“Well, there’s something,” Holly insisted. “Did you hear that twig snap?”
“Yes, I heard it,” Judy admitted. “I couldn’t see what it was, but I snapped a picture. It sounded near the pond. There it is again, farther back in the woods. It could be Horace and Honey coming—”
“So late?”
Judy turned on her flashlight in order to see the face of her watch. “It is late, isn’t it?” she agreed. “Maybe they aren’t coming after all.”
Now she was worried. Horace didn’t make appointments and break them. He was a fast driver, but not a reckless one. Just as she was imagining her brother’s coffee-colored convertible in an accident a light appeared, flooding the dark woods with the sudden brilliance of a searchlight.
“It’s a car!” Holly exclaimed. “It’s coming along the woods road. Horace didn’t know—”
“Holly, look!” Judy interrupted.
The light, moving nearer, had picked up a strange sight. There by the pond were three beavers startled into immobility. One of them was perched atop a mound of sticks, grass, and moss that protruded into the water. The other two were on the ground. One was digging with his little front paws, and the other was dragging something toward the dam. Judy reached for her camera, but before she could snap them the beavers were gone, leaving nothing but widening ripples in the water.
“We saw them!” Holly cried excitedly, jumping up from the ferns and hugging Judy. “I’m glad you made me wait. We saw the beavers, and that’s Horace and Honey in the car. Now he can take us home.”
“Wait, Holly!” The light from the oncoming car had picked out something else. The piece of wood the beaver had dropped didn’t look like a pole. It looked more like a chair rung. And in the dam, worked in among the brush and the mud, was the most unbelievable thing of all. Judy stood transfixed, staring at it.