The Mandie Collection (23 page)

“Thanks, Uncle Luke,” Tommy said. “It looks like he's quieted down now. Would you take him back to the stables for me?”

“Sho, Mastuh Tommy. I takes him,” the old man said, leading the horse away.

Tommy joined Mandie and Uncle Ned and again dismounted. “What happened, Mandie?” he asked.

“I don't know.” Mandie's voice was still shaky. “Just as we passed that third cabin, Slowpoke suddenly snorted and bucked. I thought he was going to throw me, but then he took off aflying. And just as I was about to fall, that's when Uncle Ned came along.”

“I'm thankful you're not hurt.” Tommy sighed with relief. “Let's go look at that cabin.”

The three walked back up the slight hill to the long row of shacks. The buildings had not been kept up, but the grounds were clean.

“It was this one,” Mandie said, indicating the third from the end. “I didn't see anything, but that horse sure got frightened when we passed this house.”

“You stay here. I'll have a look inside,” Tommy told her.

Mandie stood still while Tommy stepped inside the open doorway. Uncle Ned bent to look closely at the ground, making his way around to the back of the cabin.

In a minute Tommy came back outside. “I didn't see a thing but some old rags,” he told her.

Then Uncle Ned came out through the front, too. “Feet marks at back. Go out into field,” he reported. Leading the way to the back, he showed them some faint feet marks in the dirt.

“But Uncle Ned, those were probably made by some of the children playing up there.” Tommy pointed to the cabins where the field hands and their families lived.

“Big feet marks,” Uncle Ned insisted.

“Well, maybe some of the adults came down here. I don't know,” Tommy said in frustration. “But I think we'd better get back to the house.”

“I think so, too,” Mandie agreed. She looked up into Uncle Ned's face. “We came to find you and it's a good thing we did.”

“I watch over Papoose,” Uncle Ned said, smoothing her long blonde hair. He smiled.

“Well, we only have two horses left, Mandie,” Tommy said. “Do you want to ride with Uncle Ned or with me?”

Mandie sighed. “It's not too far, is it? I think I'd like to walk if y'all don't mind.”

“I don't blame you for not wanting to get on another horse,” Tommy told her.

“It's not that, Tommy. It's just easier to talk if we're walking,” she said.

“Walk good for legs,” Uncle Ned agreed.

Leading the two horses, they started back toward the house.

“We'll be going back to the beach house tomorrow,” Tommy remarked as they strolled along.

“I hope we can find out what that phantom is that we saw at the pier,” Mandie said.

“No ghost. We find no ghost,” Uncle Ned said.

“Right,” Tommy agreed. “There's just no such thing.”

“Then what was that thing?” Mandie persisted.

“We find out.” Uncle Ned nodded.

After taking the horses to the stables, they walked on to the house. Mandie's mother and Uncle John were sitting on the porch talking to the Pattons. Snowball jumped down from the porch and ran to meet Mandie.

Picking him up, Mandie hugged him tightly. “I might as well tell you, Mother,” Mandie began as she came up the steps. “I—almost had an accident, but—”

“Accident!” Elizabeth interrupted. “What happened?”

“Well, I talked Tommy into letting me ride a horse for the first time, and he gave me Slowpoke to ride. He's supposed to be the slowest of all the horses, but he suddenly ran away with me down by the deserted cabins.”

“Amanda!” Elizabeth gasped.

Suddenly everyone was talking at once.

“Are you all right?” Uncle John asked.

“Yes, I'm all right.” Mandie nodded. “I had lots of help,” she said, relating the story of the rescue.

“I'm glad Tommy and Uncle Ned were there to help,” Mrs. Patton told Mandie. “What could have spooked the horse?”

“It was probably a snake or rat,” Mr. Patton answered. “We try to keep the place cleaned off down there, but it grows up in spite of everything.”

“No snake. No rat,” said Uncle Ned. “Feet marks.”

“Footprints?” Uncle John questioned.

“Big ones,” Uncle Ned replied.

“I thought they might have been made by some of the field hands,” Tommy suggested. “They probably roam around all over the place down there.”

“Regardless of what it was, Amanda,” Elizabeth told her daughter, “you'll have to promise not to ride any strange horses again. Just think of what could have happened to you!”

“I promise, Mother,” Mandie said. She bent to give her mother a little hug then followed Tommy to the other end of the porch where Josephine was sitting alone.

As Mandie approached, Josephine looked up. “Those weren't the footprints of any field hands,” she whispered. “The field hands are all afraid to go near the deserted cabins. Those old shacks are haunted by murdered slaves.”

“What!” Mandie sank down into a nearby chair.

Tommy sat down next to her and spoke to his sister. “Josephine, you've got to stop all this ghost nonsense.”

“Well, there were slaves murdered down there. You know it as well as I do,” Josephine insisted.

“We will talk about something else,” Tommy said firmly. Turning to Mandie, he changed the subject. “It will be suppertime before long, and we're having rice. In fact, the whole meal will be products from our plantation.”

“I think that's wonderful,” Mandie replied. But her mind wasn't on supper.
Josephine knows something about murdered slaves that Tommy doesn't want me to hear
, she thought. He always seemed to be trying to protect her. There were too many strange things going on here.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM

The evening meal was served in the huge formal dining room, and everyone dressed up for the occasion.

Mandie looked around the table. Even Uncle Ned wore a dark suit. Mandie had never seen him dressed like that before. All through the meal he looked terribly uncomfortable. He didn't say a word but just listened to the young people's conversation, smiling at Mandie across the table.

Mandie returned his smile with a quiet sigh. Her mother and Uncle John looked right at home here in this finery, yet Mandie couldn't help but think of her father. He wouldn't have been comfortable here. He was such a down-to-earth person, enjoying the simple things of life. She had been so happy with him back in their log cabin.

Tears of sadness suddenly filled her eyes. She quietly put down her fork and raised a finger to wipe the tears away. When she looked up, Tommy was watching her.

He leaned toward her. “Are you all right, Mandie?” he asked softly.

“Yes.” Mandie tried to laugh but her voice caught in her throat. “I'm all right. Just tired and upset after that wild ride this afternoon.”

“You'll probably feel better after we get back to the beach house tomorrow,” he said. “This house is so big and old it's not comfortable
to live in. I don't see how our ancestors ever spent their entire lives here. My favorite place is the beach house. I'd live there all the time if it were up to me.”

“That would be nice, I suppose, but I'm just a mountain country girl.”

Josephine smirked.

Mandie pretended not to notice. She, too, was looking forward to returning to the beach house—and then home!

During a lull in the young people's conversation, Mandie again heard the adults discussing Hilda.

“We would, of course, have to redecorate one of the rooms here for her,” Mrs. Patton told her husband. “But that would be quite a pleasant undertaking.”

“You wouldn't have to redecorate,” Mandie spoke up. “Why couldn't you use O—” Suddenly she felt a sharp kick on her leg. She looked up to see Josephine scowling at her.

“What's that, dear?” Elizabeth asked.

“Never mind,” Mandie replied. She reached down to rub her leg where Josephine had kicked her. “Dumb idea.” Mandie glared at Josephine and the adults resumed their conversation.

Later that night, as Mandie lay in bed, she kept thinking of all the spooky things Josephine had told her about the old house. The night seemed awfully long. She kept hearing strange noises, and every time the house creaked, she jumped.

She held tightly onto Snowball, who purred contentedly beside her for a while, then got up to walk about in circles on the bed before returning to curl up at her side again.

With all the mysterious things that had been happening here, Mandie kept wishing she could get back to her own kind of people. A twinge of guilt wrenched her heart at the thought of how angry she had been with Joe. She had known him all her life, and they had never had such an argument before. She promised herself that it would never happen again.

As Mandie grew sleepier, her mind wandered to thoughts of the beach and the phantom at the pier. The way it rose in the air and then fell into the water, how could it be anything other than a ghost? But what about the piece of white material they had found? Maybe some of Josephine's
tales were true. No matter what Tommy said, Mandie was becoming more and more convinced that there was a ghost at the beach house.

Suddenly a door slammed. Mandie grabbed Snowball and sat up in bed. She held her breath and listened for a long time, but nothing else happened. Reluctantly, she lay back down, but the night was far spent before she finally fell asleep.

A knock on the door in the early morning woke Mandie. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked around. “Come in,” she called.

The door opened and Cheechee entered. “Breakfas' ready, Missy,” the Negro girl told her. “We'se all agittin' ready to go back to de beach.”

“Thank you, Cheechee,” Mandie replied, jumping out of bed. “I'll be down in a minute.”

Cheechee started out the door, then turned back. “I done forgot.” She giggled. “You is to git yo' things togethuh, Missy,” she said, hastily disappearing out the door.

Mandie grabbed Snowball and danced around the room in her long nightgown. “We're leaving, Snowball. We're leaving,” she cried. “We're going back to the ocean, and then tomorrow we're going home!”

Snowball was used to his mistress's moods and merely reached out with his tongue to lick her face.

Mandie hurriedly dressed and crammed her belongings into her traveling bag. Snowball sat on the bed and watched.

“You're lucky, Snowball. You don't have to get dressed and pack up clothes and things,” Mandie told the white kitten.

As she quickly brushed her long blonde hair, and tied it back with a ribbon, she heard voices in the room next to hers. Although she couldn't understand what they were saying, it sounded like Josephine was arguing with someone.

Mandie tiptoed to her door and listened. Just then a nearby door slammed and Mandie heard someone running down the stairs.

What on earth is happening around here? she wondered.

“Let's go eat, Snowball. Maybe I can find out what's going on.” Mandie picked up the kitten and hurriedly left the room.

At the foot of the stairs she ran into Tizzy, who took Snowball into the kitchen for some food. Mandie joined the others in the breakfast room. Everyone else, including Josephine, was already seated at the
table. Mandie took a place next to Uncle Ned, who looked much happier now, wearing his deerskin jacket and trousers.

“Oh, it'll be good to get back to Franklin tomorrow, Uncle Ned,” Mandie said softly to him. “You know why.”

Josephine looked up. “Why do you want to leave us so badly, Mandie?” she sneered. “Did you hear Ophelia's ghost slam that door last night?”

Mandie glared at her in silence.

“I know you heard it because I did, and your room is next to mine,” Josephine told her.

“Oh, I heard something.” Mandie tried to act nonchalant. “I thought it was probably someone going to bed late.”

Josephine pushed her glasses up on her nose. “I don't know whether ghosts go to bed or not. I suppose they would have to rest sometime.” She continued eating but never took her eyes off Mandie.

The adults, sitting at the far end of the table, stood up to leave. As Elizabeth passed Mandie's chair, she said, “Meet me at the front door in half and hour, Amanda, and be ready to leave, dear.”

Mrs. Patton spoke to Tommy and Josephine. “You, too,” she said.

Josephine got up and left the table quickly.

Mandie turned to Uncle Ned beside her. “And you, too, Uncle Ned,” she said, laughing.

Uncle Ned smiled. “Me do,” he replied, remaining seated with Tommy and Mandie.

As soon as the other adults were out the door, Tommy spoke up. “I'm sorry I banged that door so hard last night. I slipped down to the kitchen to get something to eat. I tried to be quiet, but that door to my room is hard to shut. I had to push it hard.”

Mandie looked at him curiously. He's trying a little too hard to discredit Josephine's ghost story, she thought.

As soon as Mandie finished her meal, she jumped up from the table. “I have to go get Snowball. I'll see y'all later,” she said.

“Be careful not to leave anything,” Tommy called to her, taking one more helping of eggs.

“I'll try not to leave anything of mine, but I'll sure leave Josephine's ghosts here,” she called back.

Mandie looked for Snowball in the kitchen first, but neither Tizzy nor Cheechee had seen the kitten for a while. After searching the entire first and second floors, Mandie started up the stairway to the third floor.

At the top of the stairs, she heard someone talking. Mandie's heart began to pound. She didn't think anyone would be up here, except maybe Snowball.

Hardly daring to breathe, she tiptoed down the hall toward the sound of the voice.
I haven't been in this part of the house before. Wait. Yes, I have
. There, at the end of the hall in the corner was a familiar ornately carved door. It was Ophelia's room. The door stood partially open. Could that be where the voice was coming from? Was she about to meet her first ghost?