by Gary Paulsen
When it was nearly dark, Daniel motioned for them to set the stretcher down under a tree. Troy's face was still white. His eyes were closed and he was obviously in pain.
“Sorry I can't offer you anything to drink.” Daniel cleared a place for a campfire. “But tomorrow we'll be at the river and you can drink your fill.”
Scotty lay back in the dirt. “I'm done. I don't think I can walk another step.”
“How long will it take us to get home after we get to the river?” Brandon asked.
Daniel blew on twigs and pine needles to start the fire. “It depends on how long it takes us to get across and how far it is back upriver to the washed-out bridge.”
“I heard something.” Scotty sat up. “It's coming from over there.” He pointed out into the gath-ering darkness. “There it is again. Something's in that brush.”
Brandon sat up. “Bears?”
Daniel moved behind the fire and picked up a sturdy round stick.
A large brown dog trotted out into the opening. He stopped when he saw the fire and the boys.
“Oh, it's just a mutt.” Scotty held out his hand. “Here, boy.”
“Don't call him.” Daniel eyed the dog. “Everyone stay perfectly still. Don't give him any reason to come this way.”
The dog lowered his head and growled. He took a step toward them and hesitated.
Brandon cautiously reached for a stick. The dog snarled and bared his teeth. White foam dripped from his mouth.
Troy felt around on the ground beside him. His hand rested on a large rock.
The dog pawed the ground like an angry bull. He shook his head and some of the white slobber flew off. For a minute it looked as if he was going to turn and go back into the bushes.
Suddenly he charged straight for them, lunging at Daniel. Daniel quickly sidestepped and brought the stick around. He nailed the dog on the back of the head, knocking him to his knees.
Troy raised his rock and brought it down squarely on the dog's head. The dog didn't move. Daniel stepped closer, his stick still raised.
The dog wasn't breathing.
Daniel poked it with his stick. “You got him, Troy.”
“I don't understand.” Scotty looked bewildered. “Why did he act like that?”
Daniel moved back to the fire. “Rabies.”
Brandon pointed his stick at the dog. “He could have killed us.”
Daniel nodded. “If he had bitten one of us, we probably wouldn't have lasted more than a couple of days.”
Scotty was still staring at the dog. “I wonder what he's doing way out here?”
“No telling.” Daniel put a piece of wood on the fire. “He probably made it to this side before the bridge washed out, picked up the disease, and couldn't figure out how to get back.”
Scotty nervously looked out into the darkness. “What if he bit something else?”
“He probably did. That skunk you guys told me about, for instance. Skunks don't usually roam around in the daytime unless something's wrong.”
A shudder went through Scotty, “This place gives me the creeps. The sooner we get home the better.”
CHAPTER 11
When they reached the river, Daniel made them boil the water be-fore he let them drink, to eliminate any possibility of contamination from diseased ani-mals. Then they drank until they thought they would burst.
After a short rest, they carried Troy downstream until Daniel found the place where he had wanted to cross.
Again Daniel sat and watched the water, searching for any telltale signs of drop-offs or other hidden dangers.
“What are you waiting for?” Brandon came up behind him. “It looks okay to me.”
“You're probably right, but it never hurts to check.” Daniel threw a rock into the water. “You and I will make sure Troy gets across and we'll let Scotty worry about the stretcher, okay?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Daniel stood up. “Let's get started.”
Brandon and Daniel lifted Troy off the stretcher while Scotty slipped it out from under him. Scotty wrapped his arm around the first rung of the stretcher and stepped out into the water.
Daniel looked at Troy. “All you have to do is float. Bran-don and I will do the rest.”
Scotty shouted at them from the middle of the river. “I'm still standing. It's not that deep here.”
“Hear that, Troy?” Brandon patted his shoulder. “Piece of cake.”
They stepped down into the water. Daniel moved to the lead and put his arm under Troy's chin to keep Troy's head up. Brandon stepped to the side to help push Troy through the water.
“Sure beats swimming.” Brandon looked down at Troy. “We're almost there.”
Daniel turned to look back at them. As he did, he stepped into a bot-tomless hole. He lost his hold on Troy and sank below the water. Brandon reached for Daniel to pull him back up.
The current grabbed Troy. The upper part of his body was floating away. Troy's leg was useless, so he tried to use his arms to swim. He splashed frantically, trying to get turned around. Brandon snatched at him and managed to hang on to Troy's shoe for a second, but it quickly slipped out of his hand.
Daniel broke the surface of the water and gasped for air. He swam wildly in Troy's direction and grabbed the front of his shirt. “Gotcha.”
Troy hung on to him. His voice trembled. “I thought you guys said this would be a piece of cake.”
Brandon helped turn him around.
“We lied.”
CHAPTER 12
“I see it. There it is.”
The boys had made it to the bank and were following the river back to the bridge. Brandon pointed excitedly. “We found it,” he announced to the others.
Daniel and Scotty followed him up a rise. They laid Troy down and walked to the bridge. Now that it wasn't raining, it was easy to see that part of the bridge was missing. There was a gaping hole in the center. The three boys looked over the edge and stared at the swift-running water below.
“It's amazing any of us are still alive.” Scotty looked downstream. “It's too bad about the driver. I wonder if they'll ever find his body.”
“They'll find him.” Daniel stepped back. “When we get back we'll give them the approximate location of the van. It probably hasn't moved that much. It was stuck pretty good.”
Daniel reached for his end of the stretcher. “We better keep moving, it's getting late. With any luck we could run into a car sometime tomorrow.”
Scotty sighed and picked up his end. “The first thing I'm going to do when I get back is take a long, hot soak in the tub.”
Troy raised his head. “I'm going to the hospi-tal—and after that I'm going to have the biggest cheeseburger in town.”
“I'm going to fall into my water bed and sleep for a thousand years.” Brandon looked at Daniel. “How about you? What's the first thing you're going to do when you get back?”
Daniel looked embarrassed. “First I'm going to make sure my mom knows I'm all right.” He glanced up at Scotty. “She kinda worries about me. Then I guess I'll go home and call my uncle Smitty and tell him all about our time up here.”
Scotty shifted the weight of the stretcher. “There's something I've been meaning to tell you, Danny boy.” Scotty hesitated. “All that stuff I said earlier. You know that stuff on the bus about your mom—well, I was being a jerk.”
“Me too.” Troy smiled. “But Scotty was the biggest jerk.”
“You won't get any argument from me.” Brandon thumped both of them on the back of the head.
Two tiny lights flickered in the distance. They moved closer.
“I see it, but I don't believe it.” Daniel moved to the center of the road. “It's a truck.”
The headlights grew larger until a lightgreen truck stopped in front of them. A forest ranger stepped out. “By the looks of things, Fd say you boys must be the lost campers.”
Brandon clapped Daniel on the back, “Are you kidding? Daniel here knew
where we were all the time.”
The ranger helped them put Troy in the bed of the truck, “Looks like you had a rough time, son.”
Troy shook his head. “Naw. Not with Daniel around. He's the one who set my leg.”
The ranger looked at Daniel. “Sounds like these guys were lucky you were along.”
Scotty stepped up. “We probably wouldn't have made it without him.”
The ranger smiled. “There's a reporter from one of the big papers waiting back in town. I'm sure he'll be very inter-ested in how you boys survived the Midnight River.”
“Reporter?” Scotty slid into the front seat with the ranger. “Did I say we wouldn't have made it without Daniel? What I meant to say was that I was a big part of getting us out alive. Yes sir. A very big part.” Scotty was still talking as he slammed the door.
Brandon looked at Daniel and shrugged. “So he's still a jerk, what can I say?” He jumped up into the back of the truck. “With friends like us, you'll have to stay on your toes.”
Daniel stepped up into the truck bed. He looked through the window at Scotty, who was still talking the ranger's ear off. Troy and Brandon were discussing what a pain Scotty was.
Daniel wasn't really listening. He had stopped at the word friends….
Look for these thrill-packed adventures coming soon!
The Gorgon Slayer
Eleven-year-old Warren Trumbull has a crazy job. He works for Prince Charming's Damsel in Distress Rescue Agency, saving people from hideous monsters, evil warlocks, and wicked witches. One day Warren gets the most dangerous assignment of all: He must exterminate a Gorgon. Warren will need all his courage and skill—and a surprise weapon—to become a true Gorgon slayer.
Captive!
When masked gunmen storm into his classroom, Roman San-chez and three other boys are taken hostage. They are hauled to a run-down mountain cabin, bound with rope, and given no food. With each passing hour the kidnap-pers' deadly threats become more real. Roman knows time is running out. He and the other boys must pull together now and launch a last desperate fight for free-dom.
Copyright © 1995 by Gary Paulsen
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eISBN: 978-0-307-51922-1
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