Mandie Collection, The: 4 (54 page)

The three young people slipped back into the hotel and up to their rooms without encountering anyone. They agreed to meet at the top of the stairs as soon as the sky lightened the next morning. Mandie gave Snowball the rolls. He ate Jonathan’s and also the ones Mandie had taken. He was always hungry.

And to Mandie it seemed she had only dropped off to sleep when the light of day streaming in through the window by her bed woke her. She hastily sat up, rubbed her eyes, and jumped out of bed.

“Celia,” she called to her friend who was still sleeping. “Are you going with Jonathan and me down to the old boat?”

“Mmmm,” Celia grunted as she opened her eyes and sat up. “Of course.”

She slid off the high bed and hurried to dress as Mandie pulled her dress on. Snowball, curled up on the foot of Mandie’s bed, stood up and stretched and then decided to lie back down and sleep a little longer.

“Sorry, Snowball,” Mandie told her cat as she picked him up. “I have to shut you in the bathroom so you can’t get out. I’ll put a nice
soft pillow in there for you.” She took a pillow from her bed, laid Snowball on it in the bathroom, and closed the door.

“We probably need a shawl, Mandie. I think it’s cool this morning,” Celia told her as she took a shawl from the bureau drawer and draped it around herself.

“Right,” Mandie agreed as she did the same.

The girls hastily tied on their bonnets and slipped out of the room. The hallway was empty. There was no sign of anyone stirring around this early in the morning. They softly hurried to the top of the stairs and found Jonathan sitting on the steps waiting for them.

“Let’s go,” Mandie whispered to her friends.

They quietly rushed down the stairs. There was no one in sight at the front desk and they were able to get outside on the sidewalk without being seen.

“Now,” Mandie exclaimed. “We made it!”

The three hurriedly made their way down to the old boat. There were very few people on the streets. The sun was just beginning to peep over the horizon.

Rushing ahead out onto the pier Mandie quickly surveyed the old boat and exclaimed, “I was right! There is a rope hanging over the side. Look!” She pointed.

“But I don’t see how we can reach that,” Celia said.

“And if we are able to reach it, we may find that it is loose and not even anchored to anything on the boat,” Jonathan said.

“Well, we won’t know until we find out,” Mandie said, quickly looking about the pier. There was more of the old timber lying around and she searched for a long stick. “We need something to poke at it.”

Jonathan and Celia helped search for a piece of timber long enough to reach to the boat. “Here!” Jonathan said, quickly pulling a long pole out from the bottom of a pile nearby. “See how long this is.”

“Perfect,” Mandie said as she helped.

They dragged the pole to the end of the pier and found it would reach the boat, but it was heavy and not flexible.

“I have an idea,” Mandie suggested. “If we lie down on our stomachs on the floor on the pier and push the pole across to the boat, I think we can manage it.”

“We can try,” Jonathan said.

He and Mandie stretched out on the pier and shoved the pole at
the boat while Celia watched. After several tries they were able to catch a loop of the rope with the pole. Then by twisting the pole and causing the rope to wrap around it, they were able to draw the rope toward the pier.

“Here it comes!” Mandie exclaimed as they withdrew the pole and the rope came with it.

When the pole finally cleared the edge of the pier, Mandie and Jonathan stood up and pulled on the rope. It seemed to be fastened to the boat at the other end.

“All right, it’s secured to the boat somehow,” Jonathan said.

“And all we have to do is fasten it real good and tight to the pier and then we can use it to swing on to get to the boat,” Mandie said, looking around for something to hook it to.

“Swing on that rope over the water? Mandie, you can’t swim, remember?” Celia told her.

“I know but I’m not going to fall in,” Mandie replied as Jonathan helped her wrap the rope around a low post standing up from the floor of the pier. “I’ve swung on ropes before. Nothing to it.”

“I’ll go first so I can help you get over the side of the boat,” Jonathan offered as he tested the strength of the rope.

“Please be careful,” Mandie cautioned him.

The girls watched as Jonathan stooped, reached out with both hands, and grasped the rope beyond the edge of the pier. He swung down on it and began moving one hand after the other as he went toward the boat. Finally he made it and was able to climb over the side of the old boat. He stood there grinning.

“All right, watch out for me,” Mandie told him as she followed what he had done. Just as she stepped off the pier and found herself swinging on the rope over the water, she became dizzy-headed and a little frightened. She took several deep breaths, ignored the water beneath, and looked forward to where Jonathan was waiting.

Jonathan helped Mandie onto the boat and the two quietly crept toward the small cabin. Just as they got near the cracked window, an ear-splitting moan burst through the air. They grasped each other in fright and stopped in their tracks. They waited for a minute or two but there was no more sound. Finally they got the nerve to creep closer and peek through the dirty window.

“I can’t see much,” Mandie said. “It’s dark in there and this window
is awfully dirty.” She put her hands around her eyes, trying to see inside.

“Let me wipe some of that dirt off,” Jonathan whispered as he took a large handkerchief from his pocket and vigorously rubbed at the glass. Now they could see better.

Suddenly another loud moan ripped through the air. The two drew quickly back and then when the sound died they peered inside.

“Look!” Mandie whispered. “There’s a man on a cot in there and he seems to be crying.”

“Yes,” Jonathan agreed, wiping the glass again with his handkerchief.

To their amazement the man inside burst into sobs as they watched. He seemed to be crying his heart out about something.

“The poor man! There’s something wrong with him,” Mandie said softly as she and Jonathan pressed their noses against the glass to see inside.

And at that moment the man looked directly at them through the window. He jumped to his feet and came rushing out of the cabin door. He seemed to be wild as he waved his hands at them and yelled in English with a strange accent, “Go ’way! Get off my boat! Begone!” He looked like a giant. A thick reddish beard covered most of his face.

Mandie and Jonathan quickly slid over the side of the boat and onto the rope without even thinking whether the rope was strong enough to hold both of them at one time. They managed to get back to the pier and collapsed on the wooden floor as they surveyed the old boat.

Celia, who had stayed on the pier, came hovering over them and asked, “Are y’all all right?”

Mandie ignored her friend but watched as the man wiped his eyes with a dirty, ragged sleeve and went back inside the cabin.

“That man seems to be deranged,” Jonathan commented as he stood up and dusted off his clothes.

“There’s something wrong with him. I’ve never seen a big man cry like that before,” Mandie said as she stood up and straightened her skirt.

“He didn’t even notice the rope. Evidently he only wanted us off his boat,” Jonathan said.

“Maybe we’d better untie it on this end and wrap it around a post
under the pier where no one will notice it,” Mandie said as she walked toward the tied end of the rope.

“Hadn’t you just better untie and drop it loose?” Celia asked, and then when Mandie didn’t answer, she said, “Y’all are not planning on going over there again?”

Mandie smiled at her and said, “Sure. I want to know who that man is and why he is crying.”

“And why he’s on a dilapidated boat like that,” Jonathan added.

Celia sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

“After all, that man may need some help,” Mandie added as she and Jonathan tied the end of the rope under the pier while they lay on their stomachs.

She stood up and shook out her skirt. “Right now we need to get back to the hotel and change our clothes for breakfast before we are missed. But I do plan to come back.”

CHAPTER SIX

MORE INVESTIGATIONS

The three hurried back to the hotel and up to their rooms without taking time to discuss their discovery. That could be done later, Mandie decided. Right now they had to get dressed by the time Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton were ready for breakfast.

Mandie and Celia quickly bathed and dressed while Snowball roamed their rooms. Hurriedly taking down a white voile dress with rose sprigs scattered over it, Mandie slipped into it and then combed and brushed her long blond hair. Back home she usually wore it in one long plait down the back, but while she was in Europe she liked to let it hang loose, tied back with a ribbon. That made her feel grown-up. Today she secured it with a white headband over which her matching bonnet would comfortably fit later.

Celia, already clad in a bright yellow dress, watched her friend as Mandie twirled before the mirror.

“You look beautiful, Mandie,” Celia told her.

Mandie immediately stood still and looked at Celia. “And you look more beautiful than that. Too bad Tommy and Robert aren’t here, huh?”

“It would be nice to have them along once in a while,” Celia replied as she hung a strand of pearls around her neck.

Tommy Patton and Robert Rogers attended Mr. Chadwick’s School
for Boys in Asheville, North Carolina, near the girls’ school. They had become good friends during the past school year and it had turned out that Tommy’s parents were friends of Mandie’s mother.

Mandie sighed and said, “But it would be interesting to have Joe Woodard see us dressed in all the finery we’ve been wearing here in Europe.” She laughed and added, “He probably wouldn’t approve.”

“Oh, he wouldn’t approve of Jonathan, that’s for sure,” Celia teased as she twirled before the mirror.

“No, Joe is just a good old country boy back in Charley Gap and Jonathan is a man of the world. They wouldn’t understand each other at all,” Mandie agreed as she sat on a nearby chair. “I’ll really be glad to get back home among my own kind of people. This has been an interesting journey but I wouldn’t want to do it again.”

“Oh, Mandie, remember your grandmother mentioned sending you to Europe to school?” Celia said anxiously as she sat in another chair. “You may have to come back and live here, at least for school.”

“No, I won’t do it!” Mandie said emphatically as she rose from the chair. “I told Grandmother I didn’t want to do that and I mean it. I don’t think my mother will make me do it. It would be too far away from her. I wouldn’t even have time to come home for holidays, it takes so long to get over here.” She sat back down.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to attend school over here either,” Celia agreed. “And I am sure my mother would never even suggest such a thing. Why, I’d think she didn’t love me if she wanted to send me so far away.”

Snowball tried to jump into Mandie’s lap. She put her hand out to stop him. “You’ll wrinkle my dress before I even get started today, Snowball.” He sat on the floor and meowed at her.

Mandie reached down to rub Snowball’s head. “I know I’ve neglected you lately, but I promise to take you out today,” she told him. “If Grandmother doesn’t want you along wherever she’s taking us today, then I’ll let you go with us when we go back to the old boat. But you will have to promise not to try to jump into the fishing boats again.” Snowball meowed loudly.

“When are you planning to go back to the old boat?” Celia asked.

Mandie straightened up and looked at her friend. “I don’t know. Just whenever I can get a chance. I wonder what’s wrong with that
man on the boat. He sounded awfully heartbroken or something, but he was so big I was afraid of him when he started yelling at Jonathan and me.”

“I know. I was glad I had stayed on the pier,” Celia agreed. “Mandie, I wonder if we’ll ever see that other man again, the one you think stole the painting?”

“I hope so,” Mandie replied. “I want to find out for sure whether he is the thief. I’d just love to be able to go back and tell that rude guard at the museum that I had caught the man who stole the painting.”

“The rude guard? Oh, that guard who told you not to touch the muslin hanging over the blank space where the painting had been,” Celia replied.

“Yes. I don’t think I was doing anything wrong, but he caused that argument between my grandmother and me and I don’t think she’s forgiven me yet,” Mandie said.

“Have you forgiven her for whatever she said that made you angry?” Celia asked, looking closely at her friend.

Mandie jumped up and walked around the room. “You don’t know what happened because I haven’t told you,” she said. There was a knock at the door. “And that must be Grandmother now.”

Mandie crossed the room and opened the door to find Jonathan standing there. “Oh, I thought you were my grandmother,” she said.

“Not hardly,” Jonathan said with a big grin. “She sent me after you girls. She and Senator Morton have just gone down the elevator.”

Mandie was surprised that her grandmother had not let her know they were ready. “Well, I wonder why she didn’t wait for us,” she said. Turning back to Celia, she called, “Come on. Grandmother has already gone downstairs.”

The three hurried down the stairs and arrived in the lobby just as the elevator with Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton got to the main floor. Greetings were exchanged and the adults led the way into the dining room.

After they were all seated, Mrs. Taft and the senator talked and completely ignored the young people until the waiter came to take their order for breakfast. That gave Mandie and her friends a chance to discuss in low tones their morning escapade.

“When do you want to go back to the boat?” Jonathan whispered to the girls.

“Soon as possible,” Mandie replied under her breath. Leaning close to Jonathan she asked, “Are you afraid of that big man?”

Jonathan grinned, shook his head, and said, “Of course not. Are you?”