The Walking Snowman by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

6

One Case Solved, One to Go

The Hardy brothers ran up to Mrs. Hammel’s front door and knocked.

“May we help you look for Princess inside your house?” Frank asked. “We don’t think she went out. That means she’s still here.”

“But I looked everywhere,” Mrs. Hammel said. “And I called and called.”

“Maybe she got shut in a closet,” Joe suggested.

“You’re welcome to search again,” Mrs. Hammel said, “but I can’t think where she could be.”

They searched from room to room, but there was no sign of Princess. At last the boys found a door under the stairs.

“Where does this lead, Mrs. Hammel?” Frank asked.

“Only to the basement,” she said.

She opened the door and turned on a light switch. The dim light shone on a flight of stairs going down.

“She wouldn’t be down here,” Mrs. Hammel said. “I hardly ever go down here—there’s only the furnace and the washing machine and dryer.”

Joe peeked down the dark stairway.

“Did you go down today, Mrs. Hammel?” he asked.

“Just to put some laundry in the laundry basket.”

“Maybe we should check it out then,” Frank said.

“Watch your step,” Mrs. Hammel said. “The light is bad. It’s hard to see well.”

“You go first,” Joe said to Frank.

“Thanks a lot,” Frank said. He went carefully down the steep stairs.

“I don’t see why a cat would want to be down here,” Frank turned to Joe. “There are no soft chairs or pillows.”

The boys looked behind the stack of old magazines. They looked under an old chest of drawers. Joe peeked into the laundry basket. Then he laughed. “Some laundry and one white cat, Mrs. Hammel.”

Princess was fast asleep among the white sheets.

Mrs. Hammel came down the stairs. “Well, imagine that,” she said, starting to laugh, too. “My eyesight’s not too good anymore. I didn’t see her because she’s white and the sheets are white.” She picked up Princess and smiled at the boys. “Thank you for finding her.”

They started back up the stairs. “I hope you’ll stay and have some more of my cookies and hot chocolate as a reward, boys,” Mrs. Hammel said.

“Thanks, Mrs. Hammel, but we’ve got another mystery to solve,” Joe said. “You didn’t see a snowman when you were out looking for Princess, did you?”

“A snowman?” Mrs. Hammel shook her head.

“Let’s get back to work, Joe,” Frank said. “I’m glad we found Princess. I get the feeling that the snowman mystery isn’t going to be so easy to solve.”

As they went back to their own front yard Frank stopped and pointed at the ground.

“Look, Joe. I didn’t notice this before. What do you think it is?”

A trail of bright orange crumbs went up to their front door. Then the trail turned around and went away again.

“I don’t know what it is,” Joe said, “but maybe it has something to do with our missing snowman. Let’s follow it.”

They ran back down the street, following the orange trail until they caught up with Chet.

“Hey, guys, want a cheese puff?” he called when he saw them.

He held out an almost empty bag.

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