THE MISSING FRAGMENT
Shortly after the boys left in the station wagon for their camping
trip, Marjorie said to Judy: “Let’s look at that map again. Penny could
be wrong. Maybe it does show exactly where treasure is buried.”
“Let’s,” Judy agreed. “And maybe we held it upside down or something.
Maybe the big red cross doesn’t mark the spot where Pat planted his
potatoes.”
They raced into the Lodge and down the hall to the storage room. During
the excitement of Peter’s arrival they had left the map, still pasted
in the lid of the jewelry box, on one of the old trunks. Again they
took it over to the window and studied it thoughtfully.
“Let’s see,” Judy said after awhile. “When you’re facing north, west is
on your left isn’t it?”
Marjorie nodded. “So there’s no point in looking at this darn thing
any longer. If it isn’t a phony, the treasure is buried under the
potato hills.”
“I give up,” Judy said with a sigh. “We may as well go down to the
beach and try to find some rare shells. I suppose that’s the only
buried treasure I’ll have the luck to find.”
During the next few days they filled a bucket with shells which they
hoped were collectors’ items, but which Phil and Peter told them were
worthless.
“That is the worst about being a girl!” Judy Powell said in a moment of
disgust. “The boys will come back with wonderful stories about how many
fish they caught and the rapids they ran--and everything!” Judy’s ideas
of what the boys were doing ran out.
Marjorie and Judy were sitting in their favorite spot on the pier,
dangling their feet in the water. They wore their bathing suits and
had just watched the cruiser take off with a group of the younger
guests, exclusive of themselves. They had not wanted to go since Mal
had promised to take them on a picnic in the woods. Just at this moment
they were in the old familiar throes of not knowing what to do next.
“Let them rave,” said Marjorie. “We’ve things to tell the boys, too.”
“They wouldn’t think that _we_ do anything,” said Judy rather crossly.
“Maybe we could think up something different,” said Marjorie, a little
worried. “Aren’t you having a good time, Judy?”
“My, yes! I didn’t mean that,” Judy said quickly. “I was just thinking
what a grand time they must be having. I’d like to shoot rapids.”
“Come up again next summer and we’ll get Pat and Mal to take us on a
canoeing trip.”
“You probably couldn’t get my mother to say yes.” Judy laughed. “Let’s
go back to the house and see if we’re missing anything.” Just as they
started back toward the Lodge they heard the loud honking of a car on
the drive.
“Oh,” cried Judy, “I’ll bet the boys have come home. I wonder what made
them come back before the week was out.”
“Something awful must have happened to one of them,” Marjorie gasped as
they began to run as fast as they could.
Sure enough, the station wagon was parked in front of the Lodge and the
boys were tumbling out of it.
“They certainly don’t look as though anything awful had happened to
them,” Judy panted.
“Hi, everybody,” Jimmy was shouting to the crowd that had gathered on
the porch. When the girls reached the steps they heard him say quietly
to Penny and Phil:
“Say, how about calling a meeting of the Board of Directors right away?”
“We can’t, Jimmy,” Penny said. “Everyone is busy.”
“Well, then,” he said. “A meeting of the Allens in the office. I’ve got
something in my pocket which I think the rest of the family ought to
know about as soon as possible.”
Penny could tell from the sober expression on Jimmy’s tanned face that
this was not a joke. She beckoned to Phil and Marjorie and led the way
into the office.
“On second thought,” Jimmy said as he followed her, “let’s get Peter in
on this. I’d like to hear his opinion of the whole thing. Besides,” he
added in a low teasing voice, “he’s practically family anyway.”
Penny’s cheeks flamed. “Jimmy,” she said, mildly scolding, “you never
can be serious for more than five minutes at a time.”
“I’m pretty darn serious now,” Jimmy said. When they had all gathered
around the desk, he closed the door and produced the scrap of paper
which Brook had found in the old coat.
After one swift glance, Penny said, “Why, Peter, the handwriting looks
just like the one on the fragment Marjorie found. Where on earth did
you find it, Jimmy?”
Jimmy explained and Penny frowned as she listened. “Brook had no
business taking that envelope out of a coat he found,” she said.
Peter chuckled. “Maybe he didn’t have any right to take it, Penny, but
in my opinion it was put where it was so that no boy could resist the
temptation.”
Penny thought for a minute. Again she read the blurred words, more
carefully this time.
We’ll meet a
the las
and look for the tre
I’m sure it’s buried
old shed nea
has long run
Then she pulled out of her desk drawer the fragment Marjorie had found
in the green bottle. The two pieces fit together as perfectly as a
jigsaw puzzle. Now they could all read the complete page:
We’ll meet at the Log cabin
the last week in August
and look for the treasure again.
I’m sure it’s buried near the
old shed near a well that
has long run dry.
“Oh, oh,” Jimmy moaned. “That means more digging. I guess we didn’t dig
deep enough.”
“But what about the map?” Marjorie demanded. “It showed that treasure
was buried behind the Donahues’ cabin.”
“None of it makes any sense,” Peter said calmly. “And you kids may
as well accept the fact right now that the map and the two fragments
aren’t clues. They’re obviously red herrings, deliberately planted to
keep us busy looking for buried treasure.”
“I don’t get it,” Jimmy said frankly.
“It’s this way,” Phil explained. “Peter, Penny and I figure that there
_is_ something valuable hidden around here. Somebody who obviously
isn’t honest knows where it is. He wants to keep us from finding it.”
“Oh golly,” Marjorie broke in, “wait until I tell Judy about this.
We’ll spend the rest of the summer going over the whole place with a
fine-tooth comb.”
“Oh, no, you won’t,” Penny said, laughing. “I have a better idea, and
one that won’t drive our guests out of their minds.”
Peter stared at her in amazement. “Have you been keeping secrets from
me?” he asked, pretending that his feelings were hurt.
“Oh, no,” Penny told him hastily. “The idea just came to me this
minute. Actually, the words, ‘last week in August’ gave it to me.”
Her cheeks flushed with excitement, she went on. “One morning last
week when I was out in the kitchen discussing menus with Ann Mary, she
suggested that we give a masquerade party. There are plenty of grand
costumes in the old trunks for all of the ladies, and you men can rig
up outfits from old curtains and stuff in our boxes.”
“A swell idea,” Jimmy said. “But what’s it got to do with finding
hidden treasure?”
Penny smiled at him patiently. “If you’d only let me finish! Ann Mary
and I decided that the last Friday in August would be a good time for
the party. Most of the guests will be leaving early in September, so it
would be sort of a last fling.”
Jimmy began to sing, “After the ball is o-ver. After the guests have
gone.”
“Stop interrupting,” Marjorie said, glaring at him. “Let Penny finish.”
“Well,” Penny went on, “we planned the party just for ourselves and our
guests. But now I think we should issue a blanket invitation to all the
merchants in town. It will be our way of expressing our appreciation
of the way they cooperated with us all summer. Now,” she finished, “you
can all guess the rest.”
“Not me,” Marjorie said, rapidly blinking her blue eyes.
Jimmy clutched his dark hair wildly. “I follow you as closely as though
you’d had a million-mile head start.”
Peter was staring at Penny with frank admiration. “You _are_ smart,”
he said. “Don’t you see?” he asked Jimmy and Marjorie. “Our Mr. X, or
our Messrs. X, for there may be more than one, will certainly be among
those present at the masquerade. With everyone coming masked and in
costume, he wouldn’t miss the chance. He’ll come out sure that he can
get whatever he’s after and depart before the unmasking.”
“Holy cow,” Jimmy exploded. “Penny _is_ smart. Instead of our wearing
ourselves out looking for hidden treasure, he’ll lead us right to it.”
Marjorie gave her sister an impulsive hug. “It’s the grandest idea
anyone ever invented,” she cried.
“And,” Jimmy put in, suddenly remembering the main reason why they had
persuaded Pat to cut the camping trip short, “I’m pretty sure there’s
only one Mr. X.”
“Don’t be a dope,” Marjorie said. “I’m sure there are two. One of them
put the bottle where he was sure Judy and I would find it while we were
looking for shells. And the other put the coat where you boys couldn’t
miss it.”
Jimmy shrugged. “Maybe so, but the same Mr. X who left his footprint
under the floor of the shed planted the coat.”
“Yipes,” Peter moaned. “What’s all this about a footprint under the
shed? I thought it was a garage filled with cars.”
“It is now,” Penny explained with a chuckle. “Before we converted it,
someone ripped up part of the floor and left a footprint in the dirt.”
“That’s right,” Jimmy said. “And he also left footprints in a clearing
back where Brook found the coat. Footprints,” he finished triumphantly,
“with rubber heels made by the same manufacturer.”
“Why, Jimmy Allen,” Marjorie gasped admiringly, “you’re so smart you
ought to get a job with the FBI.”
But Penny laughed. “Now all the red herrings fit together like the
pieces of this paper. Don’t you see, Jimmy? Mr. X deliberately left
that footprint in the shed in plain view so I might believe that he had
had something to do with my accident. Right, Peter?”
“Right,” Peter said. “As soon as Mr. X heard you had fallen down the
well, he wrote the letter which you received the next day. Then that
evening he sneaked out to plant evidence which he hoped would back up
his threat.”
“Oh, gosh,” Jimmy said disconsolately. “We’re right back where we
started. But at least we can be pretty sure that there’s only one Mr.
X.”
“We can’t be sure of anything,” Phil said soberly. “Except that whoever
it is really does mean business. The very fact that one of them jumped
on Mal that night when we chased him away proves that. An ordinary
night prowler would have tried to sneak away without being seen.”
“Well,” Marjorie said cheerfully, “we mean business now, too. And we’re
sure to catch him the night of the masquerade when he comes here to get
the treasure.”
“Wa--ait a minute,” Phil said cautiously. “What’s to prevent Mr. X
from getting by with his scheme? We can’t be everywhere at once in a
place as big as this, especially when so many people will be milling
around.”
“And,” Peter added, “how will we know whom to keep an eye on?” He
smiled at Penny. “You planned, of course, to have police detectives
here in costume, too.”
“No, I didn’t,” Penny admitted. “I thought it would be more fun if we
set a trap and caught Mr. or Messrs. X ourselves.”
“What sort of a trap?” Phil asked, frowning.
“I don’t know exactly,” Penny admitted. “But I think it ought to have
something to do with the secret room. For one thing, Ann Mary and I
planned that just before the unmasking we might spring it on our guests
as a surprise. None of them except Adra has any idea where it is.”
Marjorie felt very uncomfortable at that moment. She opened her
mouth to confess that she had showed it to Judy, but decided against
interrupting Penny until she had finished.
“When we open the door,” Penny went on, “those who want to go down
into the room will have to take turns, because it’s too small to hold
them all at the same time. I thought that if anyone had been acting
suspiciously before that, we might be able to lure him down alone and
then we could quickly press the button and lock him in.” She added,
turning to Peter, “Then you can call in the police.”
He shook his head worriedly. “_You_ are not going to be the one to lure
him down into the room alone.”
“Of course not,” Jimmy said quickly. “_I_ will.”
“No, you won’t,” Phil told him emphatically. “The man may be armed and
I’m the only one who has a pistol license. I’ll go down with him and
one of you can close the door. If he’s really been acting suspiciously,
I’ll suggest that he unmask. If he’s the man we want, he’ll refuse.
Then I’ll produce my gun and keep him there while I knock on the door.
That will be the signal that our scheme worked.”
“I don’t like the idea of your being locked down there with him,” Penny
objected.
“It’s the only answer,” Phil insisted. “Once he has any idea that
we suspect him, he may make a wild dash for safety, and that would
frighten some of our guests very badly. Besides, he might escape. With
all those people wandering in and out of the Lodge, I wouldn’t dare use
my gun.” He turned to Peter. “What do you think of the plan?”
“It’s okay except for one thing,” Peter said. “What if Mr. X doesn’t do
anything to make us suspect him? Up until the unmasking we won’t have
any way of knowing whether he is one of the village merchants or not.
And by that time he will certainly have disappeared.”
“Oh, he’s bound to do something to make him stand out from the others,”
Marjorie put in. “And he’ll probably be very careless because he won’t
have any idea that we plan to catch him in a trap.”
“That’s true,” Peter admitted.
“Sometimes,” Jimmy said with a teasing grin, “the gal makes sense.”
Phil stood up. “If we’re all agreed, I may as well go down to the
village now and spread the word about the party.”
“And I,” said Penny, rising, too, “had better go through the stuff in
the storage room and see what we have. I thought it might be fun to
decorate the secret room so it’ll look good and scary.”
“I’ll help,” Marjorie said. “I know where there’s one of those old
paper skeletons that we used to hang up on Hallowe’en.” She slipped her
arm through Penny’s. “Oh, isn’t it going to be fun? Even if we don’t
catch Mr. X, the masquerade will be the best event of the whole summer.”
“I hope so,” Penny said. “And I hope we do catch him. Even if he’s just
a crank and isn’t after anything valuable, he’s annoyed us enough. It’s
time we put a stop to it.”
She glanced back over her shoulder at Peter who was still sitting at
the desk.
“Oh, dear,” she thought reading the anxious expression on his face.
“He still thinks we ought to get help from the police.” She shivered
involuntarily. “Maybe before the party is over we’ll be sorry we didn’t
follow his advice.”