The Mystery of the Galloping Ghost

pointed to the open
land directly ahead of them, just behind the ranch house. “The horse and rider
first came into my field of vision right there,” she said. “They continued in a
path parallel to the river and disappeared into the forest there.” She made a
smooth, straight arc with her finger.
    Trixie’s
face lit up. “He rode into the woods, of course! Nobody bothered to look there
because we all knew Al- Adeen wouldn’t venture in
there alone. He’d obey a rider’s commands to go in, though.”
    “That’s
due to Pat’s good training,” Honey said in a sad, proud voice.
    “I’ll
bet that’s right where Burke left him, too,” Trixie said.
    “If
he’s been outside all day with the deer-flies, he’s as good as destroyed
already,” Honey said, sounding near tears.
    Trixie
felt a surge of horror at the thought of Al- Adeen driven crazy by the flies. Then another piece of the puzzle fell into place.
“It’s all right,” she said. “He isn’t outside. He’s in Burke’s construction
trailer.”
    “Of
course,” Honey agreed. “That’s why the model unit was open while it was still
so messy and noisy. Burke had another purpose for the trailer.”
    “It
would be the perfect hiding place. If the Murrows fell for the broken stall door, they’d be looking only for a runaway horse, not
a hidden-away horse.”
    “Without
the Burke Landing sign on its side —which I’m sure
Burke removed—the trailer parked in the woods could belong to a state forestry
crew. Nobody would think a thing about it,” Honey added.
    “That’s
if somebody stumbled across it, which would be unlikely in all those acres and
acres of forest,” Trixie finished.
    “Then
how are we going to find
it?” Honey asked.
    “That’ll
be easy,” Trixie told her, “because I think we know where to start looking.”
    “Gunnar’s cabin!” Honey guessed.
    “It
makes perfect sense, in a twisted sort of way,” Trixie said. “Old Gunnar Bjorkland gets hanged for stealing a cow. A hundred years
later, one of his descendants comes back to the same part of the world to
redeem the family name with a successful real estate development. To make it all
work out, he has to steal a horse and hide it for a few days. Where else but
back where the thieving tradition first started?”
    “Let’s
go!” Honey said. She stepped out of Wilhelmina’s hideout and took three steps
into the open before Trixie caught her by the arm and dragged her back. “What
are you doing?” Honey protested.
    “What
are you doing?” Trixie
countered. “Somebody could have seen you.”
    “Good,”
Honey said. “Then I won’t have to run all the way back to the ranch to get
help.”
    “Oh,
they’d help us, all right,” Trixie said. “As soon as you told them that Al- Adeen was spotted being ridden into the woods by Burke, and
that the spotter was a psychic investigator who’s been hiding out in their
woods for the past week, they’ll help you right to the nearest hospital for a
nice long rest.”
    “I
see what you mean,” Honey admitted. “So far, nobody but you and me and Gus
knows that Al- Adeen was even stolen.”
    “I
know, too, of course,” Wilhelmina reminded her.
    “Of
course,” Honey said politely.
    “We
have to find Al- Adeen on our own,” Trixie said. “If
we can get into the trailer, we’ll bring him home ourselves. If we can’t,
that’s the time to go for help. And all we’ll have to say is that we’ve found
the horse. Nobody will ask questions until Al- Adeen is safe and sound in his own stall.”
    “That’s
what counts,” Honey admitted. “Can I be of any assistance?” Wilhelmina asked.
    “Just
wait for us to come back,” Honey said. “If we don’t—”
    “I’ll
alert the proper authorities no later than tomorrow morning,” Wilhelmina said.
Realizing that her statement sounded pessimistic, she added, “In the rare event
that it’s necessary to do so.”
    “Ouch!”
Trixie slapped at her neck. “Could you also loan us some bug spray? Those woods
are going to be murder.”
    Dressed
in sneakers and jeans, and protected from mosquitoes and flies, the girls found
the going fairly easy. When Trixie first caught sight of Gunnar’s cabin, she
felt a sinking feeling of disappointment. There’s no trailer! I was so sure —
    Suddenly,
Trixie saw Honey point toward the river. There, a few yards beyond the cabin,
was the trailer! There was no mistaking its looming size and shape.
    The
girls half ran toward