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One day Bob went in the woods. It was dark. Then he remembered Mark was behind him. Mark saw a house to spend the night in. So they went and lit a fire. The wind blew it out. So Mark closed the door but the wind still blew it out. This time Bob closed and locked the door. The wind was still so Mark lit the fire. The wind blew the door down and put out the fire. This time they went in one room closed and locked it. Then they went in another room and closed and locked that door. The wind stopped so they lit the candles. The wind blew both doors down.
“At least the fire’s safe,” said Mark.
The wind blew out the candle.
They went upstairs because it was the only place where the wind wasn’t blowing. They watched the wind blow below them. Then disaster struck. The wind blew the stairs down. They had no way to get down. Kenny started laughing with Jack to his left, Bill to his right, and a wind machine on full power. The wind blew everything down on the floor below them.
“How do we get down?” Mark said.
“I got it,” said Bob proudly. “That tree. I’ll climb down and leave a rope for you.”
So he jumped down to the nearest branch and went down. One limb broke but he held onto the branch next to it. Then stopped to rest.
“I think I’ll make it down there,” said Bob.
“Good,” said Mark.
Bob went on.
Meanwhile, the wind machine was still going. The walls were about to break and Kenny laughed harder still. (So did Jack and Bill but not as hard.) Bob was on the next to the next to last branch. He went to the next to last branch. He almost fell off. And without resting he went to the last branch and fell over backwards.
“What was that?” asked Jack and Bill at the same time.
“Just a branch we blew off a tree,” said Kenny.
“This is no time for playing. Get me down from here!” yelled Mark.
Bob somehow untangled himself and threw a rope up to Mark. Mark tied the rope to the top branch and started down. Unknown to him there was a part that Bob weakened in order to get free and it was loosening more and more.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny were unaware of this as the walls cracked some more.
Now Mark went past the weak spot. The rope couldn’t hold Marks weight. Now only a few strings held Mark. Then the rope broke and Mark fell.
“Help me, Bob,” he called.
“I’ll try,” replied Bob.
Mark grabbed hold of a branch 13 feet in the air and 7 inches more than that. Bob threw the rope to Mark and missed. He tried again. This time Mark caught it, but he almost fell off the branch. He managed to tie the rope around the branch and started to climb down. About 3 feet from the ground Mark slipped and fell over backwards, hit Bob, and both of them fell to the ground. Jack, Bill, and Kenny heard this and they turned the wind machine off (the house is saved...for now) and went around back.
“Are you all right?” asked Mark.
“I will be if you get off me,” said Bob.
So Mark got up. Then Bob got off and looked around him. He saw Jack, Bill, and Kenny running as fast as they could toward him. Mark saw it too. So they took off into the woods. But no matter how hard they tried Jack, Bill, and Kenny were getting closer and closer to them. They couldn’t outrun them so they’d outmaneuver them. So Mark went one way, Bob the other. Jack went after Bob and Bill went after Mark. Kenny walked back to the wind machine. They got rid of Jack and Bill but they couldn’t find each other. Jack and Bill somehow managed to find their way back. Mark made a signal. Nothing. This time Bob heard it and went toward it. Bob and Mark met again after what seemed like hours, though really only minutes.
Bob looked around and then said to Mark, “Do know where we are or are we lost?”
“I think we are,” Mark said sadly.
“Let’s go in that cave,” said Bob.
“No,” said Mark. “I’d rather go in that house again.”
“Well in the house we can’t light our fire,” said Bob.
“You’re right,” said Mark. “But we’ll spend the night here first.”
So they fished in the river. And fried the fish they caught by the campfire. Then they ate supper, sang songs, and went to sleep.
The next morning they went to the cave. Just then they heard something it was only a bat. Unknown to Jack, Bill, and Kenny had seen them and had aimed the wind machine at them. They saw it was time to leave. Just then they heard a sound. Of course Jack, Bill, and Kenny turned on the wind machine at the same time. The cave entrance was filling with rocks. Rocks were falling everywhere. Mark started to run deeper in the cave when he heard Bob.
“Help!” yelled Bob.
“What’s wrong?” asked Mark.
“A rock hit me in the leg. I can’t move it.”
“Oh,” said Mark. “Just wait for the cave in to die down.”
For then Jack, Bill, and Kenny thought that that had finished them off. Mark was worried for Bob was wounded badly. He yelled. That yell was overheard by Jack, Bill, and Kenny.
“I thought we finished them off,” exclaimed Jack.
“At least we know one of them’s wounded,” declared Bill.
“Stop yakking you two and get to the wind machine,” ordered Kenny almost yelling. “We have a lot of work to do.”
They ran to the wind machine and turned it on.
“Bob get out!” Mark yelled.
But it was too late, the cave was sealed up. Mark decided to explore the tunnels and maybe find a way out. An hour later, Bob separated from Mark by a cave in decided to explore too. A little bit later Bob fell down.
“It’s no use,” Bob exclaimed with little hope.
“Oh yes it is!” corrected Mark coming out of one of the tunnels.
Bob got up.
“Let’s go find another way out,” he said.
So they went deeper in the cave. Soon they saw a fork in the road.
“The middle one’s a dead end and the one to the left goes down so we’ll take the one on the right,” said Mark.
So they did and they saw a way out.
“This is too big for me,” said Mark. “But you can make it.”
“I’ll try,” replied Bob.
It was hard work for his legs. He slipped and kicked a few rocks so Mark could make it.
“This is the basement of that old house,” said Bob.
So they went up one floor and went outside.
“We made it!” said Bob greatfully.
Or did they? Jack, Bill, and Kenny were at the side of the house and even now were sneaking up on Bob and Mark. All of a sudden they saw them and ran. Jack, Bill, and Kenny ran too. They ran to the river and Kenny got an evil smile around his face. Jack and Bill looked at him then they had the same evil smile. While the smiling was going on Bob and Mark turned and went back around the house. Jack, Bill, and Kenny realized it and followed them. They turned again going to the river this time they didn’t see Jack, Bill, and Kenny behind them. So they stopped by the river to rest. Unknown to them Jack, Bill, and Kenny were hiding behind some trees when Bob and Mark looked at them. So that they jumped from behind some trees and pushed them in the water. They couldn’t swim back.
They couldn’t swim back, but they saw a raft.
“That raft is our only chance,” said Bob.
So they started swimming to it.
Meanwhile Jack, Bill, and Kenny were capturing Torry, Randy, Victor, Dan, Amy, Betty, Mr. Trim, Mrs. Trim, and John and putting them in prison.
Back at the river Bob made it to the raft. He turned the raft to go to Mark. Mark climbed aboard. They went with the river not knowing what they would find. Jack, Bill, and Kenny planned that from the start of the chase for they knew something awful was going to happen. Soon Mark and Bob saw some people in a boat. The people gave them some food. They did some exploring down the river as they ate. They were having a good time until Bob saw what Jack, Bill, and Kenny had planned for them then turned to Mark.
“A waterfall! Look out!” screamed Bob.
That’s right, they knew the river had a waterfall about a ½ mile down the river. (They finished the food a long time ago.)
“A waterfall?” asked Mark not sure of what he said.
“Yes, there’s a waterfall!” Bob yelled even louder.
“What can we do?” asked Mark. “We saw it too late to do anything.”
Jack, Bill, and Kenny got there then and smiled. The men in the boat had gone then and smiled. The men in the boat had gone home without a bite. If they were still there, they could have been saved.
Jack, Bill, and Kenny decided to start a forest fire if Bob and Mark escaped. But Bob and Mark were more worried about the waterfall.
“Try to steer it to shore,” suggested Mark.
“It’s working,” yelled Bob. “But I can’t get it to shore.”
Jack, Bill, and Kenny were yelling at them from a distance.
“Any second now and we’ll fall into the water,” exclaimed Bob.
“Quick, turn the raft back,” Mark commanded.
“I can’t,” replied Bob.
“Then turn it toward shore,” commanded Mark.
It looked like they were going to succeed but just as they were about to reach shore the waterfall came up.
“Jump!” yelled Bob, so they did and just in time.
They looked over the waterfall down to the rocks below. The saw the raft hit a rock and split in two.
Jack, Bill, and Kenny were mad. Kenny lit a match and threw it into a bunch about a yard away. The fire had trouble starting so he lit another match and another and another. The matches lost. Kenny got an idea. Bill and Jack threw two matches in there. Kenny took a match and put it next to a big stick till in lit on one end. Then he grabbed the other end and threw it into the bush and then one more match for luck. The bush burned rapidly. Then they pointed the wind machine in Bob and Mark’s direction and turned it on.
“I smell smoke nearby!” exclaimed Mark.
“Are you sure you smell smoke nearby?” Bob asked.
“I do,” Mark said.
“I smell it too,” said Bob. “And look there’s the fire.”
They both looked at the bush and the tree that was next to it, if Bob didn’t see it he would have questioned Mark forever.
“Get it the water!” yelled Mark.
“No, the waterfall will get us,” Bob replied.
“What will we do? What wi-ill we do?” Mark asked.
Then they saw the people they met in the fishing boat pouring water over the fire. Bob and Mark joined in. They were slowly winning. Finally there were only a few sparks left. Mark stomped on the last spark behind the bush.
“One spark could start up the fire again,” Mark explained.
“I’m glad I met you,” said Bob.
They walked along when this trap hung them by the foot. Then someone cut the rope and they fell to the ground.
“And I’m glad this trap met both of you,” said Kenny.
It was Bill that cut them down. Kenny carried Mark and Jack carried Bob to a place that was familiar to them. It was Bill’s prison. They saw Mr. Trim, John, Torry, Dan, Amy, Mrs. Trim, Betty, Victor, and Randy. But they did not know they saw Torry for he turned into a grain of sand not knowing whether to trust Mark or not. He did trust Bob.
“I’ve hid a bomb under you that will explode in one hour,” Kenny said.
“That doesn’t give us much time,” said Dan.
“Right you are,” said Kenny. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
He left. Jack and Bill followed him. They all had evil smiles on their faces. Everyone was quiet.
“What can we do?” asked Mark.
“Start digging,” Mr. Trim said.
The floor was just soil and not cement like it used to be. When nobody was looking Torry turned into a shovel. Mark started using him. So they dug a few minutes.
“Faster we only have 49 minutes,” Mr. Trim said.
“Now 48 minutes,” said John. “And we’ve dug only inches.”
They dug faster. Torry hit the bomb. He turned back into a grain of sand.
“Found it and 27 minutes to spare,” John said. “But how do we stop it?”
They thought for 10 minutes.
“I’ve got to get my bomb stopping medicine but how?” said Mr. Trim.
Torry had an idea. He turned into an ant, slipped under the bars, got out of their sight, and turned back.
“Torry!” they all yelled.
“Hurry 15 minutes left,” Mark called.
Somehow he got past Jack, Bill, and Kenny and came over to Mr. Trim’s lab. He got the formula and ran back as fast as he could.
“What if it took me over 15 minutes to get it?” he thought. “Maybe it is too late.”
When he got back to Bill’s prison he was glad to see that he wasn’t. He looked in every prison he came to still running. Finally he got to the right one.
“He found it with 49 seconds left,” said Dan. “48...47...46...45...”
Mr. Trim got it.
“...35...34...33...32...31...30...,” Dan counted.
Mr. Trim poured it in the laser.
“...13...12...11...10...9...8...7...,” Dan counted.
Mr. Trim fired it.
“6...5...4...3...2...1...It stopped,” said Dan.
They all breathed a sigh of relief. Torry went to look for the keys.
Meanwhile Kenny was outside.
“What? No exploding bomb,” he exclaimed.
They saw Torry with the keys unlock the prison and let everybody out. Kenny ran as fast as he could and grabbed Mark. Bob tried to rescue him but Jack and Bill got him. (It took them both.) They took them to this room, tied them up, and Kenny said, “Turn on the shrinking ray and shrink them both down to nothing.”
“Nothing?” asked Bob.
For about half a minute then only sound was the warming up of that awful shrinking machine that was about to shrink them down to nothing. Finally they got an answer.
“Yes, nothing,” said Kenny. “Now turn it on!”
Bob got out of the ropes so he missed him. Bob turned it off and the others got away. Bob untied Mark. So they escaped. But only for a while. Kenny came back after them. They turned around and saw Bill and his robot. They turned to the side and saw Jack.
“Like my new robot?” said Bill. “Destroy it and I’ll bring you two more.”
“Now then I have caught you fair and square,” said Kenny. “Any last words to say ‘cause you ain’t escaping.”
“Yes, and don’t use ain’t,” said Bob.
“How can you think of grammar at a time like this?!” questioned Mark.
“Simple, it takes my mind of the crisis,” Bob replied.
“Try the verb to die,” said Kenny.
Meanwhile, the others were worried about them. But a little bit longer may be too late.
“Surrounded,” said Mark.
“Not yet,” said Bob kicking Bill in the face.
Jack went at Bob but Mark tripped him. Bob got some rope and tied up Bill and Jack. Bob got some rope and tied up Bill and Jack. Kenny untied them before Mark could tie up Kenny. Jack got the rope and tied up Bob. Kenny broke loose, so did Bob. Bob tied up Jack. Kenny got the ropes and tied up Mark. They both got loose. Mark got the rope. Bob tied up Jack. Mark tied Bill up. Kenny ran away.
“We got them all!” said Mark.
“Not yet,” said Kenny breaking free from the lasso. “You may have won this time but next time...”
Kenny freed Jack and Bill and they all ran away in their hideout. Mark and Bob shook hands.
“We won it, good going, Mark,” said Bob.
Copyright MCMLXXIX, MCMLXXXIII, MCMXCVII
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