Mystery at Skeleton Point by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

said. “After William and Hilda leave for the day we’ll go back to get our sleeping bags and backpacks, then tidy up a little.”
    Henry pulled out his binoculars from under his jacket. “I’m glad I brought these. We can see all the way down to the lake and the driveway from the other side. If anything funny is going on, we’ll see it. Uh-oh, Hilda’s heading to the house with William.”
    “Shhh,” Violet said when she heard something downstairs. She put her head near the old-fashioned heating vent built into the floor. “Listen. They’re in the hallway outside the room below here.”
    The words weren’t too clear, but the Aldens recognized William’s and Hilda’s voices.
    “Now that you have all the measurements, how long do you think the job will take?” the Aldens heard William ask. “I need to get everything done fast.”
    Hilda didn’t answer right away. Her voice was softer, so the Aldens had a harder time hearing her words. “...removing it, getting it to the foundry. Making a copy takes a long time. I wish I never told you about ... ”
    The Aldens heard a hand bang against a table. “We don’t have a long time,” he said, so loudly he almost seemed to be in the same room.
    Hilda sounded upset and spoke quietly. The Aldens could catch only a few words. “...understand... need to... back... why can’t... Charlotte... now.”
    “Look, I know what I’m doing,” William said plainly. “You don’t need to know all the details. Can you do what I asked or not?”
    The front door slammed. When the children ran to the window, they saw Hilda run from the house and down the driveway. William left shortly afterward.
    “What did she say?” Benny asked Violet.
    “I couldn’t tell,” Violet answered softly. “She mentioned a foundry, so it must have something to do with the statues or something like that. Artists sometimes bring statues to a foundry to have molds made of their statues. After that, it’s pretty easy to make copies from the molds.”
    Jessie opened the window. In the distance she heard one car start, then another. “I think they took the Clover Dodge statue to copy it. But it doesn’t belong to them. It belongs to Charlotte. We have to tell her soon.”
    Henry went from window to window aiming his binoculars down the driveway. “It’s probably safe to go out and bring our things up now. That’ll give us plenty of time to see what’s going on in this house while Hilda and William are gone.”
    After the children aired the room out, they returned to the beach for their packs and sleeping bags.
    That’s when Jessie heard a motorboat coming close. “Hide!” she told the other children. “Greeny’s boat is headed to the dock. He must be coming from the store. I sure hope Max doesn’t sniff us out back here. I have the extra food we brought.”
    “I’ve got a good idea,” Benny said. “I’ll throw one of our extra sandwiches way over there. If Max finds it, he won’t come looking for us.”
    “Good thinking, buddy.” Henry and the other children scrunched themselves behind a thick clump of pine trees and bushes.
    Soon they heard Greeny’s boat slow down, then stop. The children pushed away a branch ever so slightly. What was Greeny going to do next?
    “Okay, Max,” Greeny said to his dog. “We’re safe for a while. Now’s our chance to really clear out a few things — a few crates’ worth, at least.”
    The Aldens barely breathed. They heard Max yipping with excitement when he discovered the sandwich Benny had tossed away from the hideout.
    “Maxilla!” Greeny yelled. “Don’t eat that! Ugh. Too late. You are nothing but a canine garbage disposal. I just hope you don’t get sick. I’m putting you on the leash.”
    Even on a leash, Max smelled food and came awfully close to where the Aldens were hiding.
    “Get up here, Max. I’m not letting you run off again.” Greeny led Max toward the steps. “I may not have a whole lot of time.”
    The Aldens