Chapter 4 - War Training

The next day as Randy was walking down his street on his way to the fort, he passed Cliff's house. What he saw made him want to dance. Cliff was going on vacation, and from the looks of it he would be gone for a long while. Randy ran all the way to the fort and related the good news to the rest of the gang.

"Perfect," Trevor said. "This will give us time to prepare the traps and build the second and third levels of the fort. "Okay," he continued, "just as a review, here are the traps we decided upon. A net, trip lines attached to buckets full of swamp ooze, alarms and firecrackers, a rope ladder that can be pulled up, a bucket of sandspurs and a bag of pine cones to throw. And last, but not least, our big trap, holes and other natural looking foliage. but before we start, you did all bring slingshots and dye balloons didn't you?"

Everyone nodded yes.

"Good, we need practice!" Trevor finished.

After a tiring morning practicing slingshots, the four all went home for lunch. When they returned, Randy and Aaron started to work on level two while Trevor painted a rope a tree brown so it would be hard to see. This rope could raise and lower the ladder from the ground.

Susan gathered sandspurs and pinecones for the traps while waiting for the second level, which was completed by 5:00. Randy and Aaron then started work on the third level, which was done by 8:00. Then they all had to leave.

By Friday all the traps had been set, including the net, everyone had become an expert at the slingshot, and all four had assigned battle stations. The fort was ready for war.