The Growling Bear Mystery Read online

  Benny’s face lit up when he heard this. “I bet we can find it. We have brand-new hiking boots and your map and lots of trail mix. And we’re going to get bear bells, too!”

  “Then you’re in good shape for the Lost Cabin Trails,” Oz said.

  “There is one thing,” Mr. Alden began. “I stopped to take a few pictures of my grandchildren in front of the Continental Divide sign—you know the one? Anyway, while we were looking around, we saw a sign that said the Lost Cabin Trails were closed.”

  “Nonsense!” Oz Elkhorn cried. “Parts of the trails need work—fallen-down trees and such. You just climb over them.”

  Mr. Alden nodded at his old friend. “I thought as much. Anyway, that hiker Benny mentioned said the trails were closed because of bear activity.”

  “Bear activity? Yellowstone’s nothing but bear activity! This time of year, though, most of the bears are up on the other side of the park. Besides, any smart hiker knows how to keep the bears away—lots of noise and lots of companions. The chances of seeing a bear are pretty slim. There you go, Aldens.” Oz handed Jessie a crisp copy of his grandfather’s old map. “You kids stick together and wear some bear bells. Here’s a basket of them. Take your pick.”

  The Aldens sorted through the basket. They selected four jingle-bell bracelets in different colors.

  “What if these bells don’t work?” Henry asked, trying not to sound nervous. “I mean, in case we come across a bear, what’s the best thing to do?”

  Oz stepped from behind the counter into the aisle. He took a few large, slow steps backward. “Step back slowly, like this. Whatever you do, don’t run. Just back up slowly and make a wide turn away from the bear. With four of you, you’re not likely to get into trouble with bears. Very few people ever see a single one nowadays, not like the old days. Anyway, you’re all set with your bear bells, and you have a copy of my old map.”

  Suddenly, the Aldens heard an unfamiliar voice behind them. “Did I hear you say something about old maps? Do you sell any old maps?”

  A young man in hiking clothes looked over Oz’s shoulder. “All you have are some of these new guides and maps. I . . . uh . . . collect old documents. I thought an old place like this store might sell old . . . letters and . . . uh . . . you know, maps.”

  “Sorry, young man, I don’t sell old maps. You might try the Bear’s Paw Antiques down the street.”

  Before Oz finished his sentence, the young man was gone.

  “He sure went off in a hurry, didn’t he?” Oz said. “Kind of strange for a young fella like that to be interested in old stuff like maps. We sure get all kinds in here.”

  “Including the Alden kind,” Benny said.

  CHAPTER 3

  Buffalo on Parade

  The Aldens made several trips to their car with insect repellent, fishing gear, bottled water, hiking socks, first-aid supplies, and the very important bear bells. They were ready for the woods.

  “While Grandfather pays the bill, let’s thank Oz one last time,” Jessie suggested after she closed the trunk.

  The children strolled to the back of the store where Oz said he had some paperwork to do.

  There was no sign of Oz.

  Benny grabbed Jessie’s arm. “Hey, look who’s back there. Isn’t that the hiker who told us about all the bears?”

  Before Jessie could answer, the man in the orange hat looked up. He dropped the books he’d been holding and disappeared out the back door.

  “What was that all about?” Henry wanted to know.

  The back door opened again. This time it was Oz. He was trying to balance an armful of cardboard boxes.

  “Bear bells,” Oz said. “Can’t keep them in stock. It’s going to sound like the North Pole with all the jingling out in the woods.”

  “Wait, Oz!” Henry called out. He picked up the books the hiker had dropped. “There. I was afraid you were going to trip over these.”

  Oz carefully set the boxes down. “I guess these books must have fallen from the shelf.”

  “No, they didn’t,” Benny piped up. “That hiker man we saw ran out so fast, he dropped your books on the floor. And know what? He ran out the back door.”

  Oz Elkhorn laughed for a long time. “That’s your mysterious hiker man? Oh, my. Well, your hiker man is Lester Crabtree. He’s a summer regular, a retired fellow who works with his wife, Eleanor, at the Old Faithful Inn. He asked if he could make copies of pages in some old Yellowstone books I lent him. I just ran into him. He said he had an emergency back at the lodge. I did wonder why he went out the back door. He usually parks right out front.”

  “He rushed away when he saw us. He doesn’t like us. Or Grandfather, either,” Benny said.

  Oz chuckled. “Lester Crabtree isn’t the friendliest fellow. Comes out here every year with Mrs. Crabtree, who’s as sweet as can be. Lester’s an excellent worker but just no good with people. So the managers at the inn keep him behind the scenes—doing laundry, sweeping up, working in the kitchen—the kind of work he can do without talking much. He can be a bit of a pest, too. Always borrowing this or that old thing from me.”

  Jessie put her hand out to Oz. “Well, you’re good with people, Mr. Elkhorn. We just wanted to thank you again for helping us out so much.”

  “And giving us lunch,” Benny said. “Don’t forget that!”

  “I won’t forget that. Now where’s Jimmy?” Oz asked the children.

  For a second Jessie was puzzled. She wasn’t used to hearing her grandfather called Jimmy. “He said he’d meet us at the car.”

  “Well, I’ll walk you out there,” Oz said. “I have something special to ask him.”

  Mr. Alden was just getting in the car when everyone rejoined him. “Oz, I sure hope we’ll get a chance to get together on your days off. If you get any, that is. We’ll be at the Old Faithful Inn. Maybe you can join us for breakfast or dinner.”

  Oz shook Mr. Alden’s hand. “No problem there. I get free meals anytime I go.”

  “Why’s that?” Benny asked.

  “I’m one of the winter keepers at the Old Faithful Inn,” Oz answered.

  Violet’s eyes opened wide. “You keep the winter?”

  Oz smiled down at Violet. “You could say that. I keep the winter away, actually. The lodge closes down at the end of October. A few of us winter keepers live there to make sure the lodge stays in tip-top shape through the winter. We can get twenty feet of snow in Yellowstone. So that’s where I hibernate when the snow sets in. Getting free meals year-round is part of my pay.”

  “Can I work there someday?” Benny asked.

  “You could probably work there now,” Oz said. “Mrs. Crabtree called earlier. She asked whether I knew anyone who could give her a hand at the lodge. She needs help with odd jobs and such—housekeeping chores, carrying bags, entertaining young children while their parents have some free time—that kind of thing.”

  “That kind of thing is what we like to do on our vacations!” Benny said.

  “Let me give Mrs. Crabtree a call. I’ll let her know you folks are available,” Oz said. “Are you sure you want to spend your vacation working?”

  “Working is our favorite kind of vacation,” Benny said. “Do you think we’ll get free meals?”

  “I’ll make sure you do,” Oz Elkhorn answered. “Now wait right here. I’ll be back in a jiffy after I speak with Mrs. Crabtree.”

  When Oz returned, he was grinning from ear to ear. “All set. Mrs. Crabtree wants to meet you today at five at the front desk of the lodge.”

  “Yippee!” Benny said.

  The children waved good-bye to Oz. Just a couple of minutes later, Mr. Alden pulled into the long line of cars waiting to enter Yellowstone National Park. The line moved slowly, and Benny could hardly sit still.

  Suddenly the Aldens heard a car horn blowing over and over.

  “Goodness,” Mr. Alden said. “There must be an emergency in the park. There’s a car coming up fast on my right. I wish I could pull over, but
there’s no room.”

  No sooner had Mr. Alden finished speaking than a beat-up red car whizzed by just inches away without slowing down. The car zoomed into the park and disappeared down the road.

  “The ranger let it go through without waiting in line,” Henry said. “The driver must be a volunteer who has to get in the park in a hurry.”

  For everyone else, there was a long wait to enter Yellowstone. Finally the Aldens reached the log booth where a ranger handed Grandfather a Yellowstone map and a ticket.

  “Here’s your receipt, sir,” the woman ranger told Mr. Alden. “Keep it near your windshield. You need it to go in and out of the park during your stay.”

  “Thanks,” Mr. Alden said. “If I keep the receipt visible, can I avoid these long lines?”

  The young woman shook her head. “Sorry, only people on official park business don’t have to stop.”

  “What about the beat-up red car that just flew through here?” Henry asked.

  Suddenly the young woman wasn’t so friendly. “What are you talking about? Now please drive on, sir. There’s a long line behind you.”

  Mr. Alden pulled ahead. “I don’t imagine that car got through without the rangers noticing. We seem to have said the wrong thing.”

  For a while the children were quiet. There was so much to see in the park without worrying about other cars.

  “Why are we slowing down?” Benny wanted to know.

  Mr. Alden pointed to a huge meadow off to the right. “There are your buffalo, Benny. A herd of them. And more crossing the road. That’s what’s causing this traffic jam.”

  Sure enough, the parade of cars, trailers, and buses had come to a complete stop. A long line of furry buffalo—big and small ones—slowly crossed the road to join the rest of the herd.

  “Check the rearview mirror,” Henry said. “There’s a buffalo walking alongside the cars. Roll up the windows, everybody. We don’t want that buffalo sticking its head in the window.”

  “We could practically touch it,” Violet whispered when a large bushy head brushed by the Aldens’ car. “Not that I would.”

  The Aldens sat back and enjoyed the buffalo parade.

  That’s when Henry noticed the red car about ten cars ahead. “Ha! That old red car is stuck here, just like us.”

  Mr. Alden tapped on the steering wheel. “Never pays to race around just to gain a few minutes.”

  Soon the herd of buffalo was out of the road. Traffic began to move again.

  “We’re almost there,” Henry said, turning around to his brother and sisters. “The Old Faithful Inn is the next turn.”

  “Hey, look!” Benny cried. “There’s the Old Faithful geyser.”

  Sure enough, off in the distance, a tower of steam shot through the air. The geyser seemed nearly as tall as the huge Old Faithful Inn several hundred yards away.

  “Can you drive faster, Grandfather?” Benny asked. “I want to see the geyser up close.”

  Mr. Alden laughed. “Not to worry. Old Faithful goes off about every seventy minutes or so around the clock. Our rooms overlook the geyser. You’ll see it dozens of times during our stay.”

  In five minutes the geyser had disappeared, but the Old Faithful Inn had not. The log building, several stories high, with porches halfway around, stood directly in front of the Aldens.

  “Wow!” Henry said. “The Old Faithful Inn is some log cabin!”

  And so it was. When the Aldens entered the inn’s huge lobby with their luggage, they couldn’t stop looking up, down, and all around. The lobby was buzzing with guests enjoying the amazing log room with its stone fireplace, nearly three stories high. Young children ran around the balconies that overlooked the lobby. Older people sat on oversized log chairs and couches and enjoyed the view below.

  After registering, Mr. Alden led his grandchildren up two flights of a staircase made of twisted logs several feet thick. “Your room is on the top floor.”

  “Wow!” Benny said when they reached the third-floor balcony. “We can see everything and everybody from this balcony. This is a good spying place.”

  Mr. Alden laughed. “I hope you don’t have to do any spying this vacation. You’ve already filled your schedule with your jobs here.”

  Benny looked over the balcony railing. “Hey isn’t that the man we saw at Oz’s store? The one who wanted old maps? What’s he doing straightening chairs in front of the fireplace?”

  The other children came over for a look. Sure enough, down below was the very same young man the children had seen a few hours before.

  “He’s wearing a uniform,” Jessie noticed. “He must work here.”

  Violet squinted down at the young man. “I wonder if we’ll be working with him.”

  Mr. Alden checked his watch. “You’ll soon find out. Oz said you should meet with Mrs. Crabtree in about half an hour. You kids put your bags in your room, and I’ll put mine into my room. Then we can stroll around the inn.”

  When they met in the hallway, Henry pointed out a window.

  “Hey, people are lining up out there for the geyser,” he said. “I guess it’s like a movie or a show.”

  “Only no tickets,” Benny said.

  Mr. Alden headed down the stairs. “I’m going down to the Activities Desk to check on some overnight fishing trips. Oz mentioned a tour bus that leaves every morning for the other side of the park. The fishing is supposed to be pretty good up that way. Just one small reminder. You’ll have to be extra quiet in your room. These old wooden walls are pretty thin—no insulation. You can hear every little sound.”

  “Goody!” Benny said. “I like that. But don’t worry, Grandfather, I’ll only be noisy in the woods to keep the bears away.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Something Is Missing

  The Aldens were supposed to start unpacking, but that would just have to wait. Old Faithful, the most famous geyser in the world, was about to perform again.

  “Look at all the people hurrying so they won’t miss it,” Violet said, leaning against the windowsill.

  Benny knelt on a chair to get a better view. “Can we go outside and see it up close?”

  “Sure thing,” Henry said.

  In no time, the Aldens joined the stream of tourists heading for the geyser. They found a place at the edge of the walkway that circled the geyser area.

  “Wow!” Benny said a few seconds later when a huge plume of steam rose in the air.

  A whooshing sound, like the biggest hot shower in the world, muffled the crowd’s cheering and clapping. Then, a few minutes later, everyone quieted down. The plume of steam grew smaller. When the steam disappeared back into the ground, the crowd clapped and cheered again.

  Henry laughed. “It is quite a show.”

  “What makes a geyser, anyway?” Benny asked. “And all the other steamy things coming out of the ground in Yellowstone?”

  As usual, Jessie knew the answer. “The ground around here has lots of cracks that go down into the earth for miles. When rain and snow fall down the cracks, the cold water hits all the hot liquid inside the earth. That makes the steam blow up into the air. I read that the Old Faithful Inn once tried to run a pipe of steam from a small geyser up in the hills to the inn.”

  Benny got all excited when he heard this. “You mean we could take a geyser shower?”

  Jessie laughed. “The system didn’t really work. The geyser dried up. Geysers are very delicate. That’s why there are signs all over telling people not to throw anything into them.”

  “I would never do that,” Benny said. “I guess I’ll have to take plain old showers, not geyser showers.”

  “Just think,” Jessie said as they walked back to their room, “in seventy minutes or so, the Old Faithful geyser will start up all over again. In the meantime, I guess we’d better head back to our room to unpack before we meet with Mrs. Crabtree.”

  Unpacking took the Aldens no time at all, since they were such experienced travelers. In just a few minutes, all their vacatio
n clothes were folded in drawers or hung on pegs.

  Jessie lined up everyone’s hiking supplies on the dresser. “I’m putting our guidebooks, Oz’s map, our sunglasses, and our empty water bottles on this dresser by the door. We’ll want to get a fast start in the morning and not leave anything behind.”

  Henry checked his watch. “I wish there was time for a quick shower.”

  “I wish there were towels for a quick shower,” Jessie said, looking high and low for washcloths and towels.

  While she was searching, someone knocked at the door.

  “Who’s there?” Henry asked.

  “Housekeeping,” a man’s voice answered. “Sorry, the staff delivered your towels to the wrong room.”

  Henry unlocked the door. “Just what we were looking—” Henry stopped talking. “Oh, it’s . . . uh . . .”

  The other children came to the door to see who was there. Standing in the doorway was Mr. Crabtree, the hiker with the orange hat. Only now he wasn’t wearing his hiking hat or his backpack or his hiking boots. Instead, he had on an Old Faithful Inn uniform and an identification badge.

  Mr. Crabtree seemed just as surprised to see the Aldens—and none too pleased, either. “Here,” he said, standing there with a stack of white towels.

  Henry held out his arms for the towels. “Thanks, Mr. Crabtree. We’re the Aldens. We met this morning, up near the Continental Divide, remember?”

  “Don’t forget to mention Oz’s store,” Benny whispered to Henry.

  “And we saw you at Elkhorn’s General Store, too.” Henry moved closer to take the towels, but Mr. Crabtree held on to them. “I’m Henry Alden, and these are my sisters, Jessie and Violet, and my brother, Benny. We’re friends of Oz’s, too. He told us your name.”

  Mr. Crabtree ignored Henry’s introductions. “Here are your towels. They get changed every couple of days. If you need more, call Housekeeping.”

  With that, Mr. Crabtree put the towels on a small space on the dresser. The stack of towels was so tall, it toppled over, knocking several items off the dresser.