Chapter 10

Chapter 10 "I gave the mail to a man," Dink said as they pulled away from the dock a few minutes later. "Thanks a lot," Captain Morris said. "That'd be Greg Dack. He and his sister, Lynda, take care of the place for the owner." "Do they have any pets?" Josh asked, sliding a look at Dink and Ruth Rose. Morris shook his head. "Not that I've seen." Then he grinned. "Course, with that jungle they live in, they could hide an elephant on that island!" A few minutes later, he pulled the mail boat up to Wallis's dock. "Thanks a lot!" the kids all said.

"My pleasure," Morris said. "Give Wallis and Walker and Abbi a big howdy from me." "We will," Dink said. "Bye, Captain Morris!" Morris tooted his horn and pulled away. The kids ran up the dock and into the cabin. Wallis, Walker, and Abbi were waiting for them. "How was your picnic?" Wallis asked. "Or should I say, how was your snooping expedition?" she added slyly. "Did you find the wolf pups?" Abbi asked. "No, but we might have found a clue!" Josh said. He told them about the blueberry stain on the dock. "It looked like it came off someone's shoe. Like whoever crushed those blueberries on that path!" "Josh, anyone could have left a blueberry stain on that dock," Wallis said. "This is blueberrypicking season. We have no proof it was the people who took the wolves." Ruth Rose told them about the brother-andsister caretakers. "Lynda Dack has long blond hair!" she said. "I knew it!" Abbi said. "There was a high fence all around the place," Dink said. "We couldn't see anything inside."

Ruth Rose remembered the tape. "Abbi, we forgot to ask Morris about the seals, but we tried to tape some seagulls for you." Ruth Rose put the tape recorder on the table and pressed the PLAY button. At first they heard only hissing, then the sound of gulls. Then the gull cries were interrupted by Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose talking. Suddenly they heard Josh's voice yell, "Shoo!" "This is when the gulls landed near us," Ruth Rose said. "I think they wanted our food." "It was nice of you to make the tape," Wallis said. "But those weren't all gull sounds!" Abbi said. She rewound the tape and hit PLAY again. "Listen," she said, leaning toward the machine and turning up the volume. The others leaned in, too. The cries were louder now. "There! Those aren't gulls," Abbi said. "I think they're the wolf pups!" "Honey, those sound like seagulls," Wallis said. "Are you sure you're not just—" "I know what gulls sound like," Abbi said. "I have them on another tape. It's on the deck, the

cassette marked BIRDS." Walker hurried out to the deck and came back with the cassette. He ejected the one in the recorder and slid in the BIRDS tape. They heard the hooting of an owl, some loons, and finally a raucous, high-pitched squawking.

"Those are gull calls," Abbi said. "Do you hear the difference?" "Play the other one again," Ruth Rose said. Abbi switched cassettes, and they once more heard the sounds that Abbi said were the pups. "It does sound like puppies whimpering," Josh said. "My dog makes that noise when he's hungry!" "But how did we get the wolf pups on tape?" Dink asked. "We never saw them." "They must be hidden somewhere out there," Abbi said. "You might have heard them, but you thought they were seagull noises. Now we can tell the police!" "But this tape doesn't prove the wolves are on that island," Walker said. "The Dacks might have dogs." "But I saw the woman in the boat!" Abbi insisted. "I can tell the police she was the same woman I saw take the pups." "You saw her from a long distance both times," Walker told his niece. "You might have seen two different women with long blond hair." "Uncle Walker is right, hon," Wallis said. "We can call the game warden again, but I have a

feeling she'll want more proof before she accuses those people." "Abbi, what do wolves eat around here?" Dink asked suddenly. Abbi looked at Dink. "Small animals, mostly," she said. "Why?" "Well, Josh found a dead mouse in their boat," Dink explained. "Right, and I touched it," Josh said. "It was wet and slimy and gross!" "You should have heard Josh scream, Abbi," Ruth Rose said. Suddenly Abbi backed her wheelchair away from the table. She wheeled herself to the fireplace and came back with a book in her lap. With the others watching her, she flipped some pages, then started reading: A large part of a wolf's diet is rodents, mostly mice. Adult wolves often vomit up partially digested mice as food for their young. Abbi closed the book. "I think those baby wolves were in that boat," she declared. "The