The Brown Fox Mystery (2 page)

“For Pete’s sake, what was the matter with him?” asked Tommy.

“Oh, every once in a while he gets the idea that he’s a great hunter,” Djuna said as he took a leash out of his pocket and clipped it to Champ’s collar. “Twice he ran so far, chasing something, that he was too tired to get back home and I had to get Mr. Boots to help me find him, with his truck. Sometimes he doesn’t have any sense,” he finished and grabbed at Champ’s leash as the baying of hounds came to their ears again and Champ started to bolt.

Djuna got hold of the leash just in time. But Champ had started off at such speed that when Djuna grabbed the leash Champ came up and over and landed on his back with all four feet churning the air.

“There!” Djuna said. “Maybe that will teach you.”

But it didn’t. When Champ got back on his feet he reared up on his hind legs so that he could pull harder at his leash when he came down on all fours. The hounds were coming closer now and it took all of Djuna’s strength to keep Champ from breaking away from him.

“Hoddy-doddy!” said Tommy excitedly. “Those hounds are certain’y right on something’s tail. Let’s hurry down the ravine and climb up on that knoll where we can look down across the fields. Maybe we can see what they’re running.”

They ran down the ravine, with Champ giving Djuna plenty of assistance, and clambered up the side at a point where it wasn’t so steep. From the knoll they gazed down on an open expanse of two fields that were separated by a stone wall, and farther on there was another stone wall that ran parallel to a stretch of woodland.

Just as they reached the top of the knoll they saw something that was a dull reddish brown and about the size of a small dog flash out of the woodland and soar over the stone wall in one long graceful leap. They could see white underneath the brown and the long, bushy tail of the animal as it hung aloft and then struck the ground running in stride.

“It’s a
fox!
” Djuna shouted as two black-and-tan hounds burst out of the woods with their noses close to the ground. Their baying was deep and resonant as they leaped to the top of the wall and came down on the other side to lengthen their stride in the open field.

“Golly!” said Tommy with staring eyes. “Look at that fox go! How fast do you think he’s running?”

“I don’t know,” Djuna said excitedly, “but he must be doing almost thirty miles an hour. Those dogs couldn’t catch him in a million years. Look at the way he’s circling back towards the woods again.”

“Jeepers, look at him go,” said Tommy, and Champ was almost choking himself between pulling on his leash and barking as hard as he could bark.

Suddenly the streaking brown fox altered its course again and it was only a hundred yards away from the boys as it soared over the stone wall closest to them, with its long, bushy tail streaming behind it.

But when it landed this time it did not dash on straight ahead. Instead, it swung to the right and ran parallel to the stone wall with long effortless leaps that gave it the appearance of running only fast enough to stay ahead of the two black-and-tan hounds.

And a moment later, just after the two hounds had climbed over the stone wall and were running parallel to it with their noses to the ground, the fox leaped to the top of the wall and came back
on top of it
. Anyone who had taken the trouble to look closely enough could have seen a grin of derision on the tapering face of the fox as it sped back past the two hounds on the ground below it!

When the fox reached the approximate point where it had leaped over the stone wall it jumped down on the other side and doubled back over the very course it had led the two hounds across the field. A few moments later it disappeared into the woodland at almost the same spot where it had first appeared, while the two hounds milled around desperately in a corner of the field, beside the stone wall, where the fox had leaped on top of it.

“Oh boy, oh boy!” said Djuna, his brown eyes gleaming with admiration. “Have you ever seen anything as smart as that in your life before? Look at those two crazy dogs, they don’t have
any
idea where it went.”

“I betcha they start looking up in the air, in a minute,” Tommy said as they watched the two dogs darting and circling, trying to pick up the scent again.

“I guess a fox is about the sharpest wild animal alive,” Djuna said. “I read some place that most of them just laugh at a pack of dogs because they can run so fast and so long, and know how to fool ’em.”

“They’re certain’y smart, all right,” said Tommy. “That one fooled those two dogs without even trying.” His face puckered in a frown and he added, “I wonder how they know
how
to do things like that? They must have to learn someway.”

“I s’pose it just comes natural to them,” Djuna said and then he grinned. “Or maybe their fathers and mothers teach them.”

“Maybe,” Tommy said. “Or maybe they have to go to school the way we do, to learn things.”

“Yeah,” said Djuna. “Imagine a lot of little foxes sitting at desks with books!”

Then he yanked at Champ’s leash and said, “Stop it, Champ! That fox is miles away from here. You couldn’t catch him anyway, if you had a head start and eight legs!”

Champ gave two barks and looked at Djuna as though he had said, “says you!” and began to strut down the knoll as the two boys started back to get their fishing rods and the oars from Mr. Boots’s boat.

Mr. Boots was changing a tire on his small truck in front of his workshop when Djuna and Tommy arrived there. Mr. Boots looked up at them with his very bright blue eyes and smiled as he saw the small sunfish and perch they had caught.

“Not much luck today, eh?” he said with a chuckle.

“I think you’re right, Mr. Boots,” said Djuna. “I don’t think there are any more fish in that pond. But, say, we saw a fox!”

“Oh, there’s a few left around here,” Mr. Boots said. “But ’tain’t like it used to be. Just put the oars in the corner of the shop, boys. You know where they go.”

“Sure,” they said in unison and put the oars away in a corner of the workshop that was filled with Mr. Boots’s tools of trade.

“Thanks very much for letting us use your boat, Mr. Boots,” they told him when they came out.

“You’re welcome, boys, anytime,” said Mr. Boots. “On’y I wish there was someplace near by where you could really get some fishin’.”

“Golly, so do
we
,” said Djuna. “Good night, Mr. Boots.”

“Good night, good night, boys,” Mr. Boots said and disappeared into his workshop.

“Boy, I’m getting hungry,” said Tommy as the two boys plodded back down the dusty road, past Mr. Pindler’s store, toward Miss Annie Ellery’s, where Djuna lived.

“So am I,” Djuna said. “I’m glad it’s almost supper-time.”

Just as the boys cut across the lawn to go in the kitchen door at Miss Annie Ellery’s a sudden stiff breeze sprang up that whipped through the maples on the lawn and caused Miss Annie’s wash to straighten out on her clothesline.

“Look!” said Tommy, pointing at two suits of long summer underwear that were whipping on the line. “They look just like dancing ghosts!” The suits of white underwear looked like two banners unfurled in the breeze, and then as though they were dancing a jig, as the breeze subsided.

“Hey, Miss Annie,” Djuna shouted through the window. “Tommy says your long underwear looks just like a couple of dancing ghosts!”

A little bit of a woman, hardly taller than Djuna, appeared in the doorway. She had gray hair, and wore spectacles, but her eyes were twinkling behind them.

“You never mind about my long underwear!” she said to Tommy, pretending to be severe. “I guess a body’s underwear can dance if it wants to!”

Both of the boys were convulsed with laughter as one leg of the underwear would whip out and then the other one, just as though it
was
kicking.

Then they stopped laughing as quickly as they had started, when Miss Annie pointed at the two small fish they had on their stringer and said, “Glittering glories of Golconda!
I
wouldn’t make any remarks about
anybody’s
underwear if I couldn’t catch more and bigger fish than you’ve got there.”

“They’re
not
very big,” Djuna admitted as he held up the two fish and looked at them disgustedly. “There just aren’t any fish left in the pond except little shiners that steal your bait.”

“Maybe,” Miss Annie said with a smile, “you don’t know where to fish.”

“Gosh, Miss Annie,” said Tommy earnestly. “There just aren’t any fish left there.”

“Well,” Miss Annie said mysteriously, “just come on in the house an’ perhaps I can tell you where you
can
catch some fish.”

“
Where
, Miss Annie?” Djuna said breathlessly, because he knew that when Miss Annie spoke the way she had just spoken she had some kind of an idea, or some kind of a secret to tell him.

When they got inside, Miss Annie sat down in her favorite Boston rocker and both of the boys sat down on the edge of ladder-back chairs that stood against the wall and gazed at Miss Annie expectantly.

“Have you ever heard of Silver Lake?” Miss Annie asked.

“Where’s that?” Djuna inquired curiously.

“Well,” said Miss Annie, “it’s quite a long way from here, and it’s
loaded
with fish. Bass and pickerel and perch, and, for all I know, even whales!”

“Oh, I know,” Tommy said suddenly. “That’s the lake where Clarabelle Smith and her father and mother have a cottage for the summer.”

“That’s right,” said Miss Annie.

“Are—are we going up to visit them?” Djuna asked eagerly.

“No,” said Miss Annie.

“Well, then why did you ask if we’d heard of Silver Lake?” Djuna asked.

“I just wondered,” said Miss Annie, and waited.

“All right,” Djuna said and he squirmed on the edge of his chair. “Jeepers! What about it? If we aren’t going there, what good will it do us if it has all the fish in the world in it?”

“We are going there,” said Miss Annie.

“But you said we weren’t going to visit Clarabelle and her mother and father,” Djuna said, and he was so mixed up he hardly knew what he was saying.

“No. That’s right,” said Miss Annie, and her eyes were twinkling so that they almost looked as though they had tears in them. “We’re not going to visit them.”

“Then what
are
we going to do?” asked Djuna in desperation.

“We’re going to live in our own cottage,” said Miss Annie. “I rented a cottage there for the summer. I just got the letter this afternoon.”

“You did!” Djuna gasped. “Oh boy, oh boy,
oh boy!
”

“There’s an extra room for you, too, Tommy, if you want to go,” Miss Annie added.

Djuna and Tommy didn’t cheer. They exploded! They went straight up in the air out of their chairs for about three feet and each let out a terrific “WHOOPEE!” and came down on the floor with a crash that rattled all the dishes in Miss Annie’s kitchen and pantry.

“For mercy’s sake!” Miss Annie screamed as both Djuna and Tommy grabbed her and hugged her until she squealed.

“Chattering chimps!”
said Tommy. “When we get there I’m going to buy me a real store fishing rod if it takes every penny I have.”

“So am I,” Djuna agreed. “Oh boy, oh boy,
oh boy!
Will Clarabelle and her parents be there all summer, too?”

“Clarabelle and her mother will be there all the time,” said Miss Annie. “Their cottage is right across the lake from ours.”

“When are we going, Miss Annie?” Djuna asked eagerly.

“Next Monday morning,” said Miss Annie. “We’ll get the 8:30 train out of Riverton.”

“Oh boy, oh boy,
oh boy!
” Djuna said for the third time.

“There’s one thing I want you to remember, Djuna,” Miss Annie said sternly. “I’m taking the cottage so that I can be with you this summer to keep an eye on you. I want to see that you don’t get in any more trouble!”

“Golly, Miss Annie,” Djuna protested. “I never went looking for any trouble. I—”

“No,” Miss Annie interrupted, “but it found you all right.
This
summer I’ll be there to see that it
doesn’t
find you!”

The next Monday morning at half-past seven Miss Annie sat down at the kitchen table and very carefully checked off all of the things she had written down on a list that had to be done before she left Edenboro for the rest of the summer.

When she had finished she looked up at the old Seth Thomas clock that ticked away on the shelf above the kitchen sink. She looked worried as she said, “Dear me, I do wish Mr. Pindler would hurry.”

“He said he’d be here at a quarter of eight,” said Djuna. “That will be plenty of time, Miss Annie. You know it’s only ten miles to Riverton.”

“I know,” Miss Annie said as she took off her spectacles and nervously wiped them. “But we’ve got to buy our tickets and check our bags and put Champ in the baggage car, and—
suppose
he has a flat tire on the way to Riverton?”

“Mr. Pindler has all new tires on his car,” Tommy Williams said, and he ran an impatient hand through his already tousled black hair. “But I wish he’d hurry, too.”

“Are you sure you locked the cellar door, Djuna?” Miss Annie asked for the third time.

“Yes, ma’am,” Djuna said patiently.

“And put everything away in the woodshed and put the padlock on it?” Miss Annie asked as she went over and peered out the window toward Mr. Pindler’s store.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Djuna again. “Everything is all right, Miss Annie. I wish you’d stop worrying. It will only take us a few minutes to get our tickets and check our bags. And we can’t put Champ in the baggage car
until
the train gets to Riverton.”

“Dear me!” Miss Annie said. “I’m so afraid we’ll forget something.”

Champ, who was lying with his long, punishing jaw on his black forefeet, opened one eye and looked up at Miss Annie and Tommy as they nervously paced across the room. But he didn’t say anything because he could see that every one else was saying enough without saying much of anything.

“Let me see, now,” Miss Annie said as she started to go over her list again. “Did I tell Mr. Pindler about forwarding our mail, Djuna?”