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The Adventures Of Ted And Josh No 2 - The Mystery Of The Disappearing Waterfalls
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H W Shelton
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Ted opened his eyes and looked around.
He noticed the sun was starting to appear as the rays filtered through the window blind in his bedroom.
Pushing himself up on his elbows, he glanced over at the clock on his table and saw that the time was 5:30 A.M.
He knew that Josh would be climbing out of his bed, any time now and would expect his buddy to be doing the same.
They did have a big day planned, the hike down the canyon to the river would be a good test of strength for him this soon after getting over a bout of the flu bug. He was looking forward to getting out of the house and back to normal living and really looking forward to being with Josh again after 2 weeks of not seeing his best friend of all.
Talking on the phone was nice, but not the same.
Sitting up on the edge of the bed felt good. He grinned when he thought of his buddy getting ready at his house and wondered if he remembered the 'dancing bear' dream that he'd had.
Sounded like they had a lot of fun and he hoped that was what lay in store today.
His mom knocked on his door and asked; "Are you up yet Ted? The doctor said that this was your release day and you're good to go after you have some breakfast."
"I'm getting ready Mom and will be down in just a minute." Ted responded.
His cell phone rang; picking it up he said, "Hello."
The man on the other end talked in a very low voice.
"I need you boys to help me today with something very important," the voice said.
"I can just barely hear you Sir," Ted said," you need to speak up some."
"Can't, just meet me at the edge of the canyon trail on Broken Bone Hill," the man said, then the phone went dead.
"Funny way to start the day," Ted said to himself as he pulled his shoes on, grabbed his hat and headed for the door.
Josh had been up for some time, had eaten his breakfast and was finishing putting his gear together when a knock at the door made him look up.
It was Ted.
"Hey buddy," Josh said with a big grin, "really good to see ya, how-you feeling?"
"Pretty good," Ted answered and shut the door as he walked into the living room. "I've got some news to share; see what you think about it."
Ted told Josh about the phone call he'd had that morning.
"I think we should check it out, don't you?" Josh asked.
"It's okay with me," Ted said," as long as we stay safe and watch what we get into."
"Of course buddy, don't we always?" Josh laughed.
"Well," Ted said, taking his hat off and rubbing his head, "not always."
"Let's get it together and get on out there," Josh said as he threw his backpack over his shoulder and headed for the door.
"Right behind you buddy," Ted answered as he stood up and followed Josh out.
The woods around the canyon were in full bloom as the boys made their way along the trail leading to Broken Bone Hill.
Stopping to take a drink of water from their canteens, the boys looked around at the beauty.
"Quite the picture, don't you agree?" asked Ted.
"It sure is pretty," Josh nodded as he snapped the shot with his cell phone camera.
The hill leading up to Broken Bone was getting a little rough and rocky.
"How far do you think we need to go?" asked Ted, stopping to take a breath.
"I don't know," Josh answered, "but I'm not going much farther."
"Over here boys!" a voice called.
Looking around the boys saw a farmer standing at the edge of a clearing, and he was waving at them.
"Come on over and take a look," he called out.
The two boys looked at each other and nodding, started over to the man.
"Hello boys, and thanks for coming out," the farmer said as he shook hands with Ted and Josh.
"Talking around town last week with some of the fella's, they told me you two boys seem to have a nack for fixing problems." he said.
"Well," Ted said, "I don't know about that but we do like to mingle in every once in a while."
"That's what this is going to take, I think," the farmer said as he sat down on a rock, "pull up a seat and let me tell you a story."
Looking at each other, the two boys found themselves a seat and listened to the farmer as he spoke.
"You boys ever been to Eagle Falls down there?" he pointed toward the valley that lay out before them.
"Yes," Josh answered, "it's really a nice spot to picnic."
"Well," continued the farmer, "that waterfall is no longer there."
"Where did it go?" asked Ted.
"I can't answer that," the farmer said, "it just up and disappeared one morning last week."
"Disappeared?" asked Josh, "what do you mean, disappeared?"
"That's what I mean," the farmer said, "it just disappeared."
"That's not possible," Ted said as he stood up and walked closer to the edge to have a better look.
"That's what I would think to," the farmer said, "but it's gone!"
Ted and Josh looked at each other and then back at the old farmer.
"We'll go check it out," Josh said as he stood up.
"I'd appreciate it boys, I really would," the farmer said, "because without those falls pushing water on down the hill to farms like mine, our corn crop is going to dry up this summer and die out."
Teds eyes grew larger and he said, "We'll find those missing falls Sir, you have our word on it."
"We will give it our best," Josh responded.
"Thank you boys, now I've got to get back to the farm," the farmer said, "Good luck and happy hunting!"
As the man walked out of sight down the trail, Ted looked over at Josh and grinned; "Happy hunting! Reminds me of a dream somebody had once."
"O' shut up!" Josh said, smiling, "where do we start looking for a waterfall?"
"I would say, where it used to be sounds like a place to begin," Ted answered as the two started off down the trail toward the valley.
As the boys rounded the curve in the trail that went up to Lookout Point where the falls are located, they heard nothing.
"I sure don't hear any water running," Josh said.
"Me either," Ted joined in," not even a stream running."
Sure enough, when they reached the spot where the mighty falls used to rumble over the river bed, there was nothing but a little stream of water.
The Waterfalls were gone!
"Let's check up-river a little ways and see if we find something," Josh said as they made their way over some small rocks and headed up-stream.
A little farther up the trail, they came to a clearing and looked out at the water.
"What in the world is that!" exclaimed Josh, pointing to something in the river.
Ted, moving closer and taking a look, said; "I do believe that's a beaver dam!"
"This river has no beaver in it," Josh answered.
"I think we do now," Ted responded, "I do believe that the beaver has returned."
Across the river lay a tight well built beaver dam that was holding back the water and forming a deep pond.
"Well," said Josh, "looks like our friends have done very well building a dam here."
Ted, smiling and nodding his head with his hands on his hips said; "They sure know how to stop the water from running and make it go just where they want it to, that's for sure."
"Look over there," Josh said, pointing his finger, "that's one of our buddies now."
"It sure is," Ted said, "wonder what it would take for them to let the water go back to being a waterfall?
"We could ask, I guess," said Josh, "but I can't say what answers we might get."
"Hello boys," someone said.
Turning around, Ted and Josh were looking at a forest ranger.
"Morning," Josh said.
"How are we going to get the waterfalls back?" Ted asked.
"We're working on that, hopefully the answer will be soon," the ranger said.
"The farmers in the valley need that water flow to keep their crops alive," said Josh.
"We know," the ranger said, "we really are working to get those beaver friends to release the water as soon as we can."
"Why don't we just move the beaver to another spot?" asked Josh.
The ranger thought for a minute and then said; "That's a great idea!
There are plenty of spots that could use a beaver to help the river bed, and create some deep ponds for the ducks and other wildlife to come to. Let me call in and see if we can raise some excitement about this."
He pulled out his phone and started talking.
Ted and Josh stood watching the beaver work as the ranger talked on his phone to his office.
"They like the idea!" the ranger called out as he walked back. "They will move the beaver this afternoon and they even have the perfect spot picked out for him to build a new pond on. Can't tell you boys how much you've helped today and we sure do appreciate it."
"Glad to help out ranger," Ted said, "it's what we do."
"It'll be good to see the waterfalls return and I'm sure the farmers will like it as well," Josh said.
"That problem just might be done by the time you boys get back around the mountain," the ranger said, "we've got people aleady working on it."
Ted and Josh shook the rangers hand and started back around the side of the hill toward the Broken Bone Trail, and the front of the mountain.
"Good day's work, my friend," Josh said as he patted Ted on the back.
"Yea, we did alright for kids," Ted said, "we did alright."
"I'm glad we could solve that problem," Josh said.
"Listen!" Ted cut in "do you hear that sound?"
"That's the sound of rushing water running down that river bed," Josh said as he started running down the trail toward the clearing.
"What a pretty sight!" Ted said as the two boys stood and watched the waterfall return.
"So much for the disapearing waterfalls mystery," Josh said with a big smile.
"Let's eat!" Ted said, "all that waterfall hunting has made me hungry."
"Okay," Josh said as the two sat down on the grass so they could eat and watch the sight of the 'disapearing waterfalls'.
"Really something special," Ted said as he took a bite of fried chicken, "what do we do now?"
Josh, turning around to look at his best friend said; "I'm pretty sure we'll find something else to get into."
"I think you're right," Ted said, "I do believe you're right."
The End
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