Chapter 11: The Missing Fragment

Shortly after the boys left in the station wagon for their camping trip, Marjorie said to Judy: “Let’s look at that map again. Penny could be wrong. Maybe it does show exactly where treasure is buried.”

“Let’s,” Judy agreed. “And maybe we held it upside down or something. Maybe the big red cross doesn’t mark the spot where Pat planted his potatoes.”

They raced into the Lodge and down the hall to the storage room. During the excitement of Peter’s arrival they had left the map, still pasted in the lid of the jewelry box, on one of the old trunks. Again they took it over to the window and studied it thoughtfully.

“Let’s see,” Judy said after awhile. “When you’re facing north, west is on your left isn’t it?”

Marjorie nodded. “So there’s no point in looking at this darn thing any longer. If it isn’t a phony, the treasure is buried under the potato hills.”

“I give up,” Judy said with a sigh. “We may as well go down to the beach and try to find some rare shells. I suppose that’s the only buried treasure I’ll have the luck to find.”

During the next few days they filled a bucket with shells which they hoped were collectors’ items, but which Phil and Peter told them were worthless.

“That is the worst about being a girl!” Judy Powell said in a moment of disgust. “The boys will come back with wonderful stories about how many fish they caught and the rapids they ran--and everything!” Judy’s ideas of what the boys were doing ran out.

Marjorie and Judy were sitting in their favorite spot on the pier, dangling their feet in the water. They wore their bathing suits and had just watched the cruiser take off with a group of the younger guests, exclusive of themselves. They had not wanted to go since Mal had promised to take them on a picnic in the woods. Just at this moment they were in the old familiar throes of not knowing what to do next.

“Let them rave,” said Marjorie. “We’ve things to tell the boys, too.”

“They wouldn’t think that _we_ do anything,” said Judy rather crossly.

“Maybe we could think up something different,” said Marjorie, a little worried. “Aren’t you having a good time, Judy?”

“My, yes! I didn’t mean that,” Judy said quickly. “I was just thinking what a grand time they must be having. I’d like to shoot rapids.”

“Come up again next summer and we’ll get Pat and Mal to take us on a canoeing trip.”

“You probably couldn’t get my mother to say yes.” Judy laughed. “Let’s go back to the house and see if we’re missing anything.” Just as they started back toward the Lodge they heard the loud honking of a car on the drive.

“Oh,” cried Judy, “I’ll bet the boys have come home. I wonder what made them come back before the week was out.”

“Something awful must have happened to one of them,” Marjorie gasped as they began to run as fast as they could.

Sure enough, the station wagon was parked in front of the Lodge and the boys were tumbling out of it.

“They certainly don’t look as though anything awful had happened to them,” Judy panted.

“Hi, everybody,” Jimmy was shouting to the crowd that had gathered on the porch. When the girls reached the steps they heard him say quietly to Penny and Phil:

“Say, how about calling a meeting of the Board of Directors right away?”

“We can’t, Jimmy,” Penny said. “Everyone is busy.”

“Well, then,” he said. “A meeting of the Allens in the office. I’ve got something in my pocket which I think the rest of the family ought to know about as soon as possible.”

Penny could tell from the sober expression on Jimmy’s tanned face that this was not a joke. She beckoned to Phil and Marjorie and led the way into the office.

“On second thought,” Jimmy said as he followed her, “let’s get Peter in on this. I’d like to hear his opinion of the whole thing. Besides,” he added in a low teasing voice, “he’s practically family anyway.”

Penny’s cheeks flamed. “Jimmy,” she said, mildly scolding, “you never can be serious for more than five minutes at a time.”

“I’m pretty darn serious now,” Jimmy said. When they had all gathered around the desk, he closed the door and produced the scrap of paper which Brook had found in the old coat.

After one swift glance, Penny said, “Why, Peter, the handwriting looks just like the one on the fragment Marjorie found. Where on earth did you find it, Jimmy?”

Jimmy explained and Penny frowned as she listened. “Brook had no business taking that envelope out of a coat he found,” she said.

Peter chuckled. “Maybe he didn’t have any right to take it, Penny, but in my opinion it was put where it was so that no boy could resist the temptation.”

Penny thought for a minute. Again she read the blurred words, more carefully this time.

We’ll meet a
the las
and look for the tre
I’m sure it’s buried
old shed nea
has long run

Then she pulled out of her desk drawer the fragment Marjorie had found in the green bottle. The two pieces fit together as perfectly as a jigsaw puzzle. Now they could all read the complete page:

We’ll meet at the Log cabin
the last week in August
and look for the treasure again.
I’m sure it’s buried near the
old shed near a well that
has long run dry.

“Oh, oh,” Jimmy moaned. “That means more digging. I guess we didn’t dig deep enough.”

“But what about the map?” Marjorie demanded. “It showed that treasure was buried behind the Donahues’ cabin.”

“None of it makes any sense,” Peter said calmly. “And you kids may as well accept the fact right now that the map and the two fragments aren’t clues. They’re obviously red herrings, deliberately planted to keep us busy looking for buried treasure.”

“I don’t get it,” Jimmy said frankly.

“It’s this way,” Phil explained. “Peter, Penny and I figure that there _is_ something valuable hidden around here. Somebody who obviously isn’t honest knows where it is. He wants to keep us from finding it.”

“Oh golly,” Marjorie broke in, “wait until I tell Judy about this. We’ll spend the rest of the summer going over the whole place with a fine-tooth comb.”

“Oh, no, you won’t,” Penny said, laughing. “I have a better idea, and one that won’t drive our guests out of their minds.”

Peter stared at her in amazement. “Have you been keeping secrets from me?” he asked, pretending that his feelings were hurt.

“Oh, no,” Penny told him hastily. “The idea just came to me this minute. Actually, the words, ‘last week in August’ gave it to me.” Her cheeks flushed with excitement, she went on. “One morning last week when I was out in the kitchen discussing menus with Ann Mary, she suggested that we give a masquerade party. There are plenty of grand costumes in the old trunks for all of the ladies, and you men can rig up outfits from old curtains and stuff in our boxes.”

“A swell idea,” Jimmy said. “But what’s it got to do with finding hidden treasure?”

Penny smiled at him patiently. “If you’d only let me finish! Ann Mary and I decided that the last Friday in August would be a good time for the party. Most of the guests will be leaving early in September, so it would be sort of a last fling.”

Jimmy began to sing, “After the ball is o-ver. After the guests have gone.”

“Stop interrupting,” Marjorie said, glaring at him. “Let Penny finish.”

“Well,” Penny went on, “we planned the party just for ourselves and our guests. But now I think we should issue a blanket invitation to all the merchants in town. It will be our way of expressing our appreciation of the way they cooperated with us all summer. Now,” she finished, “you can all guess the rest.”

“Not me,” Marjorie said, rapidly blinking her blue eyes.

Jimmy clutched his dark hair wildly. “I follow you as closely as though you’d had a million-mile head start.”

Peter was staring at Penny with frank admiration. “You _are_ smart,” he said. “Don’t you see?” he asked Jimmy and Marjorie. “Our Mr. X, or our Messrs. X, for there may be more than one, will certainly be among those present at the masquerade. With everyone coming masked and in costume, he wouldn’t miss the chance. He’ll come out sure that he can get whatever he’s after and depart before the unmasking.”

“Holy cow,” Jimmy exploded. “Penny _is_ smart. Instead of our wearing ourselves out looking for hidden treasure, he’ll lead us right to it.”

Marjorie gave her sister an impulsive hug. “It’s the grandest idea anyone ever invented,” she cried.

“And,” Jimmy put in, suddenly remembering the main reason why they had persuaded Pat to cut the camping trip short, “I’m pretty sure there’s only one Mr. X.”

“Don’t be a dope,” Marjorie said. “I’m sure there are two. One of them put the bottle where he was sure Judy and I would find it while we were looking for shells. And the other put the coat where you boys couldn’t miss it.”

Jimmy shrugged. “Maybe so, but the same Mr. X who left his footprint under the floor of the shed planted the coat.”

“Yipes,” Peter moaned. “What’s all this about a footprint under the shed? I thought it was a garage filled with cars.”

“It is now,” Penny explained with a chuckle. “Before we converted it, someone ripped up part of the floor and left a footprint in the dirt.”

“That’s right,” Jimmy said. “And he also left footprints in a clearing back where Brook found the coat. Footprints,” he finished triumphantly, “with rubber heels made by the same manufacturer.”

“Why, Jimmy Allen,” Marjorie gasped admiringly, “you’re so smart you ought to get a job with the FBI.”

But Penny laughed. “Now all the red herrings fit together like the pieces of this paper. Don’t you see, Jimmy? Mr. X deliberately left that footprint in the shed in plain view so I might believe that he had had something to do with my accident. Right, Peter?”

“Right,” Peter said. “As soon as Mr. X heard you had fallen down the well, he wrote the letter which you received the next day. Then that evening he sneaked out to plant evidence which he hoped would back up his threat.”

“Oh, gosh,” Jimmy said disconsolately. “We’re right back where we started. But at least we can be pretty sure that there’s only one Mr. X.”

“We can’t be sure of anything,” Phil said soberly. “Except that whoever it is really does mean business. The very fact that one of them jumped on Mal that night when we chased him away proves that. An ordinary night prowler would have tried to sneak away without being seen.”

“Well,” Marjorie said cheerfully, “we mean business now, too. And we’re sure to catch him the night of the masquerade when he comes here to get the treasure.”

“Wa--ait a minute,” Phil said cautiously. “What’s to prevent Mr. X from getting by with his scheme? We can’t be everywhere at once in a place as big as this, especially when so many people will be milling around.”

“And,” Peter added, “how will we know whom to keep an eye on?” He smiled at Penny. “You planned, of course, to have police detectives here in costume, too.”

“No, I didn’t,” Penny admitted. “I thought it would be more fun if we set a trap and caught Mr. or Messrs. X ourselves.”

“What sort of a trap?” Phil asked, frowning.

“I don’t know exactly,” Penny admitted. “But I think it ought to have something to do with the secret room. For one thing, Ann Mary and I planned that just before the unmasking we might spring it on our guests as a surprise. None of them except Adra has any idea where it is.”

Marjorie felt very uncomfortable at that moment. She opened her mouth to confess that she had showed it to Judy, but decided against interrupting Penny until she had finished.

“When we open the door,” Penny went on, “those who want to go down into the room will have to take turns, because it’s too small to hold them all at the same time. I thought that if anyone had been acting suspiciously before that, we might be able to lure him down alone and then we could quickly press the button and lock him in.” She added, turning to Peter, “Then you can call in the police.”

He shook his head worriedly. “_You_ are not going to be the one to lure him down into the room alone.”

“Of course not,” Jimmy said quickly. “_I_ will.”

“No, you won’t,” Phil told him emphatically. “The man may be armed and I’m the only one who has a pistol license. I’ll go down with him and one of you can close the door. If he’s really been acting suspiciously, I’ll suggest that he unmask. If he’s the man we want, he’ll refuse. Then I’ll produce my gun and keep him there while I knock on the door. That will be the signal that our scheme worked.”

“I don’t like the idea of your being locked down there with him,” Penny objected.

“It’s the only answer,” Phil insisted. “Once he has any idea that we suspect him, he may make a wild dash for safety, and that would frighten some of our guests very badly. Besides, he might escape. With all those people wandering in and out of the Lodge, I wouldn’t dare use my gun.” He turned to Peter. “What do you think of the plan?”

“It’s okay except for one thing,” Peter said. “What if Mr. X doesn’t do anything to make us suspect him? Up until the unmasking we won’t have any way of knowing whether he is one of the village merchants or not. And by that time he will certainly have disappeared.”

“Oh, he’s bound to do something to make him stand out from the others,” Marjorie put in. “And he’ll probably be very careless because he won’t have any idea that we plan to catch him in a trap.”

“That’s true,” Peter admitted.

“Sometimes,” Jimmy said with a teasing grin, “the gal makes sense.”

Phil stood up. “If we’re all agreed, I may as well go down to the village now and spread the word about the party.”

“And I,” said Penny, rising, too, “had better go through the stuff in the storage room and see what we have. I thought it might be fun to decorate the secret room so it’ll look good and scary.”

“I’ll help,” Marjorie said. “I know where there’s one of those old paper skeletons that we used to hang up on Hallowe’en.” She slipped her arm through Penny’s. “Oh, isn’t it going to be fun? Even if we don’t catch Mr. X, the masquerade will be the best event of the whole summer.”

“I hope so,” Penny said. “And I hope we do catch him. Even if he’s just a crank and isn’t after anything valuable, he’s annoyed us enough. It’s time we put a stop to it.”

She glanced back over her shoulder at Peter who was still sitting at the desk.

“Oh, dear,” she thought reading the anxious expression on his face. “He still thinks we ought to get help from the police.” She shivered involuntarily. “Maybe before the party is over we’ll be sorry we didn’t follow his advice.”