Chapter 11

Chapter 11 "Tell us, Josh," Wallis said. "I was thinking about the mother wolf," Josh said. "She would know if those were her babies whimpering on the tape." Everyone stared at Josh. "I don't get it," Dink said. "I do!" Ruth Rose cried. "We let the mother wolf listen to the tape, right, Josh?" Josh nodded. "Yeah, we can take the tape recorder to her den and play it. If the mother wolf is there, she should do something when she hears her babies crying."

"If those really are her babies on the tape," Wallis reminded them. "There's only one way to find out," Walker said. "Come on, kids!" Dink, Josh, Ruth Rose, and Walker left the cabin and hiked into the woods. Ruth Rose carried Abbi's tape recorder and a copy of the tape in her backpack. Walker had slung his camera around his neck. "I sure hope this works," Dink said as they trekked through the trees. "Me too," Walker said. "Abbi will be heartbroken if we don't get those wolf pups back with their mother." They stopped talking when they saw the tall dead tree. Dink, Josh, and Walker found a place to stay out of sight. Ruth Rose set the tape recorder on the ground about fifty feet from the lair. She pressed PLAY, then ran to where the others waited. Seconds later, they heard the taped whimpering noises. All four watchers had their fingers crossed.

Suddenly a white blur shot out of the rock cave. The mother wolf hurled herself at the tape recorder. Lying on her stomach, she made her own whimpering sounds. She put her nose next to the tape recorder, as if trying to smell her babies. Walker was recording it all on his digital camera. After a moment, the whimpering noises stopped, and the kids' conversation came from the tape.

The mother wolf leaped to her feet, and her ears went straight up. She barked at the tape recorder as if it were alive. Walker motioned that they should leave, and the four backed away. When they were on the trail toward home, they stopped and high-fived each other. "Did you see her?" Josh asked. "If that isn't proof, I don't know what is!" "And Walker got it all on camera!" Ruth Rose said. "I sure hope Abbi was watching," Dink said. "Will she be mad that we left her tape recorder up there?" Walker laughed. "She'll forgive us," he said. "Between your tape and these pictures, I'm pretty sure the game warden will agree to take a boat ride out to talk to the Dacks." Abbi and Wallis were waiting on the deck when the kids and Walker emerged from the woods. "We saw it all!" Abbi cried. "I told you those were wolf whimpers!"

Walker grinned. "You were right on, honey," he told Abbi. "We had to leave your tape recorder up there, though." "It was so cool," Josh said. "That mother wolf practically crawled inside the tape recorder." "Now can we call the police and have them arrested?" Abbi asked. "Now we can ask Nadine to pay those people a visit," Wallis said. Nadine showed up twenty minutes later with another game warden named Jason. They borrowed Walker's camera and motored toward the island with the blue awning. The four kids waited on the dock. To kill time, they counted all the boats they could see. The boys got a point for each motorboat, and the girls for each sailboat. The girls were ahead eighteen sailboats to eleven motorboats when Ruth Rose screamed, "HERE THEY COME!" Sure enough, Nadine was sitting in the bow of the boat as Jason guided it toward the dock. In the middle of the boat was a lump covered with an old blanket.

"Did you get them?" asked Abbi as Nadine stepped onto the dock. "Piece of cake," Nadine said.