Nothing unusual happened that night. Everyone slept very well, even Rob Wilson, who must have returned very late. He came limping out of the lean-to in the middle of the Alden’s breakfast.
“May I join you?” Rob asked. They nodded, and he sat down beside Jessie. Although he still limped, he said the swelling on his ankle had gone down.
“This is the first good night’s sleep I’ve gotten since my canoe trip began,” he confided. He poured some orange juice from histhermos and offered some to the Aldens. They shook their heads.
They were drinking the hot chocolate Jessie had made. It was cold in the mornings, and the air smelled of pine and wood smoke.
They had woken up early to prepare breakfast—hot oatmeal with lots of brown sugar and raisins. Rob reached in his pack and pulled out a loaf of hard bread. He broke off a piece for himself and hungrily eyed the Alden’s big pot of oatmeal.
“Would you like some?” Violet offered, passing him a bowl.
“Thank you. I’ll only take a little,” Rob said. He ate his portion quickly. “It’s wonderful,” he said between mouthfuls. “You must let me cook a meal for you before you leave this campsite.”
Aunt Jane and the Aldens looked at each other. Henry still could not decide whether or not to trust Rob. No one said much to him at breakfast. They were all too busy eating.
“He does seem much friendlier today,” Jessie remarked softly after Rob left to gethis binoculars from the cabin. He wanted to do some bird-watching.
“Well, having a good night’s sleep helps,” Aunt Jane said. “He seems much more relaxed than he did yesterday.”
When Rob came out of the cabin, Benny was eating a second bowl of oatmeal.
“So you’re still hungry,” Rob teased, poking Benny playfully in the ribs. Henry and Jessie exchanged glances. Why was Rob so friendly today and so quiet and secretive yesterday?
The Aldens decided to stay another night at their comfortable campsite. They wanted to do some fishing and get to know Rob better.
“I just wish he would tell us more about his canoe trip,” Henry said. “What did he mean when he said nothing had gone right since he got on this trail?”
“Well, we’re not telling him too much ourselves,” Violet reminded her brother.
“That’s true. Maybe he doesn’t want to trust anyone, either,” Henry commented.
“Oh, you’ll probably win him over in time,” Aunt Jane said.
She was right. In the afternoon, Rob took Jessie and Henry fishing and helped them catch enough trout for dinner.
By the end of the day, the Aldens had learned how to bone and clean fish. But they were still no closer to knowing more about Rob, or his reasons for being on the canoe trail.
“I think we should invite him to come with us,” Jessie said at dinner. She leaned over her plate and took a bite of her fish.
Jessie, Violet, Benny, and Aunt Jane were all enjoying fresh trout, rice, and a lentil salad Aunt Jane had prepared. She always ate healthy foods. Rob was with Henry, cooking the rest of the fish over the coals.
“Now that we know him better, that’s a good idea,” Aunt Jane agreed. “It would be hard for him to finish his trip alone with a swollen ankle.”
“He wouldn’t be able to push his canoe up to the shore by himself,” Violet said.
“Or push it out onto the lake,” Benny added.
The next morning, Aunt Jane, the Aldens, and Rob Wilson were up early. Rob was delighted to join the others for the rest of their trip. He was able to pack most of the gear he needed in Henry and Violet’s canoe. The Alden children moved the rest of his belongings to the woods for safekeeping.
The sky was streaked with pinkish gray clouds when Henry pushed the canoes out onto the water. “It’s overcast today,” he observed.
Jessie looked at the sky before plunging her paddle into the water. She steered her canoe until she was alongside Henry’s. The air felt very still.
As they softly paddled their canoes in the calm water, they spotted wood ducks, meadowlarks, and two bald eagles.
The eagles flew overhead together. With their wings spread, they were much larger than Benny. He stared at them, open-mouthed.
All the animals seemed nervous. The ducklings swam around their mothers. The geese honked. The meadowlarks twittered and flew around in circles.
“There might be a rainstorm coming,” Violet observed. “That could be why the animals are acting that way.”
“It may not be too bad a storm,” Rob said, glancing at the sky. “If it were serious, the animals wouldn’t be out at all. They would find shelter.”
Fog began to move in slowly. Henry noticed it was getting a little harder to see the shoreline. Violet watched the tops of trees disappear into a haze. To Aunt Jane, it seemed as if the water became grayer and grayer.
“It’s getting windy,” Henry said to his crew. Small waves lapped against the canoe. Then suddenly the fog blew in with much more force. Soon everything was covered in a thick gray mist.
“Maybe we should paddle ashore and wait until this fog lifts,” Henry suggested to Rob and Violet. Even though they were sittingin his canoe, he could barely see them. He couldn’t see the shoreline at all. And worst of all, he could not find Aunt Jane’s canoe, which had been close beside his only a moment ago.
“Jessie, Aunt Jane, Benny! Can you hear us?” Henry and Violet called. There was no answer. Rob cupped his hands and shouted, too. But their voices were drowned out by the sound of rain hitting the water.
Luckily, it was a light rain, more like a drizzle. But it combined with the wind, which churned the water and shook the trees.
Henry and Violet paddled in a big circle to see if they could find the others. They called and called into the fog. But there was never any answer. Aunt Jane’s canoe had vanished!
|