Dinosaur Blackout (15 page)

“We’ll know when he returns, because his truck will be there,” Daniel said, “But how will we know when he’s going to go to the past?”

“I’ll see if I can get him to confide in me,” she said.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean you’ll end up in cahoots with him and leave me behind again?”

Dr. Roost chuckled. “No, I honestly don’t want to go again, Daniel. My heart couldn’t take it.”

“You have a bad heart and you didn’t say anything!” Daniel scolded.

She shook her head. “I didn’t mean it literally. I just mean the excitement and danger is more than I want to deal with again.”

Daniel exhaled loudly. “Thank heavens!”

“Don’t get me wrong,” she added. “I love seeing and being part of prehistoric time, but I agree it’s simply too difficult to concentrate much on research with all the hazards. I don’t like worrying about being eaten by some horrific creature with vicious claws and giant serrated teeth, or stomped to death accidentally like an insect!”

“We’re in agreement on that at least!” Daniel said. “So how should we organize looking out for Mr. Pederson?”

“How about if I pop over there shortly and see what he’s up to and if I can find out when he’s going to town?” Mildred Roost suggested. “Then I’ll come back and report to you and we’ll make our plans.”

“Sounds good,” said Daniel. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, young man!” she said. “Besides, you were right, I do have a soft spot for Ole Pederson and I don’t want to see him get injured doing something foolish. We have a few years left in us yet to spend some time together. And to share our paleontological studies.”

Daniel smiled, a feeling of warmth spreading through him. “I want him around for a long time to come too.”

“Off with you then. I have some work to do,” she ordered with a cheery smile.

As Daniel headed back to the house, he heard her rummaging around in the back of the truck camper, and then the slam of the camper door. Moments later, the truck door slammed, and the motor started. Mildred Roost gunned out of the yard, waving heartily at him as she passed. She barely stopped before she barrelled onto the gravel road, just as Daniel’s family were about to turn into the yard.

Daniel met them in the yard, released Cheryl from her car seat, and carried her into the house. Once he’d plopped her safely in her high chair, he helped carry in the groceries and other supplies. At the same time, he told them about Horace Nelwin’s return.

“I guess all we can do is wait and see if Corporal Fraser is able to tell us anything more about Horace Nelwin’s mysterious movements. It doesn’t sound like the man is likely to tell us himself,” Dad said.

“That’s one thing we can be sure of,” Mom sighed.

“Even if where he’s been maybe isn’t any of our business, I’d like to know if he was involved in any way with the theft,” Daniel said. Mom and Dad stopped what they were doing and looked at Daniel. Then they chuckled.

“So, you’ve been having the same thoughts,” Dad said, shaking his head.

“He seems the only logical person,” Daniel answered.

“It would explain why he was gone at the same time as the disappearance of the fossils and why he’s been away so long,” Mom said.

“It would also explain why no one has been able to find the fossils around here. He’s probably taken them much farther away,” Dad added.

“Wait a moment. We don’t know for sure that Horace is even involved,” said Mom.

Daniel kept his thoughts to himself, but he had a hunch that the fossils were close by. He just needed a little time to explore. He’d start by checking the rented pasture land. With Dr. Roost checking on Mr. Pederson, maybe he should go before it was time for chores and supper.

“Do you mind if I go for a ride on Gypsy?” Daniel asked, crossing his fingers behind his back again. “Or do you have something else you want me to do?”

Mom and Dad looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

“Nope, you’re free till chore time,” Dad said, smiling.

Hastily, Daniel saddled Gypsy and headed towards the Nelwins, with some trepidation. Going through their property was the only way he knew to access the rented pasture. His plan was to ask politely to cross their place, if he ran into Old Man Nelwin. If that didn’t work, he’d have to go to the Milners’ who lived next to the Nelwins and get directions, but he didn’t want anyone to know where he was going. Dactyl trotted along happily beside him.

By chance, he found the Nelwin farmyard empty and everything quiet. Even their dogs had disappeared, which was good, because he didn’t want Dactyl attacked. The truck was also missing, so Daniel supposed they’d gone to town or something. He hurried through the yard, then made good time getting to the fence that divided the Nelwins’ place from the rental property.

Finding a way into the pasture took a while, but at last he found a piece of fence that was down and was able to cross over. There was a faint trail of old packed-down grass, so others must have used it some time far in the past.

Daniel didn’t know where the supposed ruins of the old buildings were located, so he took a zigzag tack across the rolling hills of the pasture. The landscape was burned brown, with drying clumps of tumbleweed, late wild daisies and sagebrush. Gypsy avoided hidden gopher holes and cactus plants with experienced ease as the late afternoon autumn sun cascaded down on them.

Dactyl disappeared and reappeared several times, chasing gophers and nosing about as Daniel loped along, thankful that he lived where he did. He had the best of everything with his home, his pets, the country life and the chance to search for prehistoric fossils. He wrapped his reins around the saddle horn and let Gypsy wander at will, as he settled back, taking in his surroundings. In a lower section of the meadow, a soft breeze rippled foxtails like waves on a gentle sea. Meadowlarks and red-winged black birds fluted at them as he swung past low bushes and a small stand of poplar trees.

Daniel pulled out a pair of binoculars he’d brought with him and studied the horizon. During his second sweep, he noticed a heap of grey boards some distance away. He nudged Gypsy in that direction, guessing it was the old Collins homestead site. When he came closer, he picked up the reins again.

Cantering over, Daniel found what was left of a long-deserted pioneer shack that leaned precariously toward the ground on one side. He slid off his horse and wandered around the tumbledown structure on foot. Dactyl joined him and nosed around the boards looking for mice.

One side of the old house had caved in on itself. It was nothing but a pile of boards that weather must have battered for half a century. The rest of the tattered boards were buckled, held up by a single rotting roof beam. He couldn’t see how anything much could be hidden within it.

As Daniel peered into the dilapidated structure through some gaping, weathered one-by-eights, his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness inside. From the mote-filled beams of sunlight that filtered into the ramshackle structure, he stared into the area where everything had collapsed into what must have been a root cellar. He saw an old bed frame, pieces of a rotting old cupboard, a few cracked dishes and more signs of wreckage that had fallen through decaying floorboards.

He supposed the family must have been small if they’d only had one bed. He pulled at a crumbling board to get a better look, and could just make out a faded brown photograph wedged into a crack in a timber. A couple with a small child on the mother’s lap sat stoically on a bench outside what Daniel guessed was this very house. They must have gone in a hurry if they’d left so many of their household belongings behind. Had they been forced off their land because of the Great Depression in the 1930s?

He could imagine the land being even dryer than it was this year, so dry for years that gaping cracks erupted and the earth became too hard to grow crops or a garden. He could see the family desperate without rain, leaving everything behind in despair, with only the clothes on their backs, walking along the dusty road trying to hitch a ride anywhere away from their desolate life.

Disappointed at not finding anything of use, Daniel gathered Gypsy’s reins and prepared to climb back up and head for home. Then Dactyl gave a sudden bark.

“Here boy,” Daniel called. “Time to go.”

Dactyl barked again, but Daniel couldn’t see him.

“Here Dactyl,” he called again. Then he realized that Dactyl’s bark was coming from within the fallen-down structure. How had the dog gotten in? Daniel walked around the place again, until he found the opening Dactyl must have used. Peering inside, he urged Dactyl to come out, but the dog seemed to have something cornered and didn’t want to leave.

Staring into the gloom, Daniel suddenly noticed what looked like a pile of old clothing stashed in an opposite corner from the long-forgotten household goods that had fallen into the root cellar. A thought struck him. He tried to pry the boards apart to get a better look, but the mouldering planks had more strength than he expected. He found a rock and pounded the boards until one broke. Ripping fragments off with his hands, he poked his head inside and waited for the dust to clear and his eyes to adjust to the dim light.

As he studied the heap of old clothing, he gasped. There they were! The jacketed
Stygimoloch
fossils, hidden under the old clothes. Daniel had almost missed seeing them. But how did whoever stole the bones get them in there? Transporting them to the decaying shack without anyone hearing or seeing was maybe the easier part. It was miles away from anywhere, but the fossil pieces were big and needed a large opening to wrestle them inside.

Daniel searched for signs of entry into the rubble heap. The first time around, he couldn’t see anything. But the second time, he noticed some sweeping marks on the ground, as if someone had tried to hide tire tracks and footprints by using a branch to mess up the dirt. Then he saw where the boards had been disturbed.

Peering through them, he saw an exterior entrance to the root cellar that had been covered up by the caved-in boards. He called Dactyl out in a voice that demanded he come
now
. Dactyl obeyed. Not wanting to disturb anything in case he was messing up evidence that would lead to the thieves, Daniel raced over to Gypsy.

Moments later, he galloped across the rolling hills to find a phone. Not only did he not want to pass through the Nelwins’ place again, but there was no point in going there when they didn’t have a phone. Also, he still figured Horace Nelwin might have had something to do with the thefts and there was no way he wanted him to know his suspicions. He’d never been to the Milners’ from the back pasture before, but he headed cross-country in the general direction until he came to a gate that he figured must lead to their farmyard.

He arrived amid a kafuffle of dogs greeting him and Dactyl in a friendly manner. Herb Milner stepped out of his machine shop with a welcoming smile.

“Could I use your phone?” Daniel asked, breathing hard.

“Sure thing, Daniel. Is something wrong?”

“I think I’ve found the fossils.” He couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice.

“That’s great news!” Herb Milner invited him into the house. Daniel tethered Gypsy to a caragana bush, told Dactyl to lie down and followed him inside.

“The rest of the family is in town,” he said, showing Daniel where the phone was. “I’ll be back in the shop when you’re finished. Let me know if you need me for anything.” He left Daniel alone to make his call.

Daniel hastily called home, but there was no answer. They must be outside. He dialled the cell phone number instead. Dad answered. Quickly, he explained the situation.

“I’ll call Corporal Fraser,” said Dad. “You stay where you are. We’ll meet you.”

“See you soon, then,” Daniel said.

When he wandered back outside, Daniel heard Herb Milner clanging on something in his machine shop. He checked on Gypsy and was surprised to note that Mr. Milner had kindly given her a pail of water. Dactyl shared it with her.

As Daniel headed to the machine shop, he heard the roar of a vehicle on the gravel road. He looked up just in time to see Dr. Roost whiz by, returning from Ole Pederson’s place.

As he stood wondering what she had discovered, Dr. Roost suddenly screeched to a halt, just as Dad met her from the other direction. They spoke for a few minutes as the gravel dust whirled around them, then Dad drove on towards the Milners’. Dr. Roost ground her gears as she backed around and took off again in the other direction, probably on her way back to Ole Pederson’s to tell him the news.

By this time, Herb Milner poked his head out of his shop. Before Daniel could say a word, Dad drove into the yard on their atv. Seconds later, Corporal Fraser’s rcmp car followed Dad down the winding, tree-lined approach.

Herb Milner took off his hat and scratched his head. “You sure can cause a lot of action, Daniel,” he said.

Daniel grinned.

Dad and Corporal Fraser walked over to Daniel and Herb Milner. “Now, young man, let’s hear what you found,” suggested Corporal Fraser. Quickly, Daniel told them.

“Whose property is it now?” Corporal Fraser asked.

“I own it, though I’ve rented it to Abe Johnson as pasture,” Milner said. “But you’re welcome to search it any time.”

“I appreciate your help, Herb,” said Corporal Fraser. “Mind us crossing your land to get there?”