The Secret of the Mask

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “Ahhhh,” he said, taking it from him, passing it around the circle. Each held it and ran his hands along the old wood, admiring the talent of the artist who made it. When it had gone all the way around the circle, the last man spoke.

  “This is a Hopi cow kachina mask. This spirit prays for rain and food for the Hopi people,” he said. “The Hopi have not arrived yet—if you will leave the mask, we will show it to them.”

  “No!” yelled Benny, grabbing the mask and clutching it to him. “I found it! It’s mine!”

  The man’s voice was gentle. “That is true. You did find it. And you could take it home. But this mask is very old. It may have been stolen from the Hopi tribe.” Benny clutched it tighter. The man looked at him with kind eyes. “It is a great honor—a great, great honor—to return a stolen thing to its true home.”

  Benny hugged his mask. He knew how sad he felt when the mask had been stolen from their garage. He also knew how happy he felt today when they found the missing Crispy Crackers can. He looked at the chiefs who sat quietly, watching him and waiting. No one yelled at him or grabbed the mask or told him what to do. They were waiting for him to decide. It made Benny feel very grown-up.

  “All right,” he said, handing the mask to the man next to him.

  “We would like to invite you to come back to the powwow on Saturday. By then we will know about the mask,” the man said to the children.

  On their way out of the park, the Aldens saw a group of people gathered around a table labeled “Fry bread.”

  “That’s what Katrina ate in the Prairie Girls book,” said Violet. “We should try it.”

  The children joined the line, watching a woman pull a small piece of dough off a big piece. She quickly rolled it into a ball, rolled it in flour, then patted it flat. Then she poked a hole in the middle. “The hole lets the oil get into the middle so the fry bread cooks evenly,” explained Violet.

  “Everyone stand back,” said the woman. All the children took a giant step back as she dropped the dough into a large pan. Hot oil spattered like a Fourth-of-July sparkler. As the dough bubbled merrily in the hot oil, she added many more breads to the pan.

  When they were done she scooped them onto paper towels to drain. Some people ordered their fry bread plain, and some asked for regular sugar.

  “I’m having powdered sugar,” said Benny. When it was their turn, Henry, Jessie, and Violet all ordered the powdered sugar, too. The children sat under a large maple tree to enjoy their treats.

  Officer Morgan found them there. “Thanks for leaving your mask, Benny,” he said as he walked towards them.

  “You’re welcome,” said Benny, who by now had a powdered-sugar moustache.

  “We need to talk to Grandma Belle,” Henry said. “If the people here think that this mask may belong to the Hopi tribe, then maybe there are other things that Grandma Belle has that need to be returned to these people.”

  “Do you think that Grandma Belle’s father stole the masks from the Hopi tribe?” Benny asked.

  “I don’t know,” said Henry. “But that’s what we need to find out.”

  As the children pedaled through town, they passed the drugstore. Down the block, Henry spotted the orange pickup truck they had seen in their alley parked in front of the diner.

  “Something’s wrong with that truck,” said Henry.

  “It’s orange,” said Violet, who much preferred softer colors.

  Jessie wrinkled her nose. “It’s all bumped and dented and has more rust than a sunken ship.”

  “No,” said Henry, studying the truck. “I know what’s wrong. Those are the same bikes and swing set in the back as before. Mr. Robbins would have sold them all by now, and collected all sorts of new things.”

  “You mean he’s not a junker like Mr. Robbins?” asked Violet. “He’s just pretending to be a junker?”

  Henry nodded. “That way, people aren’t suspicious when they see him driving up and down the alleys.”

  “Alleys like ours,” said Benny, his face growing red with excitement. “He could have stolen my mask from our garage!”

  “And maybe,” said Jessie, “he stole things, like the candleholder, from Grandma Belle’s garage. Maybe he’s the one who took it to the antique store.”

  Henry jumped on his bike. “Quick! We have to get over to Grandma Belle’s to let her know what’s going on before anything else disappears.”

  CHAPTER 10

  The Thief Unmasked!

  The children pedaled so fast they were out of breath when they knocked on Grandma Belle’s door. They waited, then knocked again. Nurse Rumple finally opened the door wearing rubber gloves and holding a giant bottle of cleaning spray. “Sssshh!” she said, smiling sweetly.

  “We’ve come to see Grandma Belle,” said Jessie.

  “The dear lady is napping.” The smell of cleaning spray and fresh popcorn drifted out of the house. “She mustn’t be disturbed. Please come back tomorrow.” She shut the door.

  “Did you smell the popcorn?” asked Jessie.

  “If she’s cleaning and Grandma Belle is napping, who is the popcorn for?” The children looked at each other.

  Suddenly, Henry thought of something. “The popcorn isn’t for eating, it’s for packing! The nurse and the man in the truck are stealing from Grandma Belle!”

  “I see,” said Jessie. “The nurse packs up all of Grandma Belle’s things and leaves them in the trash for the man in the orange truck to pick up.”

  “We did see them talking on the street,” pointed out Violet.

  “In front of the antique shop where we found Grandma Belle’s candleholder,” added Jessie.

  “And we know the man in the truck isn’t a real junker,” said Benny.

  Henry rang the bell again. It took Nurse Rumple a long while to answer. “You again?” she asked, a little less sweetly than before.

  “We need to see Grandma Belle,” said Violet. “We have something very important we need to talk to her about.”

  “I told you she’s napping.” Nurse Rumple sprayed and wiped the brass mailbox next to the front door. “And I sent her grandson to pick up some medicine.”

  “We’ll wait,” said Jessie, trying to step inside. “We want to say goodbye to him.”

  Nurse Rumple blocked the doorway. “He won’t have time. As soon as he drops off the medicine, he’s catching a plane back to California.” She sprayed cleaning spray on the doorknob and door and then briskly rubbed them with a rag. “The new nurse arrives in a few hours. It would be better if you came back then. Right now, I am the only one here.” She held up the cleaning spray and sponge. “As you can see, I have work to do. I am very, very busy.” She began closing the door.

  Jessie stopped it with her hand. “We need to borrow something,” she said. “Grandma Belle’s silver candleholder.”

  Nurse Rumple’s face turned as white as her uniform. “I … I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “It’s big,” Jessie said, “and holds five candles.”

  “I’ve certainly never seen anything like that. It’s probably out with all the other junk in the garage.”

  “Then will you let us into the garage,” said Henry, “so we can look for it?”

  “I … I don’t have the key. Grandma Belle’s grandson put it away someplace. Now, I have no time, no time at all. I insist you do not disturb us again.” This time, when she shut the door, they heard the loud click of the lock.

  The children walked down the front steps, but they didn’t get on their bikes. “I don’t trust Nurse Rumple alone with all of Grandma Belle’s things,” said Violet. “I don’t want to leave here until her grandson comes back.”

  “Follow me,” said Henry, walking quietly around the side of the house. “We need to take a look at that garage.”

  They peeked in the garage window. Every inch of space was crammed with old tables and chairs, dishes and silverware. White boxes were stacked near the door. A black clay pot rested inside a box on
a bed of popcorn. “That’s like the pot the woman was making at the powwow today,” said Violet.

  Jessie burned with anger. “Nurse Rumple didn’t move these from the house because they were too much clutter. She moved them so they’d be easier to steal!”

  Suddenly, the back door to the house jerked open. “Quick!” Henry said, leading them across the alley where they hid behind a neighbor’s garage. They peeked out as Nurse Rumple hurried to the garage carrying a green garbage bag. She unlocked the garage door and disappeared inside.

  “She does have the garage key,” said Benny. “She lied.”

  A few minutes later, Nurse Rumple carried a white box out to a trash can and placed it gently inside. She went back into the garage and a minute later brought out two more white boxes to put in the trash. Pretty soon, the can was so full that the lid barely fit on the top of the can. Her cell phone rang.

  “Yes?” she snapped. “What! He’s done already? I thought I gave her grandson plenty of chores to keep him busy. All right, all right, get over here, now. Yes, right now! We have to get all of this stuff out of here before the new nurse comes. I’ll keep him busy in the house until you pick up the goods.” She hurried back up the walk to the house.

  As soon as the back door closed, the children ran to the trash cans and peered inside. Every can was filled to the brim with white boxes. The trash cans smelled like fresh-popped corn.

  “She’s been stealing Grandma Belle’s wonderful things,” said Violet. “We have to stop her.”

  They ran around to the garage. In her hurry, Nurse Rumple had left the door unlocked. The children quickly ducked inside. They heard a truck rumble down the alley and stop outside the garage. Henry peered out the small window. “It’s the orange truck,” he whispered. “He and Nurse Rumple are working together.”

  Jessie jumped up. “I’m going to call Officer Morgan.”

  Henry grabbed her arm. “Tell him to get here right away.”

  “Please hurry!” said Violet.

  Jessie took off, running at top speed through the yard, cutting across to where they’d seen the mother and toddler out in front. The others watched, not daring to breathe until she was safely out of sight.

  Benny climbed up on an old box, trying to see out the window. He watched the man with the beard climb out of the truck and walk to the trash cans. Suddenly, the box crumpled under him and Benny fell with a loud thud. The driver stopped, tilting his head, listening. The children ducked down, freezing like statues under the window.

  What if the man came into the garage? What if he found them? Henry crawled to the door. He quietly pushed it closed, turning the lock good and tight. He crawled back under the window, and pressed his back against the wall to huddle down with the others.

  Heavy footsteps. Someone brushed against the window! The children felt sure he could hear their hearts beating. Sunshine behind the man cast his shadow as he peered in. The shadow looked left, then right. After a few moments, it disappeared. The children stared at the doorknob. It jerked left and right, left and right. For a moment everything went still, then footsteps tramped back around the garage and out to the alley.

  They listened to the clatter of trash can lids, the opening and closing of the pickup truck doors. “Do you think Jessie reached Officer Morgan?” whispered Violet. The truck engine roared, and the pickup drove off.

  “Oh, no,” said Benny. “He’s getting away!” In a flash, Henry unlocked the door and yanked it open, just as Nurse Rumple banged a suitcase down the back stairs.

  “What!” She gasped, staring at Henry. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hide,” Henry whispered to the others. Violet and Benny ducked behind an old chair. Henry stood guarding the doorway.

  “Get out!” yelled Nurse Rumple, hurrying toward the garage, clacking the suitcase behind her. “Get out of my garage!”

  “This is not your garage,” Henry said.

  “Don’t you talk back to me, young man,” she said, wagging a finger in his face. “Don’t you—”

  “Go!” shouted Henry. Violet and Benny jumped from behind the chair and dashed past Nurse Rumple, not stopping until they were inside Grandma Belle’s house. They quickly locked the door.

  Nurse Rumple spun around, not sure where to turn first. “You … you little thieves. I’ll call the police. I’ll—”

  “Yes,” said Henry. “Call the police. In fact, you don’t have to. My sister has already taken care of that.”

  With that news, Nurse Rumple turned and ran across the backyard. In seconds, four Greenfield police cars—their sirens blaring—squealed up to the house with Officer Morgan’s car close behind. Henry dashed to the front. “She went that way!” he yelled as he directed the police through the backyard.

  Benny ran to Officer Morgan. “You have to hurry,” he said. “The man in the orange truck is getting away.”

  “An orange truck should be easy enough to find.” Officer Morgan phoned in an alert.

  Grandma Belle’s grandson pulled into the driveway. He looked very frightened.

  “What’s wrong? Why are the police here? Has something happened to Grandma?”

  “I’m fine, dear, I’m fine.” Grandma Belle smiled, waving as Violet pushed her wheelchair onto the porch. “I napped right through all the excitement. Thank goodness these wonderful children were here.”

  The police returned with the nurse in handcuffs. “Found her trying to escape down the alley on the next block,” one of them said, leading her away.

  “Where are they taking Nurse Rumple?” asked the grandson.

  “She’s no nurse,” said Benny. “She’s a thief!”

  “That she is,” said Officer Morgan. “My friend has been on her trail all week.”

  Violet stared at the man climbing out of Officer Morgan’s car, the man with the braid down his back and the silver bracelet. “Children,” said Officer Morgan. “I’d like you to meet Ahote, chief detective of the Hopi tribal police.”

  It was Benny’s idea to serve Nurse Rumple’s big bag of popcorn. “I know I can’t eat packing corn because it’s stale,” he said, “but this was just popped.” The children quickly arranged a picnic on Grandma Belle’s front porch. Violet poured everyone an ice-cold glass of water just as Grandma Belle’s grandson came out of the house.

  “I’m staying for a few days,” he said, “just to be sure you’re all right.”

  Ahote came around from the garage, pulling a wagon filled with Hopi treasures. He sat on the steps next to the children.

  “You have done something very important, today,” he told them. “Rumple and her brother, the man in the orange truck, are wanted by police in eight states. She pretends to be a nurse and finds jobs taking care of people like Grandma Belle. Then she and her brother steal everything they can, and move on. She never left fingerprints, so the police didn’t know who she was.”

  “That’s why she was scrubbing everything,” said Jessie, “to erase her fingerprints.”

  Ahote nodded. “I came to Greenfield for the powwow and saw one of our sacred masks in an antique shop window. The owner wouldn’t tell me where she got it until I showed her my police badge. She found the receipt but it had no name or address, just ‘Locust Street.’ The shop owner gave me the mask in a white box. I decided to drive along Locust, and I saw you pulling a white box in your wagon. I followed you.”

  “You came to our yard sale looking for more masks,” said Benny.

  “Yes. Your sister said you’d had a mask for sale but by the time I came it was gone. I thought you’d sold it.”

  “No. I wanted to keep it,” said Benny. “I put it in the garage. But then it was stolen.”

  “By the man in the orange truck,” Henry decided. “Watch, our dog, must have tried to stop him. He chased the thief around the garage, then into the alley. I think the thief threw the box with the popcorn at Watch to keep him busy long enough for him to escape.”

  “Did you really think we were selling stolen k
achinas?” asked Violet.

  Ahote’s cheeks reddened. “The evidence did point that way. Luckily, you caught the real thief.”

  “I feel so silly,” said Grandma Belle. She looked lovingly at the beautiful items in the wagon. “I never even suspected what was going on.”

  “Rumple was very good at what she did,” said Officer Morgan. “She’s fooled many people over many years.”

  Gently, Ahote took Grandma Belle’s hand. “Your father’s collection—the kachina masks and clay pots—did not belong to him. They belonged—they still belong—to the Hopi people.”

  The old woman’s eyes grew wet with tears. “He didn’t know. He was just a young boy, playing in the land near his home. He found things the way any child might. My father was a good and honest man. He would never keep something that belonged to someone else. Nor would he want me to. She patted Ahote’s hand. “Please take back everything that is yours. And, tell the people from your tribe that we meant no harm.”

  The powwow was one of the greatest days ever! Grandfather came, and Grandma Belle and her grandson. The children walked along with Officer Morgan, taking a taste of every food Benny brought them. Violet spent the afternoon making a beaded necklace, and Jessie learned to shoot a bow and arrow. Henry entered a footrace that went all around the park three times. He came in tenth place, which was very good for a boy of fourteen.

  Finally, it grew dark. “I must go,” said Grandma Belle. “I’ve decided to live with my grandson in California.” She smiled at Henry. “When I saw how beautiful you made my garden, I realized my house needs young people to care for it. You are all invited to come for a visit as soon as you can.”

  They promised they would, then went to meet Ahote and the Hopi elders around the great bonfire. “I’ll be right there,” said Henry, running to Grandfather’s car and returning with a large bag.

  “Thank you for returning our treasures to us,” said Ahote. “The elders asked me to invite you to sit next to us.”

  As the bonfire sparks flew up into the night sky, the children watched many dances and listened to beautiful songs. It was late when Grandfather said it was time to go.