Free The Ghost Ship Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

that Captain Bob might have her great-grandfather’s diary,” Jessie explained.
    “Yes, we don’t want to upset her even more until we find out about it,” Violet added. “Poor Miss Coffin.”
    The children were halfway down the street when they heard a voice behind them.
    “Benny! Aldens! Wait!” The voice belonged to Captain Bob. “You left your horseshoe crab shell on the Jonah, Benny. Here it is.” The captain handed the shell to him. “Hey, what’s the matter? I thought you’d be glad to get this.”
    Benny stared down at his sneakers. “You can keep it.”
    The captain looked at the Aldens. “All of you seem upset. Is something wrong?”
    Jessie couldn’t bring herself to look at Captain Bob. “Maybe you should go to Mr. Cooke’s shop. Miss Coffin is there too.”
    Captain Bob seemed confused. “As a matter of fact that’s just where I was going. I wanted to show Spooner the old diary I found in the cannon barrel. I figured he could take it to the museum when Miss Coffin gets back. I knew she wouldn’t want to see me,” he said in a sad voice.

    “So that diary was in the cannon barrel!” Henry said. “We spotted it when it fell out of a cabinet on your boat. Why did you hide it?”
    Captain Bob pulled out the old leather diary from the other shoebox. “When you read this, you’ll find out. It’s Captain Coffin’s diary. It was the only thing I had time to look at the day I opened the cannon barrel down in my boat. I tried to find out what else was in the cannon barrel after you children took everything to the museum, but I decided not to.”
    “We thought somebody came in,” Henry said. “We heard the door bang.”
    “I changed my mind,” Captain Bob said. “I couldn’t take something that rightfully belonged to the museum. That’s why I want to return this diary to its proper place. You’ll know everything about the Flying Cloud when you read what’s in it.”
    When the captain and the Aldens got to the shop, Miss Coffin was closing up a box she had packed with the missing items. Her whole face darkened when she saw the children with Captain Bob.
    “I have something else to put in that box.” Captain Bob handed Miss Coffin the diary.
    “What is this?” Miss Coffin asked.
    “Your great-grandfather’s diary. I guess you were right. My great-great grandfather, Eli Hull, did try to take over the Flying Cloud from Captain Coffin just as you said in your book. That’s what your great-grandfather wrote in here anyway.”
    “Now, now, young man,” Miss Coffin said in a steady voice. “Eli Hull did take over the Flying Cloud, but only because my greatgrandfather was not in his right mind owing to a terrible sickness. He probably wrote the diary when his mind was confused by his illness. The last account of the Flying Cloud is in this logbook. It proves your great-great- grandfather, Eli Hull, was the real hero.”
    Captain Bob took the logbook and read the last page. His voice was quiet when he finally spoke up. “All these years I’ve been looking for something like this. After every storm I would go up and down the coast near where the Flying Cloud went down. I just had to know that my great-great-grandfather didn’t start a mutiny. When I saw the diary in the cannon barrel, I hid it away without looking at the other things in there.”
    Miss Coffin stood up. “Well, that just goes to show that you and I don’t make very good thieves, do we now?”
    “That’s for sure,” Benny said. “If Captain Bob had had the logbook, and Miss Coffin the diary, then everybody would’ve been happy.”
    They all smiled at this.
    “Well, everybody is happy now,” Spooner Cooke said.
    “Not quite,” Miss Coffin said. “Don’t forget, my book is all wrong now. Why, everybody will be talking about nothing else but that!”
    Benny went up to Miss Coffin. “Not if you write a new book.”
    Miss Coffin gave Benny a friendly tap on his nose. “And I know just what I’ll call my new