CHAPTER VIII

The Wonders of Magic

Judy didn’t for a minute believe Penny had made up the story she had told her. The empty box proved there had been something of value in her mother’s pocketbook. But it was obvious the little girl was afraid to talk about it except when she and Judy were alone.

“Why?” Judy asked herself. “What is she afraid of?”

The trees were frightening, but Penny claimed she had heard nothing but whispers from them. Had a voice really told Muriel and Anne to run? Judy questioned them some more, and they still insisted the voice had come right out of that hollow tree.

“It has a mouth,” Muriel said, “and arms that it waves in the wind. It’s alive, Judy. We’re afraid to go home for fear it will catch us.”

“That I would like to see,” declared Horace, and everybody laughed.

But Muriel really believed the magician had been there.

“He’s going to be at Wally’s house. He could make a tree talk if he wanted to,” she insisted.

“Maybe he could trick you into thinking he could,” Horace admitted. “Somebody is playing tricks, that’s for certain. It may be this magician.”

“I’m afraid of him,” Anne confessed. “Wally says he will pick me to disappear because I’m the littlest—”

“You won’t be if I join the club,” Penny spoke up. “Could I, Mommy?”

“We’ll see,” she replied. “Who is this magician?”

“We don’t know his name,” Ricky said. “Even Wally doesn’t know it. The Dran boys will introduce him.”

“He’s going to do tricks for us if we sell enough tickets,” Muriel put in. “I don’t want to sell them. Wally said I couldn’t keep the money—”

“Of course not. It goes into the club treasury, probably. By the way, who is the treasurer?” Horace wanted to know.

“I was,” Muriel said with a pout, “but they’re going to have an election, so I guess I won’t be any more.”

“Today?” asked Judy.

“Yes, but I won’t go. Wally said they’d elect all new officers—”

“Wait a minute,” Horace stopped her. “It isn’t all up to Wally. If this is an election they’ll need your votes. I think you kids are making a big mistake. You ought to be at that meeting. I’ll take you there if you say the word.”

“May we go too?” asked Penny.

Paul objected before their mother could answer. “I’d rather go on to Uncle Paul’s house this afternoon,” he said. “Is the car fixed, Mom? Can’t we get started?”

She looked at Horace and both of them sighed.

“It’s in a garage in Roulsville,” Horace said. “I had to push it all the way there. I’m afraid it’s pretty much of a mess. But I leave the whole problem to you, Judy.”

“Well,” said Judy, “you want to interview the caretaker, Horace. Penny wants to attend the election and Mrs. Riker and Paul want to visit her uncle. Wouldn’t it be simpler if we just went to all three places and killed two birds with one stone? Or do I mean three birds?”

“What do you say, Mrs. Riker?” Horace asked.

There wasn’t very much Mrs. Riker could say except yes, and yet she hesitated as if she dreaded the visit and wished to put it off as long as she could.

“Don’t let your great-uncle Paul frighten you,” she warned the children. “Remember, he’s used to having his own way. You must do whatever he says.”

“We will!” they chorused.

Blackberry wanted to go along. He had a favorite spot on top of the back seat by the rear window of Peter’s car. Now he found a similar place in Horace’s convertible, and the children scrambled in after him.

“This car needs a good washing. The rain won’t stop us,” Horace announced cheerfully as they started off.

He seemed a little too cheerful, but Judy knew his motives. More than ever now he wanted to get the other half of the robbery story. Nobody had mentioned it to Mrs. Riker. Unless she had seen a paper or heard the news on the radio, she still didn’t know that in the absence of the uncle she was about to visit, he had been robbed of valuable art treasures. Why hadn’t Horace told her about it, Judy wondered. Did he think he would find out more if he kept quiet? If those men had questioned her before the robbery it might make sense. But afterwards—

“The magician could have been one of those men who stopped here,” she said aloud, as Horace pulled up to remove the sign from the post by the main road. “I’d like to meet him and find out for sure.”

“You may have the opportunity very soon,” Horace said as he gave the sign a last tug and then threw it in the rear compartment of his car.

“Be careful,” Honey warned him. “The paint isn’t dry.”

“Neither am I,” he complained as he returned to the driver’s seat.

Soon they reached the home of Wally Brown, a chubby blond boy who showed them to the downstairs recreation room.

“The magician is here to pick the children he wants in his act. Would you kids like to meet him?” he asked.

Honey and Mrs. Riker had remained in the car, but Penny and Paul had come in with Judy and Horace. Their yes was so enthusiastic that Judy held her ears. The club members were in time for the election. The first part of the meeting, Wally explained, had been taken up with plans for the magic show.

Soon they were all under the magician’s spell. They had been asked to close their eyes and make a wish just before he appeared on the stage.

“Close your eyes quick,” a strange little girl whispered to Penny. “He’s going to make our wishes come true.”

Presently the magician stood before them on a stage that was still in the process of being constructed. He was quite an ordinary-looking man, but there was something about his voice that seemed to give him authority.

“Have you all made your wishes?” he asked. “Perhaps I can’t make all of them come true, but I shall certainly do my best.”

“Make mine come true now, please, Mr. Magician, because we have to go,” Penny pleaded.

“Open your eyes, little girl. All of you open your eyes. Did I forget to tell you?”

Several children laughed, but Penny let out a startled and long-drawn-out “Ooooo!” as her eyes snapped open.

The children were crowding so close, Judy couldn’t see what trick the magician was doing. But he was not one of the men she had seen in the car. She doubted if she had ever seen him before.

“Come on, children!” she whispered. “Your mother and Honey are waiting in the car. We all want to get started.”

Penny backed out, unable to take her eyes away from the stage. One of the boys had wished for a puppy, and the magician was pulling it right out of a hat.

Penny and Paul stared at him as if he had performed a miracle instead of a simple magic trick. Whispers of, “He’s magic all right. He can bring anything to life,” went on between them. When they were back in the car the children told their mother Muriel was right. Magicians could do anything.

“That’s a house I intend to haunt,” announced Horace as they drove away. “Maybe I can give their magic show a little publicity. There’s room down there for quite a crowd and I certainly intend to be in it.”

“So do I,” declared Judy. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

“What about us?” asked Penny and Paul.

“We’ll see,” their mother promised.