HIDDEN IN THE SAND
Vevi lifted the snapping turtle out of water and set him on the ground.
He started off as fast as he could toward the road.
“Look at him go!” shouted Vevi. “Why, he must be the fastest turtle in
the world!”
“He’ll be gone if you don’t catch him,” Connie warned.
Vevi quickly ran after Clover. When she tried to pick him up he snapped
at her.
“Do be careful, Vevi,” Miss Gordon warned anxiously. “He seems to be a
very lively fellow.”
“I know how to handle him. He can’t bite if I hold him right.”
Vevi pretended that she wasn’t a bit afraid of the turtle.
Nevertheless, she dropped him as quickly as she could back into the
pail of water.
“Isn’t Jamie the little boy who ran away from home?” remarked Miss
Gordon thoughtfully. “He must have been here since his father
discovered him missing.”
“Maybe he slept in the bunk last night,” suggested Connie. “And ate his
sandwiches on the kitchen table.”
“The boy certainly has been here,” Miss Gordon agreed. “He may return.
His father must be notified as soon as we return to Silver Beach.”
Vevi felt sorry that Jamie would get into trouble because of the
turtle. She realized though, that he had made a serious mistake in
running away from home.
“Let’s forget pets for awhile and clean up the cottage,” Miss Gordon
proposed briskly. “After that we’ll cook lunch.”
The girls went to work with a will. Vevi and Rosemary washed the
windows, polishing them until they shone like diamonds. By the time
they had finished, the other Brownies had made the inside of the
cottage spic and span.
“How nice everything looks now!” exclaimed Rosemary, gazing about
proudly. “I should think Captain Tarwell would want to live here
instead of in a stuffy old room.”
With work out of the way, Miss Gordon built a fire in the outdoor
fireplace overlooking the cliffs. Soon the air became fragrant with
the odor of sizzling hamburgers.
“I’m starved,” Vevi announced, hovering over the frying pan. “I could
eat six of ’em myself.”
Lunch finally was ready. The girls made their own sandwiches and sat
down on the grass to eat them. From the high cliff, they could see the
ocean, the beach and the yacht club basin.
Presently, it was time to leave. Vevi took a last look at her pigeon
and turtle while Miss Gordon locked up the cottage.
“We must tell Captain Tarwell that someone besides ourselves has been
here,” the Brownie Scout leader remarked.
As soon as the group reached Starfish Cottage, Miss Gordon took Vevi,
Connie and Sunny with her and went in search of both Mr. Curry and the
old sea captain.
At the hotel where the lifeguard worked, the teacher was informed that
he had not been seen that day. Although he regularly was assigned to
guard the bathing beach, he had failed to appear for work.
Nor could Miss Gordon find Captain Tarwell. However, later in the
day as she searched with Connie for shells, Vevi spied the elderly
gentleman taking his daily stroll along the beach.
“Captain Tarwell!” she shouted, running toward him.
“Blow me down!” he greeted her with a friendly chuckle.
“Captain Tarwell, the Brownies were at your cottage today!” Vevi
informed him breathlessly. “We cleaned it for you.”
“Why, that’s fine, splendid, Vevi.”
“Someone had fed my pigeon, Captain Tarwell. Was it you?”
“Not I,” returned the captain. “Fact is, I haven’t been up to the
cottage this day. On my way now.”
“Did you know someone slept in the cottage last night?”
“What makes you think that, Vevi?”
“Because the bunk had been used. And there were crumbs on the kitchen
table. If you weren’t at the cabin, then it must have been--”
“Don’t give it any thought,” broke in the captain before Vevi could
finish what she had intended to say. “Let me worry about the house.”
“Then you knew someone was staying there?” Vevi asked quickly. “You
told him he could?”
“No! No!” exclaimed the captain. He spoke rather impatiently. “Please
don’t worry about it, Vevi. And please don’t talk about it--to others,
I mean.”
“About anyone staying at the cabin, you mean?” Vevi could not
understand why the captain seemed so annoyed.
“There are some things I can’t tell you about,” Captain Tarwell said.
“You wouldn’t understand, and other folks might not either. Just enjoy
the use of the cottage.”
Then, as if afraid that Vevi might ask other questions, the old seaman
walked on down the beach.
It was time for the Brownies’ swimming lesson, so Vevi ran home to
Starfish Cottage to change into her bathing suit.
“You’re late,” Connie greeted her as she ran across the sand. “Mr.
Fulsom started in early and we’re all through now.”
“It’s getting too cold to swim anyhow,” said Vevi. “I’d rather play in
the sand. I’m going to hunt for Miss Gordon’s lost wrist watch.”
“You’re silly,” said Jane, who came splashing out of the waves in time
to hear the remark. “You know very well that Miss Gordon’s watch was
stolen. So how could you hope to find it in the sand?”
“Maybe it wasn’t stolen. We don’t know that it was. Anyhow, it won’t do
any harm to look for it.”
Vevi sat down and began to dig sand into her pail.
“You’re not even sitting where Miss Gordon lost her watch,” Jane went
on. “You’ll never find anything there--or anywhere.”
“Oh, won’t I?”
With a shriek of triumph Vevi pounced upon something in the sand.
“What did you find?” Jane demanded coming quickly over to see.
“A penny!”
“And you get excited over that!” scoffed Jane.
“Maybe I’ll find more money.” Vevi began throwing up sand at a furious
rate.
Seeing her so hard at work, the other Brownies came hurrying up to
learn why she was so excited.
“You’re wasting your time, Vevi,” Jane insisted. “One could hunt all
day and never find any more money.”
“Oh, is that so?” Laughing gleefully, Vevi held up another copper she
had discovered in the sand.
This second discovery fired all the Brownies with a fever to search for
coins. Miss Gordon and Mrs. Williams stood nearby, smiling as they
watched the children.
Only a short time before they had observed Captain Tarwell place a few
coins along the beach where he knew the Brownies would play. He had
thought that a treasure hunt would be good fun for the girls.
“Here’s a nickel!” suddenly cried Sunny. “I’m rich!”
Connie found a penny. By now, everyone was digging, even Jane.
Then a long while went by without any of the Brownies turning up a
coin. The beach became dotted with little holes and mounds of sand.
“I’m getting tired,” sighed Rosemary. “I don’t think we’ll find any
more money.”
Miss Gordon told the girls that they must level off the holes before
leaving the beach. Jane, Connie and Rosemary began to smooth out the
sand immediately. Vevi and Sunny kept digging, hoping to find another
coin or two.
“Was it Captain Tarwell who hid the money for us?” guessed Vevi.
“Yes, dear,” Miss Gordon replied. “He’s enjoyed watching the Brownies
and talking to them since they’ve been at Silver Beach.”
“Are there any more coins?” inquired Sunny.
“I think you’ve found most of them now. There may be another penny or
two.”
“I’m quitting,” announced Sunny, brushing sand from her hands.
“So am I,” agreed Vevi with a tired sigh. “Anyway, I have two pennies.
And it was fun.”
“Don’t forget to smooth out all the holes you have made,” the Brownie
Scout leader reminded her. “We owe it to Mr. Fulsom to keep the beach
looking nice.”
Vevi began to shovel sand back into the holes. It was nearly as much
fun filling them up as it had been searching for the coins. The others
finished ahead of her.
“Hurry up, pokey,” Jane urged her. “It’s time to get dressed.”
“I’m hurrying,” sighed Vevi.
She had one more hole to fill. She shoveled sand into it, patting it
down with her hands. Then because the hole still wasn’t quite filled,
she reached for a little more sand.
As she dug down with her shovel, the edge struck a soft object.
Vevi thought she had uncovered a wadded up handkerchief or a piece of
cloth. But as she pulled the article out of the sand, she saw that it
was neither.
“See what I’ve found now!” she shouted. “An old faded purse! One with
gold initials on it!”