Mountain Top Mystery (5 page)
“That’s what I thought, too,” said Henry.
H
enry and Jessie did not say any more about the Indian boy, but they did not forget him. Once in awhile they both wondered where he came from and why he was there. They also wondered why he did not want to be seen.
There was plenty to think about while they were still climbing. In some places the path was almost blocked by the fallen rocks. They had to climb over them or walk around them.
Benny called back, “It’s lucky nobody was on this trail when these rocks came down!”
Grandfather said, “I was just going to say we should be ready to dodge if any more come down.”
“I think somebody is behind us,” said Henry. “We’d better be careful not to send any more down on top of him.”
“I
hope
somebody is behind us,” said Mr. Alden with a laugh. “Otherwise we’ll have no lunch. John Carter is supposed to bring up enough lunch for us and the workmen and Dr. Osgood.”
“Well, he’ll have a heavy load,” said Benny. “That will be lunch for nine people!”
“Don’t worry about John Carter,” said Grandfather. “He’ll manage.”
When they were quite near the top, they heard noises. It sounded like chopping and pounding, and that was exactly what it was. The two workmen were soon seen chopping down bushes and small trees to the left of the path. There were no trees or bushes near the top; there it was all rock.
The workmen had cleared a spot that looked like a good place to sit and watch what was going on.
There was some lumber, a strong ladder, and a long, flat plank. The plank had been placed near the opening to the cave and was held down with rocks.
Dr. Osgood was standing on the plank and bending over to look into the dark hole.
Benny said, “I guess Dr. Osgood couldn’t wait.”
The explorer held a bright light in his hand. His glasses were pulled down and he was too busy to notice the Aldens.
Grandfather sat down on the dry grass. He said, “I think Dr. Osgood wants to see first what kind of a hole it is. Just see whether it will be worth exploring or not.”
“Oh, dear!” cried Benny. “I hope it turns out to be worth exploring. Wouldn’t it be awful if we had to give up and go home?”
“I don’t think we will,” said Henry. “Look at him now.”
Dr. Osgood had both arms and his head in the hole. The Aldens could see only a pair of legs.
Just then Dr. Osgood looked up from the hole and turned half around. He called to the workmen, but the Aldens could not hear what he said. However, the workmen did and called back, “Very good, sir!” They were used to working with Dr. Osgood.
Then Dr. Osgood started to climb down to talk to Grandfather. He sat down beside him and pushed up his glasses again.
“Well, Percy, what’s the good word?” asked Grandfather.
“A very good word,” said Dr. Osgood, nodding. He wiped his face with a big red handkerchief. “Now, you know I never saw Old Flat Top before it was flattened.” He smiled at the young people. “But I have good reason to think the first cave was on the back of the mountain. Then something happened like a small earthquake. The back was pushed down and closed up that hole. But this front end of the cave was
not
squashed. So it is just the same as it has been for many years.”
Benny said, “Then this front hole is really the back of the cave.”
“Right,” said Dr. Osgood. “You’ll be a cave-digger some day.”
“Are you going to blast?” asked Benny.
“No, I don’t think so. We can drill as far as we need to. The other end is completely closed, they say. However, we’ll wait and see. Hello, here comes my help.”
“Oh, I thought it was
my
help,” said Grandfather, “with some lunch.”
“It’s both,” said Henry, who could see the trail. He looked down. Two more workmen were dragging a heavy load of lumber. John Carter was behind, a large knapsack on his back.
Henry said, “Dr. Osgood, what did you see when you put the light in the cave?”
“Well, I could see about ten feet with the light,” said Dr. Osgood. “The hole grows larger. I should say if we crawled in about fifteen feet we could stand up. It surely has not been touched by human hands for about two hundred years. Maybe a bit less; maybe a bit more. However, I saw no treasures. You must be willing to explore and find
nothing.
That’s why this job takes patience. Lots of my work goes for nothing. Wasted.”
“I wouldn’t like that,” said Benny.
“No, I can see that you wouldn’t,” said Dr. Osgood.
He got up quickly from the ground and climbed up to the workmen. He began to put blue chalk marks on many of the rocks.
When he had gone, Grandfather said quietly, “Did any of you notice an Indian boy in the crowd?”
“Yes!” they all cried.
Henry said, “We thought Lovan told us that she was the last Indian around here. That surprised us.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know about this boy,” said Mr. Alden.
John Carter sat down with the family. He said, “I did try to talk with the boy. But I had to order the lunch. I couldn’t take enough time. But I will.”
“Good!” said Mr. Alden. “Maybe he doesn’t live here anyway. Maybe he heard of this work on Flat Top.”
“He heard fast, then,” said Benny.
“Well, news travels fast,” said Grandfather thoughtfully.
“I hope he won’t bother Lovan,” said Violet.
“Well, after we get down we’ll see that he doesn’t,” said Mr. Alden. “Right now, we are trying to find Lovan’s treasure.”
“Wouldn’t it be awful if somebody stole it last night?” exclaimed Benny.
“Well, it is possible,” said John Carter. “They had all night, if they were good climbers and worked quietly.”
C
ouldn’t we go up that ladder,” asked Benny, “and look in the hole?”
“Not yet, young man,” said Dr. Osgood. He pushed up his glasses. “We don’t want any more accidents. When we get the staging done, it will be safe for any of you to get up to the cave.”
Mr. Alden said, “Percy, the old Indian woman Lovan told us that her great-great-grandfather hid that leather bag in a cave. Now suppose this was the cave. Would that be near this door or near the opening in the other side, do you think?”
“I should say he crawled in and hid it as far back as he could,” said Dr. Osgood.
Benny said, “That would mean the leather bag could be right under our noses! I hope they will get that staging done fast. I can hardly wait! Can you, Mr. Carter?”
Mr. Carter said, “No, I can hardly wait, either. But right now I am hungry. Aren’t you all hungry?”
“Always!” said Henry and Jessie together.
“Well, then, how about a bit of lunch?” said John Carter. “You’ve had a three-hour climb, and we all need food. And you should see the lunch!”
“Oh, we’ll never eat all this food!” Jessie said as she watched the lunch being unpacked.
“Don’t forget, it is for the workmen, too,” said Dr. Osgood. “And me!”
Then Henry noticed that Benny was sitting still and saying nothing.
“What’s the matter, Ben?”
“Well, I simply can’t decide which sandwiches I like best!” said Benny. “I like them all best.”
“Shut your eyes and point, then,” said Mr. Carter.
Benny did so. He was pointing at the cheeseburgers.
“That’s exactly what I do like best, really!” he cried. “Cheeseburgers!”
“I thought you didn’t know,” laughed Violet.
“Yes, I thought so, too,” said Benny. “And I just love to dunk hard-boiled eggs!” He opened his salt and pepper and “dunked” his egg in the salt as he spoke. Then he bit off a huge bite.
“Delicious!” he said.
Everyone agreed. The piles of sandwiches went down very fast. But there were plenty for the workmen when Mr. Alden called them to lunch. When the workmen sat down, the Alden family waited on them. Henry gave them hot coffee. Violet passed the pickles. Mr. Carter got out the cold drinks. Jessie gave each one an egg and salt. Benny sat down with them and had another sandwich. He said, “You haven’t really got very far on the staging, have you?”
“No,” said the head man. “It takes three days. You see a staging must not fall. And it has to rest somewhere. It takes time to make a place to hold it.”
“Don’t you keep wishing that you could take time off and look in the cave?” asked Benny.
“Yes,” said a man. “But if we do, the staging has to wait, and it takes that much longer to finish it. Dr. Percy has had a look. That’s enough for me. He thinks it is worth while, so I’m not wasting my time.”
Henry said to Dr. Osgood, “What do you think could be in the lost bag? A French nobleman expected to sell whatever it was for enough money to live here. So it must be worth something.”
“It could be jewelry,” said Dr. Osgood. “French noblemen often had to sell jewels to keep alive. It could be gold coins or silver. It could be silver candlesticks or vases or mirrors or spoons. I don’t know.”
“I know you, Percy!” said Mr. Alden. “You’re not really interested in that leather bag, are you?”
“Well, no, not much,” said Dr. Osgood. “I always hope to find something important in a cave.”
“What could be more important than Lovan’s treasure?” cried Benny.
“Well, you’re right, boy, if you are thinking mostly of Lovan. But for the whole country, stones could be more important. They are to me.” He threw his head back and tried not to laugh.
Grandfather shook his finger at his old friend. “You’re up to something, Percy! Have you found something already?”
“I suppose I shall have to show it to you,” said Dr. Osgood. “At first I thought I’d put it back and let Benny find it. But Benny wouldn’t like that if he found it out.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” said Benny.
“Here it is,” said Dr. Osgood. He took a flat stone out of the biggest pocket of his overalls. It was about six inches long. He gave it to Henry, not Benny. “Take care!” he said.
“A fossil,” said Henry. He took the stone carefully in both hands. It was one flat stone, but it was split down the middle.
“Take off the cover,” said Dr. Osgood. “Careful now!”
Henry lifted the top half and they all bent over to look.
“A little fish!” cried Benny.
“Yes, a fossil fish,” said Dr. Osgood. “It is millions of years old.”
“What kind of a fish?” asked Benny. He was sure Dr. Osgood knew everything.
“I don’t know,” said Dr. Osgood. “You may be sure that many people will study this fossil. See the backbone? Every little bone shows on both halves.”
“Does that mean that once this mountain top was under water?” asked Jessie.
“Yes,” said Dr. Osgood, nodding, “and this is the proof. I’d rather find this than ten leather bags.”
Dr. Osgood said, “And now you’ll be surprised to hear this. I think you had better start down the mountain. The weather doesn’t look too fine to me.”
“It looks beautiful to me,” said Benny, looking at the deep blue sky. “But of course you would be right. Are you coming, too?”
“No, I’ll stay. I’ll keep my head man and we’ll come down later in the helicopter.”
Jessie did not have to be told twice. She was already packing the things.
Three hours later they reached the store. They all went in, and Mr. Carter said to the ranger, “Did you see the Indian boy this morning in the crowd?”
“Yes, he is new around here. Before I had time to talk to him, he had gone.”
“Gone!” cried everyone.
“Yes, gone. And what’s more, he’s still gone. Nobody around here ever saw him before. And nobody knew how he got here.”
“That’s very funny,” said Henry. “I should think somebody would have spoken to him. There was such a crowd. Would you guess he was up to no good?”
“Well,” said the ranger. He stopped. Then he went on, “We know nothing about him. He may be lost and need help. That’s really why we’re going to find him, come what may.”
M
r. Alden walked around the store looking at everything. There were no Indian baskets left. He said, “Let’s go to see Lovan again.”
“Don’t get caught in the storm,” said a ranger.
“Storm? It looks pleasant to me,” said Benny.
“Well, you get to know the weather around these mountains,” said the ranger. “I was glad to see you come down so early. Dr. Osgood will be all right. He knows the weather, too.”
What they did not know was that snow had suddenly begun to cover the top of Old Flat Top. Dr. Osgood and his workmen were just running to get the things packed on the helicopter to take off in a hurry.
The Aldens piled into the station wagon and drove down to Lovan Dixon’s. The sky was still blue with hardly a cloud. It was very warm. They found Lovan hoeing in her flower garden next to the house.
“I want to get the earth stirred up before it rains,” she said to her visitors.
Grandfather laughed. “You think it is going to rain, too,” he said.
“Oh, yes,” said Lovan. “But come in.”
“What beautiful flowers!” cried Violet. “Every one is such a lovely color.”
Lovan looked at the eager little girl. She said, “Little Violet, you take these scissors and cut a big bunch of every flower you like. Don’t be afraid to pick a lot. They like to be picked. They blossom all the more.”