“And if you need anything
else, just ask. I’ll be at my desk.”
“ Gleeps ,” Trixie sighed after Mrs. Field was
out of earshot. “Look at these books! It’s going to take us all week to find
anything.”
“No, it won’t,” Honey said, opening one quickly. “We’ll check the
indexes first. If we don’t find the name listed, we can just skim the pages.
That’s easy enough.”
“Easy for you, maybe,” Trixie muttered. “You’re good at that sort of
thing.”
“Stop grousing and read,” Honey replied with a laugh. “We’ll have our
answer in no time.”
But two hours later, at closing time, the girls hadn’t found anything
about a family called Depew . In fact, there
was no mention at all of the name. They were very discouraged. “Now what?”
Trixie muttered after they’d handed the books back to Mrs. Field and thanked
her.
“Now we go home,” Honey said. “We need a rest.”
“I don’t feel like resting,” Trixie replied sadly. “Why don’t we take
the horses out? It doesn’t look like it will rain anymore.”
“That’s a great idea,” Honey answered. “Regan has been after me to
exercise the horses. I haven’t had a minute since we started working on the
dig, though.”
“Maybe we can think while we ride,” Trixie said as she got on her bike.
The Wheelers had a stable and several horses which the Bob-Whites were
encouraged to exercise. Mrs. Wheeler’s horse, Lady, was Trixie’s favorite. She
was a dappled gray mare who had an unusual habit of “blowing herself up” when
being saddled. Usually the cinch had to be retightened after riding some
distance because the saddle would start to slip. Susie was a beautiful black
mare that Trixie and Honey had purchased for Miss Trask with the reward money
they’d earned after solving a mystery. Although Honey had her own horse, she
often rode Susie because she was so gentle.
Regan was delighted to see the girls, and he quickly saddled Susie and
Lady.
“Now don’t get them overheated,” he warned as they rode out of the
stable. “And make sure you bring them back soon, and groom them, and put away
the tack. And be careful.”
“We will,” Honey called as she and Trixie trotted off down the driveway.
Bill Regan took his job seriously. He had been known to get upset with them if
they did anything careless or unsafe while riding.
“We’ll see you later!” Trixie called over her shoulder. “And don’t worry
about us. We’re always very careful.”
The two girls broke into a canter and disappeared down one of the smooth
trails through the woods.
8 * More Information
The shaded path that
Susie and Lady followed soon emerged onto the shoulder of Glen Road . After checking for traffic in
both directions, the girls guided their horses across the road and headed onto
a new path. They followed it for a while, and then picked up another of the
many paths that threaded through the preserve. This one led past the dig site,
but the girls didn’t mind.
“It’s late,” Trixie said, “and Charles has probably left for the city by
now. Why don’t we swing past the village site and see if we can find anything
there that looks like what was on the map.”
Soon the horses broke through into the bug-infested part of the woods
where the village site was located. No one was there, and Trixie slowly slid
off Lady and started walking around. Suddenly she stopped.
The little clearing sloped gradually up a slight rise. Trixie was
standing near a large fallen tree. A few feet in front of her, a huge hole had
been dug out of the hummock, and piles of fresh dirt were scattered all around
the hole.
“Wow,” Honey said with a whistle as she came up behind Trixie to survey
the rubble. “Somebody was pretty busy here this afternoon.”
“He certainly was,” Trixie agreed. “And it doesn’t look as if he was
using proper archaeological methods, either.”
“Whoever did this used a shovel and a pick,” Honey agreed. “It
Sloan Parker
Leandra Wild
Truman Capote
Tina Wainscott
Unknown
Melissa Silvey
Morgan Bell
Back in the Saddle (v5.0)
Zoe Sharp
Dave Pelzer