Chapter 6

Chapter 6 At one-thirty that afternoon, the bus dropped the kids off in front of the museum. The digital sign over the bank Said 90 DEGREES. "We've still got a half hour," Josh said. "I could use a snack."

"Josh, we just ate!" Ruth Rose said. "I think you're part wolf." Josh growled and wiggled his eyebrows. "It's too hot to eat, anyway," Dink said. "Let's go sit in the shade for a few minutes." The kids followed a gravel path around the side of the museum. They passed trees, shrubs, and flower beds. At the corner of the building, they found a goldfish pond and a few benches. Fat goldfish came to the surface, as if expecting food. "Look!" Josh said, pointing at the back wall of the museum. "That must be where the bomb blew up."

A large sheet of plywood covered the blastedout hole. Bags of cement and a stack of cinder blocks stood nearby. "The crooks must have run right past this bench," Josh said. The kids sat down. From their bench, they could see the bank clock on Main Street. "I wonder where they went," Dink said. "They couldn't have carried that gold far." Ruth Rose pulled the museum map from her back pocket. On one side was a drawing of the rooms inside the museum. On the other side was a map showing the little park, the museum, and Main Street. Josh pointed at Main Street. "Maybe they had a getaway car waiting," he said. Ruth Rose shook her head. "Parking isn't allowed in front of the museum. If the crooks had left a car there, the police would have noticed it." "And there are no other streets near the museum where they could have parked," Dink observed, studying the map. Josh glanced around at the trees and shrubs. "So where did they take the gold?" He looked down at the ground. "Maybe they buried it!"

Dink shook his head. "They were in a hurry. I can't see them taking the time to dig a hole," he said. He checked the digital sign in front of the bank. "Anyway we'd better get inside. It's almost two o'clock." The kids left, following the path back around to the front of the museum. "Yum, I smell something good," Josh said as they hurried up the front steps. "You're always smelling something good," Ruth Rose said. They entered and paid the woman behind the counter. An inflated rubber tyrannosaur stood in the center of the lobby. In its teeth, it held a sign that said FOLLOW THE ARROWS. A minute later, the kids found Dr. Tweed standing outside an open door. "Hello again," he said. "Come on in. We're just about to start." A bunch of kids were sitting in a circle of desks. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose slid into three empty seats. In the middle of the circle stood a giant dinosaur skeleton. Its huge head almost touched the ceiling!

"I'm sure most of you recognize Tyrannosaurus rex," Dr. Tweed said. Dink stared up at the skeleton. He tried to picture what the massive dinosaur would have looked like when it was alive. "Today," Dr. Tweed went on, "we are going to study this prehistoric carnivore—" A boy in the front row raised his hand. "Did you get the mummy back?" he asked. "Yes, one of our guests found it in the ladies' room," Dr. Tweed said. "Now, as I was say—" "I saw on TV that someone broke in and stole the treasure," a girl said. Dr. Tweed sighed. "Yes, that is true. The thieves are still at large, and the treasure is missing. But we are here to discuss dinosaurs today." He opened a cupboard and pulled out a long bone. "A tyrannosaur leg fossil," he said. "This dinosaur lived and died in what we now know as Utah. You can touch the bone, but please be gentle." The kids crowded around Dr. Tweed to touch the fossil. "What do we know about the tyrannosaur?" Dr. Tweed asked.

Answers came swiftly: "They had big teeth!" "They ate other dinosaurs!" "They laid eggs!" "Good," Dr. Tweed said. "Did you also know that Tyrannosaurus rex had an amazing sense of smell? It could smell its food from hundreds of yards away." "Like Josh," Dink whispered. "And T. rex also had a very small brain for his size," Dr. Tweed went on. "Like Dink," Josh mumbled. Dr. Tweed dimmed the lights and showed slides. The kids learned how the dinosaur lived, what it ate, and how it raised its young. When the slide show was over, Dr. Tweed turned the lights up again. He pulled open a cupboard. "Now you can construct your own dinosaur." He asked for volunteers to pass out clay, wood, and wire. "Your creation will stand on the wood. Use the wire to help shape the legs and tail." Soon twenty pairs of hands were building miniature tyrannosaurs.