now
there is excitement. Weâre the excitement. Your plan worked. Just not quite the way
you expected.â
âBut, theyâre going to ï¬gure out that weâre the ones doing everything
pretty soon.â
âHow?â
âWe have to tell them.â
âAre you nuts, Thumb?â
âIf we donât, then everybody will be under suspicion. Besides, we
havenât done anything wrong. We can explain.â
Susan just stared at me, waiting for me to ï¬gure out something she
obviously knew but I was too stupid to even consider.
âWhat?â
âYouâre going to tell them that we followed Kirk McKenna because we
thought he was a bad guy?â
âNo. We can tell them we saw a footprint and discovered the trail
under the waterfall and found the shed. Theyâll believe us.â
âYouâre forgetting one thing, Thumb.â
âWhat?â
âWe donât know whatâs inside that shed and we donât know why the
adults are keeping it a secret from us. Iâm not willing to tell anyone until we ï¬nd
out.â
âI will not believe that my dad and your dad are bad guys, Susan.â
Susan shrugged and tossed another stone. We both watched it skip and
both silently counted to ourselves. Eight.
âHow often do you think Kirk McKenna goes up to that shed?â I asked
quietly.
âI donât know.â
âAre you ready for one more stakeout?â
âTonight?â
âNo. Letâs assume Kirk McKenna goes up there every Friday night.â
âFriday night?â
âYou bet.â
11
DIGGING FOR TREASURE
ON WEDNESDAY MS.
WEATHERLY led the entire class up to Black Bear Hump.
She was pufï¬ng pretty hard by the time we reached the pond. I tried
not to look at the waterfall and the stream that led out of the pond, but I did
glance. It seemed almost impossible for me to have missed seeing how you could get
to the other side.
I looked over at Susan. She frowned and shook her head.
There wasnât enough room at Black Bear Hump for all of us to stand in
the small clearing, much less dig. Some of us, including Susan and me, sat on rocks
and watched and listened to Ms. Weatherly talk about Captain Cook and Captain
Vancouver and why they might have stayed in our bay when they searched along our
coast for water routes inland.
While she talked, Big Bette and Little Liam divided the clearing into
squares with yellow yarn stretched between stakes. Ms. Weatherly said that
archeologists did that to keep track of where they dug.
Robbie and his dad had made a wooden box that looked like a drawer
with a screen where the bottom should have been. While some of us dug, others sifted
dirt through the screen, looking for artifacts.
âWhat will we ï¬nd?â asked Big Bette, stopping for a moment to stretch
her back.
âProbably nothing,â said Ms. Weatherly. âItâs only a possibility that
one of those explorers had a cannon placement here but even if he did, there may not
be anything left behind.â
âBut what might we ï¬nd?â
âI donât know. Coins. Broken bits of the ceramic pipes that sailors
used when they smoked. Buttons. Itâs doubtful that weâll ï¬nd anything, but if we do,
it could be evidence of the ï¬rst Europeans to ever visit this part of the
world.â
âWow,â several kids whispered.
I was watching Little Liam and Big Bette as they started to dig. It
looked like a lot of work so I held up my hand.
âYes, Thumb?â asked Ms. Weatherly.
âI donât think I can take a turn digging,â I said, trying to sound
disappointed.
âWhy?â asked Ms. Weatherly. I glanced around and could see Liam and
Susan rolling their eyes.
âItâs my thumb,â I said, holding up my real thumb, the thumb that Ms.
Weatherly thought was a fake. âLifting a shovel full of dirt might put too much
pressure on the
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