Mystery Ranch

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “I don’t feel like playing with you today,” she said. “Go right back to the kitchen!”

  Without a sound, Watch started for the kitchen. Then he turned and looked at Violet.

  Violet said, “You’re a nice dog, Watch, and I love you. But Aunt Jane said for you to go back to the kitchen.”

  Watch gave them both a look and turned sadly to go. His tail did not wag.

  “Never mind!” cried Aunt Jane. “Come back! You can stay! I never saw a dog that minds as well as you do. Come here if you want.”

  Watch almost jumped across the room. He put his paws up on the white bed.

  “No!” said Violet.

  “Yes!” said Aunt Jane.

  “We never let Watch get up on the beds,” said Violet softly.

  “I always let my dog lie on my bed,” said Aunt Jane.

  Watch looked first at one and then at the other.

  “Up!” said Aunt Jane.

  Watch gave a great jump and landed on the other side of the little lady. He lay down and put his head on his paws. He was not sure that he had done the right thing. He kept looking at Violet.

  Violet was watching her aunt smile at Watch. She was sure that Watch had done the right thing.

  CHAPTER 9

  The Yellow Stones

  Now that the children were together, they were very happy. Aunt Jane seemed to be getting more cheerful every day.

  One morning Jessie heard her aunt call her.

  “I want to see all four of you children,” Aunt Jane told Jessie. “Get the others in here before I am tired again.”

  In a few minutes, the children were sitting in their aunt’s room. Watch lay down at Jessie’s feet and put his head on his paws. Only his eyes moved. He was very still.

  “Now I want you to listen carefully,” said Aunt Jane, looking at each of them in turn. “What I have to say is very important.”

  Since the children couldn’t be more quiet than they already were, they sat and waited for her to go on.

  “I’m going to give you children this ranch. No, don’t say a word! You are the only relatives I have. You seem to be good children, and you have been kind to me.”

  The children were too surprised to say anything.

  “I know you are not old enough to manage the ranch alone,” she said, “so I’m going to bring Sam Weeks into it. He will manage the ranch for you. Mr. Pond, who handles my business, says that will be all right. Now, what have you to say to that?”

  Henry was the first to speak. “We’re too surprised to say much, Aunt Jane! It’s wonderful!”

  Watch got up and went over to the bed. He sat down and held out his paw. Aunt Jane took his paw and said, “I see you think this is a good idea. If Watch thinks that, I am sure it must be true.”

  She patted the dog and went on, “The ranch is yours from this minute. All I have to do is write my name when Mr. Pond brings the papers. I want my ranch to belong to people who love it. That’s why I wouldn’t sell it to those three men.”

  The four children said “thank you” very softly, as they left.

  “The only thing about this that I don’t like is Grandfather,” Benny said. He threw himself down on the grass.

  “You said that wrong, old fellow,” said Henry. “But we know what you mean. It leaves Grandfather out.”

  “I believe some day Aunt Jane will like him,” said Violet, “and he will like her.”

  “I hope so,” said Jessie.

  They sat on the grass and looked at their ranch. The driveway came to the back door. It went past the windmill, past the barn, and then out again to the road. They could see woods and mountains. They could see the long chicken houses from where they were sitting.

  “Who were the men Aunt Jane was talking about?” asked Henry.

  “Three men came while we were buying groceries,” Violet answered. “They tried to make Aunt Jane sell the ranch to them.”

  “She probably needed the money,” said Henry. “But I’m glad she gave the ranch to us instead of selling it. I hope she won’t be sorry.”

  Benny said thoughtfully, “I think we ought to explore right away. If this is our ranch, we should know everything that’s on it.”

  Jessie said, “Well, we could explore today. Let’s ask Aunt Jane where to go.”

  The cross little lady was very pleased when the children asked her about their walk. No one had asked her advice for years.

  “The first thing is, don’t get lost. Go down past the chicken houses and you will come to some woods. Go through the woods and you come to an open field. There is a stream. Follow that stream and you’ll come right back home.”

  Benny said, “I think we should take a lunch, don’t you, Aunt Jane?”

  “By all means,” said Aunt Jane, trying to hide a smile.

  It was very hot in the sun. The children went down past the chicken houses. They came to the cool, green woods.

  “It’s a beautiful place,” said Henry.

  “A very nice place to eat lunch, too,” said Benny.

  The others laughed. But they were always hungry. They found a place where they could sit down. It was quiet and cool. Jessie was eating the last of her sandwich when she stopped, suddenly.

  “Look, Henry!” she whispered. She pointed to some bushes not far away. “There’s a little hut.”

  Henry got to his feet quickly. “The door is open,” he said. “It seems to be empty.”

  The children went slowly toward the hut. There was nothing in it. But in front of it, there was a fireplace made of stones, almost hidden by the bushes. Henry put his hand down and felt the stones. Watch sniffed and wagged his tail.

  “Well, let’s be going,” said Henry. “It looks to me as if someone built a fire here, and not too long ago, either.”

  The children walked faster now. Soon they came out in a big field filled with rocks and stones.

  “There’s no grass here,” said Benny. “This field isn’t very good, I would say.”

  “But it’s very pretty,” said Violet. “See the yellow and black lines in those rocks.”

  “These stones are yellow, too,” said Jessie. She picked up a handful of the stones. As she dropped one, it broke into a fine yellow powder.

  “They seem to be made of yellow sand,” said Henry. “How queer!”

  CHAPTER 10

  A Big Present

  When Sam came with the milk next day, he was surprised to see all four children on the back steps. They were waiting for him.

  “Well, well! Early birds!” he said. “Why did you get up so early?”

  “We wanted to see you, Sam,” said Henry.

  “Here I am, but I’m not much to look at,” laughed Sam.

  “Yes you are, Sam,” said Benny. “I think you are a very fine looking man. And besides, we want to talk to you.”

  “Wait until I feed the chickens, and I’ll be glad to sit down and talk.”

  The children went with Sam to the chicken houses and watched him.

  “We want to know just how you do things,” said Jessie. “So please show us.”

  Sam was glad to show them how to feed the chickens, give them water, and get the eggs.

  In a little while, they were all sitting on boxes in the big open door of the barn.

  Henry spoke up, “Aunt Jane says she is going to give us this ranch.”

  “Give you her ranch?” cried Sam. He could not believe his ears. “You are too young to own a ranch.”

  “Mr. Pond says we aren’t, if you would be our boss,” said Benny.

  “Mr. Pond?” asked Sam. “Did he come here?”

  “No, but he wrote letters to Aunt Jane,” said Henry. “He knows about things like that, Aunt Jane says.”

  “He would know. But I still can’t believe it.”

  Sam shook his head. “Just the same,” he went on, “I’d like to have a chance to fix up this old place! Now, if we had some money, I could start a good egg business for you.”

  Sam stopp
ed and shook his head again. “But I still can’t believe it,” he said.

  “You’ll just have to believe it, Sam,” said Henry. “Aunt Jane said the ranch is ours right now. All she has to do is sign some papers.”

  Sam picked a blade of grass and chewed on it. He was upset at this strange news.

  “What would we do after we got the egg business started?” asked Jessie.

  “Well, I’d raise wheat. There are about five hundred acres on this ranch that would grow wheat.”

  “How big is this ranch?” asked Henry.

  “The fields go way over to the mountains. Your aunt owns all that land.”

  “We never thought anything like this would happen when we came to see Aunt Jane,” said Jessie.

  The children and Sam sat looking at the big ranch that would soon be theirs.

  “There’s another surprise!” Sam said. “I’ve seen your Mystery Man!”

  “Oh, where is he?” asked Jessie.

  “He is still in town, but no one knows why. We never have strangers in Centerville, and everyone wonders why he is there.”

  “Haven’t you any police in Centerville?” asked Henry. “I think this man ought to be watched.”

  “Oh, no, Henry,” said Jessie quickly. “If you ever saw him, you wouldn’t think that!”

  “Well, we never had a policeman here, anyway,” said Sam. “No need of one. But there is a sheriff in Stony Creek. That’s the next town. His name is Bates.”

  “Look what’s coming!” cried Benny. “A car!”

  “It’s Mr. Pond, sure as I live!” said Sam. “I guess this story of yours must be true.”

  “Mr. Pond is certainly early,” said Jessie, laughing. “We haven’t had breakfast.”

  Watch got to his feet and stood still, looking at the stranger. Then he began to wag his tail a very little.

  “Good morning, Sam!” called Mr. Pond. He came slowly toward the barn.

  Watch did not bark. He walked slowly toward the strange man, wagging his tail more and more.

  “Well, hello. What’s your name?” Mr. Pond asked the dog. “Are you a good dog?”

  Benny said, “His name is Watch, and he is a very good dog. But he almost always barks at strangers.”

  “Well, see that you don’t bark at me, old boy,” said Mr. Pond. He patted Watch. Then he looked at the children with a nice smile.

  “Your aunt sent for me,” he said. “Suppose we go in and get this business done. You come too, Sam. Miss Jane doesn’t like to wait, when she has made up her mind.”

  Henry said, “Will you wait just a minute, Mr. Pond? We want to talk to you before we see Aunt Jane.”

  Mr. Pond said, “I suppose you are Henry.”

  “Yes, sir. I am. We’d love to have this ranch. But it’s all Aunt Jane has, and we don’t want to take it away from her. Do you understand?”

  “That’s very fine,” said Mr. Pond, nodding. “I can fix that easily. I can add a line saying that the money you get from the ranch will be used to take care of your aunt as long as she lives. Is that what you mean?”

  “We’ll feel better that way,” said Jessie. “Of course, we would do it anyway. But it’s nice to have it in writing.”

  They walked to the house where Maggie met them at the door.

  “I am glad to see you, Mr. Pond,” she said. “Jane can’t wait a minute when she wants anything. She keeps asking why you haven’t come.”

  “It won’t take very long,” said Mr. Pond, with a nice smile for Maggie. “I have all the papers right here with me. I’ll just put in another line that Henry wants.”

  As Mr. Pond promised, it did not take long. Aunt Jane wrote her name. The four children wrote their names. Sam wrote his. And Mr. Pond was last.

  In ten minutes, the ranch was owned by the four Alden children. Sam Weeks was the manager.

  “Isn’t it funny,” said Benny, “what you can do by just writing your name?”

  Mr. Pond laughed. “It gave you children twelve hundred and eighty acres of land, and a big ranch house.”

  “And a hut, too,” said Benny, “where someone has been staying.”

  “What? What’s that?” asked Aunt Jane. “I didn’t know there was a hut on my land.”

  “We didn’t want to worry you,” said Henry. “But we did find a hut in the woods. And it looks as if somebody built a fire there.”

  “We didn’t see anyone, though,” said Jessie.

  Mr. Pond looked very serious. Then he smiled and said, “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Now, you eat your breakfast and let me talk to Sam.”

  The two men went out. They stood by the car for a long time talking, while Jessie got breakfast. She would have been surprised if she had known what they were saying. She would have been excited, too. For they were not talking about the ranch, but about the man on the train and the hut in the woods.

  Jessie fixed a breakfast tray and took it into her aunt’s room. This morning Jessie did not ask her aunt to eat. She just put the tray down in front of the little woman. Miss Alden ate bacon and toast and an egg without saying a cross word.

  “Aunt Jane,” said Jessie, “You’ll never be sorry that you gave us your ranch. We love it. We will take care of it. We love you, too, and we will always take care of you, even after we go home.”

  Aunt Jane sighed. No one had ever wanted to take care of her before. She looked very happy.

  “I feel safe, now,” she said. “I know that my ranch will be taken care of by people who love it.”

  CHAPTER 11

  A Strange Offer

  That night Henry did not sleep very well. He kept thinking of the men who had tried to buy Aunt Jane’s ranch. He decided to talk with Jessie alone.

  But it was not easy for the older children to get away from Benny. He wanted to do first one thing and then another. Finally he wanted to go to the barn to see the horse.

  “It’s our horse, after all,” said Benny. “We ought to get acquainted with our own horse.”

  Watch began to bark when Violet let him out the back door.

  “Bark all you want to, Watchie!” shouted Benny. “Nobody can hear you, and I’ll yell, too!”

  After a few good yells, Benny started toward the barn. All the children followed. Watch ran around the old barn looking for mice. The black horse stood looking at them all.

  “What’s our horse’s name?” asked Benny.

  “Maggie says he hasn’t any name,” said Jessie. “She just says, ‘Go on, old boy.’”

  “Old Boy isn’t a good name,” said Benny. “Let’s call him Snowball.”

  Everyone laughed. The thin old horse was black all over! But from then on, Old Boy was called Snowball.

  “Come on, Watch,” said Benny at last. “Let’s go upstairs where the hay is. Maybe you’ll find a rat!”

  Violet followed Benny and this gave Henry his chance. He winked at Jessie who followed him outside at once.

  “Look, Jessie,” whispered Henry. “I don’t like the idea of strange men bothering Aunt Jane.”

  “Neither do I,” said Jessie softly. “The men told her the ranch was no good. Just a few chickens and an old horse.”

  “That’s it,” cried Henry. “If the ranch is no good, why do they want to buy it? I think I ought to do something about this.”

  “Tell Sam,” advised Jessie.

  “I’ll do better than that,” said Henry at last. “I’ll tell Sam to tell Mr. Pond. Mr. Pond seems to know everything.”

  After they had told their troubles to Sam, the older children felt better. They were pleased when they saw Sam start for Mr. Pond’s house.

  In a very short time, Mr. Pond’s car came up the driveway. Sam was with him. They were both very serious.

  “Sam and I want to see that hut in the woods,” Mr. Pond said. “Will you take us there?”

  “Sure,” said Henry. “We know exactly where it is.”

  “Let’s all go,” cried Benny.

  Jessie went to the front hal
l and told Maggie where they were going.

  “Don’t tell Aunt Jane that we are going back to that hut. It would worry her. Just say we went for a walk. We will be back in time for dinner.”

  Jessie saw the others half way to the chicken house. She hurried to catch up with them. They walked faster this time, because they knew just where they were going. They soon came to the hut.

  “Be quiet, now,” whispered Sam, “We want to see if anyone is here.”

  The children sat down in the woods.

  “Is there anything different about the hut?” whispered Mr. Pond.

  “Yes,” whispered Henry. “There is some wood in the fireplace. It wasn’t there the other time.”

  They sat very still for a long time. They heard nothing. They saw nothing new.

  “Well,” said Mr. Pond at last, “we might sit here all day for nothing. Let’s take a close look at the hut.”

  They walked over to the hut. Sam put his hand on the stones of the fireplace.

  “Warm!” he said.

  They all felt the stones. They were very warm. The fire had not been out very long.

  “Well, someone surely stays here,” said Mr. Pond. He seemed worried.

  “Do you suppose it’s your Mystery Man?” asked Benny.

  “Goodness no!” Jessie answered. “He’s much too nice to live in a hut on somebody else’s land.”

  They walked out of the woods and into the field full of rocks.

  “Aren’t these rocks funny?” said Violet. “I never saw such yellow rocks. And look at the black lines across them!”

  “Like a tiger,” said Benny.

  Henry looked again at the rocks. He seemed to be deep in thought.

  “Now what is it they make me think of?” he said to himself. “Umm, yellow with black lines. … I have seen something about that somewhere. …”

  “Do you know the name of these yellow stones, Mr. Pond?” asked Violet. She picked one up and gave it to him.

  “No, I don’t know much about stones,” he said. “This yellowish rock makes a fine powder. I know that Indians long ago used it for their sand paintings.”