Free The Hudson River Mystery by Julie Campbell

didn’t waste her energy trying to talk Honey into accompanying her.
    Instead, Trixie mumbled something about taking a walk and then disappeared. Once again, she felt ready for adventure as she made her way toward the cave. She had brought along an old pair of gloves to protect her hands, and she had tucked a flashlight into her pocket. She wanted to get a better look at that pit and to see if there was any way of getting around it.
    Now that she knew the route, it didn’t take her as long to reach the cave. She was glad, because she wanted to get back before the others began to think she was in trouble.
    Trixie charged into the cave, flashlight in hand. It seemed to her that there weren’t as many fish in the tubs as there had been the previous day, although she couldn’t be sure. She looked anxiously all around her before proceeding farther into the cave.
    She was crouching in front of the pit, poking about with her flashlight, when she heard it.
    Someone was whistling just outside the cave.
    Her heart racing, Trixie stood up. There wasn’t enough light for her to be sure of what was behind the pit, and she didn’t feel like going ahead blindly. For all she knew, those were man-eating fish below.
    The sound of whistling came closer.
    Frantically she darted her flashlight around the cave, searching for something big enough to hide behind. There was nothing. The supporting beams were too slender, and the tubs weren’t even big enough for her to climb inside. What am I going to do? she thought, starting to panic. She lost her grip on the flashlight, which fell with a plop into the pit.
    Just then, the whistling stopped. Trixie swiveled toward the cave’s opening. There, silhouetted against the bright blue water of the Hudson, stood a misshapen, hulking figure.

”Honey, Help!” ● 8

    BEFORE TRIXIE COULD SCREAM, the man asked angrily, ”Just what do you think you’re doing here?”
    More than anything, Trixie wanted to ask him the same question, but the words were frozen in her throat.
    The man came in out of the sunlight. He was about sixty or seventy years old, Trixie guessed, with a full white beard and ruddy complexion. His odd shape was caused by his cap, as well as the knapsack slung over his back and the equipment he carried in both hands.
    He examined Trixie closely, as if looking at a fish squirming on the end of a line. ”What are you doing here?” he asked again, a little more quietly.
    ”I—I’m Trixie Belden, and I’m just doing a little ex—exploring.”
    ”Exploring, eh?” said the man, unslinging his knapsack and starting to unload it. ”Well, this here’s my place of business, which means that what you’re doing is more like trespassing.” He looked over at her again. ”But I suppose there’s no harm done.”
    Uh... what kind of business are you in?” Trixie asked hesitantly.
    ”Look around you, little lady! If this place doesn’t make it plain that I’m a commercial fisherman, then I don’t know what would! My name s Pat Bunker, by the way, but everyone just calls me Bunker.”
    Trixie swallowed hard. Not only did she hate being called things like ”little lady,” but she also couldn’t believe that this cave was used for something as harmless as fishing. However, Bunker didn’t seem to be trying to hide anything from her, and he seemed to trust her.
    She came closer and asked, ”Why do you keep your fish in such an out-of-the-way place?”
    It s the best place I know of,” Bunker said simply. ”If you find any better place, let me know! I guess you don’t realize that this here is an old silver mine that was tunneled into the cliff. There aren’t many of them left, and it’s lucky for me I found it. The pool over there”—he waved toward the pit—”is a part of the mine that floods this time of year. As long as I can get my catch up here—and I know of an easy path up here that you probably haven’t found—I can keep it alive until I get around to selling