Case of the Glacier Park Swallow Read Online Free PDF

it reappeared.
    â€œThat’s not our swallow, Max,” Juliet said. “Ours is gone. That one’s ...” she hesitated, “late.”
    Max pressed his nose against the side window, and then he glanced back over at her. He had that soft, pleading, let-me-out look in his eyes, and so she stopped the jeep and opened the door, and he hopped down and ran around in circles on the hard snow and barked at the sky.
    â€œHe’s gone,” Juliet said. But the swallow wasn’t gone. It flew down low then, and Max barked as if he had known all along that the bird was still there, and when he saw it he followed it into the trees and disappeared.
    She heard him bark, then heard only echoes as he moved farther and farther into the trees, and then she heard nothing, nothing at all.
    She called him several times, and waited, and when he did not come she called again, and again, and again.
    She felt very, very cold. She shivered as she listened to the sudden, total silence. Where was Max? And where was the swallow? Maybe it had been the same swallow. Maybe Max had known that.
    She felt deeply sad suddenly, and more alone than she could remember ever feeling in her whole life.
    â€œMax,” she called. “Max, Max.”
    When he didn’t answer she climbed back into the jeep, closed the door and waited. When he still didn’t return, she left the jeep and went out into the woods to find him.
    The wind came up then, and the sky darkened as the storm gathered. She couldn’t leave Max out there alone in that unfamiliar place.
    She ran now, deeper into the woods. “Max, Max,” she called, but he didn’t answer, and she felt like crying now, because of the coming storm, but most of all because of Max.
    The snow began to fall then, and the world came alive with sounds, as the animals fled for cover. The call of an owl echoed through the woods, and something large, larger even than Max, moved past her. She turned quickly, and jumped back, and froze, as a bison came within ten feet and moved on without noticing her.
    She listened, and followed the sound to the edge of the forest. She looked out on a plain and saw the bison lumbering across it, and there was the swallow, and Max.
    She didn’t want to call him because of the bison, so she waited as the swallow circled lower and lower, and then she moved toward Max slowly. He was watching the swallow and he didn’t see her.
    The swallow had led them back to Mammoth Hot Springs.
    Max raced ahead of her, following the bird, and when she called him he wouldn’t come. She lost him for awhile, then heard him bark and saw him again, down below on the boardwalk.
    She stood watching, as the snow fell. Max studied the swallow as it flew lower and lower and fell onto the limestone next to the boardwalk. The swallow lay there, unmoving, a tiny shadow in the steam and the falling snow.
    Juliet screamed then, because she knew that Max would try and go to the swallow, and if he did he might be scalded by a new hot-water spring that could be percolating under the limestone.
    She cried out again. Max looked up at her and moved back, and then Juliet raced down to him and held him by the collar, and they watched the little swallow together.
    She saw the tiny band on its leg and knew what was wrong with it, and then she knew what to do. The bird was about six feet from the boardwalk, too far to reach with her hand, but not too far to rescue. She took off her belt and tied it to Max’s collar, then wrapped the other end around a post. When he was secure, she went to search for something that would reach the swallow.
    While she was looking, she heard Max bark behind her and she saw that he wasn’t watching the swallow any more. He was watching something else. He was studying a figure far down the boardwalk. At first she thought the bison had returned to chase this intruder away, but when she tiptoed closer she saw that it was a man. She