The Mystery of the Stolen Dinosaur Bones Read online

  “That was scary!” said Benny. He wiped his hands on a towel that Jessie gave him.

  “What was making that scratching sound?” asked Violet.

  “I don’t know,” said Jessie. “We also saw that shadow at the cave entrance.”

  “That could have been a person,” said Henry. “Or maybe it was a big dog.”

  “Dinosaur Dan said he used to have a dog. He doesn’t have one now,” said Benny. “Maybe it really is a dinosaur.”

  “I’m just glad whatever it was stayed inside the cave!” said Violet.

  “Me too,” said Jessie. “Let’s go back to the ranch.”

  “Good idea,” said Henry. “It’s getting very late.”

  Henry folded up the ladder and stashed it in the cave, and the children started for the ranch.

  “Dinosaur Dan told us a lot of stories,” said Jessie.

  “I wonder why he said that Elliot stole his college project,” said Violet. “We should ask Elliot about that.”

  “We will,” said Henry.

  The children arrived at the ranch. Grandfather was sitting on the deck, reading. He put his book down and smiled. “Did you find the missing dinosaur bones?” he asked.

  Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny surrounded Grandfather. They all started talking at once.

  “Hold on, what? A man lives on the other side of the cave?” he asked.

  “That’s right,” said Jessie. “And he said that a real dinosaur might be in the cave!”

  “That would be very interesting,” chuckled Grandfather. “I’m glad you had Watch with you,” he added.

  “Yes, Watch protected us,” said Violet.

  “We’d like to go back tomorrow to look some more,” said Henry.

  “That’s okay with me,” said Grandfather. “Elliot appreciates your help very much.”

  “Where is Elliot?” asked Jessie. “We want to talk to him.”

  “He’s out in his shop,” said Grandfather. “Why don’t you go tell him about your discovery and I’ll heat up some chili for dinner.”

  “What a good idea!” said Benny.

  “Oh, Benny, you know that we always make sure that you eat,” said Jessie.

  The children headed to the shop. The large building was in the backyard. It was surrounded by heaps of gravel and dirt.

  They found Elliot working at a table inside. Elliot’s shop was crowded with tables, tools, and boxes of bones that were embedded in dirt and rock. The walls were lined with more tables that displayed bones of all kinds and sizes. The old wooden floor was nearly covered with more boxes.

  “Look at all the dinosaur bones,” said Benny. “It’s like a museum in here!”

  Elliot turned. “Hey, it’s good to see you guys,” he said. “Did you find my missing dinosaur bones?” he asked.

  “We didn’t find the bones,” said Henry.

  “But we are going back tomorrow,” said Jessie.

  “I called everyone I could think of,” said Elliot. “Hopefully if the thief tries to sell the bones, he will be caught.” He sighed. “But without those bones my rare find will never be complete.”

  “How do you put together a dinosaur?” asked Henry.

  Jessie smiled at her brother. She knew he wanted to get Elliot to think about something else.

  “Well, as you can see, I have endless piles of rocks and dirt,” Elliot explained. “It’s the stuff that I chip away from the treasures.”

  “You mean the dinosaur bones,” said Benny.

  “Yes, dinosaur bones are the treasures, Benny,” said Elliot. He smiled.

  “Restoring dinosaur bones can be more difficult than finding them,” continued Elliot. “It can take months, even years, to clean and assemble a dinosaur.”

  “Wow, you have a lot of tools!” said Henry.

  “That tool is called an air scribe,” said Elliot, pointing at the tool that Henry was admiring. “We call it a micro-jackhammer.” He held up another air tool. “This is a tiny sandblaster. They all work using compressed air. I also use dental tools to do fine cleaning.”

  “You’re a dinosaur dentist!” said Benny.

  Everyone laughed.

  “The early dinosaur bone hunters would have appreciated these tools,” said Henry. “All they had were picks and hammers.”

  “That’s true,” said Elliot. “And sometimes, valuable bones were destroyed when they were excavated. Now we use tools that are very gentle and precise.”

  “The bones can be very fragile,” said Henry. “They might be softer than the rock around them.”

  “That’s exactly right, Henry,” said Elliot. He showed the children some cleaned bones from his recent find.

  “That looks like a skull,” said Benny.

  “It is a skull,” said Elliot. “It’s part of the dinosaur that I found by the cave. I think it’s a dinosaur related to one I found back when I was in college.”

  Jessie looked at Henry.

  “What did you find while you were in college?” Henry asked.

  “It was a rare kind of coelurosaur,” said Elliot. “My good friend Dan and I discovered it. We were working together on a school project.” Suddenly Elliot frowned.

  “Did something happen with your school project?” Jessie asked.

  “Oh, something happened all right,” said Elliot. “My so-called friend jumped ship.”

  “There was a ship?” Benny asked.

  “I think Elliot means that his friend left,” explained Violet.

  “Yes, my friend Dan left,” said Elliot. “And he took all his notes with him. I had to present the project by myself.” Elliot picked up a pile of dirt from a table. He flung it to the floor. “That guy almost cost me my college degree.”

  “That’s awful,” said Violet. She felt bad for Elliot. He looked very angry.

  “But you got your degree,” said Jessie. “Grandfather was there for your graduation!”

  “That’s true,” said Elliot. He smiled again. “Now I’m doing what I love to do.”

  “Do you think maybe it was a misunder­standing?” asked Violet. “Between you and your friend Dan?”

  Elliot scowled again. “None of that matters anymore,” he said. “Let’s check out that toe bone that Benny found this morning. I’ve been working on it.”

  The children followed Elliot to a workspace on another table to admire the toe bone. “This morning it looked like a rock with something sticking out of it,” said Benny. “Now it looks just like a toe bone!”

  “That’s how it goes when we hunt for dinosaur bones,” said Elliot. “It’s always a treasure hunt.”

  “We still need to tell Elliot that we found Dan,” said Jessie.

  The children were gathered in the guest room getting ready for bed. Grandfather and Elliot were watching an old movie in the living room.

  “But we don’t know if Dan is the one who stole the bones,” said Henry. “Maybe we should wait to tell Elliot about him.”

  “You’re right,” said Jessie. “We’ll look more carefully tomorrow. Maybe we’ll find the bones in Dan’s collection.”

  “I just thought of something!” said Benny.

  “What’s that?” asked Jessie. She knew that Benny sometimes noticed things that the rest of them missed.

  “Dan said that he was going to meet someone tomorrow,” said Benny.

  “That’s a good thing to remember!” said Henry.

  “He said that he’s going to meet Mr. Gordon, the buyer,” said Violet. “Maybe he’s going to sell him the stolen bones.”

  “We better get up early then,” said Jessie. “We need to find the bones before he takes them away!”

  CHAPTER 6

  A Living Dinosaur!

  Back at the cave the next day, Henry found the ladder where he had left it. The children helped one another scramble through the first narrow passage.

  “Wait. Let’s listen for footsteps,” said Henry.

  “Or dinosaur steps,” said Violet. She smiled nervously.
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  “Watch will let us know if there’s something or someone around,” Jessie reminded them. They continued until they arrived at the cavern where they had found the tracks.

  “Let’s start in here,” suggested Henry. “We’ll look more carefully this time.”

  “Watch isn’t barking, so I guess nobody is inside,” said Jessie. She let Watch lead the way into the cavern while the others closely followed.

  Inside the cavern, they looked around for other clues. Violet took photos of the tracks in the mud. Then she noticed a large hole in the wall near the tracks.

  “Look, there’s a hole here,” she said. “And there are more of the strange tracks. They lead into the hole!”

  “Good job, Violet,” said Jessie. “We missed that yesterday.”

  “Are we going in there?” asked Benny.

  “Let me check first,” said Henry. “I’ll take Watch with me.”

  The children waited nervously as Henry ducked inside the hole. After a few seconds, he called to them that everything was okay. The three children crawled inside the hole. The small passage opened up into another room. It led to another passageway.

  “Caves are very complicated!” said Benny.

  “I’m adding it all to my cave map,” said Violet. “It’s starting to get confusing!”

  “Look, there’s a bowl of water,” said Jessie. She shined her flashlight on a big white bowl.

  “There’s a name on the bowl,” said Benny. “Sweet Pea.”

  “I wonder who Sweet Pea is,” said Violet.

  Just then Watch began to whine. Then a loud booming sound filled the room.

  “What is that noise?” asked Jessie. “Why isn’t Watch barking?”

  A shadow appeared in the passageway and Watch walked inside, wagging his tail. Then he backed out, followed by a strange creature.

  “Oh my, what is that?” asked Violet. She ducked behind Jessie.

  “I think this is Sweet Pea,” whispered Jessie.

  All the children huddled together as a strange creature walked toward them. It was a large bird with two long legs and three-toed feet. Long, shaggy gray-brown feathers covered the bird’s bulky body and long neck. It had piercing orange-red eyes. The creature looked at each of the children and grunted.

  “Is Sweet Pea a real dinosaur?” asked Benny.

  The bird approached Benny. She poked at the pockets in his vest. He cringed.

  “Sweet Pea is an emu,” laughed Henry. “I’ve read about them in school. They’re from Australia.”

  “What is she doing here?” asked Violet. Sweet Pea turned to stare at her. The bird was taller than Violet. Violet backed up a few steps and Sweet Pea followed, bending over to nudge at Violet’s pack.

  “Sweet Pea must be Dan’s pet,” said Jessie. She remembered Dan’s funny little smile when Violet asked him about the tracks. “I think he pretended he didn’t know anything about the tracks just to tease us.”

  “I think she likes us,” said Benny. “And she really likes Violet.” Benny laughed as Sweet Pea kept nudging at Violet’s pack. Violet’s eyes were wide and she stayed very still.

  “H-h-huh-hullo, S-s-s-sweet P-p-p-pea,” she stammered as the emu pecked at her pack.

  “Ah! I think she wants that corn in your pack,” said Jessie. She reached into Violet’s pack and retrieved the plastic bag of corn. She put some in her hand and showed it to Sweet Pea, then tossed the kernels onto the floor. Sweet Pea began to peck at them. She scratched at the cavern floor as she ate.

  Violet let out a big breath. “Thank you, Jessie,” she said. “Sweet Pea seems friendly, but she is a big bird!”

  “I still think Sweet Pea is a dinosaur,” said Benny.

  “She does look like a dinosaur relative,” said Henry. “That must have been her we heard scratching yesterday.”

  “Was she also the shadow we saw?” asked Jessie.

  “I don’t know,” said Henry. “Look, she’s going into that passage. Let’s follow her.”

  Watch led the way as they followed Sweet Pea through the passage and into a smaller cavern.

  “Oh no! Another room!” said Violet. She added the room to her cave map. “Look!” Violet pointed at a cloth bag behind some rocks.

  The children opened the bag. Inside were pieces of rock with bones embedded in them. They had labels taped on them. Henry read one label out loud. “This one says 51 E.B.”

  “These are the stolen bones!” cried Benny. “Sweet Pea showed us where they are!”

  “We found the bones,” said Jessie. “Now we have to figure out who stole them and put them here.” Jessie looked around the dark room with her headlight. She pointed at an object on the floor. “What’s that?”

  Violet took a photo of the object. Then she picked it up. “It’s a chisel!” she said.

  “It looks just like the one we saw in Dinosaur Dan’s collection,” said Jessie.

  “So it must be Dinosaur Dan’s chisel and Dinosaur Dan’s pet emu,” said Henry. “It seems that Dinosaur Dan might be the one who took Elliot’s bones.”

  “He sure was mad at Elliot,” said Violet. “Maybe we should go talk to him again.”

  “We’ll leave Elliot’s bones here,” said Henry.

  “We can get them on our way back,” agreed Jessie.

  “Let’s take the chisel to show Dinosaur Dan,” said Violet. “We can ask if it belongs to him.”

  “Good idea, Violet,” said Henry. “Okay, let’s go!”

  “Where do we go?” asked Benny. He looked around. “We’ve been in so many rooms and passages that I’m lost!”

  “We aren’t lost,” said Violet. She showed Benny the map she had drawn in her sketchbook.

  “Oh good!” said Benny. “Let’s follow Violet’s map.”

  The children headed back through the passages and rooms to the main passageway.

  “Look, Sweet Pea is following us,” said Benny. “I bet she would like to have some more of that corn!”

  Watch ran ahead as they traveled down the passageway to the big cavern at the end. Dinosaur Dan was busy digging outside.

  “I see you kids got caught by my watch-bird this time,” he said. Dinosaur Dan laughed as Sweet Pea nuzzled Watch, and Benny petted the big bird on her neck. “And she seems to like you. That’s interesting.”

  “Why is it interesting?” asked Benny.

  “Sweet Pea is usually shy,” said Dinosaur Dan. “And she can be pretty grumpy. At least that’s how she acts around Jolanda.”

  “Do you mean Jolanda Hogan?” asked Jessie.

  “Yeah, Jolanda brings me supplies about once a week or so,” said Dinosaur Dan. “She also buys bones from me. Sweet Pea always tries to bite her. I used to distract Sweet Pea with lots of corn when Jolanda came around. Finally I just started leaving her back here when I met Jolanda at the campsite.”

  “So Jolanda knows that you have a dig?” asked Henry.

  “Jolanda knows I have a dig, but she doesn’t know where it is. Nobody does. Well, except for you kids.” He looked at Sweet Pea. The big bird was nudging at Violet’s pack again and grunting. “But I guess that’s all right if you can keep my secret.”

  “Sure we can!” said Benny. “We’re good at keeping secrets.”

  Violet pulled the chisel out of her pack and handed it to Henry.

  “We found this chisel in one of the rooms in the cave,” said Henry. He handed the chisel to Dinosaur Dan.

  “Well, look at that,” said Dinosaur Dan. He turned the chisel over in his big hands. “I have a few of these, but this isn’t one of mine. See the initials on the handle?” He held the chisel up for the children to see.

  “It has a B and an H,” said Benny.

  “That’s right, young man,” said Dinosaur Dan. “That stands for Bones Hogan. He was a famous dinosaur digger around here many years ago. He made his own chisels.”

  “We went to his museum!” said Benny. “There were a lot of bones in there.”

  “That’s where we met
Jolanda Hogan,” said Jessie.

  “Jolanda’s great-granddaddy used to own all the land around here,” said Dinosaur Dan. “Sometimes when I dig out here in the heat, chiseling and scraping for hours, I think about old Bones Hogan. He keeps me going. Do you know why?” Dinosaur Dan looked around at the Alden children.

  “Why?” Benny was the first to ask.

  “Bones Hogan made some of the biggest discoveries ever,” said Dinosaur Dan. “If he could do that, even when he was over eighty years old, I figured so could I.” He turned the chisel over in his hand. “I wonder what it was doing back in there.” He frowned and studied the old tool.

  Violet studied Dan’s face. She thought he looked like he really was confused.

  Dan shrugged. “I’m here to search for bones. Do you kids want to help?”

  “You bet we do!” said Benny.

  “Well then, follow me,” said Dinosaur Dan. He returned the chisel to Violet and trudged ahead. He waved for the children to follow.

  “We’re right behind you!” called Jessie. She turned to her siblings. “Dinosaur Dan seems to tell the truth, but then he changes the subject.”

  “Maybe he’s the bone thief,” Henry pointed to Sweet Pea, who had wandered back to the cave entrance. She ducked inside.

  “That’s true,” said Violet. “But Dinosaur Dan really looked confused about that chisel.”

  “But right now we can dig for bones!” said Benny. They headed to where Dinosaur Dan was waiting for them.

  “Look at this, Benny,” said Dinosaur Dan. He held up a jawbone that was surrounded by rock. “This is my big secret. I think this jawbone is part of an undiscovered dinosaur!”

  “Wow,” said Benny. “Can we help?”

  “Yes, you can,” said Dinosaur Dan. “I need to move this rock slab. I’ve got ropes and wood planks already set up. We’ll use them for skids. The slab will just slide out of the way.”

  “What should we do?” asked Henry.

  “Just help guide the slab while I drive my ATV,” said Dinosaur Dan. “Here we go!”

  Dinosaur Dan jumped into his ATV and slowly drove forward. The ropes pulled tight, then the big slab of rock started to move. The children helped to keep the rock on the skids. When the rock was moved and out of the way, everyone looked at what was underneath it.