A Strange Mistake
Excited squeals and whispers came from the back seat. Everything was
suddenly magic, even the rain. It was really coming down now. The
children could hardly see the ruins of the big dam as they passed it.
Judy said something about it, but they were no longer interested in
anything but the magic that now had them in its spell.
Judy and Mrs. Riker and the children were all in the back seat. It had
grown a little uncomfortable with Penny and Paul bouncing from one
window to the other and finding magic in everything.
Both children now took it for granted that the magician had made the
trees talk. The matter was all settled in their minds, but not in
Judy’s.
“There are two kinds of magic,” she told them. “I like the natural kind
best. Even that voice you’re talking about could have been the wind.
Sometimes it does make a funny moaning noise when the trees are bare and
the branches swing against each other.”
“Now, Judy, you know it wasn’t,” Honey objected from her place in front
beside Horace. “The wind wasn’t blowing as hard as it is now, and these
trees aren’t talking—”
“So they aren’t!” Horace commented as if the whole thing was nothing but
a big joke.
They were driving through a thickly wooded section. A rabbit ran across
the road, and the children squealed and nearly let Blackberry leap out
of the car after it. Then Paul said something about how clever the
magician had been to make a puppy jump out of his hat.
“I didn’t get my wish yet,” Paul added, “but I can wait for it.”
“I got mine,” Penny whispered, “but I’m not telling what it was.”
Still deeper in the woods they came suddenly into a cleared place where
a number of deer had taken shelter under a big pine tree. They stood
motionless for a moment and then vanished into a thicket.
“That’s what I mean about natural magic,” Judy pointed out. “Those deer
vanished under their own power—no tricks!”
“I never saw deer except in the zoo,” Paul said gravely. “I’ll bet that
magician couldn’t make a deer jump out of his hat.”
“You’re funny,” giggled Penny.
She and Paul were city children. Judy was seeing sights that were
commonplace to her through their wondering eyes. If they did return with
her, she’d have to let them ride Ginger and watch as she milked Daisy.
That would seem like magic to them.
“The talking tree was magic,” Penny insisted. “Anne says it told her and
Muriel to run, but I only heard it whisper. If I listen again, maybe it
will tell me a secret.”
“I heard nothing but the wind,” Paul said. “Is this the road to Uncle
Paul’s house? It doesn’t look like a millionaire’s estate.”
“It hasn’t been very well cared for,” Mrs. Riker agreed. “You used to be
able to see the top of the house from here. And where’s the gate?”
“I just drove through it,” Horace replied. “It was standing wide open.”
“Uncle Paul never allowed it to be left open. Something must be wrong,”
Mrs. Riker exclaimed.
“Something is wrong!” exclaimed Judy. “That forest fire did spread. The
grounds are all burned over. What a shame!”
“It may not be as bad as you think. There seems to be something up
ahead,” observed Horace, peering through the windshield. “You can hardly
see it for the rain. Or is it smoke that makes everything so hazy?”
“I smell wood burning,” Honey began. But Paul interrupted with a shout.
“That must be the house! I can see the steps going up to it. Oh, please,
stop the car and let me run up first and tell Uncle Paul who we are!”
“Wait, Paul, wait!” cried his mother, as Horace pulled up at the side of
the road.
But the boy was already out of the car with Penny after him. Blackberry
ran ahead of them up the steps at the top of which was a stout oak door
with stonework all around it and a tall, grim statue looming up beside
the entrance. Suddenly Judy recognized it from a picture she had seen of
the Hindu god, Shiva. But before she could tell Paul it was not a house
but a vault that he had discovered, he was knocking loudly on the door.
[Illustration: Paul knocked loudly on the door]
“I don’t really think anyone will answer you,” Judy called. And for some
reason it seemed suddenly funny.
“Good heavens!” Honey exclaimed when she saw what it was.
“My sentiments exactly,” agreed Horace. “What a weird place to build a
tomb!”
“That’s Shiva, the Destroyer, beside the entrance. And look!” Judy
gasped. “There’s been plenty of destruction. You can see that a house
once stood over there, but it’s been burned to the ground!”