl with us this afternoon when we go to the farm,” she said. “April Snow has asked permission to go.”

Celia and Mandie silently exchanged glances.

“Is something wrong, dears?” the woman asked.

“Oh, no, ma'am. We're fine,” Mandie replied. “We were just sort of surprised that April wants to go out into the country.”

“Surprised?” Miss Hope asked.

Celia fidgeted with the sash on her dress. “You know, we figured she was strictly a city girl,” she said.

“Well, yes, I thought so too. But when she heard me telling Uncle Cal to get the rig ready at two o'clock for Celia and me to go to the farm, she asked to go along,” Miss Hope explained. “Excuse me now. I must hurry. I have to teach this next class. I'll see you at two, Celia.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Celia answered as Miss Hope hurried down the hallway.

“This spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e,” Mandie said as they went up the stairs to their room.

“I think you're right,” Celia agreed.

The two girls plopped down across the bed in their room and began to discuss the situation.

“I think we ought to talk to Miss Hope as soon as possible and try to find out whether she or Miss Prudence could have been adopted. They don't look at all alike,” Mandie reasoned. “Miss Prudence is so tall and dark. And Miss Hope is so short and fair.”

“Well, maybe.” Celia didn't seem convinced. “They certainly don't look like sisters, but then there are some sisters who don't favor each other at all.”

“We also need to ask her the name of the lady they bought this house from,” Mandie said. “I was hoping you'd have a chance on the way to the farm, but since April Snow is going, we'll have to wait.”

“Maybe we could talk to her after supper tonight,” Celia suggested.

“We can try,” Mandie said. “I do hope Joe and Uncle Ned and I can find the cabin in the woods today.”

At three-thirty that afternoon, Mrs. Taft sent Joe over in her buggy with his promise to be ready and waiting at five o'clock when she sent the buggy back for him.

Celia had left with Miss Hope and April Snow at two o'clock as arranged. Mandie waited for Joe in the alcove near the front door.

As soon as she saw her grandmother's buggy approach, Mandie ran outside. “I'm ready, Joe,” she told the boy as he stepped down and handed Mandie her white kitten. “Celia had to go to the school's farm with Miss Hope, but Uncle Ned said he would wait for us at the edge of the trees.” She rubbed Snowball's soft fur and put him on her shoulder.

“I'll be ready at five o'clock,” Joe called back to Ben, the Negro driver of Mrs. Taft's rig.

Joe scooped up Snowball, caught Mandie's hand, and together they hurried down to the edge of the woods. They stopped there to watch for Uncle Ned. Mandie knew the old Indian would not come
out of hiding until he knew they were there and no one else was around. Sure enough, he stepped forward from behind the huge tree where they had hidden the tools.

“We make haste,” the old Indian greeted them. “Papoose not be late back to supper.”

Mandie ran forward and took his wrinkled, weathered hand. “Did you find the hoe and the axe, Uncle Ned?” she asked.

“I find,” Uncle Ned replied.

The three of them walked the short distance to the tree where the tools were hidden. Uncle Ned took the axe and handed the hoe to Joe. Then he silently led the way into the woods.

After they had scrambled through the weeds and underbrush for several mintues, Uncle Ned left the path they had chopped out the day before. He veered to the right into the heart of the forest.

“Cabin not on trail,” he told them. “I look while wait. Cabin must be by water. Water this way.”

They tromped on.

After a while, they heard the sound of running water in the distance, and the old Indian led them straight to it. The peaceful, rippling brook, surrounded by lush, green foliage, invited them to rest a while, but Uncle Ned pressed on, following the creek bank uphill. The birds singing in the trees fluttered away as the intruders passed by.

Suddenly, there was a crash in the bushes. The three froze as a beautiful doe bounded into view. Then the frightened animal turned and ran back into the underbrush. Snowball saw the doe and tried to get down from Mandie's shoulder.

“Snowball, be still. You're not getting down to chase that poor doe,” Mandie scolded as they walked on. “Besides, you'd better pick on something your own size.” She held him tightly as he squirmed on her shoulder.

Uncle Ned stopped in front of them and seemed to be listening to something in the woods.

“What is it, Uncle Ned?” Mandie whispered.

“Sound. I hear sound,” he muttered, stealthily moving forward.

The two young people quietly followed Uncle Ned to the edge of a wide clearing in the middle of the trees, where the creek wound along to one side. Uncle Ned raised his hand, and the young people stopped behind some trees. They stood and listened. There was a sound of clinking metal nearby. It seemed to come from the far side of the clearing. The old Indian moved around the clearing, staying behind the trees. The young people followed noiselessly.

When they reached the other side of the clearing, they came upon some old timbers lying on the ground. A stone chimney stood tall and lonely just inside the cluster of trees near the creek.

Mandie gasped. “The cabin!” she exclaimed.

A loud scurrying noise startled them for a moment. Then they saw two squirrels fleeing from the fallen timber. Snowball broke loose from Mandie's grasp and jumped down to chase the squirrels.

“Snowball! Come back here!” Mandie demanded.

The kitten stopped at the fallen timber and sniffled around. Mandie dashed forward to grab him. As she picked him up, she noticed a piece of an old chain tangled in the logs. Evidently the squirrels had been shaking it as they nosed into the rubble.

Mandie lifted the end of the chain and rattled it to show Joe and Uncle Ned. “Here's the noise.” She laughed.

“Cabin been here,” the old Indian stated, stooping to look at its remains.

Mandie grinned at Joe. “I think we've found the cabin in the woods—or what's left of it—don't you?”

“Maybe,” Joe said. “It must have been awfully old to be all fallen down and rotted like this.”

Uncle Ned straightened up from his inspection of the timbers. He pointed to the ground. “Burn,” he said. “Cabin burn.”

Mandie and Joe bent to look. Beneath the thick greenery growing around the area, Uncle Ned had discovered old blackened pieces of logs lying there.

“How do you know it burned down, Uncle Ned?” Mandie asked. “Maybe this wood just rotted.”

Uncle Ned reached down and crumbled the end of a log in his fingers. “Fire make ashes,” he explained. “Like powder. Rot not make ashes.”

The two young people bent to closely inspect the substance in Uncle Ned's hand.

“Yes, I can see it looks like powder,” Mandie agreed. “Besides, you can still smell the burn on the wood,” Joe said. He picked up a small piece of wood to sniff it.

Mandie scanned the area. “I wonder what the cabin really looked like,” she said. “I imagine it was romantic looking, surrounded by blooming flowers and trailing green vines, with the stream floating by, and fish swimming in the water.”

Joe and Uncle Ned started examining the ground.

The old Indian scratched in the wet dirt and uncovered a corner of the stone hearth beneath the huge chimney. “Hearth here,” Uncle Ned told them, pointing. Standing the axe by the chimney, he straightened up.

“And here are the pillars,” Joe said, pulling the weeds away with the hoe. “You can tell how big the house was by these. See how far apart they are spaced? It was a good-sized house,” he reasoned, pulling away weeds with the hoe to expose the stone pillars.

Mandie stroked Snowball as she explored the cabin ruins. “Here is where the front door was,” Mandie called to them. “See, part of the steps is still here. Let me use the hoe, Joe.”

The boy handed her the hoe and she beat down the weeds.

“Here spring house,” Uncle Ned said, pointing to a clump of weeds. “Now that we find cabin, what Papoose do?”

“Nothing really, Uncle Ned,” Mandie told him. “You see, this cabin was just one of the clues in the letters. Now that we know where it is, I would imagine the girl lived in the house where the school is now.”

“But, Mandie, we aren't positive this is the cabin the man talked about in the letters,” Joe reminded her. “All we've really found is what's left of some old house.”

Mandie tossed her head. “I have a feeling, Joe, that this is the one,” she replied. “Anyway, we'll say it is and work on the other clues from there.”

The old Indian looked up at the sun through the thick trees. “Papoose go back now or be late,” he said.

“I suppose it is about time to get back for supper,” Mandie conceded. “Uncle Ned, we appreciate your finding the cabin for us. Thank you so much.”

“Yes, thank you,” Joe echoed.

“Papoose not do bad things, make trouble,” he warned her. “Use head to think before body acts.”

Mandie threw down the hoe and took her old friend's hand in her own. “I promise I won't get into any trouble, Uncle Ned,” she said. “All we're going to do is ask some questions and try to find out who the girl was who received the letters.”

“Uncle Ned is right, Mandie,” Joe agreed. “I'm as curious about this as you are, but you've just got to stay out of trouble.”

“All right, all right. Let's go,” she said, picking up Snowball again. Turning quickly, they followed Uncle Ned as he led the way out of the woods back toward school.

At the bottom of the hill below the schoolhouse, Uncle Ned bid the two good-bye with a promise to return on the next change of the moon.

Mrs. Taft's buggy was waiting for Joe at the front steps.

Mandie gasped. “I hope I'm not late,” she said. “Here, Joe, don't forget to take Snowball. See you tomorrow.”

Handing him the kitten, she raced up the front steps as Joe got into the buggy to return to Mandie's grandmother's house.

Inside the hallway Mandie didn't see anyone about. Glancing at the big grandfather clock standing at the bottom of the stairs, she saw that she had plenty of time to get ready for supper.

She started up the steps and then stopped. It suddenly dawned on her that they had left the tools at the remains of the cabin. What if someone missed them? They had already had them out since yesterday. She didn't want to get into trouble.
Maybe I should run back
real fast and bring them back to the shed
, she thought, convinced she could find the way. Now that she knew where it was, it wouldn't take so long.
Yes, that's what I'd better do
, she decided.

Turning quickly, she ran back out the front door. Joe was already gone. With her heart pounding Mandie raced toward the woods. If she hurried she would be back in time to stay out of trouble.