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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 />

Intern<strong>at</strong>ional Reading Associ<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

N<strong>at</strong>ional Associ<strong>at</strong>ion for Gifted Children<br />

<strong>The</strong> N<strong>at</strong>ional School Supply and Equipment Associ<strong>at</strong>ion<br />

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 />

the names and images used in this book are strictly for editorial purposes; no commercial<br />

claims to their use is claimed by the author or publisher.<br />

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this public<strong>at</strong>ion may<br />

be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form<br />

or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the<br />

prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.<br />

<strong>The</strong> scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means<br />

without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase<br />

only authorized electronic editions and do not particip<strong>at</strong>e in or encourage electronic piracy<br />

of copyrightable m<strong>at</strong>erials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreci<strong>at</strong>ed.<br />

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

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