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. 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!