Read Online Mystery on the Train by Charles Tang - Free Book Online Page B

help. Here, son, I’ll take those posters.” He tugged and Henry held on tighter.
    Annie took a deep breath and said, “I don’t think so. You tried to steal my posters on the train. You were wearing sunglasses and a beard but you were the same size and coloring. And I have a drawing of your ears.”
    Uncle Bob pretended to laugh. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “How could I be on a train with you and then meet you here? You kids are making up crazy stories.”
    “No, sir,” Henry said. “I think it’s quite simple. You got off the train in Salt Lake City. We chased you and Benny tore a piece out of your coat.”
    “I think you might remember that if you try,” Jessie added.
    “Annie, I don’t know who these people are but you should come home with me. I’m your uncle.”
    “These people are my friends,” Annie said decisively. “They will help me get to the airport and I’ll fly home to Aunt Ellen tonight. I was a silly girl to think I was ready to make it on my own.”
    “All right,” Uncle Bob said. “You go, but leave the posters with me. That old lady has plenty of other money and these should have been mine.”
    He made a grab for the posters but Henry was too fast for him. He jerked the portfolio away from Uncle Bob.
    “I still say the posters are mine,” he shouted. “They belonged to my parents.”
    “We have a will,” Annie reminded him.
    “That will is unfair,” he said. “My parents were unfair! They never should have cut me out! It isn’t fair!”
    “I’m sorry for you, Uncle Bob. You must be very unhappy. But I can’t stay here.”
    “If we don’t hurry, we’ll all be staying here,” Benny said. He pointed to the bus and said, “Our bus is leaving. We’d better go, too.”
    The Alden children, Aunt Jane, and Annie all picked up their suitcases and ran for the bus. They were the last ones on board but there were plenty of seats so they were able to sit together.
    Aunt Jane smiled at Annie and said, “You showed very good sense, Annie.”
    “It was Violet who had good sense,” Annie said.
    “You were quick to see that he was the same man,” Henry said to his little sister. “That was good work.”

    Violet smiled and said, “We all helped.” Then she said to Annie, “I’m glad you’re coming with us. You can meet our Uncle Andy.”
    Aunt Jane said, “We’ll call your Aunt Ellen when we get home and see if you can spend a few days sightseeing with us. Then you can go home to Boston. I know your aunt will be glad to see you.”
    “Yes,” Annie agreed. “And I will be glad to see her.”
    “And I’ll be glad because you will be living in Boston again,” Violet said. “We live in Greenfield and that isn’t far away at all.”
    “We can be good friends,” Annie said and hugged her.
    “And I’m glad because we solved the mystery of the long train ride,” said Benny. “It was a very good mystery, too. I was surprised right up until the very end.”
    “So were we all,” Violet said as she squeezed into the seat beside him.

About the Author
    G ERTRUDE C HANDLER W ARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.
    Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.
    When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.
    While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of