Dinosaur Stakeout (8 page)

“Sure,” Daniel said. “Let’s see the schedule when we get back, and maybe you can come later and I’ll take over the tours.”

“Right on!” Jed said, breaking into a huge ­grin.

As they observed the action below, they saw Dr. Roost take a digital camera from her backpack. She took a couple of shots of the tiny fossils, then wandered over and took some of the exposed ­ribs.

A digital camera! That’s what I need, Daniel thought, wondering if he could borrow hers for his adventure into the past. He’d have instant results of everything he snapped, and wouldn’t have to take extra rolls of film with him. Mentally, he reviewed his list. Could he fit everything into his backpack? He’d have to make it ­so.

The Nelwins worked at a slower pace now that the sun was higher in the sky. Mildred Roost wandered off, scouring the hillsides. Daniel and Pederson began gathering the tiny fossils from the microsite. They scooped shovelfuls carefully into gunny sacks, ready to take to the lab with the jacketed teeth ­fossils.

The rest of the morning passed quickly. Dr. Roost eventually returned and they all headed back to the farmyard for lunch. There was time to have a nice long break before more tourists ­arrived.

Daniel, Lucy, and Jed looked over the schedule after finishing their meals. They saw that they could handle all the tours and still give Jed some time at the site. Jed decided to leave right away, so he could extend his time. Mr. Pederson, Mildred Roost, and the Nelwins headed off with ­him.

As they passed by Daniel’s dad, he quietly stopped Craig and ­Todd.

“Thanks for the great job you’ve done today, boys,” he ­said.

“You’re welcome,” they replied in unison, their voices sounding surprised. They seemed to stand a little ­straighter.

“I don’t mind doing farm work,” Todd ­said.

“Good,” Dad answered, with a kindly dismissive gesture. “Have fun at the dig.”

“We will,” answered Craig, before he and Todd rushed to catch up with the ­others.

While everyone was distracted, Daniel slipped away to plan for his trip. The worst problem would be keeping safe. Taking any kind of weapon would be useless against the megabeasts he’d encounter. Big knives, bows and arrows, and guns of any ­sort – ­regular, machine, elephant, or ­tranquillizers – ­wouldn’t be enough, even if he had access to any and knew how to use them. Dinosaurs’ hides were just too thick, and dinosaurs were too large to be brought down with a couple of shots. There weren’t even any steep cliffs to run them over like the First Nations people had done to buffalo in the past. Besides they were far bigger creatures. He shivered at the thought of being attacked. What would he do? He had to think of something or he’d be dino food in a ­flash.

Chapter Six

I
n his room, Daniel finalized his list
and quietly began gathering the gear for the trip. In the bathroom, he loaded up with the bug spray, sunscreen, and first aid stuff. He slid open his closet door and laid them out on the bottom shelf. Mom wouldn’t be doing laundry for a while, so no one should see his ­stash.

From his computer desk, he retrieved pencils, pens, sketching paper, and a notebook. As he collected all the items on the list, he ticked them off. When he’d done what he could in his room, Daniel headed to the kitchen. He rummaged around for some waterproof matches and grabbed a stash of granola bars. They would be light and easy to pack. He’d need something more substantial, but he could easily find something when he was ready to leave. Mom was used to him loading up and going out to the excavation site or his hideout. And really, this wouldn’t be any different, except he’d be going to visit the dinosaurs live!

In the porch, he grabbed a couple of plastic garbage bags. The tools he wanted to take were at his hideout, and that was where he’d leave from. He thought again about using Dr. Roost’s digital camera instead of his own regular film one. A video camera would be even better, but no one he knew had one. Dr. Roost’s would do nicely. He just had to think of a way of asking for it without raising any ­suspicions.

Daniel returned to his closet and lined everything up according to survival, research, and personal items. He felt his pulse race as he thought of his expedition. Maybe he should go tonight? No, being in prehistoric time in the dark was probably not the smartest thing to do. He’d noticed that no one was booked for a tour until eleven tomorrow. Maybe he could go after morning chores? He could go even earlier, if he could get the Nelwins to cover his barn chores for ­him.

Excitedly, Daniel plotted his trip. He was positive he’d end up in the same prehistoric period, because he had the pine cone from that time. And he felt reasonably sure that he’d end up in the general vicinity of where he’d been three times before. As soon as he arrived, though, he’d have to be prepared to find cover quickly. He would be in constant danger, but he’d just have to be smarter than the dinosaurs!

Speaking of which, he’d need to get some strong rope and plastic tape for marking his trail. There was some of it around from the dig site, because they used it to indicate potential find sites and for cordoning off areas, but he wasn’t sure there was enough left. Instead, he’d take his mom’s narrower green plant tape that she used to tie up her sweetpeas and other trailing vegetation. She wouldn’t be looking for it yet. He’d get those items ­later.

With nothing left to do immediately for the trip, Daniel joined the others outside where they waited for the first afternoon tour to assemble. Soon they were back in the rhythm of taking tourists on tours and trails. Daniel took their guests on the horse trails, and the afternoon flew swiftly ­by.

In the early evening, Daniel approached the Nelwins while they were outside feeding the stock in the pasture. Todd looked up when he approached. Craig was on the other side of the cattle, pouring chop into another ­trough.

“How’s it going?” Daniel asked, trying to be ­casual.

“Okay, I guess,” Todd looked at him ­guardedly.

“Look, I was, uh, wondering, if maybe, uh, I could ask you to do me a small favour?” Daniel stumbled through his request. He’d have to do better than that if he didn’t want them guessing the importance of what he was up ­to.

“I don’t know,” said Todd. “What is it?”

“Well, I sort of have something really important I need to do early tomorrow morning,” Daniel leaned casually against a fence post. “I was just wondering if you’d consider taking care of all of my ­chores – ­you know, do the milking, and separating, and all?”

Todd grimaced. “I suppose. We still owe you.” He called over to Craig, “Daniel wants us to do his chores tomorrow.”

“Shhhh!” Daniel said, noticing that Mildred Roost had come out of nowhere and was crossing the ­yard.

“Ahh! A secret. What are you
really
up to?” Todd said, suspiciously, as Craig ­arrived.

“Nothing much. I just want an early start is all.” He shrugged his shoulders and pretended what he wanted wasn’t any big deal. All he needed was for his cover to be blown!

“Think you’re about to find something special after today’s digging?” asked Craig, keenly ­interested.

“Yeah,” Daniel said reluctantly. “It does have to do with a little paleontology research.” That was the truth. So what, if they thought it had to do with the quarry? He was going to relatively the same place, only a few million years ­earlier.

“Sure, I guess,” Craig said. Todd ­nodded.

“Only what if someone asks where you are?” Todd eyed Daniel apprehensively. “Do we tell them?”

Daniel tried to act nonchalant. “Sure. If I’m not there, then I’ll be at my hideout.” He figured that if anyone went to look for him and couldn’t find him at one place, it would take them a while to look in the other. He could always say he had gone off prospecting, or was somewhere in between the two ­places.

As Daniel left to feed the horses, he could feel Craig’s curious eyes on him. His heart pounded in his chest. So far, so good, the chores were covered. Now he just had to devise the rest of the plan. He’d noticed there were quite a few sandwiches left over from lunch today, so he could probably snag a few without anyone noticing. He had a ­back-­up plan in mind too. Whistling, he finished his ­chores.

He still was whistling as he headed back to the house, where he encountered ­Pederson.

“You seem mighty pleased about something, lad,” Pederson stared at him in sudden surprise. “Anything you’d like to share?

“Just plenty of exciting things going on, I guess.” Daniel skirted a direct ­answer.

Pederson squinted at Daniel disbelievingly, but said nothing for a few ­moments.

“So, what’s the next step with the
Stygimoloch
?” asked Daniel, trying to divert attention from ­himself.

“We definitely need more of the overburden removed to get to the entire skeleton.”

“Let me help,” Daniel suggested.

“No, you’re not ready.”

“But...”

Suddenly, Daniel became quiet. He didn’t want to promise to go too early in the morning, as he didn’t know when he’d return from the past. He ­shrugged.

“Okay, I’ll give myself another day.”

Pederson looked at him in surprise for a few moments, but then turned to acknowledge Dr. Roost, who had joined them again. Daniel stayed with them politely for a few minutes, but he was anxious to ­double-­check that he had everything, and to pack. While the adults talked, he thought about his plans. With all the extra people around the farm these days and the Nelwins covering for him, his absence would probably go unnoticed. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if he could find a
Stygimoloch
and maybe even get a ­photograph?

Mr Pederson gave him a gentle poke in the ribs. “Right, Daniel?”

Daniel brought his focus back to Mildred Roost and Mr. Pederson. He didn’t have a clue what they were ­discussing.

“Uh, sorry, sir. What were you saying?” he asked, realizing they were both staring at ­him.

“Nothing important, lad. You looked like you were millions of miles from here. What are you thinking about so intensely?”

Daniel’s thought whirled. What could he ­say?

“The
Stygimoloch
,” he blurted out. “I was just imagining what they might be like in real life.” He stumbled over his explanation. “For no particular reason.” Every time he opened his mouth, he was making it ­worse.

Mildred Roost stared at Daniel curiously, her interest radar suddenly perking up. He shifted uncomfortably. She shot Daniel another questioning look. Pederson’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t say ­anything.

Daniel added quickly, “I just think they’re interesting is all.”

“I agree,” said Dr. ­Roost.

She seemed about to say something else, but Pederson interrupted. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m hungry. Shall we go, Mildred?”

Dr. Roost nodded. They were going into Eastend for supper at Jack’s Café. Daniel almost wished he were going with them. There was something exciting about being surrounded by a panoramic landscape, depicting the history of the area from the early years of civilization to ­modern-­day technology, while eating great ­food – ­their pizzas and garlic bread were ­scrumptious.

“We’ll say good night then, Daniel, because it will probably be late when we return and we don’t want to keep you from anything important,” Pederson said. He had a strange gleam in his eyes as he guided Mildred towards his ­vehicle.

“Good night for now, Daniel,” Mildred echoed Pederson’s suspicious mood with a raise of her ­eyebrow.

That was a close one, Daniel thought. Those two early risers were the ones he’d have to avoid the most in the morning. Hopefully, he’d be long gone in the morning before they could notice and spoil his plans!

Then Daniel remembered he needed to ask about borrowing Dr. Roost’s digital camera. He hurried after them, although he wasn’t sure if she’d agree to such a big ­favour.

Daniel reached Dr. Roost just as she opened the truck ­door.

“Dr. Roost?” Daniel ­puffed.

“Yes, Daniel,” she said, surprised by his ­approach.

“Uh, I was just wondering if I could ask you something? Sort of a favour,” Daniel ­said.

Dr. Roost shoved her Tilley onto her forehead, leaned on her cane, and gave Daniel her full attention. Mr. Pederson waited patiently by his side of the truck, watching ­them.