Jimmy Lee Bayliss heads out over the drilling area in McBride’s helicopter, hoping to catch a sight of the person or persons who have been stealing their equipment and taping their employees to trees. When they reach the path of the illegal pipeline, though, he sees a new prank has been played on the company: all of the pink surveyor’s flags marking their territory have been pulled up and rearranged to spell, in huge letters, “SCAT!”It’s clear that someone (the reader knows it’s Twilly Spree) is onto their operation and wants them to get out. This is a deadly threat to the Red Diamond scheme and the millions of dollars it promises.

Back at the secret camp, Twilly and Mrs. Starch explain to Nick and Marta that they have to reunite the baby panther with its mother as soon as possible: if they are separated for too long, the mother panther might no longer recognize her cub and refuse to care for it. Duane Jr. is a gifted tracker, and once Twilly can find the panther’s scat, he will be able to track her location, and “once we know where she is, we turn the cub loose nearby.