"Well," he said. "I've been doing a little bit of research, and i think I've finally found out the pattern for the appearances." He looked at me to see if I had anything else to say, but I didn't so he continued. "They always appear in places when its dark and when there is someone alone."

"But there was no one in town square wh--" he cut me off.

"Actually there was. That's what these pictures show. Someone runs across town square, then something turns up behind him, puff of smoke and then there's a big hole. They must have woken up and walked off before morning." I stared at the man in awe. He had really done his homework on this situation. I felt embarrassed that I hadn't even though of looking for something. "Well what does that mean?" I asked, even though I was pretty sue I already knew the answer. "It means you, me, Coalburg Woods, stroke of midnight." And then he left. I still didn't even know his name.

It was 12:30am. Normally I would have been sound asleep by now, but somehow this whole situation didn't seem anywhere near normal. I was nearly asleep, I had been standing here for a little over half an hour now, pickaxe in hand, gold in pocket and a leather cap that was two sizes too big for me balancing on my head. I was scared. What if the plan didn't work? No. I assured myself. It would work. It was foolproof. I went over it in my head. I would stand here, a tempting target for whatever was causing the mysterious holes. The man was hiding a bush to my right, I looked over there to see if he still was. It was very dark, but i was able to make out a dark, hunched over figure in the bushes. When the crook, if you could call him a crook came, the man would jump out of the bushes and catch him. It would work. It was foolproof. I had nothing to be--what was that? Oh god, this is it, I said to myself. I braced myself to see the dark shadow come out of the bushes. The rustling in the bushes got louder, and then emerged....a park ranger. "What are you doing out here?" he asked.

"I-we-umm.....sorry?" I looked over to the man for help, but he was gone! The park ranger stared at me with a stern face. "Well, thats ok, just stay out of here at night from now on, ok?" the park ranger said. I nodded my head and ran off. I had almost cleared the woods, when suddenly I hear a soft hissing noise, then a loud KABOOM! and the strangled scream of the park ranger. I ran back to help, and what I saw was not pretty. The park ranger was lying there, clutching his head, in a deep, dark hole.
END OF PART 3
Part 4 is the finale! Will IPear figure this out? And where did the mysterious man go? All will be answered in: The Mysterious Holes Part 4!