Camp Club Girls Get a Clue!

by Renae Brumbaugh

  “A peninsula,” Elizabeth said.

  “Right,” the ranger agreed. “And it was smart to build the fort on a peninsula, because any ships sailing in to attack Baltimore had to pass it. When they first built the fort, it was just big mounds of dirt. But later a politician named James McHenry raised money for a new and better fort.”

  A car cut in front of the van, and Ranger Hank maneuvered to another lane. “The people named Fort McHenry after him because he was so generous and also because he was President George Washington’s secretary of war.”

  Sydney took her cell phone out of her pocket and flipped it open.

  “The fort is built in the shape of a five-pointed star,” Ranger Hank explained. “They did that so each point of the star could be seen from the point on either side. It only took five men to guard the whole thing. One man could watch from each point of the star.”

  “That was smart,” said Sydney. “Then they could see if the enemy was coming by land or by boat.”

  “Right,” said the ranger. “And the new fort was strong. It was made of brick to protect the soldiers who lived inside. When you get there, you’ll see how they lived in houses called barracks. There’s the Commanding Officer’s Quarters, the Junior Officers’ Quarters, and two buildings for the enlisted men. That’s where my great-something grandpa lived.

  “And don’t forget to check out the magazine—that’s the strong room where the soldiers stored their gunpowder. They added it to the fort during the Civil War to keep ammunition safe from any sparks or explosions. There’s a guardhouse on the grounds, too, with some jail cells. That’s where they locked up prisoners.”

  Sydney checked her cell phone, and Elizabeth leaned in toward her to take a look. The green blip hadn’t moved.

  “Do you know why the fort is so famous?” asked Ranger Hank.

  Sydney flipped her phone shut and slipped it into her pocket.

  “It’s because of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ ” Elizabeth said. “That’s where the song was written.”

  “And the Battle of Baltimore,” Ranger Hank added. “That was the one my great-grandpa fought in.”

  They came to a stretch of highway that was lined with orange barrels and construction cones, slowing traffic even more.

  “Sydney, it’s a good thing that you didn’t live here back then,” said Ranger Hank. “If you had, you’d have seen most of Washington, D.C., burned by the British. Thunderstorms, like the ones we had last night, dumped rain and helped to put the fires out. But the White House and the Capitol Building were destroyed.

  “After that, the British sailed toward Baltimore. They planned to take Fort McHenry and then sail into the Baltimore Basin and attack the city. They made it to where Key Bridge is today. From there, they fired on the fort, and that was the start of the battle. My grandpa and the other soldiers were ready for them and put up a brave fight.”

  Elizabeth was looking out the window, watching the traffic inch along. “That’s where Francis Scott Key comes in,” she said. “I studied about him. When the Brits attacked Washington, they took an old doctor prisoner. He was being held on a British ship, and his friends worried that he would be hanged. So they asked Francis Scott Key for help because he was a lawyer. He and another guy were allowed to get on the enemy ship and make a deal with them to release the doctor.”

  “A dangerous proposition,” inserted Ranger Hank. The traffic was thinning, and he increased the van’s speed. “The British agreed to release the doctor, but not until the battle was over. They figured that Key and his friends knew about their battle plans, so they were stuck on a ship that was shooting bombs at Fort McHenry.”

  He turned the van onto I-95 North and headed into Baltimore.

  “So how does ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ fit in?” Sydney asked.

  “Well, there was a huge battle,” said Hank. “For twenty-five hours the British attacked Fort McHenry. They used bombs that weighed two hundred pounds and had lighted fuses that made them explode when they reached their targets. The Brits used cannons on their ships and fired fifteen hundred bombs at the fort. All the while, Francis Scott Key was on the enemy’s ship watching Fort McHenry under attack.”

  “Key was a religious man,” Elizabeth said, “so he was probably praying as the bombs flew through the air. He was a writer, too, so while he watched, he wrote a poem about what he saw. He didn’t know what was going on at Fort McHenry, because it was all smoky from the bombs. But when the smoke cleared over the fort, the big American flag was still there. Baltimore had won the battle.”

  “If they hadn’t won,” said Ranger Hank, “Key would have seen the British flag flying over the fort instead.”

  They turned off of I-95 onto Exit 55. The fort was only a couple of miles away now.

  “And that poem that he wrote,” said Hank, “was ‘The StarSpangled Banner.’ ”

  The Ranger picked up the yellow ranger hat on the seat next to him and put it on his head. Then he entertained the girls by singing:

  “Oh, say, can you see, by the

  dawn’s early light,

  What so proudly we hail’d at the

  twilight’s last gleaming?

  Whose broad stripes and bright

  stars, thro’ the perilous fight,

  O’er the ramparts we watch’d,

  were so gallantly streaming?

  And the rockets’ red glare, the

  bombs bursting in air

  Gave proof thro’ the night that

  our flag was still there.

  Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled

  Banner yet wave

  O’er the land of the

  free and the home of the brave?”

  Just as he finished the song, they turned left onto Fort Avenue. As they drove down the road, soon the girls saw Fort McHenry and the huge American flag towering over it, blowing in the wind. Ranger Hank drove the van to the Visitor Center.

  “Here we are, girls,” he said. “Come inside and I’ll set you up with free passes. They’ll get you in here today and for the next seven days, if you want to come back.”

  “What about the tattoo tomorrow?” Sydney asked. “Will the pass get us into that, too?”

  “It will,” the ranger answered. “Are you coming to the tattoo, then? Probably with your aunt, since she has to work here tomorrow. Lots of us got called in because the president is coming. It’ll be special for you girls to see President Meade. Most people never get to see a real, live president.”

  “And we hope to keep him that way,” said Sydney.

  Elizabeth elbowed her. “Thanks for the ride,” she said. “What time should we meet you back here?”

  “Closing time is 4:45,” said the ranger. “I’ll be here to pick you up.”

  As the girls walked out of the Visitor Center, they checked their cell phones. The green blip was moving on water!

  “Sydney, he’s headed this way,” Elizabeth said. “What will we do when they get here?”

  Sydney grinned at Elizabeth. “We’re going to follow them,” she said. “I was hoping that this would happen. Following them is the only way we’re really going to find out what’s going on.”

  “But it’s too dangerous,” Elizabeth protested.

  “We’ll be careful,” Sydney replied. “We can hide in any of the points of the star, and we’ll always know where Moose is. We’ll be fine.”

  As the girls walked toward the entrance to Fort McHenry, their cell phones began to vibrate. It was a text message from Bailey: Mr. GREEN IS ON THE MOVE. HEADED RIGHT AT YOU. ON THE WATER. IN A BOAT? B CAREFUL.

  Fort McHenry Fiasco

  Sydney and Elizabeth walked on the weathered brick pathway into the arched entranceway of Fort McHenry. The short, dark hallway was flanked by vaulted doors.

  “This is awesome,” Elizabeth said. “These doors are ginormous!”

  The hallway opened into the bright sunshine and the fort’s grassy parade grounds. Just beyond this grassy area were red br
ick buildings, the barracks that Ranger Hank had told them about. The barracks were two stories high with red roofs, white balconies, and green shutters on the windows. Red-white-and-blue banners hung from the balconies in honor of the Fourth of July, and actors dressed in costumes wandered the grounds making the fort seem more like 1814 than the twenty-first century.

  “I just got an idea,” Sydney said. “Follow me.”

  Elizabeth followed Sydney toward a short, stout lady who was one of the actors. She sat on a wooden bench outside the barracks wearing a floor-length, blood-red dress with a tan bonnet. It seemed like way too much clothing for the hot summer day.

  “Good day,” the lady said as the girls approached her.

  “Good day,” Sydney and Elizabeth said in unison.

  The woman gave each girl a tour map of the fort. “Is this your first visit to Fort McHenry?” she asked.

  “It is,” Elizabeth answered.

  “Nice dress!” said Sydney enthusiastically. “Do you have to get dressed like that at home, or do you change into your costumes here?”

  The woman smiled and said, “Oh my! We don’t dress like this at home. All our volunteers change here at the fort.”

  “Neat!” Sydney said. “Elizabeth and I took drama classes at summer camp.”

  Elizabeth smiled and nodded.

  “We had a big room where we stored all the costumes,” Sydney continued. “I suppose you do, too?”

  “We do,” the woman answered. “In that enlisted men’s barrack.” She pointed to a building across the courtyard. “All kinds of costumes are stored there. You can take a look, if you’d like.”

  “Oh, that would be great,” Sydney said. “Do you think we could try some on, too? My aunt is Deandre Powers, the park ranger. I promise we’ll be careful.”

  The woman thought for a minute. “I know Dee,” she replied. “You must be Sydney. She talks about you all the time. Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt, but make sure you put everything back the way you found it.”

  “We will,” Sydney answered. “Thank you!”

  Sydney grabbed Elizabeth’s arm and hurried toward the barracks.

  “Sydney, what are you up to?” Elizabeth asked.

  “We can dress like the volunteers,” Sydney answered. “Moose and Rusty will never recognize us, and we can get right up to them and find out what’s going on. Then we’ll put them back before we go.”

  The girls opened the door to the enlisted men’s barracks and went inside. It was like walking through a time warp into the 1800s. The air smelled musty, and cobwebs hung from the rafters. The cobwebs glowed in rays of sunshine that streamed through the only window in the room. It was made up of twenty-five little glass squares, and in front of it sat a small wooden table and chair. An old military jacket hung over the back of the chair, and an inkwell was on the table with some yellowed writing paper and an old oil lamp.

  The stuffy room held three rows of simple wooden bunk beds. Each uncomfortable-looking bed had a thin straw mattress and a single flat pillow. Soldiers’ shoes hung from several of the bedposts, and muskets stood in their holders, ready for troops to grab them as they hurried out the door. The wooden plank floor creaked as the girls walked on it.

  At the back of the barracks was a door marked Wardrobe. Sydney opened it, and the girls found a room filled with racks of costumes: soldiers’ uniforms as well as costumes that citizens wore in the early 1800s. The girls went inside and bolted the door behind them.

  “So do you want to be a soldier or a lady?” Sydney asked.

  “A lady, definitely,” said Elizabeth. She picked out an apple green dress and a white bonnet. Sydney helped her pull the dress on over her sleeveless top and shorts. It fit perfectly. Its hem was even long enough to cover the tops of her sandals.

  “I’ll roast in this!” Elizabeth complained as she pinned her long blond hair on top of her head and tied the bonnet over it. “What will you be?”

  “A soldier,” Sydney replied. She wiggled into the soldier’s uniform—white pants and a dark blue coat with long sleeves and brass buttons. A white sash crisscrossed the front of the jacket, and the jacket’s blue-and-gold collar fit snugly against Sydney’s neck. She pulled on a pair of tall, black boots. Then she set a blue soldier’s hat on top of her cornrows, pulling the visor down just below her eyebrows. “There,” she said. “How do I look?”

  “Like you’re ready for a winter storm,” Elizabeth said. “Sydney, you’ll be too hot.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Sydney argued. “Don’t forget to take your cell phone with you. I’ll take my binoculars, too. And we should hide my street clothes and our backpacks in here somewhere.”

  Sydney searched for a place to hide their things.

  “Why don’t we just hang them up neatly with the costumes?” Elizabeth said. “There are so many clothes in here that no one will notice ours.”

  “Good idea,” Sydney agreed.

  The girls made sure that no one was coming. Then they left the barracks through a back door. As soon as they got outside, they checked their phones. The bright green blip was just offshore now, and they saw a string of messages from Bailey and an urgent message from McKenzie: I think he’s on a water taxi. Looks like it’s landing near the fort. Be careful!

  “What’s a water taxi?” Elizabeth asked, looking prim and proper in her old-time dress.

  “It’s a tour boat that shuttles visitors around the Baltimore Harbor,” Sydney said. “Listen. It says here on the Fort McHenry tour map that each point of the star-shaped fort is called a bastion. We can walk out on the bastions to look all around the fort. It says the big park we saw around the fort is often used for recreational purposes, like hiking, picnicking, and looking out at the harbor. Let’s go to the bastion that faces the water taxi dock. Maybe we can see Moose from there.”

  Elizabeth and Sydney, wearing their costumes, walked onto the long, raised, grassy area that made up one point of the star-shaped fort. The sides of the bastion had strong brick walls, and several old cannons faced outward, reminders of days when soldiers defended the harbor. Sydney took out her binoculars and looked in the direction of the boat landing.

  “Perfect timing!” she said. “There they are.” She handed the binoculars to Elizabeth.

  Moose and Rusty walked toward the fort. Elizabeth noticed that Moose carried a long slender case strapped over his shoulder. “What do you think he’s carrying?” she said. “A gun?”

  “I don’t think they’d be that obvious,” Sydney answered. “Watch where they go.”

  “They’re not coming into the fort,” Elizabeth reported. “It looks like they’re going to hang out in the park instead. They’re walking by the water now…. They’re sitting down on a bench near some trees.”

  Sydney’s cell phone vibrated like crazy. It was another message from Bailey: PERCY ALERT! HE’S WALKING AROUND OUTSIDE OF THE FORT! WATCH OUT!

  Sydney sent a reply: WE SEE THEM. NO MORE TEXT MESSAGES UNTIL YOU HEAR FROM US. WE’RE GOING TO FOLLOW THEM.

  “Let’s go,” said Sydney. “I want to get close so we can hear what’s going on.”

  “I still don’t like the idea of this,” Elizabeth said, following

  Sydney, careful not to trip on the hem of her dress.

  The girls walked back to the fort entrance. They went through the brick hallway and then followed a brick path toward the waterfront. They saw Moose and Rusty sitting on the bench. Moose had opened the long slender case and was putting together some sort of contraption. It resembled a weed trimmer.

  “What’s that?” Sydney asked.

  “I don’t know,” Elizabeth replied. “Let’s see what he does with it.”

  Moose had the thing put together now, and it looked like he was plugging headphones into its handle.

  “What in the world is he doing?” Sydney wondered.

  Moose got up and put the headphones over his ears. He started walking with the contraption in one hand. He waved it back and forth over the
grass while he listened through the headphones.

  “I’m calling Kate,” Elizabeth said. “She’ll know what it is.” Elizabeth took out her cell phone, took a picture of the contraption, and transmitted it to Kate. Then she dialed Kate’s number. Kate answered on the first ring.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “Bailey said you’re following them!”

  “We’re fine—don’t worry,” Elizabeth replied. “We need your help.”

  Since the picture hadn’t come out well, Elizabeth described to Kate what Moose was doing with the tool.

  “It’s a metal detector,” Kate told her. “He’s waving it over the ground looking for something that’s buried there. If the thing detects something metal underground, it gives a signal through the earphones.”

  When Elizabeth hung up, she told Sydney what Kate said.

  “Let’s split up,” Sydney suggested. “You walk over there, like you’re playacting. Say ‘good day’ to them, and see if you can discover anything.”

  “I can’t do that!” Elizabeth said. “You want me to talk to them?”

  “Yes!” said Sydney. “Do it for President Meade.”

  “You’d better protect me,” Elizabeth warned as she walked toward Rusty and Moose.

  As she approached the bench, Elizabeth heard Rusty giving Moose instructions. “Try ten paces east…. Now go ten paces north….”

  Moose walked along, counting to himself.

  Elizabeth walked right up to Rusty. She saw that he was holding some sort of map. “Good day!” she said brightly. She startled Rusty, and he gave a little jump.

  “Yeah,” he said gruffly.

  “Are you enjoying your visit?” Elizabeth asked. She leaned in to get a better look at the map.

  “Humph.” Rusty grunted, almost ignoring her.

  Elizabeth saw a big red X on the map.

  “Is there anything you’d like to know about the fort? Anything that I can help you with?” Elizabeth bravely sat on the bench near Rusty to get a closer look at the map. Under the red X was the word BUM in all capital letters.