The Second Adventure Read Online Free Page B

don’t even bark. I just crawl around on my hands and knees wearing aviator’s goggles. First the warthog and now this. What’s next?
Mary Poppins
? I can play the umbrella.”
    So wrapped up was he in his complaints that he failed to notice the bearded man chatting with Wendy Demerest.
    â€œLook!” Melissa took Logan’s wrist and pulled him around the corner of the wash station. “It’s that guy — the one we saw in the woods! Swindle’s spy.”
    Logan peered around the building, frowning. “If he’s a spy, how come he knows Wendy?”
    Melissa was not fooled. “Remember what Griffin told us about Malachi Moore? The first thing he did was make friends with all the counselors at Ebony Lake.”
    â€œDid he have a beard?” Logan whispered.
    â€œThere are a dozen fake beards in the wardrobe cabin,” she pointed out. “But I don’t think this is the same person. Griffin said Malachi was young. This guy’s older than my dad.”
    Another counselor joined Wendy and the stranger, and soon the group was laughing over a joke the two campers could not make out.
    â€œWhat can we do?” asked Logan. “Walk up and accuse him of being a dognapper? What if somebody asks us how we know? The last thing we want is for the counselors to find out about Luthor.”
    â€œGood point.” Melissa frowned. What would Griffin do?
There’s always a plan,
he was fond of saying.
If you look hard enough, you’ll see it.
    â€œWell, if we can’t prove he’s working for Swindle,” she mused, “maybe we can put him off Luthor’s scent.”
    â€œHow are we supposed to do that?”
    â€œIt’s not going to be easy,” she admitted. “It’ll take skill —
acting
skill.”
    Logan was instantly on board.

    T he fish came from out of nowhere, catching the man full in the face across his short-clipped beard.
    â€œWhat the — ?” He staggered back, stunned, staring at the boy in the Camp Ta-da! T-shirt who stood like a sentry, a ten-inch perch dangling from the end of his rod and reel.
    â€œSorry, mister.” Logan was in character, the picture of apology. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    The victim rubbed his jaw. “What’s with the fish around here? Are they made of cement?”
    The blush in Logan’s cheeks was not acting. He and Melissa could not have ensured that they’d catch a fish from the camp pond. So they had borrowed one from the freezer in the kitchen. It wasn’t Logan’s fault that there had been insufficient time to thaw it out before it had to be used. Some things in theatre couldn’t be scripted in advance. “The northern perch is known for being solid.”
    The man didn’t seem too angry. “I thought this camp was for actors, not anglers.”
    â€œWe’re all actors, but they let us do other things in our spare time,” Logan explained, launching into the character he had carefully prepared. “I like to fish because my father’s a fish and game expert for the federal government. My name is Ferris Atwater, Jr.” It was Logan’s favorite alias. “I’m not really a camper here. I just come during the day while my dad’s working in the area. He has to catch a feral dog.”
    â€œA what?”
    â€œA feral dog is a pet dog that gets lost and starts to live in the wild,” Logan supplied. “Dad suspects this one used to be a guard dog, because he’s a big Doberman, and kind of mean. The fish and game department thinks he might be dangerous to other wildlife, and even people.”
    The plan was to convince Swindle’s spy that Luthor wasn’t being hidden in the camp somewhere, but was out in the woods, running free.
    The man must have been almost as good an actor as Logan, because he appeared completely disinterested. “Yeah, well, watch where you’re waving