4 Henry
Jack gasped as Annie held out her hand.
Oh, brother. She was always trying to make friends with animals. But this was going too far.
“Don’t get too close to him,Annie!” Jack shouted.
But Annie touched the Pteranodon’s crest. She stroked his neck. She was talking to him.
What in the world was she saying?
Jack took a deep breath.Okay. He would go down too. It would be good to examine the creature. Take notes. Like a scientist.
Jack started down the rope ladder.
When he got to the ground, Jack was only a few feet away from the creature.
The creature stared at Jack. His eyes were bright and alert.
“He’ s soft, Jack,” said Annie. “He feels like Henry.”
Jack snorted. “He’s no dog, Annie.”
“Feel him,Jack,” said Annie.
Jack didn’t move.
“Don’t think,Jack. Just do it.”
Jack stepped forward. He put out his arm. Very cautiously.He brushed his hand down the creature’s neck.
Interesting. A thim layer of fuzz covered the Pteranodon’s skin.
“Soft,huh?” said Annie.
Jack reached into his backpack and pulled out a pencil and a notebook.
He wrote:fuzzy skin
“What are you doing?” asked Annie.
“Taking notes,”said Jack.“We’re probably the first people in the whole world to ever see a real live Pteranodon.”
Jack looked at the Pteranodon again. The creature had a bony crest on top of his head. The crest was longer than Jack’s arm.
“I wonder how smart he is,” Jack said.
“Very smart,” said Annie.
“Don’t count on it,” said Jack.“His brain’s probably no bigger than a bean.”
“No, he’ s very smart. I can feel it,” said Annie.“I’m goint to call him Henry.”
Jack wrote in his notebook:
small brain?
Jack looked at the creature again. “Maybe he’s a mutant,” he said.
The creature tilted his head.
Annie laughed. “He’s no mutant, Jack.”
“Well, what’s he doing here then?Where is this place?” said Jack.
Annie leaned close to the Pteranodon.
“Do you know where we are,Henry?”she asked softly.
The creature fixed his eyes on Annie. His long jaws were opening and closing. Like a giant pair of scissors.
“Are you trying to talk to me, Henry?” asked Annie.
“Forget it, Annie.”Jack wrote in his notebook:mouth like scissors?
“Did we come to a time long ago, Henry?” asked Annie.“Is this a place from long ago?” Suddenly she gasped. “Jack!”
He looked up.
Annie was pointing toward the hill. On top stood a huge dinosaur!
5 Gold in the Grass
“Go!Go!” said Jack. He threw his notebook into his pack. He pushed Annie toward the rope ladder.
“Bye, Henry!” she siad.
“Go!” said Jack. He gave Annie a big push.
“Quit it!” she said. But she started up the ladder. Jack scrambled after her.
They tumbled into the tree house.
They were panting as they looked out the window at the dinosaur. He was standing on the hilltop. Eating flowers off a tree.
“Oh,man,”whispered Jack.“We are in a time long ago!”
The dinosaur looked like a huge rhinoceros. Only he had three horns instead of one. Two long ones above his eyes and one on his nose.
He had a big shield-like thing behind his head.
“Triceratops!” said Jack.
“Does he eat people?” whispered Annie.
“I’ll look it up.” Jack grabbed the dinosaur book. He flipped through the pages.
“There!” he said. He pointed to a picture of a Triceratops. He read the caption:
The Triceratops lived in the late Cretaceous period. This plant-eating dinosaur weighed over 12,000 pounds.
Jack slammed the book shut.“Just plants. No meat.”
“Let’s go see him,” said Annie.
“Are you nuts?” said Jack.
“Don’t you want to take notes about him?”asked Annie.“We’re probably the first people in the whole world to ever see a real live Triceratops.”
Jack sighed. She was right.
“Let’s go,” he said.
He shoved the dinosaur book into his pack. He slung it over his shoulder and started down the ladder.
On the way down,Jack stopped.
He called up to Annie,“Just promise you won’t pet him.”
“I promise.”
“Promise you won’t kiss him.”
“I promise.”
“Promise you won’t talk to him.”
“I promise.”
“Promise you won’t—”
“Go!Go!” she siad.
Jack went.
Annie followed.
When they stepped off the ladder, the Pteranodon gave them a kind look.
Annie blew a kiss at him. “Be back soon, Henry,” she said cheerfully.
“Shush!”said Jack. And he led the way through the ferns. Slowly and carefully.
When he reached the bottom of the hill, he kneeled behind a fat bush.
Annie knelt beside him and started to speak.
“Shush!” Jack put his finger to his lips.
Annie made a face.
Jack peeked out at the Triceratops.
The dinosaur was incredibly big. Bigger than a truck. He was eating the flowers off a magnolia tree.
Jack slipped his notebook out of his pack. He wrote:eats flowers
Annie nudged him.
Jack ignored her. He studied the Triceratops again. He wrote:eats slowly
Annie nudged him hard.
Jack looked at her.
Annie pointed to herself. She walked her fingers through the air. She pointed to the dinosaur. She smiled.
Was she teasing?
She waved at Jack.
Jack started to grab her.
She laughed and jumped away. She fell into the grass. In full view of the Triceratops!
“Get back!” whispered Jack.
Too late. The big dinosaur had spotted Annie. He gazed down at her from the hilltop. Half of a magnolia flower was sticking out of his mouth.
“Oops,” said Annie.
“Get back!” Jack shouted at her.
“He looks nice,Jack.”
“Nice?Watch out for his horns,Annie!”
“No. He’s nice,Jack.”
Nice?
But the Triceratops just gazed calmly down at Annie. Then he turned and loped away. Down the side of the hill.
“Bye!” said Annie. She turned back to Jack. “See?”
Jack grunted. But he wrote in his notebook.
nice
“Come on. Let’s look around some more,”said Annie.
As Jack started after Annie, he saw something glittering in the tall grass. He reached out and picked it up.
A medallion. A gold medallion.
A letter was engraved on the medallion.A fancy M.
“Oh,man. Someone came here before us,”Jack said softly.