The T. Rex

The fire at Base Camp crackled and popped. It smelled of woodsmoke and Bram’s slightly burnt porridge. Ned sat close to the warmth, turning the pages of Grandfather’s old notebook.

He stopped on a page with a big, blurry drawing. A water spill had smudged the picture long ago. "Look at this," Ned said. "I can only see a few parts."

Professor Hatch leaned over his shoulder. "What can you see, my boy?"

"I see short front limbs," Ned traced the smudge with his finger. "And a very wide jaw."

Vera pointed to the bottom of the page. "And look! Feet with one, two, three toes!"

Bram squinted. "Those back legs look thick and strong. Like giant drumsticks." But the rest of the dinosaur was a watery blur.

Ned tapped the page. "I have a hypothesis! An idea we can test!"

The crew leaned in.

"I think these four parts... the short arms, the wide jaw, the three-toed feet, and the thick back legs... all belong to the same dinosaur," he said. "If we find an animal with all four, we'll know they work together."

"A living puzzle!" Professor Hatch boomed. "To the Steam-Crawler!"

The crew cheered. They climbed up the metal ladder into the round belly of the Steam-Crawler. CLONK! Vera shut the heavy door.

She pulled a big brass lever. The engine started with a low rumble, like a waking giant. WHIRR... CHUG... CHUG...

"Everyone ready?" Vera called out. "Time for the Steam-Chant!"

She started the beat. Chuffa-chuffa-chuffa-chuffa... The others joined in. Gears-go-grind! Pistons-push! Chuffa-chuffa-chuffa-chuffa... Boiler-builds! Steam-is-hot! Chuffa-chuffa-CLACK!

The Steam-Crawler rolled forward, away from Base Camp. They rumbled past the tall trees of the Tangle and out into the open. The ground here was cracked into big, dusty pieces, like a giant cookie that had been dropped. This was the Jigsaw Earth.

The air grew thin and warm, and everything smelled of baked dirt.

"Phew, it's getting warm," Vera said. "Can you feel the air getting hotter?" Outside the window, the heat made the air wiggle and shimmer, making everything in the distance look blurry and wobbly.

"There's a dinosaur!" Bram pointed.

They all looked. A tall creature strode through the shimmer. "It has three-toed feet!" Ned shouted, looking at his notebook. But its front arms were long and graceful. That wasn't a match.

A little later, they saw another head poke up from behind a rock. "That one has a wide jaw," Vera said. But they couldn't see its legs or arms at all. Another puzzle piece that didn't fit.

The Steam-Crawler hit a deep crack in the earth. LURCH! Something metal fell inside the cabin. CLANG!

"Ow!" said Bram. He rubbed his foot and then laughed. "My wrench found my toe again," he said, picking it up.

He glanced at a row of brass dials on the wall. "Ned, the engine is getting very hot," Bram said. "And look." He pointed to the far wall of the canyon. A brown cloud was growing. "A dust storm is coming. We don't have much time."

Ned looked through his binoculars. The shimmering air made it impossible to see anything clearly. His shoulders slumped. "Maybe my hypothesis is wrong."

Just then, the clouds above them parted. A single, thick beam of light pushed through. It landed on the Jigsaw Earth. It was the Sun-Bridge. The light was so bright and clear, it cut right through the shimmering heat.

And standing in the middle of the light was a dinosaur. It was huge. It lifted one giant leg and took a step.

"Look!" Ned gasped. "Thick back legs!"

The dinosaur took another step, leaving a deep track in the dust. Vera leaned forward. "And one... two... three toes!"

The creature turned its head. Its jaw was wide and long. And tucked close to its body were two very, very short front arms.

"All four parts," Ned whispered. "On one body."

The great dinosaur stomped the ground with its powerful leg. THUMP! The ground shook. It stomped again. THUMP! It scraped at the cracked earth with its big, three-toed feet. SCRAPE! SCRAPE! It used its short little arms to lean against a rock and steady itself. Then it lowered its head and used its wide jaw to scoop something out of the dirt. FWUMP! It lifted its head, chewing on a big, muddy root.

"Scientific Fact!" Professor Hatch exclaimed. "Absolutely extraordinary! Its legs are like giant hammers for stomping the earth loose! And its jaw works like a giant garden spade for digging up lunch!"

Ned watched, amazed. His hypothesis was right. Each part had a job, and all the jobs worked together. "It's a Stomping-Scooper!" he said happily.

The wind began to howl outside. The dust storm was getting closer. "Time to go, Crew," Vera said calmly. She turned the big steering wheel, and the Steam-Crawler began to roll smoothly back toward home.

That evening, the fire was crackling again. The air outside smelled clean and cool after the dust had settled. Bram opened the big, leather-bound Census Log.

He carefully drew the shape of the Stomping-Scooper. He drew the thick legs, the three-toed feet, the short arms, and the wide jaw. He dipped a special stamp into a pot of ink.

He pressed it onto the bottom of the page. KA-CHUNK! "Discovery Number 10," Bram announced. "Logged!"

Bram stretched and wiggled his toes. "I'm glad my toe doesn't work together with my wrench," he said with a grin.

And everyone laughed.