Dinosaur Hideout (15 page)

“What’s wrong?” Pederson coughed and sputtered.

“I can’t see where I’m going,” Daniel replied. “I don’t know where I am for sure. There’s something wrong with the compass.” He tapped it again.

Pederson tried to talk, but the wind took his breath away and brought on another coughing fit. Daniel bundled the blanket to cover Pederson’s face as best he could, and started forward again. He felt the edge of panic creeping into the pit of his stomach. It was almost totally dark. Suddenly, as the wind gusted and snow swirled about them, he knew they were lost.

“Now what’ll we do?” He looked back at Pederson, but the old man seemed unaware of what was happening.

“Oh, man. Why’d you have to go limp on me?” Daniel moaned to himself. He had to make a decision. “I’ve got to get you off here. We need shelter.”

He unhooked the dogs, and began digging into the side of a hill. He had just started to attack the snowdrift when all of a sudden he heard the roar of a distant Ski-Doo. He began to jump up and down, waving his arms.

“We’re here,” he yelled. “We’re over here. Help! We’re here.”

Light from the snowmobile shone dimly in the distance. Daniel yelled even more frantically and the dogs barked, but to no avail. The howling wind made it impossible for anyone to hear them. Abruptly, the Ski-Doo disappeared. In a few moments, even the sound was gone. Daniel sank to his knees. His eyes stung with tears of frustration.

But after a minute, he rose and went back to his desperate burrowing. There was no door this time, though. When he’d managed to carve out a little hollow, he untied Pederson, and gently nudged him.

“Mr. Pederson. Mr. Pederson.” Daniel began shaking him, but got no response. He huddled close to the old man, with his arm around him, trying to keep them both warm. The dogs burrowed into the hole as close as they could to the two of them. A full-blown blizzard raged about them.

“Geez, we can’t just stay here. I have to get help,” Daniel gasped. “Can’t leave you. What are we going to do?”

Chapter Eleven

D
aniel began piling snow around Pederson,
trying to keep him warm. Again, he thought he could hear the intermittent sound of a snowmobile in the distance. When he stood up he could momentarily see faint shapes moving. Quickly, he found the flashlight and switched it on. Then he started to yell and jump up and down, as he waved the light. He ran in the direction of the sound, which seemed to be coming closer. Then he saw a flickering glimmer through the snow.

He waved the flashlight and screamed hysterically, “Help! We’re over here. Help!”

Suddenly, a snowmobile appeared, right in front of him. He had to jump out of the way. Dad! Daniel leapt into his arms as the dogs danced in frenzied circles around them.

“Thank God, I found you!” said Dad, hugging him tight. “Let’s get you home.”

“No wait, Dad. It’s Mr. Pederson. He’s sick. He’s over there.”

Dad followed as he struggled through the storm to where Pederson lay in the carved-out snowdrift. Together they lifted and half-carried him to the machine. With numb fingers, Daniel helped Dad secure Pederson on board, using a length of rope from the toboggan. Then Daniel climbed onto the seat behind him. Dad tugged his cellphone from his pocket and tried calling the other searchers.

He yelled into the crackling phone. “Doug? Doug, I’ve found him.” He waited. “I’ve got Pederson, too. Doug?” He listened again. “Yeah. He’s sick.” He nodded. “Okay. Please let Libby know. Okay, see you soon.”

Daniel’s dad squeezed on board in front of Pederson, made sure everyone was secure, then revved the motor. Slowly, they started making their way across country, but the thick snow made it difficult to see as the wind blustered around them.

All at once, Dad stopped and turned to Daniel. He shouted over the idling engine and wind, “With this load we aren’t making very good time. And visibility is almost zero.” He shook his head. “We’re going to have to find shelter and wait out the storm.”

Daniel nodded, then he thought he made out the clinking of cans and bones between gusts. They must be near his hideout! Very near! He tapped Dad on the back.

“Right there! I know a place.” Daniel pointed in the direction of the sound. “Hear it?”

Dad nodded, and idled down the motor until they were barely crawling along. He stopped to listen. Moments later, they reached Daniel’s hideout.

Daniel jumped off the snowmobile and fought against the storm to clear the opening. The dogs scampered inside as Daniel and his dad struggled to help Pederson. His dad crawled in first, wrapped his arms around the old man’s chest, and pulled, while Daniel pushed from behind. At last, they all collapsed into the silent, safe darkness.

“I’ll light a candle as soon as I catch my breath,” said Daniel, flopping onto his back and stretching out onto the floor of the cavern. His body was cramped and cold.

Pederson lay still, except for the heaving of his chest and another coughing fit that overtook him. Daniel crawled over to his stash of candles and matches and before long he had a couple lit. Then he brushed out the little pile of snow that had fallen in the roof opening. The dogs explored the cave, while his dad went back out to the snowmobile.

Then Dad dragged in blankets and a thermos. When he opened the container, a waft of hot chocolate hit Daniel’s nose and his stomach rumbled. Dad offered him some, but he shook his head and pointed instead to Pederson.

“Give it to him. I’ll get some wood and we can light a fire.”

While Dad made Pederson more comfortable and gave him a cupful of the hot chocolate, Daniel crawled outside for suitable firewood. He dragged some branches into the cave, then tried breaking them into little pieces, but they were wet. He scanned his hideout, looking over his collection of antlers, coffee tins full of rocks, and other treasures, but there didn’t seem to be anything that would make good kindling.

“Dad, do you have any paper or something that we could start a fire with? This wood is soaked.”

Dad searched in his pockets and then checked the saddlebags on the Ski-Doo. All he found was a crumpled repair bill.

“We’ll have to make this do,” he said, returning to Daniel’s side.

Daniel felt over the ground looking for dry twigs. He managed to find a handful. Using the candles to keep the wood heated until it dried enough to burn on its own, he and Dad finally lit a small fire. Then they sat huddled in blankets and old sleeping bags, feeding the wavering flame.

“I have water we could heat and drink, if we had something to cook it in,” said Dad, now that the hot chocolate was gone.

“I have just the thing.” Daniel’s teeth chattered as he searched for an old pan. Wait – his stash of chocolate bars and the beef jerky! He’d forgotten all about them.

“Nice touch,” Dad said, as Daniel handed out chocolate bars and then gave some jerky to the dogs.

It wasn’t long before they had a nice little blaze going. Dad dug his cellphone out of his pocket, and dialed, but it was dead. He moved closer to the doorway and tried again. Daniel could hear the crackling from where he sat, but there was no connection. Finally, Dad crawled outside into the blasting wind and dialed again.

“Libby? I can’t hear you at all, but I hope you can hear me. We’re in a safe place, waiting out the storm,” he shouted. “We’ll be okay!” Then the phone died.

Dad came in on his knees. “I’m going to pull the snowmobile into the opening – at least as far as I can. To protect the motor so we can start it later.” He struggled with it for a few minutes, then seemed satisfied.

For some time Daniel and Dad sat by their mini-fire in the middle of the hideout, with Pederson lying beside it under a blanket. They all sipped hot water.

“Quite a place you have here, Daniel,” Dad remarked appreciatively, peering around at the bones, pails of rocks, and other paraphernalia.

Daniel grinned.

“You find all this?” Dad asked.

“Yes.” Daniel reached into his pocket and handed Dad the taculite fossil. Dad cupped it in his hands.

“So what’s this? The markings almost look like the head of a sunflower.”

“A fossil from a receptaculites.” Daniel explained its significance.

Dad raised his eyebrows, peered around the hideout again and then stared back down at the fossil. “So is this why you didn’t want the land leased to the oil drillers, or for us to sell the farm? You have a pretty special place here.”

“Does this mean you’ll change your mind?” Daniel asked excitedly.

“I doubt it very much, Danny. I mean, what you have here is interesting, but nothing really substantial. Nothing that would make a real impact on the outside world.”

Daniel sighed. “But Dad, this could mean so much more is out here. Edmontosauruses and other duckbills.... And if we could prove that, who knows how important the land would be then? We could open up a museum, and charge people to go on digs, and all kinds of things to make money.”

“That’s only a pipe dream, Danny – you don’t have anything but this little chunk of rock,” Dad objected. “Besides there’s already the T-rex Discovery Centre at Eastend and the big museum at Drumheller. They took years to develop, and plenty of money. Who knows if you’d ever find anything really significant? Looking could take years. We need to make payments right away.”

Daniel looked down at the ground, discouraged.

Suddenly, Pederson grunted. His voice crackled and he tried to clear the phlegm out of his throat. “Can’t do it,” he sputtered and coughed.

“Pardon?” Daniel’s dad leaned over him.

“Can’t lease or sell,” the old man gasped out.

Dad looked at Daniel to see if he’d understood Pederson’s
words.

Daniel shook his head.

“Don’t sell or lease your land,” Pederson croaked out again.

Dad turned back to him, “Why not?”

“Tell him, Daniel,” he whispered.

Daniel looked at Pederson in amazement.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

Pederson nodded and closed his eyes.

“Well, Dad, you see it’s this way.” Daniel’s voice shook. “Mr. Pederson is a real paleontologist – Doctor Pederson – and he’s found an Edmontosaurus. But even better, the skeleton is wrapped around a nest, and there’s a baby skeleton! Nothing like this has ever been found before anywhere!” Daniel stopped to catch his breath.

It was clear from Dad’s face that this time he did realize the importance of the find.

“This means we’d be able to have tour expeditions. Or maybe have the land declared an archaeological heritage site.” Excitement raced through Daniel. “There’s so much we could do! The bank just
has
to cut us some slack!”

“That’s telling him, lad.” Pederson wheezed out and grinned, patting Daniel’s hand.

Dad laughed. “I don’t know what to say. You two are quite the pair.”

Then he looked at the fire and turned serious. “But you seem to have forgotten a few things. It takes a great deal of money to fund these sorts of excavations. It’s a major investment just to get a research station operational, never mind a real museum. Not to mention the biggest drawback: the find is on Mr. Pederson’s land, not ours.”

Startled, Daniel felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He hadn’t thought about that!

Pederson added breathlessly, “I’m convinced there are other sites – close by.” He coughed. “Right on your land.”

“Where?” Dad asked.

“Right where you thought, Daniel.” Pederson coughed again. “The spot you pointed out to me the first day you came to my place.”

“YES!!” Daniel shouted, startling the dogs, who began barking and wagging their tails.

“I have another one marked, too, not far from my cabin.” Pederson winked at him.

Daniel stared at him in surprise. “The white cross?”

Pederson nodded.

Daniel breathed deeply and grinned. The dream had been right. The cross hadn’t marked Mrs. Pederson’s grave like they’d all thought!

His dad chuckled. “Well, I have to say, you two seem to have it all figured out. But I’m not totally won over yet. And I don’t know that we’ll be able to convince the bank to turn your schemes into money, but it’s sure worth a try. We don’t have anything to lose.”