Research Holp

Notes for #28 The Hudson River Mystery © 1979
Page #	Quote
13	Trixie and her best friend, Honey Wheeler, were spending the day helping Mrs. Belden with late-fall chores in the garden.
14	Trixie: "Between my baking yak and those clunder-thouds, I think it's time we took a break." Honey: "What was that you said?" Trixie: "Mart amused Bobby one afternoon with those things where you mix up the initial sounds of words — spoonerisms."
15	Trixie: "Bobby's driving everyone crazy. He's even getting on Brian's nerves, and that takes some doing."
16	Honey: "I could massage your neck. My mother finds that soothing." Trixie: "Just a few more minutes with Miss Wheeler's Health Spa for Overworked Teen-agers."
17	Trixie felt a chill in the October air.
18	Dan was thin and quiet, with long black hair and sideburns. Dan's present ambition was to be a policeman.
19	Honey's caution provided a balance to Trixie's forcefulness, just as her tall, slim figure and long golden hair provided a contrast to Trixie's strong, sturdy figure and short sandy curls.
21	Trixie: "Brian's off somewhere with Loyola." Dan: "Who?" Trixie: "Loyola Kevins. She's in the same chemistry class as you and Brian. She's that short black girl with steel-rimmed glasses. Very skinny and really smart. Brian thought it was a lucky break that they got to be lab partners. They've been down at the river every chance they could get." Dan: "Brian told me they were collecting water samples for some ecological survey — for their semester project."
22	Trixie: "Brian thinks she's really nice. She usually packs a lunch and she makes a Waldorf salad and she doesn't even like it."
23	Trixie: "Brian said something this morning about meeting Loyola at Killifish Point." Dan: "That's not even on the game preserve is it?" Trixie: "It's actually part of Sleepyside. It's on the northern outskirts of town."
27	Brian: "With the Sleepyside Conservation Committee already expressing an interest in the results of our project, I think we ought to do the best job we can."
28	The normally placid Hudson had turned a sickly gray. The grayness was what made a black triangle, cutting slowly through the murky water, stand out. Trixie: "It is a fin! What in the world is a shark doing in the Hudson River?"
30	Dan: "Sorry, Trix, but I think getting back safely is more important than the, uh, figments of your imagination."
31	Brian: "Even Mrs. Cowles, our chemistry teacher, can't believe how much Loyola knows about the river." Loyola: "If only the school could get more money from the Sleepyside Conservation Committee to establish a floating laboratory."
32	Loyola: "Sharks are marine animals — they're generally found in salt water. And the Hudson along here is fresh water." Brian: "I'm feeling too tired to deal with engine problems tonight."
34	Trixie recalled Brian telling her that Loyola's parents were dead and that she lived with her grandfather in a small apartment in Sleepyside. Brian: "I'm so hungry I could faint. I don't know why, but I feel like my jalopy must feel when its tank is just about empty."
38	Loyola: "You might want to talk to a friend of mine, Thea Van Loon. She's a children's book writer who happens to know a great deal about the Hudson. She's here researching for a children's book she's working on called The Wild and Wonderful Hudson. She spends quite a bit of time by the river."
40	Brian: "I was going to give Loyola a ride home, but I'm really bushed. We've got a big chemistry test tomorrow, and I'd like to get in a little studying." Loyola: "I've already studied."
41	West Point and Middletown Konnosook and Doodletown Kakiak and Mamapaw Stony Point and Haverstraw. Mart: "That was a rhyme people used to teach place names along the river."
43	Di: "Just last month, I took the twins swimming at the Croton Point beach."
45	Jim: "Don't be so gullible, Di. You know Trixie's hyperactive imagination as well as I do."
50	Brian: "I had an accident with my car …"
51	Brian: "Instead of backing into the space like I should have done, for some reason I decided to pull forward. I sort of blacked out. The next thing I knew, I had steered the jalopy right into the next car!"
53	Mrs. Belden: "Since you've come home, you've seemed a little cranky and irritable. It might be best if you didn't do any driving for a week or so."
57	Thea Van Loon was in her early thirties. Her faded jeans and nondescript top were not exactly high fashion. She was barely taller than Trixie and on the plain side.
62	Brian: "I found out today that I didn't do as well on that chemistry test yesterday as I had hoped."
63	Brian: "I just feel weak a lot of the time, kind of sluggish. Sometimes I feel sick to my stomach, and sometimes I feel like someone is squeezing my chest. I don't want to worry anyone. The fact is, I'm having trouble deciding whether I'm really sick or if it's just nerves."
65	Brian: "That's the worst part of this whole business. I just can't seem to remember what I ever saw in becoming a doctor."
74	Brian: "Moms is making a special birthday dinner for me tonight."
75	Mrs. Belden's dinner of baked ham, scalloped potatoes, buttered carrots, and spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. Mr. Belden: "Your astrological sign is Libra, isn't it Brian?" Mart: "But he's close enough to Scorpio to be influenced by that sign too."
76	Mart: "He's gentle, well-balanced, and sympathetic to pain, just like a Libra. Plus he's quiet, determined, and intelligent — just like Scorpio's are supposed to be." Mrs. Belden brought an angel food cake to the table, and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Brian.
77	Brian had not regained consciousness by the time the ambulance attendants entered and began loading him onto a stretcher.
78	Mart: "Brian's been poisoned."
79	Mart: "Cyanide detoxification is quite rapid. Moms said that there usually aren't any permanent aftereffects."
81	Mrs. Belden: "It seems that poison's been building up in Brian's body for some time. The doctors think he's been getting it gradually, in small doses."
84	Trixie: "Brian's the only one in our family who got sick, so it can't be something in our kitchen!" Loyola: "Gee, I'm really sorry to hear that. He was my only competition around here! Tell him to take it easy and not to worry about our project. I can handle it on my own till he gets back."
86	Trixie: "If that isn't just like you (Brian)! To be worried about me when you're the one in trouble!"
87	Brian: "Loyola wants to become a top-notch scientist, and competition in her field is very intense."
88	Brian: "You want to be a detective so much that you leap to conclusions — conclusions that could hurt people. Loyola would be crushed if she ever heard what you were saying. I really appreciate your concern for me the last few days. But now it's time for me to show my concern for you, Trix. I know I tease you a lot — but I honestly think you have a great career ahead of you — if you can control that habit of jumping to conclusions."
93	Trixie: "The other day I found out that our very own Hudson River inspired one of the world's first detective stories. One of Edgar Allan Poe's earliest stories was called 'The Mystery of Marie Roget.' It was based on the true story of the discovery of a murdered girl, Mary Rogers, in the Hudson!"
94	Thea: "The only treasure Kidd buried around here was supposed to have been dug up centuries ago, before he was even hanged." Trixie: "I've heard that too. But those pirates were awfully sneaky about finding good hiding places. So it doesn't do any harm to dream about stumbling on treasure that's been overlooked for years and years."
97	In the late-afternoon light, Trixie could see a peculiar formation of rocks up ahead. Trixie: "It looks like some kind of hole cut right into the cliff."
99	As careful as she was, she nearly toppled right into what looked like a large pit. She looked down into the pit and saw water.
103	The man was about sixty or seventy years old, with a full white beard and ruddy complexion.
104	"I'm a commercial fisherman. My name's Pat Bunker."
105	Bunker: "I guess you don't realize that this here is an old silver mine that was tunneled into the cliff."
106	Trixie: "Have you ever seen any (sharks) around here?" Bunker: "As far as I can recollect the last shark was captured in these parts about thirty years ago."
107	Bunker: "Ocean tides from the Atlantic can attract unusual saltwater fishes. They use the tides to work their way upriver to places they aren't supposed to be."
108	A small catboat was floating past, close enough so that Trixie could see the two young boys inside it. On the boat's one sail was printed it's name, Quarter Moon, as well as a picture of a crescent moon.
109	Bunker: "I also know who that boat belongs to — a couple of boys by the names of Ken and Carl. Spoiled rich kids, and none too handy with a boat either."
115	Ken: "We were coming down from Haverstraw Bay. That's where we live."
116	The two freckled towheads were silent. Trixie: Jeepers, is Brian ever going to make a super doctor. I wonder if he's thought about becoming a ped - pedia- doctor for children. He's got those kids wrapped around his finger. It was Trixie who first noticed the small houseboat cruising toward them. Across its side, The Kruller II was spelled out.
117	Directly behind the houseboat, attached to it with a rope, was the Quarter Moon. Trixie: "So that's where Bunker disappeared to!"
119	Bunker: "Lawrence Krull was my fishing partner — and my best friend. I named it after him. Krull went down with our first boat right here in the Hudson about two years ago."
120	Honey: "You (Brian) have a way of letting people know you really care. I'll bet your future patients are going to follow your instructions right down to the letter.
121	Trixie: "I've heard there used to be a whole group of artists here called the Hudson River School." Brian: "Di said it was the first group of Americans to develop a distinct type of landscape painting." Trixie: "And they painted the very same scenes and farms and fisherman and everything we see every day."
122	Loyola: "At the last minute I take whole apples and simply cut them up and throw them in. I've never been that crazy about apples." Brian: "How did such a good thing get stuck with a name like Waldorf?"
123	Honey: "It's named after the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. I think one of their chefs invented it. Trixie: "Why are you poisoning my brother? Because he's too much competition?"
124	Trixie hadn't prepared herself for any reaction at all, much less for this. She stared at her red-faced brother, realizing that this was the angriest she'd ever seen him.
125	Loyola: "I had no idea the seeds were poisonous." Trixie: "She (Loyola) always acted as if the project were much more important than your health."
127	Loyola: "Trixie, I can kind of see how you reached your conclusion. I'm not anywhere fanatic enough to start killing off my competition, but you're not the first person who's told me I'm too intense about getting good grades. Sometimes I'm so eager to reach my personal goal that I'm insensitive to others."
129	Mrs. Belden: "I was just about to tell the doctors about all the canning I've been doing in case there was something I've been doing wrong."
132	After dinner, Mr. Belden suggested a round of gin rummy in the living room. Mrs. Belden: "Too many people. What about poker?" A fast and furious game was soon underway. Despite the fact that only poker chips were at stake, the adults and teenagers all threw themselves enthusiastically into the game.
133	Loyola: "Thea told me once that children make her a little uncomfortable. But I'm sure she'll love Bobby once she gets to know him."
136	Bobby: "She's (Thea) a pretty good storyteller. But not as good as you Trixie." Trixie: "Why not?" Bobby: "She didn't put her arm around me the way you do."
137	Bobby: "That's what makes a story good you know."
139	Brian: "It's occurred to me that you should take a water safety course, Trix. That might give you the confidence you need." Mart: "We've heard the rumors. Like the one about how your math teacher is going to start charging admission to let people in to see you perform in class. As the Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland says, there are four branches of arithmetic - 'Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.' You only now about one - Distraction!"
143	Jim: "Look at it this way, Trixie. You'd be laughing at me if I told you I saw, say, a unicorn in the game preserve, or if Honey started blabbering about Dracula inside the clubhouse."
152	Brian: "Mrs. Cowles told Loyola and me today that, based on what they've seen of our project so far, the Conservation committee has definitely decided to award our school the money for the floating lab."
156	Brian: "I forgot to tell you that Loyola and I saw Bunker again yesterday."
157	Brian: "He seemed to be rescuing two divers."
159	Trixie: "I've been racking my brain all week trying to decide what costume I should wear. Mart suggested that I go as Sherlock Holmes, but that sounds too complicated, and besides, I'd probably choke of the pipe."
162	Honey: "You are rude, Trixie Belden!"
163	Honey: "What makes you think that her book is any of our business? Trixie, you can't just go around telling perfect strangers how to manage their lives!"
165	Trixie: "Remember, when we joked about Thea's reading Alice in Wonderland? Do you believe it — she does! A poem was circled in red pencil.
166	How doth the little crocodile Improve his shining tail And pour the waters of the Nile On every golden scale! How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in With gently smiling jaws!
167	Trixie: "Look what she was using for a bookmark! It's a newspaper clipping from a Poughkeepsie paper. It's about a retired couple … and how they dug up a fortune in gold in their backyard."
170	Honey: "We voted to make costumes optional, remember? I didn't realize that we were also voting to make your brain optional." Trixie: "I just had a super idea! Let's go as each other!"
171	Trixie was able to fit into Honey's clothes, but because Honey was taller, the skirt hung down to a ludicrous length, the trim vest became lumpy, and the blouse sleeves hampered Trixie's fingers. Honey, on the other hand looked like a scarecrow, in loose-fitting jeans that stopped well above her ankles and a sweater with sleeves that stopped well above her wrists.
176	Trixie: "Shall we depart, Boney Treeler? We're so mixed-up now — that our names might as well be too. Let's see, that makes me Whixie Helden!"
177	In the vaguely lit clearing were two dark shapes. The smaller shape was nowhere near as attention attracting as the larger one. It was several feet long, black, and shaped like a torpedo.
178	Rising from its middle was the silhouette of a triangular fin!
179	Mart: "Well, Di, I guess we can consider ourselves arrived."
180	Mart: "I asked Mary Brendan, a friend of mine who's taking a stagecraft class, to help me."
181	The whole group turned to Di, smothering their laughter at the sight of her hooded sweatshirt, on which were sewn dozens of brown, black, and white feathers. Mart: "That's Latin for the quail known as the bob-white."
188	Thea's silver sports car faced the river … there were two divers in black rubber wet suits.
191	Honey: "She (Thea) sent us over the cliff in her car! We're going to drown!"
195	Honey: "It's the Quarter Moon!"
199	Trixie: "She (Thea) lives off of treasure that she hires other people to ferret out for her!"
200	Trixie: "Look at all the trouble she went to with those shark fins. I think she had her divers use them as signals when they had something to bring back to shore!"
201	Trixie: "It's all fitting together. Even about Thea's car. I don't know why it never occurred to me before that it was stolen."
205	Bunker: "When I saw what that woman was willing to do to protect our treasure, I knew I had to slip away from that gang and call the police." Sgt. Molinson: "I found out that she was wanted under various aliases in five states, on charges that include auto theft, tax evasion and stealing buried or sunken treasure. I guess that'll teach me not to be so skeptical when you call me with hot tips!"
207	Bunker: "She hired me to pick up the divers and keep quiet about it."
208	Sgt. Molinson: "In the backseat were several sacks of what's already been identified as Etruscan gold jewelry."
209	Trixie: "Why don't you donate half of the money you get to the Sleepyside Conservation Committee?" Bunker: "Yes, little lady, I think that's just what I'm going to do!"