Read Online The Case of the Bone-Stalking Monster by John R. Erickson - Free Book Online Page A

cellar, past the overflow of the septic tank, through that grove of big elm trees, and to the gate of Sally May’s garden. Here, I stopped and glanced around in all directions, to see if we had been followed.
    Everything looked normal, but just to be on the safe side, I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Ralph, you may not realize it, but on the other side of that fence lies a fortune in buried bones.”
    His ears jumped and he licked his chops. “I sure love bones, especially ones that have been aged.”
    â€œYeah, well, we need to talk about that, Ralph. Since you’re here as a guest, I don’t mind giving you a peek at the bones, but only if you swear never to reveal the secret. Do you solemnly swear?”
    He did.
    â€œGood. Now, the next challenge, Ralph, is that we have to scale this hogwire fence. Watch me and then we’ll give you a shot at it. Here I go.”
    I made a giant leap upward, hooked my front paws over the top wire, dragged and heaved the rest of my body over the top, and tumbled over the other side.
    Ralph watched this with his big basset eyes, then gave his head a shake. “Can’t do it. I think I’ll just use the gate.”
    I laughed at his ridiculous statement and . . . hmmm . . . watched as he nosed the gate open with his . . . well, with his nose, of course, and came pad­ding into the garden.
    I beamed him a glare. “For your information, this is a Secured Area and that gate wasn’t supposed to be unlatched.”
    â€œUh-huh, but it was.”
    I made a mental note of this clue, little realizing that it would soon become a very important detail.
    I glanced over both shoulders, just to be sure we hadn’t been followed, then made a dash to the northeast corner of the garden. There, I began a furious digging process to unearth the first of my Precious Bones. I dug so hard and so fast, I didn’t realize that I was spraying Ralph with dirt.
    â€œReckon you could point that dirt somewheres else?”
    â€œNo, but you can always move.”
    â€œToo much trouble.”
    â€œFine. Sit there and eat dirt. I’ll be finished in just a second.” At that very moment, my claws scraped against something solid. “Ah ha, here we are. Wait until you see this bone, Ralph. You’ll be . . .”
    HUH?
    I stared at the object I had just unearthed with my furious digging. It wasn’t a precious T-bone. It was a . . . you won’t believe what it was, so I won’t even bother to tell you.
    My heart sank. I couldn’t believe this was hap­pening to me. I went plunging across the garden to the northwest corner and began digging in Loca­tion #2. I already had begun to suspect what I would find there, but I had to know for sure.
    I was right.
    Little needles of fear moved down my spine. I found myself noticing every shadow and every sound around me, and also that darkness was falling fast. My body wanted to run away and leave this place, but my mind prevailed. I had to know what lay in that third hole.
    I swallowed my fear, my growing sense of dread, and ran to Location #3. I dug with the energy of a maniac, until at last I heard my paws make that familiar sound.
    I gazed into the hole. My bone was GONE, and in its place I saw . . .
    I turned to Ralph. “Ralph, I don’t want to alarm you, but we’ve got a Bone Monster running loose on this ranch. My guess is that he’s watching us at this very moment. On the count of three, we will run for our lives. One!”
    Ralph was already gone. He didn’t wait for two or three. And you know what? Neither did I.

Chapter Eleven: The Bone Monster Turns Out to Be Real

    I mean, if a guy’s life’s in danger, if he’s being watched by a horrible red-eyed Night-Stalking Bone Monster, why should he stick around for the full count?
    We didn’t, fellers. We went into Rocket Dog Mode and got ourselves out of that creepy place. I never would have dreamed