Mystery Ranch Read online

  “Well, well!” he said, “Nothing to forgive!”

  “Thank you, James,” said Aunt Jane.

  Mr. Gardner took the children to meet their grandfather’s train, the day before Aunt Jane’s birthday.

  When the children saw Mr. Alden, what a noise they made! They all shouted at once. They rushed up and took his bags. Tom Young stood in the door of the station and laughed.

  “They think a lot of him,” he said.

  They all piled into Mr. Gardner’s car and drove to the ranch.

  Aunt Jane was sitting up very straight in the front room. She shook hands with her brother.

  “It was good of you to come, James,” she said.

  “I’m glad to see you,” said Grandfather. “I had forgotten you were so pretty.”

  It was true. When the children looked at their aunt, they saw that she was really pretty. Her blue eyes were very bright.

  Mr. Alden said, “I want to see Henry alone.”

  Henry and his grandfather went to the back room to talk. Grandfather came back alone. The children heard Henry drive out of the yard in Mr. Gardner’s car. They were very surprised.

  “Where is Henry going?” asked Aunt Jane.

  “A secret,” said Mr. Alden, laughing.

  Henry came back in a little while. He nodded at his grandfather and said, “All right.”

  “What can it be?” wondered Jessie. “How can we wait until tomorrow?”

  After supper, Grandfather said, “Jane, I have a plan. Do you want to hear it?”

  “I do,” said Aunt Jane. “It seems funny, doesn’t it? I never would listen to you before.”

  “I was too bossy,” said Mr. Alden. “I know that now.” He smiled.

  “My grandchildren love your ranch, Jane,” he said, “but they can’t stay here all winter.”

  “Yes, I know that, James,” she said sadly.

  “They want to fix up the other end of this house for Sam and his wife. We can cut a door between your room and the next one. Maggie can have that room. Then you will be safe all winter.”

  “You are kind to plan this for me,” said Aunt Jane. She smiled kindly at her brother.

  “The children planned it,” said Mr. Alden. “They want to fix the rooms upstairs for themselves.”

  “Well, they certainly can,” said Aunt Jane.

  “Now, one last idea,” said Mr. Alden. He looked at Jessie, with a twinkle in his eye.

  “I heard all about your Mystery Man,” he said.

  “He’s not my Mystery Man,” said Jessie, laughing. “But he was nice, wasn’t he?”

  “He doesn’t seem like a Mystery Man any more,” said Violet. “I’d like to see him again sometime.”

  Mr. Alden said, “He could come to the party tomorrow, if anyone asked him.”

  “Very well,” said Aunt Jane. “I don’t mind having a Mystery Man at my birthday party.”

  “Will he fly?” asked Jessie.

  “No. He is already here,” said Grandfather. “He got off the train when I did!”

  “And we didn’t even see him,” said Benny.

  “Well, he is still a Mystery Man in some ways, isn’t he?” said Violet.

  CHAPTER 15

  The Party

  It’s the Mystery Man!” shouted Benny, looking out the window the next day. “I hope the guard will let him in.”

  It was John Carter, the tall young man with the brown hair and brown eyes. He went first to Aunt Jane and thanked her for asking him to come. Then he spoke to all the children as if he were delighted to see them.

  “I want to show you something, Carter,” said Mr. Alden. “You children come, too. We’re going to look at the fireplace in the other kitchen.”

  “I won’t go,” said Aunt Jane, smiling. “I know all about that chimney.”

  When they stood before the fireplace, Mr. Alden said, “See that yellow and black in the stone, Carter?”

  “Why, this is funny!” Mr. Carter said, “That fireplace is made of uranium ore! There is gold and silver in it, too.”

  “The gold and silver are not good,” said Mr. Alden. “Of course, we had never heard of uranium when we built the chimney. I think that is the only chimney in the world that is made of uranium ore.”

  “Is the chimney the same all the way up?” asked Benny.

  Grandfather laughed. “Yes, all the way up. We left it rough outside, and smoothed it inside. My father and mother and I went East, and we had a chimney right here with uranium in it!”

  They went back to the living room.

  Jessie said, “Aunt Jane, you remember you said there were no mysteries in this house? And in a way, that chimney was a fine mystery.”

  “I didn’t know it then,” said her aunt.

  “We didn’t know about the fields either,” said Benny, “or who the Mystery Man was. Let’s call this Mystery Ranch!”

  “That’s a fine name!” said Mr. Carter. “You could paint the name on a sign and hang it over the driveway.”

  At six o’clock, the birthday party began. Everyone was excited. Watch barked and barked, and nobody stopped him.

  They set the big table with a white linen cloth. They set eight places with Aunt Jane’s best dishes. The birthday cake had seventy tiny candles on it.

  When supper was over, Aunt Jane said, “Take the dishes into the kitchen and leave them there. You can wash them later. I want to open my presents!”

  The children had made their presents for Aunt Jane with loving hands. They sat, watching the pretty little lady.

  Jessie thought, “How very different she is from the little old lady in bed! I’m glad we came here.”

  “I love every one of my presents!” cried Aunt Jane.

  “Now let me get yours, Grandfather!” cried Henry.

  “Very well, my boy,” said Mr. Alden, smiling.

  Henry rushed out to the barn. Soon he came back with a tiny black and white puppy in his arms. He put it on the floor. It was very soft. Watch stood up quickly and looked at it.

  “Come here, Watch,” said Jessie. “Be a good dog.”

  “Her name is Lady, Aunt Jane,” said Henry.

  “Oh, what a beautiful little dog!” said Aunt Jane. “Is she for me?”

  “Yes,” said Mr. Alden. “To take the place of Watch when the children go home.”

  Watch wagged his tail a little. He sat down.

  “She’s just a baby dog, Watch,” said Jessie. “You be good, now.”

  “Do you want to hold the puppy, Aunt Jane?” asked Henry.

  He put the little dog in her arms. Watch didn’t like this. He sat and looked at the stranger.

  Aunt Jane loved it. Anyone could see that. The puppy loved her, too. It lay down against her arm and shut its eyes.

  “Lady is tired,” said Henry. “She goes to sleep whenever she can.”

  Aunt Jane sat very still. She held the baby dog quietly. She was very pleased when it went to sleep.

  Watch lay down again, beside Jessie, as if to say, “Well, I don’t care. After all, I’m Jessie’s dog.”

  Grandfather looked at his family and his friends. He loved every one of his grandchildren. He was very happy now that he had a sister again.

  Grandfather said to Mr. Carter, “This is a very happy day for me. You can see what fine grandchildren I have.”

  “You certainly do, Mr. Alden.”

  “Now we will all be happy next year,” he went on. “The children will go back to school. Sam and Annie can move into this house. Maggie can stay happily with Jane. And best of all, I have a sister again.”

  But Aunt Jane shook her head and said, with tears in her eyes, “No, James. Best of all, I have a brother.”

  The Alden children just looked at one another. They were too happy to say a word.

  About the Author

  GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet
this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.

  Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car—the situation the Alden children find themselves in.

  When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

  While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible—something else that delights young readers.

  Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her book. And so she continued the Aldens’ adventures, writing a total of nineteen books in the Boxcar Children series.

  The Boxcar Children Mysteries

  THE BOXCAR CHILDREN

  SURPRISE ISLAND

  THE YELLOW HOUSE MYSTERY

  MYSTERY RANCH

  MIKE’S MYSTERY

  BLUE BAY MYSTERY

  THE WOODSHED MYSTERY

  THE LIGHTHOUSE MYSTERY

  MOUNTAIN TOP MYSTERY

  SCHOOLHOUSE MYSTERY

  CABOOSE MYSTERY

  HOUSEBOAT MYSTERY

  SNOWBOUND MYSTERY

  TREE HOUSE MYSTERY

  BICYCLE MYSTERY

  MYSTERY IN THE SAND

  MYSTERY BEHIND THE WALL

  BUS STATION MYSTERY

  BENNY UNCOVERS A MYSTERY

  THE HAUNTED CABIN MYSTERY

  THE DESERTED LIBRARY MYSTERY

  THE ANIMAL SHELTER MYSTERY

  THE OLD MOTEL MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN

  PAINTING

  THE AMUSEMENT PARK MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE MIXED-UP ZOO

  THE CAMP-OUT MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY GIRL

  THE MYSTERY CRUISE

  THE DISAPPEARING FRIEND MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE SINGING GHOST

  MYSTERY IN THE SNOW

  THE PIZZA MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY HORSE

  THE MYSTERY AT THE DOG SHOW

  THE CASTLE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST VILLAGE

  THE MYSTERY ON THE ICE

  THE MYSTERY OF THE PURPLE POOL

  THE GHOST SHIP MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY IN WASHINGTON, DC

  THE CANOE TRIP MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN BEACH

  THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING CAT

  THE MYSTERY AT SNOWFLAKE INN

  THE MYSTERY ON STAGE

  THE DINOSAUR MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN MUSIC

  THE MYSTERY AT THE BALL PARK

  THE CHOCOLATE SUNDAE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE HOT

  AIR BALLOON

  THE MYSTERY BOOKSTORE

  THE PILGRIM VILLAGE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN

  BOXCAR

  THE MYSTERY IN THE CAVE

  THE MYSTERY ON THE TRAIN

  THE MYSTERY AT THE FAIR

  THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST MINE

  THE GUIDE DOG MYSTERY

  THE HURRICANE MYSTERY

  THE PET SHOP MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE SECRET MESSAGE

  THE FIREHOUSE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY IN SAN FRANCISCO

  THE NIAGARA FALLS MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY AT THE ALAMO

  THE OUTER SPACE MYSTERY

  THE SOCCER MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY IN THE OLD ATTIC

  THE GROWLING BEAR MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE LAKE MONSTER

  THE MYSTERY AT PEACOCK HALL

  THE WINDY CITY MYSTERY

  THE BLACK PEARL MYSTERY

  THE CEREAL BOX MYSTERY

  THE PANTHER MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE QUEEN’S JEWELS

  THE STOLEN SWORD MYSTERY

  THE BASKETBALL MYSTERY

  THE MOVIE STAR MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE PIRATE’S MAP

  THE GHOST TOWN MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE BLACK RAVEN

  THE MYSTERY IN THE MALL

  THE MYSTERY IN NEW YORK

  THE GYMNASTICS MYSTERY

  THE POISON FROG MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPTY SAFE

  THE HOME RUN MYSTERY

  THE GREAT BICYCLE RACE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE WILD PONIES

  THE MYSTERY IN THE COMPUTER

  GAME

  THE MYSTERY AT THE CROOKED

  HOUSE

  THE HOCKEY MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE MIDNIGHT DOG

  THE MYSTERY OF THE SCREECH OWL

  THE SUMMER CAMP MYSTERY

  THE COPYCAT MYSTERY

  THE HAUNTED CLOCK TOWER

  MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE TIGER’S EYE

  THE DISAPPEARING STAIRCASE

  MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY ON BLIZZARD

  MOUNTAIN

  THE MYSTERY OF THE SPIDER’S CLUE

  THE CANDY FACTORY MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE MUMMY’S

  CURSE

  THE MYSTERY OF THE STAR RUBY

  THE STUFFED BEAR MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF ALLIGATOR SWAMP

  THE MYSTERY AT SKELETON POINT

  THE TATTLETALE MYSTERY

  THE COMIC BOOK MYSTERY

  THE GREAT SHARK MYSTERY

  THE ICE CREAM MYSTERY

  THE MIDNIGHT MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY IN THE FORTUNE

  COOKIE

  THE BLACK WIDOW SPIDER MYSTERY

  THE RADIO MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE RUNAWAY

  GHOST

  THE FINDERS KEEPERS MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED

  BOXCAR

  THE CLUE IN THE CORN MAZE

  THE GHOST OF THE CHATTERING

  BONES

  THE SWORD OF THE SILVER KNIGHT

  THE GAME STORE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE ORPHAN TRAIN

  THE VANISHING PASSENGER

  THE GIANT YO-YO MYSTERY

  THE CREATURE IN OGOPOGO LAKE

  THE ROCK ’N’ ROLL MYSTERY

  THE SECRET OF THE MASK

  THE SEATTLE PUZZLE

  THE GHOST IN THE FIRST ROW

  THE BOX THAT WATCH FOUND

  A HORSE NAMED DRAGON

  THE GREAT DETECTIVE RACE

  THE GHOST AT THE DRIVE-IN MOVIE

  THE MYSTERY OF THE TRAVELING

  TOMATOES

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  copyright © 1958, 1986 by Albert Whitman & Company

  ISBN: 978-1-4532-0764-2

  This 2010 edition distributed by Open Road Integrated Media

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