The Mystery of the Stolen Boxcar by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Author:Gertrude Chandler Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 1995-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Benny sat down and covered his face.

Violet knelt down beside him. “Don’t cry, Benny. It’ll be all right. We’ll find the boxcar.”

Benny lifted his face to look at Violet. “But the boxcar is gone. Even worse, Watch is gone, too.”

“We’d better find Watch right away,” said Henry. “Then he can help us look for the boxcar.”

Benny felt more cheerful at the thought of this. They called and called, but Watch didn’t come.

“Where could Watch be?” asked Jessie at last.

“He’ll come back,” said Henry.

“I didn’t let him in the house last night,” said Benny in a worried tone of voice. “I went to bed early. I thought someone else would.”

“I didn’t let him in,” said Violet.

Jessie and Henry shook their heads. They hadn’t either.

“But maybe Grandfather or Mrs. McGregor did,” said Henry. “And then let him out early this morning.”

The Aldens went back in the house to tell Mrs. McGregor and Grandfather. They ran outside to see for themselves.

They couldn’t believe that the boxcar was missing. Grandfather shook his head. He frowned. “This is very serious,” he said.

“We are going to find the boxcar,” said Jessie, putting her hands on her hips. “And Watch. Don’t worry.”

“I know you’ve solved many mysteries,” Grandfather Alden told his grandchildren. “But you’ve never had a mystery like this one. Who would steal a boxcar? And why would Watch run away for a whole night? Because if he had been here, he would have barked when someone took the boxcar.”

“I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out,” said Henry.

The four Aldens went back out to where the boxcar had been. They searched the entire area for clues. They weren’t sure what they were looking for, but they didn’t find anything that helped—not even a muddy footprint, or dog’s paw print.

“What do we do now?” asked Benny.

Henry put his hand on his chin and thought. Then he said, “Mr. Chessy!”

“What?” Benny said, confused.

“That’s right!” exclaimed Jessie. “Mr. Chessy. Remember how badly he wanted to buy our boxcar? He was very unhappy when we wouldn’t sell it to him. He said he’d get it one way or the other.”

“I thought he would come back. He was so angry. But he never did,” said Violet.

“Maybe he never came back because he didn’t want us to get suspicious,” said Jessie. “Maybe he realized we would never sell the boxcar to him, so he took it!” She jumped up. “We have to go talk to Mr. Chessy right away.”

“But he said he was leaving soon, remember?” said Henry. “What if he took our boxcar and left town?”

“What about Watch?” asked Benny. “We should look for Watch!”

“We’ll leave a bowl of Watch’s favorite food outside on the steps for him,” said Henry. “We can ask Mrs. McGregor and Grandfather to look out for him in case he comes home.”

“We’ll call for Watch and look for him on our way to Mr. Chessy’s,” Jessie said.

“But what if we don’t find him?” Benny cried. “What if he’s lost?”

“If he still hasn’t come home when we get back,” said Henry, “we’ll go the animal shelter and to Dr.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.