The Magnificent Lizzie Brown and the Devil's Hound by Vicki Lockwood

Author:Vicki Lockwood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 9781434279415, 9781623700706, 9781434279439, fiction, Capstone Young Readers, The Magnificent Lizzie Brown, psychic ability, grave robbing, ghost stories, Kensal Green (London, England), Great Britain-history-19th century, mystery and detective stories, circus, haunted places, social issues/friendship, action & adventure/general, social issues/new experience
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Published: 2014-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

As the circus people began to filter out of the house, fresh bandages on their arms, Malachy casually took Lizzie aside. “Fancy a stroll along the water?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Lizzie said, knowing exactly why he’d offered. They needed to make a plan.

“See you back at the site!” Malachy waved to the others as he and Lizzie headed for the Grand Union Canal. Once they were out of earshot, he said, “We have to catch those grave robbers red-handed.”

“Shouldn’t we get proof first?” Lizzie said. “I mean, we don’t know if it is grave robbers yet. Not for certain.”

“What proof do you want?” Malachy asked. “Open graves? Dead people with no jewelery?”

Lizzie thought for a moment. “I left some flowers on Becky’s father’s grave. If those flowers aren’t there tonight, it means someone’s been there and dug it up.”

“That’s only one grave!” Malachy said, with a disbelieving laugh. “What about all the thousands of others?”

“That’s the one we need to check,” Lizzie insisted.

“Why?” Malachy asked.

“Because his spirit’s not at rest,” Lizzie replied.

Malachy shuddered. “I forgot you’re talking to ghosts now. Remind me not to laugh at Ma Sullivan again.”

Lizzie peered into the distance. Two men dressed in the rough overcoats and heavy boots of canal workers were standing near the water. They looked alike enough to be brothers, though one was clearly older.

At first Lizzie thought someone had fallen in, because a shape was slowly sinking out of sight below the water. But then she realized the men weren’t helping. Instead, one of them was keeping lookout while the other one fumbled with a sack.

“Do those two look suspicious to you?” she asked Malachy.

“Very,” Malachy agreed.

Lizzie slowed down.

“No, don’t stop, keep walking!” Malachy hissed. “Pretend we haven’t noticed them.”

The man with the sack, the older of the two, held it over the canal and shook it out. A few articles of clothing fell in. Clearly they weren’t sinking quickly enough for his satisfaction, because he sat down on the side and poked them under the surface of the water with his foot.

Just then, the lookout noticed Lizzie and Malachy approaching. He nudged his companion, who turned to look, then hastily hid the sack behind his back. The lookout folded his arms and glared at them.

We’re just two kids walking by a canal, Lizzie thought. What are you going to do, eh?

The man with the sack quickly fished a bright metallic object out of it and threw it in the muddy water. The object caught the sun as it sank, making a warm flash of gold.

“Did you see what that was?” Malachy whispered.

Lizzie stared at the ripples. She was almost positive that it was a horse brass. In fact, she thought, I’d swear to it.

They were only a few yards away from the two men now. Both men stood their ground, blocking the path. The younger one had his arms folded across his chest, while the older man slowly rolled up his sleeves to reveal thick, hairy arms.

“Morning,” Lizzie said.

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