In This Issue:
ARTICLE
NEWS
BOOK REVIEW
ADVENTURE STORY: THE CAVE DWELLERS
ADVENTURE STORY: THE GALLANT MYSTERY

ARTICLE

The Necessity Of Learning

Children begin life with a love of learning. Everything is new. Discoveries are everywhere and everyday. In fact, never is the learning curve so steep as it is in the first five years of life. Think about it. A 0 to 5 year old is learning to eat, to balance and walk, relate to others, to talk, and a million other things.

Most children as they enter school take that excitement with them. It is thrilling to think of the new experiences and new knowledge that await them. Most want to learn and do their best. Some carry that enthusiasm through their school years and even through life.

Unfortunately, through negative experiences, many lose that excitement. Maybe they struggle in an area and no one has the time to help them, maybe they are teased by their peers, or don't have the support they need from their teachers or parents. Whatever the reason, discouragement sets it. "I hate school" becomes the attitude. This is truly sad because they give up on trying.

Once the thrill of learning is lost or dampened it can take a lot of time and patience to get it back. As parents we need to be sensitive if our children are becoming discouraged with learning as it will effect their enjoyment of the rest of their life. Discouragement comes to all of us and children are no different. We need to consider if their discouragement is just a normal part of growing and learning, and all they need is encouragement not to give up. Or are there deeper issues? Are they struggling with reading - which will affect every academic subject? Do they feel like a failure because of not understanding a certain subject? Are they being bullied? Is the school itself a positive place? All kinds of factors have to be considered before a correct solution can be developed.

As adults have we retained the joy of learning? [Our children will catch our attitudes, too.] Are we expanding our knowledge? Are we growing? Are we excited with life? Or have we become so caught up with daily details that we are just trying to maintain? If we are just maintaining, we are actually going backward! You were designed for continual growth, don't miss it,

NEWS

Pilgrims Progress retold in one syllable words is now available in PDF for downloading. The names and places have not been changed which means there are some words of more than one syllable, but wherever possible, it has been reworded to make it easier reading. The Swiss Family Robinson in one syllable words is still, I think, the best. You can download Pilgrim's Progress on our Reading Worksheets page.

BOOK REVIEW

The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books have been around for a long time. Of course, Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene are pen names which have been used by many different authors. I don't know what the "modern" books are like, but numbers 1 - 50 of both series are good and exciting reading for young people. Often interesting facts are woven into the mystery adventures. Unlike some recent "youth" stories, you don't have to worry about unacceptable language or scenes popping up...just good clean fun. They can often be picked up inexpensively at second hand stores. Of course, if you are a Prince George client, you are welcome to borrow them from our library at no charge.

Adults

The Strong-Willed Child by Dr. James Dobson is a great book for parents [or guardians] with children at any age. Some children on easy-going, but then some are not... With practical help and insight Dr. Dobson shows how to shape the will without breaking the spirit. Dr. Dobson gives effective methods for helping children at different ages learn the importance of obedience. He also address the issues of hyperactivity and sibling rivalry among other things. If you are discouraged and things are not going the way you know they should be in child raising, this book will be an encouragement and help to you. If you are a Prince George client, you are welcome to borrow it from our library at no charge.

We trust we will see you here next month.

Yours in life building,
Glenn and Diane Davis
Learn To Read Prince George and the World

THE CAVE DWELLERS

Three days later the party stood on the brow of a steep bluff looking down upon the Colorado Chiquita River. It had been a weary journey. It was evident that the girl had, after the second day's riding, allowed the horse to go its own way, trusting perhaps to its instinct to make for some habitation should there be any in the region. There had been no difficulty in following its footsteps until the third day, when they were passing over a stony plateau. Here even the keen sight of the Indians sometimes failed them, and hours were lost in taking up the trail. There was no water to be met here, and the Indians agreed that the horse was going slowly and weakly, and the girl for the most part was walking beside it, as they pointed out by a crushed blade of grass or flattened lichen by the side of the horse's track. Later in the day the trail was straighter, and the chief said confidently, "The horse smells water; the river cannot be many miles away."

It was an hour after starting, on the third morning, that they reached the bluff opposite to them. For a distance of a couple of miles rose a steep island of basalt, some hundreds of feet above the plain around it, and on the summit a large village could be seen.

"Moquis," the Indian said, pointing to it.

"Then she must have got there in safety!" Will exclaimed in delight.

The chief shook his head. "Horse not able to swim river, must stop a day to eat grass. There horse!" and he pointed to an animal seven hundred or eight hundred feet below them.

"That is it's colour, sure enough," Antonio exclaimed, "but I don't see the senorita."

"She may be asleep," Will suggested.

"Likely enough, senor; we shall soon see."

Dismounting, they made their way down the steep descent. Then all leaped into their saddles and galloped forward to the edge of the stream, a quarter of a mile away. The mare, which evidently scented that the newcomers were not Indians, cantered to meet them with a whinny of pleasure. There were no signs of the girl, and all dismounted to search among the low bushes for her, Will loudly calling her name. Presently the Indian, who, with his follower, had moved along the bank called them.

"She slept here yesterday," he said, and the level grass close to a shrub testified to the truth of the exclamation. The two Indians looked serious.

"What is it, chief?"

"Indians," he said. "White girl come down to river to drink; then she lay down here; then Indians come along; you see footprints on soft earth of bank; they catch her when asleep and carry her off. Teczuma and the Wolf have looked; no marks of little feet; four feet deeper marks than when they came along; Indian carry her off."

"Perhaps they have taken her along the river to some form, and carried her up to their village."

"Soon see;" and he and the Wolf moved along the bank, the others following at a short distance, having first taken off their horses' bridles, allowing them to take a good drink, and turned them loose to feed.

"Small men," the chief said when Will with the two chief vaqueros came up to him. "Short steps; got spears and bows."

"How on earth does he know that?" Will said, when the words were translated to him. Sancho pointed to a round mark on the ground.

"There is the butt of a spear, and I dare say the chief has noticed some holes of a different shape made by the ends of bows."

Half a mile farther the bluffs approached the river and bordered it with a perpendicular cliff, which had doubtless been caused by the face of the hill being eaten away by the river countless ages before. The stream was here some thirty yards from the foot of the cliff. More and more puzzled at the direction in which Clara had been carried, the trackers followed. They had gone a hundred yards along the foot of the cliff when a great stone came bounding down from above, striking the ground a few yards in front of the Indians, who leaped back. Almost instantly a shrill voice shouted from above, and, looking up, they saw a number of natives on a ledge a hundred feet above them, with bows bent threateningly.

"Back, all of you!" Sancho shouted. "Their arrows may be poisoned."

Seeing, however, that the party retreated in haste, the Indians did not shoot; when a short distance away a council was held, and all returned to their horses, mounted, and swam the river; then they rode along to view the cliff. Three or four openings were seen on the level of the ledge on which the Indians were posted, and Will was astonished to see that above, the cliff, which was here quite perpendicular, was covered with strange sculptures, some of which still retained the colour with which they had in times long past been painted.

"They are the old people, the cave-dwellers." Sancho said. "I have heard of them; they were here long before the Moquis were here. They were a people dwelling in caves. There are hundreds of these caves in some places. They have always kept themselves apart, and never made friends with the Maquis. In the early times with the Spaniards there were missionaries among the Moquis, but they could never do anything among the cave people, who are, they say, idolaters and offer human sacrifices."

"How do the people live?" Antonio asked.

"They fish, and steal animals from the Moquis when they get a chance, and they dwell in such inaccessible caves that, once there, they are safe from pursuit. If you like, senor, I will go up to the Moquis village, and try to find out something about them. I don't know the Moquis language, but I understand something of the sign language, which is understood by all Indians, and I dare say that I shall be able to learn something about these people."

Will dismounted as the vaquero rode off, and, bidding Antonio do to the same, told the man to take their horses a quarter of a mile away, and there to dismount and cook a meal.

"Now, Antonio," he said, "we have to see how this place can be climbed."

Antonio shook his head. "I should say that it was altogether impossible, senor. You see there is a zigzag path cut in the face of the cliff up to that ledge. In some places the rock is cut away altogether, and then they have got ladders, which they would no doubt draw up at once if they were attacked. You see the lower ones have already been pulled up. Like enough sentries are posted at each of those breaks when they are threatened with an attack. Besides, the chances are that if they thought there were any risk of our getting up, they would kill the senorita."

"I see all that, Antonio, and I have no thought of making my way up by the steps; the question is, could it be climbed elsewhere? The other end of the ledge would be the best point to get up at, for any watch that is kept would certainly be where the steps come up."

Antonio shook his head. "Unless one could fly, senor, there would be no way of getting up there."

"I don't know that," Will said shortly; "wait till I have had a good look at it."

Lying on the ground, with his chin resting on his hands, he gazed intently at the cliff, observing even the most trifling projections, the tiny ledges that here and there ran along the face.

"It would be a difficult job and a dangerous one," he said, "but I am not sure that it cannot be managed. At any rate, I shall try. I am a sailor, you know, Antonio, and am accustomed, when we have been sailing in the gale, to hold on with my toes as well as my fingers. Now, do you go back to the others. I shall want two poles, say fifteen feet long, and come hooks, which I can make from ramrods. Do you see just in the middle of that ledge, where the large square entrance is, the cliff bulges out, and I should say the ledge was twenty feet wide; this is lucky, for if there are sentries on the steps they would not be able to see beyond that point. If they could do so, I should not have much chance of getting up, for it will be a bright moonlight night. When I get to the top - that is, if I do get there - I shall lower down a rope. You can fasten the lariats together. They would hold the weight of a dozen men. The lightest and most active of you must come up first. When two or three are up we can haul the rest up easily enough. Now you can go. I shall be here another half-hour at least. I must see exactly the best way to climb, calculate the number of feet along each of those little ledges to a point where I can reach the one above with my hook, and get the whole thing well in my mind."

Next week we will finish Chaper 8: The Cave Dwellers. Now we know who the cave dwellers are. Will Will's plan work? Stay with us.

THE GALLANT MYSTERY

Scott sat up in bed. "You've got to be joking! Go back and hide in that maintenance bay again. They almost killed us last time."

"No, I'm not joking," came Dick's cross voice over the interphone. "It is the only way to clear Dad. Nothing else matters."

"There has to be a better way." Scott was pacing now, his mind whirling. "Getting yourself killed is not going to do anybody any good. Maybe my Dad could..."

"You didn't tell him about what we did, did you?" broke in Dick.

"Of course I did." Scott was shocked at the idea of deceiving his father. "I told him everything that happened. He understood."

"What a nerfkin!" All adults say that, but they don't."

"You're wrong when it comes to my Dad."

"Don't you dare say anything to him about my idea or I won't talk to you ever again...and neither will Janna." Dick was afraid Scott was going to tattle-tale on him. That would ruin his chances of finding out what was happening and clearing his Dad. "Are you in or not?"

Scott sat down on the edge of his bed thinking. He didn't care whether Dick was upset with him or not, but he didn't want to look like a coward in Janna's eyes. A popular saying came into his mind: Do what is right and leave the consequences in the hands of El. Disobeying his parents was definitely not right, but he didn't like the possible consequence of losing Janna's friendship either.

"Are you still there?" came Dick's aggravated voice. Scott could ruin his plans.

"I'm thinking."

"Is that what you call it?" Dick's sharp tongue lashed out at someone besides Janna. "Quit it before you burn out and give me an answer."

"No," replied Scott, stung by Dick's comments. "I'm not going to do anything so stupid."

The line went dead. Scott got up and paced his room again. Should he tell someone what Dick wanted to do? Dick could put himself in danger, on the other hand, Dick was smart and he was only trying to help his father. What to do? At last he laid back down on his bed and fell into a troubled sleep.

True to his word, Mr. Langlish made an appointed to see Lt. Stern right after he closed his furniture shop the next day. Time seemed to stand still as Scott and Sandy waited for him to return. Mrs. Langlish understood, but insisted that they do a normal day's school work. It was a difficult day for her too, as she tried to keep her two children's minds on what they were supposed to be doing.

After school, while they waiting for their father to come home, Scott and Sandy played a game of Rosset. Sandy had captured twice as many pieces as Scott - which was very unusual - when the door opened. Not wanting to look anxious, they stayed in the living room playing. Mrs. Langlish came out of the kitchen followed by a delicious smell. She gave her husband a welcoming kiss.

"Did you talk to the Lt.?" she asked as they walked into the family room.

Scott and Sandy watched him in anticipation as he sank into a comfortable chair.

"Yes, I did." He smiled as he looked at them. They were looking at him so pleadingly it was hard not to smile, even through the news was not good.

"What did he say?" asked Scott.

"We had a long talk. He was polite and answered most of my questions. He said they were investigating all possibilities and that I should keep you two in line. I had a couple of things to say on that point."

"But over all," his wife said, looking him in the eye, "you don't believe him."

Mr. Langlish laughed, "You know me too well, dear. Let's just say I don't think he's taking the possibility of Mr. Lewis' innocence too seriously."

"Sandy, would you set the table while put the food on?" asked Mrs. Langlish. "We can finish this conversation while we eat."

Sandy went with Mrs. Langlish. Mr. Langlish sat across from Scott and studied the game board. He moved for Sandy. Silently they played until they were called for supper.

After Mr. Langlish had prayed and the food had been passed around, Scott asked, "What are we going to do?"

"We can pray and that in itself is powerful," answered Mr. Langlish. "Beyond that, I don't know."

"Praying doesn't seem like much help," complained Scott.

Mrs. Langlish smiled, "More things happen by prayer than we can ever know."

"I know. It just doesn't seem like you are doing anything."

"Perhaps that's the point," Mrs. Langlish said," you are trusting Elniyn to do the work His way."

"But I know how you feel, son," said Mr. Langlish. "It doesn't feel like you are doing much, that why it takes faith." He paused. "I wonder what this Mr. Rillian is really up to. I don't think he could be a spy."

"Why not?" asked Scott.

"The story is that Mr. Lewis was giving him top secret papers, right?"

Both Scott and Sandy nodded.

"If they really wanted the papers they would have taken them before shooting him or, at least, taken them off his body before taking off. Mr. Rillian had plenty of time to do it before security came."

"Maybe is panicked?" suggested Scott.

"Possible, but I doubt anyone involved in the high tension business of espionage is going to panic because a lovely lady screams. No, the papers are not the issue, they are there to cloud the issue."

Sandy blushed, "Dick thinks they are smugglers."

"That would explain the compartment in the shuttle," added Scott.

"Perhaps, but smuggling what? Drugs? Outlawed books? Guns? And we come back to the the question, Why frame Mr. Lewis? How could Mr. Lewis being in jail help their plans? Wouldn't they just be drawing attention to themselves?"

"Maybe Mr. Lewis was getting close to discovering them and didn't realize it," suggested Mrs. Langlish.

"I think I will go and have a talk with Mr. Lewis."

As it turned out, Mr. Langlish learned nothing new from Mr. Lewis. Mr. Lewis was very concerned about how Dick and Janna were handling his imprisonment, but as of work, he had not been doing anything out of the ordinary. Most of the time security was a boring job.

The next two days went by slowly. Scott and Sandy stayed inside the apartment because it felt safer just then to be at home. Who knew what Mr. Rillian and his gang might do next. Neither Dick nor Janna called, for which Scott was secretly happy. He didn't want another scene. He was concerned about Dick foolish plan and whether he should tell or not. He kept his mouth shut but hoped that by now Dick had given up his plan.

Next week: Do you think Dick has given up his plan of hiding in the maintenance by to see what is being smuggled?