Dinosaur Lake 3: Infestation by Kathryn Meyer Griffith Read Free Book Online Page A

too,
would soon be empty of visitors. He’d kept in communication with his men and
everything was progressing as planned. It was a relief there’d been no further
reports of strange animal sightings or attacks from tourists because he
couldn’t get that creature he’d fought off the night before out of his mind.
Were there more? And, if so, where were they and what were they up to? He
almost didn’t want to think about it.
    He knew he’d have to ask the Governor to bring in
the National Guard again at some point and dreaded it. The troops had occupied
the park so often in the last few years they might as well build permanent
barracks and keep a base there. Oh, that’d be fun. Better yet he could turn the
whole park over to them and coast until his retirement.
    But at that moment he was more concerned with the
water creatures that Captain Sander had claimed to have seen. He studied the
water as it streamed past them. Beautifully blue. Deep. Mysterious as always. And
this time the home to…what?
    Ranger Gillian was steering the craft and Justin’s
friend, Steven, was braced against the railing by them, eavesdropping on every
word they uttered–and Henry tried to sound as intelligent as he could–and
probably filing them away in his head for his book; a big grin on his face as
he regarded the lake and the boat moved across it. They’d already made three
circuits and were speeding by Wizard Island yet again.
    They’d seen nothing in the water but a couple of
fish jumping and some floating flotsam. So far.
    “Hey, there’s the Old Man of Crater Lake.
See that log sticking out of the water?” Justin pointed downwards and to his
right. “You see it Steven?”
    “I see it,” Steven answered. “But it’s just a log,
huh?”
    “Not just any log. It’s a mountain hemlock trunk that has been
floating upright in the water for more than a hundred years. Wind currents
enable it to travel to different locations around the lake. It
never stays in the same place.”
    “Interesting but weird. A traveling tree. The roots
must make it bottom heavy and that’s why it stays upright. Any Indian or lake
folklore connected to it? Any neat stories?” Steven had directed the last part
of his inquiry to Henry.
    Henry gave the young man a sideways glance. That
was a question he’d never asked and he found himself wanting to know the
answer, too. But he didn’t have it. “Not that I’m aware of. But I could ask
around for you. Maybe one of the rangers who have been here longer than me, or
one more seeped in the Indian legends of the park, would have an answer.” Like
Ranger Stanton. “Come to think of it, Ranger Stanton would be the one to ask.
If there’s a native legend or story attached to the Old Man , she’d know
it.”
    “Thanks. Throwing in local color and tidbits help add
to the word count and make a book more believable.”
    “I bet,” Henry remarked, his attention still on the
scenery around them.
    They circled the lake for hours, slowly losing
faith they’d see anything that day, then Justin voiced a suggestion. “Do you
remember what drew the water dinosaur to us that first night on the lake all
those years ago?”
    Henry went back in his memory. “Ah, ha!” he snapped
his fingers. “We made noise? The motors made lots of noise and it heard us?”
    “You do remember.”
    “So, we’ve had the motor clanking away as loud as a
trash truck, but no creatures have popped up their heads. But what if we make
more noise, blow the horns and yell a lot, perhaps they’ll come to see what’s
making the ruckus?”
    “That’s a possibility.”
    Henry nodded at Ranger Gillian and the man gave him
the okay sign with his fingers.
    The boat’s air horn began to sound. Again and again.
The noise vibrated over the air and across the water and spread out for miles.
With no other boats or people anywhere on the lake, it was ear-shatteringly loud.
    “That should do it. They probably hear it all over
the park,” Henry