The Ninth Nugget Read online

  “I don’t care if Frankenstein was peeking in our window,” Josh said, racing toward the main house. “I need pancakes!”

  The kids hurried into the dining room. Everyone was already seated.

  “Good morning,” Ma Wheat said as she poured juice. “Hope you slept well and woke up hungry!”

  Platters of scrambled eggs, sausages, and pancakes filled the middle of the table. Everyone dug in.

  When most of the food was gone, Dink told everyone about the noises and the shape on their cabin porch.

  “Strange noises?” Pa said. “I didn’t hear anything. How ’bout you, Jud?”

  “Nothin’ could have woke me up, Pa,” Jud said. “You hear anything, Ma?”

  Ma shook her head. “You hear any strange noises, Thumbs?”

  Thumbs grinned and shook his head. “Nope,” he said, “but I thought I smelt bear when I walked over here this mornin’.”

  Everyone had a good laugh—everyone except Josh. Then Pa asked Ed Getz to do a magic trick.

  Ed stood up and showed his audience that his hands were empty. Next, he draped his napkin over one hand and mumbled a few magic words. When he yanked the napkin away, an egg was sitting in his hand.

  Everybody clapped, and then Thumbs stood up. “Fine breakfast, Lulu,” he said. “Those of you who want to, we’re gonna pan for gold.”

  Twenty minutes later, all seven guests hiked with Thumbs and Jud along a gravel path on the other side of the pond. A stream followed the path, splashing and gurgling over rocks. Before leaving the main house, Jud had given everyone a wide, flat pan.

  “This is it,” Thumbs said a few minutes later, stopping at a sandy bank on the stream.

  “I don’t see any gold,” Josh observed, peering into the water.

  Jud laughed. “You won’t see it,” he said. He pointed farther upstream, toward the mountains.

  “There’s gold in those hills,” he explained. “Every time it storms, nuggets get washed downstream. Show ’em how to find gold, Thumbs.”

  Thumbs squatted and dipped his pan into the water. “Don’t step in the stream or you’ll disturb the mud,” he said. With a flick of his wrist, he brought up a panful of water and gravel.

  “Gold is heavier than the gravel,” Thumbs went on, “so it’ll settle on the bottom of my pan.”

  Thumbs shook his pan gently back and forth, swishing the gravel and water. Then he tipped the pan and let the water and gravel slide over the edge.

  “Lookee here,” Thumbs said, holding his pan up. In the bottom lay a few dull pebbles. But among the pebbles was a shiny golden nugget the size of a pea.

  “Is that gold?” Dink asked.

  “Sure is,” Thumbs said. He picked out the nugget and let everyone have a look at it.

  “How much is it worth?” Josh asked.

  Thumbs dropped the nugget into his shirt pocket. “This size? Not much.” He pointed his chin toward the distant hills. “To find the real gold, you’d have to go up there.”

  “Can we try panning now?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Thumbs backed away from the stream. “Pick yourself a spot, and remember, don’t get in the water.”

  The seven guests knelt along the stream.

  Jud joined the kids and dipped his pan into the water. “I’ve been doing this since I was a kid,” he said. “One year a guest found a nugget the size of a golf ball. I heard he sold it and bought himself a new Jeep!”

  “Cool!” Josh said. “I need a Jeep!” He knelt in the sand and dipped his pan into the water.

  Everyone began dipping. For a while, all you could hear was the sound of gravel swishing against metal.

  Dink soon got the hang of it. He liked the feel of the sun on his back as he dipped his pan over and over.

  Suddenly, Fiona Nippit let out ayell. “I found one!” she said. Grinning, she held up a gold nugget a bit larger than the one Thumbs had found.

  “Great!” Jud said. “Now let’s see if everyone else can find one.”

  Over the next half hour, others began to shout and hold up small nuggets, even Jud. Eight nuggets were found. Finally, only Josh hadn’t brought up any gold from the stream.

  “Gotta pack up soon,” Thumbs announced. “Lulu’s a bear if we’re late for her meals.”

  “I’m gonna try a different place,” Josh announced. “There are no more nuggets here.”

  “Where are you going?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Josh pointed his pan upstream. “Up there,” he said, “where the real gold is.”

  Dink watched Josh pick his way along the stream, tramping over rocks and branches.

  “I hope he finds one,” Ruth Rose said. “Otherwise, he’ll be grumpy all week!”

  Dink held his nugget up to the sun. It was the size of an M&M. “Do you suppose I can get enough money for this to buy a bike?” he asked.

  Suddenly, they heard Josh yelling, then a big splash. They looked upstream and saw Josh sitting in the water!

  Dink and Ruth Rose ran to help, but Jud reached him first. “Are you okay?” Jud asked, reaching for Josh’s hand.

  Josh grabbed Jud’s hand and stumbled out of the stream. He was soaked from the waist down, but grinning.

  “Look what I found!” Josh said, sticking out his other hand.

  Dink’s eyes bugged out. Josh was holding a chunk of gold the size of a potato.

  “Way to go, Josh!” Dink cried. He and Ruth Rose gave him a double high five while everyone else crowded around.

  “That’s the biggest nugget I’ve ever seen,” Jud marveled.

  The nugget was as large as Josh’s hand and almost as flat. Particles of rock and dirt were embedded in the lump, but the rest was pure gold.

  “Okay, folks,” Thumbs said from behind the group. “It’s time to get a move on.”

  Still congratulating Josh, the group trekked back to the ranch. Josh’s wet sneakers squished as he walked. Everyone headed to the main house for lunch.

  Josh plunked his huge nugget on the table next to his plate.

  “I bet I can make that disappear,” said, grinning.

  “No thanks!” Josh said.

  “You’re a lucky boy,” Pa told Josh. “But I wouldn’t carry that around with you. You don’t want to lose it!”

  “Why don’t you put it in our safe?” Jud asked. “Tomorrow we can take it to town and get it appraised.”

  “What’s ’appraised’ mean?” Josh asked.

  “That’s when an expert examines the gold and tells you its value,” Jud explained. “Then you can sell it if you want.”

  “Okay that’d be great,” Josh said.

  After lunch, the kids followed Jud to the office. The ranch office was small and dusty. Most of the floor space was taken up by a giant oak desk. A brown cowhide hung on one wall. Plants with tiny yellow blossoms were lined up on the windowsill.

  Next to the desk stood an old black safe with a vase of dried flowers on top. As the kids watched, Jud hunkered down in front of the safe. He spun the combination lock back and forth a few times, then pulled the safe door open.

  ’There you go, Josh. Your gold will be safe in our safe,” Jud said, grinning. He moved some papers and a green accounts book to make room.

  Josh stepped forward and placed his nugget on top of the book. Then Jud slammed the door shut and twirled the lock.

  “You all ready for that trail ride?” came a voice over Josh’s shoulder. He turned to find Thumbs standing there with a toothpick sticking out one side of his mouth.

  “Sure thing,” Jud said. “Ready, kids?”

  “I saddled the horses,” Thumbs said as he left the office.

  Fiona, Ed, and the Clydes followed Jud, Thumbs, and the kids to the barn.

  Nine horses were saddled and tied to a corral rail. Each horse’s name was stitched into its saddle blanket.

  Pa and Ma pulled up in an old green truck. “Have a good ride!” Ma called. “We’re going into town.”

  Everyone waved, and the truck raised dust a
s it pulled away.

  “Can I have a nice gentle horse?” Dink asked.

  Jud smiled. “All our horses are gentle,” he said. “You can ride Trigger here. He really likes kids.”

  Trigger was pale gold with a white mane. He looked at the crowd with mild brown eyes.

  “Do you have any small horses?” Josh asked. “I’m afraid of animals that look down at me!”

  “Barney is our smallest horse,” Jud said. “He’s a good ride, but he likes to stop and eat the wildflowers.”

  “Perfect for Josh!” Ruth Rose said.

  Josh patted Barney’s soft nose. “Be a good horse and I’ll sneak you some dessert later,” he said.

  “Do you have any girl horses?” Ruth Rose asked Jud.

  “Sure do,” he said. “You can take Snowball. She’s a real sweetie and has the softest gait in the bunch.”

  Snowball was fat and white with long eyelashes. She nickered when Ruth Rose rubbed her side.

  Jud soon matched horses with Ed, Fiona, and the Clydes. “Okay, everyone, time to saddle up,” he said, standing next to Bullet, a tall silver-colored horse. “Watch how I do it.”

  Holding the saddle horn with his left hand, Jud slid his left boot toe into Bullet’s stirrup. Then he hoisted himself up and swung his right leg over the saddle. “Okay? Anyone need help?”

  “I do!” Dink said.

  Thumbs helped all three kids into their saddles and showed them how to hold the reins. He adjusted the stirrup straps to the length of their legs.

  Just then Ed yelled, “Ouch!” He was half in and half out of his saddle. His right foot was hanging out of the stirrup in an awkward position.

  Jud jumped off Bullet and ran over to help Ed get his foot untangled. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ed said. He took a step, then winced. His face was white with pain. “That really hurts! I think I sprained something.”

  “You’d better get off that ankle,” Fiona suggested. “Come on, I’ll help you back to your cabin.”

  “No, you go ahead, Fiona,” Ed said. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Nonsense. I didn’t really want to ride anyway,” Fiona said. “I’ll get some ice from Lulu.”

  With Ed limping beside her, Fiona walked slowly toward the cabins.

  “Thumbs, would you mind staying behind to unsaddle Ed’s and Fiona’s horses?” Jud asked. “Then you can join us in the meadow.”

  Thumbs nodded and began unsaddling Fiona’s horse.

  “We’ll ride in a line,” Jud told the others. “Your horse will follow the one in front of him.”

  “Who goes first?” Josh asked.

  “You do,” Jud said. “Barney loves to lead the pack. Just touch his sides with your heels and he’ll move.”

  Josh gently poked his heels into Barney’s sides. “Okay, nice horsey” he said. “Giddyup!”

  Barney shook his mane and turned his head to look at Josh. His ears twitched, but he didn’t take a single step.

  “Please?” Josh said.

  Barney snorted, then started to walk briskly away from the barn.

  “This is easy!” Josh called to Dink and Ruth Rose. “But you gotta say please!”

  The other five horses fell in line behind him. Soon they were on a narrow trail surrounded by shrubbery and trees. The horses thudded over a wooden bridge that crossed a stream.

  As the group moved through the trees, the ranch quickly disappeared.

  The horses clip-clopped along in single file. Barney seemed to know where he was going, and the others followed. Jud, riding Bullet, was last in line.

  Soon the riders entered a meadow. A blue pond nestled among the wildflowers. Josh’s horse stopped under a pine tree and began nibbling a patch of weeds.

  “We can let ’em graze here,” Jud said. He helped the kids dismount, and the riders tied their horses where they could reach grass and shade.

  “This is awesome,” Josh said.

  “Folks around here call it Paradise Meadow,” Jud said. “There’s fat trout in the pond if you’d like to feed them.”

  From his saddlebag pocket, he pulled a bag of bread crumbs from lunch. “Just sprinkle it on the surface and they’ll come.”

  “Will you teach me to throw a lasso?” Josh asked Jud.

  “Ask Thumbs when he gets here,” Jud said. “He’s the rope expert.”

  Jud tipped his head back and looked at the sky. A few dark clouds were mixed with white ones.

  “There’s rain coming,” he said. “You’ll find ponchos in your saddlebags, just in case. Storms come up pretty fast in these foothills.”

  “Can you identify any of these flowers?” Bonnie asked.

  Jud grinned. “All of ’em. Tell you what, I’ll take whoever wants to on a little nature hike.”

  “We’d enjoy that,” said Bonnie.

  Jud looked at the kids. “You want to come along or wait here for Thumbs?”

  “I want to feed the fish,” Ruth Rose said.

  “Me too,” said Dink, reaching for the bag.

  “Can I borrow your rope?” Josh asked. “Maybe I’ll lasso a fish!”

  Jud handed Josh his rope.

  “Thumbs’ll make you a rodeo star in no time,” he said. “We won’t be far off.”

  Jud, Seth, and Bonnie hiked toward the other end of the meadow. The kids walked to the edge of the pond. Dink yanked off his sneakers and waded in the water while Ruth Rose tossed crumbs. Almost immediately, trout gathered and gobbled them up.

  “Watch this!” Josh said. He made a loop in Jud’s lasso and tossed it at a tree stump. The loop crumpled in midair and flopped to the ground.

  “How do the cowboys do it?” Josh muttered, gathering in the rope to try again.

  Just then hoofbeats sounded behind the kids. They turned to see Thumbs riding into the meadow on a big black horse.

  “Hi, Thumbs,” Dink and Ruth Rose said together.

  Thumbs nodded but didn’t answer. He dismounted and tied his horse near the others.

  “Are you going to ask him to show you how to use that lasso?” Ruth Rose asked Josh.

  “I don’t know,” he whispered. “There’s something creepy about him.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Ruth Rose said. She walked over to Thumbs and said, “Josh wants you to show him how to throw a lasso.”

  Thumbs glanced behind her, where Josh was trying to coil the rope.

  “I suspect maybe I can,” Thumbs answered. His dark eyes swept the meadow. “Where’s everyone at?”

  “Jud took Mr. and Mrs. Clyde on a nature hike,” Dink said.

  Thumbs grunted. Then he walked over to Josh, took the rope, and quickly formed a large circle. He swung the loop over his head three times, then let it fly. The lasso whistled through the air and landed around the stump.

  “How’d you do that?” Josh asked.

  “It’s all fingers and wrist,” Thumbs said. He showed Josh how to hold the rope just as Jud and the Clydes appeared.

  “Storm’s moving in faster than I thought it would,” Jud said. “We’d better head back to the ranch. Sorry to cut this short, folks.”

  Overhead, the few dark clouds had formed a wall of thunderheads. They were blowing out of the north, casting moving shadows over the meadow.

  Within minutes they were all saddled up, wearing yellow hooded ponchos. Thumbs led this time, with Jud at the back of the line.

  The sunny day had turned windy and cool. Sudden rain splattered through the trees. Dink felt and heard the drops as they splashed on his head and shoulders.

  Thirty minutes later, seven wet horses carried their riders into the barn.

  “I’ll unsaddle Blackie for you,” Jud told Thumbs. “Why don’t you let Lulu know we’re back so she can rustle us up some hot chocolate and cookies.”

  Thumbs jumped to the ground, handed Blackie’s reins to Jud, and jogged toward the main house.

  The rain had almost stopped and a stiff wind was blowing the clouds past. Everyone dismo
unted and led the horses into the barn.

  Suddenly, the dinner bell began to peal.

  “Why’s Lulu ringing now?” Jud said. “It’s nowhere near suppertime.”

  When the clanging didn’t stop, Jud ran toward the barn door.

  The Clydes and the three kids hurried after Jud. As they ran across the yard, the ranch truck pulled into the driveway.

  Ma and Pa hopped out carrying bags of groceries. “What’s going on?” Pa asked Jud.

  “Someone rang the bell,” Jud answered, leaping up the porch steps.

  There was no one on the porch, but the bell was still swinging.

  “Jud! Get in here!” Thumbs yelled from inside the house. “I’m in the office.”

  Jud sprinted through the screen door, with everyone else following.

  Nine people crowded into the small office. Thumbs was kneeling on the floor in front of Lulu, who was gagged and tied to a chair.

  While Thumbs untied the knots, Ma removed the gag. Pa was already on the phone, calling the sheriff.

  “What happened to you?” Ma asked.

  “The safe!” Lulu cried, pointing.

  The safe door was wide open, revealing a stack of papers and one green accounts book. The only thing missing was Josh’s nugget.

  “They got my gold!” Josh yelled.

  “Can I have some water?” Lulu asked. She rubbed her wrists, which had red marks on them from the rope.

  Bonnie ran to get water while Lulu told her story.

  “I was in here watering the plants,” she said, “when someone grabbed me and shoved me into this chair. I started to yell, so he gagged me, then tied me up.”

  “Who was it?” Pa asked. “Did you recognize him?”

  Lulu shook her head. “He was dressed all in black, with a black hood over his face. Never said a word to me.”

  “Say, where are Fiona and Ed?” Jud asked. “They should’ve heard the bell like everyone else.”

  “Fiona made Ed lie down,” Lulu said. “She wrapped his ankle, and I got him a pair of crutches. I offered to call a doc, but he said he’d take aspirin and be fine.”

  Jud ran out the door, and the kids followed. “Which cabin is Fiona’s?” he asked over his shoulder.

  “That one,” Dink said, pointing to the cabin closest to the main house.