The Mystery at Mead's Mountain Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mountain!”
    “Trixie, we can’t be sure of that at all,” Miss Trask tried to reason with her. “I tend to agree with Mart. Someone is playing a practical joke, and it’s in extremely poor taste. Right now I think we’d better get some sleep. We have a long day behind us and a big day ahead of us.”
    Even Trixie had to agree.

Locked Doors, Missing Quarters ● 4

    DESPITE THE LATENESS of their bedtime, the Bob-Whites awoke early the following morning, excited about the week of mountain adventure ahead. It was a beautiful day. The snow had stopped, and the sun was shining its warmest possible welcome.
    Now, this is the way to start a mountain vacation, Trixie thought.
    The first thing on the agenda was an early morning swim. Trixie, Honey, and Di threw towels over their swimsuits and, not bothering to put shoes on, stepped outside the sliding glass door. A chilly gust of mountain air sent them hopping on their toes toward the pool as fast as they could go. Wasting no time, they jumped into the soothing warm water, where the boys had already started their swim.
    “Mmmm.... This is gorgeous!” Di purred. “It’s just like taking a bath outside!”
    “Not quite!” hollered Jim as he scrambled out of the pool. At the pool’s edge, the boys had made an arsenal of snowballs, which they now used to bombard the girls.
    Laughing and screaming, the girls kept diving under the water. As long as they could stay underwater, they were safe. Whenever they came up for air, they found themselves all too visible targets.
    Finally the boys could stand the cold air no longer and were forced to jump back into the pool. The girls delighted in taking their revenge by dunking the boys thoroughly and repeatedly. Honey challenged each of the boys to a race and won easily each time.
    Floating lazily in the shallow end, Di announced that she had to get out so she could get her hair dry before breakfast.
    “Excellent timing,” said Mart. “You damsels go try to beautify yourselves, a task, which, although feasible for Di and Honey, will be impossible for Trixie. By the time we he-men get out, you can be cleared out of the bathroom.”
    “By the time you he-men get out, you’ll be as wrinkled as prunes,” said Trixie saucily, “which, I must say, will greatly improve your looks.”
    Clutching their towels around them, the girls darted to the sliding glass door, and Trixie tugged on it. It didn’t move.
    “It’s locked!” she gasped.
    “Oh, no!” Honey trembled, hopping from one cold foot to another. “Were covered with goose bumps. Pound on the door, Trixie. Maybe Miss Trask will hear.”
    Trixie thumped on the door, but Miss Trask had apparently left for breakfast. “I guess we’ll have to make a run for the hallway door,” she quavered.
    “What if that one is locked, too?” worried Di as they started running.
    “There’s got to be an unlocked door around here somewhere,” answered Trixie. “111 bet anything this is Mart’s idea of a cute trick. He probably locked the door, and that’s why he was so generous about letting us have the bathroom first.”
    “Y-You don’t think it could have been the ‘ghost’ again, do you, Trixie?” asked Di apprehensively.
    That thought had already occurred to Trixie, but to reassure Di she said, “Actually, we probably locked it ourselves accidentally. I guess it couldn’t have been Mart after all. He was with us the whole time.”
    The girls cheered breathlessly when they found the hallway door open. Once in the hall, they stopped running, but it was hard to stop shivering. As they rounded the corner that led to their suite, they almost ran right into Eric.
    “What are you doing here?” Trixie demanded, her teeth still chattering.
    “I—I was looking for Rosie,” he said, staring at the girls. “She said she was going to visit you, but she’s not there. You girls shouldn’t be running around in weather like this in those wet bathing suits. You could freeze to death.