The Mystery of the Man in the Tall Black Hat Read Online Free PDF

the gravel pit. We’ll have to go back after it!”

4
The Squirrel Cage
    “It’s too late to go back up to the gravel pit today,” said Tod. “Besides, I have to go on my paper route pretty soon.”
    “I don’t want to lose that cage,” Barney said thoughtfully, “but I sure don’t want to go back up there by myself.” He looked questioningly at Tod. “Could we go first thing tomorrow morning?”
    “If you hadn’t taken that thing with you in the first place it wouldn’t have caused us so much trouble.”
    “So, we didn’t need it for anything! How was I supposed to know?”
    “I just can’t figure you out, Barn. No matter where we go you always take something extra along. Just don’t drag anything else up to the gravel pit tomorrow.”
    After Barney had gone home Tod went in search of his mother to let her know he was leaving for his paper route. He found her in her workroom, ironing.
    “Guess what happened with the squirrel cage!” Tod exploded.
    Mrs. Mitchell smiled. “Did Barney catch a squirrel?”
    “I’ll say not. It just got in the way all the time, and then he left it at the gravel pit.”
    “How did he manage to do that?” Mrs. Mitchell asked, as she reached into the clothes basket for a dampened shirt.
    Tod couldn’t tell her they had climbed up the side of the pit. She would be frantic and maybe not let him go up there again. Nor could he tell her about the strange man they had seen. He thought hard for a moment before he realized his mother was waiting for his answer.
    “We were resting at the top of the pit, and when we got ready to go he just forgot it, I guess. He wants me to go back with him in the morning and get it.”
    “It’s too bad he took it up there for nothing.”
    “He used it for one thing; he carried his lunch in it.” Tod laughed as he turned to go.
    “Oh, by the way, Tod. I got the book you wanted from the library. It’s on the stand in the living room.”
    *  *  *
    Barney was over early the next morning. “You may go, Tod, if you come right back and do your work,” agreed his mother.
    Instead of cutting through the woods as they had done the previous day, the boys followed the road. As they walked along they heard the bird songs and the wind moaning through the trees. Off in the distance a freight train tooted for a crossing.
    It’s good to be alive
, Tod thought as they passed Wildwood Church.
    Barney was plodding alongside him with his usual heavy breathing. Everything was so hard for Barney. “Lord, please help Barney to want to know you,” Tod prayed silently.
    The boys instinctively slowed as they neared the road which led to the gravel pit. They were conscious of the deep shadows in the woods and the closeness of the bushes pressing in about them. The slight snap of a twig brought Tod to a halt, and he felt a crawling sensation along his spine as he peered into the woods. The wind rustled through the leaves. It seemed like it would take forever to reach the pit, but at last they left the road and made their way around it.
    With relief they passed the area where they had come up to the gravel pit the day before and where they had seen the man in the stovepipe hat. A little farther they saw the squirrel cage where they had left it near the far end.
    “Look, Tod,” Barney reached for Tod’s arm. “There’s something in it.”
    Tod stopped. “I can’t see anything except your lunch sack.”
    A moment later he saw something moving about in the cage and it wasn’t Barney’s lunch sack. Both boys dashed for the cage.
    “Barney, it’s a rabbit—a rabbit!”
    At the boys’ sudden approach the creature became frantic and tried to break out of its prison. The boys knelt down in front of the cage and the rabbit froze, huddled in one corner.
    “He’s scared, Barney. Shall we let him out?”
    “No, let’s keep him,” he said, smiling happily. “How do you suppose he got caught in there? I shut the door when I put my lunch sack