&&000 Boxcar Children: Surprise Island
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Four lively children lived with their grandfather =Alden in a big house.
The children's father and mother had died years before. Their cousin
=Joe lived in the big house too. He was grown up and his cousins thought
he was great fun.
First there was =HenryAlden, who was sixteen and in high school.
=JessieAlden came next. She was in high school too. =Violet was a pretty
dark-haired little girl of twelve, and =Benny was seven.
=Benny was on his way home from school one day in Spring. The minute he
went into the house, he heard the telephone ringing. Then he heard Mrs
=McGregor, the housekeeper, answering it.

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"Where are you going to live, =Alice," =Violet asked suddenly?
"Well, you know =Joe has the whole top floor of that big house all
to himself," =Alice said. "He says he needs company, so we will live
there together."
"Oh, boy! Right in the same house with us, just the same as ever,"
=Benny shouted!
"Does =grandfather know," asked =Henry?
"Well, yes," said =Joe. "We told him yesterday. He said we could have the top floor.
After all, it's his house."
"Will the wedding be in our house too," asked =Jessie?
"Yes. We want =Violet to play the wedding music on her violin, and we want =Watch to
wear a big white ribbon and come to the wedding too."
"He won't like the ribbon," said =Benny. "But he won't bark if =Jessie tells him not to.
When is the wedding going to be?"

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"Well, all right. You may go. You may hunt around all you like, and see what you can find."
Then =Benny said, " I don't want to go."
"You don't want to go," shouted =Henry! "Why not?"
"Well, I think it would be mean to go without =Joe and =Alice," said =Benny. "They won't come home
from their wedding trip for two weeks."
"Is that all," cried =Jessie? "You scared me, =Benny. I thought you really didn't want to go."
"We'd all like to wait," said =Violet. "It will be much more fun if =Joe and =Alice go with us."
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we found something? Some clue," cried =Henry?
"Yes, it would," said Mr =Alden. "But I don't think you will. Don't talk about this to Mrs
=McGregor yet, will you?"
"We won't," promised =Henry. "Look, =Benny, you won't tell, will you?"

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"Brother? Does this brother have anything to do with this mystery?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so," said Mr =Alden. "I never liked his brother. He was always in trouble."
"You think =Bill's brother wrote the letter," asked =Jessie?
"I certainly do," said Mr =Alden. "I think =SM means =SamMcGregor."
"=Ho-hum," said =Benny.
"Now what does that mean -- =Ho-hum," asked =Joe, laughing.
"It means we'd better stop talking and get started on this trip," said =Benny.
"What a family," said =Joe! "Always doing something exciting."
Mr =Alden said," You might as well get some of your things ready right away."
"Oh, let's," said =Benny, jumping up.

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"This is Mr =Hill, children," said =Joe, smiling at the stranger.
"Mr =Long tells me he is one of the best guides in =Maine."
"Well, I wouldn't say that," laughed the man. "I suppose you are =JoeAlden.
Want me to build your shelter-half and cook you some cornbread?"
"Cornbread," cried =Alice! "I just love cornbread."
"Me too," shouted =Benny! "But what's a shelter-half?"
"You would ask that, =Benny," said =Henry laughing. "But we don't know either."
"No," cried =Benny, " don't tell us after all, Mr =Hill. We'll watch you build it,
and then we'll know what it is."
"Not a bad idea," said =Henry. "Don't forget we still have to find that branch with
two forks in it."
Mr =Hill could see two or three branches like that, but he said nothing. He just smiled
and let the children find a tree for themselves.

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After the day in the lumber camp, the morning seemed to come in no time. Then men were awake
and working before the sun. When everyone was dressed, =Joe took the children to find the boss.
"I wonder if you ever heard of a man named =BillMcGregor," he said to the boss.
"He's lost," said =Benny.
"Lost? How old a man?"
"About seventy, now," answered =Joe. "He has been gone for many years. But we just found
a letter saying he might have gone on =BearTrail."
"This is part of =BearTrail," said the boss.
"Yes, I know," said =Joe. "That's why we came. This =Bill was a very strong man, so I
thought maybe he had worked years ago in lumber camps."

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"No dishes to wash," said =Benny. "Too bad we lost that funny little baker."
Then =Joe said," Let me tell you just what we have to do, children."
Everyone looked up and listened.
"This is a very long lake as you see," began =Joe. "But if we start very early tomorrow
morning, we ought to get to the end of our trip before noon."
"Where do we come out, =Joe," asked =Jessie?
"We come out in a very small village," answered =Joe. "When I was here, there were only
a few houses and a store."
"What is the name of the place," asked =Henry?
"I don't think it has any real name," said =Joe, thinking. "They just call it =OldVillage.
Most of it is very old. Only one or two houses were built when the Indians lived there."
"After we get to =OldVillage, you don't know where to go next," asked =Benny?
"No, I don't," said =Joe. "That is the end of =BearTrail."

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"Wouldn't we save time by asking =Jim," asked =Henry?
"Right," said =Joe. With that, they all ran back to =Jim's place.
=Jim came to the door when he saw them running toward him.
"We've lost =Benny," cried =Jessie! You know which way to hunt, don't you?
We think he went to find the hermit and surprise us."
"Well, now," said =Jim, " the first thing, don't you get scared. We've got Indians
here in =OldVillage that can find anything in these woods. The little boy hasn't
been gone long. Did you ask the little Indian girl to help you?"
"Oh, dear," said =Violet. "I forgot all about the Indian girl. I just dropped the basket
and ran. We all did."
"Better go back, then," said =Jim. "I'll go with you. =Rita is a better guide than I am.
She can walk in the woods and never make a sound."

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"The same chimney," shouted =Benny!
"And the same front steps," said =Alice slowly.
"Last night I felt as if I were sitting on the steps of the little yellow house."
"So that's what it was," cried Joe! "I felt that way, too. We sat there so many
times after supper on our wedding trip."
They all looked at each other.
"Now, let's see how this was," =Henry said, excitedly.
"=Bill lived here first. Then he went to work for Great-grandfather =Alden.
Then he married Mrs =McGregor, and they lived on =SurpriseIsland where he took
care of the horses."
"They lived in the little yellow house," said =Benny.
"That's right," said =Henry. "He built it, =Grandfather said, with the help of his brother."
"Oh, that brother, =Sam," cried =Joe! "He was not much good. I think =Sam is the clue to the mystery."
"So do I," said =Henry. "Remember =Bill sold two race horses and went away without giving Mr
=Alden the money."

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"When =Bill wakes up," we must give him something to eat," said =Jessie. "I think I'll run
over to =Jim's place and see what he has."
"Let me go with you," said =Alice. "We can go out the back door."
The two girls went across the road, and found =Jim in his kitchen stirring something on the back
of his stove. It was soup, and it smelled delicious.
=Jim turned around quickly and asked, "Wasn't that the hermit I saw with you?"
"Yes, it was," said =Jessie. "His real name it =BillMcGregor, and he used to work for our
great-grandfather."
"I thought something was queer about him," cried =Jim. "People used to say that little
house was =BillMcGregor's place. Then one day =DaveHunter came to =OldVillage and said it was his.
He said he was a cousin of =Bill's."
"But he wouldn't live in the house. He told me to use it for campers and built himself a cabin."
"Well," said =Alice, " he says he is =BillMcGregor now."