Kids to the Rescue!

Part 5

Beth checked her watch. It was 8:30 and they'd been gone for an hour and a half: Too long to just peek in some windows. She had the terrible feeling something bad had happened.

Uncle Will! That was it! Uncle Will's bait and tackle shop was still open. Beth decided to go see him. Off she ran as hard as she could down the street, to Uncle Will's shop.

He would help them. He had to!

Lily didn't want to be a spy any longer. Nope, on second thought she'd rather do something nice and quiet and peaceful. The spy business was much too dangerous, she decided, especially since the Rulers caught them sneaking around the back of their house.

Ben disappeared around the back while Lily and Jamal were trying to peek into a window on the side. When Lily and Jamal turned the corner, they found no sign of Ben.

"Maybe he walked around the house and went back across the street into the bushes," Jamal whispered to Lily.

"No, look!" Lily said and pointed to an open window that was nearly ground level. She bent down and peered inside. It was very dark.

Suddenly she heard a noise behind her. Straightening up, she banged her head on the window frame.

"Ow!" she said.

"That's what you get for snooping into other people's business," a voice said. Lily turned around and gasped. Rhonda Ruler! And Roger Ruler, too. Roger was holding on to Jamal and had his hand across Jamal's mouth.

Rhonda roughly reached over and grabbed Lily and put her hand over Lily's mouth.

"What will we do with these two?" the woman asked.

"Put them with the other one for now. Then we'll finish packing up. We'll take them with us and drop them into the water once we get out to sea. No one will ever find them."

"Good idea," the woman said.

*****

"What are you doing out this late?" Uncle Will asked Beth.

"I came to get you, Uncle Will. I think spies have captured Ben and our friends! They're holding them in the haunted house! " Beth's words came out so fast Will Stanley could barely understand her.

"Oh, that spy business again. Why don't you kids just go play softball or something? Now, go on home, Beth. I've got work to do. There will be a lot of fishermen in early tomorrow to buy bait and I need to go to bed. Go on," Uncle Will said and turned back to the counter he was wiping down.

Beth felt terrible. No one would believe her. She was just a little kid – a little kid who chewed on her pigtail when she was upset or frightened. Well, if no one believed her, then it was up to her to go back and save them.

She ran back out the door and headed for the haunted house, determined to find her friends.

Will Beth find the kids? Click here to find out!

Snooping

Sundial

Hourglass

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?

Snooping: Looking around in a sneaky way.

Frightened: Scared.

Determined: Made a firm decision to do something.

 

Frightened

Determined

DID YOU KNOW?

When Beth needed to know what time it was, she looked at her watch. How did people know the time when there were no watches? In ancient days, time was measured by the movement of the sun. Sundials, which calculate time by the angle of a shadow cast on the flat plane of the dial, were used before clocks came into use in the 18th century. An hourglass, which allows sand to pass from one side of the glass to another in a specific amount of time, is another device. Calendars were used to measure the seasons, which were especially important to farmers and hunters. Stonehenge – an arrangement of huge rocks in England – is believed by some to be an ancient calendar. And the Maya civilization, which stretched from lower Mexico through Central America, developed a calendar thousands of years ago that is still accurate today!

SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT:

Do you think the house was really haunted or was that just in their imaginations? Was Beth brave to go back to look for the others when she believed the house was really haunted? What would you do in Beth's place?

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