THE GHOST ON SATURDAY NIGHT
illustrated by Laura Cornell & by Sid Fleischman
As Great Aunt Etta, Opie's guardian, has promised to buy him a horse with her 1877 bank-deposited penny as soon as he saves up enough for a saddle, Opie who can streak (his word) through town with his eyes closed goes into the fog business as a guide in order to earn the necessary $17.59. And earn it he does, though not as expected; he receives the saddle as a reward for catching a bank robber. For Opie, alerted when an itinerant, fraudulent ghost raiser pays him for an errand with Aunt Etta's rare penny — guides the culprit, who asks on a foggy Saturday night to be steered out of town, straight into the arms of the sheriff. Another successful Fleischman concoction of flimflam and smart footwork.