Boxcar Children 61 - Growling Bear Mystery by Charles Tang, Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

lost cabin might be?”
    Everyone was quiet for a second until Jessie spoke up. “Sam might have Oz’s trapper’s map. I don’t like to think so, but he seems so unfriendly whenever we talk about hiking. Last night when he worked with us, he only talked with the children, never to us.”
    “He talked to me,” Benny said. “He said, ‘Your turn’ when we were playing Old Maid.”
    Everyone laughed. Sam Jackson wasn’t much of a talker.
    After about twenty minutes of hiking, the children reached a rocky ledge that overlooked a clear, still lake.
    “The lake looks like a mirror for the sky,” Violet said. “I wish I had my paints with me.”
    They looked up at the cliffs to see if any birds were nesting up there.
    “A bald eagle!” Jessie whispered. She didn’t want to frighten away the bird soaring in the air currents above her.
    With the binoculars, the children took turns tracking the huge eagle.
    Henry followed the flight of the graceful bird, hoping to see its mate. “Oh. I don’t believe it,” he said a few seconds later. “Look.”
    “What, Henry? What?” Jessie asked.
    Henry slipped the binoculars from his neck. “Up there on that cliff. Isn’t that Mr. Crabtree? Whoever it is has on that same bright orange hat. It must be him.”
    Jessie aimed the binoculars up the cliff. She focused the lenses. “It’s got to be Mr. Crabtree! Wait! I think he just saw us.”
    The four children waved and jumped up and down to get Mr. Crabtree’s attention. When they stopped, the orange-hatted hiker had moved from the cliff trail.
    The children gathered up their packs. Henry tightened the straps for Benny and Violet. “He didn’t wave back. Maybe that wasn’t Mr. Crabtree after all,” he said. “Remember, he told Mrs. Crabtree that he wouldn’t hike very far from the parking lot? That cliff is pretty far away to be hiking alone. I guess we should get moving, too. We’re not even halfway there yet.”
    Jessie studied the copy of Oz’s map. “We’re almost where the arrow shows the lost cabin might be. See, Henry? Here’s the cliff. There’s the turnoff for Handkerchief Lake. The problem is, I can’t tell if the lost cabin is right off this trail or hidden in the deep woods.”
    Henry took his position at the head of the line. The children hiked single file through the narrow, wooded trail.
    “Let’s go a little farther, okay?” Henry suggested. “Benny, you and I can check the left side of the trail. Jessie and Violet can look to the right. Look for any unusual large shapes or forms. If no one’s discovered the cabin, it might be buried under trees or vines after all these years.”
    The children saw fallen trees and unusual rocks, but no cabin. Soon the trail led into deep woods again.
    “Grrr,” came a sound nearby.
    The Aldens froze in their spots.
    “Grrr,” came the sound again, this time much louder.
    Henry clapped his hands. “Ring your bells, everybody!” he shouted.
    Behind the other children, Jessie grabbed a big branch with dry leaves. She banged it against a tree trunk. “Make lots of noise,” she told everyone. “In case it is a . . . a . . . bear!”
    “Back away slowly,” Henry yelled. “The sound is coming from farther ahead on the trail below the cliff. Keep ringing your bear bells. Let’s talk and shout while we’re backing away. Maybe the bear will head in the other direction.”
    The growls seemed louder. Was the bear coming closer or just getting madder? The children heard the crunch of something moving in the woods. Whatever it was, it sounded huge.
    With their bear bells ringing, the children yelled and shouted.
    “No running!” Jessie advised. “Just smooth walking. Don’t be nervous. It’s probably more scared of us than we are of it.”
    When Benny heard another round of growls, he yelled out, “My legs are all rubbery.”
    That’s when Jessie began to sing at the top of her lungs. “The bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain.