More Adventures Of The Great Brain (2 page)

   
Then Howard Kay and Jimmie Peterson, who were my age, came into the barn with rain dripping from their caps and slickers. Howard had a round face like a Halloween pumpkin. Jimmie’s mother always bought his clothes a size too large so they would last for two years, because she had no younger sons to wear Jimmie’s hand-me-downs. This was the year Jimmie’s clothes were too big for him and hung on him like a scarecrow’s.

“What are we going to play?” Sammy asked.

   
“How about follow-the-leader?”
Tom suggested. Then he looked at Parley. “And since Parley has been bragging all week about how brave he is, let’s make him the leader.”

   
“I can do things none of you kids can do,” Parley boasted, as he removed the Bowie knife from his scabbard and laid it on a bale of hay.

   
It didn’t take me long to believe it. Parley climbed up the rope ladder to Tom’s loft with us following. He went handover-hand across the rafters to the other side of the barn. We could all follow him. But on the way back Parley swung himself and only grabbed every other rafter. Howard, Jimmie, and I had to drop out. Then Parley went hand-over-hand to a rafter. I stood bug-eyed as he hung by his toes from the rafter. Then he let go with his toes, and I was sure he’d dash his brains out on the floor of the barn. But he turned a flip-flop in mid air and landed on his feet. That was the end of playing follow-the-leader because not even Tom or Basil could do a stunt like that.

   
Sammy patted Parley on the back. “What a stunt,” he said. “I guess that makes you the bravest kid in town all right.”

   
“I wouldn’t say that,” Tom said. “Would you say the circus acrobats are the bravest people in the world? What takes real courage is to do something nobody else has ever done. I know if Basil and I practice, we can learn to do that stunt. What takes real courage is an explorer going into a wild and strange country where no man has ever been.”

   
“My Pa goes places no man has ever been,” Parley boasted.

   
“We were talking about you and not your father,” Tom said. “Now if a boy had the courage to go someplace like the entrance chamber of Skeleton Cave at night, knowing there are monsters and big snakes in the
cave, that
would take real courage.”

   
“Baloney,” Sammy said. “Frank and Allan Jensen were lost in the cave before you and your Uncle Mark rescued them. If there are real monsters and big snakes in the cave, why didn’t they attack you?”

   
“The only thing that saved us all from the monsters and big snakes,” Tom said with a serious look on his face, “was that the Jensen brothers had their dog Lady with them, and Uncle Mark and I had J.D.‘s dog Brownie with us. I saw plenty of monsters, but they had never seen a dog or heard a dog bark, and they were afraid. I’m talking about going to the cave without any dog to scare away the monsters.”

   
Parley patted the Bowie knife in his scabbard. “I’ll bet I wouldn’t be afraid with my Bowie knife,” he said.

Tom picked a straw from a bale of hay and put it in his mouth. “I wasn’t thinking of betting,” he said as the straw wiggled up and down. “But now that you mention it, I’ll bet that you are afraid to meet me in the entrance chamber of Skeleton Cave next Saturday night after curfew.”
“Why not tonight?”
Parley asked.

“You are new in town,” Tom said. “I want to be fair and give you a chance to find out all you can about the cave.” “It’s a bet,” Parley said.

   
“But we haven’t bet anything yet,” Tom said. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll bet my air rifle, my jackknife, and twenty-five cents in cash against your Bowie knife that you are afraid to meet me.” Then Tom shrugged. “If we both show up, the bet is off.”

“It’s a bet,” Parley said quickly. “I know I’ll be there.”

   
The next morning I finished my last morning of doing all Tom’s chores and my own chores just in time to help Papa and Tom freeze the ice cream for our Sunday dinner.

   
Tom’s great brain worked like sixty that day. When he came down from his loft about an hour after dinner, he had a big grin on his face.

   
“Your great brain did it!” I shouted as he came out of the barn and into our corral, where I’d been standing guard to see he wasn’t disturbed.

   
Tom nodded. “I’m going to convince Parley Benson there are monsters in the cave,” he said. “That will make him afraid to meet me there.”

“How?”
I asked, curious as all get out.

   
Tom ignored my question by asking one. “Have you ever seen the footprint of a monster?”

“No,” I answered.

“Has anybody in town ever seen the footprint of a monster?” Tom asked.

“I don’t see how,’ ‘I said.

   
“Then nobody knows what the footprint of a monster looks like,” Tom said with a grin. “I’m going to make footprints of a monster. Give me your word you won’t say anything to Papa or Mama or anybody, and I’ll let you help.”

   
I sure didn’t want to be left out. “I give my word,” I promised.

   
“We’ll saddle up Dusty first,” Tom said. “If we meet any kids, just tell them we are going for a ride.”

   
After we’d put the saddle and bridle on Dusty, I watched Tom pick up a gunny sack. He mounted the mustang and rode out of the corral, waiting for me to shut the gate. Then he helped me up behind him. Tom guided the mustang up and down alleys and in a roundabout way until we were in back of the slaughterhouse by the stockyards. The odor was terrible because there were piles of old steer hooves, hides, bones, and skulls.

   
Tom got off Dusty with the gunny sack. He went to the pile of hooves and picked out three split-toed ones, which he put in the gunny sack.

   
He didn’t say a word until we were back in the barn and had put Dusty back in his stall.

   
“Go to the toolshed and get the saw, a hammer, and some horseshoe nails,” he ordered me.

   
When I returned, Tom held the hooves on a bale of hay and sawed off the bone on top so they would be level. He told me to get a shovel and bury the pieces of bone behind the barn.

   
When I came back, he had a piece of board which was to have been used for kindling wood. He sawed off two pieces about one foot square. Then he got an old belt of Papa’s from his loft and cut off two pieces of leather about six inches long.

   
“Now J.D.,” he said to me “you go outside and stand guard. Don’t let anybody in the barn.”

   
I was curious as anything but did as I was told. I stood outside the barn door, where I could hear Tom hammering inside the barn. Finally he called me to come inside.

   
“Shut the door and stand with your back against it,” he said.

   
Then he held up the two pieces of board so I could see what he’d done. He’d nailed three of the halves of the steers’ hooves to the bottom of each board with the toes all pointing in different directions. Then he put the boards on the ground, and I could see he’d nailed a strap across the top of each board. I stood bug-eyed as Tom stuck the toes of his shoes under the straps. He then walked a few steps and turned around.

“Behold the footprints of a monster!” he said.

   
I looked at the footprints he’d made in the dirt. They looked like the tracks of a huge three-toed animal.

   
Tom began rubbing his hands together. “When I get through, Parley and the other kids will swear there are monsters in Skeleton Cave.”

   
Tom took the gunny sack and erased the footprints in the dirt. Then he said triumphantly, “That Bowie knife is as good as mine right now. I’ll sneak out after curfew Friday night and make footprints from Skeleton Cave down to the river and back. Saturday morning all I’ve got to do is to get Parley and the other kids down by the river so they can see the tracks. If Parley thinks there are monsters in that cave, he’ll never meet me Saturday night.”

“Why would the monster come out of the cave?” I asked.

   
“I’ll make them think the monster came down to the river to get a drink of water,” Tom answered.

   
I shivered. “Maybe there are real monsters in the cave,” I said.

   
“I sure didn’t see any,” Tom said. “All Uncle Mark and I saw were a lot of bats.”

   
“What if Frank and Allan Jensen tell Parley there are nothing but bats in the cave?” I asked, only wanting to help.

   
“I’m going to take care of that right now,” Tom said. “I’m going to remind them I saved their lives, and they owe me a favor. I never told you this before, J.D., but Uncle Mark made Frank and Allan and
me
promise we’d say we’d seen monsters and giant snakes in the cave.”

“Why would he do that?” I asked.

   
“To scare any kids from ever going exploring in the cave again,” Tom answered.

“You never told me that,” I said, feeling cheated.

“Would I lie to my own brother?” Tom asked.

   
The next morning during recess I saw Parley Benson talking to Frank and Allan Jensen. They sure must have laid it on thick because Parley looked positively pale.

   
I thought Friday would never come, but it finally did. I locked my dog Brownie and the pup up in the barn after supper. When it was bedtime, I got undressed, but Tom kept his clothes on. He waited until the curfew whistle blew and then climbed out our bedroom window and shinnied down the elm tree. I was determined to stay awake, but the next thing I knew it was morning. Tom was still asleep. I woke him up.

“How did it go?” I asked all excited.

“Perfect,” he answered. “I went all the way to the small inner chamber of the cave and made footprints down to the river and all the way back. Then I took off the footprints and carried them and erased my own footprints inside both chambers. When Parley sees those footprints, it will cure him of his bragging and cost him his Bowie knife.”

   
I was just finishing my first stack of buckwheat cakes with melted butter and maple sugar when Uncle Mark came into our kitchen. He was usually calm like a peace officer should be, but this morning he looked all excited.

   
“Pete Jorgenson came to my house this morning just as we were finishing breakfast,” he said to Papa. “He told me he’d seen some strange tracks leading from Skeleton Cave down to the river. I went to investigate. You won’t believe this, but there are tracks of an animal I’ve never seen leading from the cave to the river and back.”

   
“What kind of tracks?” Papa asked while he wiped his mouth with his napkin.

   
“They are the footprints of an animal of some kind. They have a three-pronged hoof with three toes pointing in different directions,” Uncle Mark replied.

   
Papa jumped to his feet. “A prehistoric animal that has made its home in the cave all these years!” he shouted. “What a news story this will make!”

   
Mamma didn’t share Papa’s enthusiasm. “You said you saw underground rivers in the cave when the Jensen boys got lost,” she said to Uncle Mark. “Why would any such animal come down to the river to drink?”

   
“For any one of half a dozen reasons,” Papa exclaimed. “Underground rivers run dry. The animal could have got lost in the miles of underground caverns and labyrinths in the cave and found its way to the entrance in search of water.”

“I think the best thing to do,” Uncle Mark said, “is to get the Mayor’s permission and dynamite the entrance to the cave so the beast can’t get out again. I’ve
been wanting
to seal up that cave ever since the Jensen boys got lost in it.”

   
“You’ll do no such thing,” Papa said. “Think of what this means to science. If the animal came out once to drink, it will come out again. I’ll send a telegram right off to the Smithsonian Institution asking them to send an expert on prehistoric animals to Adenville.”

   
Papa was so excited he ran out of the house with his napkin still tied around his neck.

   
“Keep the boys in the house,” Uncle Mark said to Mamma. Then he ran after Papa.

   
Aunt Bertha raised her big arms over her head. “A live monster in our midst!” she cried out.“The Lord
preserve
us!”

   
Tom excused himself from the table without finishing his breakfast.

“Where do you think you are going?” Mamma demanded.

“I’ve got to see Papa,” Tom answered.

   
“You and John D. will do exactly as your Uncle Mark said. You won’t step a foot out of this house,” Mamma said. “This animal or beast or whatever it is could be very dangerous.”

   
“But there is something I’ve got to tell Papa,” Tom said. “I’ll telephone him at the Advocate.”