Boxcar Children 62 - Mystery of the Lake Monster (3 page)

“Yes. The one Carl Nielson says he saw,” Nicole said. “Do you know anything about it?”

“Why would I?” asked Dr. Lin, frowning. She started to turn away. “Besides, monsters don’t exist.”

Henry said quickly, “But if you wanted to prove that one did exist, how would you do it? Scientifically, I mean.”

That surprised Dr. Lin. “Oh,” she said. “Hmmm. Well, you’d need evidence. Scientific evidence. Castings of the tracks of the animal. A photograph. Tufts of fur. Or the animal itself.”

“Alive?” asked Benny doubtfully.

Dr. Lin shrugged. “If possible . . . but I can’t tell you how to catch a monster. I have serious field research to do.”

She turned again and walked quickly up the trail.

The Aldens and Nicole looked at one another. Nicole said, “I have my camera. But we have to find the monster to make a picture.”

“It might be easier to find Lucy’s tracks,” said Henry. “But what’s a casting?”

“We can go back to the library at the lodge,” suggested Jessie. “Maybe we can look it up there.”

“Here,” said Henry. “This book talks about how to make casts of animal tracks. You can use all kinds of materials — like wax. You melt it into the track and when it hardens, you have a cast of the animal’s footprint.”

Jessie read over Henry’s shoulder. “Listen to this! It says that you can tell all kinds of things from a footprint — like how tall the animal is and whether it walks on two legs or four.”

“We have
lots
of wax,” said Benny excitedly. “We have all those candles in our cabin.”

Violet nodded and took the book back to its place on the shelf.

Just then, they heard angry voices outside the half-open door of the library.

“I don’t care, Drew. That’s one of the best things about Lucille Lodge. It’s not some fancy tourist hotel. The people who come here really love the mountains. They don’t come to watch TV and order room service.”

“Nora, be reasonable. We need to attract more business. And the way to do that is to modernize. Tear down the cabins and build new ones that have running water and —”

“No. We have enough business. We have enough money to live on. What more do we want?” Nora asked.

Drew said, “You’re impossible.”

“If you want more money, I’m surprised you didn’t think we should sell it when we got that offer,” Nora asked.

“Maybe we should have,” Drew snapped. They heard heavy footsteps stomp away. Then they heard Nora sigh and walk slowly after her husband.

W
hen they were sure that Nora and Drew were gone, the Aldens and Nicole came cautiously out of the library.

“Are they going to sell Lucille Lodge?” asked Benny

“I hope not, Benny,” said Violet.

“If we catch the monster, it won’t get a chance to scare away business,” said Benny. “Then Nora won’t have to sell the lodge.”

“First we have to prove there is a monster,” said Jessie.

“Or that there isn’t one,” Violet said.

“But if there isn’t a monster,” asked Nicole, “why is Carl saying that there is one?”

“It’s part of the mystery,” said Henry. He smiled. “And we like mysteries.”

“Yes. We’ve solved a lot of them,” said Benny. “Let’s hurry and get the candles so we can solve this one!”

But although the Aldens and Nicole spent the whole day looking around the lake, they didn’t see a single sign of Lucy.

They did find Carl again, however, just before it was time to go back to the lodge for dinner — or rather, Carl found them. He appeared as silently and unexpectedly as he had the day before.

“What are you looking for? Did you lose something?” he growled. They looked up from their search along the shoreline to see Carl and Wildman standing in the shadow of a huge tree.

“Hi,” said Benny. “We’re looking for monster tracks.”

“Monster tracks? And have you found any?” asked Carl.

“No,” said Benny. “We found all kinds of tracks, but none of them are monster tracks. At least, I don’t think they are.”

“Here are some tracks,” said Violet. She pushed aside a low branch that overhung the lake.

Carl walked closer and glanced down. “Raccoon,” he said. “They’re nocturnal animals. That means they mostly come out at night.”

“Like owls?” asked Benny.

“Yes. And opossums. Deer, now, they move around most in the early morning and the early evening.”

“Is Lucy a night creature or a day creature?” asked Violet.

“Why would I know that?” asked Carl.

“Because you’ve seen her,” said Nicole.

“Seen who?” Carl asked.

“The lake monster — Lucy,” said Nicole. “You told me so. Remember?”

“That’s right. Nicole told us about how you escaped,” Jessie said. “Did that happen at night or in the morning?”

“In the early morning it was,” said Carl at last.

“If we were going to set a trap to catch Lucy,” said Henry, “how would we do that?”

“Well, instead of setting a trap, my suggestion would be to take a picture of her,” said Carl. “Good luck to you. Come, Wild-man.” As before, the man and the dog seemed to almost melt away and disappear into the trees.

“Found any monsters yet?” Jason asked with a sneer as the Aldens walked past his family’s table after finishing dinner at the lodge that night.

“No. Not yet,” said Benny.

“Well, don’t stop looking. At least it keeps Nicole from bothering me all day long,” said Jason.

Nicole made a face at her brother.

“See you tomorrow, Nicole,” said Jessie.

“Right,” said Nicole.

“Jason’s going to be sorry he was mean to us and to his sister when we find Lucy,” said Benny.

“If Lucy really does live in Lake Lucille,” Violet said. “After all, Dr. Lin said that it wasn’t possible, and she ought to know. She’s a scientist.”

“Even scientists aren’t always right, you know,” said Grandfather Alden. “Not too long ago, scientists said that the idea of traveling in space was nothing but science fiction. And you see how wrong they were.”

Henry said, “That’s true. We have to keep open minds until we can prove that Lucy does exist — or that she doesn’t.”

“But if she’s not real, then why would Carl say that he saw her?” asked Benny.

“It’s a two-part mystery,” said Jessie as they reached the door of their cabin. “One: does a monster live in the lake and how do we prove that she does? Two: if we prove there is no monster, why did Carl say he saw one?”

Watch came running up to them, wagging his tail happily.

“Let’s take Watch for one more walk before bed,” suggested Henry.

“Good idea,” said Grandfather Alden. He handed Henry the flashlight he had been carrying. “Everyone take a flashlight.” Grandfather had taken a flashlight with him to dinner in case they had needed it on the walk home. But they hadn’t, since the summer days were long. Now, however, it was getting dark fast.

Benny attached Watch’s leash to his collar.

“We won’t go far,” Jessie told their grandfather. “Just a little way along the Lakeside Trail, and then we’ll come back.”

The Aldens went out into the night. Stars shone brightly above. A faint breeze brushed the leaves on the trees.

“I like it here,” declared Violet. “Even if there is a monster in the lake.”

Jessie said slowly, “You know, I’ve been thinking. Maybe it isn’t a two-part mystery. Maybe it’s a three-part mystery.”

“What do you mean?” asked Benny. “What’s part three?”

“Maybe Carl really did think he saw a monster. But it wasn’t a monster. Maybe someone is trying to make everyone believe there is a monster in Lake Lucille.”

“But who would do a mean thing like that?” asked Violet.

Just then they heard a long, low sound.

“What’s that?” said Benny, stopping in his tracks. Watch looked toward the lake.

“Look at Watch,” said Jessie. “It came from the — ”

The noise came again, a sound almost like the mooing of a cow, but more eerie. Watch barked once, sharply, and pulled on his leash, straining to get down to the water.

“It’s coming from the lake,” said Henry. “Let’s go.” He raced as fast as he dared back along the main trail and turned down the first trail that led to the lake — the one that went right past Dr. Lin’s cabin.

Just as they reached the beach, the long, low sound came again. Henry shone his flashlight out over the water and the sound faded away.

“What was that?” asked Violet.

“I don’t know,” said Jessie. “But it sounded as if it came from out in the lake.”

“Do you think someone is out there?” asked Benny.

“Someone. Or
something
,” answered Jessie.

Just then an angry voice behind them said, “What is going on here?”

The Aldens turned to see Dr. Lin standing on the edge of the beach at the foot of the trail that led down past her cabin. She was wearing sneakers and a bathrobe over her pajamas and holding a flashlight in one hand.

“Dr. Lin!” exclaimed Henry. “What are you doing here?”

“I asked you first,” said Dr. Lin crossly. “But if you want to know what
I
am doing here, I came out to investigate why a herd of noisy children would run past my cabin in the middle of the night.”

“It’s not the middle of the night,” cried Benny. He paused. “Is it?”

“For me it might as well be. I go to bed very early because I get up early to do my work,” said Dr. Lin. “I was sound asleep when you came crashing by.”

“I’m sorry,” said Henry. “We didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“We heard a noise from the lake,” said Jessie.

“And we wanted to see what it was,” Violet finished.

“A noise? What noise?” Dr. Lin cocked her head to listen. Everyone stood very still, even Watch. For a long moment no sound could be heard at all except the whisper of the wind through the trees. Then faintly and far away they heard hooting.

“Oh, that,” said Dr. Lin. “That’s just a mother bear and her cub calling back and forth to one another.”

“It sounds like an owl,” said Benny.

“It does sound that way a little bit,” Dr. Lin agreed. She didn’t seem so angry now. She gave Benny a little smile. “I remember the first time I heard the bears calling to each other. I wasn’t much older than you are. I think that’s when I decided to become a biologist. But you don’t have anything to worry about. Those bears are very far away. They won’t bother you.”

She turned to go.

“Wait,” Jessie blurted out. “That’s not the sound we heard. It was more like a mooing sound, only lower and more growly.”

Dr. Lin looked over her shoulder with a frown. “I’ve never heard a noise like that. There’s no animal I know of that makes that sound in these mountains. Or anywhere, for that matter. It must have been the wind blowing. . . .”

Her voice trailed off as the long, low sound rolled across the lake once more.

“W
hat was that?” asked Jessie after the sound had died away. “What kind of animal makes a sound like that?”

Dr. Lin looked very puzzled and surprised. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’ve never heard an animal call like that one.”

Benny was very excited. “Dr. Lin! Dr. Lin!” he exclaimed. “Do you think it could have been Lucy? The monster in the lake?”

“No, I don’t,” Dr. Lin answered firmly. “There is no such thing as a lake monster — not here, not in Lake Champlain, not in Loch Ness. It is scientifically impossible.”

“Then what made that sound?” asked Violet.

“I don’t know,” said Dr. Lin. “But whatever made it, I’m sure there is a simple explanation.” She tightened the sash on her bathrobe and turned away again. “It’s late and I’m going to bed.”

She turned her flashlight onto the trail, following its beam through the trees. A few minutes later they heard the door of her cabin slam shut.

“Now, who could that be knocking at the door so early in the morning?” asked Grandfather Alden the next day.

The Aldens had just finished eating breakfast and were washing the dishes and putting them away. Benny dropped a handful of spoons in the drawer and said, “I’ll find out.”

A moment later he opened the door and Nicole burst in. “Did you hear it?” she gasped. “Did you hear that sound on the lake last night?”

“The bears calling to each other?” Jessie asked cautiously.

“No! I know what the bears sound like. This was a completely different sound. Kind of like a weird cow,” said Nicole.

“Yes!” cried Benny. “We heard and Watch heard and Dr. Lin heard. Grandfather heard, too!”

Nicole clapped her hands together. “I knew it! I knew it! It’s got to be Lucy,” she said.

“Dr. Lin says it’s not really an animal. She said there’s some ‘simple explanation,’” Henry said, repeating what the biologist had said to them the night before.

“What we need to find out is what made that sound,” said Jessie.

“Or who,” said Violet.

Jessie nodded. Nicole said, “I know. Let’s see if we can take a canoe out on the lake. Maybe we can find something that way.”

“Even if we don’t, it sounds like fun,” said Henry.

“We have to go tell someone at the lodge that we want to use the canoes,” said Nicole. “And get life jackets.”