Free The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve by Gertrude Chandler Warner

S ECRET OF THE M ASK
    T HE S EATTLE P UZZLE
    T HE G HOST IN THE F IRST R OW
    T HE B OX T HAT W ATCH F OUND
    A H ORSE N AMED D RAGON
    T HE G REAT D ETECTIVE R ACE
    T HE G HOST AT THE D RIVE -I N M OVIE
    T HE M YSTERY OF THE T RAVELING
T OMATOES

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    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
    copyright © 1942, 1950, 1969, 1977 by Albert Whitman & Company
    ISBN: 978-1-4532-0752-9
    This 2010 edition distributed by Open Road Integrated Media
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New York, NY 10014
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Surprise Island
    GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER
Illustrated by Mary Gehr
    ALBERT WHITMAN & Company, Chicago, Illinois



CHAPTER 1
The First Surprise
    N ow, tell us, Grandfather,” cried Henry. “We ran all the way home from school.”
    “Tell us!” shouted Benny, throwing himself down on the grass beside the dog. “School is out for the whole summer, and Watch wants to know.”
    “Violet and I want to know, too,” said Jessie.
    Mr. Alden was sitting in the garden reading. He looked at his four grandchildren in surprise.
    “Let me see, was this the day I said I’d tell you?” he asked them.
    “He’s joking, Benny,” said Jessie.
    “Joking?” cried Mr. Alden. “I mean everything I say!”
    But he was joking, just the same, and enjoying himself, too. In the spring, he had promised his grandchildren a surprise for the summer, and now he had been waiting more than an hour for the children to come home.
    “School is out,” said Violet.
    “We ran all the way home,” shouted Benny.
    “Yes, so you said,” said Mr. Alden slowly.
    “You said the surprise was something you liked to do yourself when you were fifteen,” Henry told him.
    “Yes, or even six,” said Mr. Alden, looking at Benny.
    “And you said you’d tell us the minute school was out, Grandfather,” said Benny.
    Mr. Alden laughed. “I certainly did,” he replied. “And now I’m going to tell you.”
    The four children looked at him.
    He began, “Once upon a time my father bought an island.”
    “He bought one!” cried Henry.
    “Yes,” Mr. Alden went on. “The island is small. There is nothing much on it except a small house, a barn, and a fisherman’s hut. My father wanted a quiet place to keep his best horses. Old Captain Daniel, who runs the motorboat, lives in the fisherman’s hut now. Let’s all go down to the island and look it over. If you want to stay there all summer, you may.”

    “Oh, Grandfather!” cried Jessie. “We would like it better than anything in the world. It will be just like the boxcar days!”
    “Couldn’t Watch go, too?” asked Benny, with his hand on the dog’s head.
    “Certainly,” said Mr. Alden. “He would be lonesome without you.”
    “Can we have a real stove, and cook?” asked Violet.
    “You’ll have to cook,” replied Mr. Alden, “if you want to eat. I will give you some money for dishes and things. You must tell me how much money you need, but don’t make it too much.”
    All the children laughed a little, because even Benny knew that their grandfather had enough money to buy anything they wanted.
    “Let’s go now,” said Benny suddenly.
    The four children jumped up so quickly that Mr. Alden threw back his head and