alternative tracks off this unnamed island, the coordinates of which are 37S, 152E.

Moe Chances

Jan. 16, 1914

P.S. Please give this note to Priscilla Chances or Baloo von Bruinwald in Cape Suzette, Usland.

"Alternative tracks?" Baloo blinked.

"I don't know how your uncle escaped," Monty confessed. "I've tried everything I can think of - rafting, hang gliding, even swimming. Something keeps pulling me back."

"Like magic?" Kit asked quietly.

Monty nodded. "Yep. It might have something to do with those statues."

"Statues?" Baloo, Kit, and Professor Bontrotter echoed, perplexed.

Later…
On the Other Side of the Island

"What is this place?" Kit asked, not daring to speak above a whisper. The sense of being surrounded by magic was very strong here. So strong, that the fur on the back of his neck was standing on end.

Before them was a gleaming marble temple fronted by a mosaiced courtyard filled with fountains and life-sized, life-like statues. There wasn't a cracked stone, missing mosaic tile, or even a wayward weed. It was if time and Mother Nature had no effect on it.

"I don't believe it! The Temple of the All-Know-Acle." As the professor murmured that, the volcano overshadowing them rumbled, it seemed, ominously. He snapped a picture. "This place is supposed to be a myth."

Baloo and Kit exchanged glances. They had seen their fair share of supposed-to-be myths.

"What's the All-Know-A-Cal?" Monty Mangrove asked. He looked nervously at the toga-clad fox statues that seemed to be peering down at him as they shuffled towards the temple.

Professor Bontrotter explained, "According to legend, the ancient Myomylantans traveled to this temple seeking knowledge from the spirit of the All-Know-Acle. Because of this knowledge, their civilization thrived peacefully for generations. The question is: How did the Myomylantans get here? Their city, now lost, was supposedly on the opposite side of the world."

As they stepped inside the temple, fires ignited in the sconces nearest the door. One by one, the sconces lit up progressively towards the far side until they illuminated an ornately carved altar and a larger-than-life female statue.

"The statue of the All-Know-Acle!" Professor Bontrotter gasped as he gazed at the beautiful fox beautifully dressed in marble vestments. He then proceeded to take a multitude of photographs.

A strong female voice boomed, "Whoever seeks knowledge, let him step forward."

"Uh-oh. I think we woke it up," Monty Mangrove said, teeth chattering.

With shaking knees, Baloo proceeded towards the altar. "Uh, Miss Acle? I'd like to know what happened to my Uncle Moe, please. He-he crashed here some time ago." With hands that were shaking as much as his knees, he placed his uncle's flight log on the altar.

A gust of wind blew the book open and flipped through the pages.

The All-Know-Acle declared, "Read and find the answer to that which you are seeking."

Baloo picked up book and read aloud: "The All-Know-Acle has shown me the way off the island. There is a path through the center of the earth and across the world that leads to the legendary city of Myomylanta."

Another gust of wind blew a side door open, revealing a staircase that led downwards. As they watched, open-mouthed, torches lining the underground tunnel magically lit themselves.

"The way to Myomylanta!" Professor Bontrotter gasped.

"Every explorer's dream!" Monty Mangrove added, sharing an elated look with the professor.

Laughing like children, both members of the International Explorers Club disappeared down the tunnel.

Suddenly, the earth shook violently, throwing Baloo and Kit to the ground. The volcano began flinging glowing rocks into the air, a few of which pattered on the temple roof. A rivulet of lava trickled down the side of the cone.

As Kit rushed towards the altar and his Papa Bear, the All-Know-Acle boomed, "Kit Cloudkicker! I have been waiting an eon for you."

Over the All-Know-Acle's prediction for his future as well as the low rumbling of the earth, Kit shouted, "Baloo, we gotta go. Now!"

"Yeah, we gotta go follow Uncle Moe." Baloo got to his feet and headed for the path that Monty Mangrove and the Professor had taken.

"No! The volcano is gonna blow. We have to leave!"

"Kit Cloudkicker, your destiny…" the All-Know-Acle said.

Angrily, Kit yelled at the statue, "The only destiny I care about is fixing the Sea Duck and getting off this island!"

The All-Know-Acle sounded amused as she said, "As you wish."

Kit and Baloo both fought to keep from falling as the earth shook again.

A jagged crack appeared in the stone floor. Moment by moment, it was widening the distance between Baloo, who was near the Myomylanta tunnel door, and Kit, who was closer to the outside door.

"Papa Bear, come on!" Kit pleaded, his voice cracking, his face plastered with anguish.

The same anguish that a young Baloo had once felt. Memories, long buried, flashed through the pilot's mind.

Overhearing Aunt Prissy say to a neighbor, "I just don't know how to tell the boy that Moe's not coming back."

Getting into fights and playing hooky from school when the other boys' taunting comments about his uncle became too much to take.

Nights when he cried himself to sleep, hugging the baseball cap that Uncle Moe had given him.

Suddenly, Baloo knew what he had to do. With a determined look on his face, the big bear backed up against the altar and ran as fast as he could to vault over the crack. Scooping up Kit, he sped out of the temple.

A little while later, the Sea Duck soared over the island. Neither Baloo nor Kit noticed that the temple had returned to its pristine condition or that the volcano was being doused magically with a thick, liquid white substance.

Its flames extinguished, the volcano let out a large, "BUUUUURRRRRP!"

Several Hours Later
On the Way Back to Cape Suzette

Kit shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Baloo hadn't said three words the whole flight home, which wasn't like the normally jovial and loquacious bear.

He finally ventured to break the silence. "Papa Bear?"

The pilot, startled out of his reverie, glanced over at the boy.

"I'm sorry we never found your Uncle Moe," Kit said softly.

Baloo put a hand to his pocket that contained his uncle's flight log and gazed at the distant horizon for a long moment, his expression inscrutable. Then he turned to his young navigator, his eyes gleaming with unshed tears.

"Never say never, kid." Baloo tugged the cub's cap down over his eyes.

The End

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