Free Boxcar Children 62 - Mystery of the Lake Monster by Gertrude Chandler Warner

CHAPTER 1
Into the Wilderness
    B enny Alden leaned forward to stare out the window. “Wow,” he said. “Look how tall all those mountains are!”
    His brother, Henry, laughed. “Mountains are supposed to be tall, Benny. That’s why they’re called mountains.”
    “How tall are these mountains?” Benny asked.
    Violet Alden looked up from the book she was reading. “It says here that the tallest mountain in the Adirondacks is Mt. Marcy. It’s over five thousand feet tall.”
    “How tall am I?” asked Benny. He was six years old.
    “Not over four feet tall,” said Jessie Alden.
    “I guess that these mountains are a lot taller than I am,” said Benny.
    Everybody in the car laughed.
    The Aldens were on their way to spend a week at Lucille Lodge on Lake Lucille, high in the Adirondack Mountains in New York State.
    “Are we almost there, Grandfather?” asked Jessie.
    “Almost,” he answered. Grandfather Alden slowed down and turned the car off the paved road onto a dirt road. The car bounced and bumped over the deep ruts. Tree branches clawed the windows.
    The road twisted and turned, higher and higher. Benny could no longer see the tops of the mountains through the trees. At last Grandfather stopped in front of a huge wooden gate. On the gate, a carved sign said LUCILLE LODGE.
    “I’ll open the gate,” said Jessie.
    “I’ll help,” said Henry.
    They jumped out of the car and opened the gate. After Grandfather Alden had driven through, they closed it again and hurried to get back into the car.
    They followed the rough track through the trees, but still they didn’t see Lake Lucille or Lucille Lodge.
    “We’re not lost, are we?” asked Violet.
    “No,” said Grandfather. “Look.” He turned one more corner and the four Alden children gasped.
    They were in a broad clearing. Ahead of them was a small, clear, beautiful lake, as blue as the sky it reflected. Steep walls of rock and wooded mountainside rose above it on every side. At the far end of the clearing right on the edge of the lake was an enormous two-story building made of wood. Wide porches with birch-branch railings ran around the building on the lower floor.
    Grandfather drove forward and parked to one side of the building. As the Aldens got out of the car, a small, wiry woman with short dark hair and friendly green eyes came out of the building and walked toward them. “Welcome to Lucille Lodge,” she said. “I’m Nora Parker. Everyone calls me Nora.”
    “James Alden,” said Grandfather Alden. “And these are my grandchildren: Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny.”
    “And Watch,” said Benny, patting his dog on the head.
    “Hi,” said Nora. She looked at Benny. “How old are you, Benny?”
    “I’m six. Henry is fourteen, Jessie is twelve, Violet is ten.” He paused and added, “I don’t know how old Grandfather is.”
    “That’s okay,” said Nora, her smile widening.
    “Or Watch, either,” said Benny. “We found him when we were living in the boxcar.”
    Seeing Nora’s surprised look, the Alden children quickly explained how, when they had become orphans, they had gone to live in an old boxcar in the woods. They didn’t know their grandfather was looking for them. But he was, and when he found them, he brought them all to live with him in his big old house in Greenfield. To surprise them, and to make them feel more at home, he’d brought the boxcar home and put it behind the house so they could visit it whenever they wanted.

    “That’s some story,” said Nora when they had finished. “But I’m glad to know you’ve lived in a boxcar. You might not find our cabins so very different!”
    A man came out onto the porch and stood on the top step. He wasn’t much taller than Nora. He had short brown hair and blue eyes. He was holding a large rolling pin in one hand. He raised the rolling pin. “That’s the truth! You’ll see,” he said in a grim voice.
    “Oh!” exclaimed Violet, her eyes widening when she saw