Dinosaur Stakeout (15 page)

Chapter Eleven

T
hey took turns. One was the lookout
while the other gathered specimens, storing them in Dr. Roost’s bag. When it was Daniel’s turn, he took out his Swiss Army knife, and carved off a small branch at its tip and put it into a plastic Baggie. Then he collected a leaf from an unusual looking tree and pressed it between the pages of his ­journal.

Slowly the increased sounds of forest life penetrated Daniel’s consciousness. The sun had risen totally, casting a yellowish haze over their surroundings. It was getting later in the morning. He walked over to Dr. Roost and touched her ­shoulder.

“We’ll have to get back home,” he said, pointing to the position of the ­sun.

Dr. Roost sighed and pushed herself up off her ­knees.

Daniel walked over to a stand of redwoods. He found one of the tallest ones on the edge, and climbed it to get his bearings. Pulling out his binoculars, he gulped when he saw all the different species that surrounded him as far as he could see. More creatures were now awake and ­mobile.

Several small herds of herbivores grazed comfortably together in their chosen areas:
Stegoceras
,
Ankylosaurus
,
Stygimoloch
,
Triceratops,
and
Edmontosaurus,
and others Daniel didn’t recognize. Various other rodent and ­mammal-­like animals ­criss-­crossed their paths, while flying creatures and insects filled the air. The forest was alive with eerie ­sounds.

Although he’d never been to Africa, Daniel had seen plenty of documentaries on the environment and was always amazed at the different species that fed in the same areas, oblivious to one another unless there was a predator amongst them. These creatures were doing the same thing, though they looked even stranger than those that roamed the Serengeti. Or were ­they?

If people had lived during the Cretaceous Period and had a chance to see the earth as it was now, what would they think of hyenas, rhinoceros, gazelles, zebras, giraffes, elephants, hippos, and wildebeests? The present world was full of weird creatures like primates, penguins, kangaroos, octopuses, and armadillos. The more he thought about all the creatures on earth today, the more he realized that everyone accepted them, but they were every bit as strange as those in the world of dinosaurs. Their existence depended on their habitat and the environment, just as it did in the prehistoric ­world.

Daniel stared through the binoculars again. The group of
Edmontosaurus
had moved on to another patch of trees. Daniel almost yelled as if to warn them of danger when he saw a small group of
Zapsalis
feeding on a rotting carcass only a few hundred metres ­away.

Dr. Roost noticed his agitation. “What’s happening?” she ­asked.

He explained how close the
Zapsalis
were to the group
of
­Edmontosaurus
.

“There’s nothing you can do about the natural order of things,” she said. “What else is going on?”

“Besides the herbivores we’ve already seen, there’s something I think is a
Torosaurus.
”

“A relative of the ­
Triceratops
– ­known as the ‘bull lizard,’” said Dr. ­Roost.

“The frilled neck crest is a little different, though,” Daniel reported. “The plate is enormous and long, almost oval. It has the largest skull I’ve ever seen, with two brow horns and a short nose horn.”

“Can you get any photographs?”

“I’ll try, but they’re kind of far away,” replied ­Daniel.

Daniel handed over the binoculars to Dr. Roost and took the camera as the
Torosaurus
bit off small branches and tough vegetation with its strong beak. It stood on powerful legs that were short at the front and longer at the back, giving it a very stable ­posture.

“I think you can maybe just see them through those trees,” he pointed the way out to ­her.

“Incredible!” she said. “Do you know how special this is to see all of these creatures?” Dr. Roost sounded overwhelmed. The expression on her face was one of complete awe and ­reverence.

“Oh, I think I see a herd of ­
Corythosaurus
-­like dino-saurs. Here, take a look.” She handed the binoculars back up to Daniel in exchange for the ­camera.

“They’re dining on palm leaves, pine needles, fruits, and seeds.” Daniel described them for Dr. Roost. “And then there is some kind of duckbill, similar to
Edmonto-saurus
but smaller, heading towards the sea.”

As he relayed the information, Mildred Roost jotted it into her special ­spiral-­bound notebook. Daniel stopped at one point and dug out his dinosaur research book. He started comparing the species he didn’t know to the descriptions in his book. Many of them weren’t mentioned. Was that because they hadn’t been discovered yet or just that he wasn’t aware of them? He soon tucked the book away in frustration, realizing that his book was ­useless.

“Problems?” asked Dr. ­Roost.

“Some of these creatures aren’t in the book yet.”

Dr. Roost laughed. “That’s not a bad thing. That probably means they haven’t been discovered in the present world yet. We’re the first to see them,” she said excitedly, handing the camera back up to him. “Snap away and I’ll write as fast as I can while you describe them.”

They saw everything from small mammals and reptiles, to insects, and rodent and ­bird-­like creatures. He hardly knew what to concentrate on first. They were all strange to his eyes and utterly fascinating in their shapes and ­colours.

“Chop, chop!” Dr. Roost said, waving her notebook. “We don’t have much time, so start anywhere.”

Daniel stared at the ground. Some distance away, a small ­raccoon-­sized animal leapt about, chasing flying insects. An animal about the size and shape of a small pig, but with the armour of an armadillo and a short stubby tail like a Manx cat, pushed its long snout into the tuberous roots farther along a trail. Daniel had no idea what it might be, but described it as accurately as he could, while Dr. Roost made notations in her ­scribbler.

Then he watched fascinated as a group of leathery, ­hound-­like animals ran down the trail like a pack of large wolves, sniffing at various spots. Although they ran on all fours, they were some kind of reptile with short front feet and a strong pointy tail. They stopped to rout out ­rodent-­looking animals, and with one snap swallowed them. Directly below him, a ­rat-­sized
Purgatorius
rummaged in the undergrowth. Other small ­mammal-­type animals darted ­about.

“Wow! There is so much to learn about the Cretaceous Period yet,” Daniel exclaimed as he watched all the unidentified creatures. “But there’s no way we can record them all.” That would take many trips over many ­years.

“You’re right, Daniel,” said Dr. Roost. “But we’ve already collected hundreds of times more information today than paleontologists have ever known before.”

“Maybe we could make lists of the various categories?” suggested ­Daniel.

Dr. Roost disagreed. “I don’t think there’s time for that. Just take photographs as quickly as you can.”

“Okay!” Daniel called ­down.

Dr. Roost frantically scribbled descriptive notes about each entry while Daniel captured all the creatures that he saw, thankful that they had a digital camera. He became so intent on looking downwards that he forgot to look up until a wave of air fluffed his hair and brushed his face. Fierce crimson eyes stared into his. Then with a flap of its ­three-­metre wingspread, a
Pteranodon
swept upwards and circled back towards him. Terror gripped Daniel, constricting his throat so he couldn’t breathe for several ­seconds.

“Dr. Roost,” he yelled when he caught his breath. “
Pteranodon
! Make yourself as small as you can under that cycad.”

As Mildred Roost scooted to obey, Daniel crammed the digital camera into his backpack and searched for a place to elude his predator. Scrambling upwards into some thicker branches, he tucked himself tightly against the trunk of the tree under a dense cover of ­leaves.

The
Pteranodon
swooped by his perch, sending a cascade of twigs and leaves fluttering to the ground. It made a wider loop, scanning for him, but it obviously couldn’t see him, and with a disgusted screech it sailed away. Daniel leaned against a thick branch in relief, watching it disappear. The thing was the size of a small glider ­plane.

“It’s all right to come out now,” he called to Dr. Roost, not sure where she ­was.

At last he spotted her some metres off where she’d dived under a giant fern. She waved to ­him.

“I can hardly believe it’s a
Pteranodon
!” she yelled. “I thought they died out twenty million years earlier.”

“Maybe it’s just from the same family,” Daniel called ­out.

Dr. Roost nodded and began sketching something in her ­notepad.

Then Daniel saw the
Pteranodon
suddenly circle back and aim for him ­again.

“Hide! It’s coming back!” Daniel hollered, clinging tightly to the ­tree.

Several huge wing flaps and all of a sudden the
Pteranodon’s
menacing curved jaw pointed straight at him. But this time, with a sudden swerve, it came at him with its deadly clawed feet, snatching at him. In the last second, it veered to miss some branches, but Daniel felt a gust of air and the scratch of its leathery wing membrane against his cheek. He hardly had time to recover before it swooped again. He ducked around a limb just in ­time.

The third time it came at him, Daniel’s grip slipped. The horrible reptile dove at him again, plucking him out of the tree by a strap on his backpack. Daniel flung himself wildly about and the
Pteranodon
lost its grasp. He tumbled hard to the ­ground.

He scrambled to his feet and raced for cover. He could
hear the wings flapping as he ran. But he was too far from the safely of the cycads. The
Pterenodon
lunged at him. Daniel screamed and hit the ground rolling. In a moment it would have ­him.

Then he heard Dr. Roost screeching at the top of her lungs, and then some fierce sounds of thwacking. He rolled over and sat up just as Mildred Roost charged again and pummelled the creature’s long beak with her cane. Disoriented from the unexpected attack, the reptile flapped its heavy wings and disappeared into the ­sky.

“Take that you ­flea-­bitten reptile!!!” Dr. Roost shook her cane, breathing hard. “Daniel, are you hurt?” she called out, not taking her eyes from the ­sky.

“I’m okay,” said Daniel sitting upright and staring at Dr. Roost in ­shock.

Her eyes were big and dark and round. Her hair, loose from its braid, stuck out in all directions. Leaves and bits of dirt and other vegetation clung to her shirt and pants. She looked like a ragged mountain lion ready to ­pounce.

When Dr. Roost seemed sure the
Pteranodon
was gone for good, she rushed over to Daniel’s side and helped him to his ­feet.

“Are you all right?” she asked ­again.

Daniel nodded and took a few deep breaths, shaken from the ordeal, but glad to be ­safe.

“Well, that certainly got my heart pumping!” exclaimed Dr. Roost, as she composed herself somewhat and straightened out her dishevelled ­clothes.

Daniel found his voice. “Thank you,” he said. “I think you saved my life.”

“I thought
Pteranodons
were supposed to eat fish and such,” she ­grumbled.

“I guess this one was more adventurous,” he said, ­trembling.

“I’ll say!” Dr. Roost took out a handkerchief and wiped her perspiring face. “We’d better get back right away, before something worse happens.”

“Yeah, we’ve had enough for one day.” Daniel ­said.

Suddenly, he heard loud crashing and horrific roaring reverberating through the ­forest.

“Not again!” Daniel ­wailed.

“What’s happening?”

“You’d better take cover. I have to climb up again to see.”

This time Daniel chose a different tree and shinnied up as quickly as he could. He dug out the binoculars and discovered a pair of
Tyrannosaurus rex
attacking one another near the edge of the ­woods.

“What is it?” Dr. Roost called from the base of Daniel’s tree. She hadn’t ­moved.

“
T. rexes
fighting!” Daniel hollered. “Don’t move and you’ll be safe where you are. They’re shifting away from us.”

Daniel watched as their huge tails whipped around, smacking into trees and each other. They wrestled onto the ground, flipping this way and that as their huge mouths and ­sickle-­like claws ripped at one another’s bodies. Furious bellows sent ­bird-­like creatures into the skies, and the whole forest seemed to move with scurrying creatures fleeing the ­battle.

Daniel was embedded on his branch, watching the shocking scene, thankful that they were several hundred metres away. Even so, the ground trembled with the flailing, gruesome bodies. They crushed everything in their path. Neither would give in. This was a fight to the ­death.