The Mystery of the Blinking Eye Read online

  “You must have been in our country before,” Diana insisted. “You speak English so beautifully.”

  “I have learned it in our school in Delhi,” the girl answered. “All schools in India teach the English language. You are interested in my sari?” She smiled at Honey.

  “I didn’t realize I was staring so,” Honey answered, embarrassed. “It’s beautiful!”

  “It was woven of blue and silver, the colors of our United Nations. When I wear it, it reminds me of my country and my family. But I enjoy wearing jeans after work.”

  Steffi drew several other girls toward her and introduced them. “This is Arista. Her home was on one of the three large islands near Greece that suffered great damage from an earthquake. One of the agencies of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, helped her relatives after the disaster. Now Arista’s family lives in the United States.”

  “It is my hope to do something for the United Nations in return for what they did for my family,” Arista said, smiling at the young people.

  “It is my hope, too,” the guide from Morocco said. “It is very inspiring to be here where all nations wish to help one another. In my country, almost everyone in our city of Rabat was afflicted with an eye disease that always leads to blindness. Do you know what my father wrote to me a few days ago? He said that for the first time there has been saifbalash ramad. That means ‘summer without eye disease.’ Our people in the mountains and on the desert do not know how to read, so it is very difficult to teach them what they must do to prevent eye infection. UNICEF sent motion pictures showing children washing their hands, having their eyes examined, and doctors giving treatment. So much suffering and blindness is being prevented. It’s wonderful that my people have had such help.”

  “In my country, El Salvador,” a pretty black-haired girl said, “so many United Nations countries have helped. A public health consultant came from Mexico, a sanitary engineer from Colombia, nurses from the United States. They organized teams to clear my homeland of malaria, going from house to house with spray guns for mosquito control. Malaria has been wiped out!”

  “I guess the first thing to be done is to try to make people well,” Brian said thoughtfully. “It’s a great challenge to doctors. Maybe I’d have a bigger challenge helping with world health projects than I would helping you with your school for boys, Jim.”

  “Maybe you can do that for a while, then help me later,” Jim said soberly. “I’m sure glad we had this chance to talk to guides from other countries, Betsy. It widens our world, doesn’t it? Maybe I, too, could work to better advantage in a larger field.”

  “Why, Jim, you know very well what you’ve always said: You have to make small beginnings to accomplish big things,” Trixie said loyally. “I think your plan for a school for underprivileged boys is wonderful! Just think,” she told the girls around her, “Jim inherited a big fortune from his uncle, and he hasn’t touched a penny of it. He’s going to invest it all in a school to give boys a chance for education—boys who wouldn’t have a chance otherwise.”

  “That seems a pretty big dream itself!” Betsy said. The other guides clapped, and Jim turned redder than his hair. “It’s really what all this whole concept means, isn’t it?” Betsy spread her arms to include the dream that was the United Nations. “It’s each one helping the other. It’s great! Wait till I show you the home of that dream. There’s the loudspeaker—listen!”

  “Tour number one assembling! Betsy Tucker will be your guide!”

  As Betsy led the group to the big area where the plaster models of the buildings had been set up, Trixie touched Barbara on the arm. “Do you mind if I don’t go on the tour with you?”

  The group halted. “It’s your leg. It’s hurting you, isn’t it?” Barbara asked anxiously. “We shouldn’t have tried to come today.”

  “Oh, no,” Trixie assured her hastily, “it isn’t that at all. It’s just that every time I come here, I go on the tour, and while I learn something new each time, I never get to stay long enough in one place. I’d like to meet you all later if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course we don’t mind.” Barbara smiled. “I’m glad that’s the reason, rather than a hurting knee.”

  “I’ll stay with you, Trixie,” Honey offered. “I’d like to browse in the shops. The rest of you won’t miss us, you’ll be so excited at the things you’ll see and hear.”

  “We’ll meet you in the cafeteria when the tour’s over,” Trixie called after the group as they assembled in the hall.

  “Now, Trixie Belden, you can just tell me what that was all about!” Honey exploded when they were a short distance away.

  “Calm down, Honey. You must know what I want to do. It’s as plain as the nose on your face that those men who tripped me yesterday wanted something that was in my purse. I had less than five dollars in money. It wasn’t that, was it?”

  Honey shook her head, puzzled.

  “Well, then, the only other thing I have, aside from my lipstick and dark glasses, is the idol I bought in that antique shop!”

  “Why in the world would anyone want that odd little man?”

  “That’s exactly what I want to find out,” Trixie answered emphatically. “There’s a shop downstairs where they sell all kinds of things from South America. They’re almost sure to have some wood carvings there. If they don’t, whoever is in charge of the booth may know something about my Incan idol. I’ll show it to the person in charge.”

  “Don’t show it right away. Find out what you can about the other carvings first, if they have any.”

  “That’s smart of you, Honey. You’re right.”

  The girls went down the steps. There were gay shops on the lower level offering native work from almost every country in the world. Trixie went directly to the South American shops.

  All the articles were arranged in small booths. There were handwoven materials, some of them made into bright skirts and jackets; richly colored glass; wrought silver heavily studded with turquoise and other semiprecious stones. There were shaggy wool rugs; crude, highly pigmented paintings; and—

  “See them! Here they are!” Trixie called, excited. “Carved wooden idols! Honey, they look exactly like my funny little man.”

  Trixie took Honey’s hand, held it tight. They stood on tiptoe to look at a high shelf where a row of small brown idols stood. The idols seemed to have been made from one mold. “Are they wooden, or are they cast in plaster?” Trixie asked the beautiful dark-haired woman in the booth breathlessly.

  “They’re wooden,” she answered. She reached for one and placed it in Trixie’s hands.

  “It isn’t just quite the same, is it, Honey?” Trixie asked, examining the brown object carefully.

  “Almost. I think yours is older. Say, Trixie, maybe that’s the answer. Maybe that’s what makes those men want to steal it. Maybe it’s so old and rare that it’s worth a lot of money.”

  “I have a small Incan idol I bought at an antique store a few days ago,” Trixie explained to the clerk. She took it from her purse and passed it over the counter. “Do you know whether or not it is worth anything?”

  The woman accepted the statue. She turned it over and over in her hands. “I’m no expert,” she said after a moment. “I think they’re all frightfully homely. What did you want with one, anyway?”

  “I think mine is so ugly it’s darling. Then, it isn’t an antique?” Trixie was disappointed.

  “I told you I’m no expert. There’s a man standing right behind you who seems to know a lot about Incan carvings. He was in here about two hours ago and looked over every one I have in stock. Whatever he was looking for, I didn’t have it. Mr.—uh—” she called.

  “Yes, madame.” A short, dark-haired man with deep olive skin answered.

  The clerk explained why she had summoned him. When he saw the small statue Trixie drew from her purse, his eyes widened.

  “What is it you wish to know?” he asked.

  �
�Why—I—wonder—I just wanted to know if my statue is an antique.” The man was beautifully dressed and very important-looking. Trixie imagined he was someone of consequence in his own country.

  “May I look at the statue a little closer, please?”

  Honey moved up close to Trixie and hissed under her breath, “Hold on to it. Don’t let him get his hands on it.”

  Trixie, completely perplexed, ignored Honey’s warning and passed the statue over to the man. He held it to the light, examining every inch of it. Then he looked closely at Trixie and smiled enigmatically. “If someone has sold you this as an antique, miss, I’m afraid you have been victimized. I must not allow that. I shall be glad to take it off your hands for the price you paid for it. Unscrupulous people from my country have been known to bring cheap machine-made work into this country and try to pass it off as handmade.”

  He took out his wallet. “Whatever you paid, I’ll reimburse you.”

  “I don’t want my money back. I want to keep it. I didn’t buy it for an antique. I like it just as much even if it isn’t.” Trixie reached for her statue. The man pushed her hand away and shook his head. “No, miss, I couldn’t allow you to have this poor piece of work. If you do not want your money back, I shall replace it with one which is hand-carved. Here is my card. Come to this address tomorrow, and I will give you a better example of the work of my country.”

  “You are very kind, but I like my own better.” Before the man was aware of what was happening, Trixie had retrieved her little idol and put it in her purse.

  The man’s face flamed. “Are you a crazy girl? The idol is worthless!” He seized Trixie’s arm and whirled her around. “You give it back to me!” he demanded.

  A crowd, attracted by the man’s loud words, gathered. When he realized this, his attitude changed again. He immediately became apologetic. “Forgive me!” he said with seeming abjectness. “I become too excited when I know what bad people in my country are doing. You have made a mistake, miss. I bid you good-bye.”

  “I don’t know what was the matter with him,” the clerk at the booth said in amazement. “He got pretty excited when he was here before, looking over my stock. I think he may be a little....” She twirled her finger in a circle in front of her temple.

  “Crazy?” Trixie asked.

  The woman nodded her head.

  “He must be,” Trixie agreed. She and Honey turned to go back up the stairs. “Why did you hiss at me like that to warn me?” Trixie asked quickly.

  “I didn’t trust him from the minute I saw him. Trixie, he wants your statue for some reason or other. Don’t ask me why I think so. I don’t believe, though, that you’ve seen the last of him.”

  “Well, the plot thickens, doesn’t it?” Trixie mused. “I must have a pretty valuable little statue on my hands. Everyone said I was silly to buy it, didn’t they? Even you said so, Honey.”

  “You didn’t think it was valuable yourself when you bought it. Remember? You just said it was so ugly you wanted it. I have to admit it has turned out to be interesting. Isn’t it about time for us to meet the others over at the cafeteria?”

  “Pretty soon. I’m tired, though, after that encounter with that man. Honey, he would have knocked me down and taken my statue away from me if there hadn’t been a crowd around. There he goes now, down that corridor. Heavens, Honey, his back looks so familiar. Do you possibly think—no—it couldn’t be! He’s about the same size, though....”

  “Are you thinking he’s that scar-faced man who tried to knock you down when the horse shied yesterday?”

  “I’m thinking that very thing.”

  “But that man was years older and so shabby. He had another man with him, too. Remember, Trixie? They were both following us home the night before, too. This man doesn’t have a scar. I think he may be some wealthy importer. He had an educated way of talking, too.”

  “Maybe so. It’s all peculiar. Let’s tell Jim about it when we see him and ask him what he thinks.”

  “You always say ‘ask Jim,’ ” Honey said mischievously. “Even if he is my brother, I don’t think he’s all-wise. We’ll ask all the Bob-Whites what they think.”

  Trixie blushed to the roots of her sandy hair. She hadn’t any idea that her complete reliance on Jim was so obvious.

  “Of course we’ll ask all of them. Brian’s pretty smart, too. You think so, don’t you, Honey?”

  It was Honey’s turn to blush now. “Brian’s the oldest Bob-White,” she said, as though that explained everything. “There they are now, both of them, Brian and Jim, and all the rest of the crowd. See them going down the line over there at the cafeteria? Yoo-hoo!” Brian called back, and Jim waved. Everyone in line smiled as the two girls, faces flushed and eyes dancing, hurried to catch up with their friends.

  Break-In ● 7

  THE MOST EXCITING thing happened!” Trixie burst out as she put her tray on the table near the others.

  “Oh, Trixie, you should have been with us!” Barbara’s words spilled over one another. “I never saw anything so wonderful in all my life. I hadn’t the slightest idea of what the United Nations—”

  “I just have to tell you first what happened to us—” Trixie hadn’t heard a word Barbara had said.

  “Barbara’s right. Gosh, what we’ll have to tell when we go back home! There was this man in the council room at—” Bob almost spilled his glass of milk in his eagerness to talk.

  “Wait till I tell you about the man we saw!” Trixie interrupted.

  Brian stood up and raised his hand for silence. He was laughing so hard he could hardly talk. “One at a time! No one can tell what either of you is talking about. Trixie will burst a blood vessel if you don’t let her tell what she’s trying to tell. Is it okay if she speaks first, Barbara?”

  Reluctantly, Barbara nodded.

  So Trixie told about the sleek-haired man and his interest in her Incan idol, of his insistence that she hand it over to him, and of her determination to hold on to it.

  “Trixie has a ‘won’t’ of iron when she makes up her mind,” Honey said. “I don’t know what might have happened if there hadn’t been a crowd of people around us. That man was so oily, he was creepy! I wish we could point him out to you.”

  “Trixie seems to have mixed him up with that little man who was one of the pair who followed us from the antique shop,” Mart said. “How do we know she’d ever recognize the man she saw this morning? The guy who tagged us certainly wasn’t sleek or well dressed. Forget the whole thing, Trixie, before you get into it beyond your depth!”

  “I won’t forget it, Mart Belden,” Trixie cried. “I won’t say anything more about it if you aren’t interested, but I won’t forget it. Go on, now, and say whatever you have to say, someone, about the United Nations, since nobody seems interested in my story.”

  “I am!” Barbara cried.

  “Gosh, so am I!” Bob said, awed.

  “And me, too,” Ned added. “Everything happens so fast around here that I never know who to listen to first. Trixie may be entirely right about that man, Mart. He could very well be the same one who followed us. I sure wish we could get a glimpse of him ourselves. We could soon tell if he is the same one.” Ned was destined to have his wish.

  Just as the Bob-Whites and their friends were about to get into a waiting cab at the edge of the plaza, Trixie gestured frantically toward a man standing nearby. In the cab, after it had started, she gasped, “That was the man we saw in the gift shop. He listened while you gave the address of our apartment to the cab driver, Jim! Did you see him?”

  “I saw him, Trix, and I give in,” Mart said. “He is one of the men we saw at the antique shop. I wonder where his buddy is and what the heck they want with an Incan idol.”

  “That’s something we’ll have to find out. I don’t like the looks of the whole business,” Jim said. “Shall we go back to the apartment now?”

  “Maybe it’ll be a good thing if we don’t,” Brian suggested. “If he’s followin
g us in another cab, we can throw him off if we don’t go right back. He may think he didn’t hear the address correctly.”

  “I guess you all forget that he couldn’t have wanted our address at all,” Honey said. “If he is one of the men who followed us before, he surely knows where we live. He followed us home from the antique shop, didn’t he?”

  They all laughed, Trixie hardest of all. “You see, Honey, I always told you that you were the smartest member of our firm. That man had some other reason for standing around when we were leaving.”

  “Counting noses, I guess,” Mart said. “There’s safety in numbers, you know. He’s pretty sure he can’t do anything if we all stick together. Moral: All stick together!”

  “I think you’re right,” Trixie said soberly. “He’s probably furious after seeing how many of us there are.”

  “I don’t think I can stand it if things keep happening as fast as they have happened!” Barbara exclaimed.

  “I can,” Ned said quickly. “I love it. Gosh, it’s a real mystery, for sure. About the only thing I can do when I get back home is to join the police force and get to work. What are we going to do now?”

  “I have an idea,” Brian said. “How about us guys going to Lou Tannen’s Magic Shop while you girls explore the grocery stores and delicatessens on Fiftieth Street and Second Avenue?”

  “That’ll be neat!” Mart said. “Then we’ll all get dinner together back at the apartment. Is it a deal?” he asked the girls.

  “It’s a good idea, except for one thing,” Honey answered slowly. “We just got through agreeing that we should all stay together from now on.”

  “Of course!” Brian exclaimed. “Now it’s my turn to be a birdbrain.”

  Jim laughed. “Not you, Brian. Anyway, I don’t think we all have to stay together all the time. How about splitting up into two sections? Dan and I will go with the girls, and you and Mart can go with Ned and Bob to the magic shop. Will that be okay?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Brian replied. “Mart can put on a magic show for all of us after dinner back in the apartment. See if you can find some of those card tricks you used at my birthday party, Mart.”