Haunted Cabin Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner Read Free Book Online Page B

only the wind.”
    â€œDo we all have to go?” Henry asked, looking at Benny.
    â€œDon’t even think about leaving me here,” Benny told him. “After all, I’m the one who found the flashlight.”
    Since they had only two ponchos, the children doubled up in them. They made their way to the barn between great puddles of rain. Henry stopped outside of the window he had found open. “There,” he said, shining the flashlight on the ground. “Footsteps, right in the mud.”
    â€œAre you sure they’re not yours?” Violet asked.
    â€œPositive,” Henry said, holding up his boot. “See, my soles are smooth, and these have a waffle weave on them.”
    There were more waffle-weave footsteps inside the barn. The children looked at each other. “Why would anyone want to poke around out here during such a storm?” Jessie asked.

    â€œMaybe they felt safe because the floodlight was off,” Henry suggested.
    â€œAnd we couldn’t hear them for the thunder,” Benny added.
    â€œBut why do they come here at all? Why are they doing this? They can’t just be trying to scare Cap!” Violet said.
    Jessie kicked some hay aside to clear a path. “Look, Henry,” she said. “Here’s a hole with a loose board over it that you missed.”
    He knelt beside her and shook his head. “I didn’t miss it,” he said. “It’s been pried up again. See that old rusty nail I used to fasten it down?”
    Violet was walking past Pilot’s stall when she stopped and stood frowning. “What’s wrong?” Benny asked her.
    â€œIt smells funny in here,” she said. “Not like wet hay and horses, but a sharp kind of smell.”
    Henry sniffed and nodded. “That’s kerosene,” he said. “You know, the liquid they burn in lamps. I know the barn didn’t smell like that when I was in here before.”
    â€œIt’s dangerous to have that kind of lamp around all this loose hay,” Jessie said. “It could start a fire.”
    â€œLamp,” Violet cried. “Remember that funny flickering light we saw? If it had been a flashlight, someone would have pointed it ahead and up and down. But a lamp …”
    â€œYou’re right,” Henry said. “You carry a lamp with a handle that goes over the top. It would always be at about the same height. It would also seem to flicker when you went behind a tree or a fence post.”
    Jessie sat down on an overturned bucket with her chin in her hands. “Who could be coming here to stamp around in the mud, carrying a lamp?”
    â€œOr to dig holes in the barn and orchard,” Benny added.
    â€œOr to pick vegetables and steal a chicken and eggs?” Violet reminded them.
    â€œWe need two things, a who and a why,” Jessie said.
    â€œIf we could find out who it was, we’d probably know the why,” Henry told her.
    Benny stood very still, thinking. “Do you remember what Mr. Edwards said about the pirates lying in wait to grab people?” he asked dreamily. “Couldn’t we do that? Then we’d grab the who, and make them tell us the why.”
    Henry stared at Benny, then laughed softly. “There’s our Benny, figuring out exactly what needs to be done.”
    â€œThe hayloft,” Benny went on. “If we were hidden in the hayloft, we could see anyone who came in down here.”
    â€œNobody’s said anything about that strange scary whistling noise,” Violet reminded them. “Could that be some kind of a signal? If so, maybe there are at least two people in this gang.”
    â€œNow we’re getting somewhere,” Henry said. “We need to make a plan. Let’s go back to the cabin and figure out exactly what to do.”
    â€œThe door,” Benny whispered. “I just heard a door bang at the cabin.” When they rushed to the barn window to look out,