The Everglades Poacher Who Pretended

by Steve Brezenoff

  She turned to start walking deeper onto the hammock. “Now,” she said, “if you’ll all follow me —”

  But then a great crack burst across the small island. It was another gunshot, and this time it was closer.

  “Stay here!” Ranger Chavez snapped at us.

  The whole class — including the parent chaperones and Mr. Spade — snapped to frozen attention. Henry’s mom even said, quite loudly, “Yes, Ranger Chavez!”

  Henry tried to chuckle. “My mom was a Marine,” he said.

  The ranger ran into the deep growth of the island. Anton started to follow. Ranger Chavez stopped and spun to face him.

  “What are you doing?” she snapped. “What part of ‘stay here’ did you not understand?”

  Anton’s face went white. “B-but,” he said. “I’m your d-d-deputy.”

  The ranger looked confused for a moment. Then she burst out laughing. When she headed into the undergrowth, she was still laughing.

  “I am not Anton’s biggest fan,” Sam said in my ear, “but that was just mean.”

  She was right. Even I had to admit it. Something about this ranger was not on the up and up. My friends and I would have to find out what.

  CHAPTER SIX

  INVESTIGATIONS

  “We have to follow her,” Sam said.

  The four of us slowly moved away from the main group. Soon after Ranger Chavez ran into the jungle-like island, everyone started talking excitedly. Even the grown-ups were pretty distracted.

  “I agree,” I said. “Gunshots, and the creepiest park ranger ever? Something’s up.”

  “I don’t know,” Egg said. Now that we were safely on land, he was snapping loads of pictures in every direction. “Go into that crazy jungle? That doesn’t sound safe.”

  “Egg might be right, guys,” Cat said. She stood in front of me and looked right in my eyes. “Panthers,” she said.

  And there went the chills again, up and down my spine. I turned to Sam and said, “She makes a good point.”

  Sam sighed. “Three against one, huh?” she said, and we nodded. “Then I guess I’m on my own.”

  “What?” Egg said. He grabbed her wrist. “You can’t follow her alone.”

  “Why not?” Sam asked.

  “You don’t know anything about this place,” Cat pointed out. “What if you get a snakebite? Or even a bug bite!”

  Sam tipped her hat back with one finger, just like Ranger Chavez had.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “If the ranger can do it,” Sam said in a low, tough voice, “then I can do it.”

  “You can’t go alone,” Egg said. He took a step forward and added, “I’ll go with you.”

  Cat and I must have looked surprised. In his glasses, V-neck sweater, and shiny brown shoes, Egg looked like the last guy who’d go gallivanting off into the jungle. Even in the right gear, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Sam. She’s the fastest kid in sixth grade!

  “I have the camera,” Egg said. “And I know the most about the local animal population.”

  Cat shot him a look.

  “Well, I scored the best on the test before the trip,” Egg pointed out.

  “By one point,” Cat said. She crossed her arms. “I couldn’t tell the difference between the Atlantic loggerhead and Atlantic hawksbill turtles.”

  Egg smiled. “See?” he said. “Let’s go, Sam.”

  “Finally,” Sam said with a huff. Then she took off into the woods. Egg hurried after her.

  “This is crazy,” Cat said. “What if they run into a panther . . . or an alligator?”

  “I’m sure they’ll be careful,” I said.

  I don’t think Cat was really listening. She went on. “Besides,” she said, “they’ll never catch up to her.”

  “Maybe we can do some investigating from here,” I said, glancing at the canoe we had arrived on. “Come on.”

  Cat and I walked over to the canoe. I could see the hidden bundle as we walked up. I tried to act natural.

  “Aha!” Anton Gutman shouted. “What are you up to, troublemaker?” He ran over to me and Cat.

  “Hello, Anton,” I said.

  “That’s Deputy Gutman to you, Gummy Brain,” Anton said. Then he shoved me to the side. “Now what are you two up to over here?”

  Then Anton saw the bundle, too. “Did you put this here?” he asked. “Is it some kind of prank for the ranger?”

  He got right in my face. His two goons, I noticed, had crept up behind me and Cat.

  “We didn’t put that there,” I said. “It’s Ranger Chavez’s.”

  “Is that so?” Anton said. He started to lift up the cloth. I leaned forward to try to get a peek.

  “Wait a minute,” Anton said, letting go of the cloth. He looked at me and smiled. “Nice try, Gummy,” he said. “You’re trying to get me in trouble with the ranger. But it won’t work.”

  He started to walk off. “Come on, guys,” he said. His goons followed him, after grunting at me and Cat.

  “That was lucky,” Cat whispered.

  I nodded. Then I knelt down next to the canoe. I reached out for the heavy cloth. “Let’s see what the ranger is hiding,” I said.

  The moment my fingers touched the cloth, a shout came from behind me.

  “Run!” Egg yelled.

  I jumped up and faced the jungle. Egg and Sam came diving out of the undergrowth. Their eyes were wide with panic.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  TRACKS

  Sam and Egg tumbled to the ground right at our feet. The rest of the class and all the grown-ups rushed over.

  “What is all the ruckus?” Mr. Spade asked.

  “What were you two doing in the jungle?” Henry’s mom asked.

  Anton and his two goons stepped to the front of the crowd. “I’ll handle this,” Anton said. He added to Mr. Spade, “Ranger Chavez deputized me for this canoe trip.”

  Mr. Spade’s mouth fell open, but he didn’t reply. He probably couldn’t reply. Anton was just that ridiculous.

  “So, Archer,” Anton said. That’s Sam’s last name.

  Anton strode up to her, very confident. He wouldn’t have been so confident without his two giant goons behind him, believe me.

  “What exactly were you two dorks up to in there?” he asked. He nodded toward the interior of the island. “Were you spying on Ranger Chavez?”

  Sam crossed her arms and stared him down. She didn’t say anything.

  Anton sneered. Then he turned to Egg. “Let me see that camera,” Anton said.

  “No way,” Egg said, moving his body to shield his camera.

  Anton elbowed one of his goons. “Take it,” he said. “That’s evidence that these two have been making trouble for the ranger. By the power vested in me —”

  Just then, the ranger herself stepped out of the woods. She elbowed her way between Anton and my friends.

  “Now,” the ranger said, “time to get back on our canoes and shove off.”

  Mr. Spade stepped up to the ranger. “But we haven’t even explored the island,” he said.

  “And we didn’t get a look under that cloth!” I whispered to Sam.

  “Did you two find anything out?” Cat asked Sam and Egg.

  Egg lifted his camera to show us his newest photos. They were mostly pretty boring pictures of plants and the ground.

  A few showed Ranger Chavez, stooping on the ground or looking at a branch.

  “What is she doing?” Cat asked.

  Sam said, “I figure she’s looking for a poacher. She said poaching has been trouble for the park lately.”

  “I don’t think a poacher would hide on a branch,” I pointed out, “or under a leaf on the ground.”

  Egg laughed. “Tracks, silly,” he said. “Sam means Ranger Chavez was looking for tracks.”

  I shrugged. “That makes sense, I guess,” I said. “But what’s so weird about that?”

  The others shrugged too. By then, almost everyone else was on a canoe, so we climbed aboard
ours, too. Maybe the ranger wasn’t a criminal.

  Maybe she was just a mean ranger.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ROW, ROW, ROW!

  The next leg of the canoe trip started out pretty awful, just like the first. Anton and the ranger were best friends again. He started accusing me and Egg of trying to sabotage the canoe.

  “Is that right?” the ranger said. She wasn’t exactly surprised to hear the report. “I guess I didn’t work them hard enough on the first leg.”

  She picked up her megaphone, put it to her lips, and shouted: “Row! Row! Row!”

  Egg and I struggled and sweated. We were moving pretty quickly, if I do say so myself. But when another gunshot tore across the park, Ranger Chavez decided we weren’t moving fast enough. “Time for the extra juice,” she said.

  I twisted my neck to see what she was doing. She whipped the cloth off the bundle in front of her, but I couldn’t quite see it. Anton was in the way.

  The ranger struggled with the bundle, her back to us. “Hold on!” she shouted. There was a great rumble, and the canoe shook. Then a grinding growl roared from the back of the canoe.

  Then we shot across the river of grass like a speedboat.

  CHAPTER NINE

  THIS WAY!

  Egg and I dove to the floor of the canoe so we wouldn’t fall out. “It’s a motor!” Egg shouted over the din.

  I nodded. “Yeah!” I said. “I figured that out, thanks!”

  The ranger steered us right past all the other canoes. Before long, they were far behind us.

  She ran us straight toward a hammock — one of those little, plant-covered islands.

  The instant we were aground, the roaring motor stopped. Ranger Chavez stomped across the shallow water and onto the island.

  “Stay here!” she commanded. Then she disappeared into the undergrowth.

  I said to Egg, “Let’s go.”

  “She said to stay here,” Anton said. He stood on the shore with his arms crossed.

  “We don’t care what she said,” I explained. “Egg and I want to know what’s going on.” With that, Egg and I headed deeper into the island.

  “Wait up!” Anton shouted. Soon he was creeping along beside us.

  “Just keep quiet,” Egg said. His camera was to his eye, and he was snapping photos madly. I don’t know why. All there was were plants and tree trunks. It was pretty boring.

  “Which way did she go?” Anton asked.

  I put out my arms to stop Egg and Anton. Then I got down on one knee and looked closely at the ground. There were footprints. Any fool could have found them.

  “She went this way,” I said, pointing at the path of footprints. They went straight ahead, and then curved to the left.

  Egg took some photos of the prints. Then we hurried off after the ranger.

  Before long, though, we reached the beach. The footprints ended at the shore — a different part from where the canoe was parked.

  “Where’d she go?” Anton asked. “Did she swim away and leave us here?”

  I think he was actually starting to panic. Some deputy.

  “Let’s get back to the canoe,” I said.

  “But what about the ranger?” Egg said. “The tracks end here.”

  I started back toward the other shore. “I wouldn’t worry about that,” I said. “Those weren’t her tracks.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  NO MORE QUESTIONS

  By the time we got back to the canoes, Ranger Chavez was already there. She got back into the canoe, took off the motor, and put it back under the cloth. For once, she looked pretty relaxed.

  “Should we push off?” I asked.

  “What?” Ranger Chavez said. “Oh, sure. Whatever.”

  Egg and I exchanged a glance. I was starting to think my latest theory was correct, but I couldn’t share it with Egg yet. The ranger and Anton would definitely overhear.

  Anton got onboard, and the ranger just sat there. Egg and I pushed the canoe till it started to float.

  Then we hopped in as gracefully as we could, which wasn’t very graceful. We both got pretty wet.

  We started rowing, me and Egg. This time the ranger didn’t shout. She just leaned back, with her hands folded behind her head.

  “So, um,” I said, “did you find a panther?”

  “Nope,” the ranger said.

  “Did you catch the poacher?” I asked.

  She pulled off her sunglasses and glared at me. “Just row,” she said. “No more questions.”

  So I rowed. Before too long, we were with the other canoes again. Egg and I steered our canoe so we were next to Cat and Sam’s.

  Since Sam was in the middle position of her canoe, she was only a foot or so away from me. I was able to whisper to her.

  “We have to hurry,” I said. “Back to the parking lot.”

  “Already?” Sam said. “But Gary won’t be back for hours.”

  I shook my head. “Gary’s back already,” I said. “But he won’t be for long.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sam said. “Did you find something?”

  “Tracks,” I said. “Let’s just say they weren’t left by a panther.”

  Sam squinted at me. “You have to trust me,” I said. I knew she would.

  “Okay, you three,” Sam called out to Cat, Henry, and Henry’s mom. “How fast can you row?”

  “Um,” Henry’s mom said. “Why do you ask?”

  But Cat and Henry didn’t even hesitate, and soon Sam’s canoe was shooting back up the river, toward the parking lot. Egg and I followed.

  “What are you doing?” Ranger Chavez shouted. “I didn’t tell you to turn around!”

  Anton looked at me and Egg. Then he shrugged and started to help.

  “I hereby strip you of your title, former Deputy Gutman!” the ranger said.

  But it didn’t work. Anton paddled like crazy. And since he wasn’t as tired as Egg or me, we picked up a lot of speed.

  I spotted Gary’s bus from the river.

  “There he is!” I shouted, pointing at the parking lot. He was loading something into the luggage storage under the bus.

  “Uh-oh,” Ranger Chavez said. “What is he still doing here?”

  We grounded the canoes. “Come on, Sam,” I said. “You guys, keep an eye on the ranger.”

  Sam and I sprinted across the parking lot toward the bus. Gary spotted us and hurried to close the luggage compartment. He ran for the door, but Sam got there first and blocked his way.

  “Hey, what’s the idea?” Gary asked.

  Sam smirked at him and crossed her arms.

  A moment later, Mr. Spade, Cat, and Egg walked up. Ranger Chavez walked behind them, and Anton walked behind her.

  “What’s in the luggage compartments, Gary?” I asked.

  “Why, luggage, of course,” Gary said, laughing. “What else would be in there?”

  “Whose luggage?” I asked. “The seniors at the race track? The nuns at the bingo hall?”

  “Wh-what?” Gary stammered. “I . . .”

  “Next time you should come up with some better fake jobs, Gary,” I said. “Because I don’t think they’d bring luggage. Is it our luggage?”

  “Nope,” Egg said. He pointed past the bus, where the two young park employees were still standing with our bags. “Our luggage is right where we left it.”

  Mr. Spade strode up to the one of the luggage compartments’ door. He tried the handle.

  “Locked,” Mr. Spade said. “Hand over the key, Gary.”

  Gary closed his eyes and smirked. “No way,” he said.

  “I don’t think we want to open that one,” I said, walking up to the door. “Watch this.”

  I raised my fist, watching Gary. His smile fell as I slammed my fist against the metal door. Inside the compartment, something thrashed and roared. Claws scraped the inside of the compartment.

  Ranger Chavez stomped past Mr. Spade and my friends, right up to Gary. “Why is it awake?” she snapped.
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br />   “I don’t — I don’t know!” Gary said. He backed up toward the bus door. “I did just what you told me!”

  Mr. Spade’s jaw dropped. “Ranger Chavez,” he said. “You’re the poacher?!”

  “That’s right,” I said. “She and Gary are working together. She tracks the beasts, and Gary hauls them off.”

  “Then what do they do with them?” Henry’s mom asked.

  Cat cut me off when I tried to answer. “I’d rather not know,” Cat said.

  Henry’s mom covered her mouth — like she might cry.

  Mr. Spade called over the two young park employees to take Gary and Ranger Chavez into custody.

  “But how did you know?” Egg asked.

  “Simple,” I replied. “First there was the luggage. I didn’t think of anything of it right away, but then I realized something. A bunch of nuns playing bingo and a bunch of seniors betting on races wouldn’t need luggage.”

  “So then why did we have to unload our bags?” Sam added, finishing my thought for me.

  “Exactly,” I said. “He needed the space to haul off their catch today. Then there were the gunshots.”

  “Poachers,” Cat said. Then she snapped her fingers. “But the panther is fine. No one shot it. So what were the gunshots for?”

  “A signal,” I said. “Ranger Chavez had us paddling like mad, because she had to get to the signal to meet up with her contact.”

  “Gary,” I said. “Egg, show me the photo you took on the second island. The one of the footprints.”

  Egg found the photo and held out the display for us to see.

  “Two sets,” I said. I pointed at the screen. “See? One has deep treads, and small feet. The other feet are very big, and the treads run diagonally. Those are Gary’s shoes.”

  Mr. Spade nodded. “I see,” he said. “Um, I think, anyway.”

  “Once I realized he’d been on the island,” I went on, “and left quietly by boat, I knew they were working together.”