Bailey sneezed several more times.
“Bless you,” Miss Rebecca said. She lingered a few moments, looking each camper directly in the eye. Then, with one last look around the room, she said, “Remember, I’m right at the end of the hall!” With a smile and a wave, she was gone.
“Whew! That was close!” exclaimed McKenzie as she closed the door.
Once again, Alex took charge. “Okay, you heard her! It’s discovery time. And we have a lot of discovering to do….”
“Wait! Before we go, let’s read our Discovery Scripture. That way we can talk about it while we’re walking. Then we’ll be doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Elizabeth said as she grabbed her Bible. “Today’s verse talks about wisdom. Hmm…let me find it…. Here it is! Proverbs 2:4–5 says, ‘If you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.’ ”
“That’s perfect!” Alex exclaimed. “We are going on a treasure hunt to find clues, which will give us wisdom and knowledge about what is going on around here!”
The group laughed at Alex’s enthusiasm. Elizabeth smiled at the girl as she put her Bible away. “Or something like that…” She chuckled. “Just remember, if any camp counselors ask what you’re doing, talk about that verse.”
“Okay, let’s go!” The group split up, with McKenzie and Elizabeth headed toward the stables and the others toward the golf course. Biscuit poked his head out of Kate’s backpack and enjoyed the ride.
As they approached the golf course for the second time that day, the girls walked cautiously and stayed in the shadows of the trees lining the road. Sure enough, Dan the Grouch was digging away.
“Why is he digging?” whispered Alex. “It looks like he’s trying to find something.”
“He should be trying to clean up, not making a bigger mess,” added Sydney.
“Here. I brought my robot-cam. Maybe we can get a closer look,” said Kate, setting down her backpack. Biscuit, glad to be free, began sniffing around the trees. The other three watched as Kate pulled out the small remote-control gadget. “I have it set to deliver the images to my phone, so we can watch from here. I’ll drive, and you all can hold the phone.”
“Okay, but be careful. We don’t want Grouchy Dan to catch us. I’ve been yelled at enough for one day. He scares me,” added Bailey.
The girls crouched at the edge of the golf course, hidden behind an overgrown bush. Kate held the remote, flipped the On switch, and pressed buttons. Slowly the car moved forward.
The other girls started whispering, giving Kate directions.
“To the left!”
“No, to the right!”
“All we can see is dirt and leaves!”
“Hold it!” Kate whispered with a hint of frustration. “One person at a time, please. Sydney, you direct me.”
The other girls remained quiet, and the only sound was Sydney’s soft whisper, “Left. Now forward. A little to the right…”
Finally she whispered, “Stop! That’s perfect. We can see him. What is he looking for? He shovels then stops and digs with his hands then shovels some more. What does he think he’s going to find?”
“Maybe he’s looking for electrical wires or water pipes or something,” said Kate.
“It looks like he’s…he’s…he’s moving.”
“Where did he go?” The girls didn’t look up until it was too late. An angry-looking Mr. Dan glowered at them. “I thought I told you girls to stay away from here! Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere right now?”
The girls sat frozen, not knowing how to respond. Finally Bailey, remembering the Bible verse, spoke up in her sweetest voice. “We’re searching for treasure, sir.”
Elizabeth and McKenzie approached the stables, stopping to admire the horses. “That one reminds me of Sahara, my horse back home. I can’t wait until I can ride the trails here,” McKenzie said.
“I’ve always wanted horses,” Elizabeth responded. “I look forward to coming here every summer just so I can ride.”
“I thought everyone in Texas had horses!” said McKenzie with a laugh.
The girls continued around the stables, heading toward the office area. “This is where Sydney and I overheard the two men talking. The Grouch, or whatever his name is, seemed determined to keep people away from the golf course.”
“Well, I don’t know anything about him, but I know Mr. Anzer has a heart of gold. He would never let anything bad happen here at Discovery Lake,” said Elizabeth.
“Did I hear my name?” Mr. Anzer asked as he walked around the corner. “Oh, hello, Elizabeth! Who is your friend?”
“Hi, Mr. Anzer!” said Elizabeth with a smile. “This is McKenzie. She’s one of my roommates, and she has her own horse!”
“Is that right?” asked Mr. Anzer. “Well, feel free to hang out at the stables while you’re here. We can always use an extra stable hand!”
McKenzie laughed, and Mr. Anzer motioned the two girls to join him on a long, low bench.
“Mr. Anzer”—Elizabeth looked at the gray-haired gentleman—“McKenzie and I wanted to ask you something. This morning we got in trouble by one of the staff members for being at the golf course. We didn’t think we were doing anything wrong. Have the rules changed? Are we not allowed at the golf course anymore?”
Mr. Anzer looked concerned. He leaned back against the rough wooden wall. Finally he answered, “Mr. Gerhardt is the groundskeeper for the golf course. He’s a new staff member. I suppose he’s just trying to figure out his job. I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm.”
McKenzie spoke up. “Mr. Gerhardt…Is his first name Dan, by any chance?”
“Why yes, it is,” answered the old man.
Elizabeth spoke up. “Well, he seemed very upset that we were there. To tell you the truth, he was pretty scary.”
“Mr. Gerhardt is a good man. He just has a lot on his mind. I’m sure he didn’t mean to scare you,” said Mr. Anzer.
Elizabeth and McKenzie looked at each other but said nothing. Standing up, Elizabeth told her old friend, “Thanks, Mr. Anzer. It’s always great to talk to you. Maybe I’ll come by for a ride this afternoon.”
“That would be nice, Elizabeth. You girls go have fun. And stay out of trouble!” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
At the mention of the word treasure, Mr. Gerhardt’s face went white, his eyes grew wide, and his hands balled into fists. “What do you know about a treasure? Have you found something? If so, you need to tell me about it right now!”
The girls scrambled backward.
“Tell me what you know!” the man yelled.
“Bailey was just talking about our Bible verse for today. God’s wisdom is like treasure, and we have to search for it,” said Kate. The other girls nodded.
Mr. Dan seemed to calm down a bit. He looked into the distance and ran his fingers through his hair. Taking a deep breath, he spoke slowly. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. But you girls need to be careful around here. You shouldn’t be down here yet; free time isn’t until this afternoon. You need to stay in the main part of the camp until your free time. You never know what might happen.”
The girls stared at the man, not knowing what to say. He looked at them a moment longer then turned, walked to his golf cart, and drove away.
The girls collectively let out their deep breaths. “Something is definitely going on down here,” said Alex.
“Yeah, that was strange. Why did he get so mad?” asked Sydney.
“He seemed almost normal until…until…” Bailey stopped. “Until I mentioned treasure!”
The other girls looked at Bailey. “Think about it,” she continued. “We were hiding and spying on him. He asked us what we were doing, but he didn’t freak out until I mentioned—”
“Treasure!” they exclaimed.
“That’s it!” said Sydney. “He must be looking for treasure!”
“But why would he look for treasure in an old miniature golf course at a kids’ camp?” asked Kate.
“That’s what we’re going to find out.” Alex looked to be deep in thought. “I remember watching an episode of Murder, She Wrote, where—”
“Murder!” Sydney exclaimed. “Who said anything about murder?”
“Don’t be silly. Nobody is going to murder anybody. Just listen to what happened in this episode, okay?” Alex continued. The girls leaned in to listen to the animated brunette describe the television mystery. “In the episode ‘Dead Man’s Gold,’ all of the suspects are searching for buried treasure. One of the suspects owes money to a loan shark, and he doesn’t want anyone else to find the money before he does!”
“You think Mr. Gerhardt owes money to a loan shark?” asked Sydney.
“I think he’s a suspect and doesn’t want anyone else to find whatever treasure he’s seeking,” said Alex.
McKenzie and Elizabeth headed toward the golf course to meet the others, each absorbed in her own thoughts. Finally Elizabeth spoke. “Well, at least now we know what the Dan Ger paper meant. It was just part of Mr. Gerhardt’s name.”
“Yeah. But, Elizabeth, I don’t care what Mr. Anzer says. That man gives me the creeps!”
“Me, too. Something definitely isn’t right. But I also trust Mr. Anzer. I think he’d know if we were in any danger. I guess we should just stay away from Mr. Gerhardt.”
“That will be hard, since Bailey’s determined to be a golf pro by the time she leaves camp!” McKenzie said. The girls laughed.
Suddenly Biscuit loped toward them with what looked like a large metal stick in his mouth. “Biscuit!” cried Elizabeth. “Where did you come from?” She bent and retrieved a small golf club from his mouth.
“That’s funny,” said McKenzie. “He wants to play fetch.”
Elizabeth picked up the puppy and turned her face away. “Oh Biscuit! You seriously need a bath!” The girls continued on the path to the golf course and met the other four girls coming around the curve.
“Oh good, you found Biscuit!” exclaimed Kate. “We thought he’d gotten away!”
“He was carrying this golf club like he wanted to play! Isn’t that funny?” McKenzie held up the club. “I’ll just go put this by the fence. I’m sure Mr. Gerhardt will find it.”
The four spies looked at each other, and then Sydney said, “Mr. Gerhardt?”
“Yeah, that’s the Grouch’s name. Dan Gerhardt.”
The six sleuths exchanged information and tried to fit the clues together. They didn’t notice that Biscuit had gotten ahead of them. They also didn’t notice the group of girls headed right toward Biscuit.
Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by screeches. “Eeeeewww! Get off of me, you filthy creature! Help! This dog is attacking me! Help!”
The girls ran forward, Kate in the lead, and pulled Biscuit off Amberlie Crewelin. “Sorry about that,” Kate told the terrified girl.
Amberlie’s fear quickly turned to disdain as she said, “Is that your dog? Pets aren’t allowed here. I’m going to report you.”
Kate dropped Biscuit. “Oh no, he’s not mine. I guess he’s just a stray. Go away, little dog!” she yelled at Biscuit.
Confused, the poor dog headed toward the woods. Elizabeth spoke up. “We should go report this. Don’t worry, Amberlie. We’ll take care of everything. I can see you’ve been through enough…trauma.”
With a snort, Amberlie gathered her group and turned. “Come on! I’ll have to go back and change clothes now. That horrible creature got me all muddy.”
As soon as the girls were out of sight, Kate ran toward the woods, her five roommates close behind her. “Biscuit!” they called. “Biscuit, come back!” Within moments, the puppy charged back at Kate, bounded into her arms, and gave her his slobbery greeting.
“Oh Biscuit, can you ever forgive me?” asked Kate.
“It looks like he already has,” said McKenzie.
Elizabeth looked at her watch. “Come on. We need to give this dog a bath, and if we go now, nobody will be in the showers at the cabin.”
Sydney and Bailey peered around the cabin door to see if it was safe to exit. After a group of laughing girls wandered out of sight, they gave the signal. “Take him to the back of the cabin before you put him down,” suggested Sydney.
Kate held a wet, clean Biscuit at arm’s length, and the other five girls circled her to shield the dog from view. Once out of sight of the main road, Kate let Biscuit go. The dog immediately shook himself, splashing his protectors and causing them to squeal.
The puppy took their squeals as an invitation to play and began running. He ran a few yards then stopped to see if they were chasing him. Satisfied that his playmates were following, he ran more. This continued as the girls tried to catch the damp puppy without drawing attention to themselves.
They finally cornered the dog, dried him, and combed his hair. Then they stood back to admire the handsome dog before them. No one would ever recognize him as the muddy stray they had found that morning.
Biscuit took their looks of approval to mean that they wanted to play some more, and with a bark and a wag of his tail, he was off. The girls kept him cornered, but no one could catch him.
Finally Kate disappeared into the cabin and returned with a handful of cheese crackers. “Here, Biscuit! Here, boy! I don’t have a biscuit, but trust me—you’ll love these!”
Instantly the dog bounded to her, and she knelt to feed him. “That’s a good boy! Now, we have to leave you behind while we go to our next classes. If you’re good, we’ll have more food for you!”
The girls once again hovered close together to hide their new pet from view. They placed him inside the room and closed the door. Almost immediately, the howling started.
“Shhhhhhh! Make him stop!” Alex whispered. “I think I see Miss Rebecca coming up the road!”
Elizabeth opened the door, and the howling stopped. She closed it, and the noise started again. She and Kate slipped inside.
“What are we going to do?” whispered Kate. “We can’t leave him here! We’ll have the whole camp investigating our cabin!”
“I know,” said Elizabeth. “We’ll just have to take turns taking him with us. I know you’re pretty attached to him, and he fits perfectly in your backpack, so you take him with you now.”
“Uh, I don’t think that will work,” responded Kate.
“Why not?” asked Elizabeth, surprised.
“Because my next class is a cooking class. He will never stay still and quiet if he smells food!”
“Hmm…you’re right about that. I’m going on a nature walk, so I guess I’ll take him with me. I think Bailey is in that class, too. We’ll stay at the back of the line. Here, let me borrow your backpack.”
Outside, the girls greeted their counselor, chatting to cover their nervousness.
“Hi, Miss Rebecca! How are you?”
“Do you like being a counselor here?”
“We’re so glad you’re in our cabin. You’re the coolest counselor.”
The pretty young woman laughed and again eyed the group with gentle suspicion. “What are you girls up to? Don’t you need to get to your next classes?”
Then she noticed that they were all water splashed. “What in the world have you been doing? Swimming isn’t until this afternoon! And, ew! What is that smell?”
The girls exchanged panicked looks. Would Miss Rebecca figure out their secret?