The White Wolf Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Course, with that jungle they live in, they could hide an
elephant
on that island!”
    A few minutes later, he pulled themail boat up to Wallis’s dock.
    “Thanks a lot!” the kids all said.
    “My pleasure,” Morris said. “Give Wallis and Walker and Abbi a big howdy from me.”
    “We will,” Dink said. “Bye, Captain Morris!”
    Morris tooted his horn and pulled away. The kids ran up the dock and into the cabin.
    Wallis, Walker, and Abbi were waiting for them.
    “How was your picnic?” Wallis asked. “Or should I say, how was yoursnooping expedition?” she added slyly.
    “Did you find the wolf pups?” Abbi asked.
    “No, but we might have found a clue!” Josh said. He told them about the blueberry stain on the dock. “It looked like it came off someone’s shoe. Like whoever crushed those blueberries on that path!”
    “Josh, anyone could have left a blueberry stain on that dock,” Wallis said. “This is blueberry-picking season. We have no proof it was the people who took the wolves.”
    Ruth Rose told them about the brother-and-sister caretakers. “Lynda Dack has long blond hair!” she said.
    “I knew it!” Abbi said.
    “There was a high fence all around the place,” Dink said. “We couldn’t see anything inside.”
    Ruth Rose remembered the tape. “Abbi, we forgot to ask Morris about theseals, but we tried to tape some seagulls for you.”
    Ruth Rose put the tape recorder on the table and pressed the PLAY button.
    At first they heard only hissing, then the sound of gulls.
    Then the gull cries were interrupted by Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose talking.
    Suddenly they heard Josh’s voice yell, “Shoo!”
    “This is when the gulls landed near us,” Ruth Rose said. “I think they wanted our food.”
    “It was nice of you to make the tape,” Wallis said.
    “But those weren’t all gull sounds!” Abbi said. She rewound the tape and hit PLAY again. “Listen,” she said, leaning toward the machine and turning up the volume. The others leaned in, too.
    The cries were louder now. “There! Those aren’t gulls,” Abbi said. “I think they’re the wolf pups!”
    “Honey, those sound like seagulls,” Wallis said. “Are you sure you’re not just—”
    “I know what gulls sound like,” Abbi said. “I have them on another tape. It’son the deck, the cassette marked BIRDS.”

    Walker hurried out to the deck and came back with the cassette. He ejected the one in the recorder and slid in the BIRDS tape.
    They heard the hooting of an owl, some loons, and finally a raucous, high-pitched squawking.
    “Those are gull calls,” Abbi said. “Do you hear the difference?”
    “Play the other one again,” Ruth Rose said.
    Abbi switched cassettes, and they once more heard the sounds that Abbi said were the pups.
    “It
does
sound like puppies whimpering,” Josh said. “My dog makes that noise when he’s hungry!”
    “But how did we get the wolf pups on tape?” Dink asked. “We never saw them.”
    “They must be hidden somewhere out there,” Abbi said. “You might haveheard them, but you thought they were seagull noises. Now we can tell the police!”
    “But this tape doesn’t prove the wolves are on that island,” Walker said. “The Dacks might have dogs.”
    “But I saw the woman in the boat!” Abbi insisted. “I can tell the police she was the same woman I saw take the pups.”
    “You saw her from a long distance both times,” Walker told his niece. “You might have seen two different women with long blond hair.”
    “Uncle Walker is right, hon,” Wallis said. “We can call the game warden again, but I have a feeling she’ll want more proof before she accuses those people.”
    “Abbi, what do wolves eat around here?” Dink asked suddenly.
    Abbi looked at Dink. “Small animals, mostly,” she said. “Why?”
    “Well, Josh found a dead mousein their boat,” Dink explained.
    “Right, and I touched it,” Josh said. “It was wet and slimy and gross!”
    “You should