The Alaskan Adventure by Franklin W. Dixon

and Joe. “You can help.”
    â€œWhere are we going?” Frank asked as he and Joe followed David along a trail into the forest.
    â€œThe grove,” David said. “It’s a place that Mona knows about.”
    â€œWhat’s there?” Joe asked.
    â€œMona’s a healer,” David replied. “Her mother and grandmother were, too. To help Peter, she needs some plants and roots that grow only in the grove.”
    Frank had heard about Native American healers. Like peoples in other areas, David’s people had learned over hundreds of years which local herbs, leaves, and roots were helpful in treating illnesses. Even the big drug companies had learned to respect this knowledge. Teams of scientists were traveling to all parts of the world to find out as much as they could before the ancient lores were lost.
    After a twenty-minute hike Frank noticed a change in the trees. The dense stand of spruce was behind them, and they were in an open areaof mixed birches and aspens. The bare, ice-decked branches sparkled in the weak sunlight.
    â€œOver there,” David said, pointing to a patch of ground near the base of a big oak. “Brush the snow away and dig up some of the moss you’ll find growing there.”
    Frank and Joe ran to the spot and worked together, exposing and gathering thick, earthy-smelling moss. Meanwhile, David dug up a patch of low-growing wintergreen, cut a section of bark off a black cherry birch, sliced off root sections of an alder bush, and took twigs from other trees and shrubs Frank didn’t recognize.
    Ten minutes later the three friends were on their way back to Glitter. The return hike went faster. When they got to the cabin, they found it filled with a strange aroma. On the stove a black iron kettle bubbled and steamed. Mona stood near it, putting in handfuls of herbs. She took the bag of stuff that David and the Hardys had collected and started adding that, too.
    While the herbal remedy steeped, Frank asked Mona, “Do you know what made Peter sick?”
    She shook her head. “Maybe the apple he ate was bad,” she said. “He started feeling sick right afterward.”
    â€œDid you or Justine eat any of it?” asked Joe.
    â€œJust him,” Mona said.
    David said, “I didn’t know we had any apples.”
    â€œWe didn’t,” Justine told him. “It was a present from Curt Stone. We got a whole basket of fresh fruit from him.”
    Frank looked over at Joe and saw that his thoughts were running along the same lines. Why would Curt send a present to Peter? He had to know that Peter was one of the leaders of the opposition to ThemeLife’s plans for Glitter. Was the basket of fruit meant as a bribe? A pretty stingy one, if so.
    But what if Curt had deliberately poisoned one of the apples? Frank wondered. It sounded like something out of a fairy tale, but such things were known to happen. If Peter or one of his family got sick, it would keep Peter from organizing the town against the theme park. In fact, this and the fire in Peter’s cabin and the damage to Ralph Hunter’s boat could all be part of a plot to scare off people who were opposed to ThemeLife!
    â€œWhere’d Curt get fresh fruit at this time of year?” David asked.
    Mona looked up from stirring the caldron. “It must have come in on the bush plane,” she said. “We thought he gave it to us to help us feel better about losing our cabin.”
    â€œWhat did he say when he brought it?” Joe asked.
    â€œHe didn’t bring it,” Mona replied.
    â€œGregg brought it,” Justine added.
    â€œHold it, I’m a little confused,” Frank said. “Why did Gregg bring it?”
    Justine said, “Jake asked him to.”
    Mona must have seen the look of confusion on Frank’s face. She said, “Flip Atkins, the bush pilot, flies in the mail deliveries and food orders from Fairbanks. Everything but the