The next day, the Aldens didn’t want to waste a minute. They were going back to the “monster” cave. They had a quick breakfast of cold cereal and milk instead of going to Dragon’s Mouth Coffee Shop.
“Today we wear our oldest jeans and tops,” Jessie told her brothers and sister. “And boots. It’s muddy in that cave. You never know when you might come across an underground stream.”
“Or even a lake,” Henry said. “Let’s see. I think I’ve got everything—ropes, flashlights, candles, a roll of reflective tape, and a first-aid kit, too. It’s a perfect caving day—no rain in the weather forecast, so we won’t have to worry about flooding.”
Jessie helped Violet and Benny zip up their backpacks. “While Henry and I finish packing, you two run down to Mr. Howe. Tell him where we’re going and when we’ll be back. Careful cavers always do that before they set out.”
“Do careful cavers always bring food along, too?” Benny asked.
“Of course,” Jessie said, “so don’t worry about that.”
By the time Violet and Benny reached the coffee shop, it was nearly empty. Mr. Howe was at the register ringing up Nelly Stoner’s bill.
“Jessie said to tell you we’re going caving,” Benny announced.
Mrs. Stoner smiled at the two children. “Are you now? And what cave are you going to?”
Violet looked up at Mrs. Stoner. “A cave that—”
“Has a monster in it!” Benny cried out before Violet could answer. “A monster with big feet and a tail and everything. I found a sinkhole to a cave. It has monster tracks in it.”
Mrs. Stoner’s eyebrows shot up. “Whoa, slow down, Benny. You don’t mean the dragon monster? Why, that’s only the name of one of the shapes in the big cavern. We do have a few live critters in our caves, but they’re small—salamanders, bats, and such. Occasionally some other animals wander in.”
“A man wandered into the cave we were in,” Violet explained. “But he wouldn’t tell us his name.”
“I called him Joe Caveman,” Benny said. “He wouldn’t tell us what was in his big sack, either.”
Mr. Howe scratched his chin. “Hmm. Could be any number of local spelunkers.”
“Lunkers?” Benny asked. “What are those?”
“I’m a spelunker,” Mrs. Stoner said. “And so is Mr. Howe and a lot of other folks around here. Spelunkers are people who explore caves. That’s their hobby. I bet your Joe Caveman is a spelunker. His sack was probably full of caving supplies,”
“But what about the monster tracks?” Violet asked. “Henry and Jessie saw them, too.”
Mr. Howe shook his head, smiling. “Well, you children will just have to become spelunkers and find out all about that monster. I’ll want a full report. In the meantime, I have an important job for you when you visit your cave.”
“What is it?” Benny asked in an excited voice. “We like important jobs.”
Mr. Howe leaned on the counter. “Here’s what you do. Get a stick a few feet long and tie a handkerchief at the top. Then poke it in the ground right by the sinkhole entrance before you go down again.”
“I know why!” Violet cried. “If we’re gone too long, someone can find us. But don’t worry, Mr. Howe. Henry and Jessie won’t let us get lost.”
“I’m sure they won’t,” Mrs. Stoner said as she left the coffee shop with the children. “I know you Aldens will have fun. The caves around here don’t go too far, so you’ll be just fine. Besides, I know from your Aunt Jane that you children know how to take care of yourselves no matter where you go. Good luck.”
The Aldens had plenty of good luck. After coming down Little Nose Cliff they spotted the sinkhole with no trouble at all. This time Benny didn’t fall in.
“There!” Benny said when they reached the entrance. He poked a long stick in the ground.
Violet tied a purple bandana to Benny’s marker. “It looks just like a flag in case anyone wants to find us.”
Henry held up a roll of silver tape. “We won’t be needing a rescue with this. We’re going to stick pieces of this reflective tape on the walls as we go in. Then we’ll follow them when we come out. It’s simple.”
“You forgot something,” Benny said before Henry could say anything else.
“What’s that?” Henry asked.
“Good cavers always bring plenty of food and water,” Benny answered.
Henry handed everyone their backpacks. “Good thinking, Benny. Ready? Put your hats on now so we don’t get drips in our eyes.”
One by one, the Aldens threw their packs down the sinkhole then lowered themselves into the cave. Today, the four heavy-duty flashlights they carried made it easy to see that the cave stretched out quite a ways.
The Aldens were careful. At every turn, Henry put up a small piece of tape to mark the place.
Benny aimed his flashlight at the cave floor. “There are those monster tracks again! Can we follow them, Jessie?”
Jessie turned around. “Not just yet. Since this is our first time in this cave, we’d better not go off on a wild goose chase.”
“I wonder if we’ll see Joe Caveman today,” Benny said after the children began walking.
Violet shivered. “I wish we would see some other cavers. It’s so quiet down here. There could be a storm outside or even a truck driving over where we’re standing, but we wouldn’t know it.”
Step by step, Jessie led the group deeper into the cave. Suddenly she stopped so fast, Benny bumped smack into her. “Wait!” she whispered. “I hear a clinking sound. And there’s a speck of light up ahead, too.”
Henry squeezed by to get a look. “Shh. Let’s turn off our flashlights for a minute.”
Except for the light in the distance, the cave was pitch-black. The children felt their way along the walls with their hands. Everyone took small steps so they wouldn’t slip or bump into each other. Finally, they got close enough to see where the bright light was coming from.
Benny tapped Jessie on the shoulder. “Is it Joe Caveman?”
“No, it’s a woman,” Jessie whispered. “She’s wearing a hard hat. She just put down something. Should we say anything, Henry? I don’t want to scare her.”
“Let’s turn our flashlights back on soshe can see us,” Henry suggested.
“Hello? Hello?” Jessie called out. “Coming through.”
Blinded by the flashlights, the blond young woman couldn’t see the Aldens very well. “Who’s there?” she yelled. Before getting an answer, the Aldens saw her put away a camera and some other equipment in a duffel bag. Then the woman turned off all but one spotlight.
Jessie walked ahead of the others. “We’re the Aldens. We’re caving down here. How about you?”
The woman zipped up the bag and shoved it back with her foot. She stared a long time at the Aldens before answering. “I’m—uh—Crystal Hollowell. I just discovered this cave while I was out hiking and decided to come in. I’m a—a—biologist—at the Rockville Community College. I wanted to see what kind of animal life there is down here.”
Benny looked up at the woman. “Did you fall down the hole, too?”
Crystal didn’t bother to answer Benny’s question. In fact, she looked upset to see the Aldens there at all. “Children shouldn’t be allowed down here by themselves. Caves are delicate environments. They get damaged easily. I advise you to stay away from these caves.”
“Our family is friends with Nelly Stoner, who runs the Dragon’s Mouth Cavern. She told us all about caves and rocks and how to be careful around them. And I’ve done some caving myself,” Henry reassured her.
The young woman’s jaw tightened. “You didn’t tell this Mrs. Stoner person about this cave, did you?”
“Sure we did. And Mr. Howe, too,” Benny piped up. “Henry and Jessie said you always have to tell somebody when you’re going caving. Did you do that?”
“I most certainly did not,” Miss Hollowell answered back. “Otherwise people who don’t know anything would be down here ruining everything.”
Jessie tried to figure out why Miss Hollowell seemed so annoyed. “I thought you found this cave by accident,” Jessie said, staring at the duffel bag. “You brought tools and lights.”
Miss Hollowell nudged her bag even farther back. “These aren’t tools, young lady. As for the lights, well—uh—I bring them with me whenever I go hiking just in case I have to go into dark places to study—uh—animal tracks and so forth.”
Benny whirled around and pointed down the cave. “Did you see the giant monster tracks back there? We did yesterday and today.”
This annoyed Miss Hollowell even more. “You were in here yesterday, snooping around? Was anyone else with you?”
“Nope,” Benny answered. “But we met Joe Caveman.”
“Joe Caveman?” Miss Hollowell said. “Someone else was down here? Who was it? Was he alone?”
The children looked at one another. Why did this woman mind that other people liked to visit this cave too?
“Benny made up the name when the man wouldn’t tell us who he was,” Henry explained. “He was the only person we saw.”
“Did he have anything with him? Tools and such?” the young woman demanded.
Jessie shrugged. “He had a big bag. That’s all we saw.”
Crystal Hollowell gathered up her belongings.
“I wish we had spotlights like that,” Benny said. “Or a headlamp. Henry had one, almost like yours, but it disappeared. I bet we could find the monster if we had lots more lights.”
“What nonsense. This equipment is for scientists, not children,” Miss Hollowell told the Aldens.
“Did you find any animals?” Violet asked.
Miss Hollowell looked puzzled. “Animals? What animals? Now, can you please make room so I can get by? All of you should leave, too. There’s supposed to be a big rainstorm today. This cave could get flooded.” With that, Miss Hollowell disappeared down the cave without even saying good-bye.
The Aldens decided to leave, too. They turned back, this time with Henry in the lead. “Boy, Crystal Hollowell sure thinks she owns this cave, don’t you think, Jessie?”
Jessie didn’t answer Henry’s question. She hadn’t moved a step yet except to shine her flashlight on the cave wall that Crystal Hollowell had just been standing near. “Take a look at this wall,” Jessie said.
The others came over to see what Jessie was talking about.
“It looks as if someone chipped away at it,” Henry said. “There are stone chunks all over the floor. And she was the one who said people shouldn’t come down here and ruin things.”
Jessie ran her fingers over the stone. “It seems odd for someone who studies plants and animals to be hammering cave walls.”
“Let’s ask Mrs. Stoner or Mr. Howe about Crystal Hollowell,” Henry suggested. “If she teaches at the local college, they probably know who she is.”
“ ’Specially if she’s one of those ’lunkers,” Benny said. “Like we are.”
The other three children laughed as they made their way back to the entrance.
“Okay, you two,” Henry said to Benny and Violet. “I’ve got a game. I stuck eleven pieces of tape on the walls when we came in. I want Benny to find each piece with his flashlight, and Violet can peel them off. We have to take everything out that we brought in just the way we do on our hikes.”
Finally the Aldens reached the circle of sunlight shining down on the cave floor.
“Hey, that’s another thing,” Henry said, when he saw the sunlight. “Miss Hollowell said we should get out of the cave because a rainstorm’s coming. But there isn’t a cloud out today. She doesn’t want anybody down in this cave, that’s for sure.”
Henry cradled his hands to give the younger children a boost up. One by one, they popped up from the sinkhole. Everyone was glad to get out and stretch in the warm sun after their chilly underground visit.
“Hey, look what I found,” Benny said when they started toward the cliff. “A shovel.”
Jessie looked at the shiny red shovel. “It looks new. Maybe Crystal Hollowell dropped it on her way out.”
“Or maybe somebody else was here but left when they saw our stick and flag,” Benny said.
“That could be,” Jessie said. “People seem to want this cave to themselves. I wonder why?” |