The next morning, in the dining room, Mrs. Pease bustled around the Aldens’ table like a mother hen. “Now today I want you children to eat well and not run off with just a few muffins. Especially you, Benny.”
“I won’t,” said Benny who was on his second helping of scrambled eggs.
“And I can’t have my guests just making do with a few sandwiches like yesterday, either,” Mrs. Pease told the children. “With all your adventures, you need a proper lunch. Today it’s my special clam chowder with apple pie for dessert.”
Mr. Alden put down his coffee cup. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Pease. We’ll all be here for lunch today, that I promise. My grandchildren are going to show me all the treasures they found and took to the Sailors’ Museum. Then we’re going to see whether we can go out on Captain Bob’s boat.”
“Oh, I hope you’re not counting on that,” Mrs. Pease said. “Captain Bob told Mr. Pease he won’t be starting up for awhile. I must say that puzzles me on these fine days. Still, that’s always the way with him after a big storm.”
“We’ll go check anyway, after we visit with Miss Coffin, that is,” Mr. Alden said.
Mrs. Pease refilled Mr. Alden’s cup with steaming coffee. “I am so glad your grandchildren have made friends with Prudence. And to think they found such treasures! Why it’s just the thing Prudence needs. She spends too much time locked up in that museum and worrying about things that happened a long time ago that can’t be changed. It’s good for her to have some young people around.”
Jessie took a sip of her juice and looked up at Mrs. Pease. “I’m not so sure about that, Mrs. Pease. She didn’t seem too happy with us yesterday afternoon.”
“She practically shooed us out of the museum,” Benny said, still hurt about that.
“Museum? Are you talking about the theft at the Sailors’ Museum?” a guest at the next table asked, when he heard what the Aldens were talking about. He held up his morning newspaper. A headline in large letters said: SCRIMSHAW THEFT AT SAILORS’ MUSEUM.
“May we look at that?” Jessie asked the guest. “We were just at the museum yesterday. We didn’t know anything was stolen.”
“Happened last night,” the guest told Jessie. “Whoever took the carvings knew what was valuable. Two of the oldest, rarest pieces were taken.”
The Aldens, with Mrs. Pease looking over their shoulders, read the article.
“Oh, no!” Violet cried. “It says the whale tooth with the parrot carving was taken. Oh, I wonder if the parrot picture we found was taken, too!”
Henry grabbed a piece of toast. “Come on. Let’s get over there!”
In no time the children were at the front door of the Sailors’ Museum. One of the Ragged Cove police officers was there, knocking on the door and looking in the windows.
“Sorry kids, it’s closed,” the officer said. “You’ll have to come back another time. Early this morning, Miss Coffin reported a robbery, so we’re sealing off the scene of the crime. I was just trying to get Miss Coffin to open up, but she doesn’t seem to be around.”
“She’s not?” Henry said. “She told us to come back to help out with some of the old things we found at Howling Cliffs. Did you try the delivery entrance?”
“I did,” the officer answered. “She’s gone, though her car is here. Did you happen to see anything unusual at the museum yesterday?”
“Everything was fine when we left yesterday afternoon,” Henry said.
“Except for the man in the blue sailor hat,” Benny broke in. “The one who passed us in the alleyway, right there.”
The officer bent down to talk to Benny. “Tell me something. Did you ever see the man before?”
“Maybe we did,” Benny said, trying to think. “The hat anyway. See, I have one just like it, only smaller.”
“Well, I wish that hat was more of a clue. It seems anybody around here who ever set foot on a boat wears a blue sailor hat like that.
“Maybe later when my partner comes back you can help identify what else might be missing,” the police officer said. “Miss Coffin was so upset when she called. She wasn’t able to give us much information about what was gone—just said some scrimshaw. We don’t really know about anything else. It doesn’t help that she isn’t here to let us in. We have to get a spare key from the town hall.”
While the officer was talking, Benny spotted a familiar face looking down from a building across the street. He waved, but the face disappeared from the window.
“Who’s that, Benny?” Jessie asked. She looked up at the deserted building.
“Captain Bob. At least it looked like Captain Bob,” Benny answered. “He was looking at us. If it was him, I mean.”
“Bob Hull?” the officer said. “Oh, I don’t think so. He’s busy getting the Jonah ready for a whale watch this afternoon. I ran into him down at the docks. He’s got a big tourist group scheduled.”
Violet looked a bit upset. “I wonder why he didn’t tell the Peases. In fact, he told them he wasn’t going out for a few days.”
“Well, all I can think is that he’s got a busload down from Bassville,” the officer said. “Maybe he’s only taking groups today.”
“But we’re a group,” Violet said. “We wanted to go out with our grandfather before we leave Ragged Cove in a couple days. Grandfather was looking forward to it.”
“There’s something else we can do, Violet. Follow me,” Jessie said all of a sudden. “See you later, officer.”
Jessie pulled away her brothers and sister and began walking toward the street with all the shops.
“Where are we going, Jessie?” Violet wanted to know.
Jessie turned down a narrow cobbled street. “Spooner Cooke’s Scrimshaw Shop.”
Henry smacked his forehead. “I was thinking that very thing, Jessie. Mr. Cooke got so angry when we wouldn’t show him the things we found out at Howling Cliffs. Maybe he was the one in the alleyway yesterday, trying to see if we had anything valuable. I wonder if he had something to do with the robbery.”
Jessie rushed ahead of everyone. “I didn’t want to mention him in front of the police officer in case I’m wrong. Let’s just stop by his shop and take a look around.”
The children stopped when they got to the shop.
“Well, who’s going in there first?” Benny asked nervously.
“I’ll go in first,” Violet said, to her brothers’ and sister’s surprise. “I like the pretty things in his shop. If I’m nice to him, maybe he’ll be nice to me.”
“That’s the way to go, Violet,” Henry said, proud of his sister. “Mr. Cooke can’t help being nice to you.”
Violet stepped inside the tiny shop. Every space was crammed with bone and tooth carvings from the great whaling days of Ragged Cove.
“What is it, miss?” Mr. Cooke asked when he saw Violet standing there.
Violet pointed to a small piece of scrimshaw in a glass case. “I’d like to look at that pie crimper for our housekeeper, Mrs. McGregor.”
The man took another look at this bright little girl. “How did you know this was a pie crimper? Most folks don’t have any idea of how it’s used. Half of ’em think it’s some kind of toy. You seem to know something about old things.”
Violet smiled her sweet smile. “I use a wooden one like it when I bake with Mrs. McGregor. Ours isn’t nearly as pretty as this one with the little unicorn decoration. How much is it?”
“Two hundred dollars, I’m afraid,” Mr. Cooke said. “It’s very unusual, one of my finest pieces. I’d almost hate to part with it.”
Violet’s face fell in disappointment.
“Does your housekeeper do needlework? I have some antique whalebone needles in back,” Mr. Cooke told Violet when he saw how disappointed she was. “They’re quite reasonable.”
“We both do needlework,” Violet said. “I would like to see the needles.”
Violet waved in Henry, Jessie, and Benny when Mr. Cooke went into the back room. “He’s nice,” she whispered. “He doesn’t seem a bit like a thief.”
The children tried to memorize every piece of scrimshaw in the shop. None of it looked like anything they’d seen at the museum.
“I don’t see any parrot carvings,” Benny whispered.
“Did you say parrot carvings, young fellow?” Mr. Cooke asked when he came out front. “Sorry, the only one I’ve ever seen is carved on a whale tooth right in our excellent museum.”
Benny stepped up to the counter. “Well, we’ve seen it, too. Yesterday, we found another one in that postbox. Only it was carved on a small, flat piece. And guess what? It was the same parrot Miss Coffin had when she was small like me! We gave it to her for the museum.”
“Well, you are a remarkable boy,” Mr. Cooke said. “I’m going to give you a small reward for giving what you found to the museum.”
“You are?” Benny said. “Heck, it was easy. All I did was climb this ledge. It was pretty high. Higher than this shop almost, and there it was. This old box with all these old things in it. The parrot picture, some bent-up old spoons, and some whale toys.”
“Whale toys?” Mr. Cooke said. “Well, I have some whale toys. Here’s an antique top. What do you think of that?”
Benny gave the top a spin on the counter. “I think I like it better than the parrot tooth.”
Mr. Cooke handed Violet a small painted Chinese box. “And for your sister here, I have something special. Go ahead, open it, young lady.”
Violet opened the box. Lying inside on a piece of satin was a matched set of bone needles from tiny to big. “Oooh,” Violet breathed. “They’re beautiful. I’ll put them right into my sewing bag when I get back to the inn. Thank you.”
“And thank you children for bringing your things to our Sailors’ Museum,” Mr. Cooke said to everyone. “I’m on the board there. We haven’t many funds to buy things. So it helps when we get donations. I especially would like to see the parrot carving you found in the box.”
“Why?” Benny wanted to know.
Mr. Cooke smiled. “Because I knew that parrot when I was a boy! Miss Coffin and I were best friends. Both our families used to spend the summer out on Plum Island where I live now. Prudence moved to town a few years ago when the ferry service slowed down. She hardly ever leaves the museum anymore unless I motor her out to the island on her boat. Myself, I’m a rowing man. Well, I’ll go over and talk to her about your find.”
Jessie stared at Mr. Cooke. “You mean you didn’t hear about Miss Coffin? She reported that there was a robbery at the museum last night, but now no one can find her.”
Mr. Cooke held onto the counter. His pink face grew pale. “Prudence is gone?”
Mr. Cooke pulled down a sailor’s pea coat from a hook by the front door. Underneath was a blue wool sailor cap just like Benny’s. The children stared at the hat.
“I’ll have to go look for her,” Mr. Cooke said. “This is terrible. She never leaves that museum. Something must be very wrong. You’ll have to leave. I’m going to close up and look for her.”
Mr. Cooke put up his “Closed” sign and locked the door to his shop. The children watched him go down the narrow street away from town.
“Why is he heading toward the beach?” Jessie wondered.
By the time the children followed Mr. Cooke, he was gone, and so was his little rowboat. |