Annie Oakley in Double Trouble

    Seventeen year old Annie and her little brother Tagg live in the town of Diablo with their Uncle Sheriff Luke. Annie is not a typical teenage girl, she is extremely smart, brave, and talented when it comes to the outdoors. As a child she was taught by her Colonel father how to shoot a gun with precision, how to track in all settings, and how to defend herself.

    As our story starts out Annie is getting ready for the day. The local school teacher has eloped leaving 8 year old Tagg with an extended vacation. Although Annie is eager for him to continue his studies she agrees to let him have some fun and takes him out to a stream to pan for gold. While there she hears a gun being fired and upon investigation sees a stagecoach being held up on a nearby road by two men, one short and mean and the other tall and somewhat polite. 

    Annie knows that Deputy sheriff Lofty is coming in on that coach with an envelope containing some very important papers for her uncle regarding local criminals. When the men take the papers Annie knows she needs to step in. With the help of Tagg she sneaks up on the men and shoots a gun out of the tall man's hand who then flees. While Lofty wrestles with the short man over possession of his gun she takes after the tall man, he reaches where their horses are and Annie jumps on one of the bandit horses and continues to follow. She makes a clean shot at the mans reins and he goes flying off the horse and becomes unconscious. While Annie is grabbing something to tie him up with he is able to sneak off with both horses. Lofty and Tagg soon arrive with Annie's horse Target in tow so she won't have to walk all those miles back.

    At the sheriffs office the short man, Adams, is refusing to talk but the lawman are convinced he'll be willing to talk in a few days when the Tumbleweed Wagon arrives. The Tumbleweed Wagon is a prison wagon that goes around from town to town collecting criminals from the jails and taking them to prison in which ever large city it winds up at.

    Meanwhile a lady from the stagecoach holdup is sitting at the hotel lobby awaiting for her brother to arrive. Blair Murdock had found an ore claim and sent for his sister, Melinda, to come to Diablo to join him. She had sent him a telegram confirming her arrival date but Annie soon finds out the telegram had never been received. Unaware where her brother is and with all her money having been taken during the hold up Melinda doesn't know where to go. Annie invited her to be a guest at their home while Uncle Luke gets her appointed as the new school teacher.

    Over at the saloon we're introduced to Tex Chantry, a card sharp and confidence man who would be much desired by authorities if they knew who he was. His picture was among the papers stolen from Lofty in the hold up. With the help of Sam Gillis, who works at the hotel, Tex was able to learn about the incoming papers and hired some outlaws to steal them. Tex and Sam now have to break Adams out of jail before the Tumbleweed Wagon shows up.

    The next morning Sam gets up early and heads out to Halfway House, a notorious outlaw hideaway. There he meets with Bill Welton, the tall outlaw Annie had chased after. He trades $200 of gold dust for the envelope. After he leaves Bill goes inside and while talking with the cook we learn that Bill Welton is a man with no past. Not long ago Adams had found the stranger Bill unconscious from a bullet wound to the head. He carried him to Halfway House where him and Cook nursed him back to health. Bill has suffered amnesia from his injury and the only way he knows his name is because Adams had found a wanted poster for an unpictured man named Bill Welton folded up and pinned inside the unconscious mans shirt, along side a bag of rich ore. They assume it must be him. Bill is very grateful for what Adams has done for him and is determined to not let the man be taken away in the prison wagon.

    Back in town Sam hands the envelope over to Tex who promptly picks out his wanted paper, burns it to ashes, and makes it clear the matter is over to him meaning he does not plan on breaking Adams from jail.

    Annie has been busy trying to help Melinda track down her brother. She goes to the newspaper office to see if the editor has heard anything about a Blair Murdock and unfortunately he had. He shows Annie an article he had published two months ago which tells how the horse Blair had rented wandered into town alone a week after Blair had left on it, with an Indian arrow still embedded in the saddle and the saddlebags slashed and empty. Blair had apparently been attacked and killed. Annie and Uncle Luke show this to Melinda but she remains hopeful that Blair is still alive.

    A "sociable" is being thrown at the schoolhouse to welcome the new teacher. Tagg is instructed to read a poem the rude Mrs. Gillis has written. After fumbling it he runs out of the party in distress. Annie goes to find him and ends up seeing Bill entering the sheriffs office and realizes it's a jailbreak. 

    She sends Tagg back to the schoolhouse to alert their uncle then runs over to the bandits horses and loosens the saddles. When the outlaws come out they fall off the horses who then bolt. Both men are captured and put in jail. Everyone from the sociable has ran over to see the excitement including Melinda who recognizes Bill as Blair. That night she sneaks out to the jail while wearing one of Annie's riding outfits to find out what Blair is doing. He insists he doesn't know her or who Blair is and she ends up having to make a hasty exist when Lofty hears her. He sees her running off and mistakes her for Annie. Adams then decides to stir up trouble by pretending it was Annie coming to talk to him. On the ride home Melinda is also spotted and mistaken for Annie by Mrs. Gillis who is eager to spread this bit of gossip around.

    While Melinda is out Tagg has come into Annie's room to tell her he heard the horses acting up and can see from his window that the stable doors are open. Annie goes out to close them just as Melinda arrives home and the truth comes out about Bill being Blair. Melinda asks Annie to not tell Uncle Luke otherwise it will get around town and she will lose her teaching position.

    The following day is Sunday and Mrs. Gillis wastes no time in spreading her fresh gossip. She tells everyone Annie seemed to be up to mischief the previous night but after one woman accuses Essie of trying to stir up trouble she doubles down and tells everyone she has inside knowledge that Annie was up to no good. She of course has told her husband Sam about it and he becomes convinced that Annie, Bill, and the Sheriff are working together. He tells Tex who decides the only way to keep Bill from talking is to break him out of jail. 

    Sam sets a fire in an abandoned stable and while everyone is distracted he slips a gun to Adams through his cell window. Annie was left in charge of the jail while her uncle is helping with the fire. She's used the time to talk to Bill and almost has him convinced he's Blair when Adams pulls the gun on her and both prisoners escape.

    Annie tells her Uncle about the escape while he is among all the men who helped put out the fire, including Sam. Sam then loudly announces he believes a gun must have been slipped to the prisoners during the night and remarks that Annie had been in town late last night. Privately Uncle Luke admits he knows it was really Melinda out last night but the rest of the town appears to have become suspicious of Annie.

    Now that the truth has come to light about Bills real identity things have changed between him and Adams. Adams now is suspicious of him and desperate to get his hands on Blair's ore claim which Blair had promised him half for saving his life. But unfortunately Blair still can not remember it's location and Adams is losing his patience. Blair realizes that he's now in a bad situation because if he tries to leave the Halfway House he won't get far before he is caught and brought back as a captive. So he is pretending to stay friendly with Adams but hoping he can get in contact with Melinda.

    Annie remains bothered over Sam Gillis trying to make her look bad among the townspeople so she decides to talk things over with him. She goes to the hotel but is told by Jake that Sam has gone fishing at Lost Lake. Annie is suspicious of this since Lost Lake has become dried up. Jake also tells Annie Sam left his fishing pole and then shows her where Sam has been doodling his name as "Sheriff Sam Gillis". He also informs her that Sam and Tex have become thick as thieves.

    Meanwhile Sam is out at Halfway House again after being instructed by Tex to try and find out where Blair's ore claim is. Him and Adams harass Blair trying to get him to remember and when that doesn't work they force him to write a letter to Melinda trying to get any information from her that they can.

    The letter is left outside the schoolhouse for Melinda. It instructs her to bring the letters she has received from Bill to a road outside of town at sunset. In a hurry to do this she rides off from the school forgetting to bring Tagg with her. She's also left in such a hurry that she did not lock the schoolhouse. Seeing this Tagg goes inside to get the spare key from her desk, sees the note, and decides to bring it home to her.

    He gives the note to Annie when he gets home and since she can see the signature is from Blair she decides to read it. She's concerned Blair wants to see Melinda to tell her he is going to keep up his life of crime so she decides to go see if she can convince him to turn himself in.

    When she arrives at the road she finds Melinda's horse and buggy alone on the side of the road and quickly sees signs of a struggle. After studying the footprints she deciphers that it was most likely Adams and not Blair who had taken Melinda against her will. Since uncle Luke and Lofty are gone for the day Annie knows she has to follow the trail to find Melinda at once as night is quickly approaching. 

    

    Tagg soon shows up on his horse begging to come along which Annie allows. They follow the tracks down an old, out of use road which leads down where Annie had chased Blair after the stagecoach robbery. She's long suspected this leads to the outlaws hideout. In the distance she can see a horse with two riders and knows she's on the right track. 

    Soon she hears hoof beats approaching from behind and quickly pulls her and Tagg off the path and behind some boulders. Sam and Tex go riding by and as they pass Tagg's horse snorts and stamps. The men continue on but up ahead they hide off the side of the trail to see who had been spying on them. As Annie and Tagg approach Tex draws his pistol but Annie had already seen the marks where the men had stopped and realizes they're about to be ambushed. She grabs her rifle and, with Tagg, jumps off behind some rocks on the other side of the trail. 

    When Taggs hat gets blown away he reaches out for it and Tex shoots him in the arm. Thinking that Annie will be too busy with Tagg to notice them, they get out of their hiding spot and ride on. However Annie quickly sees the bullet has only grazed the skin of Tagg arm so she quickly puts her attention back on the two men and with precise aim shoots at Sam's hat which flies off his head. Tex and Sam's horses then go flying off but Annie makes sure to grab the hat, which has Sam's initials inside, as evidence. 

    Annie wants to turn back for home but once Tagg realizes he's not severely wounded he is eager to continue on. He's actually quite thrilled and proud that he has been wounded while enforcing the law. They head on but after a bit Tagg becomes woozy and Annie finds he has developed a fever. 

    Annie is able to locate a small cave that appears to have been previously used by a prospector; inside it contains a blanket, firewood, a pickax, and some canned food. There they hunker down for the night.
Meanwhile back in Diablo uncle Luke has arrived home and finding everyone gone and the horse and buggy sitting out in the yard he becomes worried. He waits up the night and at the first sign of day light he heads out to town asking if anyone has seen any of the three. Here he finds out Sam and Tex are also missing.

    The next morning Annie and Tagg continue on the trail and spot Tim, the lookout. Annie is able to use a rock and her bandanna to knock down a hornets nest from above his head which sends him running to Halfway House. Annie and Tagg can then go past and come upon the house. After hiding the horses deep in the woods Annie approaches the back of the house where she see Melinda come out to a well with a bucket. She gets a hold of her and sends her into the woods before confronting Cookie who has come out to see what's taken Melinda so long. 

    He, who likes Blair and can't stand Tex, tells Annie to get her and Melinda as far away as possible as fast as possible because some of the men inside would be delighted to kill her. He then goes back inside and pretends Melinda has run off. Tex doesn't care saying she'll either come back by night or get killed by an animal. They bandits then grab Blair and head out to some unknown destination. Seeing this Annie tells Tagg to get Melinda to the cave they had slept in then hurry to Diablo to get Uncle Luke and a posse. 

    Annie is able to speak to Cookie again who tells her Tex is taking Blair to be set up in a gun trap; he'll be tied to a tree with a gun tied to a tree across from him. The gun will be tied with strips of fresh deer hide which will shrink as the sun dries it out thus pulling the trigger. Annie hurries in the given direction and finds Blair tied up and Sam keeping watch over him. She shoots down the gun which causes Sam, who is terrified of Annie and her skilled gunmanship, to run but she shoots in front of his feet which stops him. She then has him untie Blair and hand over his gun then march him back to Halfway House where she surprises Red and Adams.

    Tagg makes in back to Diablo and a group heads out towards the hideout and wrangle up Tex, Adams, and Sam who are placed on the Tumbleweed Wagon the next day. The next day Essie Gillis also flees town out of humiliation.

    Luke and Annie go with Blair to the county court to testify on his behalf and a judge exonerated him of his crimes during his brief stint as Bill Welton. And of course Blair finds his ore claim; it was the cave Annie and Tagg slept in.

- It's pretty obvious that Bill is actually Blair. I wish that it wasn't so obvious because I think it would have been a great reveal. Although I'm typically not a fan of amnesia driven plots I do think this one is interesting since Blair has taken on an unfavorable identity.

- It's stated that Annie wears a long split skirt for riding her horse and this just seems so uncomfortable and impractical to me. So I looked it up and was very surprised to find that not only did women wear these split skirts but they were actually considered somewhat scandalous. Women riding astride was not considered decent so wearing clothes especially made for a woman to ride astride was definitely considered in poor taste by some. Women would typically wear ankle length skirts to ride side saddle but if they were going to ride astride they would wear either a split skirt or pants underneath a skirt. I wonder how many women at some point said screw it and threw on a pair of their father or brothers pants to go riding.

- No mention is made of what becomes of Cookie so I guess we can assume he went through with his plans to pack up and move along after Annie corners Tex and Sam. He's an interesting characters because he's very kind and wants to help Blair escape from Adams but worries about disrupting his quiet life at Halfway House since he's a wanted criminal. On one hand you like him because he is compassionate, dislikes the bad guys, and helps Annie. But on the other hand you have to wonder what terrible crimes he committed that made him have to disappear from the world and live in isolation at Halfway House.

    I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed it a lot more the first time I read it but I did still enjoy it this time too. I read it faster than I've read a book in awhile. I recall thinking it was the best out of the three Annie Oakley books Whitman published so I'm not sure how I'll feel about those when I re-read them. 

    Also, although this book was nice to read I've found myself horrifically bored re-reading my summary. Maybe I'm just a terrible writer but I don't normally find the book summaries so tedious to read. I think it may simply be that the action in this book does not fair well when condensed so much.

Judy Bolton: The Vanishing Shadow (original)

    This is the original text version of the first book in the Judy Bolton series. This book was later rewritten to be shorter and that's the version I have read before. I have never read this one and am anxious to see how different it is.

    Judy Bolton is spending the summer, along with her brother Horace, at her grandparent's house in Dry Brook Hollow. It's not too far from her own home in Roulsville but as her parents have gone out of town it is where the two are staying. 

    Judy spends her days out among the beech trees, reading, and trying to avoid the neighbor girl, Edna. One day she and Edna overhear two construction workers, who are building a new road, arguing about the recent dam that had been built above Roulsville, as well as mention a "pit". After noticing the girls one of the men marches over angrily and demands to know what they've heard. Edna insists she's heard nothing but Judy confidently replies she had heard everything said. However she does not mention that she does not understand the meaning of anything said.

    Finding she's been sent tickets in the mail to an upcoming dance and spelling bee Judy goes to ask her Grandmother for some of the money her father had left for them so she can attend the dance. She is told that grandmother gave the money to Horace for a suit and there's none left for her. Upset over her brothers special treatment Judy runs back to the beech grove to find the construction worker there waiting for her. He offers her a necklace in exchange for her silence on what she had overheard and Judy informs him she cannot be bribed. He says he'll find another way to silence her and marches off. 

    Judy sits down in the beech grove to read and becomes startled when she sees a mysterious shadow quickly falling across her book pages. She jumps up to see this shadow has gone through the bushes so she follows it however it quickly disappears. She then hears her brother walking on the paved road and as she goes after him to yell about the money, she is grabbed from behind by thin, pale white hands. She is gagged, has a hood placed over her head, and her hands tied behind her back before being thrown in the backseat of a car. 

    As the car heads towards it's unknown destination Judy can hear two people speaking up front; the workman and someone else with such a high-pitched rasping voice that Judy can not tell if it's a man or woman. The two are discussing how Judy's overhearing the workmen talking has spoiled their plans and they must get rid of her. They talk about locking her up and starving her until they can secure a promise from her not to repeat what she has heard. 

    Once the car stops she is pulled out and marched over wet, soggy ground. She can hear the sound of rushing water and fears they may toss her into it while still bound. But instead she soon hears the unlocking of a door and she is tossed onto the hard floor of an unknown room and unbound, being told that her captors will be back in the morning.

    After a restless night Judy hears a dog outside her prison and begins kicking and banging on the door  to cause the dog to bark and bring attention. Her captors soon arrive and tell Judy she can be set free if she promises not to speak a word of what she's heard by the road or in the car. Judy promises and the men say they will take her home. To avoid her having to explain where she has been all night she will be taken to her own empty home and her family will assume she spent the night there. Her captors put the hood back on her head and make her lie down on the car floor where she promptly falls asleep. 

    

    They drop her off in front of her house and by the time she gets the hood off the car is gone. Judy is frustrated over not having seen the car or what the mysterious shadow person looks like. She goes inside and falls asleep at her father's desk. Three hours later Horace and grandfather show up looking for her and take her home.

    The next day Judy asks Horace to accompany her on a picnic. On the way they see that Dry Brook has become waterless and, hoping to use it as a story for his newspaper job, Horace and Judy try to find the beginning of the brook and discover what has become of the water. They leave their picnic basket in a cave and go off searching. 

    Once they find what they're after they see that the spring it originates at has been dammed up with poles and mud which seems strange since it's causing less water to reach the big new dam that is powering the paper mill. They think it may be the work of someone trying to get revenge on the mill. 

    Back at the cave they find their picnic basket overturned and the remains of the food scattered about. Horace finds what appears to be a bear track but Judy remarks it could be from an exceptionally large dog such as Charlie Austin's dog. Horace asks who Charlie Austin is and Judy explains that he's a local young man who is much desired by the girls of Rouslville, with the exception of Judy. He drives a fancy yellow car and Judy admits she's turned down offers to ride in it with him. He's also the new foreman at the paper mill.

    Once home Horace surprised Judy with a new party dress for the upcoming dance along with a dollar for her ticket. Judy gives it back to him saying she wants to pay for her ticket herself by selling blackberries. 

    The next day she heads out with two empty pails and a spade and hoe. Although she plans on collecting and selling blackberries she also wants to use it as a cover for going up to the beginning of Dry Brook and digging out the dam. She goes to see Edna with the intent of asking for her help but Edna quickly begins talking about the dance and how she's going with Charlie Austin. This seems strange to Judy as Charlie and Edna are not in the same social circle or of the same social statues. 

    Edna makes it clear that her date with Charlie is part of her bribe for keeping quiet about what the girls overheard. She remarks that Charlie had said he had fixed it so Judy would also not talk, thinking that this meant Judy had been paid off but Judy realizes he had a hand in her abduction. She leaves quickly and heads towards Dry Brook where she successful breaks the dam free then gathers her berries.

    The next day she heads out early to town on her grandparents colt to sell the two pails of blackberries. While going by the train tracks the horse sends Judy and the berries flying before running off and Judy begins gather up the spilled berries along with the help of Peter Dobbs, a childhood friend Judy has not seen for awhile but who happens to be passing by. 

    Peter also just happens to be the grandson of the paper mill president. He tells Judy his grandfather retired and the current president is Mr. Rubin but Rubin has given charge to Charlie Austin. Judy and Peter walk to his house, where he lives with his grandparents and after dinner Judy picks a kitten out of the litter their cat has birthed. It's a black cat that she names Blackberry. 

    Peter drives her home and she asks to stop at the mill so she can talk to Mr. Rubin. In the pasture underneath the dam is a fenced in area of horses and Judy spots the colt who has broken in to mingle with them. As her and Peter begin to walk over to it the wet, soggy ground under Judy's feet trigger her memory and Judy is able to figure out that the location of the mill is where her abductors had taken her and her prison had been the nearby tool shack. 

    When Judy and Peter look inside the tool shack they see a coat hanging which has a gun in the pocket. Judy begs Peter to take it to the police and he agrees. After he leaves she goes up to the mill to speak with Mr. Rubin. Not wanting to take the kitten in with her she places it in a barrel outside the office door. 

    The receptionist inside is Gladys Hoyt, a disagreeable girl Judy had known from school and she refuses to let Judy see Mr. Rubin until she states her business. Once Judy says she wishes to talk to him about Charlie Austin, Miss Hoyt says Judy can see Mr. Austin instead and to sit down and wait for him to return. Judy sits down long enough to wait for Gladys to look away so she can sneak out. However by the time she's out the door Charlie Austin has already pulled up. Judy claims she is simply there looking for her lost cat she pretends to look around but after finding Blackberry is no longer in the barrel she really does have to look around before giving up and leaving cat-less.

    On the day of the dance Judy is walking to it when a car pulls over and asks if she wants a ride. It's owner is Arthur Farringdon-Pett. He's a wealthy boy from the nearby town Ferringdon, as you can tell by his name he is a descendant of the towns founder. Along with him is his sister Lois who Judy instantly likes, Donald Carter who is Horace's rival reporter at the newspaper, and Lorraine Lee who's father owns the newspaper. Judy takes a dislike to Lorraine when she refers to Horace as "Sister", a rude nickname that's been given to the timid boy, and Lorraine clearly dislikes Judy simply from Arthur's giving her attention. 

    As they're heading to the dance Arthur stops at the paper mill because he's been trying to get in contact with either Mr. Rubin or Charlie Austin. While waiting in a soda fountain Lois tells Judy that Arthur thinks something suspicious is going on with the dam. He is an engineer fresh out of college and had put in an unsuccessful bid for the dam building contract. The company that did get the contract had put in such a low offer that he's sure something underhanded was going on.

    He also explains to Judy later that night that he had found the construction company hasn't purchased any sand for building the dam which makes him believe they used some from a local sand pit that isn't up to grade. 

    Judy wins first place at the spelling bee which makes her a popular partner at the dance. Lorraine leaves early, apparently due to jealously towards the attention Judy's receiving. Judy and Horace get a ride home with Arthur, Lois, and Donald and on the way Arthur stops within view of the dam and points out 3 cracks he's been noticing. 

    He says the poor construction is making the dam a ticking time bomb, that Dry Brook was purposely dried up, not to sabotage the mill but because the dam wouldn't be able to handle it's added water. He says that just one heavy rain will cause the dam to break and the whole town of Roulsville will be taken out, killing everyone. This talk frightens Horace so they change the subject and continue on their way. 

    Suddenly the shadow crosses in front of the car and Judy begs Arthur to turn around and follow it. She insists the mysterious skeleton looking man is tied up with the dam mystery and she begins to think he is Christopher White, the man who won the dam construction contract. He disappears before they can see his face.

    That night Judy hears Horace crying out in his sleep about the dam, the things Arthur said have terrified him and Judy is disgusted by how scared he is and gets up to yell at him. The next morning he is suppose to go report the church sermon but claims he is too tired. Judy yells at him again saying he is too coward to go into Roulsville and shames him for not being a brother she can be proud of. 

    Her reason for wanting Horace to go to church so badly is that she wants him to deliver a letter to Peter in which she's told everything about the dam and her kidnapping and asks for his help to rebuild the makeshift dam at the start of Dry Brook. He reluctantly gets up and begins to church on the colt with instructions by Judy that if he can not get the letter to Peter then to read it himself. Peter turns out to not be present at church and after service Horace briefly talks to Arthur, Lois, Lorraine, and Donald who have shown up there because Arthur claims he's drawn to the town since knowing about the dam. 

    As he starts on his way home he remembers Judy's letter and stops to read it. He's horrified to find out Judy had been kidnapped and shocked that she had faced a terrifying situation so bravely. A storm begins at that moment and Horace, believing he's hearing the dam break, runs the horse back into town yelling for everyone to head for the hills. He continues going up and down the streets yelling warnings until he's sure everyone has headed for safety.

    Meanwhile Judy has been sitting nervously at home. Both she and her grandmother worry about timid Horace becoming injured on the colt and Judy worries about him being waylaid by the shadow and her letter becoming read. The two become more worried when the storm starts and soon they see a high volume of traffic heading into Roulsville including her parents who are due to return that day. The only one heading out of town is the fancy yellow car belonging to Charlie Austin. 

    Judy is furious to see him fleeing at the first sign of danger and leaving the Rousleville residents to die so she goes to call the Farringdon police to stop him however as she's on the phone the whole house becomes rocked as the sound of explosions go off signaling the dam has broke. 

    Judy's grandmother passes out and for a minute Judy believes she may have died leaving her completely alone as her brother, parents, and grandfather are all in Roulsville as it's being flooded. After her grandmother becomes conscious Judy sets out on foot to cover the three miles to town. As she passes the dam she sees it's completely gone with the three broken pieces of it now laying where the paper mill had stood just that morning. 

    Coming upon the park on a hill she sees a huge crowd and is surprised to see many people at ease. She finds Mr. and Mrs. Dobbs who tell her she is the sister of a hero and that Horace had given warning so early that everyone was already to higher ground and were able to watch as the dam actually broke. 

    Unfortunately none of her family are present but someone mentioned having seen Dr. Bolton's car on the other side of the valley where more people had ran to. Judy finds Peter and together they wade through the flood waters until they are able to holler to someone to see if Horace or the Boltons are there. Horace is not but Dr. Bolton is. They head back and notice some bushes by the park moving. Judy fears it's the shadow but they soon find it to be the colt who is wondering alone. Following its track they find Horace at the bottom of a tree, having fallen from it during the flood. Horace is taken up to the park where newspaper men all photograph him and try to get a story.

    With the town destroyed the Boltons and the Dobbs go to stay with Judy's grandparents although two days later the Dobbs move to a new home in Farringdon. Horace has been receiving lots of offers for gifts, checks, and job positions as a reward for his brave act. He appoints Judy of writing back declining everything but when an offer for a free house in Farringdon arrives Judy can't help but accept it. However Lois ends up mentioning the house is being offered for free because the owner can not sell it due to its reputation for being haunted.

    Christopher White has not been found by the police and there seems to be no trace of him ever existing. Charlie Austin is still in police custody having been detained after Judy's phone call. The police have no evidence against him so they bring him to Judy to see if she has any evidence. Judy can't help but feel that something is off about him. Once she realizes what it is she instructs the policeman to remove his wig and it turns out Charlie Austin is Christopher White. He goes off with the police and Dr. Bolton tells Judy she may have to testify is court. Oh and the police bring Blackberry to Judy, he had been taken by Charlie Austin and was in/on the tool shack.

- Judy's abduction is actually included in this version of the book. In the revised it says she was grabbed and went unconscious from her mouth being covered, that she regained slight consciousness while walking over wet, soggy ground, and that she went unconscious again when tossed into the dark room. I much prefer Judy being awake for the whole experience. It makes the story make more sense when Judy realizes the mill land is where she was take. It also feels more realistic than continuous unconsciousness and makes Judy appear tougher than some other heroines who are prone to fainting.

- In both books Judy is being held captive when she hears a dog outside. She thinks maybe this "dumb creature" could help her escape, then it's immediately said that Judy is a lover of all cats and dogs. I found it amusing she calls the dog dumb followed by how much Judy loves all dogs.

- In the revised book Judy and Horace collect blackberries when they go for a picnic. They leave their picnic basket in the cave while they search for the beginning of dry brook yet they bring the pails, I thought that strange. In the original they are not collecting blackberries which makes me assume the berries are from a part of the book that was removed when it was revised and added in here for continuity.

- In this version Judy actually checks the tool shack by the dam to verify that it is in fact the place she had been held against her will. In the revised she just assumes.

- The fact that Judy cannot tell that Charlie Austin is Christopher White just because he wears a wig is a little ridiculous. Especially since "the shadow" is said to have such a very strange and unique voice. I also doubt that eyebrow pencil and rouge (blush) would be enough to make him go from terrifying looking to a handsome playboy.

- The biggest part that was left out of the revised text was Judy destroying the Dry Brook dam. This leaves Judy partially responsible for the flood which, I assume, is why it was removed from the revised edition. After Christopher White has been exposed Dr. Bolton tells Judy she may have to testify in court and to be honest about setting Dry Brook free. Since Judy's act was not kept in the revision it did not make a lot of sense why Dr. Bolton would be telling Judy to be completely honest in court.

- I couldn't help but read this while picturing Katharine Hepburn as Judy, it really is the perfect fit.

    Overall this book is good but that's not surprising since Judy Bolton is an exceptionally good series. Nothing felt missing like in the revised texts. I think the mystery is simple to understand but complicated to situate and I really admire Margaret Sutton for creating it.

    It's also worth noting that the Roulsville dam is based on the real life Austin dam. The Austin dam was also built inadequately and broke in 1911, destroying the paper mill below it, and flooding the town of Austin. The dam was rebuilt the year after this book was published and broke again in the 1940's.

Judy Bolton: The Vanishing Shadow (revised)

    Judy Bolton is spending the summer, along with her brother Horace, at her grandparents house in Dry Brook Hollow. It's not too far from her own home in Roulsville but as her parents have gone out of town it is where the two are staying. Judy spends her days out among the beech trees, reading, and trying to avoid the neighbor girl Edna. 

    One day she and Edna overhear two construction workers, who are building a new road, arguing about the recent dam that had been built above Roulsville, as well as mention a "pit". After noticing the girls one of the men marches over angrily and demands to know what they've heard. Edna insists she's heard nothing but Judy confidently replies she had heard everything however she does not mention that she does not understand the meaning of anything said.

    Finding she's been sent tickets in the mail to an upcoming dance and spelling bee Judy goes to ask her Grandmother for some of the money her father had left for them so she can attend the dance. She is told that grandmother gave the money to her Horace for a suit and there's none left for her. Upset over her brothers special treatment Judy runs back to the beech grove. She becomes startled when she sees a mysterious shadow and follows it through the bushes where it disappears. She hears her brother walking on the paved road and as she goes after him to yell about the money, she is grabbed from behind.

    Judy awakes in a small dark pit of a room and spends a restless night there. The next day she attracts the attention of the men who had brought her there; the construction worker and a terror of a man with a shrill voice. They agree to let Judy go if she promises not to mention anything she's overheard. She promises and is taken to her empty home where she falls asleep. She is awakened when Horace and their grandfather show up looking for her. They assume she ran away because of the money incident and Judy lets them think this so she can keep her promise.

    The next day Judy asks Horace to accompany her on a picnic. On the way they see that Dry Brook has become waterless and, hoping to use it as a story for his newspaper job, Horace and Judy try to find the beginning of the brook and discover what has become of the water. Once they do they see that it has been dammed up which seems strange since it's causing less water to reach the big new dam that is powering the paper mill. They think it may be the work of someone trying to get revenge on the mill.

    Once home Horace surprised Judy with a new party dress for the upcoming dance. Judy goes to talk to Edna about the dance and Edna announces she is going with "conceited young spend-thrift" Charlie Austin. Edna starts talking about how Charlie, the new foreman of the paper mill, had told her he had fixed it so Judy wouldn't talk. Edna thinks this means Judy was paid off as she was but Judy now realizes it means he had been apart of her abduction and thinks he must have dammed up Dry Brook to get some sort of revenge on his employer. Judy decided to write a letter to the president of the paper mill because she reasons that she promised not to "say" anything but didn't make any promises about writing.

    

    The next day she heads out early to town on her grandparents colt to sell two pails of blackberries she had picked. While going by the train tracks the horse send Judy and the berries flying before running home and Judy begins gather up the spilled berries along with the help of Peter Dobbs, a childhood friend Judy has not seen recently who happens to be passing by. 

    Peter also just happens to be the grandson of the paper mill president. He tells Judy his grandfather retired and the current president is Mr. Rubin but Rubin has given charge to Charlie Austin. Judy and Peter walk to his house, where he lives with his grandparents and after dinner Judy picks a kitten out of the litter their cat has birthed. It's a black cat that she names Blackberry. 

    Peter drives her home and she asks to stop at the mill so she can give her letter to Mr. Rubin. However once there Judy is able to figure out that the location of the mill is where her abductors had taken her and her prison had been the nearby tool shack. Judy decides not to speak to Mr. Rubin.

    On the day of the dance Judy is walking to it when a car pulls over and asks if she wants a ride. It's owner is Arthur Farringdon-Pett. He's a wealthy boy from the nearby town Ferringdon, as you can tell by his name he is a descendant of the town's founder. Along with him is his sister Lois who Judy instantly likes, Donald Carter who is Horace's rival reporter at the newspaper, and Lorraine Lee who's father owns the newspaper. Judy takes a dislike to her when she refers to Horace as "Sister", a rude nickname that's been given to the timid boy. 

    As they're heading to the dance Lois tells Judy that Arthur thinks something suspicious is going on with the dam. He is an engineer fresh out of college and had put in an unsuccessful bid for the dam contract. The company that did get the contract had put in such a low offer that he's sure something underhanded was going on. He also explains to Judy later that night that he had found the construction company hasn't purchased any sand for building which makes him believe they used some from a local sand pit that isn't up to grade. 

    Judy wins first place at the spelling bee which makes her a popular partner at the dance. Lorraine leaves early, apparently due to jealously towards the attention Judy's receiving. Judy and Horace get a ride home with Arthur, Lois, and Donald and on the way Arthur stops within view of the dam and points out 3 cracks he's been noticing. He says the poor construction is making the dam a ticking time bomb, that Dry Brook was purposely dried up not to sabotage the mill but because the dam wouldn't be able to handle its added water. He says that just one heavy rain will cause the dam to break and the whole town of Roulsville will be taken out, killing everyone. This talk frightens Horace so they change the subject and continue on their way. 

    Suddenly the shadow crosses in front of the car and Judy begs Arthur to turn around and follow it. She insists the mysterious skeleton looking man is tied up with the dam mystery and she begins to think he is Christopher White, the man who won the dam construction contract. He disappears before they can see his face.

    That night Judy hears Horace crying out in his sleep about the dam, the things Arthur said have terrified him and Judy is disgusted by how scared he is and gets up to yell at him. The next morning he is suppose to go report the church sermon but claims he is too tired. Judy yells at him again saying he is too cowardly to go into Roulsville and shames him for not being a brother she can be proud of. 

    Her reason for wanting Horace to go to church so bad is that she wants him to deliver a letter to Peter in which she's told everything about the dam and her kidnapping and asks for his help in warning the towns people. He reluctantly gets up and begins to church on the colt with instructions by Judy that if he can not get the letter to Peter to read it himself. Peter turns out to not be present at church and after service Horace briefly talks to Arthur, Lois, Lorraine, Donald who have showed up there because Arthur claims he's drawn to the town since knowing about the dam. 

    As he starts on his way home he remembers Judy's letter and stops to read it. He's horrified to find out Judy had been kidnapped and shocked that she had faced a terrifying situation so bravely. A storm begins at that moment and Horace, believing he's hearing the dam break, runs the horse back into town yelling for everyone to head for the hills. He continues going up and down the streets yelling warnings until he's sure everyone has headed for safety.

    Meanwhile Judy has been sitting nervously at home. Both she and her grandmother worry about timid Horace becoming injured on the colt and Judy worries about him being waylaid by the shadow and her letter being read. The two become more worried when the storm starts and soon they see a high volume of traffic heading into Roulsville including her parents who are due to return that day. The only one heading out of town is one car belonging to Charlie Austin. 

    Judy is furious to see him fleeing at the first sign of danger and leaving the Rousleville residents to die so she goes to call the Farringdon police to stop him however as she's on the phone the whole house becomes rocked as the sound of explosions go off signaling the dam has broke. 

    Judy's grandmother passes out and for a minute Judy believes she may have died leaving her completely alone as her brother, parents, and grandfather are all in Roulsville as it's being flooded. After her grandmother becomes conscious Judy sets out on foot to cover the three miles to town. As she passes the dam she sees its completely gone with the three broken pieces of it now laying where the paper mill had previously been. 

    Coming upon the park on a hill she sees a huge crowd and is surprised to see many people smiling. She finds Mr. and Mrs. Dobbs who tell her she is the sister of a hero and that Horace had given warning so early that everyone was already to higher ground and were able to watch as the dam actually broke. Unfortunatly none of her family are present but someone mentioned having seen Dr. Bolton's car on the other side of the valley where more people had ran to. Judy finds Peter and together they wade through the flood waters until they are able to holler to someone to see if Horace or the Boltons are there. 

    Horace is not but Dr. Bolton is. They head back and notice some bushes by the park moving. Judy fears it's the shadow but they soon find it to be the colt who is wandering alone. Following it's tracks they find Horace at the bottom of a tree, having fallen from it during the flood. Horace is taken up to the park where newspaper men all photograph him and try to get a story.

    With the town destroyed the Boltons and the Dobbs go to stay with Judy's grandparents although two days later the Dobbs move to a new home in Farringdon. Horace has been receiving lots of offers for gifts, checks, and job positions as a reward for his brave act. He appoints Judy of writing back declining everything but when an offer for a free house in Farringdon arrives Judy can't help but accept it. However Lois ends up mentioning the house is being offered for free because the owner can not sell it due to it's reputation for being haunted.

    Christopher White has not been found by the police and there seems to be no trace of him ever existing. Charlie Austin is still in police custody having been detained after Judy's phone call. The police have no evidence against him so they bring him to Judy to see if she has any evidence. Judy can't help but feel that something is off about him. Once she realizes what it is she instructs the policeman to remove his wig and it turns out Charlie Austin is Christopher White. He goes off with the police and Dr. Bolton tells Judy she may have to testify is court.

    I feel like this summary has gotten a little messy towards the end but its almost 2am and I'm so tired so that's just how it is.

- The promise thing is ridiculous. I would think the fact that the men know where Judy lives would be more of a threat to ensure her silence than a promise.

- Horace being bullied by his peers by being called sissy, sister, and salmon-faced sister is really weird and outdated. He's picked on because he's not a Man™ and as much as I don't want to use the word toxic, it's very toxic. The book remarks that Horace is known as a coward by everyone but doesn't give any example of why. Through out the story he's called a coward because he fears the imminent danger of the dam breaking, washing out the entire town where he's lived his whole life, and killing his friends, family, and everyone he knows. I don't think that is cowardly at all.

- The revel of Charlie Austin being Christopher White was kind of strange. White is described as terrifying looking while Austin is just some young man. The only thing that seems to make Christopher White scary is the fact that he's bald.

    This is the revised version of this story and it has been shortened quite a bit. Unfortunatey this causes it to feel like you're missing some things. Several times I had to stop and re-read a page because I thought I must have missed an important part. The only way I can think to describe it is as if you're watching a movie but you get up and leave the room for a minute several times. You can still keep up with the movie but you feel like you've missed some things. The only thing I noticed that completely didn't make sense is when Judy says at the end something like "so that's why Arthur had business at the mill". I don't recall Arthur talking about going to the mill at all. It answered a question the had been cut from the book so now it made no sense.

    Next I'll read the original text version which I own but have never read. I'm thinking, or at least hoping, it'll fill in the gaps of this book.

The Lennon Sisters: The Secret of Holiday Island

    I had first heard of Janet Lennon through her book Janet Lennon at Camp Calamity. I didn't know who she was but the book explains she's a singer. That's all I knew at the time so I was very surprised to see a book with four Lennon girls and to find Janet to be the youngest. Before giving this book a re-reading I looked up Janet Lennon online and was even more surprised to find that, at the time of this writing, the Lennon Sisters are still performing. That's going to make it very fun reading about these girls who are actual people and still together as "the Lennon Sisters".

    I've read this book once before and I only remember two things about it; some combination of a cave along the waterfront, Janet, a strange boy, and them running over the lawn at night while stopping the bad guys.

    Mr. Lennon has received a telegram from a real estate agent offering him a rent-free summer at a ranch on Holiday Island. The ranch belongs to David Gardner but he has not lived in it since the passing of his wife and four-year-old son in a boat wreck over a decade ago. If the Lennon's like the place he will sell it to them at a low price. The only condition is they must keep the caretaker Ben Taggart on. 

    

    They take the offer and Mr. Lennon heads out to the island with Diane, Peggy, Kathy, and Janet.

Once there they find the big, beautiful house still boarded up and dusty, apparently Mr. Taggart did not bother to get the place ready. The girls clean it up and all agree it seems like a mighty fine place to spend the summer (why did I just say "mighty fine"? The Lennon wholesomeness must be rubbing off on me). 

    That night Janet runs into Peggy's room during a thunderstorm insisting that she heard voices outside her second floor window. Peggy tells her she was imagining it but when she goes to Janet's room to shut the windows for the night she too hears it. The next day she discusses it with her father who reasons the voices were probably coming from Taggart's two way radio. However we soon learn that the radio is broken and Taggart is awfully worried about it. He is expecting a message from Don Luis about a ship that is looking to pick up some illegal cargo in a few days. He's already stressed about the Lennons being there but even more stressed now that he doesn't know when the ship will be arriving. 

    The Lennon's decide they will remain for the summer so Mr. Lennon heads back home to pick up the rest of the family (there was 11 Lennon kids, don'tcha know). Taggart takes him to the airport and while in town he reports to Chris Lugo who he is working for. Lugo is evil and cruel and Taggart fears him. Lugo talks about how he is suppose to be watching his cousin's son, Juan, while the father is in Mexico but after he beat him Juan ran away. Lugo, worried Juan knows what they're up to, made a false police report saying Juan stole from his cash register and he plans on beating him more when he gets him back.

    Taggart hopes that he can scare the girls into remaining inside at night so they don't see his criminal dealings but the girls prove hard to scare. He fakes a loose mountain lion but the girls quickly learn they've been deceived and ignore it. Next he tries to scare them by giving one of the girls a "close call". 

    

    While Janet is fishing off the edge of the pier he suggests she go to the end of a large path of boulders out to sea. She gets trapped when the tide comes in and is soon washed out into the water. Taggart has removed a board from the rowboat so it can't be used for rescue so Diane has to dive in to try and save Janet. By the time she reaches where Janet was she's no longer there and after more searching the girls come to the conclusion that Janet has drown.

    Of course Janet didn't actually drown, she was just swept further down the shore and, as she grows weak, is rescued by Juan who has been hiding out in the area. He tows Janet into a seafront cave to recover, introduces her to his talking parrot who is the answer to the voices outside Janet window, and shows her a secret underground passage to get out of the cave and back home. He also tells Janet she can not reveal who saved her and to just say someone named John Smith saved her. She goes home and the girls are relieved to see her. Diane feels something is strange about this John Smith but they're too grateful to care much. Upon hearing the story Taggart immediately knows John Smith is actually Juan and decides to find him and turn him over to Lugo.

    The next day Janet and Peggy go up a hill and overlook the cliff onto a cove at the same time that Don Luis shows up with the ship. The ship is disguised as a motion picture outfit shooting on location. Janet wants to go down to the beach to watch but Taggart scares the girls off by causing a wild bull stampede. 

    As the girls head back to the house Kathy joins them and then all three come across Juan. Kathy and Juan seem smitten with each other and the girls suggest he spend the night in the nearby storage cabin until their father arrives the next day and can help him. When Juan goes to check out the cabin he finds Taggart and Don Louis inside examine boxes of advanced weaponry, Lugo soon joins them. Juan overhears enough to learn the men are selling weapons to an undisclosed countries revolutionaries. He tells Janet this info when she brings him food that night but Diane has already been telling the girls Juan has probably been making up stories and this convinces Janet. He tells Janet he will prove it by retrieving a gun from the cabin. When Janet goes back to the house after he leaves she confronts Taggart in front of the other girls. Taggart says the guns are props for the movie being shot but quickly heads to the cabin and catches Juan and tie him up inside.

    The girls think it over and decide to call the police but find the phone lines have been cut. Diane goes outside to examine the wires but Taggart tries to run her down in his car and she barely makes it inside when he backs up to try again. 

    Soon a tipsy man comes knocking on the house door and warns the girls they'll be safe as long as they stay inside until morning but if they get caught outside some of the other men might harm them. They decide they have to go to the cabin to grab evidence so they can tell the police the next morning. 

    Peggy and Kathy create a diversion at an upstairs window while Dianne and Janet sneak out of the house. Once they get to the cabin they see the men moving the boxes of weapons and are able to sneak in and free Juan. They all run to Taggart's car but find he's taken the keys with him so the just release the air from a tire. 

    Not much later they are able to steal Lugo's car while he is distracted by Juan's bird. The men fire at them but Diane drives the car at a crazy speed towards town. They run out of gas several miles away and begin to walk when Jim West, the co-pilot from their flight to the island, drives by. It's now early morning and he's on his way to work. 

    After hearing the trios story he takes them to the coast guard where they tell the story again. Afterwards they go to town and are about to start walking home when Peggy and Kathy pull up in Taggart's car, still with a flat tire. The five stay there until the rest of the family soon shows up on the boat. The coast guard also shows up with the criminals in tow.

    On the way back to the house Dianne tells Mr. Lennon about Juan's rescue of Janet and Mr. Lennon decides he would like to pay for Juan to go to school and college as a thank you. Mr. Lennon needs to run it by Juan's father, Bernardo, first but Juan does not know how to reach his father in Mexico. He suggests Padre Antonio at the church might since he is friends with Bernardo. Mr. Lennon goes there and is told that the padre had received a letter from Bernardo yesterday saying he is not Juan's real father and that he has married a Mexican women with children and does not plan on returning to claim Juan. 

    Mr. Lennon asks padre Antonio to come by the house the following day to tell Juan this. Upon hearing this Mrs. Lennon wants to adopt Juan into their large family and this seems like a fine solution until some startling facts surface the next day.

    David Gardner has arrived on the island to get things signed over for the Lennon's and while there he witness Juan access a hidden compartment on his desk and pull out a toy that belonged to Gardner's deceased son. Juan knows the name of the toy and from there it becomes clear that Juan Lopez is actually Johnny Gardner, the son formally thought drowned in the boating accident. The Lennons soon depart so the father and son can restart their lives together.

- Mr. Lennon isn't very smart to leave his 4 famous daughters alone with a strange man.

- Juan's bird kind of disappears from the story which I don't really like.

- Ages aren't really mentioned in this book which kind of sucks. I'm not sure if Janet was suppose to be 7? 13? somewhere in between? Same with the other girls.

- Bernardo abandoning Juan is not seen as bad since he's not his "real" father but he's raised him since he was 4 so that'd be pretty traumatic. Also why did he not find Juan's family? His father would have been hopeful and looking I'm sure.

    Overall this book was okay. It had less excitement than I remembered but there was still some. Some parts do feel boring and dragged out, I'm not sure a child would get through it too easily, it just feels very long. But all in all it's not bad and I think it must have been fun for the family to have a book like this written which includes not just the sisters but the whole family.

Annette: Mystery at Medicine Wheel

    As I've mentioned many times before I acquired a random assortment of Whitman books when piecing together a Donna Parker series when I was a young teenager. This is one of the few I ended up reading, the others all sat around for a few years before I read them. I did read this one because I got really curious what a "medicine wheel" was. I re-read it a couple times, I specifically remember re-reading it during the summer when I was 16. The last time I re-read it was a couple years ago and I remember finding it lackluster. 

    After purchasing an expensive prom dress and being careless with her finances overall, Uncle Archie has decided to send Annette to Wyoming for the summer to work on a ranch belonging to her second cousins, Sophie and Martha Lowery. 

    Part of her punishment involves her having to leave her car at home so she is on a rickety bus traveling out into the country with the only other passenger being an "Indian" boy who gives her mean looks. 

    While at a filling station the bus is hijacked by a raggedy looking and severely sunburned "youth" who threatens Annette and the boy with a large wrench. He drives out into the wilds then marches them out of the bus and up a ravine. There the boy pounces on him and he falls, hits his head on a rock, and goes unconscious. The two run up to Medicine Wheel, a rock setup on the circular top of a mountain. The boy prays and insists that they will be safe now. 

    He starts walking and Annette follows him. He's headed back to the filling station but it's a long and rough journey. He moves fast and doesn't care whether Annette can keep up or not. The only times he looks at her are to either glare at her or laugh in amusement at her torn clothes and shoes. 

    After walking for hours they make a campfire in a ravine for the night then walk for another 6 hours the next day. The boy is fine but Annette gets in really rough shape. Her dainty shoes have holes in them and her feet have become swollen, bruised, and raw along with her stockings becoming nothing but shreds. When they finally get to the filling station Annette passes out. 

    She awakes to find that there has been a search for them and everyone has assumed that the Indian boy, John Running, had stolen the bus and kidnapped her. Annette defends him and is told by the police that John had been in trouble with the law before and that he hates all white people with the exception of his employers; Sophie and Martha Lowery. 

    Sophie soon arrives and takes the two to the Ranch where Annette eats, bathes, and sleeps until late the next morning. The next day Annette is shown around and shown the work she'll be doing which is helping with meals, tending the garden, collecting the mail, and mainly doing odd jobs. 

    Annette rides upland with Sophie to take supplies to Sam, one of their ranch hands who is staying in a little cabin to keep an eye on the cows that have been placed there for the summer. When they arrive they find Sam had been attacked the previous night by someone giving him a head injury and stealing all his food, his shotgun, and a shirt. Both women suspect that it's the same person who hijacked the bus, Tom Nally.

    Tom Nally is a 20-something-year-old boy who's family lives on the next ranch over, if you can even call it a ranch as it's small and rundown. He recently escaped prison where he was serving a sentence for his second store robbery. Sophie has Sam come back with them and precautions are put in place; Annette has to stay within open clearings and not journey anywhere someone could be hiding, the doors are to be locked at night, and Sophie starts keeping a loaded shotgun with her at night. Sophie has to use the shotgun twice when they hear chickens being stolen in the middle of the night, the first time appears to be a man and the second a coyote.

    While out one day Annette sees a girl her age and is eager to make acquaintances but the girl flees. Annette finds out she is Mary Nally and she tends to stay away from people. After her brother, Tom, was arrested she and her family began being tormented by the townsfolk, including an incident where a group of boys ran their horses around the house at night, breaking windows, and taunting the family. This scary incident weakened Mr. Nally's health when he was already sick in bed with severe heart problems, and he passed away two weeks later. Mary has since dropped out of school and now she spends all her time taking care of her ill mother, working on her ranch, taking any outside work she can find, and being alone with her dog and horse.

    After Annette is informed that there will be three paying guest arriving at the ranch, a professor and his 16 and 8 year old sons, Annette is determined to befriend Mary so she can help her entertain the boys. She finally does and her and Mary become good friends. The guest show up and Kevin, the 16-year-old, turns out to be a cocky jerk. He doesn't want to do anything while Ronnie, his little brother, wants to do everything. Annette finally gets Kevin to join in on a horse ride and they go to Mary's house where Kevin appears to instantly get a crush on her. 

    He soon causes some serious problems when he hears about the chickens going missing and decides to take care of the problem himself. He sneaks Sophie's shotgun and takes watch outside of the chicken coup. Everyone wakes up when they hear him shooting. He shoots and kills the coyote but also shoots and kills all twelve of the chickens in the process.

    The next trouble Kevin causes is when he decides to help with the hay field and starts a fire with a cigarette match. The fire gets extinguished before doing too much damage but everyone is very sick of him by that point.

    Soon Mary shows up asking for help because her mothers illness has gotten much worse and after a doctors check it's discovered she has tuberculosis and needs to go to a sanitarium. Although invited to stay with the Lowery's she insists on staying at her ranch alone. However two nights later she shows up at night, having ridden over on a bare horse and saying she was scared and wanted to stay. Even though she doesn't mention it everyone assumes Tom had showed up and scared her.

    Kevin asks for a pack trip into the mountains before summer is over so the group soon heads up to Medicine Mountain. It's a several day trip to their camp where they stay for several more days. Annette, John, Mary, Kevin, and Ronnie go to look at medicine wheel and Kevin begins throwing the formation rocks over the edge causing almost a third physical fight between him and John. While there Mary also comes clean about Tom having been in the area and causing trouble for her. She says he had been hiding out around medicine wheel but she believed he's gone now.

    After Kevin disappears for a day he shows back up with a shotgun, Sam's stolen shotgun, saying he had found it at an abandoned camp. He says that it's his now since he's the one to find it and becomes almost violently angry when Sam takes it from him. 

    That night the camp wakes up to the sound of Kevin having shot off the gun which causes the horses to bolt. The next day the campers go out to find the horses and Annette finds herself being confronted by Tom Nally who has stolen the gun back from the camp. Mary soon stumbles upon them and Tom orders Annette to go fetch him food and clothes from their camp while he holds Mary hostage. 

    John stumbles upon Annette stealing the items and she breaks down crying and tells the story as Kevin shows up. The boys tell her to continue with her orders but try and bide time. After bringing the items Tom matches the girls up the mountain and is going to kill them when John and Kevin pounce on him. Tom takes off running and Kevin gets a chance to show off his gunmanship by skillfully shooting Tom in the leg. They tie him up and bring him back to camp where the whole group begins the 15 hour trek back.

    The visitors are leaving in two days but push it back an extra day to be there to celebrate Mary's birthday. For her present Annette spends all the money she made working that summer on a bus ticket for Mary to come home with her and go back to school.

- The book opens with action which is what makes it better than any of the other Annette books. It captures your interest very fast with the bus being hijacked.

- At one point Annette uses a bridle on a horse that suffocated the horse to get it to do what you want and I think that's really horrifying and disgusting.

- Although it turns out John is 14, which is a year or two younger than Annette I still wish there had been a romance between them. I feel like it would have fit in wonderfully.

    Overall this book is alright. Kevin got pretty annoying and I feel like there could have been more time spent on building up the mystery, it feels more like it bookends the story only.