User blog:Fishbird/The Dana Girls' Mountain Peak Mystery

Episode 1: The Roadblock
The big brass knocker on the Danas' front door banged loudly. Louise and Jean, who were reading in the living room, looked up, startled.

"I wonder who it is?" Louise asked.

She rose from an overstuffed chair and went to admit the caller. A girl about 14 years old stood outside. She was a pretty brunette, dressed in a light-blue trouser suit.

"Are you one of the Dana girls?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm Louise."

"My name is Tammi Hodge." the visitor replied. "My grandfather asked me to see you two about solving a mystery."

"Please come in," Louise said, smiling.

Jean had followed her sister to the door and now introduced herself. Intrigued by the thought of a mystery, the girls walked into the living room. Louise, a pretty, dark-haired sixteen-year-old, sat next to Tammi on the couch, while blond Jean, who was a year younger, pulled up a chair.

"Now, tell us why your grandfather wanted you to see us," Louise began.

"I have a strange mystery to solve," Tammi replied. "Grandpa passed away a short time ago. My parents have been dead for many years, and I lived with Grandpa Hodge in his house on the mountain. I had been away at school, but I was called home because Grandpa was ill."

Tammi choked up at this point, and it took several seconds before she could go on. "One day, when I was alone with him, he began to gasp, and I knew he was going to die. I wanted to call the doctor, but he said no. He had something to tell me."

Again Tammi stopped speaking. The girl was so upset that she kept crossing and uncrossing her ankles and tapping on the arms of her chair.

Louise and Jean felt sorry for her and asked if she would like a cold drink.

"No, thank you," Tammi replied. "I want to finish my story. Grandpa grabbed my hand and said, "I'm going to die. Listen carefully. I wrote a manuscript telling of a great discovery I made. It was stolen. Get the Dana girls to help you find---duplicate---mountain peak-' I begged him to let me go for help, but he wouldn't. Then he died."

Both Louise and Jean felt their eyes becoming moist, and Louise put an arm around the girl's shoulders. "Would you like to wait a while before telling us the rest?" she asked.

Tammi shook her head. "No, I want to talk everything over with you now. I have no relatives. There were just Grandpa and me. In his will he left a request that the executor appoint a guardian for me."

"Who is the executor?" Jean asked.

"The Oak Falls Bank," Tammi replied. "They received a letter from a Miss Mathilde Price, written to her by Grandpa Hodge. In it he requested that she live with me until I come of age."

"Who's Miss Mathilde Price?" Jean asked.

"Oh, she's an old friend of Grandpa's. But she's a terrible person. I can't stand her!"

"Why?"

"Just imagine, the first thing she did when she arrived was to change everything around in the house. She went through each room and took it apart. We had a real battle when she started on my bedroom. I wouldn't let her touch anything."

"I can't blame you," Louise said sympathetically.

Tammi smiled. "Miss Mathilde became very angry. She told me she was in charge now and would arrange things the way she wanted to."

"Did she?"

"Well, she left my room alone for a while and went to the next one. I can't explain how strange it is---almost as if she were looking for something!"

Jean knitted her brows thoughtfully. "It seems odd, especially so soon after your grandfather's death."

Louise changed the subject. "Does Miss Mathilde know you came to see us?"

"Oh, no. I just ran out and took the bus." Tammi's eyes clouded up again. "I don't trust Miss Mathilde," she said, "and I know she doesn't care for me!"

"Why do you say that?" Jean asked. "Besides ripping the house apart, doesn't she treat you well?"

"She tries to be friendly sometimes," Tammi replied, "but I can tell it's false. She's very stern, and frankly I think she hates me!"

"I wonder why your grandfather asked her to be your guardian," Louise said.

"She was madly in love with him when they were both young," Tammi said. "He never mentioned it to me, but I heard about it from other people. I guess he wasn't interested, but they remained friends all their lives. He probably felt she would be glad to take care of me, but I think she's still mad because he didn't marry her and is now taking out her spite on me."

Louise nodded, then said, "Tammi, have you any idea what your grandfather's last words meant?"

"None. But evidently he felt you could unlock his secret. Oh, please help me!"

The Danas were eager to take the case, but wondered if Miss Mathilde would permit them to visit the mountain-peak house.

"I won't let her keep you away!" Tammi said firmly.

At this moment Aunt Harriet walked into the room, and the girls introduced her to Tammi. Louise and Jean lived with their aunt and her brother Ned. He was captain of an ocean-going ship named the Balaska, and was now away on a trip.

"Tammi Hodge has a very interesting story," Louise told Miss Dana. "She lives up on the mountain peak. A Miss Mathilde Price is taking care of her, but Tammi doesn't care for the woman."

Aunt Harriet said sympathetically, "Oftentimes we don't like people at first, but later we get to love them."

Tammi's eyes flashed. "I'll never get to like that prim, scolding ex-schoolteacher. I felt sorry for the people who were her pupils. She's just awful, Miss Dana."

Tammi's story was related to Aunt Harriet, and she expressed her condolences to Tammi on the loss of her grandfather.

"Thank you," Tammi said. Then she turned to the girls. "How soon can you work on the mystery?"

Louise and Jean looked at their aunt. "Would you like to ride out to the Hodge home with us this afternoon?" Jean asked.

Miss Dana said she would be delighted to go. "As a matter of fact, I'd like to meet this Miss Mathilde Price," she added.

"That would be wonderful," said Tammi. "Maybe you could tell her to be nice to me."

Tammi was happy they could start right away. Since Louise and Jean were on vacation and had no plans for the afternoon, they were eager to begin their investigation.

"Tammi, you can show us the way," Jean said.

Aunt Harriet and the three girls set off, with Louise behind the wheel. The mountain on which Tammi lived was about three miles out of town.

"Grandpa owned the whole area," Tammi explained as they approached it. "See that house way up near the top? That's our place."

Part of the mountain was wooded. In other sections there were overgrown fields. Tammi said that Grandpa Hodge had spent a great deal of time with experiments in the cellar and did not take care of the land.

"What kind of experiments?" Jean asked.

Tammy said she did not know. Her grandfather had never invited her to enter his workroom, and she had never bothered to go there herself.

"Maybe," Aunt Harriet spoke up, "your grandfather made a great discovery and wrote about it."

Tammi did not answer. She was looking ahead and finally said to the others, "That's funny. There's the lane leading up the mountain to our house. Somebody has put a barrier across the entrance."

As Louise reached the spot, she stopped the car. Everyone stared at the barrier. Painted across the top of the wooden gate were the words Positively No Admittance.

"I wonder if Miss Mathilde had that sigh set there," Tammi said, her eyes flashing. "Well, anybody is welcome to my house. I'm going to move the barrier!"

She jumped out and went to turn the gate sideways. At this moment a man drove up in a truck and called out, "Leave that alone!"

"I live there," Tammi told him defiantly. "Did you put that barrier up?"

The man was large and muscular with dark, bristly hair. He scowled. "Never mind who put it up. It's going to stay. So all of you just turn around and leave!"

By this time Louise had stepped out of the car. She asked the man who he was, and what authority he had regarding the Hodge property.

"My name is Xavier Rountree," the tall man replied, "and my authority is that I'm a surveyor for the county. We're doing some measuring up here at the mountain, and don't want anybody interfering with our job. Matter of fact, the police authorized us to block off this road."

"Well, I have the right to go to my own house!" Tammi declared. "You can't prevent me from that!"

"You can go," the man said. "Suppose you get into my truck and I'll take you up to the house. The rest of you will have to leave."

Tammi whispered into Louise's ear that she was afraid to go with him. Louise asked her if there was another road to the Hodge home.

"Yes, there's a secret trail," Tammi answered. "We can drive to it." She turned to Mr. Roundtree. "We'll all leave," she told him, and climbed back into the Danas' car with Louise. As they turned around, the girls noticed that the man stood still as if guarding the lane.

"I don't understand this," Jean commented. "Since when can a county surveyor chase people away? This is utterly ridiculous."

"I wonder if Mr. Roundtree was on the level," Louise added. "Maybe he's up to something he doesn't want to know about."

"Then," Aunt Harriet spoke up, "he'll bear watching."

"After driving a few minutes Tammi pointed out the secret trail, which led through overgrown woods. They entered it, but soon Jean suggested that they stop and hide the car. "We can walk the rest of the way."

Tammi agreed this was a good idea. "It's pretty rough going."

Aunt Harriet said, "Suppose I stay here and guard the car. You girls go ahead."

Tammi led the way up the hill. The climb was steep but finally they came within sight of the house. It stood just below the peak of the mountain.

As the girls walked toward it, they heard a piercing scream from inside!

Episode 2: The Tree Symbols
Louise, Jean, and Tammi raced toward the Hodge house. They burst into the living room through the open front door.

A rough-looking man held a tall, slender woman with gray hair and small brown eyes by her right arm. They were shouting loudly at each other, but the girls could not make out the reason for the argument. When they walked in, the couple stopped and stared at them in surprise.

"Miss Mathilde!" Tammi cried out. "Are you all right? Who is this man?"

"Oh, he---he---he just came in here and asked me for money. Who are these girls with you?"

"My friends, the Danas. They're detectives," Tammi said.

Louise and Jean wished Tammi had not mentioned their sleuthing. The man stared at them, then suddenly turned and raced out the door.

Miss Mathilde scowled. She did not acknowledge Tammi's introduction or thank the girls for rescuing her from further argument.

Louise spoke. "Tammi, you'd better call the police."

Before Tammi had a chance to comply, Miss Mathilde stepped forward. Her face reddened with anger, and she said icily, "Don't you do anything of the sort, Tammi!"

The girl hesitated, then turned as if to go to the phone. The woman grabbed her and said, "Do as I say!"

Louise and Jean understood why Tammi could not stand her. She was dictatorial, and to the Danas' great surprise, she did not seem to be frightened by her recent experience.

Jean asked, "Why don't you want to report this to the authorities? That man should be arrested for trying to hold you up!"

"I think it is none of your business why I don't want the police," Miss Mathilde snapped. "Who are you, anyway?"

Again Tammi explained that they were sisters who lived in Oak Falls and had solved many mysteries.

"Why do we need them here?" Miss Mathilde asked.

Tammi realized that in her effort to carry out her grandfather's wishes, she had aroused her guardian's suspicions. But she would not admit anything.

"Oh, they're friends of mine," she answered.

The woman looked at the Danas long and hard, then said, "Now if you'll excuse us, Tammi and I have something to talk over."

Tammi burst out, "Oh, I know what it is. You're going to ask me why I went away this afternoon."

Miss Mathilde stood very straight. "You went away? You ran away! And you probably didn't intend to come back, but better thought of it."

Louise and Jean decided to leave. They were sure Tammi could handle her own problem for the time being.

The two girls said good-by to Miss Mathilde, then turned to Tammi and winked, as if to say, "We'll be back to help you."

This was natural for the Dana girls. Once they took an assignment, they saw it through, even if it meant danger to themselves at times. Not long ago they had been in many tight situations in a case called The 100-Year Mystery.

The Danas walked outside and Jean said, "I feel sorry for Tammi. Miss Mathilde is a proverbial dragon lady. She could scare the wits out of anybody."

Louise nodded. "She wasn't very friendly. And she didn't like the idea of our visiting Tammi, that's for sure.

"Why didn't she want the police notified? Just because she has to prove to the world that she's not afraid of anything?"

Louise shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe the fellow was her boyfriend and not an intruder at all."

Jean laughed. "I can't imagine that even Dracula would want to date Miss Mathilde." She changed the subject. "I hope we don't run into Mr. Roundtree again. He's not one of my favorite characters either."

"He seemed to be working at the bottom of the mountain," Louise said. "Why don't we walk up to the top and see if we can pick up any clues?"

"Good idea," Jean replied.

The girls climbed to the peak and looked around in wonder.

"What a marvelous view!" Jean remarked, gazing toward distant hills.

"That's about all there is here." Louise laughed. "No buildings, no trees, no bushes. Not even a wild flower."

The two sisters examined the smooth, even ground. They looked around to see if something had been buried, but there was no mound anywhere. They turned stones and dug here and there with their heels, but discovered nothing suspicious.

Finally Louise sighed. "If Grandpa Hodge hid his duplicate manuscript here, he concealed the spot well."

"I just thought of something," Jean said. "If he buried the copy, why didn't he dig it up after the original was stolen?"

"Maybe he forgot where he put it," Louise said with a chuckle.

Jean shook her head. "The whole thing doesn't make much sense, does it?"

The girls searched for another ten minutes for a possible hiding spot, but to no avail. Finally, Louise said, "We'd better go. Aunt Harriet will wonder what happened to us."

"You're right," her sister agreed. "Let's hurry."

The two found a secret trail and went down as fast as they could, avoiding brambles and tree branches that hung low over the path. At last they saw the car.

They stopped short. Aunt Harriet was not in the car, and she was nowhere in sight!

"Something must have happened to her," Louise said, worried.

"We'll have to find her," Jean added, then called, "Aunt Harriet! Where are you?"

"Over here," Miss Dana replied. "I discovered something interesting. Come and see it!"

Louise and Jean hurried toward the sound of her voice. They saw their aunt standing near a large tree.

"Look at these," Miss Dana said, pointing to three marks that had been cut into the bark.

The girls came closer and stared at the trunk. About five feet from the ground were the initials J.H. Under them was an equilateral triangle. At the bottom was what appeared to be a drawing of a torn sheet from a book or manuscript. Whatever had been written on it had been obliterated by weather and was not legible.

"What do you think these symbols mean?" Aunt Harriet asked.

Her nieces guessed that the initial H could stand for Hodge. But what was Grandpa Hodge's first name? And had he cut the symbols into the bark?

Louise suggested that the triangle might stand for three equidistant trees. "Let's see if we can find the two trees that would complete the triangle," she suggested.

"You mean this tree is part of it?" Jean asked.

"I would think so," Louise replied. "You see those two maples over there? Let's pace the distance between them and this tree. It looks as if it could be the same.

"It'll be difficult because of all the little shrubs and bushes in between," Aunt Harriet said.

"I know. We'll have to do the best we can."

There was silence while Aunt Harriet and the girls measured the number of feet between the two maples and the marked tree.

Jean finished first. "I got about 25 feet!" she called out.

"So did I," Louise agreed.

Aunt Harriet obtained the same result. "Now that you've found the perfect triangle, what are you going to do about it?" she asked with a grin.

"That's a good question," Jean admitted.

They stood looking at each other, then at the trees, then at the trampled paths they had made between the points of the triangle.

Suddenly Louise snapped her fingers. "I've got an idea!" she said.

Episode 3: Amazing Information
"What's your great idea, Louise?" Jean asked.

"I've read," her sister replied, "that in old days pirates used to bring their loot ashore to hide it. In order to find it later, they would pick out three trees in a triangle that was equidistant on each side and bury the treasure in the middle. Let's dig here."

Jean giggled. "With what?" she asked.

Aunt Harriet suggested that they had better go home first and pick up shovels and spades. "Also, you should get Tammi's permission. After all, it's her property."

"I'll phone her," Louise said and the three walked back to the car.

When they reached their house, she called Tammi and told her of the plan. The girl agreed, but before Louise could tell her about the tree markings, Tammi had to hang up because Miss Mathilde had come into the room.

"I'll stay home and start dinner," Aunt Harriet declared. "You two go and dig."

"Okay," Louise said, so she and Jean drove back alone.

First, they paced off the number of feet between the trees again, then found the exact center. They began to dig, but as time wore on, and the hole became deeper and wider, they felt sure it was in vain.

"If there ever was anything here," Louise said, "it has been removed."

"Perhaps," Jean said, "Grandpa Hodge buried his duplicate manuscript at one time, but then changed his mind and took it away."

"That's a logical guess," her sister agreed. "But the question is, Where did he take it?"

The girls filled in the hole they had made, then went to examine the tree with its three marks again. Could they mean something totally different from the searchers' interpretation?

"Maybe Tammi can help us," Jean said. "As soon as we get home, we'll phone her again."

Louise made a face. "I hope Miss Mathilde Price doesn't answer and refuse to let us talk to Tammi."

"That poor girl," Jean said. "We must help her!"

When they reached their house, Louise dialed the Hodge number. Fortunately Tammi answered.

"Miss Mathilde is out in the yard," she said. "That horrible woman's pulling out flowers and bushes."

"Why would she do a thing like that?"

"To transplant them. She said she was going to change the whole garden. Louise, I can't stand it. She has ruined Grandpa's favorite rosebushes already, and there's no telling what the place will look like when she's through!"

"Oh, dear," Louise said. "I don't understand why she's doing this. It's not a good time to transplant anything right now." Then she changed the subject. "Tammi, what was your grandfather's first name?"

"John," the girl replied. "Why?"

Louise told her about the discovery Aunt Harriet had made in the woods. "Jean and I dug a hole to find out whether the symbols on the tree meant hidden treasure, but we found nothing. If your grandfather buried anything there, he must have dug it up later."

"He never mentioned it to me," Tammi said.

Louise now asked her if anything happened since the Danas left her.

"Nothing," the girl answered. "Miss Mathilde has been laying down the law, but I haven't paid much attention. Uh-oh, here comes old busybody now. I'll have to hang up."

As Louise and Jean sat talking, trying to figure out what their next move should be, the front door opened, and a man called out, "Hi. Anybody home?"

"Uncle Ned!" the girls exclaimed and dashed to the door.

A large man with a florid complexion and bright-blue eyes smiled at them. "Well, how are me hearties?"

"We're great, and how are you?" Jean asked.

Captain Dana laughed. "The salt air keeps me fit as a fiddle." Then he saw his sister coming toward him, and held out his arms.

"Harriet!" he said, and hugged Miss Dana.

"This is a wonderful surprise," Aunt Harriet said. "Now we can have a real family dinner."

During the meal, Louise and Jean brought their uncle up-to-date on the mystery they had been asked to solve. At the end, Louise said to him, "Have you any suggestions as to how we might go about it?"

After some thought, Captain Dana replied, "Have you asked at the library if John Hodge has ever published anything."

"No, we haven't," Jean answered. "We didn't think of it."

"Then I suggest that in the morning I go down there with you and we'll find out," Uncle Ned said. "If he has written in the past, his publisher ought to be able to give you some information."

When they reached the library the following day, he spoke to the supervisor, Karen Liva.

"I don't think so," she replied to his question. "But I'll look in the card catalog and Books in Print."

After checking she reported that John Hodge has never published anything, at least not under his own name. "If he used a pseudonym, I'm afraid I can't help you."

Before leaving the building, Louise, Jean, and Uncle Ned decided to look in the index file under "discoveries". There was nothing about John Hodge. Finally they gave up the search and left.

"My next suggestion," said Captain Dana, "is a trip to the courthouse to look at Mr. John Hodge's will."

When they arrived, the clerk, Mark Dunn, greeted Uncle Ned with a big smile. "Well, how are you? I haven't seen you in years!" he said. "Are you still crossing the Atlantic every week?"

"I sure am," Captain Dana replied. "Me and the old Balaska are mighty chummy." Then he asked if it would be possible to look at John Hodge's will. The clerk nodded and said he would bring it to them.

After reading it, the Danas knew that Grandpa Hodge had left everything to his only relative, Tammi. The Oak Falls Bank had been instructed to appoint a guardian for her, but there was no mention of his will of Miss Mathilde Price.

"Thanks, Mark," Captain Dana said. "My nieces are friends of Tammi Hodge's and are interested in checking up on a few things."

"Why don't you see Mr. Hunter in the trust department of the Oak Falls Bank?" Mark Dunn suggested. "I'm sure he can tell you more about it."

"Good idea," Captain Dana said. "Thanks."

At the bank, they had to wait until Mr. Hunter was free to meet them. Then they introduced themselves and told him that they were friends of Tammi's.

Louise said, "We have just read Hodge's will and learned that you appointed Tammi's guardian. Would you mind telling us why you chose Miss Mathilde Price?"

Mr. Hunter, a good-looking redhead man in his fifties, glanced at them, puzzled. "Why are you asking?"

"Because Tammi doesn't like her," Jean explained. "The two don't get along. Miss Price is very dictatorial and is changing everything in the house and garden. This makes Tammi unhappy because she loved her grandfather dearly and would prefer to have things left just the way he left them."

Mr. Hunter was sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't know Miss Price personally, but knew she was an old friend of John's. She came to me with a letter from him, in which he mentioned that in case of his death he wanted her to be Tammi's guardian."

Louise and Jean were suspicious. "Did you ever compare the handwriting with that of Mr. Hodge?" she asked.

Mr. Hunter furrowed his brow. "The letter was typed and merely signed 'John Hodge,'" he replied.

The Danas looked at each other. Their thoughts were the same: the letter could be a forgery, and Miss Mathilde Price could have an ulterior motive. Could it have to do with Grandpa Hodge's secret? Had she somehow found out about his discovery?

Mr. Hunter sensed that they doubted the letter had been written by Mr. Hodge. "The signature looked like John's," he said thoughtfully, "but I'll check into the matter. I'll arrange to pay Tammi and Miss Price a visit as soon as I can."

Louise told the executor that the girls had had trouble reaching the Hodge home because the county surveyor had put up a roadblock and would not let them through.

"I've never heard of such a thing," Mr. Hunter declared.

"We suspect," Jean said, "that the man is a phony."

"I'll ask if the mountain peak is being surveyed by the county," Mr. Hunter promised. "Did you get the fellow's name?"

"Yes. Xavier Roundtree," Louise replied.

"I've never heard of him," Mr. Hunter said, "but I'll find out if he's telling the truth."

After the Danas had thanked Mr. Hunter and left, Louise said, "I think we should visit Tammi this afternoon."

"Good idea," Jean agreed. "Perhaps we can pick up another clue to what Xavier Roundtree is up to."

The girls dropped off Captain Dana, then drove to the Hodge home. When they reached the lane, Louise noticed that the roadblock was gone.

"Do you think Xavier Roundtree removed it?" she asked.

Jean grinned. "Maybe big strong Xavier is afraid of us!"

"I doubt that," Louise said practically. "And I wonder if we should use this lane or approach the other way."

"Since the barrier is gone, why don't we drive up?" Jean asked. "Obviously Roundtree finished whatever he was doing and took it away."

"Okay. But keep an eye out for him."

The two girls arrived at the house without seeing anyone. They were surprised to find the front door open.

"How strange!" Jean said, and shouted, "Tammi?" No one answered.

They walked into the house, calling Tammi and Miss Mathilde. They looked in each room, but no one was there. When they reached Tammi's bedroom, the Danas stopped short in utter astonishment. Tammi lay on the floor with her hands and feet tied in rope and a gag over her nose and mouth!

"Tammi!" Jean cried out. "Tammi, what has happened to you? Who did this?"