Chapter 5

Chapter 5 The man standing at the grave's edge was tall. He wore dark clothing. His face was in shadow, but his hair looked silver in the moonlight. Dink felt there was something familiar about him. The man wiped red clay from his pant legs. Then he shone the flashlight on his wrist, causing his watch to gleam briefly. He turned and disappeared into the trees. "Wh-who was that?" Josh asked.

"It sure wasn't a zombie wearing a watch and carrying a flashlight," Ruth Rose said. "I wonder what he was doing down in that grave," Dink said. "Should we go look?" "No!" Josh hissed. "It's bad enough we're creeping around cemeteries. We're not crawling down into some grave!" "Let's go tell Jack," Ruth Rose said. The kids retraced their steps back to the campsite. Dink was relieved to see Jack's tall form lying in the hammock. "Let's not wake him," Dink said. "We can tell him in the morning." The kids tiptoed past Jack, then knelt to crawl into the tent. "See anything interesting?" Jack asked. All three kids jumped and whipped around. "You're awake?" Dink said. Jack sat up in his hammock. "I'm a light sleeper," he said. "Where have you been?" "We need to talk to you," Ruth Rose said. "We saw someone at the cemetery!" "You did?" Jack jumped out of his hammock. He had put on dark sweat clothes. He pushed up

his sleeve and looked at his watch. "What were you doing at the cemetery at midnight?" "Something woke me up," Dink said. "I noticed a light in the woods, and we decided to follow it." Dink stared at Jack. He couldn't help comparing him with the man they'd just seen at the graveyard. Both were tall, wearing dark clothing. Both had light hair and wore wristwatches. "We saw a guy crawl out of a grave!" Josh said. "We know he wasn't a zombie 'cause he was wearing a watch. Right, guys?" Dink focused on Jack's face. Could it have been him they'd just spied on? What would Jack be doing in an empty grave? "Do you think it could have been the grave robber?" asked Ruth Rose. "Was he digging?" Jack asked. "We don't know," Josh said. "We didn't see a shovel or anything." Josh pointed at Dink. "He wanted to go down in it, but I said no way!" "You were smart," Jack told Josh. "But you were all pretty foolish to go out in these woods without telling me. Don't do it again, okay?"

The kids nodded. "Okay, but who do you think that was?" Ruth Rose asked. Jack stretched and leaned against one of his hammock trees. "My guess? One of the men from the village just checking out the cemetery. For all we know, they may have posted guards to make sure the grave robber doesn't steal anymore," he said. "But what was he doing down in one of the graves?" Josh asked. Jack shrugged. "I have no idea," he admitted. "Now how about we get some sleep?" Jack hoisted himself back into his hammock. The kids crawled into the tent, and Dink zipped it shut. After they were settled, Dink lay on his back staring at the tent ceiling. He tried to remember if he'd taken a good look at Jack's hammock before they'd followed the flashlight. Dink didn't know for sure if Jack had been there when they'd left. Dink tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone dry. Could the grave robber have been sleeping in a hammock just outside their tent? Dink didn't sleep well that night.