Meg Mackintosh Solves Seven American History Mysteries (11 page)

“Scottsbluff, 50 miles!” Peter said.

“Okay, I guess you're ready for the third and fourth clues,” said Gramps, pulling two old photographs out of the envelope labeled
The Warning at Scottsbluff.
Then they got back in the minvan and started down the road.

“They're tintypes — old-fashioned photographs on tin,” Peter observed.

Clue 3

Clue 4

“I bet it's the mystery child's family,” said Meg.

“One photo was taken when they left from Independence, Missouri, and one when they got to Oregon,” concluded Peter. “I wonder which kid is our mystery child?”

“And which is our mystery artifact?”

Meg got out her notebook and looked over the artifacts.

“Peter, look,” she said. “One boy is holding a tin horn! It looks like our artifact! That's got to be it.”

Meg got out the tin horn and continued brainstorming in her notebook, hoping to come up with some ideas about what the warning at Scottsbluff might be. She had some unanswered questions about the Oregon trail, too.

Thump, thump, thump … “Uh, oh,” said Gramps as he pulled the minivan over. “It sounds like we have a flat tire.” They tried to change the tire, but in spite of all their efforts, they still needed help with some rusty bolts.

“Looks like we're walking,” said Gramps.

“Walking? How far?” asked Peter.

“Until we get to a service station,” Gramps replied. “Come on, it will be good to stretch your legs.”

They had gone about a mile when it started to rain.

“This is sort of like what the kids endured on the Oregon Trail,” commented Meg. “Most of them didn't ride in the wagon; they walked the whole way.”

“Even in the rain?” wondered Peter.

“Yeah, even in the rain,” Meg replied.

As they walked along, Meg and Peter thought about the perils of the Oregon Trail. When they finally got to a service station, they wrote their notes down while Gramps went with a mechanic to change the tire.

The service attendant overheard them talking. “Some of my ancestors traveled the Oregon Trail,” she told them. “The wagon trains usually had to start out by spring. It took about six months.”

“Wow, it took that long to travel?” exclaimed Meg.

“If they left too early, they took a chance of getting stuck in a lot of spring showers and mud. But if they left too late, they could get trapped in snowstorms. In fact there are some real wagon tracks left from the Oregon Trail not far from here. It's stopped raining, Would you like to see them?”

“Wouldn't the rain over the years have washed them away?” asked Meg as she packed up her notes.

“No, the tracks are worn into the rock,” the attendant answered. “You'll see.”

They followed the attendant's directions to a field not far from the highway they had been driving on. There they found the distinct wheel ruts left from hundreds of wagons.

Peter took a photograph with his camera and showed it to his sister.

“Hey, Meg, look how they made signs to warn people of danger.”

“Maybe there is a sign or message of some kind on the tin horn,” said Meg. She pulled it out of her knapsack along with her magnifying glass.

Meg inspected the horn more closely. “It looks like there are letters scratched into the horn. But it's so faint, it's hard to see what it says.”

“A-N-E-R,” Peter pointed out. “I bet they're just the letters of the musical notes. He probably etched them on so he knew which finger to play.”

“I don't think so,” said Meg. “I play the piano, and I know there are no musical note ‘N' or ‘R'.”

“But, wait a second! It looks like there's a ‘G',” said Peter. He was on to something. “That's it! A-N-GE-R spells anger! The mystery kid was angry about something.”

They returned to the service station and waited outside while Gramps paid his bill. They continued pondering over the horn and its inscription.

“I don't know,” Meg said, shaking her head. “Anger over what?”

“Look! There's Gramps. Let's get going to Scottsbluff,” said Peter.

“Wait a minute.” Meg stopped him. “Maybe you were right before about the letters standing for musical notes.”

“I'm not sure,” said Peter. “But I know where I would take it to find out.”