by Tara Ellis
“Hey, what’s the hold up?” Ranger has gotten tired of waiting and brought his horse up.
“Nothing, get back to your post,” Cowboy barks, walking briskly back to the waiting girls. His face is still red, and now Zorro’s is, too. Without another word, the younger man gets on his horse and starts riding back up the trail.
“Here, you’ll be on Lucky from now on,” Cowboy tells Sam, taking Sundance’s reins from her. “I think it best if we just switch. He’s a bit uppity, but a smart horse. Can you ride behind Becky back there and keep an eye on the other girls?”
Sam is so relieved that she could hug him, but doesn’t want to make an even bigger scene. She’d pay anything to know what he said to Zorro. “Thank you,” she simply says instead.
“Nothing to thank me for.” Winking once, Cowboy expertly swings up into the saddle and starts them on their way again.
A little nervous to get back on a horse, Sam is happy to find that Lucky is very mellow and falls into his rightful place without her even having to guide him.
Fortunately, the rest of the afternoon goes without incident. By the time they reach their overnight camp, Sam has finally relaxed and is enjoying herself again. As the horses all gather in an open field next to the tents to graze, they begin to dismount and help get the saddles off.
Doing their best to avoid Zorro, Sam and Ally carry their tack over to some logs, where they were instructed to lay it all out. Draping the damp horse blanket, Sam studies some of the other gear that’s spread out, and pauses. Set on top of the log that’s next to theirs, are the tan saddlebags that Sam had spent a couple of hours staring at today. Zorro’s bags. Now that she sees them up close, it’s clear that they’re made out of deer hide.
“Ally,” she says, the excitement in her voice clear.
Curious, Ally finishes arranging her things and then steps up next to Sam. “What is it?” she asks, turning to look at what Sam is pointing at. It takes her a minute, but then she makes the connection. “The hair in the woods,” she concludes. “But Sam, there’s a lot of things made out of deer hide. That doesn’t mean it’s him.”
Sam startles Ally by taking her by the shoulders and pulling her down. They’re now both squatting next to the horse blanket at eye-level, with the bag a few feet away. “Even if it’s missing a piece the same size as the one we found?” she asks smugly.
Ally can now see that there is, in fact, a hole in one of the bags…and she’s guessing that their clue would fit in it perfectly!
***
“Why would Zorro be sneaking around in the woods, pretending to be Bigfoot?” Becky wants to know.
The sun set over an hour ago, and they’ve all gathered around a large fire to roast marshmallows before bed. It’s the first opportunity they’ve had to talk about their most recent discovery. Sitting as far off to one side as possible without drawing any criticism, the five of them huddle together and speak in hushed tones.
“I don’t know much about Zorro,” Lexie admits. “Except that his dad owns the horse outfit and he seems pretty close to Ms. Cooper. Cowboy sure doesn’t like him, but you don’t need me to tell you that.”
“Maybe we should tell Cowboy?” Ally suggests, always the prudent one.
Sam considers this carefully. If Cowboy believed them, then what? He would have to talk with Ms. Cooper when they got back, which would lead to more of her wrath. Or…he wouldn’t believe them, in which case, they would be in for an even bigger dose of Ms. Cooper’s discipline.
“No,” Sam replies, shaking her head. “We don’t really have anything to tell him, except that we might have proof that he was in the same area where we saw something big that made a weird sound. A place that was supposed to be off-limits. Zorro would probably come up with some sort of explanation and we’d be blamed for having wild imaginations.”
“Maybe that’s all it is.” The voice of reason belongs to Sandy, who grins in response to their shocked expressions. “I’m just saying that we really don’t know what we saw, and I agree with Sam; we’d sound pretty stupid accusing Zorro of it.”
Having it put that way, Sam feels kind of silly now. They all decide to keep it to themselves and then join the rest of the campers for the last song.
There are three large canvas tents in the clearing, with the girls and counselors in two of them and the three men in the third. As the campfire dies down, darkness spills in from the woods. Soon the silence is complete, interrupted occasionally by a horse’s snicker or whinny.
Lying in her sleeping bag, Sam is sure that she’s the only one still awake. The heavy, rhythmic breathing of sleeping campers surrounds her and she longs to join them. However, she can’t seem to shut her brain off and instead replays the scene from earlier over and over again. Although certain she didn’t do anything wrong, she can’t help but wonder if she should have kept a tighter grip on the reins, or if maybe she was distracted by the dead trees.
A cracking branch near the tent draws her attention, and she is instantly wide awake. Holding her breath, she strains to hear other noises. She is rewarded by the distinct sound of carefully placed footsteps leading away from the tents, towards the horses. The makeshift bathroom is in the other direction, so Sam is immediately suspicious.
Not wanting to wake anyone, she crawls quietly from her bedding and peeks her head through the opening. Unable to make out anything in the thick darkness, she slips out of the tent and creeps in the direction of the sound, her bare feet silent in the pine needles.
She doesn’t have far to go before she hears a whispered conversation on the light breeze. More curious now than scared, she tiptoes towards it, ducking behind a large tree when two men’s dark forms come into view.
“I told you before to take that horse out of the line-up!” The voice belongs to Zorro, and Ranger answers him.
“She’s the only one willing to walk that trail in the dark, man. You know that! I don’t care what the old man’s will says…you can’t have it both ways. She does one or the other, but not both.”
Sam peeks out cautiously when there’s a pause in the dialogue.
“We’ll figure it out later, but Cowboy’s starting to ask questions,” Zorro responds. He hands something to Ranger then, slapping it into his palm. “Here’s your share. You’ve got twelve barrels for me to take back tomorrow night, correct?”
“Umm…yeah. About that,” Ranger says uneasily, shoving the package into his jacket pocket. “I got eleven to go back. I, ah…I lost one.”
“You lost another one?” Zorro says menacingly. “I told you before, that’s not acceptable! You’re going to come back here tomorrow and find it. We can’t be leaving that kind of evidence behind. Especially not now!”
“Come on, man!” Ranger whines. “There ain’t nobody out here but us. You’re starting to get paranoid, and I hate climbing down to the bottom.”
“Then you shouldn’t have dropped it. And I don’t pay you to think. I’m the one taking the risks. You just do what I tell you, and it’ll work out fine. Now…I’ll be at the trailhead tomorrow night at midnight for the pickup. I want all twelve empties. Got it?”
“Sure, man. Sure.” Ranger concedes. Backing away from the much larger man, he holds his hands out in surrender. “Whatever you say.”
Shrinking into the shadows, Sam holds her breath and watches as the two conspirators walk back past her. There’s a lot more going on here than just scaring some girls at a camp, Sam realizes with a start. Her heart is hammering so loud that she’s sure they’ll hear her.
After several minutes pass without her being discovered, she silently makes her way back to the tent and climbs into her safe, warm sleeping bag. Afraid of making any noise, she decides to wait until morning to tell the other girls about it. With thoughts of Bigfoot, dead trees, and Ms. Cooper’s accusing eyes swirling through her head, she finally falls asleep.
16
SABOTAGED!
Ally and Becky are horrified to learn that Sam has snuck around in
the dark woods by herself, but both Sandy and Lexie are impressed.
“Just wake me up next time!” Lexie begs as they gather their stuff together for the ride back to camp.
“Shhh,” Becky cautions, looking around to make sure no one is eavesdropping. “What do you think it means?”
“It means that these creeps are doing something illegal out here. This camp is getting even weirder,” Sandy says bluntly. Pulling her hair up into a ponytail, she focuses on Sam. “Too bad you’ve got everyone so mad at us. And it’s still your word against his.”
Biting at her lip, Sam can’t come up with a valid argument. Sandy’s right again. Sam isn’t even put off by her directness. She’s used to it now, and understands that it isn’t personal, but just the way Sandy is.
“So we just need to figure the rest of this out in the next two days,” Sam finally concludes.
“Right,” Ally agrees. “We all should be on the lookout for anything odd or out of place.”
Cowboy hollers for everybody to mount up, so the discussion ends. He had guided Sam towards Lucky without comment when they started gearing up the horses, so he is now at the front on Sundance.
Ranger is staying behind at the camp with the three horses used to pack in all of the food and water. Zorro replaces him at the end of the line, his testy stallion nipping at a couple of horses on the way.
The rhythm of the swaying horses is hypnotic. When they all come to a stop, it seems like minutes have passed instead of hours, Looking up in surprise, Sam discovers that they are already back at the trailhead. Of course, the lack of sleep she had the night before might have something to do with her lack of attention to time, as well.
A rough gravel road leads away into the woods and a large truck and horse trailer are parked on it. It was also there the day before, and Sam assumes that it’s how they move the horses in and out. A good sized pasture’s been fenced off, and there are a couple of small buildings for storage. This must enable them to keep the horses there for a day or two, in between the rides.
“I don’t think my rear end has ever been this sore,” Sandy moans, sliding down painfully to the ground. “But it was still fun,” she quickly adds, smiling at Becky.
After another sack lunch, it’s already mid-afternoon. The girls say goodbye to the horses and hike down to the main trail. Sam and Ally are relieved to leave Zorro behind to finish tending to the animals.
The young counselors lead them in marching songs, and the next hour is a great reminder of how much fun Camp Whispering Pines really is. Ally finds a perfectly shaped, weathered stick for the mast on their barge, which launches a treasure hunt by all twenty girls. Several unique items are spotted right along the trail. Each time the finders are convinced it will make theirs the winning boat.
By the time they get back to Cabin Navaho, their soreness is almost forgotten and the girls are ready for another fun night.
“I can’t believe that tomorrow is Thursday already. We’ve only got one full day left,” Becky remarks. “I’m sure going to miss all of you.”
Ally notes how much stronger Becky’s voice is. She certainly doesn’t seem like the same shy, timid girl they met just a few days ago.
“You know, it’s funny,” Sandy replies. “I thought my parents were trying to get rid of me again by sending me here. But I guess they might have been right about this being a good experience, because I’m going to miss you, too!”
Lexie is being unusually quiet, and Sam looks at her questioningly. “Lexie,” she says softly, getting the other girls attention. “What did you mean the other day, when you said you were jealous of Sandy?”
Shuffling her feet, Lexie looks back at Sam briefly before staring at the floor. “A couple of years ago, my older brother was killed in a car accident. My parents were so busy grieving, that they forgot they still had a daughter.” Although her voice is steady, she dabs at her eyes. “I got used to taking care of myself. That’s when I started spending my summers here. But now,” she continues, her voice hardening, “I might lose this place, too. My folks have been trying to get me to stay home and spend time with them again, so they’ll use all this stuff as an excuse to say I can’t come anymore. Or else it’ll be shut down altogether.” Throwing her backpack up on the bed, she turns away from the worried stares of her friends.
“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.” Ally suggests. When Lexie turns and looks at her sharply, she’s quick to explain herself. “I mean, spending time with your mom and dad. Maybe you can talk to them, Lexie, and agree to just not come as often. Let them know how important the camp is to you, but don’t you think you should give them a chance, too? I’m sure they must love you.”
“I wish my parents wanted to spend more time with me,” Sandy says. “But no matter what, I think that all of us should write down our emails and phone numbers, so that we can stay in contact after camp. You do have phones or computers, right?”
Lexie smiles, nodding enthusiastically. Taking her backpack down again, she digs around and finally produces a notebook and pen. “Here!” she directs, handing it to Sandy. “You start. Everyone jot down your info and I’ll make copies of it for all of us!”
Sam’s just finished adding her phone number when Butterfingers barges into the cabin, startling them all. Without even acknowledging the other girls, she turns to Ally and Sam. “I need to talk with you,” she says bluntly.
“Okay…” Sam says, setting the paper aside. “What’s up?”
“Just come with me.” Spinning around, she leaves as abruptly as she entered.
“This can’t be good,” Ally moans, getting slowly to her feet.
By the time they step outside, Butterfingers has already started walking away from the cabin and the two girls hurry after her. “What now?” Sam asks, getting more anxious.
Approaching the bottom of the trail where it branches off to the lodge and other buildings, she turns on them. They’re both shocked by the obvious anger on their counselor’s normally friendly face.
“I don’t have anything to say to you, but Ms. Cooper does. She’s waiting for you in her office.”
Before they can even ask questions, Butterfingers marches away from them, her hands balled into fists at her sides.
“Oh geez,” Sam breathes, looking fearfully towards the director’s office. “Why does this keep happening to us?” Reaching out to take Ally’s hand for comfort, the two of them inch closer.
Before they’re clear of the tree line, the big red truck with the horse trailer comes roaring up and stops right in front of their destination. Sam remembers seeing a dirt road over on the far side of the clearing. Evidently, this must be one that leads to where the horses are kept.
Zorro climbs down from the pickup and leaps up the front steps. “Aunt Cooper, are you in there?” he hollers, pulling at the door without waiting for an answer.
Sam and Ally look at each other, dumbfounded. “Aunt?” they both whisper at the same time. Turning back to the truck, Sam notices the sign on the side of it for the first time.
Mountain Construction, LLC.
Family Owned and Operated Business.
Mark and Steven Pine.
Pulling out the weathered label she found in the cave from her pocket, Sam holds it out to Ally. The colorful logo in the background is an exact match. But what is Zorro doing here now? Sam worries. Something tells her that it has everything to do with her near trip down the ravine.
It takes all of their combined courage to enter the small building, but they do it together and find Zorro behind the desk with Ms. Cooper. They appear to be in the middle of a serious discussion, but stop abruptly when they spot the girls..
“Sam, Ally. I’m going to make this short, because I don’t like playing games.” If Sam had thought Ms. Cooper sounded harsh before, that was nothing compared to her tone now. “I’ve already spoken with your parents. You’re being expelled from Camp Whispering Pines. They will be here tomorrow to pick you up.”
Staring at her in stunned silence, both girls are at a loss for words. Sam’s heart feels like it fell into her stomach, and she’s afraid that she might throw up. Looking at Ally’s pale complexion, she’s guessing her best friend is feeling the same.
“But…I-I don’t understand,” Sam practically wails. “What did we do wrong?”
“I told you that I don’t play games!” the older woman shouts, slamming a hand down onto her desk. “I looked into you,” she continues, wagging a finger as Sam. “I had heard you might have an issue with authority. Was our camp not exciting enough for you girls, so that you had to drum up some of your own drama?”
“What in the world are you talking about?” Ally demands, impressing Sam with how steady she sounds. “You can at least tell us what we’re being accused of.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you, but for the record…” Ms. Cooper begins, pushing at a folder to lift a paper out from underneath it. As she does this, something small is shoved off the edge of the desk, and lands on the floor near Sam’s feet. Happy for a distraction, she glances down at it and sees that it’s a business card. All she can make out is the larger print in the middle: Hollingsworth Industries. Wasn’t that Sandy’s last name?
Clearing her throat, the director starts reading from an actual list. “Violating our pool safety policy by interfering with the rescue of a struggling swimmer. Violating our camp rules by storing food inside a cabin. Disrespecting the administration by arguing about said violations. Violating camp rules by going outside the marked boundaries.” Zorro looks pointedly at Sam and she shifts uncomfortably in the chair.
“Then there’s the incident on the trail ride.” Miss Cooper continues, looking directly at Sam. “Another situation instigated by not following the directions that were clearly outlined for you. You jeopardized your safety, the life of the horse you were on and the other riders that could have followed you.”
“How can you possibly blame-” Ally starts to argue, but Sam silences her by calmly placing a hand on her arm.