The Mystery of the Screech Owl Read Online Free PDF Page A

brown.”
    â€œThis notebook is great,” Aaron remarked. “I never knew so much about animals before.”
    As they walked on, they made other discoveries. Violet spotted the tiny tracks of a deer mouse on a snowy bank. They knew the tracks were made by a deer mouse because the artist had drawn them in the notebook.
    â€œI wish we knew who this person was,” Jessie said wistfully. “I feel like we know him, through his drawings.”
    â€œHow come you say ‘he’?” asked Patty. “It could be a ‘she.’”
    â€œI don’t think so,” said Jessie. “I don’t know why, but I feel like the person who kept this notebook was a boy.”
    Violet was watching a flock of geese fly overhead, heading north. Has there ever been a prettier sight ? she wondered. It was so peaceful in the woods, with birds and animals around.
    Then she had a thought.
    â€œI think the person was here,” she said suddenly.
    â€œWhere?” Henry asked.
    â€œRight here, in these woods,” Violet answered. “I can’t explain it. Like Jessie, it’s just a feeling I have.”
    â€œDo you think his ghost is here?” Benny asked fearfully.
    Violet patted her little brother’s shoulder. “No, not his ghost. It’s like the feeling we get when we’re in an old house. You can tell it’s been lived in by other people a long time ago. I believe the journal-keeper walked where we are years and years ago.”
    The kids stopped at a fork in the path.
    â€œWhich way?” asked Jacob.
    â€œLet’s go that way,” said Henry, pointing right.
    He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling that something important was at the end of the trail.
    The path wound around a steep hill. Then the dense woods opened up into a clearing.
    The children pushed brambles away, staring with round eyes.
    In the center of the clearing stood an immense black maple tree with wide-spreading branches.
    And nestled among the sturdy branches was a wondrous sight.

CHAPTER 5
    The Amazing, Fantastic Tree House!
    V iolet gasped. “Wow!”
    â€œAmazing!” said Aaron, awestruck.
    â€œFantastic,” was Jessie’s reaction.
    Benny summed it up. “It’s an amazing, fantastic tree house!”
    And it was. None of the children had ever seen a tree house like this one.
    Sheltered by the welcoming branches of the maple, the tree house had been built on three levels. The main part curved around the trunk, with the tree growing out of the center of the roof. A catwalk surrounded the larger structure on all four sides.
    Above the main section were two smaller additions, one above the other. They were reached by stairs. Each section had a slanted shingled roof and glass windows. A large railed platform topped off the fantastic dwelling.
    â€œWhat a neat place!” Benny exclaimed, running to the bottom of the tree. “How do we get up there?”
    Henry glanced around for a ladder or handholds. But nothing was nailed to the bark of the huge maple.
    â€œI see a hole cut in the platform,” he said, tipping his head back. “But where is the ladder?”
    Violet noticed a wooden stick near the base of the tree. That’s funny , she thought. The branches started way up. Why was one growing so near the roots?
    Then she saw the knobby top of the branch had been carved like an owl’s head.
    â€œLook,” she said, touching the owl’s head.
    As she did, a ladder dropped from the platform overhead. The ladder was made of thickly woven rope.
    Jessie stared at her sister in astonishment. “How did you do that?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Violet replied, amazing herself. “All I did was pull this carved thing.”
    Aaron and Henry studied the owl’s-head stick.
    â€œPretty cool,” Aaron pronounced. “This is really a lever. A line runs up the side of the tree, but it blends in with the bark so you can