The Mystery of the Ghostly Galeon

and that everyone liked it and was ordering it. So what did we order?”
    “Scrumptious Cannonball Whatnot!” Mart exclaimed. “Hey, you’re right! Weasel’s reverse psychology worked like a charm. I only wish I could duplicate his efforts.”
    “It’s too bad you’re not that clever,” Trixie remarked without thinking.
    To her surprise, Mart only sighed. “I know,” he said. “But in the meantime, what do you all say to a tour of the town? The fresh air will do us all good. Miss Trask says it’s only a few minutes away, and a walk will help Miss Sherlock Belden sharpen her wits. I know she wants to think about the color of a certain bear.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong, smarty!” Trixie answered, immediately on the defensive. “I want to stay right here and solve the mystery of the pirate’s disappearance!”
    Mart chuckled and rose to his feet. “See?” he said to the other grinning Bob-Whites. “I’ve just shown you how to get rid of a sister in one easy lesson. Reverse psychology really works. It’s easy when you know how!”
    “Trixie?” Honey asked in a low voice. “Would you like me to stay and help you?”
    “Yes, I would,” Trixie replied loudly. “And that isn’t reverse psychology at all. It’s just the truth, which some people I know would never be able to recognize, anyway.”
    She glared at her brother’s back as he sauntered away.
    “Don’t be angry, Trixie,” Honey begged. “You know Mart’s only teasing.”
    But Trixie wasn’t listening to Honey. She was busy watching the people at the captain’s table.
    They were preparing to leave at last. The disappointed looks on their faces told anyone who cared to know that they hadn’t found anything.
    Honey had noticed them, too. “Don’t worry, Trix,” she whispered. “They just couldn’t have been looking in the right place.”
    “I know,” Trixie answered slowly, “But somehow I feel certain that we’ll do better. Come on, Honey. It’s time we went into action!”

A Narrow Escape • 5

    AFTERWARD, TRIXIE was never quite sure what happened. She thought that she and Honey had moved immediately to claim the mysterious captain’s table. Before they reached it, however, they found that a young man with sandy-colored hair was already seated there.
    “Oh, woe, Honey! We’re too late!” Trixie whispered in dismay. “I don’t know how that man managed to move so fast.”
    She jumped when Mr. Trask’s voice said in her ear, “So he beat you to it, did he? Somehow I thought he would. That’s Mr. Marvin Appleton, one of our guests. He’s had his eye on that table all afternoon. I’ve been watching him. He’s been pretending he’s not at all interested in this vanishing pirate business. But mark my words! Before too long, he’ll be tapping around under there with the best of ’em. O’ course now, if you were to ask me, I’d say he’s not going to find the solution that easily. Plenty of people have tried— meself included. But nobody’s figured it out yet.” He shook his head. “No, girls, the answer’s not that simple.”
    Even while he was speaking, Trixie had been thinking the same thing. It was strange that, in all these years, no one had been able to solve the old mystery.
    She closed her eyes and imagined she was back in that long-ago time. The dining room would have looked newer then. It was almost certain there had been no wall-to-wall carpet on the floor. Had the bare wood echoed to the sound of tramping feet as the soldiers marched in to arrest Captain Trask? If so, that old pirate, seated at his table, would have looked up in anticipation as they came toward him.
    But what would he have done next? Trixie opened her eyes and stared at the old floorboards under that selfsame table. She noticed that Mr. Appleton seemed to be furtively testing them with the toes of his shoes.
    When he saw her watching him, he blushed furiously, leaned back in his chair, and pretended to be deeply interested in an old ship’s lamp that hung from the ceiling.
    Trixie’s thoughts began to race. Everyone believed there was a trapdoor under the table. In fact, when Jim first heard the story, it was the first thing that had leaped to his mind.
    But what if everyone was wrong?
    If there was a trapdoor, why hadn’t the soldiers seen Captain Trask hastily flip it open and disappear beneath it? And why hadn’t they just as promptly followed him to wherever it led?
    Trixie allowed her thoughts to return to