The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve Read Online Free PDF Page A

left the other carrots to grow. Then he began on the turnips.
    “You are a good worker,” said Mrs. Moore. “I can see that.” She smiled at Henry. “You may thin out all these vegetables,”
    Then she went into the house and left Henry alone. He worked all the morning. He thinned out the carrots, turnips, and little onions.
    The mill bells rang at noon, but Henry did not hear them. He still worked on in the hot sun. Then he saw Mrs. Moore looking at him.
    “You have worked long enough now,” she said. “You may come again this afternoon.”
    “What shall I do with the vegetables I pulled up?” Henry asked.
    “Oh, I don’t want them,” said Mrs. Moore. “Just leave them in a pile.”
    “Do you mind if I take them?” asked Henry.

    “No, indeed. Do you have chickens?” Then, without waiting for an answer, she went right on, “You have done good work. Here is a dollar.”
    Henry said, “Thank you,” and was glad he did not have to answer about the chickens.
    When Mrs. Moore went into the house, he took some of the little carrots and turnips and onions. If he had looked up, he would have seen Mrs. Moore in the window watching him. But he did not look up. He was too eager to get to the store and order some meat.
    When he arrived at the boxcar, Benny told him, “The building is done. I helped with it.”
    The “building” was a fireplace, made of flat stones.
    “Benny did a lot of the work,” said Jessie. “He carried stones and found wood for the fire.”
    The fireplace was a very good one. The children and Watch had made a hole at the foot of a big rock between two trees. Flat stones were laid on the floor of this hole and around the sides. More big stones were put up to keep out the wind.
    Jessie had found a heavy wire in the dump and had put the big kettle on it and tied the ends of the wire to the two trees. The kettle hung over the fireplace, and the fire was laid. Beside the fireplace was a big wood-pile.
    “Fine! Fine!” cried Henry. “You have done well. Now see what I have.”
    The girls were delighted with the meat and the little vegetables. With Henry’s knife they cut the meat into little pieces. Then they filled the kettle with water from the fountain and put the meat into it, with a tin plate for a cover. Henry started the fire, and it burned well at once.
    Jessie cut the tops off the vegetables and washed them in the brook.
    “I’ll put them in after the meat has cooked awhile,” she said.
    Soon the water began to boil, and the stew began to smell good. Watch sat down and looked at it. He sniffed hungrily at it and barked and barked.
    The children sat around the fireplace, eating bread and milk. Now and then Jessie stirred the stew with a big spoon.
    “It will make a good meal,” said Henry. “Keep it boiling and do not leave it. When I come home tonight, I’ll bring you some salt. And whatever you do, don’t get on fire!”
    Violet pointed to the pitcher and teapot that she had filled with water.
    “That’s to put on Benny or Watch if he should get on fire,” she said.
    Henry laughed and went happily on his way. He wished he could stay and smell the stew boiling, but he thought he ought to work. So he went back to Dr. Moore’s house.
    He was very happy when Dr. Moore said, “Do you want to clean up this garage?”
    The garage was not in very good order. Dr. Moore laughed when he saw Henry look around for a broom.
    “I must go out now,” said Dr. Moore. “You just clean this place up.”
    Henry began at once. First he opened all the boxes. On the biggest box he painted the word TOOLS with a long-handled brush and a can of paint he had found. On another box he painted NAILS. Then he picked over the things and put the tools in the toolbox and the nails in the nail-box. This was fun for Henry, because he liked to get things in order.
    Henry found a lot of nails that were bent and covered with rust. He put them in his pocket.
    “I’ll ask the doctor for these bent