Free The Mystery of the Man in the Tall Black Hat by Margaret M. Sandberg

him. I’ll bet you keep him company, but you’re not a very good watchdog.”
    The dog continued to wag his tail and looked at Tod quizzically as though he were trying to understand Tod’s words. He followed him as he located Barney’s bicycle and brought it out to the road. Then he sat down and whimpered as they started to leave.
    “He wants us to stay!” exclaimed Tricia with delight.
    “Sorry, old boy. Go home now.” Tricia and Tod started to ride homeward, looking back to see if MacDuff was following. As they turned a corner, the dog was still sitting in the road where they had left him.
    Barney was waiting when they rode up to his house. “See anything?” he questioned.
    “We saw a dog,” said Tricia. “But I didn’t see your imaginary man in the stovepipe hat.”
    “You know,” said Tod, ignoring Tricia’s remark. “A real queer old fellow lives in that house where I got water. He can’t hear anything and he kept hollering for MacDuff. I think that was his dog.”
    Mrs. Sebastian came to the door. “You’ve been out long enough, Barney. You’d better come in and rest.”
    “Mom! I’ve been resting all night and all day. I’m tired of resting!” Barney protested.
    “That’s OK, Barn. We have to go now, anyhow. Come over when you get to feeling better.”
    “I’m all right now.” Barney got up off the steps and started to go in. “I’ll be over in the morning, and thanks for getting my bicycle for me.”
    As soon as they got home Tod went to the woodshed to check on the polliwogs as Tricia dashed for the phone to call Donna.
    When Tod entered the kitchen through the back door a few minutes later, his mother called to him from the living room. “Tod, I’d like to talk to you.”
    “What about?” Tod asked as he entered the room.
    “What’s all this about a man in a stovepipe hat?” she asked.
    “Did Tricia tell you about that?” He glared at his sister.
    “Not exactly. I overheard her talking to Donna on the phone. I don’t think it’s very kind to frighten the girls.”
    “I wasn’t trying to frighten them, and it’s true, even if she won’t believe me. We did see this tall man—taller even than Dad. He was all dressed up in a black suit, and it had long tails at the back. He had on a tall hat like Abraham Lincoln wore in some of his pictures.”
    “Are you sure you didn’t dream it up?” Mrs. Mitchell glanced toward Tricia.
    “Mom, Barney and I saw him two different afternoons, and I saw him yesterday after Barney fell off his bicycle,” Tod said, defending himself. “I wouldn’t make up anything like that—even to scare Tricia.”
    Mr. Mitchell had laid aside his magazine and was sitting forward in his chair listening to Tod’s explanation. “You’re sure you and Barney weren’t letting your imaginations run wild?”
    “I’m positive, Dad. Maybe if we’d seen him just once we could have made a mistake, but I saw him three times, and Barney saw him the first two.”
    “I just can’t imagine anyone wandering around in the woods for over a week dressed as you describe him, with nobody but you and Barney seeing him.”
    “I guess we just happened to be there at the right time,” Tod commented.
    “If there really is such a man, someone is bound to see him sooner or later besides you and Barney, Tod,” Mr. Mitchell said firmly.
    “You don’t believe me either, do you, Dad?”
    “I didn’t say I didn’t believe you. I believe you
think
you saw such a man. But doesn’t it seem rather strange, son, that someone of that description would be wandering around in the woods?”
    “OK, so nobody believes us. The lady we phoned at the hospital wouldn’t believe us; she thought we were playing a joke and she got mad. The guard at the gate wouldn’t believe us—he thought it was funny! The girls won’t believe us, and now, my very own mother and father won’t believe us!” Tod exploded. He turned and ran from the room.
    “Nobody believes us!” he said