Sydney and the Wisconsin Whispering Woods (14 page)

Biscuit must have sensed that the jars were important. He put his paws up on the table and gave them a closer look.

“Each one has a label telling where the mushroom came from and when he found it,” said Sydney. “Look, Biscuit’s going into another room.”

The purple glow grew softer as Biscuit left the room and entered another. The girls could see Fang running ahead of him.

“It’s some sort of laboratory!” said Alexis.

Biscuit sniffed around the room, and the girls saw beakers, bottles, flasks, and test tubes. Some of them had green and pink liquids inside.

There were microscopes and Bunsen burners and magnifying glasses and culture jars.

“Maybe he’s a mad scientist,” said Sydney.

“Oh,” said Alexis. “He’s not mad. He can’t be! Like Beth said, there’s a perfectly logical explanation for all of this.”

“Yeah, well … then what is it?” Sydney asked, pointing to the monitor screen and ugly gray spores growing in a culture dish.

“I don’t know,” said Alexis. “He’s obviously doing some experiments.”

“Obviously,” Sydney agreed.

Biscuit wandered past thermometers, trays, tubes, tweezers, scales and stirrers, and blenders and buckets.

“Check that out,” said Alexis.

A large beaker sat atop a hot plate. A shimmering green liquid bubbled and boiled inside, and radiant chartreuse steam rose from the top and hung in the air. The beaker came closer and closer as Biscuit moved in to investigate it. He stuck his nose near the steam and jumped back.

“I think maybe he burned his nose,” said Sydney.

“Or else it smelled bad,” said Alexis. “What do you think the mountain man is cooking?”

“I don’t know,” said Sydney. “But Biscuit doesn’t like it. And have you noticed that Fang is nowhere in sight?”

“I didn’t,” said Alexis, “but now that you mention it…”

WUF!

Alex and Sydney whirled around. There stood Fang. He ran toward the girls and put his big paws on Alex’s shoulders, knocking her to the ground. He started licking her face.

“Get him off!” she cried. “Get him off me!”

Sydney reached down and wrapped her arms around Fang’s middle. She pulled, trying to lift him off of her friend, but Fang rolled over, pulling Sydney down, too. Soon, the girls were on the ground wrestling with the big, black dog.

“He thinks we’re playing with him,” Alexis complained. “Fang, no! Fang, stop it!
Sit down!”

Fang sat. He looked at the girls with sad, brown eyes and cocked his head.

“I think he gets it,” said Sydney. She stood and wiped dirt from the seat of her jeans. “Where did he come from? The door to the secret room is locked with a padlock.”

A sick look came over Alexis’s face. “What if there are two of them?”

“Two of what?” asked Sydney.

“Two Fangs,” Alexis answered, standing up. “Maybe that’s another dog inside the cave with Biscuit.”

Sydney picked up the monitor that Alexis had dropped when Fang pushed her down. “I don’t see another dog,” she said, “but where is Biscuit going? Everything is really purple now, and it looks like he’s in
another
room.” She handed the monitor to Alexis.

Fang sat quietly at the girls’ feet.

“I see something,” said Alexis.

Biscuit was wandering around a room filled with racks of shallow, dirt-filled trays. As he got nearer to them, the girls saw mushrooms popping out of the soil.

“Alex, there must be thousands of mushrooms in those trays,” Sydney said. “Big ones, little ones, all sizes! The room is filled with mushrooms. And do you see that book next to one of the trays? The title says
Cancer Fighting Foods
. I think I know who the mountain man is and what he’s doing.”

The Wonder Watch jiggled. M
ESSAGE WAITING:
K
ATE
. I
T’S A MUSHROOM FARM
. W
E HAVE THEM IN
P
ENNSYLVANIA
. I
KNOW ABOUT A BIG ONE IN
K
ENNETT
S
QUARE
. T
HE MOUNTAIN MAN IS GROWING MUSHROOMS IN THAT CAVE BECAUSE THE CONDITIONS ARE PERFECT: COOL, DARK, AND DAMP
.

“You’re right,” said Sydney. “The cave is a perfect place for a
scientist
to work. I think the mountain man is a scientist, and he’s doing some sort of research with mushrooms.”

“See,” Alexis whispered. “I told you he’s not a
mad
scientist. He’s a
good
scientist.”

You
MIGHT BE RIGHT, SYD. WE LEARNED IN CLASS THAT SCIENTISTS ARE EXPERIMENTING WITH MUSHROOMS TO HELP SICK PEOPLE. THAT COULD BE WHAT HE’S DOING. WHERE IS
F
ANG?
I
HAVEN’T SEEN HIM ON THE MONITOR
.

Alexis spoke into the watch. “Fang is with us.”

H
OW DID HE GET WITH YOU IF THE DOOR IS LOCKED?

“We don’t know,” Alexis told her, leaving out her theory that there might be two dogs.

S
OMETHING FISHY IS GOING ON THERE, AND
I
DON’T LIKE IT
. W
HAT IF WE’RE WRONG, AND HE REALLY IS UP TO NO GOOD?

Just then, Fang leapt up and took off running through the forest.

“Oh. Oh,” said Sydney. “I don’t like this either.” Fang’s bark echoed through the trees as he ran away from the campsite. “I’m going inside to get Biscuit, and he’d better come when I call him.”

Sydney ran to the cave leaving Alexis alone.

“Sydney is going back inside to get Biscuit,” Alexis said into the watch. “I think we’ve seen enough for one day.”

Grrrrrrrrrrr…
. A deep, soft growl came from an alder thicket behind her.

“Fang, is that you?” she asked.

Grrrrrrrrrrr…
. The growl was a little louder now.

“Fang, stop it. You’re scaring me,” said Alexis. She took a few steps toward the thicket and peeked through its branches.

There, just a few yards away, stood a huge gray wolf. The sides of its mouth curled back, revealing its razor-sharp teeth.
Grrrrrrrrr …

Alexis didn’t dare move. She remembered the pepper spray in her pocket, but she was afraid to reach for it. Even the slightest move might make the wolf attack.

Dear God, please help me
, she prayed silently.

BAW-WAW-WAW…. AR-ROOoooooo…. BAW-WAW-WAW!

Fang barreled through the brush and lunged at the wolf, scaring it. The frightened animal ran off through the forest with Fang in hot pursuit.

BAW-WAW-WAW!Baw-waw-waw … baw-waw-waw …
The barking faded into the distance.

Alexis sighed with relief.

Then, just as her pounding heart was slowing down, she heard—

“Young lady, what are you doing here?”

It was the mountain man! He stood behind her, strong and tall. He held his walking stick and a plastic bag filled with mushrooms. The knapsack, the one with the initials J.C., was flung over one shoulder. Alexis noticed that his bushy, brown beard twitched, and his brow was creased with a frown. His blue eyes flashed. “I asked what you’re doing here.”

Alexis was trapped. A still, small voice inside told her to be polite. “Hello, sir,” she said brightly. “I’m Alexis Howell. Pleased to meet you.”

She extended her trembling right hand toward the man.

He reached out and gave it a little shake. “Professor Joshua Cantrell.” He introduced himself. “Now, Alexis, what are you doing here?”

Alexis didn’t know what to say. She heard herself babbling. “Oh, so you’re a professor! We thought you might be a scientist or something. We didn’t know for sure, but we figured that you were a perfectly normal person, a very nice man just out here in the woods camping—”

“Little girl, are you lost?” the man asked.

Little girl!
Alexis thought.
I’m not a little girl
.

“No, sir,” she said. “The truth is our dog is in your cave, and my friend went in to get him.”

Sydney arrived with Biscuit on his leash.

“Oh. Oh,” she said when she saw Alexis with the mountain man.

“So, this must be your friend,” Professor Cantrell said. “And I’ve seen your dog here before. In fact, I took him back to the resort just the other day.”

“We know,” said Alexis. “We saw you. Sydney, this is Professor Joshua Cantrell.”

“You
saw
me?” said the professor. “What are you girls doing this deep in the forest? You shouldn’t be wandering out here alone.”

Sydney picked up Biscuit and handed him to Alexis.

“A better question, Professor Cantrell, is what are
you
doing here in the woods? We know all about you and your mushrooms.”

“You do?” said the professor. “Just what do you know?” He reached over and scratched Biscuit’s ears.

“We know that you sneak around in the dark picking mushrooms. We know that you dug up a ton of them in the forest and that you’re growing more of them in your cave and experimenting with them. We hope that you’re doing something good.”

“And that you’re not a mad scientist!” Alexis added, wishing that the words wouldn’t have slipped from her mouth.

Professor Cantrell laughed. “You’re right, I’m a scientist,” he said. “And yes, sometimes I get a bit grumpy, but no, I’m not mad.”

Wuf! Wuf! Wuf!

Fang shoved his body through the thicket and ran to his master. The professor checked him over.

“Are you okay, boy?” he asked. “That was a good boy for chasing the wolf.”

“Wolf?”
said Sydney.

“I was almost attacked by a wolf. Fang saved me.” Biscuit squirmed in Alexis’s arms. “And how did Fang get out of the cave?” she asked the professor. “The door to the secret room is locked.”

“Secret room!” said Professor Cantrell. “Have you girls been inside my laboratory? You didn’t touch anything, did you?” He was getting irritated now. “How did you get in, and how do you know my dog’s name?”

“We’ve been watching you,” said Sydney. “And you can’t do anything to us, because right now you’re being filmed—live.”

“What!”
the professor exclaimed, looking around for a camera. “Young ladies, we need to talk.” He invited the girls to sit down on the log near the campfire ring. “Tell me what you know,” he said.

Sydney and Alexis explained about being in the forest and seeing the purple glow and hearing strange sounds coming from the cave. They told him about seeing the hole in the ground with the padlocked fence and the old knapsack inside the cave and the marks on the wall. And finally, about their theory that he, somehow, had found Jacques Chouteau’s treasure.

“We know you’re a scientist who’s sneaking around in the woods,” said Sydney. “And that must mean that you’re doing something wrong.”

“Girls, girls, girls,” the professor said, scratching Fang’s ears. “I’m not doing anything wrong.”

They heard a rustling in the brush nearby. Then Aunt Dee and Mr. Miller stepped into the clearing.

“Are you girls all right?” Aunt Dee wailed. “Bailey called me and said a man in the forest kidnapped you! I’ve been frantic!”

“Hello, Charlie,” said Professor Cantrell.

“Hi, Josh,” said Mr. Miller.

“You two know each other?” Sydney said.

“We do,” Professor Cantrell answered. He hesitated. Then he looked at the girls. “Charlie, can they be trusted?”

“I think so,” Charlie Miller answered. “I
know
so!” he added, winking.

The professor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Girls, if I tell you a secret, do you promise not to tell anyone, ever?”

Alexis switched off the mini-microcamera on Biscuit’s collar.

“Wait a minute, Alex,” said Sydney. “Can all of
you
be trusted not to tell if
we
share a secret?”

The professor, Aunt Dee, and Mr. Miller all gave their word not to tell.

Sydney explained about the camera and the Wonder Watch and promised that the other Camp Club Girls wouldn’t tell if they, too, could hear the professor’s story.

“That’s quite a gadget,” Professor Cantrell said, inspecting the watch. “As long as the other girls promise, I’ll tell all of you what’s going on.”

“You’ll have their word,” said Sydney. She pushed the button on the watch.

“Girls,” she said. “Everything is fine here. This is Professor Cantrell. Listen to what he has to say. All of this is top secret—not to be shared outside of our group,
ever
. Do you absolutely, positively promise never to tell another living soul?”

Sydney handed the watch to the professor and reminded him to push the button so it would pick up his voice.

He held the watch near his lips. “It’s true that I’ve been out at night picking mushrooms at the resort,” said the professor. “Very rare mushrooms grow under the trees near the cabins. They only sprout up from the ground in the dark, and I’ve been harvesting them secretly. You see, these mushrooms might someday be a cure for certain kinds of cancer.”