The Alaskan Adventure (8 page)

Frank opened his mouth to ask another question, but Lucky went on, “Get off my claim, both of you, and don't let me see you around here again. I was right to start with. You're a couple of spies, that's what you are!”

Joe looked over at Frank and motioned with his head. They weren't going to get any more information out of Lucky. They turned and started back down the trail to town.

Once they were out of Lucky's hearing, Frank said, “Well, somebody's lying. But who? Lucky? Why would he want to keep us from finding out that he's working for Curt—unless he's doing more than just talking to people?”

Joe was about to reply when he heard a sound in the distance that made the hairs on the back of
his neck stand up. “Frank!” he said. “That was a wolf howl!”

Frank grinned at him. “It sure sounded like it,” he replied. “Unless it was Lucky, trying to make us nervous.”

“Well, if it was, he succeeded,” Joe said glumly. “How far are we from town?”

“Why? Do you think the wolves know that they're not allowed inside the city limits?” Frank joked.

“Very funny,” Joe said, glancing over his shoulder. In every direction the woods were silent, dark, and deep. The slinking shapes he sensed in the shadows were just his imagination, he hoped.

“Or it could be Jake who's lying,” Frank said, picking up the thread of the conversation. “He may be out to make trouble for Lucky.”

As the Hardys walked briskly down the last slope before the town, Joe spotted Curt coming out of a cabin on the outskirts of town. “I bet he's out canvassing for votes,” he said. “One thing you have to say, he's a hard worker. Let's ask him about Lucky.”

Curt saw them coming and waited for them to catch up. “Out taking a tour of the area?” he asked.

“We went up to see Lucky Moeller's placer mine,” Frank told him.

“Good for you,” Curt said with a smile. “It's one of the real landmarks of the area. Of course, you probably had some trouble figuring out exactly what goes on there. It's not set up for visitors yet. But once it is, I guarantee it'll be a high point of Historic Glitter, Gold Rush Town.”

Joe said, “Lucky seemed pretty enthusiastic about your project.”

Curt nodded. “He should be. It'll make him a star. You're not going to find a more typical old-time prospector, even in Hollywood. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with the biggest salary on the ThemeLife payroll. Bigger even than the project director.”

“I thought he was already on the ThemeLife payroll,” Frank said in a casual voice.

Curt gave him a sharp look. “Where'd you hear that?” he demanded.

“I don't know—around,” Frank said with a shrug. “Why? Isn't he?”

“I'm the only full-time employee of the ThemeLife Company in Glitter,” Curt said. “Anyone who says different doesn't know what he's talking about. I'd better run along. There are still a few people who don't understand all the advantages our project will bring to their town.”

He turned and hurried away.

“Interesting,” Frank said. “Did you notice? He said he's the only
full-time
ThemeLife employee
here. He could still be paying Lucky to help talk people around.  . . . ”

“Or to play dirty tricks on them if they won't be talked around,” Joe said. “We'd better keep a close eye on Mr. Curt Stone.”

David's kennel was around the next bend of the trail. The huskies were barking and straining at their tethers.

“Do you suppose they're saying hello to us?” Joe wondered aloud. He called, “Hi, doggies!”

“Joe, look,” Frank said. “One of them got away!”

The short end of a rope dangled limply from one of the sturdy stakes that kept the huskies near their houses. “Must have chewed through the rope,” Joe said.

David came running up the path. When he saw the dangling rope, his face turned pale. “Big Foot, gone?” He groaned. “Oh, no!”

He went from one dog to the next, speaking softly and calming them down. Joe and Frank followed his lead. Once the team was quiet, David said, “This is terrible. Big Foot is Ironheart's backup. He's the second most important member of the team. I should have come out right away, the minute I heard that wolf pack howling.”

“We heard them, too,” Joe said.

“They're trying to lure my huskies away to join
their pack,” David explained. “It's like
The Call of the Wild.”
He went around to the dogs again, speaking softly to each one.

Frank went over to Big Foot's stake and picked up the rope. Then he looked over at Joe and gestured with his head.

Joe looked at the rope. “Hey,” he said in a low voice, “the fibers are smooth and even.”

“You've got it,” Frank said. “Someone cut the rope almost all the way through. One good pull from Big Foot, and it snapped.”

At the sound of another distant howl, David's team erupted into barking again. “Easy, easy,” David said.

“You calm them down,” Frank said. “Joe and I'll go look for Big Foot.”

“Wait,” David called, but Joe and Frank were already following Big Foot's pawprints into the woods.

“Now I know why he's called Big Foot,” Joe said. “Good thing the snow isn't too hard.”

“Or too deep,” Frank replied. “Am I right that David's dogs started barking just before we got there?”

Joe thought for a moment. “I think so.”

“Then there's a good chance that was when Big Foot broke his rope and headed for the tall timber,” Frank said. “If so, he probably hasn't gone far.”

Frank and Joe followed Big Foot's trail across a clearing into the woods.

Another long series of slow, high-pitched howls came floating through the woods. Frank and Joe paused in midstride and looked at each other.

“That sounds a lot closer,” Joe said, lowering his voice.

Frank cleared his throat and said, “Good. Maybe Big Foot's close, too.”

The tracks led to a small clearing. When they stepped out from the trees, the howls stopped.

Frank and Joe froze. The sudden stillness was eerie.

A gray-brown wolf the size of a large dog padded out from under the trees and stopped. Then three more appeared. Tails twitching, the four wolves stood side by side and calmly looked across the clearing at Joe and Frank.

The four wolves stood like statues, tongues lolling from the sides of their mouths. Frank found himself wondering if they were laughing at the expressions on the faces of their prey. The only other movement was a slight twitching of their tails.

“Any ideas, Frank?” Joe muttered out of the side of his mouth.

“Tell them we come in peace and ask them to take us to their leader,” Frank muttered back.

“Thanks a bunch,” Joe said. “Any
good
ideas?”

Frank shrugged. “No sudden moves. We don't
want them to get the idea that we're about to attack them.
Or
that we're afraid of them.”

“I'll try to keep that in mind,” Joe retorted.

“Let's see what happens if we back off,” Frank suggested. “Slowly.”

Together, the two brothers took a cautious step backward, then another. As if they'd been choreographed, the wolves began to move in the same instant. Two peeled off to the left and two to the right.

“Are they giving up?” Joe asked.

“In your dreams,” Frank said. “They're starting to circle us. That means they've gone over to wolf pack attack mode.”

“Oh,” said Joe. “I'm so glad you have a name for it.”

Even though he was aware of the peril of their situation, Frank had room left over to study the wolves. They were a little bigger than huskies, and it was clear they were related to them. But the wolves were skinny, almost gaunt. Frank found himself remembering a line from the Shakespeare play
Julius Caesar
about somebody with a “lean and hungry look.” The wolves had that, all right.

Where had he heard that the jaws of a wolf were twice as powerful as those of a German shepherd? Some nature show on public TV, probably.
That was one fact he'd rather take on faith than put to the test.

“I don't believe it,” Joe said. “You're right. They're trying to trap us with a pincer movement!” He took a step back.

“We can't let that happen,” Frank said.

“Yeah, but how do we stop it?” Joe asked.

They were nearly out of the clearing now. Would they be safer in the woods? Or in worse trouble? Whichever it was, Frank knew that they had no choice. They had to try to reach the safety of town. Their only hope was help from other people.

Or was it?

“Joe, look!” Frank exclaimed, and grabbed his brother's arm.

From the woods to their right, a sturdy husky came trotting out into the clearing.

“That must be Big Foot,” said Frank.

“I can't see his feet,” Joe said, “and I don't care who it is. I hope he's on our side.”

The dog stopped, faced the four circling wolves, and let out a low, menacing growl. The wolves stopped where they were and turned to look over the new actor in the show.

“Now's our chance,” Frank said hastily. “Keep backing up. The second we're under the trees, run for your life!”

A few moments later their boots were shattering
the crust of the snow as they ran. With each breath he took, Frank felt as if Old Man Winter were stabbing him in the chest with an icicle. He'd heard stories of people freezing their lungs by breathing too deeply in weather like this. He'd worry about that later, once they were safe from the wolf pack.

The woods thinned out, and the Hardys found themselves on a well-traveled trail. They turned in the direction of town and kept running. Then, over a rise a few dozen yards ahead, David and his team came speeding into view. As if on signal, Frank and Joe dropped into a heap by the side of the trail and tried to catch their breaths.

David brought the dogsled to a stop and ran over to them. “Are you all right?” he asked anxiously. “What happened?”

Frank took a deep breath, swallowed, and said, “Wolves—four of them.”

“They started to circle,” Joe added. “But Big Foot saved us.”

“He faced them down,” Frank explained. “And we ran. I wish we hadn't left him there like that.”

“That's what he wanted you to do,” David said. “He was giving you that chance. Can you get back to town on your own? I'd better go after him. Now that the wolves know he won't join them, they may decide to attack him.”

“We'll be fine. Do you think you'll be able to get him back?” Frank asked.

David looked grim. “I hope so,” he said. “He's a good dog, strong and loyal. I need him for the race, in case anything happens to Ironheart.”

He called to his team and pushed the sled to get it started. “Hike!” he yelled, and moments later he and the dogs vanished over a rise.

“I hope he gets Big Foot back safely,” Frank said as he and Joe trotted back to town. “I wonder who cut Big Foot's tether.”

“Do you think David knows the tether was cut?”

“I don't think so, but when he finds out, he's going to go ballistic. Those dogs mean everything to him.”

The cabins and plank-walled shacks on the outskirts of Glitter came into view.

Frank grabbed Joe's arm. “Did you see that?” he asked urgently.

“What?” Joe asked. “Where?” Joe swiveled his head.

Frank said, “Shhh . . . There, by that shed.”

A shadowy figure slipped out of a doorway that was partly open.

“That shed must hold somebody's cache,” Joe said. “What's that guy doing?”

“I don't know,” Frank said, studying him. “It
doesn't look right. He's up to something fishy. Come on.”

They started forward, but the man saw them and set off at a run.

“Let's go!” Joe exclaimed as the man ran around the side of the cache and disappeared.

Frank followed Joe downhill to the cache and around the corner. The man was nowhere in sight.

“I don't get it,” Joe said, looking around in puzzlement. “He couldn't have disappeared just like that.”

Frank glanced over his shoulder. The man was slipping into the woods uphill from them. “There he goes!” Frank shouted, setting off at a run. Joe was right behind him.

Five minutes later the Hardys gave up the chase. Their quarry had too great a lead, and their escape from the wolves had used up too much of their energy.

“Pretty cute,” Joe said, once he got his breathing under control. “Heading uphill like that, away from the town. I wonder what he was doing.”

“Something underhanded, I bet,” Frank said. “Did you get a good look at him?”

“Sure—he was wearing a green parka,” Joe said. “Some help, huh? Should we check out that cache and see if we spot anything wrong?”

Frank shook his head. “Better not,” he said. “We can't go poking around somebody's private property just because we saw somebody else do it. We should find out whose it is, though. Let's go ask Peter.”

The only one they found at home was Justine. “Dad was feeling better so he and Mom went to the meeting,” she told them. “I was just about to go there myself. Want to come?”

“What meeting?” asked Joe.

Justine looked surprised. “The whole town is getting together to talk about the ThemeLife plan. It's the last forum before the vote. Hey, do you know where David is? I know he meant to go.”

“Big Foot got loose and ran away. David went after him,” Frank explained.

“That's terrible,” Justine said. “I hope he finds Big Foot all right. He's a very important member of David's team, and with the Iditarod just around the corner  . . . ”

Justine put on her parka, and the three of them walked through town to the assembly room. “Do you think he'll be here?” Joe murmured as they approached the hall.