Read Online The Haunted Showboat by Carolyn Keene - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Carolyn Keene
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Juvenile Fiction, Detective and Mystery Stories, Women Detectives, Girls & Women, Adventure and Adventurers, Adventure stories, Detectives, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Mystery and detective stories, Drew; Nancy (Fictitious Character), New Orleans (La.), Haunted places, carnival, Mardi Gras, Showboats, Haunted Places - Louisiana - New Orleans, River Boats
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thoughts, he asked, “Would you girls like to visit the River Princess some evening with me?”
“Oh, we’d love to,” Nancy replied.
Charles Bartolome offered to bring them to the showboat the following evening. Bess did not look enthusiastic, but managed to smile feebly. George declared it would be an interesting adventure. “Maybe after dark we’ll be able to scare up those showboat spooks,” she said.
At this, Bess’s faint smile faded completely. She threw a withering glance at her cousin and said, “Don’t sound so happy about it. If we do come across any ghosts, you can catch them all, George Fayne!”
Nancy, George, and Charles chuckled, then Nancy said:
“It will be a wonderful trip. And, Charles, if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it a secret.”
He grinned, gave the girls a wink, and said, “I understand. And I’m very flattered that you’re going to permit me to help you solve the mystery .”
“It may be a long pull,” Nancy warned him.
Charles said he realized that. “But if it isn’t solved by Mardi Gras time, I guess there won’t be much use.”
After Nancy and her friends had climbed down the ladder and were seated in the canoe, he called to them, “How about you girls coming to my home to dinner tomorrow evening before we go? I know Mother would like very much to meet you. Dad would too, but he’s away for a few days.”
“That’s very kind,” said Nancy. “I’d love to come.”
“I’d be thrilled,” Bess spoke up, and George added her thanks.
“Then Mother will be calling you,” Charles promised.
The girls waved good-by as Uncle Rufus started paddling down the stream. On the return trip he entertained them with stories of Negro life in Africa centuries ago.
“Nancy! Watch out!” Bess screamed
“It was my ancestors that invented the first long-distance com-mun-i-cation,” he said proudly. “We made drums that could carry sounds for miles an’ miles. The folks in one place sent signals an’ messages by beatin’ on the drums with their hands. Then the next village would pick it up an’ send the signal on to another place far away. That’s how they got all the members of a tribe together for special meetin’s an’ for fightin’ wars.”
“Very ingenious,” George remarked.
Not once did Uncle Rufus refer to voodooism or to the fact that he himself was a voodoo doctor or preacher.
Just before the canoe reached the area in the stream where it joined the cleared section, the craft floated over a large pad of white lilies.
“Aren’t they pretty?” Bess asked.
Nancy nodded and decided to pick a few of the flowers to take to Mrs. Haver. In pulling the first one, she felt the whole root coming away. She yanked at it hard and in a moment felt the clump pull loose.
The same instant, Bess, who was watching her chum, screamed. She had seen the snout of an alligator rising from beneath the leaves. The reptile’s jaws were aiming for Nancy’s hand!
“Look out!” Bess yelled.
CHAPTER XI
A Puzzling Attitude
BESS’S cry alerted Nancy. Just in time she saw the reptile and quickly pulled in her hand, still holding the lily plant.
“Oh!” Bess gave a huge sigh of relief.
But the next moment her fright returned. Nancy and George, too, were alarmed. The alligator, as if annoyed because he had been disturbed, turned, flipping his tail. It whacked the canoe so hard that the little craft almost overturned.
Uncle Rufus stood up and hit the alligator’s head with his paddle. The elderly man succeeded in stunning the alligator by hitting the vulnerable aperture behind the reptile’s ear. Then Uncle Rufus sat down and began to paddle furiously downstream.
“Whew!” George burst out. “I never want to get that close to such a beast again!”
“Nor I,” said Bess with a shudder. “Oh, you’re so brave, Uncle Rufus!”
The old Negro’s face broke into a broad grin. “When you lives with ‘gators all your life, you don’t fool
“Oh, we’d love to,” Nancy replied.
Charles Bartolome offered to bring them to the showboat the following evening. Bess did not look enthusiastic, but managed to smile feebly. George declared it would be an interesting adventure. “Maybe after dark we’ll be able to scare up those showboat spooks,” she said.
At this, Bess’s faint smile faded completely. She threw a withering glance at her cousin and said, “Don’t sound so happy about it. If we do come across any ghosts, you can catch them all, George Fayne!”
Nancy, George, and Charles chuckled, then Nancy said:
“It will be a wonderful trip. And, Charles, if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it a secret.”
He grinned, gave the girls a wink, and said, “I understand. And I’m very flattered that you’re going to permit me to help you solve the mystery .”
“It may be a long pull,” Nancy warned him.
Charles said he realized that. “But if it isn’t solved by Mardi Gras time, I guess there won’t be much use.”
After Nancy and her friends had climbed down the ladder and were seated in the canoe, he called to them, “How about you girls coming to my home to dinner tomorrow evening before we go? I know Mother would like very much to meet you. Dad would too, but he’s away for a few days.”
“That’s very kind,” said Nancy. “I’d love to come.”
“I’d be thrilled,” Bess spoke up, and George added her thanks.
“Then Mother will be calling you,” Charles promised.
The girls waved good-by as Uncle Rufus started paddling down the stream. On the return trip he entertained them with stories of Negro life in Africa centuries ago.
“Nancy! Watch out!” Bess screamed
“It was my ancestors that invented the first long-distance com-mun-i-cation,” he said proudly. “We made drums that could carry sounds for miles an’ miles. The folks in one place sent signals an’ messages by beatin’ on the drums with their hands. Then the next village would pick it up an’ send the signal on to another place far away. That’s how they got all the members of a tribe together for special meetin’s an’ for fightin’ wars.”
“Very ingenious,” George remarked.
Not once did Uncle Rufus refer to voodooism or to the fact that he himself was a voodoo doctor or preacher.
Just before the canoe reached the area in the stream where it joined the cleared section, the craft floated over a large pad of white lilies.
“Aren’t they pretty?” Bess asked.
Nancy nodded and decided to pick a few of the flowers to take to Mrs. Haver. In pulling the first one, she felt the whole root coming away. She yanked at it hard and in a moment felt the clump pull loose.
The same instant, Bess, who was watching her chum, screamed. She had seen the snout of an alligator rising from beneath the leaves. The reptile’s jaws were aiming for Nancy’s hand!
“Look out!” Bess yelled.
CHAPTER XI
A Puzzling Attitude
BESS’S cry alerted Nancy. Just in time she saw the reptile and quickly pulled in her hand, still holding the lily plant.
“Oh!” Bess gave a huge sigh of relief.
But the next moment her fright returned. Nancy and George, too, were alarmed. The alligator, as if annoyed because he had been disturbed, turned, flipping his tail. It whacked the canoe so hard that the little craft almost overturned.
Uncle Rufus stood up and hit the alligator’s head with his paddle. The elderly man succeeded in stunning the alligator by hitting the vulnerable aperture behind the reptile’s ear. Then Uncle Rufus sat down and began to paddle furiously downstream.
“Whew!” George burst out. “I never want to get that close to such a beast again!”
“Nor I,” said Bess with a shudder. “Oh, you’re so brave, Uncle Rufus!”
The old Negro’s face broke into a broad grin. “When you lives with ‘gators all your life, you don’t fool
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