Hercules and the Geek of Greece Read Online Free PDF Page B

ever get mixed up with such a birdbrain?” he said to himself.
    Geekus came back about ten minutes later.
    In his hands he had an assortment of roots, dried leaves, tree bark, and a couple of powdery stones.
    â€œMay I use your canteen?” he asked Hercules.
    â€œWhat do you need my canteen for?” Hercules replied sternly. “What’s the matter with your canteen? And what is all that stuff?”
    Geekus dropped everything at his feet.
    â€œPotash. Sulfur. Ginger root,” he said. “My canteen is brand new—and I really don’t want to . . .”
    Hercules was looking at the mess at his feet, and really didn’t hear Geekus. The boy snatched his canteen, casually emptied it out, and began putting sulfur into it, all before Hercules could stop him.
    â€œDo you know how to make fire?” he asked Herc.
    â€œOf course I do!” Hercules replied harshly. “Please tell me why you are ruining my canteen.”
    â€œMake some fire,” Geekus said. “And you’ll see. . . .”
    Hercules was so mad, he just got up, fond some flint, and made some fire. Meanwhile, Geekus stayed hunched over the ground, mixing up the things he’d found and stuffing the contents into Hercules’ canteen.
    Finally he got up, dusted himself off, and walked over to Hercules’ fire. He was holding the stuffed canteen, which now had a piece of cloth running out of the top.
    â€œYou’d better go back down the road a bit,” he told Hercules.
    â€œWhy? What are you doing?”
    â€œWe want this roadblock out of the way, right?” Geekus asked.
    Hercules nodded—though he was still miffed.
    â€œThen go around the bend, please,” he told him.
    Hercules almost laughed in his face. Man, what a nerd!
    â€œOkay,” he said. “I’ll go around the bend. In fact, I’ll go all the way back to Zim!”
    â€œJust around the bend will be far enough,” Geekus said, hardly paying attention to him.
    Hercules took XL’s rein and stalked off across the stream.
    But just as they reached the other side, he heard a terrific
boom!
    It was so loud, it nearly knocked Hercules into the water. He spun around and looked back from where he’d just come. There was a cloud of ugly black smoke rising above the treetops.
    â€œGeekus?!” he cried out.
    But there was no reply.
    He started running, XL close on his heels. Through the stream and up the other bank, the smoke got thicker and the smell got very, very stinky.
    He came around the bend and here he found Geekus. He was stumbling a bit, his face and hands covered with soot. His glasses were half off his face, and one of his squirrel-bladder sandals was deflated.
    But he was all right. And the roadblock? Well, the roadblock was gone. All that was left of it was a bunch of smoldering rocks, tree limbs, and mudcakes.
    Hercules couldn’t believe it. It was as if some great lightning bolt—from the hand of a very powerful god—had blown the roadblock away.
    Hercules knew of no other way that it could have happened.
    But Geekus did. He’d made a bomb. A very powerful bomb. And it had blown the roadblock to smithereens.
    â€œIt wasn’t supposed to be that big!” he mumbled, fixing his eye specs. “I think I used too much sulfur. Yes, that was it. Too much sulfur. . . .”

Chapter 6
A Long Sleep
    The day grew older. The road grew darker.
    The sun started to sink in the west. From the top of each hill, it was easy for Hercules to see the miles of darkening forests that lay ahead of them. Sometimes, way, way off in the distance, where the earth rose to meet the sky, he thought he could see the faint outline of Castletop as well.
    The sun eventually passed down below the trees, and now the day wasn’t as warm anymore. The queen’s wizard had told Hercules that when night fell, they had to get off the road and hide in a very dark place until first light.
    But Hercules