Research Holp

Notes for #25 The Sasquatch Mystery © 1979
Page # Quote
14 While her parents had gone to a mining conference in Switzerland, Hallie had spent part of one summer with Trixie and her family at Crabapple Farm. Now Hallie's parents were in South America, leaving their three teen-agers to welcome their New York friends to their favorite camping area, Champion Creek in northern Idaho.
15
  • Over six feet tall, Knut was from the handsome dark side of the family. His slightly waved black hair was brushed back like bird wings at rest. Firelight glinted on his unexpectedly heavy glasses.
  • Hallie called Cap "birdbrain." Capelton lay on the ground. Cap's long brown hair tied with a leather thong at the nape of a strong neck.
16
  • Cap wore Indian moccasins. His leather jacket dangled fringes.
  • Matt Wheeler had filled the vacant seats of his company's plane with the Bob-Whites of the Glen. Dan Mangan was the only Bob-White who had not been able to fly west, due to his temporary job as a counselor at an upstate New York boys camp.
17 At thirteen, Hallie was beautiful. Her bones were long and fragile-looking. her braided, smooth hair was as dark as Brian's. She had eyes the color of ripe blackberries and brows that would never need tweezers.
18 Trixie doubted that she would ever be able to overcome a niggle-naggle of jealousy. She herself weighed a few more pounds than any of the other girls, and she wasn't as tall.
21 Knut: "We're in northern Idaho's St. Joe National Forest."
23 An eerie cry that originated at the head of the canyon hit unseen cliffs and echoed endlessly. Fleep … fleeoweep-p-p-p!
24 When Trixie pulled in her breath to keep from screaming, she choked on the nauseating smell-taste of rotten fish and dead field mice.
28 Jim: "He really got carried away and labeled all of us geese, himself included. That is, unless Mart has recently resigned from the Bob-Whites."
29
  • Mart: "Betrayed first by my own tongue and then by my brother's."
  • Jim: "All in favor of accepting Hallie, Cap, and Knut as honorary new members."
32 Trixie watched them go, aware of an unexpected likeness they shared. Even though Mart was noisy and Cap quiet, Mart the performer and Cap the audience, Mart conservative in taste while Cap chose his own style, both shared a love of the earth itself.
33 Knut: "Cap's English teacher would say he never cracks a book, but she'd be wrong. He hangs around the forestry lookout and memorizes all the government pamphlets."
35 Several times during the night Trixie awoke, unused to being confined within a sleeping bag.
36 "if you need me, Capelton, whistle." "Okay, Knutson. I will."
38 A very tall thing stood what seemed like only a few feet from Cap. Arms dangled past its knees. It's head and shoulders were joined like grotesque snowballs pushed together to make a snowman. Covered with fur from head to toe, it stood upright like a man and exuded that choking odor of dead fish and mice.
45 As if marshaling troops, Miss Trask assigned tasks in a cheerful, efficient voice.
46 Cap: "I thought we left Ollie at home." Trixie knew that Ollie was their maid.
47 Cap: "The earth's surface is fragile. By the time we've left here, we'll have changed the whole growth schedule of all the plants we're walking on." Cap read tracks as if scanning the pages of a book.
51 A troop of boy campers marched into camp. "I'm Herb Galloway from Walla Walla." His eyes were watching shadows in the forest.
52 Cap: "Someone's going to get trigger-happy and shoot the sasquatch." Herb: "What's one sasquatch more or less if human lives are saved?"
53 Di: "Who's Tank?" Knut: "He's an old prospector we've known all our lives. He used to work for Dad. His real name is Anders Anderson, and he has a one-man operation at the head of this canyon." Cap: "Tank has lived alone so long he doesn't really know how to keep a conversation going. He always greets you with 'Ay tank de tistles be tick dis year.' So we call him Tank. He doesn't mind."
54 Cap: "He has a placer, or gravel, mine in a dry creek bed that forks off from our creek. He has a tight cabin and plants a few spuds, carrots, cabbage, and stuff like that. He's panned for gold in cold water so long that he's got 'rheumatiz.' Knut and I kind of look out for him."
58 Trixie had not expected a hermit miner to be over six feet tall, thin as a sapling and dressed in white. Even his bald head glowed whitely above a freshly shaven pink face.
60 Tank: "Ve got yust three seasons in the Yoe country. Yune, Yuly and Vinter."
63 Knut explained that Loverly was Tank's pet skunk.
69 A station wagon pulled up behind Cap's truck. A rangy man climbed out. Several children scrambled out. "I'd like a crack at that two-legged varmint. Whooey, think of that. Opie Swisher, first man in history to drop a real, live bigfoot!"
70 Yet another visitor, a slovenly young man, appeared. Sunburned and unshaven, he had uncombed yellow hair and an untrimmed yellow mustache.
71 "My name is Fred Swisher. I've got a camp down-crick a ways."
72 Trixie loved to sing, and so did the others.
73 Cap drew the men to the fire and introduced them, Will, Jinx, and Bo, friends of Cap's from the Forestry lookout. Will: "We're heading south for Big Dick creek."
82 Hallie: "If he (pack rat) steals your family jewels, he always leaves something in trade."
83 Knut: "I hope the rat visits me tonight! A few nuggets always come in handy." Trixie: "Gold?" Knut: "That's the best kind."
85 Mart: "What's wrong with stashing away a snack? I always chew when I read." Cap: "Not in our tent!"
89 Di: "I found a clue!" She guarded a bit of earth as if it were a gold mine.
99 Trixie whooshed down what was apparently an abandoned log chute.
104 Knut: "Uh, why did you slide down the chute?" Trixie: "It wasn't intentional."
110 Trixie: "How will I take a bath?" She waved her two white mitts. Di: "I'll help you."
111 Knut: "To understand what Hallie's saying, Di, you have to understand that she uses that in two different ways. One way refers to the size of a bird's brain, which you have to admit isn't very big. There are times when Cap deserves that name. But the other birdbrain — well, I wish I was one! A baby bird has the courage to flop out of the nest. From that moment on, it pits its strength and wits against its environment. After one round trip of migration, it has a map of its world imprinted on its brain. It knows its friends and it studies the habits of its enemies in order to survive and live in peace."
112 Hallie: "Cap belongs out in the woods. If you put him in a cage, he'd go crazy."
113 Knut: "Di, would you like to go with me (to town)?" Di instantly agreed. Jim: "I'll go with Hallie." So did Honey and Mart.
116 Hallie: "Tank always takes down his flag and lights a lantern in his yard at sundown."
121 Hallie: "Cap and Knut and I take care of each other. Those parents of ours in South America expect us to be stuck together with some kind of glue and at least recognizable when they get home."
123 Trixie moved around the circle to sit with Hallie. She was warmed by the smile of approval she got from Honey.
126
  • Trixie: "Who are the Duncans?" Hallie: "Gloria (Knut's girlfriend) and her family. The Duncans are family friends."
  • Brian: "How long does Cap usually go without food?" Knut: "He could live off the land indefinitely if he had to. Ron Duncan — that's Gloria's brother — is going to come out and help us search for Cap."
138 In Jim's extended palm lay a small gold locket. When he opened it, Trixie saw the smiling faces of a young couple dressed in a "gay nineties" style.
139 Knut: "Those are Tank's parents! Tank kept that locket in his nugget bag!" Hallie took the locket from Jim, snapped it shut and revealed the monogram "A.A." engraved on the front. Hallie: "Astrid Anderson. That was Tank's mother's name."
141 Hallie: "I can think! I can think that Trixie can solve everybody else's problems, but she isn't doing a darned thing to find Cap!" Shocked, Trixie waved her white mitts. Hallie: "I know your hands are bandaged! But your head isn't! As for you, Honey Wheeler, you haven't any excuse at all. You haven't any bandages on your head or hands!"
143 Knut: "It's supposed to be a secret, but under the circumstances, Tank won't mind my letting it out. He told me he wanted to give it (locket) to Hallie."
144 Knut: "Tank's eyes are growing weak. He can't see his parents' faces clearly. He wants me to have their picture enlarged to fit a new bone frame he's carved. Then he was going to let Hallie have the locket."
149 Di: "How big is a nugget bag?" Hallie measured an oblong of air, approximately the size of a slice of bread. Hallie: "It's made of doeskin and tied with a thong." Di: "So little?" Hallie: "I suppose you were hunting for a shopping bag."
150 When Hallie had visited Crabapple Farm, she had been "best friends" with Di. Even here, in an Idaho forest, Hallie had chosen Di for a tentmate.
160 Honey: "It didn't have a peashooter. Trixie imitated the beast's action. Honey: "That looked like a slingshot to me!"
161 Brian: "We turned around and came back. Then we found the truck with four flats."
168 Hallie: "What's so wacky about finding this stuff (tweezers and iced-tea spoon)? Those are prospector's tools. There's been a sniper at work."
175 Di: (shyly) "I think I know something that might help. I could make fudge."
176 Trixie suspected that Di was covering up nervousness and fright in the only way she knew how, by making a treat she could share.
178 Di rushed into the ring of firelight, hanging on to the candy as if she guarded crown jewels.
179 Mart: "Di, you just kicked a bear cub!"
181 They came back with a tall, thin boy wearing a red helmet and pushing a motorcycle - Ron.
182 Ron: "Sheriff Sprute will be here by daylight if I don't go back and tell him Cap has shown up."
183 Hallie: "Ron's hobby is taxidermy. He stuff what Cap can't mend."
184 Ron: "I don't know how they came to be all mixed up together, but that's what they are — deer, bear, and coyote. And thread."
190 Hallie: "Not till I've put that wagon out of commission. They're going to have some motor trouble."
192 Hallie: (drawled) "Don't kick it Diana. That's a cougar, and he's no house pet."
193 A cabin, ice cave, pump house, and mine, plus a lean-to for Tank's wood supply, made up the list of shelters.
194 Hallie completely lost her temper. She yelled and lunged toward Fred, prepared to throttle him with her bare hands. Di: (yelling with spirit) "Go get your slingshot!"
200 Trixie picked up the footstool and threw it with all her strength. It hit Fred in the back of one knee. Fred stepped into the long narrow slot he had torn in Tank's floor. Hallie snatched up a pail and clamped it over Fred's head. Honey jumped forward to help Hallie hold it on. Di dived for the lever.
206
  • Tank: "Ay stretched me some pelts and ay cut me some varm, fur yammers." Di: "Yammers?" Hallie: "Pajamas."
  • Tank: "Ay tank the young lady would like to know my hiding place (for the gold). It's hidden in chunks of ice in the bottom of me ice cave!"
209 Cap: "I've been walking from Cedar Mountain." Trixie saw that Cap's feet were bound with pieces of leather, tied with knotted thongs. Cap: "They (Swishers) stole my moccasins and dumped me. I've been walking ever since, but it was good-bye jacket."
210 Trixie marveled at the oneness with environment possessed by those two — a sixteen-year-old mountain man and an eighty-year-old hard-rock miner.