The Box and the Bone Read Online Free PDF

sidewalk into Dragoland when all of a sudden Bucky was walking behind them. Grabbing them both by the backs of their jackets he said, “Okay, you dudes. Let’s go. Let’s go get that treasure chest.”
    Under the bushy, untrimmed trees and shrubbery of Dragoland, evening had suddenly turned into night. Deep dark night. Long shadows were everywhere and shapeless blobs of darkness lurked under bushes and oozed out from beneath low-limbed trees. The three PROs walked quickly and quietly—and close together.
    At the top of the basement wall they stopped and peered down into the Pit—a bottomless well of darkness. Carlos felt a shiver crawl up the back of his neck. Clearing his throat, he said in what he hoped was a casual, offhand kind of voice, “Hey, it’s pretty dark down there. Isn’t it?”
    No one answered for a second, and then Bucky said, “Dark, smarck. Who cares?” But then he stepped back out of the way. “After you, Garcia. You can go first.”
    “That’s okay,” Carlos said quickly. “You go right ahead.”
    Nobody went anywhere. It was beginning to be a little bit embarrassing when suddenly Eddy came to the rescue.
    “Hey,” he said. “I’m going to go home and get a flashlight. There’s a big one on our back porch.”
    “Hey, great!” Bucky said. “Just hurry. And if you meet anybody, remember—I’m not here. And you haven’t seen me. Okay?”
    Eddy said okay and ran, and since his house was right next door to Dragoland he was back in just a couple of minutes. Then, with an extra-large flashlight leading the way, the three of them made their way carefully down the stairs that led into the Pit. After locating a couple of shovels, they moved toward the far corner. To the corner where they’d started their new clubhouse—and where they’d found the tin box.
    As soon as they reached the spot, Bucky handed one of the shovels to Carlos. “Here,” he said. “You dig.”
    “What about you?” Carlos asked.
    “I’m standing guard,” Bucky said.
    So while Bucky leaned on his shovel and “stood guard,” and Eddy held the flashlight, Carlos did the digging. It didn’t take long. After only a minute the shovel hit something with a whack. He dropped to his knees and began to dig with both hands. So did Bucky.
    “Oh boy,” Bucky said as he pawed at the dirt. “I can’t wait to see what’s inside this baby. Can you? I can’t wait till—Hey! What’s this?”
    “What’s what?” Eddy said, shining the light on what Bucky was holding. And that’s when they all saw it. What Bucky was holding up was a very large, very dirty, very disgusting—bone. They stared at the bone and then they all looked at each other in amazement, surprise—and suspicion .
    “How did that get in there?” Eddy said.
    “Yeah.” Bucky’s voice was tight and accusing. “That’s what I’d like to know. How did it?” He threw the bone down and grabbed the flashlight away from Eddy. Shining the light first in Eddy’s face and then in Carlos’s, he said, “ So you dudes. Who do you suppose was fooling around over here while I was stuck at home?”
    Carlos and Eddy shook their heads hard. “Not me,” they said one at a time. “Not me.” And then both together, like an unmusical chorus, “Not us, Bucky.”
    “Oh yeah,” Bucky said. “Well, let’s see what else you didn’t do, then.” Giving the flashlight back to Eddy he began to dig some more. Carlos did too. Harder and more frantically, as it began to look as if nothing more was buried anywhere in the half-dug clubhouse’s hole. Nothing at all.
    At last Bucky threw down his shovel and said, “Okay, what’s the gag? Where did you put it?”
    “What gag?” Eddy said. “We told you. We didn’t do anything with it. We left it right here and went off to Prince Field and then we went swimming. Didn’t we, Carlos?”
    Carlos nodded. “Yeah, that’s all we …,” he started to say but then suddenly he had an idea. “Hey, look,” he said.