Camp Nowhere by R. L. Stine Read Free Book Online

us?”
    “Cool,” Marty said, grinning.
    “How do we do it?” Charlotte asked.
    “We go back to where the river dips,” David said. “And we overturn the canoes. And we smash them up a bit. You know. Make it look like we crashed.”
    “Yeah. And we could send a few life jackets floating down the river,” I added. “That would get his attention. A few empty life jackets floating past him.”
    “Yeah. Way cool!” Marty agreed. “We make it look like we crashed against the rocks on the riverbank. Then we hide in the woods. And we wait for Ramos to come searching for us.”
    “I can’t wait to see the look on his face!” Erin exclaimed. “He’ll think we all drowned. He really will. He’ll be sick. He’ll probably have a stroke or something. It will be so totally cool!”
    Charlotte bit her bottom lip. “It’s pretty mean,” she said softly.
    “Not as mean as what he did to us!” Marty insisted. “Come on. Let’s do it.”

14
    We dragged the canoes up the rocky shore. Just past the curve of the river, we turned them upside down.
    David and Marty wanted to smash them with rocks. But I reminded them that we needed the canoes to get back to camp once the joke was over.
    So we left the canoes, bobbing upside down, half in the water, half on the ground. Then Marty waded into the water and sent a single blue life jacket floating downstream.
    “Come on. Let’s hide,” he said, splashing back onto the rocks. “As soon as Ramos sees that life jacket, he’ll freak. He’ll be up here looking for us.”
    We scampered across the rocky shore and into the woods. The ground sloped up steeply. We found a hiding place behind two fat trees. We were high enough so that we could see the river and the whole riverbank.
    Warm yellow sunlight filtered down through theleafy trees. Tiny circles of light danced over the ground at our feet. The air smelled fresh and sweet. Insects chittered all around.
    We leaned against the rough tree trunks and waited.
    Two green-and-brown ducks floated silently by, carried by the river current. “Quack! Quack!” David called to them.
    Marty clapped a hand over his mouth. “Shut up! Ramos will hear you!”
    The ducks turned their heads, as if following our voices. Then they disappeared around the river’s curve, leaving narrow lines of ripples behind them.
    “Where is he?” Erin whispered. She yawned. “What’s taking him so long?”
    “I guess he hasn’t finished his golf lesson,” I muttered.
    “I’m hot, I’m itchy, I’m still soaked, and I’m starving,” Erin complained.
    “Shhhh.” Charlotte raised a finger to her lips. “Listen.”
    Yes. We heard Ramos’s trotting footsteps. His hiking boots thudding the stones on the shore.
    I peeked out from my spot behind the wide tree. Down the sloping hill of trees and tall weeds, I could see Ramos jogging up to the overturned canoes.
    He was carrying the blue life jacket we had floated downstream. But he dropped it to the ground when he saw the canoes.
    David started to giggle as Ramos bent over to study the canoes. Again, Marty clapped a hand over his mouth.
    “Check out the look on his face,” Erin whispered.
    Ramos’s face was twisted in a frown. He kept shaking his head, staring at the canoes, shaking his head some more.
    I watched him jump to his feet. He cupped his hands around his mouth and started to shout. “Hey, guys! Hey! Where is everyone? Can you hear me?”
    Ramos kicked a canoe hard. “Hey! Where are you? Are you guys here? Where’d you go?” He lowered his hands and squinted into the woods, his eyes making a complete circle.
    Then he cupped his hands around his mouth again and shouted at the top of his lungs. “ Hey, everyone! It’s me! Can you hear me? ”
    He stood stiffly with his hands at his waist. Even from so far away, I could see his chest heaving up and down. See him breathing hard.
    He was scared to death.
    Holding on to the tree trunk, Charlotte leaned close. “Should we go down there?”