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“We’re going on a lion hunt!” chorused Mark and Rush.
“And you’re not afraid!” rejoined Mona and Randy.
There was a pause. “No guns, though,” said Oliver.
“Guns?” said Mark. “I thought it was binoculars.”
“Maybe the way you do it, but not the way me and Joseph Bryan do.” Oliver hoisted an imaginary rifle to his shoulder and aimed at a distant and equally imaginary lion.
“Binoculars are much more useful,” said Mark. “Especially given the scarcity of lions in upstate New York.”
“Can I go with?” asked Randy, not hopefully. Rush just gave her a look.
“Yeah, okay. I know. This is your thing.”
Randy already knew that. Mark and Rush had been planning their “one last summer adventure” for days. They’d never said “boys only,” but she knew there was a tight bond between the two of them that didn’t always have a place for her.
It was just that with Randy and Rush and Mona going off to boarding school, she knew she was in for a lonely year. Oliver was a great kid, but he was four years younger than her, and that often made a difference in the things they could do together.
“Maybe when we’re back for vacation we can do something together,” Rush said to Randy. Vacation was something he was already looking forward to. He’d never been away from home for more than a few days, and as the departure time grew closer, he was starting to worry about how it would all work out. Would he be ready for his classes? Would he be able to make friends there? Would Mark still want to be friends with him, or would he want to hang out with his new friends that were more interested in science things? It was easier to think about the adventure—or even just the excursion—that the two of them we getting ready for.
Randy couldn’t resist one more little question. “Do you know where you’re heading off to?”
Oliver answered for them. “They told you! They’re going on a lion hunt.” Randy rolled her eyes, but subsided.
Mona and Mark and Rush tried not to look at each other. Mark and Rush knew where they were going—at least to start—but it had to be a secret. That was because they were planning to look for potential places for the treasure hunt they were planning for Randy and Oliver.
“Ready?” asked Mark.
“I have lunch and binoculars and a flashlight. And you have your flashlight, right? Anything else you need?” Lunch was several of Rush’s large and sloppy sandwiches, a bunch of carrot and celery sticks as a sop to healthy eating, some chips he’d bought with his own money, since Cuffy didn’t approve of such things, a few early apples, and two bottles of soda. That last had also been a fight with Cuffy, but Father had stepped in and said that a case for the household every so often was a reasonable treat.
It was one of the last days of what had been a beautiful August—mostly hot and dry, but with a sufficient number of soaking rains to keep them from having to haul too much water to the garden. Today was one of the hot and dry days. Mark had looked at the sky and sniffed the air and said that there was no chance of rain for the next day or so.
They set off on their bicycles to start with, though they planned to leave them behind and continue on foot at some point.
“Cave first?” Rush asked.
“That’s the plan.”
They didn’t talk much while they were biking; they saved their breath for the hills. When they left their bikes at the roadside and started toward the cave, they walked for a while in a companionable silence.
Rush broke the silence first.
“Are you nervous about going to boarding school? Because I am, a little.”
Mark paused to think before he answered. “Not exactly nervous, but, I dunno, maybe a little worried. Will I be able to keep up with everything? Will the teachers like me? You know, all that stuff. I haven’t been able to go to school all the time, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up.”
Rush was taken aback. “What do you mean? You’re one of the best students at the school! In science classes, at least. And you’ve always studied things on your own, a lot more than I ever did.”
He thought a moment, then said, “Father did talk to you about why he chose this boarding school for us, right?”
“He said he’d thought about sending us to separate schools, and this one was a compromise. Does that bother you?”
It was Rush’s turn to think about how to say what he wanted to say. “Father asked me about my music. He said he didn’t want to push me into anything I didn’t want, but that it was time to think about the future, at least somewhat, because my decisions now—or failure to make decisions—would affect my future choices.”
He scuffed his feet through some leaves as they walked on, then kicked a stone. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Randy had that great summer with Madame Malinova and her lessons, but when Madame went back to her dance company, she—Randy—decided that she didn’t want to make ballet her entire life and would rather just dance for fun. I know it was a hard choice for her. She’s a little wistful, but she says that the life of a ballet dancer that Madame Malinova described isn’t for her. And that’s it’s probably not exactly the same in the United States, but Father did some research and said it wouldn’t be all that different.”
Mark thought he understood. “And Father said you’re at the same sort of crossroads?” He still felt a little shivery—in a good way—when he referred to Mr. Melendy as “Father.” Now that he had been adopted legally, everyone said that was what he should do. It always made him happy to know he was part of the family, not just a temporary guest.
Rush said, “Not quite. If I wanted to be a virtuoso piano player, I would be, but that’s not what I want. I like playing piano—”
“But not teaching?” Mark interrupted.
Rush shrugged. “It’s okay, as long as the students are decently behaved. It’s fun to see the results when there’s a student that really practices and improves. And even Floyd Laramie behaves himself now.”
“Is Judge Laramie having fits that you’re going away and won’t be able to give him and Myrtle lessons because you’re leaving?”
“Nah. He tried to talk me into saying I’d give them lessons when I was back on vacation, but I said that wasn’t enough and if they—or he—wanted to keep up with it, they’d have to find another teacher, even if it was a town or two over. And he agreed, and said he’d see what he could do. I gave notice to all the other students, and half seemed disappointed, which was nice.”
“And the other half relieved?”
“I guess. Or at least they didn’t see it as a tragedy.”
They had arrived at the cave. As always, there was nothing visible but the screen of juniper bushes. They pulled out their flashlights and pushed their way in through the barrier, trying not to disturb the greenery. They turned on their flashlights and checked to make sure it hadn’t been inhabited by any large creatures since they’d been there last. There was the usual damp smell and detritus from animals (and, Rush was a little ashamed to notice, a stray candy wrapper, which he picked up and stuffed in his pocket), but nothing to worry about. Mark pointed his flashlight at a far corner and whispered, “Look!”
Just in time, Rush saw the back end of a snake disappearing into a crevice. Before he’d met Mark, he might have been alarmed, but now he knew they were very unlikely to run into poisonous snakes in New York. “What kind was that?” he whispered back.
“Probably a garter snake—it was small. Or possibly a young milk snake, I suppose. Definitely not one of the poisonous ones.”
“Just as well.” They moved to the back of the cave. Rush could barely see the crack where the snake had gone, even with the help of the flashlight.
Mark was the one who brought up the business at hand. “Do you think we should use this place for one of the finding places? We could bury the next clue in a tin if we gave the right sort of hints in the previous one.” They hadn’t yet written the clue that would lead Randy and Oliver to the cave—if they decided to use it—but Rush thought that it should be something mysterious and maybe a little scary.
“Well, as soon as we put ‘cave’ in the clue, they’ll probably come here,” Rush pointed out. So it’s not going to be all that much of a mystery.
“You’re right,” Mark agreed. Then he laughed. “So let’s fake them out! We all read Tom Sawyer last year. Let’s have the cave be the cave in that, and make the clue point to the book in the library.”
Rush nodded. “I haven’t been to this cave in the winter, but I bet it’s not as nice as it is in summer. And it might even have critters wintering in it.”
“Yeah, we don’t want them to find a hibernating bear.”
Rush shuddered. “Is that likely?”
“No, not really. It’s not a big enough cave, and bears in New York are even rarer than poisonous snakes. Or lions. But it’s not totally impossible.”
“Maybe we can put something in the clue about searching at midnight by the light of the full moon. They can’t think that they would be supposed to come out here in the middle of the night.” (How wrong he was!)
“Sounds good,” said Mark. “Hey, I’m getting hungry.” He glanced up at the sun. “Yeah, it’s about lunchtime.”
Rush was hungry, too. Though as a growing teenage boy it seemed he was always hungry. That’s certainly what Cuffy said, at least. The lunch that had seemed ample when they left was reduced to a pile of crumbs and wrappers and bottles that went back into the basket. The apple cores they left out, because Mark said that there would be squirrels or other animals that would appreciate them.
They leaned against a big sun-warmed rock, shoulders bumping together companionably, and rested for a while, just listening to the wind in the trees and the small noises of the wood.
Then Rush felt Mark stiffen a bit. “Did you hear that?” he said.
Instead of saying “Hear what?” Rush tried hard to hear what unusual thing Mark had heard. There was a strange whining sound. It wasn’t all that far away, but it sounded muffled. “Is that someone crying?”
“Not a person, I don’t think. It does sound like crying, though. Maybe a fox?”
“Doesn’t it sound kind of close? Should we check? Or do you think it might be something with rabies?” Rush shuddered. There had been a rabies scare the first year they moved to the Four-Story Mistake, and they’d been given all sorts of warnings about how to identify (and avoid) rabid animals.
“Rabies is really unlikely, but let’s keep our distance. It’s close, yes.” Mark cocked his head, and then walked around a bit to try to get a direction. “I think it’s that direction,” he said, pointing to the right of the cave. East, Rush decided with a certain amount of pride, after looking at the sun.
They walked toward the sound, trying to see what might be causing it. Then Mark stopped sharply. “Now the sound is coming from behind us. How could we have walked past whatever it is?” He walked back and forth a bit, then pointed. “There!”
There was a fallen log, and the sound was coming from inside it. Mark crouched down a few feet away and shone the flashlight into it. Rush could see a bit of fluff, but not much else. “Can you tell what it is?”
“I think it’s a fox kit,” he replied. “It’s the right kind of noise, anyway. He’s probably about weaning age and wandered off. I don’t know why he’s still in there instead of crawling out again, though. He’s a ways back, so if he’s trapped, I don’t think I could reach back far enough to get at him, even if were safe.”
“Could we reach in with a long stick to see if we could get him unstuck?” Rush asked.
Mark made a face. “Poking at animals with a long stick is exactly what you’re not supposed to do.”
“I don’t want to poke at him, just around him to see if there’s something in the way,” Rush objected.
Mark shrugged. “Let’s see what else we can try.” Hewalked all around the log, knocking on it from time to time as if he were trying to find the hidden compartment in a house, reminding Rush of the time they’d discovered Clarinda’s room. “We should have brought tools. An axe, or even a shovel, would be just the thing right now.”
“No axe, but we do have a shovel!” Rush exclaimed. “It’s back with the bikes, though. Father made me pack a first aid kit and a shovel—or, as he called it, an entrenching tool—for emergency equipment. I’ll go get it.” He ran off to where they’d left the bicycles, and slung the military surplus canvas pack over his shoulder.
He trotted back more slowly, and arrived back at the log only slightly out of breath. Mark had given up his investigation and was just looking into the log and crooning softly at the kit. “There’s a good boy. Your mama will find you soon. We’re trying to get you out...” He saw Rush and stopped. “So what do you have?”
Rush opened up the package. There was the first aid kit—hope we don’t need that, he thought—a package of various tools, and a shovel in two parts. He screwed it together, tightening the nuts as well as he could with his fingers. “What do you think we can do with this?”
“Well,” Mark said, “I think he’s stuck in some bramble in the log. That’s why we couldn’t see him all that clearly. I don’t want to poke at him, but this log is pretty old. I think if we use the shovel, we might be able to make a hole in the log from the top and get him out that way.”
Rush took the shovel and gave an experimental tap. “Here? It does feel soft.”
“A little to your right. Don’t want to drop all that stuff on top of the kit, after all.”
Rush moved the shovel to where Mark indicated, and tried digging there. The material crumbled a bit, and Rush saw some crawly things making their escape. He attacked it more vigorously. It was a long, slow, dirty process, punctuated by the occasional whimpers from the kit. Mark took over when Rush slowed down, then Rush took his place again. He didn’t know how long it had been, but eventually they did break through and were able to widen the hole to what Mark said was sufficient. They knelt down and peered through the hole. They’d done it right—the kit was visible but off to off to the side. He—or possibly she—still wasn’t doing more than trying feebly to scrabble away. “Do you think can reach him like this?” Rush asked.
“I could try getting him by the scruff of the neck and pulling him out. That’s how mama foxes carry their young around. But I’m not sure I can get him, the way he’s wiggling, and if he moves further away, we’d have to start all over again.”
Rush looked around to see if anything helpful was in sight. His eyes alit on the canvas bag that he’d brought back. He pointed at it. “Do you think you could gather him up in that? It would give you some protection, at least.”
Mark said, very quietly. “I think if we’re going to do something, we should do it soon.” He pointed further into the woods, and Rush saw a red outline against one of the trees. “I’m guessing that’s his mama. Okay, give me that bag and I’ll try it.”
Rush reached for the bag and handed it over. Mark turned it inside out and put his hands inside. “Keep an eye out.” Rush picked up a large stick, though he wasn’t sure what he could do with it if the mama fox decided to attack. Right now, she was keeping her distance.
Mark took the bag and reached inside the log. Things happened very quickly after that. He emerged with a double handful of squirming, yipping fox cub entangled in the bag. Then the cub got itself free just as Mark was lowering it to the ground. There was a loud bark from direction of the mama fox, and the kit ran toward her. They met somewhere in the middle, and the mama fox picked up the kit by the scruff of the neck in exactly the way that Mark had not been willing to try. An instant later, they were both out of sight.
“Whew!” they chorused.
They walked back to the rock by the cave, and slumped down again. “I wish we’d saved some of our lunch,” said Rush. “I’m hungry again.”
“It’s well known that adventures make people hungry,” Mark said. He reached into a pocket. “I saved an apple.” He took out a pocket knife and sliced it into two halves, handing one to Rush.
Rush bit into it. “Thanks,” he mumbled with his mouth full. Then he swallowed and said, “We did have an adventure, didn’t we?”
“A small one, anyway. And a good deed, even if neither of them stayed around to thank us.”
Rush laughed. “I suppose not getting bitten is the best thanks we could expect.”
After a while, Rush remembered what they had been talking about earlier. “So I was saying earlier that I told Father I didn’t want to spend my life playing piano for audiences. I want to write Opus Five. And more after that. I honestly don’t know if that’s something I can make a living at, but I want to learn more. And Father said the school has a good music and drama program—drama for Mona, of course. And the music part includes composition. It also has a good science program for you.”
Mark nodded at the mention of the science program. “I’ve been looking at the class descriptions, and I’m really looking forward to the practical portions.”
“Father also asked me—because the people from the school asked him—if the two of us would like to room together or would rather have other roommates with more similar interests. I told him I wanted to room together unless you didn’t. He asked you, too?”
Mark gave his small smile that from anyone else would be a wide grin. “He did, and I told him the same thing.”
Rush felt his face going rather red, but he nudged Mark’s shoulder with his own. “I’m glad. Even if we’re in different classes, mostly, we’ll be together. That’s what’s important.
Mark nudged him back. “Yeah, together.”
Rush stretched, groaned, and got up. Mark followed. “Probably time to head home,” Rush said. He realized that he was filthy—sweaty from exercise and dirty from the cave and the log. Suddenly their pond sounded very attractive.
Mark nodded and they gathered up their things and headed for the bicycles. “I’ll beat you there!”
“In your dreams!”
And off they rode together—to home, to school, and to life.