Bicycle Mystery by Gertrude Warner Page B

had plenty of company. They all went upstairs to find two empty rooms and a bathroom.
    “But the bathroom is no good,” said Benny. “The pipes are all broken.”
    “Nobody here for a long time,” Henry said.
    Jessie looked at the tub. She said, “This might be a good place to dry our clothes, though. See that rod over the tub? Once they must have had a shower curtain.”
    “Good,” said Henry. “Let’s look at the rest of the house.”
    The rain came in only at the front, just at it did on the first floor.
    “These were the bedrooms,” said Violet. “I do wonder why the owner doesn’t fix this up. It’s a lovely old house.”
    Jessie answered, “I don’t think the owner has been around here for a long time.”
    “It’s getting dark and I’m hungry,” said Benny. “How about having a little something to eat?”
    “There! I was just waiting for you to say that, Ben,” said his brother. “There’s no electricity, and we certainly don’t want to eat by a flashlight. Let’s eat now while we can still see.”
    “Wait a minute,” said Jessie. “We all have dry clothes in our packs, and we each have a towel. Let’s get dry first. We can put on our dry clothes and hang the wet ones on the rod over the bathtub.”
    “That’s all right with me,” said Benny. “It won’t take long. I’ll be the first one ready.”
    And he was. The girls laughed as they heard him clattering down the wooden stairs.
    “We’ll have to go to bed early tonight,” Jessie said, “if we want to see our way. And we’ll eat our emergency rations. I never really thought we would use them. I thought we could always get to a motel. But here we are in the pouring rain, and no motel.”
    Benny was taking out the emergency rations when his sisters came downstairs.
    Violet said suddenly, “Remember the boxcar days? Put down one paper napkin for a tablecloth and save every crumb. If we leave crumbs, we’ll surely have mice.”
    “We could have anything,” Benny said cheerfully. “Anything could get through the broken windows. Even a bear.”
    “No bears in this part of the country,” said Violet peacefully. “But we could have mice if we leave crumbs.”
    Four napkins were soon laid on the floor, and the Aldens began to eat.
    Jessie said, “We’d better save some food for breakfast. It may not stop raining. Save some of the milk and crackers.”
    “That’s right,” said Henry. “Benny always has to eat before he goes anywhere.”
    “Even to bed,” said Benny. He yawned.
    There was no trouble about the crumbs. They ate every one. The rain still poured down and blew in at the front windows.
    Henry was thinking. He said, “You girls sleep upstairs. Ben and I will put our sleeping bags down here. We’d better sleep in our clothes.”
    “You were right, Benny,” Jessie said. “We do need our sleeping bags after all.”
    “But I thought we’d be sleeping out,” Benny said.
    After their exciting day, the Aldens went to sleep without any trouble. The rain still pounded on the roof, but they were safe and dry.
    But just as it was getting light in the morning, Jessie and Violet were wakened by a noise downstairs. It sounded like an animal whining.
    “What’s the matter, Henry?” Jessie called down the stairs.
    “Well, you might say we have a visitor. A dog wants to come in the window.”
    Jessie and Violet then heard Benny laugh softly. “At least we think it’s a dog. He barks anyway. He has come in the window already.”
    The dog went on whining, but it was a different sort of whining. Once in a while the dog gave a bark.
    Violet turned to Jessie. “Let’s go downstairs and see what kind of dog we have. He doesn’t seem to be very happy.”
    “I don’t blame him,” said Jessie. “It’s still raining. No dog would be very happy in this pouring rain. But I should think he’d be glad to get in the house.”
    The girls went downstairs.
    They looked at the dog. They saw that it was small and smoky gray.