The storm didn't last very long. By the time they had finished their lunches and cleaned everything up, the skies were once again blue. The gang headed back to camp, following after the girls, who were supposed to get changed for the hike; clothes that could get a little bit muddy. Jack changed into some simple green cargo pants with a first aid kit scattered throughout the pockets, complemented by one of his green baseball caps.
Stepping out of his small tent, Jack joined Cassie who was done changing. As they stood and chatted, more girls came out to join them, until all the girls and all of the adults were ready to go. They walked to the directed trail opening, and saw a green ribbon tied to the tree, representing the trail they were on had a green trail.
Sam and Janet were whispering, looking as though they were planning conspiracy. Moments later, they burst out into song.
"Nooooo---" First word was drawn out until all the girls joined in. "No matter how old a prune may be, it's always full of wrinkles. A baby prune is like his dad, but ain't wrinkled quite so bad..."
The song went on. Jack and Daniel were near the back, wondering how Sam knew the words.
"Think they made the song up?" Daniel asked.
"I don't think so...If they had, I don't think the girls would know it."
"But who in their right minds would make up a song about wrinkles?"
"Dunno. I seem to recall something about you helping make a snake hunting song and making me sing it Cherokee style..."
"Daniel, we came up with that when we were drunk. I seriously doubt that Carter and Janet would get the kids drunk."
Sam had stopped walking to wait for her guys. They were so transfixed with their conversation, they didn't notice her until they started talking.
"Did it ever occur to you guys that it may be a well known camp song?"
Jack's and Daniel's heads shot towards Sam's voice.
Jack talked first. "You mean to tell me that kids everywhere are singing songs about wrinkles?"
"Why not? And just so you guys know, I learnt that song on one of my other adventures with girl guides. Just because you guys have never been invited before doesn't mean that I haven't."
Jack considered it. He knew that Sam had gone off 'Camping' with Cassie before, but never realized that it was girl guide camping.
"Couldn't you have put Cassie into boy scouts or something?"
"Well sir, we asked her if she wanted to, but most of her friends are in girl guides. Then there's the whole fact that she's a girl and its boy scouts..."
Daniel jumped in. "Actually, it's no longer called boy scouts. Yes, there is more boys then girls, but now girls can join too."
The three of them continued walking at the back of the group for the next hour, talking about innocent things; the last movies they saw, the next team night, hockey scores, the weather; they continued until they reached the top, hardly noticing the incline.
They had done so much hiking the past few weeks, and the trails were so well used that the incline was subtle. Not to mention this wasn't the largest hill in the area, but the view there was just as amazing as they were expecting it to be.
Looking around, Daniel saw a cave entrance. He showed Jack where he was going. The girls would be taking a half hour rest up here before hiking back down. Plenty of time. So many primitive people once roamed these lands; who wouldn't want to sleep in a cave?
Heading further back into the cave, Daniel pulled out his flashlight. Shinning it on the walls, his jaw dropped. From one wall to another, the cave was covered in ancient writing. He knew that the totem pole had ancient on it, he just couldn't read it.
Daniel marched out of the cave, grabbed Jack, and then pulled him into the cave.
"Jack, we need to study this further."
"I know Daniel. I'm going to call Hammond tonight. What I'm thinking is that tomorrow, we go home, and you grab whatever you need for this. We tell the camp that we found some kind of poisonous gas in this area, and they need to close down the camp temporarily."
Daniel sighed. It was the only plan they had.
So far.