Chapter 11

Chapter 11 "WHAT?" Ruth Rose yelled. "That's crazy!" Dink shrugged. "I found one of the feathers in his Jeep and another on his boat." Josh nodded slowly. "And when we had our picnic here yesterday Wallis said Walker had been in the cave. Maybe he found the trapdoor in the playhouse." "The footprints on the rug were big enough to be his," Dink said. Ruth Rose stood up and wiped sand off her wet jeans. "I don't believe you guys. Walker wouldn't

break the law! And he sure wouldn't use his sister's house!" "I hope not," Dink said. "Anyway let's get the parrots up to the castle." Dink and Josh tugged on their damp jeans and grabbed the cages. A few minutes later they burst into Wallis's kitchen. She was writing at the table. "We found out what's making those noises!" Dink blurted out. The kids told Wallis about the tunnel to the cave and the parrots. "A trapdoor in the playhouse!" Wallis exclaimed with wide eyes. "And a tunnel? How incredible!" "It's like a secret passageway," Josh said. "Maybe pirates hid gold down there!" "Well, I don't know about pirates," Wallis said. "But now I know how Emory Scott got all that marble and stuff up here!" "What should we do with the parrots?" asked Ruth Rose. "Show me," Wallis said. They all trooped into the mud room. When the door opened, the parrots began flapping around in

the cages. Their shrieks filled the room. "Poor things," Wallis said. "Should we feed them? What do parrots eat?" "Got any fruit?" Josh said. "That's what they'd eat in the rain forests." Wallis went to the kitchen. "I wonder where these guys came from," said Ruth Rose. Josh studied the parrots. "Probably Africa or South America," he said. "How would the poachers get them all the way to Maine?" Dink asked. "By boat," Josh said. "Then a smaller boat would bring them into the cave." "A boat like Walk—" Dink stopped talking as Wallis came back with two peeled bananas and a bunch of grapes. They dropped the fruit into the cages. The parrots grabbed the food in their beaks. "They were starving!" Wallis said. She placed a bowl of water in each cage. "I'm kind of hungry too," Josh said. "We missed lunch." "Well, we can't have that!" Wallis said. "Come into the kitchen."

While she made sandwiches, Dink explained about the light he'd seen in the woods the night before. "I bet there were more cages. They must take them out through the playhouse at night." "We should hide down there and see who it is!" Ruth Rose said. Wallis shook her head. "Absolutely not. Those people could be dangerous!" She brought out plates and napkins. "Today is Sunday, but tomorrow morning I'm going to call the state capitol. They must have someone who deals with poachers." Wallis looked at the kids. "Promise me you'll stay out of that tunnel and cave." Dink kicked Ruth Rose and Josh under the table. "We promise," he said. After lunch, the kids went back to the playhouse. They cleaned the dishes and swept the rug. "I wish we could get these poacher guys," Dink said.

"I think we should sleep in the playhouse," Josh said. "Then if anyone comes, we'll grab them!" "Josh, they'd grab us and stick us in a cage," Ruth Rose said. "Besides, Wallis would never let us stay down here," Dink said. "But I have another idea!" At one-thirty in the morning, the kids were crouched by the window in Dink and Josh's dark room. They were fully dressed. Josh yawned. "Maybe no one is coming tonight." "Maybe they know we found the cages," Dink said. "Walker could've seen us from his boat." "I still don't think it's Walker," Ruth Rose said. "But whoever it is will have to come to feed the parrots, right?" "Right," Dink said. "Let's take turns watching. I'll go first. You guys can snooze." "Wake me up if you see any bad guys!" Josh said, flopping on his bed. "Well, I'm not tired," Ruth Rose said. "I hope they go to jail for a hundred years!"

She and Dink stared out into the darkness. The alarm clock counted away the minutes. Josh began snoring. "Look," Ruth Rose whispered a while later. "A firefly." Dink saw a light moving slowly through the darkness. "Wake Josh," he told her. "That's no lightning bug!" The kids tiptoed past Wallis's room, then hurried down the steps and out through the mud room door. Creeping silently, they approached the playhouse. Moonlight fell on the clearing. A few yards from the playhouse, a dark car stood in the shadows. Dink grabbed Josh and Ruth Rose and pointed. It was Walker's Jeep! "I guess you were right," Ruth Rose whispered sadly. The kids inched forward. Suddenly Dink saw a light coming from the playhouse. A man was bent over, pulling open the trapdoor! A glowing flashlight lay on the floor next to his feet.