10 Strange Strangers

Chapter 10 STRANGE STRANGERS "No! No!" shouted Andrew. "Don't shout," said Judy softly. "You don't want them to think you're angry. We want to show them we're friendly. Maybe if we gave them a gift or something…" "What do we have that's not a mammoth or a glyptodont or a giant guinea pig?" asked Andrew. "What about the feather?" asked Judy. "It's a pretty amazing feather." "I wanna keep it," said Beeper. "Would you rather have the feather or your skin?" asked Judy. Beeper shrugged.

Andrew held out the enormous feather and walked up to the hunter who'd spoken to him. "I have something for you, sir," he said. The man pushed the point of his spear into the ground. Then he took the feather, put his hand on Andrew's shoulder, and nodded. One of the boys came over and touched the feather. "Hyas chak-chak tupso," he said. The other boy, just a little taller than Andrew, pointed to Thudd. "Thudd," said Andrew. He held Thudd up. "Thudd!" said the boy, smiling. meep… "Hiya!" said Thudd. The boy touched Thudd's face screen. Thudd wiggled his antennas. The boy laughed. He held out his spear to Andrew. "Thank you," said Andrew. He took the spear. It had a sharp point made of carved stone. Andrew smiled and nodded. The boy smiled and nodded, too.

The tallest hunter waved his hand toward the distance. "He's telling us to go," said Andrew. "These guys were heading toward the ice dam," said Judy. "It could break soon. We have to warn them." "How?" asked Andrew. Judy stepped forward, pointed toward the dam, and shook her head. They stared at Judy and shook their heads, too. Beeper pointed in the direction of the dam and yelled, "BOOM!" The hunters laughed. "Wait a minute," said Judy. She reached into a pajama pocket and pulled out the reddish stick she had taken from the cave. She brushed snow off a flat rock and started to draw. The hunters gathered around her. She drew the wall with the zigzag crack that she had seen in the cave painting. She drew big waves around it.

The hunters' eyes lit up. They nodded. They recognized the drawing! One of the hunters touched the colored stick in Judy's hand. She gave it to him. He broke it in half and gave one half to Judy. He went up to Max and waved to Judy. He wanted her to come, too. Nyeeek! Nyeeek! Nyeeek! The glyptodont was frantic about having people so close. The hunter began to rub the red color over one of Max's tusks. He motioned Judy to color the other tusk. Soon they were done. The hunter pointed to his spear, then he pointed to Max and shook his head. "He's telling us that they've marked Max so they'll never hunt him!" said Andrew. Judy, Andrew, and Beeper smiled and nodded. The hunters did the same. Then they turned and hurried off in the direction they had come from.

Max lurched forward with a wriggling glyptodont in his tusks. The capys decided to munch some grass. Judy broke a twig off a bush and poked their behinds to hurry them along. It wasn't long before they glimpsed the craggy ice of the glacier. The Tick-Tox Box was where it had been when they left. But now it was bigger than a football field! Next to it was the Time-A-Tron. It was floating a few feet off the ground and its Fast-Fins were spinning. They were getting close to the glacier when suddenly they heard screaming. It was coming from inside the glacier, and it was getting louder. "What's that?" asked Judy. Suddenly Doctor Kron-Tox rushed out of an icy crack in the glacier wall. "It's my uncle!" said Beeper. Right behind him was a very tall creature that looked kind of like a dinosaur.

meep… "Titanis bird!" said Thudd. "Called terror bird! Ten feet tall! Fierce hunter bird! Beak bite through bone!" Doctor Kron-Tox was running so fast that his black cape fluttered like wings. But the Titanis bird was right behind him. And catching up with them was furry Uncle Al! Doctor Kron-Tox was racing toward the Tick- Tox Box. "We've got to help Uncle Al," said Andrew. "We can't let Doctor Kron-Tox get away."