儿童英语读物 The Mystery of the Lost Village CHAPTER 8 Benny’s Discovery

It was nearly midnight when Benny came to a decision — he just had to take one last look at the treasures from the dig. After making sure that Joe and Henry were sound asleep, he crept out of the bedroom and headed downstairs. He groped his way in the dark to the kitchen, and was just about to open the basement door when he heard a loud CLUNK. Someone was in the basement! His heart racing 1, he cracked open the door and peeked 3 downstairs. A shadowy figure was standing 4 in front of a storage cabinet, fumbling 5 with a padlock. Benny craned his neck for a better view and suddenly realized who it was — Rita Neville!



Had she spotted 6 him? Benny closed the door and leaned against it for a moment, too scared to breathe. Then he tiptoed out of the kitchen, being careful not to bump into anything. He hurried upstairs and burst into his bedroom.



“Henry! Wake up!” He shook his brother’s arm and Henry sat up slowly.



“What’s wrong?” Joe called from the next bunk 8. His voice was groggy 9 with sleep.



“Rita Neville! She broke into the house. She’s downstairs in the basement… stealing our stuff from the dig!”



Instantly awake, Henry bounded out of bed, as Joe flipped 10 on the light. “I’ll wake up my parents,” Joe said quietly.



“And I’ll go tell the girls,” Henry added. “Benny, you’d better come with me.”



Henry and Benny padded quietly down the hall into the girls’ room. He had just finished telling them what was happening when Mrs. Lightfeather appeared with Joe. She closed the door and locked it, then turned to face the children. “We have to be very quiet,” she said. Her voice was low and urgent. “My husband’s calling the police right now. He wants us to stay in here until they arrive.”



“How many burglars are there?” Violet asked. She shivered a little and pulled her bathrobe tightly around her.



“Ms. Neville’s the only one I saw,” Benny said. “But there might be more.” He edged closer to Jessie. “They could be sneaking 11 around the rest of the house right now. They could be coming to get us!”



Jessie pulled him close to her. “I think it’s the artifacts they want. Not us.”



They huddled 12 silently together for the next few minutes, and then suddenly Benny heard a car drive up behind the house. He pulled away and dashed to the bedroom window. “It’s the police!”



“They didn’t use the siren or the lights,” Jessie said, joining him. “I bet they don’t want to scare anybody off.”



Everyone watched as three uniformed officers got out of the car and approached the house. They saw Mr. Lightfeather talking to them in the backyard, and then two of the officers trooped inside with him. The third one was shining his flashlight into the bushes around the garden.



“I wonder what — ” Violet began.



“Put your hands up, and keep them up!” someone shouted from downstairs.



“Wow — they’re arresting somebody!” Benny said. He was just about to ask if he could go take a peek 2, when Mr. Lightfeather called through the door into the bedroom. “Everyone okay in here?”



“We’re fine,” Mrs. Lightfeather assured him, opening the door. “But what’s happening down there?”



“It was Rita Neville,” Mr. Lightfeather said. His hair was rumpled 13 and he was wearing jeans and a pajama top. “And they got her.” He put his arm around Benny’s shoulders. “It’s a good thing you decided 14 to go down to the basement when you did, son. She was all set to walk off with everything.”



“What happens now?” Henry asked.



“We have to give a statement to the police,” Mr. Lightfeather said.



Everyone followed Mr. Lightfeather downstairs, where one of the officers was speaking into a walkie-talkie. Ms. Neville was already in the squad 15 car.



“Why don’t we sit at the dining-room table?” Mr. Lightfeather suggested.



The officer joined them at the table and flipped open a notebook. Suddenly, his walkie-talkie squawked. “Excuse me,” he said, lifting it to his ear. He listened intently for a few minutes, with a grim look on his face. “Another one! Well, bring him in,” he ordered.



“What’s wrong?” Mr. Lightfeather asked.



“It looks like there was someone else involved. Officer Davis found a man hiding in your backyard.”



“So Rita Neville had a partner, after all,” Henry said thoughtfully.



“But who?” Violet asked.



“Ted 7 Clark,” a voice said loudly behind her. “At least that’s what he says his name is.” Everyone turned around to see Ted Clark, in handcuffs, standing next to a young police officer.



Benny could hardly believe it. Two criminals had been caught just because he had started down to the basement!



“He told us he was researching his roots,” Amy said. “He said he was part Navajo, but I never really believed him.”



Suddenly Violet noticed something suspicious. There was red clay all over Ted’s shoes and trousers — the same kind of clay they had found in the forest!



Joe noticed it at the same time. “You must have been sneaking around the dig,” he said accusingly.



“The dig?” The officer looked puzzled.



“Our archaeological dig,” Henry explained. “That’s where we found all the artifacts.”



“Well, that explains why he was carrying a shovel 16 when we spotted him,” the policeman said. “When he and Rita Neville didn’t find anything left at your dig, they must have decided to check out the house.”



“I don’t understand,” Henry said slowly. “What do you have to do with Rita Neville?”



“We’re married,” Ted Clark said. “We’ve been looking all over for artifacts. We’d heard about the lost village.”



“They’re wanted for grand theft,” the policeman said. “They work together.”



“So that’s why you were hanging around the dig and asking questions,” Jessie said. “You hoped we’d find something valuable.”



“And Rita Neville isn’t really a television producer, is she?” Amy said.



“Take him into town and book him,” the officer at the table said to his young partner. “And Rita, too. She’s in the squad car.”



“Wait,” Jessie said suddenly. “There’s something I have to know.” She walked over to Ted Clark. “One night we saw a glowing rock in the woods, just like the legend said. We never saw it again. Did you and Rita have something to do with that?”



“Oh, yeah, the glowing rock,” Ted said. “She figured you’d fall for that. We wanted to throw you off the track, so we could work at the dig in peace.”



“There really was a glowing rock?” Benny asked.



“Sure there was,” Ted said. “Thanks to a little iridescent 17 nail polish.”



“The nail polish!” Suddenly Jessie remembered how upset Rita Neville had been when Jessie had found her purse. And that explained why the bottle was empty. Rita had used it all up, painting the rock!



“You and Rita were in the woods that night,” Amy said. “You tried to scare us off.”



“Sure we were,” Ted told her. “We were trying to uncover some things at the dig. I thought the glowing rock would lead you off in the wrong direction, but when you started to get too close to the dig, we began howling.”



“Those were the sounds we heard!” Benny said.



It was another hour before the police finished interviewing the Lightfeathers and the Aldens. Benny was yawning, but he felt tired and excited all at the same time. So much had happened!



And the next day was the Pow-Wow!