The Khipu and the Final Key

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “Oh yes! My family is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I came here to study cooking. Ah, this dulce de leche is a brand I remember from back home. It makes me miss being there.”

  “Argentina. That’s in South America,” said Violet.

  “It’s also the last continent we haven’t visited,” said Henry. “It makes sense that it would be our last destination.”

  “You need to figure out your destination using this treat as a clue?” asked the chef. Now that he understood, he looked at the jar more closely.

  “Yes, this was our only clue,” said Henry. “Argentina is a great start. But still, it’s a big country. We don’t know where in Argentina we need to go.”

  “Ah, what’s this?” asked the chef. He had noticed the little tag on the jar. “‘Fair winds.’ Oh, my heart. It really does remind me of home!”

  “You know what that means?” asked Benny.

  The chef smiled widely.

  “Of course! In Spanish, Buenos Aires means ‘fair winds.’ Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina. If I could send you one place in the country, that is the place I would send you. It’s a lively, beautiful place.”

  The news was the best way to start the day. The Aldens exchanged glances of excitement and relief.

  “You know what this means?” Henry asked.

  “Buenos Aires!” Benny exclaimed. “We’re going to Buenos Aires!”

  An Unexpected Arrival

  The Aldens finished breakfast and took a shuttle to the airport, where they met Emilio and Mr. Ganert. The Reddimus jet was sleek and shiny, parked on a private runway. It gleamed in the morning sun.

  “The jet must have gotten a bath while we were in Antarctica! It’s so shimmery!” Violet said.

  Both of the pilots were waiting on board. They stood at attention and listened eagerly as the Aldens revealed that their next destination was Buenos Aires.

  “Great news!” said Emilio. “We were worried when the clue turned up and we didn’t hear from you about the next stop.”

  Mr. Ganert was more grumpy than usual. Normally he said one or two things when they announced their next journey, but today he didn’t say a single word. Once he knew where they were going, he disappeared into the cockpit.

  “He’s been in a foul mood all morning,” Emilio said when Mr. Ganert was gone. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

  The jet rumbled to life as Mr. Ganert started up the engines. Henry glanced toward the cockpit door, which Mr. Ganert had closed behind him. Between the sound of the engines and the closed door, he was sure Mr. Ganert wouldn’t be able to hear them. He motioned for Emilio to come closer. The four Aldens and Emilio huddled in the cabin of the jet and whispered.

  “We found out last night that Mr. Ganert is an Argent spy,” Henry told Emilio.

  Emilio raised his eyebrows and started to smile, as if he thought it might be a joke, but when he saw the serious faces of the Alden children, his smile went away and he nodded.

  “Those messages last night—you sent them, didn’t you? It was part of a test, to see which of us is a spy. You children are very clever! I have to say, I was wondering why you seemed to be holding out on me for the past few days. I’m sorry that I gave you any cause for suspicion, but I’m glad you’ve figured out it was Mr. Ganert. That would explain why he’s been acting so strangely…and why he’s so grumpy now! You’ve found him out, and he knows it.”

  “We called Trudy and told her, but she said that it’s urgent that we return the last Reddimus artifact right away,” explained Jessie. “She said there’s no time to find another pilot. So in the meantime, please help us do whatever we can to return the last artifact.”

  Emilio nodded.

  “You can count on me,” he assured them. “Now, I ought to go be a proper copilot. I’ll make sure we fly to Buenos Aires at double-time, and I’ll keep an eye on Mr. Ganert.”

  The Aldens took their seats as the jet taxied to the runway. In a few minutes, they were in the air, watching Christchurch grow smaller and smaller behind them.

  “My tummy doesn’t feel so good,” Benny said.

  “It’s from all the dulce de leche you’ve been sneaking from the jar all morning!” Violet laughed.

  “Oooof!” groaned Benny.

  “Benny, why don’t you try to take a nap,” suggested Jessie. “We were up late last night. It would be good for us all to get some rest.”

  Henry stretched out on one chair he had converted into a small bed. Most airplane cabins were not large enough for the chairs to turn into beds, but the Reddimus Society had made sure the Aldens traveled comfortably. After all, they had seen six of the world’s seven continents since they had left their home in Greenfield, Connecticut.

  “When we reach Buenos Aires, we will have a lot to take care of,” Henry said. “Even if Emilio can keep Mr. Ganert out of our hair, we’re still going to need to figure out how to open the last Reddimus box and find out where we’re taking whatever’s inside.”

  “And return it!” said Benny.

  “I’m surprised we haven’t received the clue about how to open the next box yet,” said Violet. “I hope we get it soon.”

  The flight from New Zealand to Buenos Aires was a long one—almost fifteen hours cutting straight across the Southern Ocean. There wasn’t much to look at out the windows except for endless ocean, so the Aldens napped and took turns reading about Argentina on Jessie’s laptop.

  Jessie had started studying Spanish in school, so she spent her turn on the Internet refreshing her memory. She looked up important phrases, like how to ask for directions and say “please” and “thank you.” Buenos Aires was a big, busy city, and they would need to find their way safely on their own. Especially if they would be exploring without one of the pilots, the more Spanish Jessie remembered, the better.

  Like New Zealand, Argentina was a country in the Southern Hemisphere. That meant while it was spring in back in Connecticut, it was fall in Argentina. Still, the day was warm and bright when the Aldens arrived. As the children got ready to leave the plane, they were surprised to see Mr. Ganert come out from the cockpit.

  “I will accompany you this time,” he said. “I’ve never come out on your trips, and I’ve wanted to see Buenos Aires for some time.”

  The Aldens were quiet. They stood halfway down the steps that led from the jet to the tarmac. Even Henry didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want Mr. Ganert to come with them, but how could he say so without sounding rude?

  Emilio hurried out, just in time.

  “Oh, Mr. Ganert!” he exclaimed. “There’s a light flashing in the cockpit that I don’t understand. Could you come inside and help me figure it out?”

  “A flashing light?” Mr. Ganert asked, arching a brow. “Just a moment, children. I’ll be right back.”

  As Mr. Ganert went back into the jet, Emilio winked and waved at them. The Aldens nodded and hurried off. By the time Mr. Ganert came back to the stairway, they would be too far for him to catch up.

  Whenever the Aldens had arrived somewhere on their journey, someone had always been waiting to meet them and help them check in with their passports. This time no one was waiting, so they would have to do it themselves. Henry took the lead. He had watched closely all the times before. He walked up to the airport security agent, making sure he had all their passports ready.

  “Hello, welcome to Buenos Aires,” said the attendant in English when he saw that the Aldens had US passports. “What is the intent of your visit, and how long will you be staying?”

  “We’re here on vacation and hoping to return an item that was left with us,” explained Henry. “We’re not planning to stay longer than a couple days.”

  The attendant nodded and looked through their passports and their tickets.

  “Oh, I see you’re flying with the Reddimus Society,” he said. “Very good. Please enjoy your stay in Argentina!”

  The attendant stamped their passports and waved them through. Henry returned ev
eryone’s passports and followed the signs to exit the bustling airport.

  “The first thing we need to do is find a place to stay while we wait for the next clue,” he said.

  “All the other times, the hotels were booked and ready for us when we landed,” Benny said. “Do you think we’ll be able to book a hotel on our own?”

  “It is strange that no one was here to meet us,” Jessie said. She squeezed Benny’s hand. “But we were able to check in on our own. We’ve learned a lot about travel since we started this trip.”

  Benny nodded and squeezed back. Henry paused at the information desk near one of the airport exits. There were many grand hotels advertised there, and he took his time looking through them.

  “We’ll want one near the airport, but also, the artifact probably has something to do with history. So it’ll be good if we’re close to the city center, where all the museums are. At the very least, it’ll make research easier if we need to look anything up.”

  “There are so many restaurants and sights to see!” Violet said, picking out one of the pamphlets and reading through it. She showed Benny the colorful photos of elegant tango dancers. “I think we’ll have a fun time here!”

  Just then, a man approached them, weaving his way through the crowd of travelers. He had an envelope, which he pushed into Jessie’s hands before quickly disappearing into the crowd again.

  “What just happened?” Henry asked. “Was that a messenger?”

  Jessie flipped over the envelope. The flap was sealed with an owl sticker. The owl was the symbol of the Reddimus Society and a sign that the message was about the artifact they were trying to return.

  “It has the Reddimus owl on it, but that was a weird way to deliver it,” Jessie said.

  “It is strange, but let’s open it and see what it says,” Henry suggested.

  Jessie opened the envelope. Inside was a strip of paper with letters on it, but none of the words made any sense:

  !YRRUH .SEDNARG SANILAS EHT OT RAC A TNER .ATLAS OT OG

  Jessie passed it around so everyone had a chance to look.

  “The exclamation point is at the start,” Benny pointed out. “It should be at the end.”

  Benny’s observation gave Violet an idea.

  “Y-R-R-U-H is HURRY written backward,” she said. She took out a pencil and handed it to Jessie. “Let’s see if the whole thing is a message written backward.”

  Jessie took the pencil, and Violet read the letters to her in reverse order. A minute later, they had reordered all the letters. The new message read:

  GO TO SALTA. RENT A CAR TO THE SALINAS GRANDES. HURRY!

  “Rent a car?” Henry asked. “But none of us can drive!”

  Jessie sighed. “What are we going to do? We could call a taxi, but we don’t know what the Salinas Grandes is or how far it is from here. Not to mention the fact that we haven’t exchanged our money yet, so we wouldn’t be able to pay the driver!”

  Benny’s ears perked when a voice came over the airport speaker system. The voice had been making announcements in different languages the entire time they had been in the airport, but this time a message in English caught his attention.

  “Will Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny please come to the information booth in Terminal A, Gate Two.”

  Benny pointed toward the ceiling to get everyone to listen. The message repeated once more.

  “That’s us!” he exclaimed, tugging Henry’s sleeve. “Terminal A, Gate Two. Maybe it’ll be someone to drive us to Salinas Grandes!”

  “I hope so,” Henry said as they started looking for Terminal A. “It’s pretty hard for us to hurry without a way to get anywhere!”

  The airport was not too big, and they found Gate Two in Terminal A by following the signs. Waiting at the information desk was a familiar man. Though he was nearly sixty years old, his dark brown hair didn’t have a strand of gray. When the Aldens recognized him, they ran to greet him.

  “Grandfather!” they all cried at once.

  Grandfather hugged them all tightly.

  “Henry, Jessie, Violet, Benny!” he exclaimed. “Hello there!”

  “What are you doing here, Grandfather?” Benny asked.

  “Trudy told me about what’s been going on with Mr. Ganert and everything,” Grandfather replied. “When you figured out you were going to Buenos Aires, Trudy and I thought it was a good idea for me to come and help you through your last Reddimus delivery.”

  “What about Watch? Is he with you?” Violet asked. The children had missed their dog while they were away too.

  “No, I left him with Mrs. McGregor,” Grandfather replied. “But he’s doing just fine. He misses all four of you very much, but I told him he would see you very soon.”

  Grandfather looked them over, one by one, and noticed the piece of paper and envelope in Jessie’s hand.

  “I see you’ve already met someone from the Reddimus Society here,” Grandfather said. “I’m glad to see they didn’t have any trouble finding you.”

  “What do you mean?” Jessie asked.

  “Trudy had told me you would be arriving at different gate,” Grandfather said. “That’s why I didn’t meet you right away. It’s also why I had them make an announcement over the speaker system!”

  “Well, if the Argents were trying to keep us apart, they failed,” Henry said. “Now we can get to where we need to go.”

  “I’m glad I can help,” Grandfather said. “Where are we going?”

  Jessie nodded and showed Grandfather the paper.

  “The Salinas Grandes,” she said. “Do you have any idea where or what it is?”

  Grandfather stroked his chin in thought.

  “Hmm, yes, I may. I heard a passenger on my flight mentioning it. It is a salt flat north of here. I heard she was meeting a flight here on her way to Salta. Let’s see if we can catch the same flight!”

  The Great Salt Plain

  Thanks to Grandfather, in a few minutes they all had new tickets. The flight was leaving soon, though, so they hurried to the gate. They arrived just in time to check in, and after only a few minutes, they were buckled in and on their way to Salta. The cabin was snug and cozy compared with the Reddimus jet or the big military plane they had taken to Antarctica.

  “I like traveling on the Reddimus jet, but I like being around other people too,” Benny said. He had the window seat and watched the clouds below them.

  “Me too,” agreed Jessie. She listened to the many passengers speaking Spanish. She could even make out some of the words.

  Compared with the other flights they had taken, the trip to Salta was very short. In almost no time, they had landed again. The children waited while Grandfather spoke to a rental car manager. The manager didn’t speak much English, and Grandfather didn’t speak much Spanish, so Jessie helped out. Between the three of them, they were able to rent a car, but not before making a few mistakes that had them all laughing.

  Grandfather got the car’s GPS set up, and they began to drive toward the salt flats. The GPS estimated it was about three and a half hours, so they settled in to watch the Argentinian scenery. While they drove, Benny and Violet took turns telling Grandfather about all of their travels so far: riding camels and exploring the pyramids in Cairo, walking on a part of the Great Wall of China in Mutianyu, playing with dingoes and kangaroos in Australia, and peeking inside Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic exploration base. Grandfather listened eagerly.

  “What a busy spring break you kids have had!” he said once they had finished.

  “That reminds me,” Jessie said. “With all the things we’ve been doing with the Reddimus Society, I almost forgot: spring break should actually be over.”

  Henry’s eyes widened. “You’re right! We should have been going back to school today.”

  “But helping the Reddimus Society is important too,” Violet added.

  “Don’t worry about that,” said Grandfather. “From the sound of it, you are learning all sorts of things on your trav
els. And I made sure to call your school before I left. There will be some makeup work when you get back, but your teachers are excited for you to travel.”

  “Phew!” said Benny. “We can do our makeup work in the boxcar! That will be fun.”

  “Thanks for taking care of that, Grandfather,” said Jessie. “You’re the best.”

  Grandfather chuckled and grinned. “You’re just saying that because I’m the only one with a driver’s license!”

  The land surrounding the city of Salta was rocky and mountainous, with rivers running through red sand and rock, and green trees and bushes filling every pocket of earth. Soon the road began to twist and curve, going up into the mountains. Grandfather drove slowly so he could take the tight turns as they made their way higher and higher.

  “It looks like a perfect day to visit the salt flats,” Grandfather remarked as they neared their destination.

  “Do you know how a salt flat gets made, Grandfather?” asked Violet.

  “Good question, Violet,” Grandfather answered. “Salt flats form when a lake dries up. In wet climates, lakes don’t easily dry up. But in the desert, water evaporates quickly, and when it’s gone, all that’s left on the ground is the salt that was in the water.”

  The road straightened out, and everyone squinted against the bright afternoon sunlight. Ahead on the road was a huge field of white.

  “Is that snow?” Benny asked.

  “No, that’s the salt!” Henry said. “Wow, it looks just like a big sheet of ice, though, doesn’t it?”

  “Almost like a piece of Antarctica right here in Argentina!” Violet said.

  As they got closer, they started to see booths of artists and merchants selling salt sculptures, pottery, and handmade textiles. Grandfather parked the car and found a merchant selling sunglasses. The merchant’s booth was busy because it was such a sunny day. Many people crowded around the little stand. Everyone bumped into each other and talked about how excited they were to explore the flats. When the Aldens were finally at the front of the line, Grandfather bought a pair for himself and for each of his grandchildren.