The Shortcut Past the Third Clue

Chapter 1Five Stations

The scavenger hunt stayed inside the school grounds.

There were five stations. At each, a helper would check an answer and stamp a team's card. The last station was beneath the covered porch.

Dovid and Nochum unfolded their map.

"We can win this," Dovid said.

The first clue sent them to the drinking fountain. The second led to a tree with a low fork in its trunk.

Dovid knew the grounds very well. He could walk from the fountain to the porch with his eyes shut, although Mr. Katz had wisely forbidden any such demonstration.

"You need all five stamps," Mr. Katz told the teams. "Stay on the marked paths. No climbing fences."

Dovid slipped their card into his shirt pocket.

Chapter 2Beside the Tree

The helper at the second station checked their answer and stamped a small green tree on the card.

Their next clue began: Where rain waits in a shallow stone bowl.

Nochum pointed across the courtyard.

"The birdbath."

Dovid was looking at the porch.

Two teams were farther behind, still bent over their maps.

A paved path led straight from the tree to the porch. The birdbath was around the long way, near the garden gate.

"The fourth station is by the benches," Dovid said. "We can reach it from here."

"What about the bowl?"

"We know the answer. Why walk all the way around?"

Nochum held the map open.

Dovid had already taken three steps.

Chapter 3A Card with a Gap

They reached the benches quickly.

The helper asked for their card.

Dovid handed it over with a smile.

The helper pointed to the blank third square.

"The birdbath helper gives you the next clue."

"We know where that is," Dovid said.

"You need the stamp and the clue. This station's answer is on that clue."

Dovid looked at the bench. He had thought finding it would be enough.

Nochum folded the map along its old crease.

Another team arrived carrying a card with three stamps.

Dovid moved aside so they could answer.

The porch was closer than ever. His team was not.

Chapter 4Back Along the Path

Dovid put the card back in his pocket.

"We can tell the birdbath helper we came earlier."

Nochum looked at him.

They had not come earlier.

Dovid looked at the empty third square. A story about a missing stamp would not give them the clue they had never read.

"No," he said. "That would make it worse."

They walked back along the paved path, then took the garden route shown on the map.

At the birdbath, a helper stood beside three covered bowls.

The clue had asked where rain waited. But the station's task was to guess which covered bowl held the same amount of water as the shallow birdbath.

Dovid had not known anything about the bowls.

Chapter 5Not the Fastest Feet

The helper let them compare three clear measuring jars filled from the bowls. They did not touch the birdbath water.

Nochum noticed that one jar's water reached the same marked line as the sample jar.

They gave their answer and received a blue stamp.

The next clue was folded beneath the card.

It told them to count the slats on one particular bench, the one facing the garden.

"There are four benches," Dovid said.

"Good thing we got the clue," Nochum answered.

Back at the benches, they counted together. One slat was narrower than the others, but it was still a slat.

The helper checked their answer and stamped the fourth square.

Now they could go to the porch.

Chapter 6Five Marks

At the last station, they arranged five picture cards in the order of their route.

Fountain. Tree. Birdbath. Bench. Porch.

Mr. Katz gave them their final stamp.

Two teams had finished before them. A third arrived just afterward.

Dovid studied his card.

The blue birdbath stamp sat in the square he had hoped to leave empty.

"That was my shortcut," he told Mr. Katz. "It took us back the long way."

Mr. Katz smiled. "You finished the hunt."

Nochum held out his hand for the card.

Dovid passed it over. His friend had carried the map all afternoon; he could carry the five stamps back to class.

On the way, Dovid pointed to the direct path from the tree to the porch.

"That is still a shorter walk," he said.

"Yes," Nochum agreed.

Neither of them turned onto it. Their classroom was beside the garden gate, and they wanted to get there.