Bruce Campbell Ken Holt 02 Riddle of Stone Elephant UC

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."And thanks."They drove through the town and out along Narrow Gauge Road, passing throughthe tunnels warily but without incident.Ken pulled the car to a halt at thefence."Should we take advantage of Raymond's offer?" Sandy asked."Let's see what's right below us," Ken suggested."Maybe there's a nice quietpool right here."They picked up the poles and the worms and walked to the edge of the ravine.Page 16ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlAn hour later, after dozens of casts, Sandy sat down."Even the fish don'tlike us." He pointed to a deep pool of slow-moving water about ten feet fromthe bank."Look.There he is again."A huge trout appeared dimly right below Ken's line.36 THE RIDDLE OF THE STONE ELEPHANTHe investigated the fat worm on the hook, nudged it gently, and then lazilyswam away.Ken pulled up his fine and wound it around the pole."I give up.I don't feel much like fishing any more." Ken looked back up thewall of the ravine."Let's go up and take a good look at the Needle andElephant Rock.""Absorb some local color? Might as well."They crawled back up the rocks and went to the car to get rid of their poles.Sandy slung the camera strap over his shoulder and followed Ken to the otheredge of the plateau.Not far from them, Needle Rock stood up like alighthouse."Give you any ideas?" Sandy wanted to know.Ken shook his head."You?""Not a one.Let's go look at the Elephant."They walked back to the ravine's edge and stared at the pile of stone thatformed the other boundary marker."Bowleg's got a point," Sandy observed."It looks a little like an elephant,but if I didn't know its name I might be tempted to call it hippopotamus rock,or some-like that.""It looks more like an elephant than any other pile of stones around here.""Guess so." Sandy didn t sound too convinced."But look at that pile there."He pointed several hundred feet north of Elephant Rock."If that had a head itwould look like an elephant, too.""But it hasn't got a head," Ken said."So it's not an elephant." He looked athis watch."It's almost noon.What say we go into town and do a littlesnooping in the old newspaper files?""What say we eat something first?" Sandy countered.Half an hour and six sandwiches later they turned the car around and headedback for town.THE MISSING PICTURE 37The office of the Mesa Alta News was housed in a wooden building, hemmed in bythe hardware store on one side and the drugstore on the other.A small porch,one step above the sidewalk, ran the full width of the building.Sandy inhaled deeply as he stood before the screened door, sniffing the mixedodors of hot lead and ink drifting out of the opening.He smiled happily."Smells like home."Ken pushed open the door and entered the office.There were two desks thereand several battered chairs.At one of these old pieces of furniture amiddle-aged man sat hunched over an old typewriter, his fingers flying overthe keys.From behind the partition a faint clicking told the boys that alinotype machine was in operation.The man looked up when the door banged shut.He stood up quickly, the deskchair skittering behind him."Wondered when you two would come in." He cameacross the littered floor rapidly, his hand outstretched."I'm Chatham BobChatham editor, reporter, advertising manager, advertising salesman, and copyboy of the biggest paper in Mesa Alta." He grinned."The only paper.""I'm." Ken began, taking the offered hand."I know, I know." Chatham shook Sandy's hand briefly and then indicated theempty chairs."Sit down.You're Richard Holt's boy and you the big one you'reSandy Allen." He recaptured his own chair and dropped into it."What we wanted to do," Ken began again, "is.""I know, son.I know.Come on." Chatham jumped to his feet again and almosttrotted across the room to a door."Here they are.""Here what are?" Ken asked.38 THE RIDDLE OF THE STONE ELEPHANT"The old files.That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" He left them at the openPage 17ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmldoor and trotted back to his desk."They're bound in volumes back to the firstissue in 1899.Help yourself to anything you want.There's copy paper in here,and you can use Esmeralda." He gestured vaguely toward an even oldertypewriter than his own."She'll complain, Esmeralda will, but she'll write."A second later, his fingers were beating the keys; he seemed to have forgottenthem completely.Ken looked at Sandy helplessly and then they entered the other room.It facedthe front of the building as did the office.Two windows opened on the street,but they were so dusty that it was difficult to see through them.Every bit ofusable wall space was taken up by shelves, all of them stacked with tall,canvas-bound volumes of the old issues of the newspaper [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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