The Sasquatch Mystery

Cap said shortly. He shaded his tired eyes from the sun-rays that dropped through tall white pines. “It’s light enough—come on.”
    Cap left the fire pit, stooping low to look at the ground. Clutching her blanket and clumping in her unlaced boots, Trixie followed. Cap made three widening circles before he found the first clear track.
    Cap whistled. “Trix, look at the size of it!”
    “I’m looking,” she whispered. “How many hands is it?”
    “Hands?” Cap whispered back.
    “You know, like measuring horses. A palm is about four inches.”
    “Oh, sure.” Quickly Cap moved hand over hand. He sat back on his heels. “That print is at least eighteen inches.”
    “Yipes!” Trixie gasped.
    “Let’s see where it went.” Noticing Trixie’s blanket, Cap added, “I’ll wait till you dress.”
    “Oh, jeepers, please do!”
    Cap’s long legs carried him around the circle to Knut’s pup tent before Trixie reached her own. Cap whistled sharply.
    At once Knut answered, “Cap?”
    “On the double,” Cap ordered. “I’ll get the other fellows.”
    “Shall I wake the girls?” Trixie called.
    “Might as well,” Cap answered. “Why should they sleep when we’re awake?”
    Within minutes, the glade echoed with mumbles, yawns, and shouts. Miss Trask put her gray head through her tent door to inquire, “Is this the customary hour to rise?”
    Tucking in the tail of her flannel shirt, Hallie whooped, “It’s daylight in the swamp!”
    First awake, Trixie was the last of the girls to reappear at the campfire, fully clothed, teeth brushed, and hair combed. She looked at Cap and raised her brows.
    “I didn’t tell them,” he answered.
    “Tell us what?” Di wanted to know.
    “We had a visitor,” Cap began.
    Hallie wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, I can still smell that pesky bee trap. Did your visitor bring it with him?”
    “Kind of,” Cap said.
    “In fact, he was the bee trap,” Trixie added. “Elucidate!” Mart ordered.
    “I’ll do better than that,” Cap answered. “I’ll show you.” He led the way to the footprint.
    Brian squatted to study the giant print. Toes all of a size and almost squared off had dug a deep ridge in the earth. Brian muttered about the flattened arch and the wide heel. He was completely puzzled by the double ball to the foot.
    “That print has three times the surface area of a man’s foot!” Brian declared. “What—” he cleared his throat—“made it?”
    “The sasquatch,” Trixie said.
    “Oh, Trixie, that’s just a myth,” said her big brother.
    “Don’t be too sure,” Trixie warned soberly.

Only One Road ● 4

    DI’S VIOLET EYES grew wide and disturbed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to!”
    “I think I know,” said Miss Trask, “but I must say I’d always put sasquatches in the same category as goblins and ghosts. Not that this footprint isn’t convincing, but—” Miss Trask put an arm across Di’s shaking shoulders and drew her toward the supply chests in the kitchen area. Over her shoulder she called, “We can discuss the problem better when we’ve been fed properly.” As if marshaling troops, Miss Trask assigned tasks in a cheerful, efficient voice.
    Trixie heard Cap mutter to Knut, “I thought we left OUie at home.” Trixie knew that Ollie was their maid.
    “You’ll love Miss Trask when you get to -know her,” Trixie promised them. “How would you like to be wakened from a sound sleep at sunup to be told a—a sasquatch had just left camp? Anyway, she does have the right idea— about food, I mean.”
    “I’m starving,” Cap declared. “And I’ll bet anything Mart is.”
    “If you say so, I guess I am,” said Mart as he caught up to them. “So what am I, and what’s my job?”
    Trixie realized that Mart hadn’t heard Miss Trask. She also knew that Cap had been assigned to dishwashing, so she told Mart, “You’re a hungry dishwasher.” Then she hurried off to set the table.
    “I knew I’d be sorry I asked,” Mart muttered. Brown eyes dancing, Cap joined Trixie. In a low voice he asked, “What was that all about?”
    “I have a good memory when it comes to brothers calling me a goose,” Trixie said, lifting her chin. “Oh, by the way, Mart was water carrier, so I guess you’re it.”
    “Good,” Cap said. “I want to look for more tracks before they get messed up.”
    Trixie raced around the folding table, scattering knives, forks, and spoons.