The Shackleton Sabotage

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  ENERGETIC

  NICE

  NIFTY

  YOUTHFUL

  “I am very brilliant!” Benny said, putting his hands on his hips. “Brilliant, energetic, nice, nifty, and youthful…Benny!”

  They laughed. Now that they understood acrostics, they looked at the clue again. It was easier to understand once they knew what they were looking for. The animal names were all lined up:

  NUMBAT

  ECHIDNA

  DINGO

  WALLABY

  EMU

  BILBY

  BANDICOOT

  “The names of the animals spell out NEDWEBB,” Violet said. “Ned is a name. Maybe we’re looking for someone named Ned Webb?”

  “Someone who takes care of one of these animals,” Benny agreed. “Maybe someone like Laura!”

  Henry nodded. “But where should we look? Australia probably has many wildlife sanctuaries. There are a few just on Kangaroo Island, not to mention the rest of Australia.”

  “Let’s ask Laura if she’s heard of Ned Webb,” Aunt Jane suggested. “If he is a naturalist like her, then maybe she’s heard his name before.”

  They found Laura and asked her if she knew of anyone named Ned Webb.

  “I do know a Dr. Webb, in fact,” Laura said. “He runs a dingo sanctuary just outside of Melbourne. We’ve worked together before. He is a very…unique…man!”

  Laura didn’t say what made Dr. Webb so unique, but she did know where the dingo sanctuary was. She found the address in her files and told Jessie, who wrote it down in her spiral-bound notebook.

  “What’s a dingo?” Benny asked. “Is it like a kangaroo or a wallaby?”

  “Oh, no,” Laura said. “Dingoes are wild dogs. There were many of them for a long time, but now they are a vulnerable species. That’s why people like Dr. Webb have sanctuaries for them.”

  “Is Melbourne far from here?” asked Henry.

  “It’s in Victoria. Closer than Sydney,” Aunt Jane said. “We could still arrive today.”

  “Wahoo!” cheered Benny. “Let’s go!”

  “Just a minute. I want to buy something before we go,” Jessie said. She nodded toward the gift shop, remembering something she had seen. Meeting the kangaroos had given her an idea.

  After Jessie stopped at the gift shop, they thanked Laura for her help and hurried to catch the ferry back to Cape Jervis. While they were on the ferry, Jessie called Trudy to tell her they had found the owner of the fifth Reddimus artifact. Trudy didn’t pick up the phone, so Jessie left a message. The time difference between Australia and the United States was big, so Trudy was probably asleep. She wouldn’t get the message until she woke up.

  When they got off the ferry, the Aldens caught their bus and were headed back to the Adelaide airport. Emilio and Mr. Ganert were waiting for them. Both looked eager to know where they were going next.

  “Victoria,” Henry said. He did not tell them the address, though. The Aldens had agreed on the bus that they would go to the dingo sanctuary on their own. What a relief it would be if they could return the coin without running into Anna Argent!

  They went up the stairs to the plane with Emilio and Mr. Ganert.

  “Anywhere in particular in Victoria?” Emilio asked. “It’s a large state…”

  “I think Melbourne will be fine,” Henry said. “We’ll have a lot of options for transportation from there.”

  “Still not sure where the box is going, eh?” Mr. Ganert asked. He sounded annoyed. “I knew it was silly to trust this delivery to children.”

  “Now, now, that’s not fair,” said Emilio. “These riddles Tricia Silverton has left are clever. I don’t know that you or I could do any better!” Then to the Aldens, he said, “Just let us know how we can help, all right?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Jessie said. She took her hand off the handrail to close her notebook, but…“Oh—!”

  Henry and Violet caught Jessie’s arms as she accidentally tripped on the top step. She caught the handrail but dropped her notebook. It fell open in front of Emilio and Mr. Ganert, still open to the page with the address of Ned Webb’s dingo sanctuary!

  “Are you okay?” Emilio asked. He picked up the notebook and handed to her. “Here you go.”

  “Yes, I’m fine,” Jessie said, closing the notebook and holding it firmly. Her heart was beating fast. Had they seen the address? She glanced at Henry and Violet as they took their seats in the cabin. Mr. Ganert said nothing before ducking into the cockpit. Emilio whistled to himself and gave them a little salute.

  “See you in Melbourne,” he said.

  After both pilots were in the cockpit preparing for takeoff, Jessie let out a little sigh.

  “I can’t believe I dropped the notebook!” she said.

  “It’s okay,” Aunt Jane assured her. “I would rather you dropped the notebook than fell down the stairs and got hurt. It will be fine.”

  “Aunt Jane’s right,” Henry agreed. “Remember? This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve known where we were going.”

  Jessie took a few breaths and calmed herself down. Henry was right. They already knew Anna Argent had followed them to Sydney. It seemed like only a matter of time before she showed up. That was the whole reason Jessie was working on a backup plan of her own. She relaxed as the jet took off, launching into the air.

  “Well, I just hope Anna likes dingoes,” she said.

  Dingoes on the Loose!

  When they reached Melbourne, the Aldens found a bus that would take them to the Webb Dingo Sanctuary. Emilio suggested that they rent a car and offered to drive. But Henry insisted they had enjoyed traveling by bus from Adelaide. Emilio did not argue and instead wished them safe travels.

  It was true that traveling by bus was fun. The seats were large and comfortable, and the windows were big, which made watching the landscape easy. The bus took them north from Melbourne. The ride was a couple of hours, so they had plenty of time to tell Aunt Jane more about their adventures. Even though they were nervous that their pilots had seen the address and that the Argents might follow them, Aunt Jane didn’t seem worried. She asked questions about their travels and wanted to hear every last detail. When the bus neared their stop, they had almost forgotten about their worries.

  “Here we are. This is it,” Aunt Jane said, looking at the street signs and comparing them to the bus map she had taken from the station. “Time for us to get off.”

  They exited the bus and looked around. They stood on a quiet road bordered on one side with a line of trees. A sign for the Webb Dingo Sanctuary was across the road. They had made it!

  They followed a dirt road up to a ranch home surrounded by trees. They could hear barks and playful yips coming from around the back of the ranch, where they could see a fenced-in backyard. Benny wanted to take a look, but Aunt Jane reminded him it wasn’t polite to go peeking into other people’s property. Instead they went to the front porch, where there was a door into a visitor office. It reminded Jessie a little bit of the friendly veterinarian clinic they took Watch to for his yearly checkups. A white cockatoo was sitting on a perch on the front desk. He whistled and said, “Hello!” when they walked in.

  “Hello!” Henry greeted. The woman at the desk smiled.

  “Hello, did you have an appointment?” she asked. “I’m Dr. Webb’s assistant.”

  “Hello!” said the cockatoo again. Benny giggled.

  “No, we don’t have an appointment,” Henry replied. “But we were hoping to speak with Dr. Webb. Is he available?”

  “I think he’s out back feeding the pups,” said the woman. “I’ll go check. Please have a seat and make yourselves at home.”

  While the woman went to find Dr. Webb, Benny and Violet played with the cockatoo. He said other things besides “Hello.” He also said “Snack time!” and mimicked the sound of a dingo barking. On the walls of the lobby were many photographs of dingoes. Some were puppies. Others had casts on their legs or bandages.

  “This must be
where people take dingoes if they find them hurt,” Jessie said. “Look, here’s a newspaper article. It says Dr. Webb took care of a dingo after it was hit by a car.”

  “It’s good that the wild animals have someone to take care of them when they need help,” Henry said. Then Dr. Webb’s assistant came back into the room.

  “Dr. Webb can see you in the yard,” she said with a friendly smile. “Are any of you allergic to dogs?”

  “Nope,” Benny said as they followed her down a hallway to the back of the ranch. “We have a dog back home in the United States. His name is Watch.”

  “What a wonderful name,” said the assistant. “Is he a good watchdog?”

  “Yes!” Benny said excitedly.

  They all chuckled. The hallway took them through some indoor kennels. It ended at a doorway that went out into the backyard. The yard was large and fenced in. Playing in the yard were many dingoes. They were playing with sticks and rope toys and balls. Most of them were golden and yellow, but a couple were black.

  The dingoes barked and yipped when they saw the visitors. Some of the puppies ran up to Dr. Webb’s assistant, and she gave them treats from her pockets.

  A man was sitting on the ground near some water dishes that looked like regular dog bowls. He was holding a dingo puppy and brushing its teeth. The puppy didn’t seem to like having its teeth brushed. It squirmed around, but the man was patient and gentle. Eventually he finished and let the puppy go. It bounded away to play with its brothers and sisters.

  “Oh,” said the man, standing up. He came over to meet his visitors. His bottom was still covered in dirt and twigs from the ground. “I didn’t see you there! Mimi, I didn’t know we had guests!”

  “I told you about five minutes ago!” Mimi said. It sounded like she was used to his forgetfulness. “This is Dr. Webb.”

  “Hello, I’m Henry,” Henry said. He also introduced his siblings and Aunt Jane.

  “Very nice to meet you all,” said Dr. Webb. He adjusted his glasses and looked at the children one at a time. “What can I do for you? Did you come on a school field trip? Would you like to learn about the dingoes?”

  “The dingoes are wonderful, but we actually have something else to talk to you about,” Jessie said.

  “Oh my, it sounds important,” said Dr. Webb. “Let’s go into my office.” The Aldens followed Dr. Webb back inside.

  Jessie expected Dr. Webb’s office to look like a professor’s office or maybe a veterinarian’s office. Instead it was cluttered and messy, more like someone’s living room. There was a couch that looked like it had been chewed on by a dingo, and books and papers were scattered all about. It did have a desk, though, stacked with folders and books and framed photographs of dingoes.

  “Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?” asked Dr. Webb. On cue, Henry took out the Reddimus box that held the coin. He opened the box and showed Dr. Webb. When he saw the coin, Dr. Webb let out a gasp.

  “Oh my! Could it be?” he exclaimed. He held up the coin and looked at it through his spectacles. “Holey dollar!”

  “Is that like ‘holy smokes?’” Benny asked.

  “No, no!” explained Dr. Webb. “Holey dollar is what this is! It’s a silver dollar with a hole in it. These are very rare. There were only forty thousand made and probably only three hundred left in the world!”

  “Maybe you could tell us why it has that hole in it?” Violet asked. “We found out it was a Spanish dollar, but we’ve never seen one with a hole!”

  Dr. Webb nodded enthusiastically. He was grinning ear to ear.

  “Oh yes. Certainly. You see, Australia didn’t have its own money for a long time. They used the currencies of other countries. But they wanted to have their own. So they ordered Spanish silver dollars and punched holes in them. The outside part with the hole was worth fifteen pence—a pence is kind of like a penny—and the coin that came out of the middle was worth five shillings, which was about twenty-five pence.”

  “Like a quarter?” Henry asked.

  “Yes. Except they don’t use shillings anymore, so you’d have to figure in the currency conversion from the time…” Dr. Webb trailed off and adjusted his glasses.

  “They made two coins out of one,” Henry said thoughtfully. “And I suppose if there was a hole in the middle, the Spanish dollar couldn’t be used in Spain any longer.”

  “Precisely. Of course, this didn’t last long. They created the holey dollars in 1813, but in 1825 the British government changed all that…” Dr. Webb trailed off again. “Oh, but that’s a story for another time. In any case, this is wonderful. Very wonderful. You see, aside from running the dingo sanctuary, I’m a coin collector. The museum in Sydney asked me to verify this coin was authentic. They shipped it to me, but it went missing in the mail. It’s so good to know it’s safe and sound.”

  “We should let you know that someone might try to steal it,” Henry said. “There is a group who has been trying to steal all the artifacts we’re supposed to return. It’s probably a good idea to bring it to the museum as soon as you can.”

  “No worries, my friend!” said Dr. Webb with a smile. “Out here there’s nothing to worry about. The dingoes will bark if they see anything suspicious. Ha ha! They also bark if they see anything fun or exciting! Oh, and some of them bark when they’re hungry.”

  “They’re even barking right now,” Violet said.

  Indeed, the dingoes were barking. It sounded like excitement and fun, the way Watch would bark when he saw Benny pick up his favorite tennis ball. He knew that meant it was time to play.

  The sounds of the barking grew fainter, and Violet frowned.

  “Doesn’t it sound like they’re going farther and farther from the yard?” she asked.

  Dr. Webb tilted his head.

  “Yes, it does, a bit,” he said. “Let’s go see what’s going on out there.”

  Henry, Violet, Benny, and Aunt Jane went with Dr. Webb out to the yard where they found all the dingoes were running around, outside the pen. Someone had opened the gate! Mimi was holding one of the puppies and trying to call the others back to the pen, but the dingoes were having too much fun romping and running beyond the yard. Some of them thought Mimi was playing a game of tag with them. Jessie came out a moment later and gasped at the sight of all the dingoes running loose.

  “Dr. Webb!” cried Mimi. “You have to help me call them back! They might listen to you.”

  Dr. Webb rolled his sleeves up and nodded. He put a finger in his mouth and made a loud whistle. One of the dingoes came running back with his tail wagging, but the others were busy chewing on sticks and rolling in the grass.

  “I guess we will have to do this the old-fashioned way! Violet, you and Benny stand near the gate. When the dingoes come back to the yard, open the gate for them, but then close it after so they don’t get back out. Henry, Jessie, and I will go chase the others down. Mimi, would you get some of the special treats from inside?”

  Mimi went to get the treats while Henry and Jessie trotted out of the pen. At least two dozen dingoes frolicked in the lightly wooded area outside the yard. It looked like all the dingoes were having a great time playing. A couple of dingoes smelled the special treats and ran to Henry and Jessie when they called. After they came back into the yard, Violet and Benny gave them the treats for being well behaved. Then they carefully latched the gate so they couldn’t escape again.

  Some of the dingoes were more interested in playing tag with Dr. Webb. They wagged their tails and let him come close, but then they ran away at the last second. Jessie could swear the dingoes had a sense of humor and were having fun teasing them.

  Eventually, they managed to corral the dingoes back into the pen. Dr. Webb counted them to make sure every one had been found.

  “Sometimes this happens,” he admitted. “The gate doesn’t latch very well and falls open. The dingoes like to run around outside the yard just because it’s a game to them. But I always make sure we have everyone back at the end of
the day. I wouldn’t want any of the dingoes to run too close to the road. It could be dangerous for them.”

  All the dingoes had come back, so Mimi locked the gate to make sure it would stay shut.

  “But who opened the gate to begin with?” Mimi asked. “When it has come open before, it’s been by accident because it wasn’t latched all the way. But I know for sure I latched it properly today. It couldn’t have opened by accident.”

  “And look at that,” said Benny, pointing down at the path. There was a footprint in the dirt that didn’t match the footprints left by the children, Dr. Webb, or Mimi. “Doesn’t that look like a sneaker?”

  It had taken at least half an hour to find all the dingoes and call them back to the yard. The gate might have been opened so that everyone would be busy finding the dingoes. No one would have been inside to keep an eye on things—including the box.

  The Aldens exchanged glances. They knew who might do such a thing: the same person who wore sneakers that matched the footprint by the gate.

  “Anna Argent!” they said at the same time.

  “Quickly, Dr. Webb,” Henry said. “We need to be sure the holey dollar is safe. This might have been a distraction by the people who are trying to steal it!”

  “Oh, dear!” said Dr. Webb.

  They hurried back to Dr. Webb’s office. Inside, it was hard to tell because it had already been very messy, but it looked as if someone had been there. Some of the books had been knocked off the desk and were on the ground, and the window was open where it had been closed before. Most important, the Reddimus box on the desk was open. There was nothing inside.

  “Oh, no!” Dr. Webb exclaimed. “Someone stole the holey dollar!”

  Owls and Penguins

  Dr. Webb started searching under all the books and papers and research. Henry, Violet, and Benny tried to help, but there was no sign of the coin. “How will we find her? Anna Argent could have gone anywhere by now,” Aunt Jane said. “Has this happened before?”

  “Yes, once at Stonehenge,” Henry said. “But Anna dropped the artifact by accident, and we were able to get it back. Jessie, aren’t you going to help us look?”