The Red Trailer Mystery by Julie Campbell Read Free Book Online

sense of direction." Trixie laughed. "So, just in case, let’s take along a picnic lunch."
    "Wonderful!" Honey agreed.
    They made thick sandwiches of ham and cheese and filled a Thermos with iced cocoa. Then they set off for the riding academy. Trixie, who hadn’t been riding very long, wisely chose a quiet black horse named Prince. "I’m not taking any chances," she said with a grin. "If we get into trouble, Miss Trask might make us go right back home."
    "You’re right," Honey said as she swung up on the back of a more frisky chestnut gelding named Peanuts. "I’m scared to death Mother may change her mind any minute and call the cafeteria and say she doesn’t want me riding around in the woods without an armed guard."
    "It must be an awful nuisance being rich," Trixie said as they trotted along the path to the woods. "Your parents are always worrying for fear you’ll be kidnapped and held for ransom, aren’t they?"
    "They used to be," Honey said, "before Miss Trask came. She told Dad she thought it would be better to risk being kidnapped than to grow up different from other girls."
    Trixie laughed. "Well, nobody would suspect you’re rich now. Your blue jeans are as faded as Joeanne’s, and look at those big patches on the knees."
    "That’s where I ripped them when I fell off your bike," Honey said with a giggle. "I put those patches on myself, and I’m very proud of them."
    "Jim’s dungarees were faded and patched, too," Trixie suddenly remembered. "He didn’t have a stitch of clothes except the ones he was wearing."
    "But he’s got all that money you saved from the fire," Honey pointed out. "I wonder if he still has his silver christening mug and the old family Bible that had the will in it."
    "What I’m wondering," Trixie said, "is where he sleeps nights. That is, if he hasn’t already got a job at one of the boys’ camps."
    "Why, he could go to a hotel, couldn’t he?" Honey demanded.
    Trixie shook her head. "Not without arousing suspicion. Boys his age don’t go around stopping at hotels."
    "I never thought about that," Honey said slowly. "He can’t spend a lot of money in any one place, either, without making people think he might have stolen it."
    "That’s the trouble," Trixie said. "When you get right down to it, Jim has to get a job right away. And it’s got to be someplace where he can live, too."
    "Well, let’s hope we find him at Pine Hollow," Honey said.
    They cantered along in silence until the trail ended at a macadam road. "Now," Honey said, reining in her horse, "we go north, don’t we, and pick up the bridle path again in a few yards?"
    "I think so," Trixie said. "It looks so easy on the map, but when you get here it’s something else again." They walked their horses along the highway, and suddenly Honey called out, "There’s the trail—and look. Aren’t we lucky? There’s a sign saying it’s the one to Pine Hollow!"
    Half an hour later they galloped up a hill and found themselves looking down at a large camp that sprawled around a lake. There were several small cabins and one large one nestling among the pine trees, and the lake was dotted with boys swimming.
    "That's it, all right," Trixie cried as they started down the hill.
    Halfway down they met a group on horseback riding up the winding trail. "Hello," Trixie called to the young counselor who was leading the way. "We were coming down to see you. We’re looking for a friend of ours, a boy named Jim."
    The counselor grinned. "We have three boys named Jim in camp. Which one is your friend?"
    "The red-haired one." Honey laughed.
    All the boys grinned then. "Two of ’em have red hair. Take your choice."
    Trixie flushed with embarrassment. "I started out all wrong," she said. "The Jim we’re looking for wouldn’t be a camper. He’s trying to get a job as junior counselor or athletic instructor."
    "Oh, that’s different," the young man said. "A red-haired boy of about fifteen did apply for a job day before yesterday. He