Mystery on Blizzard Mountain Read Online Free PDF Page A

neat, even tracks of a fox where it had crossed the trail.
    “What’s this?” asked Violet, pointing to another set of tracks.
    “Rabbit,” said Maris. “And one with a sore foot, from the looks of it.”
    “How can you tell?” asked Jessie.
    “Look at this footprint. The other three tracks are deep. But the right front one is blurred and only deep at the toes, as if the rabbit put its foot down quickly, then lifted it up again, dragging it a little.”
    “Oh,” said Jessie. “I see.” They hiked on. At last, when the sun was high overhead, Maris said, “It’s lunch-time. Why don’t you rest here? I’m going to look around and see if I can find a way around these rocks that isn’t so steep.”

    Benny and Jessie sat on a log. Violet found a spot on a rock in the sun. Henry spread his waterproof jacket out on a patch of leaves and sat on that. They ate peanut butter sandwiches they’d made the day before and drank water that Maris had filtered from a stream that morning. For dessert they each had a chocolate bar.
    “If it wasn’t a bear, I wonder who took our food last night,” Henry said.
    “Half our food,” said Jessie. “Whoever it was left us some food so we wouldn’t starve.”
    “A sort of nice thief,” said Violet.
    “Maybe it was the thief who stole all that stuff from the museum,” Benny said.
    “I don’t think so,” said Henry. “That thief would be long gone by now. But I do think it was a person, not a bear. If a bear had torn down our food bag, it would have left a big mess. There wasn’t a mess. I mean, the bag had burst open, but only some of the stuff had been taken.”
    “The chocolate bars weren’t taken,” said Jessie. “If I was a bear, I’d take all the chocolate bars first,”
    Everyone nodded. Then Violet said, thoughtfully, “It’s almost as if someone were trying to scare us off, but they wanted to make sure we didn’t go hungry getting back home.”
    “You’re right,” agreed Henry. “I don’t think a bear would be that thoughtful.”
    “Then who was it?” Benny asked. He looked around. “Is someone following us?”
    Violet looked around, too. She shivered a little. “I hope no one is following us, Benny,” she said.
    “Lots of people knew we were coming up this way,” Jessie said. “Carola. Rayanne.”
    “Chuck,” said Benny.
    “All the people in the coffee shop,” said Violet.
    “But who would want to follow us all the way up here and steal our food?” asked Henry. “And why?”
    “Not Chuck. He’s got crutches,” Benny said.
    “Rayanne?” asked Violet.
    Jessie shook her head. “I don’t think so. She was busy at work.”
    “That leaves Carola. She doesn’t want us here,” said Henry.
    “She could have sneaked into town and let the air out of the tires,” Jessie said. “And she could have fixed Maris’s car so it wouldn’t start yesterday morning.”
    “She said she had an appointment in Millpond,” Henry said.
    “She could have been making that up,” Jessie said. “Just like she might have been pretending not to remember Maris had told her we were hiking up Blizzard Mountain today.”
    “Or if she did have to go to Millpond, maybe someone’s helping her,” said Violet. “She fixed Maris’s battery, but someone else let the air out of the tires and stole the food.”
    “Who?” Benny wanted to know.
    They were silent for a moment. Then Henry said slowly, “It could be Bobcat.”
    “I like Bobcat!” Benny said indignantly.
    “We all do. But he might not want people up here, either, Benny. Just like Carola,” Henry said. “They could be working together.”
    “He was in his tent last night,” said Jessie. She thought for a moment, then added, “Both times Violet heard the noise, Bobcat didn’t come check on it or say anything until after the noise had stopped. So maybe he wasn’t in the tent at all.”
    “Maybe he was being a bear,” said Violet.
    “It would have been easy for him to have let the air