The Tree-House Watch

2/5 ( ratings)

An exciting mystery story in which some lively children and a splendid dog help bring to justice a pair of outlaws.
When Edith, Tom and Amy Thorpe heard they were going to have neighbors actually within sight of the play Tree house they had built on their Arizona ranch, they were more than delighted. They had all outdoors for their playground, and their big black dog, The Don, for company. They loved to help their father at his mine and go to school in summer when the roads were clear. But there were few children their own age around and they longed for the friendship of other boys and girls.
It soon became obvious, however, that the newcomers, the Prices, felt differently about living in the West. Mrs. Price seemed to think all Westerners were savages – and this in the Territory of Arizona in 1900! She hardly let the three Price children out of her sight. Mr. Price was friendly, but timid and nervous; so were Irene, Polly and Dickie Price. In fact, the whole family seemed to live in fear of something that had happened before they came West.
The Thorpe children were sure this fear had to do with the strangers Smith and Robinson, the peculiar ‘miners’ who did so little mining. They decided to find out for themselves what lay behind the odd behavior of the Prices, and they did find out. What they discovered led to much more of an adventure than they had ever suspected.
Laura Kent Klyce not only tells an absorbing story for readers of ten to fourteen; she also paints a vivid picture of how imaginative and resourceful children managed to fill their days with fun and to keep busy and happy in the era before movies, radio, TV, and the comics. An outstanding feature of the story is the warm family relationships and the children who talk and behave like real children.