The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines (19 page)

Grace looked up at the towering cliff beside them.
Always
stay as far away from the rock face as it is high.
Her dad's words echoed in her head.
But his warning isn't much
good to us now
, she thought as she watched the small waves from the incoming tide curl around her feet. She was close enough to touch the crumbling slate of the cliff face.

There was nowhere to go. If there were a rock slide, they'd be buried.

“Grace?” Mai said. “What are we going to do? The water…it's everywhere.” Her voice was high and scratchy.

“Have you ever been on this side of the point?” Jeeter asked. “Where would we end up if we go down that way?” He pointed off in the other direction, away from Battlemen's Beach.

“I don't know,” Grace said. “My dad and I never came this far before. I always wanted to come around the point by boat and see this side of the beach from the water.” She remembered pleading with her dad to come over here. He'd promised to take her one day. “But we never did…” she trailed off.

“Well, what choice do we have?” Mai squeaked, flinging dripping strands of hair away from her face. “We can't go back into the tunnel, not with the chance of another cave-in!”

“Yeah, pancake city!” Fred said, slapping his two hands together. “Besides, that Stuckless guy is coming back for us, remember?”

Grace shuddered.

“Guys?” Fred said. “Whatever we're doing, we'd better do it, like,
pronto.
”

The water had now risen past Fred's ankles. Their tiny scrap of shore was disappearing fast.

For a second Grace felt like just leaning against the cliff and waiting for the water to come and take her away. It would be so easy.

“Come on,” Jeeter said. He scurried over the huge boulders on the beach, not looking back.

Fred started to follow behind Jeeter, but his foot slipped on the wet surface of a boulder and he banged his knee against the stone. “Ouch!” He turned back toward Grace and Mai, frowning and rubbing his shin.

“Are you okay?” Mai asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Fred bluffed. “I'm fine.”

He jumped back up on the boulder and held his hand out to help Mai.

“Thanks, Fred,” she said as she grabbed his hand.

Fred's face shone as he pulled Mai up beside him. He didn't let go of her as they continued over the rocks.

Grace gazed longingly at the approaching waves and sighed. Sluggishly, she picked up the rear. Watching everyone's back was a different view, she mused. She was used to being the leader. As she followed, she overheard Mai filling Fred in about the toxic waste and finding her dad's hat.

The rain had finally stopped, but the rocks were still slick and dangerous. Wet clumps of seaweed hid gaps between the boulders, and more than one trapped foot had to be yanked free as they clambered over the uneven shore. Blood oozed from the nicks and scratches they obtained from grasping at the sharp barnacles that encrusted most of the rock surfaces. Gulls screamed overhead. It was like they were in a hostile alien world.

Grace felt as if she'd forgotten everything she'd ever known. She was lost in a daze. Only having one arm to balance made it even tougher, but she refused all offers of help. It was Mai who'd finally suggested using their caving gloves to protect their hands from the barnacles. Grace couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of that.

After a torturous half hour, Grace, Mai, Fred, and Jeeter finally hit a clearing with a few flat boulders. They collapsed to rest and examine their injuries.

“Be careful, these are the last of the bandages,” Mai warned. “Fred! You have to clean the wound first!” She tossed him the disinfectant.

“Me?” he said. “Aren't you going to do it?”

“Oh, for goodness sake,” she griped. But she was smiling as she kneeled down beside him to help.

Leaning backward, Grace squinted up at the cliffs above her. The rocks looked strange. She stood up to examine them more closely. Her fingers traced the smooth uniform ridges. Were they…tree trunk fossils? She stepped back to get a broader view. “Wow!” she exclaimed. There was a forest full of upright tree trunks encased in the cliff!

Wait 'til Dad sees this!
The moment the thought sprung into her head, tears stung her eyes. He wouldn't see it, not ever. Her excitement at the fossil discovery evaporated as quickly as it had come. Grace pulled her dad's hat out of her pack. Careful to avoid looking at the stains on the brim, she switched it with her own, tugging it down over her eyes. It was loose, but she didn't adjust it.

Mai was staring at her. Grace quickly looked away. Rubbing away her tears, she wondered where Jeeter was. Where had he gone this time?

As if in answer to her silent question, he emerged from behind a huge boulder. “You guys aren't going to believe this,” he said, a huge grin on his face. “Follow me!”

Fred tugged Mai toward where Jeeter was beckoning them. They scrambled over the terrain and out of sight around a corner. Alone, Grace dragged herself to her feet, her arm throbbing worse than ever. Her eyes were again drawn to the sea. It sounded like her wave machine. She was suddenly very tired.
If I lie down, will I float away?
she wondered to herself.

Grace reluctantly followed in the direction of her friends. As she rounded another outcropping, she stopped abruptly. There, in the middle of nowhere, was a big wooden wharf with two fishing boats and a huge yacht tied up to it.

“Wow!” Fred said, running toward the wharf. “I bet they have their own cook on a yacht like that. Maybe he'll make me a hamburger. I'm sooo hungry!” He stopped as he was about to step onto the wharf and turned to wave them on.

“Wait a minute,” Mai said. “We don't know these people.”

“Who cares?” Fred said, walking back toward his friends. “This is Cape Breton, not New York. You think they're the fish mafia or something?”

“Very funny, Freddo,” Jeeter said. “But Mai has a point. They could be anybody.”

“All I'm saying is that we have to be careful,” Mai said. “Maybe we should check it out first.”

“I'll go,” Jeeter volunteered.

“Watch out,” Mai warned. It seemed like she might follow him. But then Fred touched her arm and whispered something in her ear. Whatever he said, it convinced her to stay beside him.
That's a first
, Grace thought,
Mai listening
to Fred?

Jeeter walked slowly toward the yacht. It twisted slightly in the current, its long sleek side now visible.

Suddenly, Mai waved her arms frantically at Jeeter. “Jeeter, come back!” she rasped as loudly as she could. She pointed at the side of the yacht.

“Why?” he called back to her. “What's wrong?”

“Look at the name on the yacht! It's
Sandstar
!”

Chapter
26

JEETER MOTIONED TO HIS EAR AND SHOOK HIS HEAD. “I CAN'T
hear you!”

“She said ‘
Sandstar
,'” Fred bellowed, cupping his hands to his mouth. “Never heard of it,” he added, looking at Mai.

“Be quiet!” Mai said, yanking him backward. “Sandstar is the company that's dumping their toxic waste in the mines!” she explained.

“Oh, no!” Fred cried.

Vrrrbrubrbrubrub!

There was a low rumble, and a waft of smoke drifted from the back of the yacht.

“Hide!” Mai said frantically, pulling Fred and Grace down behind a boulder.

Grace poked her head back out. “Hide,” she mouthed to Jeeter, pointing to the yacht. Jeeter dove behind a stack of crates just as two men appeared on the yacht's glistening white deck.

“It's almost high tide,” the taller one said as he untied the mooring line. “We'll be able to get the rest of those barrels from the cave soon and that'll be the end of it.”

“Just in time, too,” his companion said. “That new strip mine will have workers and equipment crawling all over Point Aconi any day now.”

“Yeah, we'll get this last batch to the old bootleg mine site in Florence that Stanley told us about and then there will be nothing left to find. They can dig 'til the cows come home and it won't matter.”

The smaller one chuckled. “No one will ever find out that the incinerator can't handle all the waste. We'll get the full four hundred million from the contract and retire to some island. Heck, we can
buy
an island!”

Watching the pair from her hiding place, Grace gasped. Mai squeezed her hand.

The two men laughed.

“We'll get the barrels and come back here to wait. When it gets dark, we'll head to Florence.”

“Where's that lazy bum Stanley, anyways? He was supposed to be here to give us a hand.”

The tall man grunted. “He doesn't seem too fond of manual labour.”

“I noticed that, too,” the shorter one agreed. “Come on, we'd better get moving.”

The two men disappeared inside the yacht. Moments later, the boat backed smoothly out of its mooring and cruised out of sight.

Grace couldn't believe it. It was true about Sandstar! And Rick Stanley
was
involved! She reached up and tugged her dad's hat down farther on her head.

“Let's check out those other two boats,” Mai said to Fred. “Maybe there's a radio on board we can use to call for help.”

“Jeeter,” Grace called out as they walked onto the wharf. “They're gone. You can come out. Jeeter?” She poked her head behind the crates where he'd been hiding, but he'd disappeared again.

Cautiously, Grace, Mai, and Fred stepped onto the wharf and climbed aboard the boat closest to shore. The deck was faded and worn. The wheelhouse door was closed, its once-white surface covered in rust stains that had bled from the metal frame of its small round window. Green paint was flaked and peeling from the walls of the boat like the shedding skin of a snake. Only there wasn't anything new and shiny underneath.

“Do you think this bucket of bolts even runs anymore?” Fred asked, kicking a piece of an old life jacket.

“Well, let's check it quick and then we can try the other boat,” Mai said. “One of them hopefully has a radio.” She entered the wheelhouse, only to reappear almost instantly. “Nothing in there.”

“Hey, this is weird,” Fred said from over by the fish hold in the middle of the deck. He pointed to a thick chain and lock over the hold. It was shiny and new, and looked totally out of place with the rest of the boat.

“Maybe they've stored toxic waste in there too,” Mai said, pulling on a lock of hair. “We should leave and see if there's a radio on the other boat.”

“I'm going to check out what's down there,” Fred said. He bent over an old toolbox wedged in a corner of the deck. Screwdrivers and pliers flew in all directions as he searched through the box, muttering to himself. “Aha! Right on the bottom!” He waved a rusty crowbar over his head like a trophy. “This should do it.”

He stuck the crowbar between the links in the chain and leaned forward, trying to break it apart. The crowbar was no match for the new metal of the chain. Sweating, Fred flopped down on the deck. “Rats! It's not going to work.”

“Good.” Mai looked relieved.

“Um,” Grace said, her curiosity getting the better of her, “what about the hinges on the other side? They look older, like the boat.”

“That's just what I was thinking!” Fred said, leaping back to his feet with gusto.

Mai glanced over at Grace and rolled her eyes.

Fred wedged the crowbar under the first hinge and pulled. Crumbled pieces of rusty metal flew in all directions and the hinge snapped open. “Wow, that was easy,” he said, popping the second one off and opening the hold.

“What's down there?” Grace asked. All three of them leaned over the gaping hole.

Grace shuddered. It reminded her of the cave they'd just escaped from.