Swish! Swish!
Benny opened one eye. What was that noise?
He peered at the clock that sat on the bedside table between him and Henry. It read 3:04 A.M.
Swish! Swish! Crack!
It was a warm night, and all the windows were open. Whatever it was, the noise was coming from outside.
“Benny? Are you awake?” Henry whispered.
“Yes,” Benny said nervously. He turned to Henry. “I hear something outside.”
“I hear it, too,” Henry said. “Let’s go see what it is.”
The boys got up and went over to the window. Something was moving at the far corner of the maze, but the boys couldn’t tell what it was.
There was a soft knock at the bedroom door.
“It’s Jessie and Violet,” Jessie whispered through the closed door. “We think there’s someone in the maze!”
“We know,” Henry said as Benny opened the door. “The noise woke us up, too.”
Violet flipped on the hall light. “I think we should wake Grandfather and Ken and see what’s going on.”
“Good thinking,” Henry said. He went to knock on Ken’s door while Jessie knocked on Grandfather’s door.
“Wake up! There’s someone in the maze!” Henry and Jessie said at the same time.
Grandfather and Ken both came out of their rooms. Grandfather wore a blue bathrobe over his pajamas. Ken wore a white bathrobe and leaned on his cane.
“What’s going on?” Grandfather asked.
“We don’t know,” Jessie said. “We heard noises outside. When we looked out the window, we saw something moving in the maze.”
“Let’s go check it out,” Ken said.
Everyone padded down the stairs. Ken grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen drawer, then turned on the back porch light. The night air felt warm as the Aldens stepped out onto the porch.
The swishing noise was much louder outside. The Aldens peered into the darkness, waiting for their eyes to adjust. It sounded like … someone was chopping down the cornstalks!
Henry and Grandfather hurried toward the maze.
The noise stopped.
“Hello?” Grandfather called. “Is anyone there?”
“Oh, no!” Henry groaned as they drew closer to the maze.
Someone had indeed chopped down part of it.
Just then, a dark figure emerged from the gaping hole in the rows of corn. The person was wearing a ski mask and a hood and carried something in his hand. He took one look at Henry and Grandfather, then bolted in the opposite direction.
“Hey, stop!” Henry called. He ran after the intruder. Jessie, Violet, and Benny were close behind.
They chased the person around the side of the house toward the road. It was so dark they couldn’t see the person, but they could still hear running footsteps.
In the distance they heard a car or truck start up and drive away.
“We lost him,” Violet said mournfully. The Aldens stopped running. Jessie put her hands on her knees to try to catch her breath.
“Maybe not,” Henry said, his chest heaving. “Listen! I still hear footsteps!”
The others heard the footsteps, too.
“Come on!” Jessie said. They all started running again. They ran in the direction of the footsteps … straight into Mr. Sweeney.
The Aldens came to an abrupt halt.
“What are you kids doing up at this hour?” Mr. Sweeney asked gruffly. He wore a dark hooded sweatshirt over dark pajamas.
“There was someone in the maze,” Jessie explained.
“Someone was cutting down the cornstalks,” Benny put in.
“We saw him running this way, so we followed him,” Henry said.
Mr. Sweeney nodded. “I followed him, too. Is Ken up?”
“Yes,” Henry replied. “I think he and Grandfather are in the maze.”
They all trooped back around the corner. Grandfather and Ken were inspecting the damage with flashlights. Ken held a piece of paper in his hand.
“What’s that?” Benny asked.
“It’s another note,” Ken said. He handed it to Henry.
“It’s just like the last one,” Jessie said.
Letters from magazine headlines had been cut out and pasted to the paper. The message read: CANCEL THE KING CORN DAYS FESTIVAL OR ELSE!
“Or else what?” Violet whispered.
“I don’t think I want to find out,” Ken said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Perhaps I should cancel the festival.”
“What?” Jessie cried.
“You can’t do that!” Violet and Benny exclaimed.
Mr. Sweeney took a few steps into the maze, put his hands on his hips, and looked around.
“I don’t think you’ve got much choice but to cancel,” Mr. Sweeney told Ken. “One whole section of the field is gone. It’s been cut down. I don’t know how we can repair the damage this time.”
Ken shook his head sadly. “I just don’t understand this. Why would somebody want to destroy my maze? Why would somebody want me to cancel the festival?”
“You have absolutely no idea who might be behind this, Ken?” Jessie pressed.
“None at all.”
“Mr. Sweeney, did you get a good look at the intruder?” Henry asked.
“It was too dark,” Mr. Sweeney said.
“We know one thing about him,” Benny said.
“What’s that?” Violet asked.
“He sure can run fast,” Benny said. “I’m exhausted!”
“You’re exhausted because it’s still the middle of the night,” Grandfather said.
Ken sighed. “There isn’t much we can do right now,” he said. “Maybe we should all try to get some more sleep. In the morning we’ll see how bad the damage is.”
The Aldens agreed, and they all trooped back into the house.
Violet got Benny a glass of water, and Henry and Jessie tucked him in.
“How come we didn’t see Mr. Sweeney out back by the maze?” Benny asked. “We saw the bad person, but we didn’t see Mr. Sweeney.”
“That’s a good question, Benny,” Jessie said. “Mr. Sweeney was chasing the person, too. But he got around the house before we did. It seems like either Mr. Sweeney should have been far enough ahead of us to catch the intruder or we should have seen Mr. Sweeney chasing the intruder, too.”
“It was dark,” Violet said. “It’s so hard to know what really happened.” The other children nodded.
“Maybe we should talk to Mr. Sweeney in the morning,” Henry said.
Benny looked a little nervous. “Do you think the bad person will be back tonight?” he asked.
“I don’t think so, Benny,” Jessie said.
“He’s done enough damage for one night,” Henry added. “Besides, he knows we’re on the case!”
Benny grinned. “And we’ll solve it!”