Jack had listened to stories about boys no older than he was, boys who disguised themselves under buffalo hides and brought the herd to its destruction. Would he have been brave enough to try that? To plunge off a cliff and risk his life clinging to a ledge while those big buffalo hurtled over his head?
“Hop in the Jeep,” his father called again. “We have a long drive ahead if we’re going to make it to Glacier National Park before dark.”
Jack and his sister climbed into the backseat, each closing the door gently on the side where they sat. It had turned into a contest to see who could close a door more quietly and still make it latch. The game had started earlier on this trip after their parents told them to stop slamming the doors.
Jumping into the front seat, Olivia said, “I’m glad we stopped to find out about the buffalo jump. Now—let’s take off for grizzly bear country.”
“Yahoo!” Jack cried, excited at the prospect of actually seeing a grizzly. He knew the powerful animals were shy, and that he probably wouldn’t see any more than a picture of them in the Glacier visitor center. Still, he could hope. “Mom,” he asked, “how many grizzlies do they have at Glacier?”
“Probably about 200. With this new DNA program in the park, they should get an accurate count pretty soon. Look,” Olivia said, turning in her seat and holding up a newspaper. “There’s an article on page 3 about the bear-identification project. I’m going to meet with the woman heading the research—Kate Kendall. I think she’s quoted in here.”
Jack took the paper, slumped back into his seat, and began to read the Missoula [Montana] Missoulian. It had been published June 24, just the day before. As he opened it to the third page, he tried to fold the pages neatly, but newspapers are like road maps—they always fight back. Soon he grew absorbed in the article.
It was about a U.S. Geological Survey team setting traps throughout the park—not dangerous traps, just barbed wire strung about two feet high. A bear, drawn by a scent lure, would step over the wire to reach the scent. When the bear pulled back, hair from under its neck would catch on the barbs. Project scientists were collecting the bear hair and taking DNA readings of it, using complicated lab techniques to get each bear’s DNA “fingerprint.”
“Will this be part of what you’re doing at Glacier?” Jack asked his mother. Olivia Landon was a wildlife veterinarian who traveled to U.S. national parks when there was a problem with animals.
“I think so,” she answered. “But mostly I’m supposed to figure out why there’s such a shortage of grizzly cubs—one-and-a-half-year-olds, the ones in their second summer. Their numbers are way down, and nobody can figure out why. The whole thing is a real mystery.”
The skin between her eyebrows furrowed as she added, “I just hope I can help find the answer.”
“You will,” Steven assured her, reaching over to rub the back of her neck. “With you, Glacier National Park will get the best help there is.”
Ashley tugged Jack’s arm impatiently. “Hey, are you done with the paper?”
“In a second. I’ll give you the page that tells about the bear DNA project, though.”
Her face clouding, Ashley shook her head, then looked out the window at the open plains rolling by.
The colors were a mix of soft yellows and dusty greens, which stretched endlessly across hills that looked as soft as pillows. Blue sky reached down and touched the tops of the hills, but Jack knew his sister wasn’t interested in all of this quiet beauty. For some reason she didn’t want to look at the article he was trying to hand her.
“What? You don’t want to learn about bears?” Jack prodded.
“No. It’s just—there’s more going on than stuff with grizzlies. All you guys can talk about are bears, bears, bears. I want to think about something else for once.”
“Yeah, like what?”
“If you let me have the paper—”
“What’s wrong, Ashley? Are you scared? Are you afraid a big grizzly’s going to come into the tent and eat you?”
“Stop it, Jack. Don’t be dumb.” Ashley scowled at him, moving as far to her side of the Jeep as she could. For once they had plenty of room. Most often when the Landons drove to the different national parks, they had one or more foster children with them; Olivia and Steven were certified emergency-care foster parents. But on this trip the Landons were alone, and Jack liked it that way.
“OK, Ashley wants us to talk about stuff besides bears. Let’s see, what else is in the paper? Hmmm. What can I find…?” Jack knew Ashley was getting mad, but he couldn’t help teasing. It was in his job description as a big brother. Besides, Ashley had been acting kind of edgy toward him.
“This article says the government is going to dust for tree beetles. Wow, that’s interesting.”
“Knock it off,” his sister told him.
“I’m trying to be helpful.” He gave her one of his biggest smiles, but she just rolled her eyes.
“Mom, will you tell Jack to give me the paper?”
“Hey, here’s something really interesting on the back page,” he commented, still holding the newspaper out of Ashley’s reach. “A Mexican kid, ten years old—that’s the same as you, Ashley—sneaked across the border into the United States three times. Twice he got caught and was sent back to Mexico, but he’s made it across again, and they think he might have come all the way up here to Montana. Uh-oh.”
“What?” Ashley asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“He made it all the way up here, and then…a bear ate him.”
“He was eaten? Are you serious?” Olivia asked, turning in her seat.
“Just kidding, Mom. At least about the bear part. I like to bug Ashley.”
“Well, you’re doing a good job of it,” Steven said.
“Can’t you two share the newspaper?” their mother asked.
“Never mind, she can have it.” Jack tossed the paper at Ashley. “When are we going to stop for lunch, Dad?” he asked. “I’m starving.”
“Jack, we just got started on this leg of the trip,” Steven answered impatiently. “I don’t want to stop for a couple more hours.”
“You’re hungry because you didn’t finish your breakfast,” Olivia told him. “You wasted half your scrambled eggs.”
“I wasn’t in the mood for them.”
Sighing, Olivia said, “Fine. There’s trail mix and bottled water in the tailgate.”
As Jack unzipped a baggie and poured a handful of trail mix, he started to think again about the buffalo, how the tribes used every part of it—the meat for food, the hides for clothes and teepees and moccasins, the horns for bows. Nothing went to waste. Everything had a use, even the tail was used for chasing flies. The buffalo had become the very heartbeat of the tribes.
Jack thought about the buffalo runner, the brave boy who risked his life to help his people. Would he, Jack, have the same kind of raw courage? As the tires purred softly on the smooth highway, he put his head back and drifted once again into his daydream.
CHAPTER TWO
Never in his life had Jack seen quite the shade of shimmering blue that filled Lake McDonald. As he stood with his family on the shore, his eyes swept across crystal clear water the color of turquoise, reflecting sky and clouds. The lake stretched in a nine-mile oval ringed by a forest of thick pine that erupted into gigantic glaciated mountains. Everything around it was heavy with color, from the jewel-like wildflowers that bloomed against the shore to