Mystery of the Spider's Clue Read Online Free PDF Page A

Jessie, then he turned on his heel and hurried away. At that moment Jessie realized where she’d seen him before—he was the man who’d ducked behind the trees the other day!
    Jessie tried to collect her thoughts. Why had the mystery man disappeared so quickly again? Had he followed them to the library?
    The other Aldens still had their heads bent over their books, so Jessie decided not to say anything. She didn’t want to frighten the younger children. After taking a long and careful look around, she breathed a sigh of relief. The man was nowhere to be seen.
    Although she kept glancing over her shoulder, Jessie returned her attention to the nursery rhymes. A short time later, Violet and Benny found a rhyme with a cow in it. But the cow was jumping over the moon. And there wasn’t any mention of sheep or haystacks. Then Henry showed them one about Little Bo Peep losing her sheep, but that wasn’t right, either.
    â€œMaybe I was wrong,” Jessie whispered. “Maybe those lines weren’t from a nursery rhyme.”
    Henry suddenly looked up. “You weren’t wrong,” he said. “Listen to this.” He began to read quietly from the book.
Little Boy Blue,
    Come blow your horn.
    The sheep’s in the meadow,
    The cow’s in the corn;
    But where is the boy
    Who looks after the sheep?
    He’s under a haystack,
    Fast asleep.
    â€œHooray!” Benny cried, almost shouting. Then he clamped a hand over his mouth.

    He had forgotten where he was for a moment.
    â€œYou were right after all, Jessie,” Violet whispered, looking at her sister with admiration.
    Jessie agreed that they’d found another piece of the puzzle. But where did it fit into the mystery?
    Henry didn’t know, either. “But I have a feeling,” he said, “that if we can figure out what this Little Boy Blue clue is trying to tell us, then we’ll know where to find the hollow tree.”
    Jessie thought about this for a minute. Then she nodded. “I think you’re right, Henry.”
    Outside, Benny said, “I can’t wait to tell Sam about this!”
    â€œLet’s tell him right now,” suggested Violet, and the others nodded.
    As they rode their bikes back through town, Henry noticed that Jessie was unusually quiet. He could see something was troubling her. “Is anything wrong?” he asked.
    Jessie slowed her bike to a stop at a red light. When she was sure the younger children were out of earshot, she told him about seeing the mystery man again.
    â€œAre you sure it was the same man?” he asked.
    â€œI can’t be certain,” admitted Jessie. “But I think so.”
    â€œYou might be right, Jessie,” Henry said thoughtfully. “But even if it was the same man, it could just be a coincidence that he happened to be at the library, too.”
    Jessie had to agree Henry had a point. “Maybe I am making too much of this. I suppose it could be a coincidence.” But there was a small part of her that didn’t believe it for a minute.
    â€œWatch is a good buddy of mine,” Sam said when the Aldens arrived with their dog. “Feel free to bring him along with you anytime.”
    At the sound of his name, Watch ran over to the couch where Sam was resting. The little dog jumped up and began to lick Sam’s face.
    Sam laughed as he scratched Watch between the ears. “What’d I tell you?” he said, looking over at the Aldens.
    â€œWatch always likes coming here,” said Henry.
    Benny was bouncing up and down in his chair. “Guess what.” He couldn’t wait to tell Sam all about their day. “We figured out two clues already!”
    â€œDid you really?” Sam asked, surprised to hear this.
    The children took turns telling Sam all that had happened. Henry finished by saying, “The first few lines really were from a nursery rhyme. The one about Little Boy Blue.”
    â€œWhat . .