The fire at Base Camp crackled. POP! SNAP! It smelled like woodsmoke and slightly burnt porridge.
Ned opened Grandfather’s big notebook. The leather cover went CREAK. He turned the thick, crinkly pages until he found the right one. The ink on the page was blurry. A water drop had landed there, long, long ago. SPLOOSH! The drawing was just a fuzzy smudge.
Ned leaned closer. “Wait,” he whispered. “I can see something.” Can you see it, too? In your imagination? There was a pair of long, skinny legs. And next to them, three big toes pressed into the ground.
Professor Hatch looked over his shoulder. “Three-toed footprints in dry ground. And what long, long legs!”
Ned tapped his chin. "I have a hypothesis! An idea we can test! I think those long legs keep the dinosaur’s body high up, away from the hot ground.”
Vera smiled. “The Jigsaw Earth is the perfect place to test that! All aboard the Steam-Crawler!”
Bram grabbed his wrench and the big, heavy Census Log. CLUNK. Everyone climbed inside the Steam-Crawler. Vera pulled a big brass lever. KERR-CHUNK! The engine started to rumble, like a giant waking up from a nap. WHIRRRRRR... RUMBLE RUMBLE.
“Are you ready for the Steam-Chant?” Vera called out. “Ready!” everyone shouted. Vera started the beat. “Gears go...” “CHUNK!” they all yelled. “Pipes go...” “HISS!” “Wheels on the track go...” “Chuffa-chuffa-CLACK! Chuffa-chuffa-CLACK!”
The Steam-Crawler rolled out of Base Camp. It bumped and bounced along the trail. Bram was tightening a bolt on the wall. Wiggle, wiggle, turn. The Crawler hit a big crack in the path. LURCH!
CLANG!
Bram’s wrench bounced off the floor and landed right on his boot. “Oof! My toe!” he said. Then he chuckled. “Silly wrench. Back to work.”
Vera sniffed the air. “Ooh, can you feel that? The air is getting thinner, and hotter.” The world outside the window changed. The green leaves were gone. Now there was only brown, cracked earth and a bright, bright sun. The air above the ground began to shimmer and wiggle with heat. “And it smells different,” Vera said. “Like warm dust.” The Steam-Crawler slowed to a stop. The engine went quiet. HIIISSSSSSSSS. “We’ve arrived in the Jigsaw Earth,” said Vera.
They stepped outside. CRUNCH. The ground under their boots was dry and crackly. The sun felt like a warm blanket. The earth was broken into pieces, like a giant puzzle made of dirt. And right in the middle of one puzzle piece were the tracks. “Look!” Ned pointed. “Just like in the notebook. One... two... three toes.”
Suddenly, a little whirlwind of dust spun past. WHOOSH! “The afternoon wind is starting,” said Professor Hatch. “We have to be quick!”
Just then, a huge shadow fell over them. Everyone looked up. The clouds overhead had parted. A giant sunbeam shone down, lighting up the clearing like a golden stage. And walking onto that stage was a dinosaur.
It was tall. So tall! It walked on two of the longest, thinnest legs Ned had ever seen. It took a slow step. PLOMP. And another. PLOMP. Its head was small and it looked around with quick, curious movements. It looked a little like a giant chicken. It bent its long neck down to nibble on a dry little bush. MUNCH. MUNCH.
Ned pointed to the ground. The air above the dirt was wobbly and shimmery with heat. But the dinosaur’s body was lifted way up high, where the air was cooler. It didn’t seem to notice the hot ground at all.
Just then, a little, short-legged dinosaur scurried past. Its feet barely touched the ground. It hopped and skipped, from one foot to the other. PATTER-PATTER-HOP! It made a little sound. YIP! YIP! It was like the ground was a hot stove! It ran away as fast as it could.
But the tall dinosaur just stood there. It was perfectly happy, high up in the breeze. Ned gasped. “My hypothesis was right! The long legs are like stilts!”
Professor Hatch clapped his hands. “That, my friends, is a Gallimimus! Scientific Fact! Absolutely extraordinary! Those legs work just like a pair of stilts at a circus, lifting its body high above the sizzling ground!”
The wind picked up again, and the Gallimimus walked away. PLOMP. PLOMP. It disappeared over the dusty ridge.
Back at Base Camp, the air was cool and smelled of pine trees and woodsmoke. The team sat around the crackling fire, sipping warm cocoa from tin mugs. Bram opened the big Census Log to a fresh, clean page. He picked up the heavy stamper and dipped it in the ink.
FWUMP!
He pressed it into the book, leaving a perfect picture of the long-legged dinosaur. “Discovery Number 8,” Bram said in his deep, happy voice. “Logged!”
Bram closed the heavy book and wiggled his toes near the warm fire. "Well," he said with a grin, "that was a discovery worth stubbing a toe for." Ned laughed, and looked out at the stars. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.
