CHAPTER VI

An Empty Pocketbook

“Don’t look for it!” the voice from the tree had said. And now a request, equally urgent, had come from a real live little girl: “Please, will you help us find it?”

Once more the strange warning flashed through Judy’s mind. Just what it was she was supposed to find—or not to find—still puzzled her. But she had found the explanation for unearthly things before and could do it again. A little uneasily, she replied that she would do what she could.

It was hard to get a description of the doll. All Penny could tell her was that its hair, its face—everything about it—was green.

“Its clothes, too?” Honey asked.

Penny nodded solemnly.

“Yes, everything. It came from the Land of Oz, I think. My mother read me the story once. Everything was green there, too, and she was a princess.”

“Your doll?” asked Judy.

“She wasn’t _my_ doll. Sometimes Mommy would let me look at her. She told me her name, too, but I’ve forgotten it.”

“Was it Dorothy?” questioned Honey.

Penny shook her head.

“Ozma?”

“No, that isn’t right, either. Mommy knows it, but you mustn’t tell her I told you.”

“We won’t say a word, will we, Judy?”

“Is that your name?” asked the little girl. “Mine’s Penelope, but people call me Penny for short. May I call you Judy?”

“Yes, you may both call me Judy,” she replied as Paul descended from the tree. “This is Grace Dobbs, but I named her Honey before I knew who she was. Now we’re sisters—”

Penny’s eyes widened.

“Real sisters?”

“Well, I married Honey’s brother Peter. My brother is Horace—”

“Here he comes now with the children’s mother,” Honey interrupted as the convertible came roaring down the road and stopped almost beside them.

“Back so soon?” asked Judy. “The children were telling me—”

“We didn’t tell her anything,” Paul protested, looking frightened.

“The children only said you’ve been having trouble, Mrs. Riker,” Judy explained. “I hope we can be of some help.”

“You’re very kind,” the woman sitting beside Horace said, “but I’m afraid nobody can help me very much. I did have plans, but now everything has changed. I’m so nervous and upset, I don’t even want to talk about it.”

“Then don’t talk about it until you’re rested. Come into the house,” Judy offered, “and I’ll make you a cup of hot tea. There are cookies and chocolate milk for the children—”

“Did you hear that, Penny?” asked Paul. “I’ll race you!”

They were off before their mother could stop them. On the porch they found Blackberry and called back to Judy.

“Is this your cat? Is it all right if we pet him?”

“Ask Blackberry. He’s the one to decide.”

“He likes us,” Paul announced as the others came up onto the porch. They were just in time, as it was beginning to rain. Mrs. Riker hesitated.

“I’m not sure we ought to accept your hospitality,” she said to Judy. “You see, I can’t pay for the rooms until later. My pocketbook was stolen.”

“I know. The children told me.”

“Penny did,” Paul put in quickly. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“That’s all right. I’m glad you understand. I’m not going to report the theft and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention it, either. I don’t want any more trouble—”

“But Mommy, you said—” Penny began.

“Penny, _will_ you keep still?” her brother exclaimed.

“Let her go on. This interests me.”

Apparently Horace was hearing about the stolen pocketbook for the first time. Judy smiled and invited everybody in. Blackberry politely refused.

“There he goes, off toward the barn!” Paul exclaimed. “Come on, Penny! Let’s follow him.”

Suddenly Judy had an idea.

“Honey, will you take Mrs. Riker inside?” she asked. “I’d like to see what Blackberry’s up to. He’s helped us solve mysteries before. There must be something in the barn he wants to show us.”

“Mice, probably. But go ahead,” Honey told her. “I know where everything is. I’ll have refreshments ready for the rest of us by the time you get back.”

Judy intended to take only a few minutes. But when they reached the barn Penny and Paul wanted to climb to the hayloft. There they found three of the club members, two girls and a boy, apparently searching for something in the hay.

“Hi, there!” Judy greeted them. “Be careful, Black Spots, or someone will rub you out. And if you’ve lost anything, don’t look for it. We’ve been warned.”

Ricky, the club president, looked at her with a baffled expression on his face.

“You are joking?” he said in what Judy considered a charming accent. “The Americans make the jokes I do not understand.”

“There was a big fight,” spoke up Muriel Blade. “The rest of the kids went to Wally’s house, but Anne and me, we stuck by Ricky.”

Anne, the youngest of the club members, was solemnly regarding the two Riker children. She was standing in a shaft of light that came in through a small window overlooking the grove.

“We know them,” she told Judy. “We tried to trail the bad men for them.”

“Did you see the men’s faces?” asked Judy. “What did they look like?”

Interrupting each other as they talked, the children quickly described them. The descriptions fitted. There had been three men, and one of them had a long scar right across his cheek. Paul was certain they were right about that, because he remembered that it had been the scar-faced man who held the gun.

“Did you find out where they went?” Paul asked eagerly.

“No,” Ricky admitted. “But we did find this.”

“Mom’s pocketbook!” yelled both the Riker children as he held it up. “How did you get it back?”

“It was easy,” he said. “They threw it away.”

“Ricky found it in the road,” Anne put in, and Muriel hastily added, “It’s empty. They took out everything that was in it except a lipstick and handkerchief. Oh, yes, and an empty box.”

“Are you sure it’s empty?” asked Penny, reaching for the small blue box they had found in her mother’s pocketbook.

“Quite sure,” Muriel said. “We just looked.”

“Oh,” Penny exclaimed with a disappointed little sigh. “That was the box—”

She stopped at a look from Paul, but Judy almost knew she had been about to say it was the box that had held the green doll. At least, Judy knew now how big it was. Or rather, how small. The box was only about four inches long. Inside was a soft lining of satin and an impression as if something had rested there a long time without being disturbed.

“We’re on the trail of it now, whatever it is,” Judy thought.

Aloud she asked, “Is anybody hungry?”

“We’re starved!” yelled the children in a resounding chorus.

A moment later they were following Judy down the ladder from the hayloft. Outside it was raining harder than ever.

“Come on then, back to the house!” she called. “We’ll have refreshments just the way I planned, but we’ll have to make a dash for them through the rain.”