Read The Mystery at Bob-White Cave for Free Online Page B

whistled. No one answered. Trixie walked over to the desk, where a small bell stood. Before she tapped it, she noticed the open register. She squinted to read the signature scrawled across it in heavy black ink. Try as she would, reading upside down, she couldn’t make out the name, but she did see, following the name, the printed words “Scientific Digest.” She whistled triumphantly and motioned to the others to look.
    Just as they were ready to leave, the motel manager came in and directed them to the small lunch counter down the hall.
    “He’s here!” Trixie said, elated. “The reward is really on the level. The magazine means business. Gosh, let’s order our food in a hurry; order for Uncle Andrew, too. That guide, Slim, will probably be at the lodge by now. Let’s get back as fast as Shem and Japheth will take us!”
    “They’re not racehorses,” Mart drawled.
    “Maybe they aren’t, but they’ll get us to the lodge, and we can hike to the caves. I think there’s almost as much to discover underground as there is in outer space. After all the money Uncle Andrew spent today on equipment for us, I’m going to try hard to show him it wasn’t wasted. We’re going to find those specimens. Right?”
    “Right!” the other Bob-Whites chorused as the waitress came with the menu.
     

Getting Acquainted • 5
     
    IN THE WAGON on the way back to the lodge, Honey gave Trixie a sharp nudge. “You haven’t said a word for ten minutes. What are you thinking about?”
    “I’ve been thinking,” Trixie announced to all the Bob-Whites, “that we’d better keep the purpose of our exploration a secret. You can be pretty sure that everyone around here will be out after those specimens, once that editor at the motel starts talking.”
    “It sure won’t be any secret then,” Brian reminded her.
    “No, but we’ll have a head start of a few days.”
    “Slim will have to know what you’re after if he’s to be your guide,” Uncle Andrew said.
    “Will he really have to know?” Trixie’s voice was anxious. “He might possibly try to find the fish himself.”
    “If I know Slim, he’d rather go after a bass than after any cave fish. You wouldn’t have to tell him there’s a reward for the fish, would you?”
    “No, I guess not. Do you know Slim real well?”
    “I don’t really know him at all, except seeing him around the lodge when he helped Bill Hawkins. He’s some sort of relative of Mrs. Moore’s, I believe. She said he’s a regular woodsman; he’s been running around wild since he could walk. If he’s anything like Mrs. Moore, you can tell him anything and trust him completely.”
    “That’s the best way,” Honey said quickly. “I don’t see any need to be so closemouthed.”
    “I don’t either,” Mart echoed.
    “Well, why don’t we wait till we meet Slim?” Jim suggested.
    “That’s right,” Brian agreed. “Trixie’s intuition has worked more times than not. Let’s see what she thinks of Slim.”
    Uncle Andrew, evidently impressed by the respect the Bob-Whites showed for one another, said, “It’s up to you. Tell Slim or don’t tell him. What I want him to do is to guide you and to point out any danger.”
    “Maybe we’ll want to limit it to that,” Trixie said, relieved.
    Several times Brian and Jim asked Linnie to stop the mules while they looked at limestone and clay strata exposed on the jagged cliffs. They explained that each layer of different color represented an era in geological history, and they added that they wanted to do some exploring for minerals.
    “You won’t get a reward for that,” Trixie said. “I’m in favor of devoting all our time to hunting the ghost fish.”
    “We can do both at the same time,” Brian said quietly. “You forget sometimes, Trixie, about the rock collection Jim and I are trying to get together for the clubhouse.”
    “Some rock collections can be as valuable as fish specimens,” Jim added.
    “You’re not serious, are