by Thea Stilton
Her friends nodded in excitement.
“So you think Professor Crusterson is
helping Sharkfur
hide
something?” Renani
asked.
“Until now, our suspicions were
based only on Professor Van Kraken’s data.
MOVE THOSE TAILS!
100
But we finally have something more — a
connection!” Paulina exclaimed.
“SO? What do we do now?” asked
Colette.
“Before we do anything, let’s talk to Ekana,”
Violet suggested. “It’s possible he doesn’t
have anything to do with this whole situation,
but he may have other
important
information.”
“Great idea,” said Pam. “All right, then,
what are we waiting for? Let’s move those
tails
!”
The Thea Sisters and Renani jumped back
into the SUV and headed to the resort. But
they were in such a hurry, they didn’t notice
that someone was watching them. . . .
Once they were back at the resort, the Thea
Sisters said good-bye to Renani and headed
straight for Ekana’s office. Before entering,
they made sure that Sammy Sharkfur was
nowhere in sight.
YOU’VE SEEN TOO
MANY MOVIES!
Unfortunately, explaining their theory to
Ekana was no
easy
task. In fact, when
he heard the mouselets’ story, he started
laughing.
“So, let me make sure I’ve got this straight,”
he said. “You’re asking me to believe that
Sammy and a famouse scientist are
deliberately deceiving all the rodents
on the island, including me? And that Sammy
built the resort in a dangerous spot,
even though he knew that the volcano could
wipe it out?!
HA, HA, HA!
Mouselets,
you’ve seen too many disaster movies!”
Ekana got up from his desk and led the
Thea Sisters to the door. “Now, if you’ll
excuse me, I have a lot to do today, and it’s
getting late,” he declared.
But Paulina was determined to get him to
listen. “What if we’re right? What if your
grandfather is right, too? We’re just
trying to protect you from Sammy’s shady
business.”
Ekana was caught off guard. He looked
confused.
Nicky went a step further. “What if Mauna
Loa
erupts
? The fate of all the resort’s
guests is in your paws! Don’t you think that
it’s worth investigating to see if there’s any
truth
to our suspicions?”
Ekana weighed their words thoughtfully.
After a moment, he sighed and agreed.
“Oh, all right. Tell me what you have in
mind.”
Violet smiled with relief. “Okay, now
we’re cooking with cheese! Tonight we’ll
return to the observatory and look for
proof. If Professor Crusterson and
Sammy Sharkfur are working together to
cover up
a possible eruption,
we’ll discover the truth!”
The Thea Sisters left Ekana’s office
feeling satisfied. But once again, they didn’t
realize someone was watching them. . . .
night
Colette, Nicky, Pamela, Paulina, Violet, and
Ekana waited for dusk to return to the
observatory. Renani offered to drive them
again in his SUV.
As the SUV bumped along the mountain
trail, Ekana shook his snout and mumbled
skeptically. “Mauna Loa about to erupt?
What a load of goat cheese . . .”
A few minutes later, they pulled up to the
entrance of the national park. Renani
parked the SUV, and the group continued
toward the observatory on paw.
Inside it was totally dark, except for the
lights from the seismographs and the
computers over where the
team was
working.
THE HUNT FOR
PROOF
The group snuck
into the room they’d
visited that morning.
Quiet as mice, they
began to rummage
around the desks and
the files, searching for
documents that might
reveal the truth about
the possible eruption.
Colette, Nicky, Pam,
Paulina, Violet, Ekana, and Renani looked
thoroughly. But there didn’t seem to be
anything unusual. Paulina examined the
charts from the seismographs, but they all
seemed normal, without any peaks that
would indicate imminent
danger
.
seismograph
A seismograph is an instru-
ment that is used to record
details about earthquakes.
The seismograph detects
the ground’s movement
and represents it on a
graph (seismogram) as a
series of waves and peaks.
Since volcanic eruptions
can cause earthquakes,
scientists use seismographs
to monitor volcanic activity.
“Everything seems to be in order here!”
said Pam,
puzzled
. “We’ve got to be
missing something. . . .”
“See? What did I tell you?” protested
Ekana. “Let’s go! We’ve already broken
the law, coming in here without permission
looking for who knows what!”
While Ekana and Pam argued, Paulina
thing
wires
ducked under the desks and began sifting
through the
that fed into the
computers.
“Check this out!” she exclaimed. She
pointed to a BOARD on the ground. Her
friends huddled around to get a better
look.
“This explains why none of the researchers
of the observatory have noticed anything
suspicious!” exclaimed Paulina
triumphantly.
“What explains it? I’m still lost,” said
Colette. “As far as I know, that
could
be a CD player, or even a fur
dryer!”
Paulina laughed. “This
is a digital selector — a
device that gathers all
the information from the
seismographs and ‘selects’ which information
will be sent to which computer.”
Colette stared at her blankly. So
did Nicky, Pam, Violet, Ekana, and Renani.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to spell it
out for us, Paulina,” said Nicky. “It’s like
you’re talking in
Feline
and we’re all
squeaking Rodentese.”
“Let me just look at one thing, and then I
can explain it more clearly,” said Paulina,
delving
into the mess of cables and
electrical leads.
After untangl
ing a few wires, Paulina stood
up and grinned with satisfaction. “Just as I
suspected!” she exclaimed triumphantly.
“The selector is linked to George Crusterson’s
computer!”
Everyone was hanging on her every word,
especially Ekana, who watched her with a
worried expression on his snout.
“Using this
device
, Crusterson is able
to filter the information coming from the
observatory’s instruments through his
computer,” Paulina explained, disconnecting
the selector. “He’s been deciding what
information about Mauna Loa’s
volcanic
activity passes through to the other
computers!”
SURPRISE!
“That explains why the other researchers
don’t know about the possible eruption!”
Nicky said. “Professor Crusterson stopped
them from monitoring the volcano’s actual
activity! He filtered all the data
coming in so they only saw what he wanted
them to see!”
Ekana was squeakless.
Paulina sketched in
the plot’s details. “So it
went like this,” she
guessed, looking
Ekana squarely in the
eye. “Sammy Sharkfur
convinced you to become
his partner so he could
build his resort and take
advantage of your land’s magnificent
view of the volcano.”
“There was just one problem,”
continued Pam. “He had to
silence any rumors about
potential eruptions!”
“So Sammy bribed the head
of the observatory, George
Crusterson, to hide the data
showing the
volcano’s
activity,” Colette put in.
“And as long as the observatory didn’t pick
up any volcanic activity, none of the
newspapers would ever know about the
danger!” concluded Violet.
Ekana was about to respond in disbelief
when someone clicked on the light and
started applauding.
clap
clap
clap
H
e
y
!
B
u
t
.
.
.
O
h
,
n
o
!
W
e
l
l
d
o
n
e
,
y
o
u
l
i
t
t
l
e
s
n
o
o
p
s
!
H
e
h
,
h
e
h
,
h
e
h
!
Sammy Sharkfur was standing in the
doorway. He stared at the Thea Sisters, his
eyes sparkling with sinister intention.
Professor Crusterson and the two fake police
officers were next to him.
“Nice work, you little snoops!” he declared.
“You really stuck your snouts into my
business.”
Ekana pointed a paw at him threateningly.
“You . . . you . . . you wretched ratfink! You
fooled me, and you tricked all of Hilo!”
Sammy brushed away Ekana’s paw. “You
are so naïve that it wasn’t even fun fooling
you!” he sneered.
Ekana darted toward him, but one of the
SEVEN WITNESSES
TOO MANY
fake police officers
blocked
him while
the other grabbed his paws and pinned them
behind his back.
“Don’t waste your time attacking me,
partner,” Sammy said mockingly. “You see
these two gentlemice? They work for me!”
“Of course they do!” Paulina said. “I’ll bet
they aren’t even
real
police officers!”
“Another brilliant deduction, my dear
mouselet,” Sammy said. “You’ve really
managed to surprise me!”
“You have no idea how much information
you can get by posing as a police
officer,” said one of the thugs.
The thug who was holding Ekana let go
and pushed him toward the mouselets.
“Though I must admit that you were pretty
sharp to spot us,” he snapped.
“Do you realize that you’ve put the entire
population of Hilo in danger? How
can you be so reckless?” demanded Paulina.
Sammy laughed uproariously. “Listen
to this rodent! ‘The entire population’! Why
should I care about the population? I’m
afraid this adventure is over now. From this
moment on, you and your friends are just
seven witnesses too many!”
The two thugs grabbed Nicky, who was
closest to them.
“Get your paws off her, cheddarface!”
Renani SHOUTED, jumping forward.
Ekana rushed forward to give him a paw,
but Sammy was quicker. He tripped
his partner, who stumbled toward the ratlet.
They both fell to the ground in a heap.
The two fake cops regained control of the
situation. Within a few moments, the Thea
Sisters, Ekana, and Renani were bound and
gagged
.
“Where should we put them, boss?” the
first thug asked.
“Leave them in the basement,” said
Professor Crusterson. “No one ever goes
down there, and if they
scream
, the
walls are soundproof.”
“Good idea,” said Sammy. He grinned at
the Thea Sisters. “Your new accommodations
won’t be quite as deluxe as the resort’s!”
Professor Crusterson and his thugs led the
prisoners
Thea Sisters, Ekana,
and Renani toward a
small
door. The
were forced to scurry
downstairs into a
windowless basement
room. Once they were
inside, the two fake
police officers bound
their feet along with
their paws. Then they
shut off the lights and
slammed the door
behind them.
darkness enveloped
the room. The Thea
Sisters and their friends
were trapped!
Colette, Nicky, Pamela, Paulina, Violet,
Ekana, and Renani felt lost. They tried to
wiggle and whimper, but with their snouts
shut tight, they couldn’t communicate with
one another. And they couldn’t see anything
about the room they were locked in.
Escape truly seemed impossible!
“If only I could get my paws free!” thought
Nicky, tugging her paws and feet
with as much force as she could muster. She
tried dragging herself across the ground
toward one of her
friends, but all she
did was knock herself
against the walls and
get bruises all over
PRISONERS!
save them!
her tail.
“It’s useless. We’ll never be able to get out
of here!” she thought, disheartened.
The others made similar escape attempts.
But everyone soon realized that it was
impossible. They were bound too tightly.
Just when they were losing all hope, they
heard the sound of a latch opening.
Suddenly, a ray of light shone through the
dark room.
“Are you all right?” asked a husky voice.
The Thea Sisters immediately recognized
that squeak: It was Nahele! Ekana’s
grandfather had come to
Using his cane, Nahele slowly descended
the stairs and began to untie the prisoners.
“I had a feeling Sammy Sharkfur was up to
something, so I waited near the observatory.
I saw you arrive first, and then him. The rest
sighed
you know,” the old mouse explained.
The mouselets
in relief. It was ironic
that no one had believed this kind rodent,
yet he had been right all along!
As soon as Ekana was free, he stood up
and gave Nahele a hug that was both grateful
and apologetic.
“Grandfather, you must forgive
me. I should’ve listened to you. Sammy
Sharkfur is nothing but a slimy sewer rat. I
was too naïve — just a
ratlet
playing at being a businessmouse!”
Nahele shook his snout
understandingly. “It’s
normal for you to want to
find your way, Ekana,” he
said. “But sadly the world
is full of rodents without
consciences.
The important thing is to
stand by your values and
know when to admit your
mistakes. And that’s just what you are
doing now!”
