Meanwhile, Leslie's dog discovers a buried burlap sack on the beach. Leslie and her new friend, Phyllis, open the sack, finding a strange locked chest with a dragon carved around all sides. As more odd events unfold, the girls realize that someone is hunting for the chest. The girls keep the chest hidden as they search for clues to the chest's owner.
This is a very good to excellent story.
In The Mystery at Number Six, Bernice has recently come to live in Florida. Bernice and her cousin, Sydney, visit abandoned phosphate mines while Sydney fishes. The young people discover a farmhouse near phosphate mine Number Six, and a strange young girl lives there. Bernice and Sydney learn that the girl's name is Delight, and her past is a mystery. Delight seems quite frightened of Jerry and his wife, who are the people who take care of her. Strangely, Delight likes Jerry even though she is afraid of him. Mystified, Bernice and Sydney hope that they can help Delight.
The word "cracker" is a pejorative term for white people. Seaman uses "cracker" to describe Jerry's wife. I was puzzled about Seaman's use of the term, since I doubted that she was using it in a pejorative way. I looked it up to try to figure out exactly what it means in this book.At first, I thought that the word is used to mean "redneck," which is what makes the most sense to me. However, that cannot be right. I discovered that Floridians who are descended from colonial Florida settlers are "Florida crackers." The word is not pejorative in that context, and I believe that is the intended meaning in this book. However, Jerry's wife is a bad person, so I like interpreting the meaning as derogatory.
The book does have other obvious racial stereotypes. On page 49, Indians are referred to as an "ignorant lot."
I did not find this book as interesting as Seaman's other books. I skimmed the last few chapters.
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