Chelsea joined Simon to search the area. Cooper and Jamal followed. Standing by Mr. C and the bookmobile, Gabby and Maya shared the binoculars and scanned the area. Chelsea and Simon looked along the ground to see if there was another arrow made out of pine cones like the one they’d seen at the Cape May Bird Observatory. “Drat,” Chelsea said. “I don’t see an arrow anywhere. But there must be a clue around here. Keep looking.”
Suddenly they heard an odd quonk-quonk-quonk sound. “I don’t think that’s a car horn. It’s not loud enough,” Chelsea said. “But who or what is making that quonking noise?” She and Simon began to walk in the direction of the sound.
To their surprise, the sound was coming from a tree. As they got closer, they saw a small tree frog sitting on a branch. It was emerald green with a purple stripe and suction fingers and toes. “Wow,” said Chelsea. “That is a cool little frog.” She stepped closer. “Look at that … the quonk-quonk-quonks are making its throat puff up like a balloon.”
While staring at the frog, Simon also noticed a piece of paper with a short branch sticking through. Curious, he slid the paper off the branch and looked at it carefully. There were pictures of a gray fox and a bald eagle. He handed the paper to Chelsea. “This has to be a clue. Let’s go!”
Simon and Chelsea ran back to the car, followed by Cooper and Jamal. “Quick Mr. C,” Simon said panting and showing Mr. C the paper. “I’ve seen that fox and that eagle. We have to get to the Wildlife Refuge. Do you see it on our map?”
“Yup, I see it, and if you’re right, we’d better get a move-on fast,” Mr. C said. “Fasten your seatbelts everybody!” The bookmobile headed off toward the Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge.
“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” sang Maya.
