The Riddle Club at Sunrise Beach

"I never knew it to be like this before," he complained, mimicking his sister's tone. "Every year, just before the Fourth, we always have a snowstorm. I remember last year we sh...

The noise of the explosions had been heard throughout the neighborhood. From the houses near by heads were thrust from the windows and a nervous dog was barking excitedly, tryin...

Mr. Larue's office was small, but the entire membership of the Riddle Club succeeded in getting through the narrow doorway at the same moment--or nearly. There on the desk was a...

Mrs. Pepper, Carrie's mother, was very proud of her chickens. She spent a good deal of time and money in caring for them, and they were seldom allowed to stray from their own ru...

Before the delighted and envious eyes of the watchers, the pin of the Riddle Club was blazing--the gold question mark in the center of the shield. It burned brightly for a few s...

Fred and Artie hurried to let down the bars as Mr. Williamson directed, and then, not without some shouting and a wild rush after an obstinate beast or two, the cows were driven...

"We'll look out of place in these traveling clothes," she said, "but I suppose it is the only thing to do; we certainly won't make Sunrise Beach before seven o'clock or half-pas...

Mattie was seated at a table with her mother and two other ladies. Mrs. Helms nodded pleasantly when she saw the River Bend folk, but Margy was almost crying as she sat down at...

Ward was not a good runner and he was quickly out of breath. Panting and gasping, he trailed after the others and by the time he came up with them he was in no shape to ask a ri...

"Have to be some bungalow to get us all in," he said. "We have a large cottage and it's none too big. Guess you don't know it--the Meeker Cottage, they call it."

That roused Margy and Jess to action, and they began, too, to dig. A few feet behind the mound there was an upheaval and Fred's face and shoulders came into view. Polly never st...

Fred's mother was a wise woman, and she could, as her husband often said, make the most of any situation. If the boys, who usually had to be called at least twice, were awake at...

"I see a number of comfortable benches over there in the shade," she announced, "and they look as though they had been placed there especially for patient parents. We'll go over...

My goodness, that was enough to make any one nervous! Two or three more people began to cry that they, too, could feel the boa constrictor crawling over their feet on the floor...

"I didn't take it," that ambitious youth protested. "It fell down, truly it did, Fred. And I saw it and it was just the right size for a raft. I can put it back, anyway, after I...

The loss of the raft would have been serious enough, but far more tragic was the double crime of destroying Mrs. Meeker's fence. And, as Ward said, the first thing their fathers...

"Why, dear, we have plenty of everything to eat," Mrs. Marley declared. "I think it will be nice to have Carrie and Mattie stay. Run out on the porch and talk with them until I...

Before nine pairs of astonished eyes, the old man pulled off his curly white beard and let it drop to the ground. He threw off his cap, turned down the collar of his coat, and g...

The dripping Margy was quickly surrounded by a laughing, congratulating group, but even as Polly put her sweater around her, she was wondering about Ella Mooney. Had anything ha...

The more Jess thought about Blackberry Island, the surer she was that her happiness depended on a picnic there. The others were inclined to enjoy the present--the salty breeze b...

They were ahead of time, each with a large square box of lunch in one hand and a heavy sweater in the other. The mothers had insisted on the sweaters. The grown-ups had started...

But when fifteen minutes later a huge wave broke over the boat and Larry set the boys to bailing with heavy tin cans, Polly learned that they were not blowing toward the island.

Polly was stiff and a little cold. Her neck hurt, for she had bent it forward while she slept as there was nothing against which she could rest it for support. Very cautiously s...

Polly did feel creepy, she admitted it. But she found Margy's behavior funnier than the idea of snakes, and she joined in the shout of laughter the boys and Larry could not rest...

Larry was so surprised that about all he could say was "Great glory," though when the Riddle Club explained in chorus that Ella was very hungry, he hurriedly brought out the bun...