Boxcar Children 54 - Hurricane Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

you don’t,” said Henry. “You were trying to steal our gate.”
    “No! Let me go,” the man said.
    “It’s Jackie,” gasped Violet, bending over the woman. “Jackie James! Oh dear! Are you hurt?” Violet tried to lift the gate off Jackie, but it was too heavy.
    “No, I’m not hurt! Mike Carson, don’t you dare leave me here like this,” cried Jackie, struggling to get out from under the gate. “This is all your fault!”
    “Mike Carson? Jackie’s partner?” said Mrs. Ashleigh. “Jackie, Mike, what’s going on?” She looked completely bewildered.
    It was indeed Mike. He stopped trying to pull free from Henry and Jessie. His shoulders slumped. Slowly he turned to face the Aldens and Mrs. Ashleigh.
    “Someone get me out of here,” said Jackie. She was still caught beneath one side of the gate. She was covered with mud. Her rain hat had blown off and her hair was stuck to her head. She looked angry.
    “We can’t stay out here,” said Henry. “I think we’d better go in the house.”
    “Yes,” agreed Grandfather Alden. “I’d like to hear what’s going on.”
    “I would, too!” exclaimed Mrs. Ashleigh.
    “Don’t try to run away,” Benny warned as he helped his grandfather and Violet and Mrs. Ashleigh lift the gate off Jackie.
    Watch barked.
    “I won’t,” said Jackie angrily. She scrambled to her feet.
    She stalked ahead of them into the house. Looking sheepish, Mike picked up one end of the gate and helped the Boxcar Children carry it.
    “We should put it inside the kitchen door,” said Jessie. “So no one can try to steal it again.”
    They carried the gate inside and leaned it carefully against the wall while Mrs. Ashleigh got towels so everybody could begin to rub themselves dry.
    Henry pointed to the chairs and said to Jackie James and Mike Carson, “You can sit down if you like.”
    “Thanks,” said Mike.
    “Humph!” said Jackie, reluctantly sitting beside him and folding her arms.
    “I think we should all sit down,” said Grandfather Alden. “Ellen and I would like to know what’s going on.”
    “We found the treasure,” Benny burst out. “Mr. Fitzhugh’s pirate treasure!”
    Mrs. Ashleigh shook her head. “Oh, Benny. That’s not possible. That’s just an old story that people made up. It’s not really true.”
    “Yes, it is,” said Jessie. “Mr. Fitzhugh really did hide a treasure. He hid it where he could see it anytime he wanted. You’ve been looking at it every day your whole life, too.”

    Wrinkling her brow and looking confused, Mrs. Ashleigh said, “What are you talking about?”
    Violet pointed at the Pirate’s Gate. “It’s there. It’s in the Pirate’s Gate. The Pirate’s Gate is made of gold!”
    Mrs. Ashleigh’s mouth dropped open in amazement. “Made of gold? That’s impossible,” she said.
    Jackie burst out, “It would have been mine. I was so close! How did you know? How did you figure it out?”
    Jessie folded her arms. “First you tell us how you knew about the gate.”
    “I didn’t right away,” said Jackie sulkily. “I thought there might be more truth to the legends of Mr. Fitzhugh’s pirate’s treasure than most people believed, but I didn’t connect it to the gate.”
    “But weren’t you trying to steal it when we first found you and Diana putting it into the truck that day?” asked Jessie.
    “That gate is a valuable antique in its own right. When the high tides of the hurricane washed it into my yard, I knew that I could sell it for a lot of money to an antiques dealer who wouldn’t ask any questions about where it came from. Then my money problems would be over.” She frowned at the Aldens. The shadows from the candles flickered across her face. “Diana offered to help me with it. But she didn’t recognize the gate. She’s just a carpenter! And then, as I was loading it into the truck, I realized it wasn’t just an old wrought-iron gate. There was something funny about it, something that I couldn’t put