Baartock Part 4

"We shouldn't go too far. We have to be able to hear when they call."

"Can hear. Not far," said Baartock as he kept scrambling up the hill.

This was something that no amount of noise could scare away.

"Please slow down," asked Mr. Fennis after a few minutes. He wasn't used to racing up hills, and he was getting hot.

"Not far," repeated Baartock, but he did slow down to let Mr. Fennis catch up.

At one time there must have been a lot of water coming down from a spring, because the stream bed was wide in some places and deep in others as it cut a path down the hill. But now it was dry most of the time, except when it rained, when the water would come churning down the hill, bubbling past the rocks and was.h.i.+ng the leaves down hill.

Then after the rain ended, it would stop flowing, just leaving pools to dry up in the sunlight.

Mr. Fennis caught up with Baartock at a bend in the stream bed, just where it went around a clump of trees. Baartock just pointed up the hill.

"Mine," he said.

Mr. Fennis stopped to see what he was pointing at. Just a little way up the hill was a stone bridge over the stream bed. Mr. Fennis stared at it.

The bridge looked just like a picture out of a story book. It was a low, wide, stone arch crossing over the stream. Big, heavy stones made up the pillars on each end and the curved bottom of the bridge. Lots of smaller flat stones filled in the walls, and some bigger ones topped off the walls. There were trees and bushes going up to the bridge on either side. Under the arch, there was the glitter of sunlight on a pool on the other side. It was a very pretty sight, but Mr. Fennis couldn't think why anyone would build a bridge here, so far away from everything.

Baartock ran to the bridge and stood under it, and looked back at Mr.

Fennis with a big grin. "Mine," he said again.

Mr. Fennis hurried to the bridge too. He had never seen a real stone bridge like this before. "Baartock," he said, "you shouldn't stand under there. It might not be safe."

"Not safe?" asked Baartock.

"One of those stones might fall down."

"Not fall down," said Baartock, not grinning any more. "I make. Good bridge. Trolls make good bridge. I show you good bridge."

He came out from under the bridge, and went scrambling up the side of the stream bed. Mr. Fennis looked for a better place to climb up, but finally climbed where Baartock had. When he got up to the end of the bridge, Baartock was in the middle. And he wasn't just standing there.

He was jumping up and down.

"I make good bridge," he said again. "Not fall down.

"Yes. It's a good bridge," agreed Mr. Fennis. He stopped watching Baartock and examined the bridge. It did seem safe. It really did look like someone had just built it. The path on each side only went about ten feet into the woods and stopped. There didn't seem to be any reason for anyone to build a bridge in the middle of the woods. He didn't even consider what Baartock had said, that he had built it.

Baartock stood watching Mr. Fennis for a minute, then he had an idea.

He went over and took his hand. "Come," he said, leading him to the end of the path. "I call. You come cross bridge." Baartock ran back across the bridge and into the woods on the other side.

Mr. Fennis stood waiting for a minute, then he faintly heard Baartock call "Now!" It sounded like he had run way off in the woods. Not sure what the game was, Mr. Fennis walked back to the bridge and started to cross it.

Just then there was the most awful noise he had ever heard. He stopped to look around. And Baartock came running and screaming up from under the bridge. Mr. Fennis stood there for a moment with his mouth wide open, then he found himself running off the bridge, and running away into the woods. He was quite a long way into the woods when he realized that the noise had been made by Baartock. It had been terrifying. He stopped beside a big tree and leaned on it while he caught his breath. He wasn't used to running, or to being scared like that. He was still standing there panting, when Baartock came walking up to him. Mr. Fennis didn't know what to say.

"Good bridge," was what Baartock said, with a huge grin on his face. He had done it. On his first day. He really had scared someone.

Mr. Fennis stood, leaning up against the tree, and thought of some things he could say, but "Shouldn't we go back now?" was what he said.

With Baartock leading the way, they walked back toward the stream bed.

Not far below the bridge there was a place where they could get down easily. They were starting down when Baartock suddenly stopped.

"Mother call," he said and raced off down the hill.

Mr. Fennis hadn't heard anything, but he was too out of breath to call for Baartock to wait. When he could have called, Baartock was out of sight, so he just slowly walked down the hill after him. When he got to the clearing in front of the cave, Mrs. Jackson and Baartock's mother were coming out of the cave.

"We were starting to wonder where you were," said Mrs. Jackson.

"Baartock was showing me his bridge," said Mr. Fennis. "Though he told me he built it."

"Baartock good troll. Build good bridge," said his mother.

"You mean he really did build it?"

"I'm sure he did," said Mrs. Jackson. "I've been learning some amazing things about trolls, but we must be going now. It was very nice talking with you, Mrs. Slinurp. I'll see you both in the morning," she said, seeing Baartock come back out of the cave. With Mr. Fennis following, she led the way back down the hill.

Baartock watched them leave and listened to them talk, or at least Mrs.

Jackson. "I could hear that scream all the way down here," she said.

Then, "Well, he is a troll, you know." He didn't hear anything else after that, and went in the cave to help his mother fix dinner. He was very hungry.

When his father got home, Baartock had told him all about what had happen to him, including riding in the car and about the school. His father hadn't said anything about that, but he didn't look too pleased.

Then Baartock told about showing Mr. Fennis his bridge and about how he had scared him. That had made his father laugh long and loud, and he'd patted Baartock on the head and told him what a good troll he was.

After dinner, Baartock went to bed. Later, he heard his mother and father talking quietly, or at least quietly for trolls who were quite loud sometimes, but he was tired and happy and went back to sleep.

Chapter 6

The next morning, after his father had gone off, Baartock and his mother left the cave. They went through the woods toward the old empty house, the one Mr. Fennis had called the 'old Howard house'.

They were crossing the stream bed when Baartock saw a muddy pool he could splash in. He was just about to dive into it when his mother said "No!" When he caught up with her all she said was "Not today."

It was puzzling to him. She always let him get muddy.

When they got to the empty house, there was a car in the driveway, and Mrs. Jackson was standing beside it.

"Good morning," she said. "Are you ready to go to school, Baartock?"

Baartock wasn't sure about that, so he didn't say anything. He had almost forgotten about school. That was part of his first day, but not the important part. He had forgotten about Mrs. Jackson saying she would see them in the morning.

Mrs. Jackson opened the car doors, and when Baartock and his mother got in, she showed them how to fasten their seat belts. Mrs. Jackson explained that while she was a good driver, some other drivers weren't, and that they were probably safer wearing the seat belts. His mother listened carefully to what Mrs. Jackson was saying. She didn't seem to mind being in a car, until Mrs. Jackson started the engine. Whinnurf Slinurp was a troll, so she wasn't about to get scared, but she did grip the edge of the seat very firmly. When Mrs. Jackson asked if she was all right, she just closed her eyes tightly and said "Go." But as they drove toward town, Baartock's mother finally opened her eyes to see where they were going.

This time Baartock watched out the window as they drove into town.

There were lots of buildings like the old empty house that he knew.

There were humans walking and lots of cars, and some big cars called trucks. Some of them came right at them, but they always just missed Mrs. Jackson's car.

He was learning a lot about humans. Mrs. Jackson had been talking almost all the time while she had been driving. He learned about streets, and blocks, which were between streets, and about houses and stores. Only he hadn't seen a single bridge. Suddenly he said, "School that way," and pointed.

"Yes, you're right, Baartock. The school is that way. You certainly do know just where you are. But we've got to go some place else first.