The Mystery of Hollow Inn by Tara Ellis

Author:Tara Ellis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Detectives, Mysteries & Detectives, Folk Tales & Myths, Children's Books, Fairy Tales, Children's eBooks
Publisher: Tara Ellis Publications
Published: 2014-01-02T06:00:00+00:00

9

CABIN IN THE WOODS

Morning arrives quickly. Both girls are still yawning while they walk behind Ted, following a trail of sunflower seed shells. The forest calls out to them as they go along the winding path, gradually climbing higher up the mountain. More than an hour has already elapsed since leaving the inn, but Ted has kept up a steady pace.

As they come to a level area, Sam has a chance to catch her breath and decides to ask Ted what he knows about the mine.

“I heard there used to be a mine here somewhere. Do you know anything about it?”

“Of course I do,” Ted answers without pause. “It’s well-known around here as the biggest producing mine in the county.”

“What?” Ally exclaims.

“I should say that it used to be,” he continues. “Shawn and his brother were the first ones to mine the area, and the most successful. They had just hit a big vein of gold when there was a cave-in. Shawn survived, but his brother and two other men were buried alive.”

“How horrible!” Sam cries, imagining what it must have been like.

“Shawn never recovered from the loss,” Ted continues. “He used some of the gold to build the house for his wife…as far away from the mine as possible. No one ever saw the rest of the gold, though. Some people speculated that it never really existed, but I think his sons were right. They believed he just didn’t want to spend the blood money, so he hid it away, instead.”

“There!” Ted says suddenly, pointing across an open ravine to a large outcropping of rock on the opposite side. “That’s called…”

“Why, that has to be Michael’s Peak!” Ally announces.

“That’s right,” Ted confirms. “How did you know that? I thought your aunt wanted it to be a surprise.”

“We read about it in the--”

Ally stops as Sam jabs her with an elbow and gives her a disapproving look.

“The journal?” Ted asks, turning around to face them. “I didn’t know that Shawn Hollow’s journal was still around after all this time. No one besides his kids ever saw it, as far as I know.”

“Um…yeah. Well, it was up in the attic,” Sam says, reluctant to share the information. “It’s just an old, dusty thing with a bunch of stories. My aunt and uncle haven’t even read it.” She tries to make it sound as boring as possible. The last thing she wants is for anyone else to get in on the hunt.

Sam almost walks into Ted’s back as he comes to a sudden stop in front of her.

“Oh man, it’s ten already!” he says, frowning as he looks at his watch. “I’ve got to start back. I know we originally planned a longer hike, but I’ve got some work that needs to get done this afternoon. If you want to keep going, just stay on this path and it’ll take you around to the rock. It’s roped off, and I would definitely stay inside the marked area. You kids have fun.”

“Okay, I guess we’ll see you later then,” Sam says, her face burning at his comment.

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