Read Online Dinosaur Hideout by Judith Silverthorne - Free Book Online Page B

him seriously. He knocked on the door. Then waited. He knocked again. Still no answer. He put his ear to the door, but all he could hear was Bear, barking from somewhere deep inside. He debated what to do. Finally, he rapped again, then opened the door and hollered.
    “Mr. Pederson, are you here? Mr. Pederson?”
    Everything was dark and quiet, except for Bear’s continual barking. Daniel stepped inside, leaving Dactyl outside, and called to Pederson’s huge mutt.
    “Bear, here boy. Come on Bear.”
    Scrabble, scrabble. He could hear Bear coming up the passageway, breathing hard.
    “Good boy, Bear,” he said soothingly, stepping back somewhat in case the dog decided to take offence. But Bear whimpered as he approached Daniel. Daniel stroked him. “What’s up, boy? Is something the matter?”
    Bear paced back and forth towards the entrance of the passageway, as if indicating that he should follow. Carefully, Daniel skirted the long table with the array of fossils and bones, and followed him.
    “Mr. Pederson? Are you here?” Daniel called as he walked along the dimly lit corridor. “Mr. Pederson?”
    Suddenly, as he rounded a corner near the open dig, he heard a moan. It was Pederson, lying on the ground! He ran over and gently examined him for injuries. Then, seeing no blood, he shook his arm. He heard a rattling in the old man’s throat. His face was pale and haggard, and his lips were turning blue. Daniel shook his shoulder a little harder.
    Pederson stirred, gasping. His face was full of fear. Then he rasped out in a whisper, “My pills, on the table by the skull. The white ones.”
    Daniel rushed into the cabin and grabbed the bottle of pills, and then a dipper of water from the pail by the door, before racing back to Pederson. As he opened the pill container, he spilled some of the tiny tablets, but he didn’t take time to pick them up. He had to get one in the old man’s mouth. As he tried to give him some water, Pederson turned his head away.
    “No water. Just need a minute,” Pederson whispered as he lay back with the pill under his tongue. He closed his eyes. When he began breathing easier, Daniel helped him sit up against the wall of the dirt passage.
    “Thanks, lad.” He opened his eyes for a moment. Then he shifted himself into a more comfortable position. “My heart medicine. Nitroglycerine.”
    Daniel began picking up the tiny white pills, but they were hard to find. Using a flashlight, he crawled on his hands and knees scouring the ground to make sure he had them all, brushing the dirt off them before placing them back in the vial.
    “Sorry,” he said to Pederson, as he handed him the container.
    “No matter,” the old man replied quietly, placing it in his shirt pocket. “Guess I overextended myself.” He pointed to the excavation site.
    ~

    D aniel walked over and took a look. Another section had been uncovered. He crouched down near one end and stared at the massive skeletal remains. All at once, he noticed something else half-hidden by the bottom of the rib cage. A nestlike indentation with what looked like fossilized fragments of shells! He stood up abruptly and faced Pederson.
    “Is that...?”
    Pederson nodded.
    “You’ve actually found a nest,” Daniel whispered. “This is a fantastic discovery!”
    “Look a little more closely,” whispered Pederson.
    Daniel dropped to his knees and crawled closer to the spot where the egg fragments lay embedded in the rock. There seemed to be almost a whole one. Gently he fingered the pieces. Then, moving a piece of cloth slightly, he uncovered the remains of a tiny skeleton. A whole baby Edmontosaurus!
    Pederson and Daniel stared at one another, their eyes moistening.
    “Do you know what this means?” Daniel finally gasped, in total awe.
    Pederson nodded again. Daniel let out a whoop.
    “Geez, this will make Saskatchewan famous in the paleontology world! First you found a whole Edmontosaurus – and now the nest! This’ll be bigger