Dinosaur Breakout (15 page)

Everyone laughed. Jed was forever getting things
mixed up.

“We’ll send him to the dig,” said Dad before Daniel could ask.

“But he may get lost,” Daniel said, suddenly worried about his friend’s problem with directions.

“I’ll make sure he gets there.” Dad smiled.

Just then the phone rang. Mom answered it.

“Just a moment, please. He happens to be right here.” She motioned to Pederson. “It’s the rsm in Regina, some news about your
Edmontosaurus
, Roxanne.”

As Pederson listened, his eyes became excited. “Yes, thank you, it’s good to have confirmation. Sure thing. Thanks. I appreciate your calling.”

He hung up the phone and turned to the others in the room. “They think they may know how our
Edmon-tosaurus
died. They’ve been preparing the left hind quarter and found some breakage in the bones.” He turned to Daniel. “They’re e-mailing some photos to your computer later today.”

“Wow!” Daniel said, pleased that progress was being made on finding out about Roxanne’s life.

“This is exciting!” Mom went to hug Daniel, but seeming fearful of hurting him, held back, smiling at him. Dad gave him a thumbs-up.

“Let’s go, Daniel!” Pederson said with a spry step towards the door. “Time to see what we can find today!”

Daniel hurried to grab his backpack, water, and tools. Mom sent a thermos of coffee along for Mr. Pederson and a few cookies for the both of them for a mid-morning snack.

“Will you be back for lunch?” she asked, “or should we bring it out to you?”

“Ahh,” Pederson looked tempted, but reluctant to put anyone to extra trouble.

“Never mind,” said Mom with a laugh. “I know how you two get caught up in what you’re doing. I’ll make sure something gets out to you.”

“Much obliged, ma’am,” Pederson said with a grin of relief on his face.

“You’re the greatest, Mom!” Daniel added and gave her a quick hug. He meant it in several ways. She didn’t fuss over him as much as some moms did, and she had some good ideas sometimes. What he liked best was that she really listened to him when he talked to her.

Once outside, Pederson picked up the gear he’d left on the back step and they headed across the farmyard in the general direction of Daniel’s hideout. It was also the way to Pederson’s home and to the new dig site. Dactyl trotted along beside them. They were careful to make sure no one was following or otherwise spying on them. Daniel still didn’t trust the Nelwins. The police probably hadn’t talked to them yet. However, they reached the site without incident.

As they dropped down a hill into the fossil quarry site, the sun was high in the morning sky, casting shadows across the immediate south side of the slope. A portion of the dig had been roped off where Pederson was doing his serious work. He didn’t want anyone touching it, except maybe Daniel. The rest of the dig was portioned off in sections where the tourists could try their hands at fossil finding. The sections were cut into the hillside at various levels of rock formations. A crude path ran along the top of Pederson’s special area so that those on tour could watch him work. He would also take time to explain to them what he was doing.

For now the two unwrapped their tools and set to work on an area covered with a light tarp to keep the rain off. Not that there had been any rain for several weeks, but they weren’t taking any chances. So far they weren’t sure what the exposed, dark brown-pitted bones belonged to, but they hoped to uncover enough by the end of the day to determine if they were part of a large skeleton or a smaller animal of some kind.

Carefully, they descended the rugged side of the hill into the pit, making sure they didn’t dislodge any rocks or stones. On their hands and knees, they lifted the tarp and folded it, setting it to the side. A hawk sailed high overhead in the clear sky. The chattering of swallows and the clear
caw-caw-caw
of a crow sounded across the valley.

While Daniel worked on one end, Pederson took the other. Dactyl sniffed around the site for a bit, but mostly seemed bored with the lack of attention and soon wandered off back home. He’d already experienced all-day digs and never stayed long. The occasional garden-variety snake or sand lizard that showed up didn’t interest him much. He preferred searching for the sharp-tailed grouse or grey partridge that inhabited the area.

First Daniel used a narrow brush to disperse the dirt from a small area, and then he used a small curved pick to clean debris out of a crevice. After several minutes, he pushed his cap back from his forehead and studied the round piece he’d uncovered. It looked like the tip of some kind of tooth. He continued, oblivious to Pederson working in silence across from him.

The sun rose higher and the day became hotter, but it wasn’t until Pederson tapped him on the shoulder that Daniel even thought about stopping for a drink of water.

“Let’s not get dehydrated,” he said, passing him the water flask.

They took a break then, sitting against the hillside in the only spot of shade they could find. As they munched on Mom’s chocolate chip cookies, they surveyed their work.

“I think I might have found a small tooth.” Daniel explained what he’d done so far.

Pederson said, “I’ll come and take a look at it, and you might want to see what I’ve found.”

Daniel noticed the catch in Pederson’s voice and
looked at him in surprise. He had a twinkle in his eyes
again, which meant he’d discovered something really
interesting. They crouched down at Daniel’s spot first.

“Yes,” said Pederson, peering at the exposed piece with his magnifying glass. “I’d say it’s definitely a tooth. Looks like it’s more rounded, maybe from a herbivore.”

Pederson sat back on his heels with his hands on his knees. “Good work, my boy! Now let’s take a look at my portion.”

They climbed over to the other side of the fossil cavity. Daniel studied the shape and felt along the curve of the rough, narrow bone.

“Is it a rib?” Daniel asked, puzzled by the thinness.

“I think so, but not of a dinosaur. At least not unless it’s a very young one, but I don’t think so.” His voice held a touch of excitement.

“What
do
you think it is?” Daniel asked, not able to keep his curiosity from showing.

“Keep it to yourself, now!” Pederson reminded him.

Exasperated, Daniel promised. “Have I ever told
before?”

“No, but it can’t hurt to remind you!” Pederson smiled. Then he took a breath and said, “It may be a flying reptile!”

“Cool!” Daniel knew how rare it was to find them. Generally, their skeletons were so delicate that they rarely withstood the ravages of so much passing time. They usually disintegrated from being transported down a river, where the bones crumbled along the stream or riverbed, and then from various erosional factors, such as wind, rain, or snow in the current world.

Pederson examined the rib through his magnifier,
then picked up a little brush and began working again. He seemed to forget all about Daniel standing beside him. Daniel moved away quietly and went back to his workplace.

Maybe an hour later, they heard a repetitious scuffling, plodding sound and looked up at each other.

“Jed!” they said in unison. He always made a great deal of noise, so you could tell when he was around.

Moments later, his blond curls appeared over the hilltop. Besides his backpack, he carried a small cooler. Mom had found a way to send lunch!

“Hi, guys! I’m here at last,” he said, plopping the cooler onto the ground, and sliding it down the hill to the walkway above them.

Daniel ran to catch it to make sure it didn’t tumble into the trench. Jed made his way down the uneven path to the their work site.

“Finding anything interesting?” asked Jed curiously, peering into the pit.

Pederson gave Daniel a warning glance.

“It’s always interesting,” said Daniel. “I’m working on a small tooth and Mr. Pederson has a rib or something over there.”

“Great!” Jed said. “What would you like me to do first?”

Pederson stood up. “How about in this area here?”

Pederson walked over to a slightly lower level from where he and Daniel worked. This area needed to be cleared before they could start the more delicate, detailed work. It was also one they wanted the visitors to be able to experiment with.

“I’ll get you some tools.” Pederson handed Jed a small shovel and a brush.

“I’ll be careful,” Jed said, anticipating a lecture from Pederson.

Jed chattered non-stop as he worked, asking Daniel what had happened since the night before. Daniel filled him in on the police investigation. Then Jed told him about the questions they’d asked Lucy and him.

“Good thing we were there to back you up this time!” Jed said.

“Yeah, maybe now they’ll be able to stop them hassling people.”

Jed stood up in sudden realization. “But, yikes, they’ll really be after you now that you turned them in!”

“I know,” Daniel said, wishing he’d never laid eyes on them in his whole life. “Maybe I’ll have to move,” he said, half-joking. The other half of him was seriously considering it.

As he stood there, he took off his cap and wiped the sweat and dust from his forehead. The sun was right at high noon, and his stomach said it was time for lunch. He headed towards the food cooler, motioning to the others along the way. Pederson grunted and picked a little more at something. Then he joined the boys on the walkway, where they sat with their feet dangling over the edge.

As they chomped down the fresh ham and cheese with garden lettuce sandwiches Mom had packed for them, they stared at the panoramic vista of sharp hills within the steep valley. There was a lot of land to search for fossils.

“Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?” Pederson said aloud, expressing how they all felt.

Daniel handed out the boxes of juice and some carrot sticks, saving the yummy-looking chocolate cake for last. He noticed Mom had also sent extra bottles of water, and some granola bars for later.

After lunch they set back to work in earnest. But before they went back to their special spots, Pederson had them make sure everything was ready for the weekend’s first visitors. Then he had each of them practise their tour
guide spiel until he was confident they could carry it
through without any hesitations.

“Great work, boys,” Pederson praised them. “We’ll have Lucy go through it first thing tomorrow. Now, anyone have any questions before we get back to digging?”

“No, sir,” Jed said, picking up his shovel.

Daniel shook his head. “Nor me. Time to get back to the fun work.” He stepped carefully back over to his place. Focused on his work again, he was hardly aware of all the pain niggling throughout his body.

Daniel and Jed quit work about three, satisfied that they’d done as much as they could for the day in preparation for the weekend. Pederson preferred to stay behind and work on his pet project.

“Before you go, though, let’s take a look at the work we accomplished today.”

Daniel and Jed joined Pederson and could see several more uncovered ribs. Pederson didn’t do any explaining. Then they moved on to Daniel’s teeth. He’d exposed several more in a curved row. All of them were fairly small. When they reached Jed’s area, he shuffled uneasily.

“I sort of thought this might be something,” he said, pointing to some strange scratchy markings he’d brushed clear of debris. “But I guess it’s only my imagination.”

“What did you think it was, lad?” Pederson questioned him closely.

“Some kind of footprints, like bird prints or something, but that couldn’t be right, could it?” Jed’s face flushed with embarrassment.

“Why not?” Pederson asked.

Jed shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know enough about paleontology,” he said.

Daniel bent to take a closer look. There was something peculiar about the markings and about the way Pederson queried Jed. He opened his eyes wide in surprise. They were birdlike prints! Daniel was about to agree with Jed, when Pederson motioned him to be silent.

“Show me them.” Pederson suggested.

Jed got down on his hands and knees and began pointing out the markings; where they began and where they ended, as far as he’d cleared the ground. As he moved along, he gained more confidence.

“Tell me what made you think they might be prints.” Pederson eyed him in all seriousness.

Jed studied them and thought about the question. “Well, they seem to go in a consistent pattern, for one thing.”

“Good,” Pederson said, encouraging him to continue. “What else?”

“I guess they reminded me of chicken prints in the mud. But that puzzled me too, because they seem too tiny.”

“Very good, Jed!” Pederson clapped him on the back. “You’ve got it right. They are small, but there were birdlike creatures that size, and they certainly are consistent.”

“Do you know what made them?” Jed asked, keenly interested.

“Not yet, but we’ll keep working on them to see if we can figure them out. This could be quite a rare find!”