were deep in thought, Clarissa took the
opportunity to douse us all with a triple
dose of her lily of the valley perfume.
Soaked in perfume, Trap cried, “Hey!
SPRITZZZZ!
Take that!
Groan!
What in the name of all things cheesy are
you doing?”
“
Oh, quit your squeaking!
” she replied.
Clarissa sniffed us again and exclaimed,
“Ugh! You
still
stink, even with
all that perfume! You smell like
rotten Jurassic jack
cheese
!”
ATTACK OF THE
WIMPY JELLYFISH
Ignoring Clarissa’s complaints, we read the
riddle again. What did those words mean?
“
Tavern
makes me think of the Rotten
Tooth Tavern,” Trap mused.
“
Of course!
” exclaimed Hercule.
“There’s a
cavern
on the cliff next to the
tavern!”
“And if there’s a
lantern
inside that
cavern, then we solved the puzzle!” Clarissa
added.
Ah,
Clarissa
— what an intelligent mouse!
“So here’s what the
riddle
means: Get
the
lantern
that’s inside the
cavern
next
to the
tavern
,” Benjamin summed up.
Puff! Pant!
We raced to the tavern, then
borrowed a
raft
so we could
paddle out to the cavern.
Trap was the STRONGEST,
so he took the oars and
began to row toward the
cavern. But the current
was strong, and our flimsy
little raft began to rock
back
and
forth
and
back
and
forth
in
the rapids. Petrified
cheese — how
Hey!
Oops!
prehistorically
scary
! We
almost flipped over, and I
was sure we were goners,
but then . . .
“The lantern!” shouted Benjamin,
pointing
to the far end of the
cave.
“I see it!” I cried, reaching out a
paw. But as soon as I grabbed the
lantern, I got hit by an enormouse
Help!
wave
and went tumbling into the
water.
Splash!
Before I could twitch a whisker, a swarm
of
jellyfish
stung me with their tentacles.
Youch!
What Paleolithic pain!
This was
not
going well.
“Don’t be scared, Uncle Geronimo!”
Benjamin said. “These are
wimpy
jellyfish
— I recognize them. They only
sting because they’re frightened!”
“That’s right!” exclaimed
Hercule. “They’re not doing
it on purpose —
poor
things
!”
“Poor things?!” I
squeaked as a jellyfish
stung
me under my
tail.
“I know how we can get rid
of those scared creatures without
hurting them,” Clarissa said suddenly. “The
fire
from the lantern will scare them
away!”
Ah,
Clarissa
. . . she always comes up
with such fabumouse ideas!
Too bad I was the one holding the
lantern — so I had to
scare
the jellyfish
away! I gulped, gathered my courage, and
began to swing the lantern above the
waves
.
Got
cha!
Whoa!
Yikes!
The jellyfish
fled
in fear. Holey cheese, it
was a miracle!
Clarissa quickly extended an
oar
and
fished me out of the water. I was soaking
wet, I was in
pain
, and I was clinging to
the oar like an octopusaurus — but at least
I still had all my fur!
COOL IT, GUYS!
For the next riddle, go
to the most charming,
brilliant, mouserific
reporter in the Stone
Age: Sally Rockmousen!
I had made a megalithic fool of myself
in front of Clarissa, but at least I had the
lantern
! Attached to the lantern, we
found a little stone tablet that read:
My friends and I
dashed
to Gossip
Radio faster than saber-toothed tigers.
For the next riddle, go
to the most charming,
brilliant, mouserific
reporter in the Stone
Age: Sally Rockmousen!
“
GRRRRRRR...”
Grrrrrrr...
“
Ha, ha, ha!
” Sally cackled when she
saw us. “Here comes the
last
team, led
by the great riddlemaster, Trap Stiltonoot!
Hee, hee, hee!
”
Offended, Trap grumbled under his
whiskers.
“Here’s the lantern,”
said Hercule, trying to
stay on task. “Now
fork over
the
next riddle, Sally!”
“
COOL IT,
GUYS!
” Sally
said, flashing
a shifty little
smile. “Do you
seriously still think
you can
win
?”
“Why not?” asked
Clarissa
.
NUMBER OF RIDDLES SOLVED BY
THE COMPETING TEAMS:
Super
Stiltonoots
Megalithic
Mice
Jurassic
Cheddarsnouts
“Until the race is over, we’re in it to win it!”
Sally snickered. “Keep in mind that the
Jurassic Cheddarsnouts
have
already solved their third riddle, and the
Megalithic Mice
have solved their fourth!”
Benjamin and I exchanged a
disappointed
He makes a saber-toothed
tiger tremble.
look. We were moving as slowly as a Stone
Age snail!
“We can still do it!” Clarissa squeaked
with determination. She turned to Sally.
“What’s the next
riddle
?”
“Massive meteorites, if you insist — here
it is!” Sally said, hurling the stone tablet at
my snout.
Rats! I rubbed my sore snout and tried to
stay focused. Chiseled on the tablet was this
riddle:
“That’s impawssible,” snorted Trap.
Bonk!
Let’s
see...
“A saber-toothed tiger isn’t
afraid
of
anything!”
“You’re wrong, Uncle Trap!” Benjamin
said with a grin. “Saber-toothed tigers are
afraid of
water
.”
“
Right!
I was just about to say that,”
Clarissa squeaked up. “But the riddle isn’t
about something
— it’s about someone!
Read it again: ‘
He
makes a saber-toothed
tiger tremble . . .’”
“Hmm.”
Benjamin
LOOKED
thoughtful.
“If you were
a saber-toothed
tiger, who would you
be
afraid of
?”
Trap tried to imagine he
was a
saber-toothed
tiger
. “Let’s see.
I’d have menacing eyes, big
teeth
. . .”
“Big teeth!” exclaimed Hercule. “With
such large
fangs
, those flea-infested felines
must be worried about cavities!”
he was right! The thing that frightened
saber-toothed tigers the most had to be . . .
“The dentist!” exclaimed Trap. “The
answer is the
DENTIST!”
“There’s no time to lose,”
squeaked Clarissa. “Let’s
hurry to the Club
Clinic, home of
Old
Mouse City’s
very
best dentists and
doctors!”
BONES AND STONES,
WHY, WHY,
WHYYYY?!
While our team
celebrated
solving the
riddle, Hercule pulled me aside.
“Geronimo, there’s something about this
whole treasure hunt that
stinks
. Let’s
start
sniffing
around! Listen — pssst
. . .
pssst . . . pssst . . .”
My jaw dropped as I listened to Hercule’s
whispers. “Petrified cheese!
What
are you
squeaking about?”
I hung back to talk more with Hercule
while Trap, Benjamin, and Clarissa
scampered to the dentist to look for the next
riddle
.
As soon as they
left
, Hercule said, “I
What’s the square in
Old Mouse City?
can tell that you’re confused, so I’ll try to
explain the whole thing again.” He looked
me in the eye. “You know
why
we’re dead
last in the treasure hunt, right?”
“Uh, because the other teams are better
than we are?” I guessed.
“
Wrong
, Geronimo!” he squeaked.
“We’re last because Sally gave the
easy-
cheesy
riddles to the other teams and the
hard-as-boulders
ones to us!”
At that moment, we saw the
Jurassic
Cheddarsnouts
darting toward us, led
by Squeaks McStone.
“Yoo-hoo, Squeaks!” Hercule called
to him. “Would you please read us your
riddle
?”
Squeaks showed us the tablet. It said:
Pretty
tough,
huh?
“Pretty tough, huh?”
said Squeaks. “But
Marty Mozzarella, the
brains of our team,
thought
about
it for a looooong time
and finally figured out the answer!”
“Trumpeting triceratops!” I
whispered
to
Hercule. “Any cheesebrain knows that it’s
Singing Rock Square!”
“
Exactly!
” Hercule said with a nod.
“Did you notice anything else?”
I thought for a moment. “You mean that
Squeaks
stinks
like Jurassic jack cheese
left out in the sun?”
“
Wrong again!
” Hercule grimaced.
“Massive meteorites, Geronimo, try using
that head of yours!”
“
Hmmm . . . er, maybe . . .”
“Do I have to explain everything?” he
grumbled, throwing his paws in the air. “Not
only did we get the most
difficult
riddles,
but we’ve also had to run from one end of
the city to the other, covering tails upon tails
upon tails.”*
I scratched my snout.
Holey cheese
, he was
right! “Huh, I hadn’t thought of that . . .”
“Wake up, Geronimo! Sally is making us
run
all over the place, which keeps us far
away from our caves!” Hercule concluded.
“But
why
?”
Suddenly, I had an idea about what that
rat Sally was up to. But . . .
noooo
! It
couldn’t be!
STONE AGE NOTE:
*
The basic unit of measurement in the Stone Age is
based on the length of the tail of the village leader,
Ernest Heftymouse.
Map of the treasure hunt,
marking the stops made by
the Super Stiltonoot team
LIBERTY
ROCK
3
5
4
CAVE OF
MEMORIES
GOSSIP RADIO
CLUB CLINIC
CAVERN OF
THE WIMPY
JELLYFISH
GERONIMO’S
HOUSE
FLIGHTPORT
CHEDDAR
VOLCANO
SINGING ROCK
SQUARE
1
2
ARE YOU SURE
YOU’RE SURE?
FOSSILIZED FETA!
Cheese niblets!
Why
hadn’t I realized it
before?
Sally wanted to steal my
STONE AGE
scoop — a scoop so big that I was keeping
it a secret. So secret that I had completely
forgotten about it! That had been Sally’s
plan all along!
“The
interview
!” I exclaimed. “The
interview with maestro Samuel Songsnout!”
Hercule looked puzzled.
“
SAMUEL
SONGSNOUT
is
the most famouse
musician in
Old
Mouse City
,”
I reminded him.
“In fact, he’s
the most famouse
musician in the Stone Age!”
Hercule shrugged. “S
o what?”
“He’s famouse for two reasons,” I said.
“First, he invented the
Clubiphone
, a
prehistoric instrument that is played by
whacking clubs against horns, and second,
he
hates
doing interviews. Songsnout has
never — and I mean
never
— agreed to a
single
interview
!”
“Aha!” squeaked Hercule. “But, Geronimo,
you’re not saying that . . .”
“As sure as squeaking!” I exclaimed.
“Three days ago, I finally convinced him
to see me. I snagged the very first and only
interview with
SAMUEL SONGSNOUT
!”
“Did
anybody
else know about the
interview?” Hercule asked.
I shook my head. “Not a single rodent. I
hid the interview transcript in a
secret
place only I know about!”
“Where did you hide it?” Hercule looked
worried. “You don’t have it with you now,
do you,
cheesebrain
?”
“Don’t get your tail in a twist!” I said. “I
left it in my cave, in a very
safe
place.”
Hercule tugged on his whiskers. “Are
you absolutely sure?
One hundred
percent sure?
What if Sally found
out about it from her shifty henchmice?”
I hadn’t thought of that.
“Um . . .”
“And what if Sally organized this treasure
hunt to keep you away from your cave and
steal your interview transcript?”
“Um . . .”
“And what if we go to your cave and check
things out right now?”
“Um . . .”
I turned as pale as a ball of mozzarella.
Hercule was right! The
interview
transcript
was no longer safe! What if Sally had gotten
her
paws
on it? That would be
unsqueakable!
“We’d better check,” I said. We
dashed
to my cave as fast as our paws could take us.
When we got there, we peeked through the
window and — holey rolling boulders!
“Sally’s henchmice are in there!” I
squeaked, tying my tail in knots.
Gulp!
Two mean-looking rodents had snuck
into my cave and were rummaging through
everything I owned
! What a prehistoric
disaster! We had to think of a way to stop
them
right away
!
The Smelly Search (Geronimo Stilton Cavemice #13) Page 3