Dinosaur Stakeout (17 page)

“No, I won’t leave you!” Daniel yelled back. He’d like nothing better than to get out of prehistoric time, but how could he possibly abandon her? He probably wouldn’t even be alive if she hadn’t rescued him from the
­Pteranodon.

“Nothing is working! You have to go!” she ­insisted.

Suddenly, one of the giant creatures began advancing towards Dr. Roost. There was no time to lose. Daniel had to save her! He looked at the flare gun in his hand, but it was probably useless. There was only one flare left. What could he do with ­that?

And then, close to Dr. Roost, he noticed one of the ­teepee-­like structures that he’d made to mark their path. What if he could hit it with the flare? Would it catch fire and distract the dinosaur? He had to try. But he only had one chance. The enormous creature had almost reached ­her.

Taking careful aim, Daniel fired and hit the branches. After a few terrible seconds, the marker burst into flame in front of the ­
Iguanodon
-­like dinosaur. It squealed and veered away seconds before it would have trampled ­her.

Daniel raced to Dr. Roost’s side. Throwing her backpack on the ground, he grabbed her hands, pulling her clear of the dangerous fray. Then he tried to help her to her ­feet.

“I don’t think I can stand up,” she said, grimacing as she made an attempt to rise. “My ankle may be sprained.”

“Let’s just get you back then!” said ­Daniel.

“Wait!” she shouted. “My backpack!”

Her eyes raked over the spot a couple of metres away where Daniel had dropped it, but there was too much dust and debris flying about amid the huge ­stump-­like legs and flipping tails. There was no way they could retrieve ­it.

“We’ll have to go without it!” Daniel screamed, as another massive herbivore brushed close by ­them.

Daniel cringed as it stomped on a small creature the size of a cat. He didn’t need any more prompting. He felt for the cone in his pocket, breathing a sigh of relief when he located it. He glanced at the sky as he readjusted his backpack. The sun was almost overhead. They needed to get back immediately, but where they’d land, he didn’t ­know.

He turned his attention to the cone clutched in his hand. As he tightened his fingers around it, he grabbed Dr. Roost’s hand. He took one last look around and then looked at his ­companion.

Suddenly, she screamed. “Look out!”

Out of nowhere, a tail whipped Daniel into the air. He lost his grip on Mildred Roost’s hand and felt the cone slipping from his ­fingers.

“Dr. Roost!!” he shrieked, knowing he was returning to his own time without ­her.

Then a sizzling blackness engulfed ­him.

Chapter Thirteen

“
D
r. Roost!” Daniel shrieked again.
He had landed on a hillside, falling on his side, instinctively rolling into a ­ball.

“I think you can call me Mildred now,” a voice said behind ­him.

He turned. Mildred Roost lay on the ground, her crumpled face white and ­stunned.

“I thought I’d lost you!” Daniel sputtered, crawling to her ­side.

“You almost did, young man!” She stayed where she was as she struggled to gain her composure, taking in deep ­breaths.

“What happened?” Daniel felt the blood pounding through his veins and his heart thumped loudly. The terror of almost leaving Dr. Roost behind sunk in and he couldn’t stop ­trembling.

“I grabbed onto your shirt-tail,” she said with an indignant ­snort.

Daniel bowed and let his forehead touch the ground, resting for a moment and letting the peacefulness surround him. “I have never been so happy to touch this earth.”

“I’m definitely happy to be on our home turf,” she said, lying there. “But I’d be even happier if I were standing on it.”

She began to tussle with her cane and flare gun, her arms and legs flailing like a beetle on its back trying to right itself. Daniel rose and helped her to her feet. But as she stepped down onto solid grassland, her legs almost buckled. Daniel saved her from falling. She tried again to put some weight on her right foot, but quickly lifted it again. She leaned heavily on Daniel, until she could get her cane in the right ­position.

“We’ve got to get help for you!” Daniel peered around. He wasn’t quite sure where they’d landed. He couldn’t see the hideout or anyone about, although they were definitely back in his own time in the rolling hills of the ­valley.

Judging by the position of the sun, he guessed it was ­mid-­morning and someone had probably missed them by now. He fumbled in his backpack and drew out his ­whistle.

“This ought to get them here, if they’re close by.”

He gave three long piercing whistles, the signal for distress that they’d decided to use for guiding the tourists. He listened for a few moments, but didn’t hear an answering response. He blew again, and the ­high-­pitched notes sliced through the air, halting all natural ­sounds.

“Did you hear anything?” he asked Mildred Roost, thinking there might have been a muted ­reply.

She shook her head, and he immediately blew as hard and as long he could, until he was out of breath. When the shrieking echoes in his ears stopped ringing, he listened ­again.

“There!” he announced triumphantly, as another three shrill sounds permeated the air in return. “They’ll be here soon.”

“I’m so glad we both made it back safely,” said Mildred. “Especially, you! I’d never have forgiven myself if something had happened to you.”

“I wouldn’t have felt very good about leaving you behind either!” Daniel patted her ­arm.

“Whew, I’m exhausted though.” She leaned heavily on Daniel. “I can tell you one thing for sure. I’ll never take this good old world and where we live for granted again!”

“I second that,” Daniel ­said.

He blew the whistle again, to give the rescuers a sense of direction. Moments later, two figures appeared on the crest of a hill in the distance to their left. As they drew closer, they could make out Craig Nelwin and Ole Pederson hurrying towards ­them.

“Are you two out of your minds?” Mr. Pederson fumed, reaching them with long strides. “You went back to the past again, didn’t you?”

He grabbed Daniel by the shoulders as if to shake him. Instead, he hugged Daniel hard. When he released him, Craig stepped forward, the relief noticeable on his ­face.

“We thought you were gone forever!” Craig thumped Daniel on the back. “Good to have you back!”

Pederson reprimanded them. “I ought to take that cane and use it on you both! What a dangerous, foolish thing to do!”

Although Pederson clamped his lips tight together in disapproval, the relief at having them back again was evident in his eyes. Then he embraced Dr. Roost. She let out a little ­moan.

“Mildred, you’re injured!” He took stock of ­her.

“Just a wee bit of a problem with my ankle,” she reassured ­him.

“We’ve got to get you off that foot.” He turned to Craig, puffing a little. ”Come on, lad. Let’s get them over to my cabin. It’s not far from here.”

Craig and Mr. Pederson went on either side of Dr. Roost, but Daniel intercepted the old man and locked hands with Craig to form a chair with their arms. Ole Pederson conceded and reached for her cane and Daniel’s backpack. Dr. Roost rested her arms over the boys’ shoulders and allowed them to carry ­her.

“What about you, Daniel?” asked Ole Pederson. “Are you hurt at ­all?

Daniel shook his head. “Nothing that a little rest won’t cure.”

“Well, we can see that you get that!”

As they set off, Daniel realized the dig was just back over the hills in the direction that Craig and Mr. Pederson had come from. The old paleontologist’s cabin lay just over the next hill. He also noticed that the sun was almost directly overhead. They’d been gone for several hours. Had anyone else noticed their ­disappearance?

“How did it go with chores this morning?” Daniel asked Craig, fishing for information on the situation at ­home.

“Fine,” Craig answered, as the struggled with the weight of Dr. Roost. “Although your dad wasn’t happy that we were doing them ourselves.”

Daniel held his breath waiting to hear if there was ­more.

“Your mom wasn’t either, but at least she defended you. She understood how important spending time at your hideout was for you.”

Daniel felt a pang of guilt at having told his mom a ­lie.

Then Craig snorted. “If she only knew! How could you do such a stupid thing?” he scolded. “If I’d known we were covering for you so you could go back to dinosaur time, I never would have agreed.”

“And you, Mildred,” Pederson focused on Dr. Roost, as they jostled down a hillside. “You intended on going all along,” he accused her. “I thought we were supposed to stop Daniel from going.”

“Did you really think we could stop this young man when he was so determined?” she ­answered.

“I suppose not.” Pederson shook his head, obviously not pleased with the way things had ­gone.

“I decided it was better if I went with him than if he eluded us another time and went alone.”

Pederson grumbled, but conceded, “At least you’re both safe!”

Mildred Roost sighed. “Yes, we’re certainly thankful for that.”

“For sure!” Daniel ­agreed.

Not long afterwards they reached the dilapidated cabin. It was more like a ­weather-­beaten wooden shack really, crammed into a gully as close as possible against the hillside. A long, narrow ­lean-­to jutted out from the main shack and butted into the hill. A pile of excavation dirt was dumped about twenty yards away. Just beyond it was a little white cross where Pederson’s dog Bear was buried. He had died of old age the winter ­before.

Daniel hadn’t been here for ages, but as Pederson opened the rickety door that threatened to fall off its hinges, he smiled. Nothing much had changed. The air smelled of mustiness and of earth. He and Craig followed Mr. Pederson as they stumbled through the gloomy darkness into the simple ­one-­room cabin. Dumping Daniel’s backpack just inside the door, Mr. Pederson leaned Dr. Roost’s cane against the wall, then helped Daniel and Craig to ease her into the only comfortable seat in the ­house – ­an old armchair, missing some of its ­stuffing.

“Definitely a bachelor’s pad!” Dr. Roost ­observed.

She and Craig stared about in silence as their eyes adjusted to the dimness. The floor was old boards laid over mounds of packed dirt that took a sudden dip towards the far wall and then disappeared under the makeshift cot. A wood stove, cold now, stood in the middle of the room, its pipes contorting and rising through the rafters. Against one wall, a small wooden hutch, which served as a kitchen cupboard, leaned ­precariously.

Weathered boards served as shelves all along the length and height of one sidewall. Stacks of books and magazines filled the bottom racks. The top ones were lined with a myriad of jars, bottles, and tins in all shapes and ­sizes.

“An apothecary too!” Mildred ­observed.

“What does that mean?” asked ­Craig.

Mildred pointed to the labelled containers of dried plants, powders, crushed blossoms, dehydrated berries, and seeds in various shades of greens, browns, and yellows, all assembled neatly in alphabetical order. As Craig examined them, she explained that Pederson mixed his own concoctions for ­medications.

“Amateur only,” Pederson grunted, as he opened a small door that led into the lean-­to.

Moments later an engine started, and Daniel knew Pederson had switched on the generator for power. He returned and yanked on a chain. Instantly, one side of the cabin flooded with light to reveal a long, ­rough-­hewn table covered with dinosaur bones and various samples of fossil imprints beneath the slanted ceiling of the shorter ­wall.

“Wow!” Craig instantly went over to examine the ­fossils.

While Pederson busied himself searching for a Tensor bandage, Daniel pulled up a wooden chair, which was missing a few rungs, beside Dr. Roost and collapsed on ­it.

“How are you feeling?” he asked ­quietly.

“I’ll be fine, lad,” she said, patting his hand. Then she smiled. “Didn’t we just have the adventure of a lifetime?”

“I’ll say,” Daniel agreed, ­grinning.

“Let’s hear about it, then,” Mr. Pederson said, as he turned on the nearby lamp and sat ­down.