The Mystery of the Black Raven Read Online Free PDF Page B

ill. He couldn’t leave his family. It was a long trip from Wisconsin to Alaska and he didn’t have the money, either.”

    “So what happened that year?” Jessie asked with interest. “Did they go?” This was a new twist. She thought the miners always met in Skagway, no matter what.
    “The other three did,” Miss Parker replied, carefully refolding the letter and slipping it back into the envelope. She tucked the envelope into the outside pocket of her bag.
    “And your great-uncle didn’t go?” asked Violet.
    “Yes, Pete Blake stayed in Wisconsin. But you see, he had to pass the scrapbook and raven on to Harold Bell that year. So Pete asked Edward Alden what to do—mail the scrapbook and raven to Harold so he would have it for the reunion, or what?”
    “Did they have mail back in those days?” asked Benny.
    That broke them all up.
    “Yes,” said Miss Parker, wiping her eyes. “And it was after the Pony Express! Anyway, the other three men wrote to one another and decided to let Pete keep the scrapbook and raven for another year, for luck. Since money was tight and his daughter was sick, maybe having those things would help.”
    “And did it?” Jessie wanted to know.
    Miss Parker shrugged. “Well, my uncle’s daughter did get well and he got another job later that year. Who knows? I’m not a superstitious person, but back then a lot of people were. In fact, some people still won’t walk under ladders or let a black cat cross their path.”
    “I’m super—whatever you said,” Benny put in. “I never walk under ladders.”
    Everyone laughed again.
    Miss Parker continued, “A new tradition was started. If any of the miners was having trouble of some sort, he was allowed to keep the scrapbook and statue an extra year. Or he could receive them out of turn to ‘change his luck.’”
    “Grandfather didn’t know this?” asked Henry. Grandfather was the only member of the reunion group who had been attending the reunions for many years.
    Miss Parker shook her head. “He had never heard of this tradition. No one knew about it until I found the letter. That’s why I brought it with me. When the original miners died, this part of the reunion remained a secret.”
    Henry looked at Jessie. Jessie nodded back. She was thinking what he was thinking. Maybe the scrapbook and raven weren’t worth money, but they might be valuable as good-luck charms. But who else knew about the letter?
    Miss Parker sighed. “I feel so bad those things were stolen from your grandfather. They had been in my care, so in a way, I feel responsible—”
    Just then Violet heard something outside, a slight shuffling sound. Was someone listening through the door?
    “Keep talking,” she whispered, sliding off the bed.
    The others continued a general conversation as she crept over to the door.
    Violet turned the handle silently and peered through the crack. She didn’t see anyone. Opening the door wider, she looked down the hall. Was the door to room 309 closing? Or was it her imagination? The corridor wasn’t very well lit.
    She went back into the room.
    “Anybody?” queried Henry.
    Violet shook her head. “But I thought for sure I heard something out there.”
    “I should let you children get to bed,” said Miss Parker. “It’s late. See you in the morning.”
    Later, when the boys were across the hall in their room, Jessie asked Violet more about what she had heard.
    “It sounded like shoes shuffling on a rug,” she explained. “But I didn’t see anybody. Except …”
    “Except what?”
    “Well, I thought I saw the door to room 309 closing when I looked down the hall,” Violet said with a yawn.
    Jessie said, “That’s the Wilsons’ room.”
    “I know,” said Violet. “I suppose Steve or Jennifer could have been out filling their ice bucket.”
    A few minutes later, Jessie realized that Violet was wrong. “Getting ice is the bellhop’s job,” Jessie said. “Anyway, Steve and Jennifer are too nice to