On the Trail of the Bushman by Anita Daher

Author:Anita Daher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2009-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Out of the corner of his eye Tommy saw Jaz sit up straighter. “Before I saw it, I could feel it watching, and I smelled it. It was following us.”

“When?” Shelby asked.

“As soon as we started up the Crank.”

“That can’t be right,” Jaz said. “Because I saw the bushman at the top of the Crank when we were still down at the river.”

“Are you guys kidding me?” Colly said. “There was no bushman!”

“Was too,” Jaz said. “But I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”

“There are bushmen, Colly,” Evan said. “There have always been stories about them.”

Colly was shaking his head.“This is crazy.”

“But,” Evan continued, “if Jaz saw the same creature at the top of the Crank as Tommy did at the bottom, it might have been a windigo. A windigo moves at lightning speed through the woods. If Tommy says it was following us, that could mean it’s on the hunt.”

“And then there was the scream,” Tommy said.

“What scream?” Jaz asked.

“You must have heard it,” he said. “It scared the horses!”

The others frowned and shook their heads.

“I don’t think any of us heard it,” Evan said. “If you were the only one who heard a windigo scream, that could be very bad for you.”

Tommy felt like he was going to throw up. He was glad the others didn’t think he was crazy—well, except Colly. But he was not glad that what he saw in the woods might be a windigo. He swallowed hard.

Shelby turned to Tommy. “What did it look like?”

He shuddered and wrapped his arms around his stomach to try and settle himself. “Yellow teeth...long. H-hairy face,” he stuttered.

“Sure sounds like a windigo,” Evan said.

“Or a bushman,” Jaz said.

“Some people think they are the same,” Shelby reminded them.

“This is all very interesting,” Colly said. “But we still need to find Jodi before she hurts herself or gets deeper into the woods.”

“That’s if she’s really lost her memory,” Evan said.

“If she didn’t, why isn’t she looking for us?” Jaz asked.

Shelby frowned. “Maybe she is looking for us, but went the wrong way.”

“We’d better get moving,” Colly said.

“She must have left tracks,” Evan said, standing. “How shall we do this?”

“I can’t walk,” Jaz said. “And I don’t want to ride in case my ankle gets bumped. Maybe it’s not broken, but it really, really hurts!”

Shelby put her hand on Jaz’s shoulder. “Okay, Jaz and I will stay here in case Jodi comes back this way.”

“What about the bushman or windigo or whatever it is!” Jaz cried. “I don’t want it to get us!”

Tommy gulped. “Don’t worry, Jaz. If I’m the only one who heard the scream, maybe I’m the one the windigo is after.”

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Colly said. “I don’t know what you think you saw, Tommy, but remember you had a pretty good conk on the head. We’re not going to find anything in these woods except Jodi. Okay?”

Jaz looked tearful.

“You guys look, and Jaz and I will stay here,” Shelby said. She turned to Jaz. “I’ll build a fire to keep any animals away.

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