The Ranger Walk was pretty interesting. Ranger Harrison taught us all about the natural history of the mountain, and he also told us about who used to live there.
It turned out the protestors in the parking lot were kind of right. The Lakota people had lived there for a long time before the United States even existed. Ranger Harrison said they called the mountain Six Grandfathers. It was renamed “Mount Rushmore” in the 1800s.
Of course, Sam wouldn’t let me listen too closely to Ranger Harrison. She was too busy thinking about why he’d been tied up in his cabin.
“What I don’t get,” Sam said, “is why anyone would tie up the ranger if they didn’t want to rob him.”
“I can think of one reason I would have tied up that ranger,” Gum said. “So my feet wouldn’t hurt.”
“What are you talking about?” Sam asked. “Your feet hurt because we’ve been hiking.”
“Exactly,” Gum said. “And if the ranger had stayed tied up in his bed, we wouldn’t be hiking. So my feet wouldn’t hurt.”
Sam smiled. “I get it,” she said. “Whoever tied up that ranger might have been trying to stop him from leading this hike.”
“But why?” I said.
“That,” Sam said, winking at me, “is the question.”
“Our next activity is in one hour,” Ms. Juniper said when the hike was over. “Stay nearby.”
Ranger Harrison said goodbye to us. Then he walked down to the parking lot. A police car was there. The ranger went over to the officers.
“Should we go listen in?” Egg said.
Sam nodded. “You go ahead,” she said. “Don’t get too close. Cat and I will find the ranger’s daughter at the gift shop.”
Egg nodded.
Gum said, “I have to spy with Egg? I wanted to go to the gift shop!”
“There’ll be time for both,” I said.
Sam and I waved as Egg and Gum walked off. Then she and I went into the gift shop.
Most of the History Club was already inside. A woman about my mom’s age was on a stool behind the counter.
“I don’t think that’s Ranger Harrison’s daughter,” I whispered to Sam.
We walked around the store. Finally, in the back corner, we found a girl standing on a stool, dusting a shelf full of models of Mount Rushmore.
“Hello,” I said.
The girl turned around and looked down at me and Sam. I smiled at her. “Hi,” she said. “Do you need help finding something?”
“We were looking for you, actually,” Sam said.
“Um, me?” she said. Her eyes darted around the store. She looked like maybe she needed a way to escape.
But there was something else in her eyes, too. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
“You are Ranger Harrison’s daughter, right?” Sam asked.
“Yup,” the girl said, “I’m Ruthie Harrison.”
“Is your father okay?” I asked. “We . . . heard about what happened this morning.”
“Oh,” the girl said. “Yes, he’s fine. Thanks. Didn’t he just lead your tour?”
My face got hot. Of course he was okay. I felt stupid for asking.
“Still,” Sam said quickly, “it was probably pretty upsetting for him to be tied up like that.”
The girl shrugged. “I guess so,” she said. “Listen, I’m supposed to be working, not standing around chatting. I’ll see you.”
Ruthie walked off, carrying her duster, and disappeared into the gift shop’s back room.