Read Online The Castle on Deadman's Island by Curtis Parkinson - Free Book Online Page B

Gramps’ dinghy.”
    â€œThat’s his dinghy? I thought it was Charlie’s.”
    â€œNo, it’s his. But he’ll let me use it.”
    â€œBut are your grandparents okay with us sneaking into the castle?”
    â€œHeck, it belongs to your aunt, doesn’t it?”
    â€œOne third of it does.”
    â€œI’ll just tell them I want to stay with you guys at the campsite. Which is the honest truth. Part of it, anyway.”
    â€œI’d better go back with your grandparents,” Crescent said. “I’m hoping for news about
Discovery,
and I’m just praying those POWs didn’t crack her up on the rocks.”
    Again Neil’d miss going with Crescent. Would he ever get to be alone with her? he wondered.
    Beside him, Daniel sniffed the air.
“Umm.
Charlie’s fish fry must be ready. And to think I used to throw up at the thought of eating fish. Let’s go. That fresh bass is so good, I’ll be having it for breakfast next thing you know.”
    After the others had left, Neil, Graham, and Daniel kept out of sight on Lovesick Island until they saw the Ruffs’ boat go by – Mrs. Ruff erect in the bow like a figurehead, Leonard hunched over the motor.
    When the Ruffs’ boat disappeared in the direction of the shore, they climbed into the dinghy. Neil manned the oars, Daniel clutched the sides, and Graham, in the bow, watched for the submerged boulder that Charlie, the guide, had warned them about. He didn’t see it until it was too late, but as it turned out, the dinghy had such a shallow draft that they didn’t even scrape the top of the boulder.
    They rowed around Deadman’s Island to the cove at the back, where they landed and pulled the dinghy up on the shore, covering it with branches for camouflage. Then they set out for the empty castle.

EIGHTEEN
_
    The three boys scrambled through the bushes to the castle. “So where do we look for this hidden passage?” Graham said.
    â€œSomewhere at the back, I’d guess,” Daniel said. “So the owner could beat it while the FBI is coming in the front.”
    â€œWe should look around outside while it’s still light,” Neil suggested.
    â€œBut what do we look for?” Graham said. “A trapdoor of some sort, I suppose.”
    â€œOr a sign saying HIDDEN PASSAGE, ENTER HERE ?”Daniel said, with a grin. “ OR WATCH FOR FALLING SKELETONS .
Uh-oh,
sorry, Graham. Dumb thing to say. I forgot it’s your aunt we’re looking for.”
    Graham shrugged. “That’s okay. I don’t really know what I expect to find. Just
something.
Right now, it’s all a muddle.”
    They split up the territory and began to scour the grounds foot by foot, searching for an entrance. The manicured grassy areas were easy. But then they had to go farther out in the scrub, under the towering pines.
    â€œYou guys look like you’ve been wrestling with wildcats,” Graham said later, when he and Neil and Daniel had gathered back at the castle. They were scratched, bitten, and sweating, their clothes torn and decorated with burrs.
    â€œI never saw so many thistles,” Neil said. “Prickly raspberry bushes too.”
    â€œWhat are those little plants with the shiny leaves?” Daniel asked. “There’s this huge patch of them where I was.”
    â€œThe leaves weren’t ternate, were they, Daniel?” Graham said.
    â€œNo, they were green.”
    â€œI mean, how many on a stem?”
    â€œUh …
three, I think.”
    â€œUh-oh,
sounds like you were in a patch of poison ivy. You should wash up. You don’t want to break out in a rash tomorrow.”
    Daniel looked startled. “Jeez, we don’t have stuff like that in Central Park.”
    They stood pondering their next move and swatting at the hordes of mosquitoes that had descended on them as the sun began to set. “I guess the only thing to do