The Mystery at Rattlesnake Ridge
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REAL KIDS • REAL PLACES<br />
z<br />
v t<br />
WILDLIFE MYSTERIES<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Mystery</strong> AT<br />
1 R<strong>at</strong>tlin’<br />
R<strong>at</strong>tler!<br />
TM<br />
b o u<br />
1 R<strong>at</strong>tler<br />
Round-up!<br />
1 R<strong>at</strong>tler Rodeo!<br />
1 R<strong>at</strong>???<br />
And 1...<br />
Ooooh,<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong><br />
is th<strong>at</strong><br />
Sound?!<br />
CAROLE MARSH
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Mystery</strong> At<br />
by Carole Marsh<br />
3
Published by Gallopade Intern<strong>at</strong>ional/Carole Marsh Books.<br />
Printed in the United St<strong>at</strong>es of America.<br />
First Edition ©2014 Carole Marsh/Gallopade Intern<strong>at</strong>ional/Peachtree City, GA<br />
Current Edition ©2014<br />
Ebook edition ©2014<br />
All rights reserved.<br />
Manufactured in Peachtree City, GA<br />
Managing Editor: Janice Baker<br />
Assistant Editor: Susan Walworth<br />
Cover and Content Design: John Hanson<br />
Gallopade is proud to be a member and supporter of these educ<strong>at</strong>ional<br />
organiz<strong>at</strong>ions and associ<strong>at</strong>ions:<br />
American Booksellers Associ<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
American Library Associ<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
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Museum Store Associ<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
Associ<strong>at</strong>ion of Partners for Public Lands<br />
Associ<strong>at</strong>ion of Booksellers for Children<br />
This book is a complete work of fiction. All events are fictionalized, and although the names<br />
of real people are used, their characteriz<strong>at</strong>ion in this book is fiction. All <strong>at</strong>tractions, product<br />
names, or other works mentioned in this book are trademarks of their respective owners and<br />
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Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this public<strong>at</strong>ion may<br />
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4
Once upon a time ...<br />
Hmm, kids keep<br />
asking me to write<br />
a mystery book.<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> shall I do?<br />
Papa said ...<br />
Why don’t you set the stories<br />
in real loc<strong>at</strong>ions?<br />
5
Th<strong>at</strong>’s a gre<strong>at</strong> idea!<br />
And if I do th<strong>at</strong>, I might<br />
as well choose real kids as<br />
characters in the stories!<br />
But which kids would I pick?<br />
6
You sure are characters,<br />
th<strong>at</strong>’s all I’ve got to say!<br />
Yes, you are! And, of<br />
course, I choose you! But<br />
wh<strong>at</strong> should I write about?<br />
7
We can go on the <strong>Mystery</strong> Girl airplane ...<br />
Or aboard<br />
the Mimi!<br />
I can put<br />
a lot of<br />
Or by surfboard,<br />
rickshaw,<br />
motorbike,<br />
camel ...!<br />
legend, lore, and<br />
in<br />
the books! It will be educ<strong>at</strong>ional and fun!<br />
8
Wh<strong>at</strong> else can<br />
we do, Mimi?<br />
Kids and teachers<br />
can get cool<br />
stuff online!<br />
Can we have<br />
a Fan Club<br />
with photographs<br />
and videos?<br />
Of course!<br />
And can we<br />
have a contest<br />
and trivia and<br />
games?<br />
Of course!<br />
9
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Mystery</strong> Girl is all<br />
revved up—let’s go!<br />
You mean now?<br />
LET’S GO!<br />
nd so, join Mimi, Papa, Christina,<br />
Grant, Avery, Ella, Evan, and Sadie<br />
aboard the <strong>Mystery</strong> Girl—where the adventure is<br />
real and so are the characters!<br />
START YOUR ADVENTURE TODAY!<br />
READ<br />
THE BOOK!<br />
MEET THE<br />
CHARACTERS!<br />
GO<br />
ONLINE!<br />
TRACK<br />
YOUR<br />
ADVENTURES!<br />
www.carolemarshmysteries.com<br />
10
A Note from the Author<br />
A Snake in the Grass<br />
I know snakes can be cool, but<br />
my goal in life is to stay as far away<br />
from them as possible! I understand<br />
th<strong>at</strong> snakes play an important role<br />
in n<strong>at</strong>ure, but so do bunny rabbits,<br />
which I prefer by far!<br />
However, when Papa and I lived on White<br />
Oak Mountain in southwestern North Carolina, near the<br />
South Carolina border, we were enjoying a quiet S<strong>at</strong>urday<br />
morning in our log cabin. Our peace and quiet was suddenly<br />
interrupted by a phone call. It was our neighbor down the<br />
mountain. “THERE’S A RATTLESNAKE IN MY YARD!”<br />
she screamed into my ear. “I think you want Papa!” I said.<br />
Papa took the phone, listened, nodded, hung up,<br />
hurried to the closet, and got out his shotgun! He headed<br />
down the mountain...and me? I locked the door behind him!<br />
L<strong>at</strong>er, Papa returned with a big smile on his<br />
face. “Th<strong>at</strong> was the biggest r<strong>at</strong>tlesnake I ever saw!” he<br />
said. “Did you shoot it?” I asked. Neither of us like to see<br />
wildlife killed in their n<strong>at</strong>ural habit<strong>at</strong>, but I wondered if our<br />
neighbor had been in danger. “Oh, I tried,” Papa said, “but,<br />
uh, I think the shuffle of my feet in the leaves warned him<br />
and he slithered off down the mountain to live and scare<br />
someone else another day!”<br />
So here’s your chance to super-size your knowledge<br />
of those slithery, spooky, and always secretive cre<strong>at</strong>ures<br />
known as r<strong>at</strong>tlesnakes…and enjoy a super-intriguing mystery<br />
<strong>at</strong> the same time!<br />
– Carole Marsh<br />
11
12
1<br />
S-O-S<br />
“I feel like I’ve stepped into a painting!”<br />
Avery cried.<br />
“It’s the most beautiful sight I’ve<br />
ever seen!” her younger sister Ella agreed,<br />
admiring the shades of salmon and blush pink<br />
in the l<strong>at</strong>e afternoon sky, and the bluebonnets<br />
th<strong>at</strong> carpeted the landscape as far as she<br />
could see.<br />
Moved by the brisk March wind, the<br />
bluebonnets bobbed their fancy heads like<br />
ladies in a fashion show. “No wonder this<br />
is the st<strong>at</strong>e flower of Texas,” Avery said,<br />
stretching her arms and spreading her fingers<br />
for the wind to flow through them.<br />
Ella carefully composed a picture in her<br />
camera’s viewfinder. “It feels awesome to get<br />
13
fresh air after being cooped up in the <strong>Mystery</strong><br />
Girl for hours,” she said, snapping the photo.<br />
Avery, Ella, and their younger brother<br />
Evan were excited when Mimi and Papa<br />
invited them on a spring break trip to a c<strong>at</strong>tle<br />
ranch near Sweetw<strong>at</strong>er, Texas. As soon as<br />
Papa’s little red plane landed, they bolted<br />
for the open spaces like rodeo bulls out of<br />
a chute. <strong>The</strong> trip from their grandparents’<br />
hometown of Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina,<br />
to “deep in the heart of Texas” took wh<strong>at</strong> felt<br />
like an eternity to three imp<strong>at</strong>ient kids.<br />
<strong>The</strong> ranch owners, Gertie and Lilman<br />
Scott, had met Mimi and Papa a few years<br />
earlier after the <strong>Mystery</strong> Girl made an<br />
emergency landing on the airstrip behind<br />
their ranch house. In the days it took for<br />
the plane to be repaired, the four had formed<br />
solid friendships. When the Scotts invited<br />
them to bring their grandkids for a visit,<br />
Mimi eagerly agreed.<br />
Mimi, a famous children’s mystery<br />
writer, was always eager to introduce her<br />
grandkids to new sights and sounds. “Every<br />
trip is educ<strong>at</strong>ional,” she always said. Avery<br />
14
also knew her grandmother’s head was like a<br />
blond sponge soaking up every experience for<br />
use in some future story or book. “I collect<br />
memories to weave into stories the way some<br />
grandmothers collect yarn to crochet colorful<br />
blankets,” Mimi once told her.<br />
Avery smiled as she remembered<br />
the discussion they’d had a few days before<br />
the trip.<br />
“You’ve never seen wide open spaces like<br />
they have in Texas!” Mimi said as she flipped<br />
through her “T” encyclopedia to find pictures.<br />
“Oh, Mimi!” Avery said, rolling her blue<br />
eyes and turning on her iPad. “No one uses<br />
encyclopedias anymore! Our teacher said we<br />
have to be comfortable using technology to<br />
live in the 21 st century.”<br />
“Yep,” Ella chimed in. “But all of STEM<br />
is important!”<br />
“STEM?” Papa asked.<br />
“It stands for Science, Technology,<br />
Engineering, and M<strong>at</strong>h,” Ella explained.<br />
“Those are the things we can use to solve the<br />
world’s problems.”<br />
15
“Hmmm…” Papa said. “When I was a<br />
tadpole like you, we studied RRR.”<br />
“Th<strong>at</strong> sounds more like a growl than<br />
something you study!” Evan said, raising his<br />
hands to scr<strong>at</strong>ch the air like a snarling animal.<br />
“It stands for Reading, Writing, and<br />
Arithmetic,” Papa said.<br />
“I guess th<strong>at</strong> didn’t include spelling,”<br />
Ella muttered. “Only one of those things<br />
starts with ‘r.’”<br />
“We study the three ‘R’s’ too,” Evan<br />
said. “Only it stands for Reduce, Reuse, and<br />
Recycle. Those are things we have to do to<br />
keep the Earth healthy.”<br />
In a flash, Avery found scads of<br />
inform<strong>at</strong>ion on the largest st<strong>at</strong>e in the lower<br />
48 st<strong>at</strong>es. “Until the United St<strong>at</strong>es purchased<br />
Alaska from Russia in 1867, Texas was the<br />
largest st<strong>at</strong>e,” she read. “Wow! It’s 268,820<br />
square miles!”<br />
“Well, how many round miles is it?”<br />
Evan asked.<br />
Avery looked <strong>at</strong> her little brother. “You<br />
can go on a round trip, Evan, but there’s no<br />
such thing as round miles,” she said. “You<br />
16
have to multiply the length times the width<br />
of something to find its area. <strong>The</strong> answer is<br />
always in square units—in this case, the units<br />
are miles.”<br />
“Avery!” Ella called, bringing her sister<br />
back to the present. “Look <strong>at</strong> this!” Ella<br />
was lying on her belly studying a buzzing bee<br />
hovering over a bluebonnet. “Each flower<br />
is actually a lot of tiny blooms growing on a<br />
central stalk.”<br />
“If th<strong>at</strong> bee stings your nose, you’re<br />
gonna look like an ante<strong>at</strong>er,” Avery teased.<br />
“It’s weird,” Ella said, lost in her flower<br />
observ<strong>at</strong>ion. “<strong>The</strong> bee is only visiting the<br />
blooms th<strong>at</strong> have white in the center, and<br />
ignoring these <strong>at</strong> the bottom with purple in<br />
the center.”<br />
Avery was proud she had brought her<br />
iPad on the trip and had read about all things<br />
Texas during the flight, including bluebonnets.<br />
“Th<strong>at</strong>’s one of the plant’s adapt<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
th<strong>at</strong> help it survive,” Avery explained. “<strong>The</strong><br />
white spots are only on blooms th<strong>at</strong> have<br />
recently opened. <strong>The</strong>y have the freshest and<br />
best pollen on them. <strong>The</strong> white spots turn<br />
17
purple as the blooms get old and their pollen<br />
is no longer good and fresh. Since the bees<br />
are only <strong>at</strong>tracted to the white spots, they don’t<br />
waste their time collecting the bad pollen on<br />
the purple blooms. It helps the bees get plenty<br />
of good pollen to take back to their hives. It<br />
also helps the bluebonnets because they get<br />
pollin<strong>at</strong>ed by only the best pollen and can make<br />
lots of good bluebonnet seeds.”<br />
“Th<strong>at</strong>’s cool!” Ella said, impressed<br />
with her sister’s knowledge. “You’re like a<br />
bluebonnet encyclopedia. Hey, Evan! Come<br />
and w<strong>at</strong>ch this busy bee!” Ella glanced around<br />
and suddenly realized her little brother was<br />
nowhere in sight. “Avery, where’s Evan?”<br />
she asked.<br />
“He’s probably found an interesting rock<br />
th<strong>at</strong> captured his <strong>at</strong>tention,” Avery replied.<br />
Ella nodded. “Leave it to Evan to<br />
ignore all these beautiful wildflowers to look<br />
<strong>at</strong> a rock.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> girls jogged back to the top of the<br />
small ridge they’d crossed. <strong>The</strong>ir long blond<br />
hair blew in the stiff breeze. “Wow!” Avery<br />
said, when she realized how far they’d come.<br />
18
Her perspective made the ranch house look<br />
small enough to fit on a Monopoly board.<br />
“Yep, there he is, staring <strong>at</strong> a rock,”<br />
Ella said, spotting her brother standing with<br />
his back toward them like he’d been tapped in<br />
a game of freeze tag.<br />
“Evan, we better head back,” Avery<br />
called. Evan didn’t move. “Let’s go, Evan!”<br />
she called again. Evan continued to stand<br />
still as a st<strong>at</strong>ue. “It’s not funny, Evan! I<br />
know you’re playing the stubborn game, but<br />
we really should get back to the ranch house<br />
before it gets dark!” Frustr<strong>at</strong>ed, Avery yelled,<br />
“OK! Stand there all night if you want. You<br />
can play chase with the coyotes!”<br />
When Avery and Ella headed down<br />
the ridge, a sound made them stop. “Whee,<br />
Whee, Whee…WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE,<br />
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE, WHEEEEEEEEEE...<br />
Whee, Whee, Whee.”<br />
“Is he whistling?” Avery asked.<br />
“I think so,” Ella said. “It sounds like<br />
th<strong>at</strong> annoying thing he learned <strong>at</strong> camp last<br />
summer. Remember, he kept practicing until<br />
he almost drove us crazy.”<br />
19
Avery eyes grew wide. “You mean the<br />
SOS signal?”<br />
“Yes, th<strong>at</strong>,” Ella said. “I can’t remember<br />
wh<strong>at</strong> those letters stand for, but I think it<br />
means ‘Help!’”<br />
“Wait! He really might be in trouble,”<br />
Avery said, trotting back up the ridge.<br />
Seeing Evan’s face confirmed Avery’s<br />
fear. He was as pale as a bowl of Mimi’s<br />
grits and his bright blue eyes were as big as<br />
jawbreakers. As the girls got closer, they heard<br />
another sound th<strong>at</strong> stopped them, puzzled, in<br />
their tracks. It was a steady s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s—<br />
like w<strong>at</strong>er spraying full blast, or the buzzing of<br />
a kid’s wind-up toy. Cautiously moving only a<br />
finger, Evan pointed <strong>at</strong> the ground.<br />
Avery and Ella gasped and stifled their<br />
screams with their hands!<br />
20
2<br />
R<strong>at</strong>tlin’ R<strong>at</strong>tler<br />
“B-b-b-back up s-s-s-slowly!” Avery<br />
whispered in terror to her sister when she<br />
saw the r<strong>at</strong>tling r<strong>at</strong>tlesnake coiled near Evan’s<br />
feet. She gingerly picked up her foot to take a<br />
step back. Ella followed, moving like someone<br />
in a bad dream.<br />
Shades of gray, brown, and black<br />
formed diamonds along the fearsome reptile’s<br />
scaly back th<strong>at</strong> morphed into a zebra p<strong>at</strong>tern<br />
above its vibr<strong>at</strong>ing r<strong>at</strong>tles. It was curled into a<br />
tight beehive shape with its head sticking out<br />
as tall as Evan’s knee. Its long black tongue<br />
flashed in and out, tasting the air. <strong>The</strong> r<strong>at</strong>tles,<br />
moving fast enough to cre<strong>at</strong>e the steady,<br />
sinister buzzing sound, said, “Don’t mess with<br />
me, I mean business!”<br />
21
Evan remained frozen in place. “You’re<br />
doing the right thing, Evan,” Avery whispered<br />
encouragingly to her little brother, knowing<br />
th<strong>at</strong> the venom of a r<strong>at</strong>tlesnake could be<br />
deadly. “Don’t move a muscle or it might<br />
strike <strong>at</strong> you.”<br />
As soon as she had backed a safe<br />
distance away, Avery scoured the ground for<br />
something to use as a weapon. <strong>The</strong> beautiful<br />
bluebonnets continued to nod cheerfully, but<br />
offered no help. “I need a stick!” Avery said<br />
in a panicked voice. “A long stick!”<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s a tree over there,” Ella said.<br />
“I’ll see if I can find a limb or something!”<br />
“Move slowly until you get a little ways<br />
off,” Avery warned. “<strong>The</strong> snake might feel the<br />
vibr<strong>at</strong>ions from your feet and strike <strong>at</strong> Evan.”<br />
After Ella edged away carefully, she turned<br />
and darted toward the tree.<br />
“It’s OK. Everything’s gonna be OK.”<br />
Avery spoke soothingly to her brother, hoping<br />
the snake might calm down too. Evan looked<br />
as though he might faint and hit the ground <strong>at</strong><br />
any minute.<br />
22
Suddenly, Avery remembered the cell<br />
phone in her pocket and quickly touched<br />
Papa’s speed-dial number. <strong>The</strong> shrill ringtone<br />
sounded as urgent as her panic, but Papa<br />
didn’t answer. Avery knew he had probably<br />
left it inside the <strong>Mystery</strong> Girl after they landed.<br />
Avery glanced over her shoulder and<br />
saw Ella running back toward her with a<br />
short board in her arms. As she got closer<br />
she slowed to a tiptoe. “Will this do?” she<br />
whispered.<br />
“We don’t have much of a choice,”<br />
Avery whispered back, taking the plank from<br />
her sister while shuddering <strong>at</strong> the thought of<br />
whacking the r<strong>at</strong>tling snake with it.<br />
Evan looked pleadingly <strong>at</strong> Avery. She<br />
slowly raised the board above her head and<br />
told her brother, “When I count to three, you<br />
jump back!”<br />
Evan nodded his trembling head.<br />
“One…two…”<br />
“WHOA!”<br />
Before Avery could say “three,” the<br />
thunder of a horse’s hooves rumbled to a stop.<br />
In a blur of motion, a cowboy jumped from a<br />
23
tall, reddish-brown horse. From a loop on his<br />
saddle, he pulled out a wood pole with a metal<br />
hook <strong>at</strong> the end and motioned for the girls<br />
to back away. He slipped behind the snake<br />
and placed the hook over its middle. <strong>The</strong><br />
snake struck <strong>at</strong> the pole as fast and furious<br />
as lightning strikes, but the cowboy slowly<br />
pulled the snake until it was no longer coiled.<br />
With the snake stretched on the ground, Evan<br />
leaped like a man on fire to join his sisters.<br />
<strong>The</strong> cowboy gingerly picked up the<br />
snake with the hook, carried it several yards<br />
away, and placed it beside a jagged boulder.<br />
“This’ll be a gre<strong>at</strong> place for you to get a good<br />
night’s sleep, old fella,” he said. “Maybe<br />
tomorrow you’ll wake up in a better mood!”<br />
<strong>The</strong> three kids stared <strong>at</strong> their rescuer.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir mouths hung open in amazement. He<br />
spoke to the same snake th<strong>at</strong> had terrified<br />
them as if they were old friends!<br />
When the cowboy saw their expressions,<br />
he smiled broadly. “I see you met old crotalus<br />
<strong>at</strong>rox,” he said. “Th<strong>at</strong>’s the scientific name<br />
for the Western diamondback r<strong>at</strong>tlesnake.<br />
Good thing I saw you kids up here. And, it’s a<br />
24
good thing it’s a cool afternoon. Cold-blooded<br />
cre<strong>at</strong>ures like r<strong>at</strong>tlesnakes don’t move very<br />
fast when it’s cool.”<br />
“Just like in the movies!” Ella<br />
exclaimed, still amazed <strong>at</strong> the cowboy’s<br />
sudden appearance. “<strong>The</strong> cavalry showed up<br />
just in time!”<br />
“I’m afraid I’m not much of a cavalry,”<br />
he said. “My name’s Pete.” He pointed to his<br />
horse th<strong>at</strong> was nervously pawing the ground.<br />
“Th<strong>at</strong>’s my horse Repe<strong>at</strong>. He’s afraid of<br />
snakes too!”<br />
“Why didn’t you kill the snake?” Evan<br />
asked. “Th<strong>at</strong> way it couldn’t hurt anyone!”<br />
“Th<strong>at</strong>’s true,” Pete said. “Most people<br />
in these parts think the only good snake is<br />
a dead snake. But if I killed th<strong>at</strong> snake, he<br />
couldn’t do his job in the ecosystem. Besides,<br />
he wasn’t out looking for kids to <strong>at</strong>tack. He<br />
was minding his own business until you came<br />
stomping around in his backyard.”<br />
“Oh, gre<strong>at</strong>!” Evan said sarcastically<br />
while looking around his feet. “I might walk<br />
through another grumpy snake’s backyard on<br />
the way back to the ranch house!”<br />
25
“Well,” Pete drawled, walking back<br />
to his horse. “Th<strong>at</strong>’s always a possibility.<br />
This species’ habit<strong>at</strong> includes most of the<br />
Southwest. Just w<strong>at</strong>ch where you put your<br />
feet. Also, try to make some noise when<br />
you’re walking through brush so the snakes<br />
will hear you and get out of your way. <strong>The</strong>y’re<br />
just as scared of you as you are of them and<br />
they’d much r<strong>at</strong>her slip away than confront<br />
you. But always be careful. Diamondbacks<br />
can be deadly!”<br />
26
R<strong>at</strong>tlesnakes shake their tails<br />
when they feel thre<strong>at</strong>ened.<br />
27
28
3<br />
Ominous Warning<br />
Pete put his foot in the stirrup and<br />
swung his leg over his saddle. He tipped his<br />
black cowboy h<strong>at</strong>. “See you around!” he said,<br />
galloping toward the sunset.<br />
“See!” Ella said. “A cowboy riding off<br />
into the sunset—just like the movies!”<br />
Avery wondered how Pete appeared<br />
out of nowhere to come to their aid, and<br />
now she wondered where he was headed.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s something very mysterious about<br />
him,” she said.<br />
When Avery realized she was still<br />
holding her snake-whacking plank, she started<br />
to toss it on the ground, but stopped. “Maybe<br />
we should carry this back to the ranch house<br />
just in case we meet another snake,” she<br />
29
suggested, looking <strong>at</strong> the board. “Hey! Wh<strong>at</strong>’s<br />
this?” she asked. A printed red label th<strong>at</strong><br />
said “Extreme Danger” was <strong>at</strong>tached to one<br />
of its rough, splintery sides. “Wh<strong>at</strong> a strange<br />
warning to be lying in the middle of nowhere.”<br />
“I didn’t notice th<strong>at</strong>,” Ella said. “I just<br />
saw a bunch of boards lying on the ground and<br />
picked up one of them.”<br />
“Was it under the tree?” Avery asked.<br />
“No,” Ella said. “Come on, I’ll show you.”<br />
Evan started clapping his hands and<br />
stomping his feet. “Make lots of noise so the<br />
snakes will hear us coming!” he cautioned.<br />
A short distance away, they spotted<br />
several more boards as well as the bottom of<br />
a wooden cr<strong>at</strong>e.<br />
“Maybe it was a cr<strong>at</strong>e of dynamite!”<br />
Evan suggested. “Bandits probably used it to<br />
blow up the safe from a train!”<br />
“You two have been w<strong>at</strong>ching too many<br />
old Westerns with Papa!” Avery said.<br />
“Wh<strong>at</strong>’s this thing?” Ella asked when<br />
she spied a group of bright yellow poles lying<br />
in the bluebonnets.<br />
30
“It looks like one of those tripods a<br />
civil engineer uses,” Avery said, standing the<br />
contraption up on its three spindly legs. “My<br />
friend’s dad is a civil engineer and I’ve seen a<br />
couple of these things in their garage.”<br />
“Wh<strong>at</strong>’s a civil engineer?” Ella asked.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y design roads and bridges and<br />
the found<strong>at</strong>ions for buildings—stuff like th<strong>at</strong>,”<br />
Avery explained. “This one must have left in<br />
an awfully big hurry to leave his tripod on the<br />
ground like th<strong>at</strong>.”<br />
Evan poked through the boards and<br />
cr<strong>at</strong>e, still hoping to find some dynamite. He<br />
flipped over a board with his foot. “W-w-we<br />
b-b-better g-g-get outta here!” he stuttered.<br />
“Is it another snake?” Avery asked,<br />
terrified th<strong>at</strong> her brother had managed to<br />
rustle up another r<strong>at</strong>tler.<br />
“No,” Evan answered, “but it could be<br />
just as d-d-deadly!”<br />
Avery walked over to investig<strong>at</strong>e and<br />
quickly saw wh<strong>at</strong> had Evan quaking in his<br />
boots. A note was painted across a board in<br />
an ominous scrawl:<br />
31
If you value your<br />
life, stay away<br />
from R.R.<br />
32
u<br />
v<br />
4<br />
t q o l g D<br />
s<br />
p<br />
n<br />
j<br />
f<br />
Snakes...<br />
snakes...<br />
Avery, Ella, and Evan love<br />
wildlife...but some wildlife<br />
is just wilder than others! In<br />
this exciting mystery, these<br />
real kids, and new friends,<br />
encounter a whole lotta shakin’<br />
going on in r<strong>at</strong>tlesnake country!<br />
But when th<strong>at</strong> shakin’ is<br />
coming from an about-to-strike<br />
r<strong>at</strong>tlesnake—Y-Y-Yikes! Before<br />
they know it, the kids are mixed<br />
up in an adventurous mystery<br />
where clues require them to use<br />
their best science, technology,<br />
engineering, and m<strong>at</strong>h skills<br />
to find the answers! Can they<br />
solve the mystery before the<br />
r<strong>at</strong>tlesnake strikes?!<br />
includes<br />
facts & activities!<br />
and more snakes!<br />
WORDS TO KNOW<br />
RL 3-5 Ages 7-14<br />
$7.99 US<br />
ISBN: 978-0-635-11188-3<br />
5 0 7 9 9<br />
9 780635 111883<br />
7 10430 11049 0<br />
www.carolemarshmysteries.com<br />
www.gallopade.com