Mysteries in Our National Parks: Cliff-Hanger: A Mystery in Mesa Verde National Park

Mysteries in Our National Parks: Cliff-Hanger: A Mystery in Mesa Verde National Park
Gloria Skurzynski

Alane Ferguson

National Geographic Kids

CLIFF-HANGER

A MYSTERY IN MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

GLORIA SKURZYNSKI AND ALANE FERGUSON

To Joni Alm

beloved daughter, sister, and friend.

Everything blooms under your touch.

Copyright ©1999 Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson

Cover illustration copyright © 2007 Jeffery Mangiat

All rights reserved.

Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents is prohibited without written permission from the National Geographic Society, 1145 17th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.

Maps by Carl Mehler, Director of Maps; Thomas L. Gray, Map Research; Jehan Aziz and Michelle H. Picard, Map Production

The cougar used as a design element throughout this book is from a photograph of a petroglyph taken by George F. Mobley, NGP. The petroglyph is carved into a sandstone wall near the Four Corners area of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

The legend on pages 102–104 is adapted from “The Children and the Hummingbird” in Spider Woman Stories, by G. M. Mullett. Copyright © 1979 The Arizona Board of Regents.

Reprinted by permission of the University of Arizona Press and Daisy Mullett Smith.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to living persons or events other than descriptions of natural phenomena is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Skurzynski, Gloria

Cliff-Hanger / by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson

p. cm.—(A national parks mystery; #2)

Summary: Twelve-year-old Jack and his younger sister visit Mesa Verde National Park, where they delve into the park’s history while gradually uncovering the mysterious past of their family’s teenage foster child Lucky.

ISBN: 978-1-4263-0965-6

1. Foster home care—Fiction. 2. Mesa Verde National Park—Fiction. 3. National Parks and Reserves—Fiction. 4. Mystery and detective stories—Fiction. I. Ferguson, Alane. II. Title. III. Series.

PZ7.S6287Wcl 1999 98-8716

[Fic]—DC21

Version: 2017-07-06

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are extremely grateful to the staff

and rangers at Mesa Verde National Park

for all their generous and gracious help:

Larry Wiese, park superintendent;

Will Morris, chief interpretive ranger;

Linda Martin, supervisory park ranger;

Kathy Fiero, archaeologist; Marilyn Colyer, naturalist;

and Jane Anderson, Steve LaPointe,

Nancy Lomayaktewa, Patrick Joshevama,

Tsuyesua Kelhoyouma, Clyde Benally,

Chad Benally, John Lenihan, Mona Hutchinson, and Gretchen Ward.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN