The Mystery on the Mississippi

Illinois, for instance. He said that such a trip would be very interesting.”
    “Hannibal, I’ll bet a penny!” Mart’s voice rose with excitement. “Oh, boy, have I ever wanted to see that Huck Finn country!”
    “Sorry, Mart, but Hannibal is upriver from St. Louis. We’d better be thankful for any ride and not be so particular about where we go.”
    “Maybe we can drive up there later,” Mart said quickly. “It’s one place I’d sure hate to miss.”
    “Any place on the Mississippi River must be interesting,” Trixie said, frowning at Mart.
    Mr. Wheeler smiled. “Captain Wainwarton seemed to think so. He said something about a town where there are Indian mounds. He even mentioned a place along the river where Jesse James once hid.”
    “Say, I’d like to see that,” Dan said enthusiastically. “It is Jesse James country, this Midwest. But,
    Mr. Wheeler, you said the towboat was going on to New Orleans. How would we get back up the river from Cairo?”
    “You won’t.” Mr. Wheeler smiled as he looked at the Bob-Whites’ faces. “I don’t mean that you’ll stay in Cairo for the rest of your lives. I mean that you won’t come back on the river. I’ll have to send a car to Cairo to pick you up the next day. How about it? Do you think you can be ready to take off from the waterfront in St. Louis tomorrow morning?” Mart answered for the group. “Just give us a chance!”
    “It’s too wonderful ever to believe,” Trixie told Mr. Wheeler breathlessly. “And don’t think we’re not grateful to you for all the trouble you’ve taken.”
    “Forget it! You’ll be out from underfoot for a couple of days. Another thing—Trixie and Honey won’t find anything on the towboat that they’ll risk their lives investigating.”
    Trixie opened her purse, pulled the crumpled papers halfway out, then quickly shut them in again and smiled—a slow, mysterious smile. She caught Honey’s glance and winked. It’s a good thing, she thought, that I didn't show those papers we found to Mr. Wheeler. They may not mean anything, but if he doesn’t know about them, he won’t worry.

Something in the Air ● 4

    EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, the little car, bursting with Bob-Whites, nosed its way into the parking lot near the Two-Way Barge Company’s loading docks.
    “Dad said to hunt out a spot in a far corner,” Jim said. “We can swing around this way on our return from Cairo, and I’ll pick up the car again. Boy, they really get moving early in the morning here, don’t they? Did you ever see this much activity in the New York harbor?”
    Below them the waterfront bustled with industry. Busy harbor boats snorted and puffed as they eased huge barges alongside the docks for loading.
    Cranes lifted their long noses into the air as one of them lowered lumber to a waiting carrier and « another picked up lengths of steel pipe to unburden a barge from upriver.
    As far up the river as the Bob-Whites could see and down to the bend below them, barges massed in a spreading fleet. Some of them, loaded with grain, their covers battened down for protection against rain, waited to be towed to waiting diesel-engined towboats resting out in the river. Some of them, empty, waited for cargo as officers hurried about the docks checking and rechecking.
    Jim pulled the two small bags from the car, handed them to Mart and Dan, and locked the car doors. “Guess we’d better find a place to report,” he told the other Bob-Whites. “Maybe we’re supposed to go up to the warehouse office. Now, what’s eating you, Trixie?” He looked at her curiously.
    Trixie gestured mysteriously to a black car parked in the opposite corner of the lot. “That Mercedes! If you don’t think Pierre Lontard even knows we’re alive, what’s his car doing in this parking lot?”
    Mart snorted and pointed to another Mercedes nearby. “I suppose you think that one is his, too, and that one over there near the building. Every black Mercedes you see has to be that Frenchman’s car, Trixie.”
    “Only his car has the left rear hubcap missing,” Trixie said triumphantly. “Honey noticed that right away. Anyone who even pretends to be a detective would notice a thing like that.”
    “You win!” Mart acknowledged. “But wouldn’t he have even more business down around these parts than we do if he’s trying to buy an old steamboat? I guess you didn’t think of that, did you?”
    “No, I honestly did forget that,” Trixie admitted. “I