“Almost six o’clock!” said Oki.
Jack smiled at Annie. “With time to spare!” he said.
“Thank God you are safe!” said Uncle Joe.
“Did you find Gunnar Kaasen?” Oki asked.
“We did!” said Annie. “On the trail below Port Safety! His sled had overturned. The medicine was lost, but Balto helped us find it!”
“Gunnar and his team arrived in Nome just ahead of us,” said Jack. “They’re delivering the medicine to the hospital!”
Uncle Joe closed his eyes and sighed with relief. Oki couldn’t stop grinning. He pumped Jack’s mittened hand, and Annie’s, too. “Thank you! Thank you! You are champions!”
“Don’t thank us!” said Jack. “Thank your dogs—they’re the real champions!”
Oki opened the gate to the dog pen. The team of huskies walked in, panting wearily. Jack and Annie helped Oki and Uncle Joe unhitch the dogs from their neck lines and tug lines and pull off their harnesses. Then they massaged the dogs’ backs and legs.
Oki gave the dogs water, and Jack and Annie fed them dried fish. The huskies wolfed down their meal and then howled with gratitude. As the sun rose over Nome, the eight brave dogs curled their bodies into the bright snow, covered their noses with their tails, and closed their eyes.
“Take a long rest, team,” said Jack.
“You deserve it,” said Annie.
“Let’s go to the hospital,” said Uncle Joe.
“Yes!” said Oki.
“We’ll walk with you,” said Annie.
Uncle Joe hobbled on his crutch as the four of them headed to town. Reflecting the brilliant blue of the early-morning sky, the snow itself looked blue.
By the time they arrived at the hospital, a small crowd had gathered. Jack saw Mayor Maynard and Gunnar Kaasen surrounded by a group of reporters with cameras and notebooks.
Gunnar’s huskies were off to the side. Children were petting them, and photographers were taking pictures. As the dogs smiled and panted, Jack could see their clouds of white breath.
“The newspapers are here!” said Oki. “The whole world will soon hear this story! We will tell everyone what you have done, Jack and Annie. They will honor you, too!”
Oki and his uncle walked faster.
“Whoa, wait,” Jack said to Annie. “Stardust.”
“Right.” Annie reached into her pocket and pulled out the dark blue box.
“Are you coming?” Oki called back to them.
“Yes! We’ll be right there!” shouted Jack.
As Oki and his uncle headed toward the crowd, Annie lifted the lid of the tiny box. Silvery powder shimmered inside. “We wish to be forgotten by everyone who saw us on our mission!” Annie said. Then she tossed the contents of the box into the air.
Like tiny grains of windswept snow, the stardust flashed brilliantly over the street. Before anyone could even look up, the silver dust evaporated, and the sharp, crisp air was clear again.
Annie put the tiny box back in her pocket. “Done,” she said.
Then she and Jack headed toward the gathering in front of the hospital. When they drew close to the crowd, Oki caught sight of them—but then he looked away, as if he’d never seen them before. His uncle did the same. Gunnar Kaasen also glanced in their direction, but his eyes passed over them without interest.
“I guess it worked,” said Jack.
“Yeah, no one remembers us at all,” Annie said. She sounded sad. Jack felt a little sad, too.
“Mayor Maynard! Tell us about the heroes of the great serum race!” a reporter said.
Mayor Maynard proudly stepped forward. “For five and a half days, twenty mushers and more than a hundred and sixty dogs hauled the lifesaving medicine to Nome!” he proclaimed.
“How many miles was that?” a reporter asked as he scribbled on a pad.
“Nearly seven hundred miles!” said the mayor. “And two of our citizens from Nome heroically took part in the relay—Leonhard Seppala and Gunnar Kaasen. Both mushers had strong lead dogs. Leonhard and his dog Togo ran across frozen Norton Sound to Golovin, and Gunnar and his dog Balto brought the medicine from Bluff to Nome!”
Another reporter yelled to Gunnar Kaasen, “Congratulations, Mr. Kaasen! To what do you owe the success of your part of the relay?”
“I owe everything to my lead dog, Balto!” said Gunnar. The famous musher pointed at the husky sitting patiently nearby. “He’s a working dog, like all the others. But he’s the best!”
In the daylight, Jack got a good look at Balto. The husky had shaggy black fur, except for white paws and a white chest and a bit of white around his mouth. He had gentle brown eyes.
“You told the mayor that you lost the medicine in an accident at one point,” the reporter said.
Gunnar nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Yes, I did.”
“And how did you find it?” the reporter asked.
“I…well, I…” The musher shook his head. “I’m not sure. After the accident, I discovered it missing. Somehow the package had come untied from my sled. I panicked and…well, I dug around in the snow. And…I don’t know…I guess I just found it.”
“It seems like a miracle!” the reporter said. He turned back to the mayor. “What a disaster it would have been if the medicine were lost on the trail!”
“Indeed,” said Mayor Maynard. “The hard work of all the mushers and dogs would have been for nothing. And many more people would have lost their lives to diphtheria. But I have now delivered the package into the hands of Dr. Welch and Nurse Morgan, who will give the lifesaving serum to their patients!”
Everyone clapped and cheered. Oki and his uncle cheered the loudest.
Jack and Annie looked at each other. “Time to go,” said Jack.
“Okey dokey,” said Annie.
The reporter was asking more questions as Jack and Annie pulled away from the crowd, heading back to the tree house. They hadn’t gone far down the boardwalk when they heard barking. They both turned.
“Balto?” said Annie.
The beautiful black husky was bounding after them.
“Balto!” said Annie. She knelt in the blue dawn and reached out her arms.
Balto nearly knocked her over as he licked her face. His dark eyes were twinkling. He seemed to be smiling.
“He remembers us, Jack!” said Annie. “Balto remembers us!”
“Yep,” said Jack. “But that’s okay. He won’t tell anyone.”
Annie laughed.
“Balto!” Gunnar Kaasen shouted. “Come!”
The crowd barely glanced at Jack and Annie.
“Balto!” called Gunnar.
“Go on, Balto,” Annie said. “You’re their hero. They need you.”
Balto gave her one more lick. Then he left them and trotted back toward the cheering crowd. His head and tail were held high, his fur fringed with sunlight.
Jack and Annie turned away and headed down the boardwalk. Soon they left Front Street and walked along the creek. They crossed the bridge and the frosty field to the bare tree with the tree house.
In his thick fur boots and mittens, Jack clumsily climbed the rope ladder. Annie followed him. When they looked out the window, they were nearly blinded by the dazzling reflection of sunlight on the snow and the ice-covered sea.
“Mission accomplished,” said Annie.
“I guess we helped save lives,” said Jack.
“Yep,” said Annie. “Now let’s go home and get warm.” She picked up the Pennsylvania book and pointed to a picture of the Frog Creek woods.
“I wish we could go there,” she said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Jack felt warm, wonderfully warm. He was wearing his shorts and T-shirt again. No time at all had passed in Frog Creek. It was still twilight on a summer night.
“Nice,” said Annie.
“Really nice,” said Jack. He reached into his pocket and took out the tiny box, empty of gold dust now. He placed it on the floor of the tree house, next to the guide to the Territory of Alaska.
Annie reached into her pocket and pulled out the shimmering dark blue box, empty of stardust. She put it beside the gold box on the floor.
“That was a good trip,” said Annie.
“Yeah, a little cold, a little stressful,” said Jack, “but all in all, very good.”
“The best part, of course, was the dogs,” said Annie.
“Totally,” said Jack. “Come on, let’s go. Let’s go home.” He started down the rope ladder.
“Huskies are great dogs,” said Annie, following him.
“Yep,” said Jack. “Strong and brave.”
“And really smart, too. Like Saint Bernards. Remember Barry in Switzerland?” Annie said as she stepped off the ladder.
“Of course,” said Jack. He smiled and shook his head, remembering the giant crazy puppy high in the mountains.
“And remember when Morgan turned Teddy into a terrier?” said Annie.
“Of course,” Jack said. “We’d better walk our bikes now. It’s getting dark fast.”
“Okay,” said Annie. She and Jack started pushing their bicycles over leaves and grass.
The woods were filled with the sounds of summer. Bullfrogs croaked from the hidden creek. Crickets chirped in the grass. An owl hooted from a tree branch. Then came another sound: Yip!
“What was that?” said Annie, stopping.
“I don’t know,” said Jack.
Yip!
“It sounds like a dog,” said Annie.
“No way,” said Jack. “That’s too much of a coincidence!”
Yip. Yip!
“Coincidence or not, there’s a dog around here somewhere,” said Annie. She parked her bike against a tree.
“Seriously?” said Jack.
“Shhh—” said Annie.
The leaves rustled. Yip. Yip!
In the dark, Annie got down on her hands and knees. “Where are you?” she whispered.
Yip, yip, yip!
“I’ve got you!” said Annie, and she lifted a wiggling little black-and-white puppy out of the greenery.
“I don’t believe this,” said Jack.
“Look—look!” said Annie. She stood up and carried the puppy over to Jack. “Here, pet him.”
Jack reached out, and the next thing he knew, his hand was wet from puppy licks. “Oh, man!” he said, laughing.
“Can you push my bike?” Annie asked. “I’ll carry him to the street so we can get a good look at him.”
Annie took off with the puppy.
Jack tried to steer two bikes through the woods. Annie’s bike twisted and fell over, but Jack finally got a good grip and wheeled both bikes out to the sidewalk.
Annie was standing under a streetlamp, cradling the puppy in her arms.
“Let me see him,” said Jack. He parked the bikes and looked at the puppy under the light. The tiny dog had beautiful big brown eyes. His curly black-and-white fur was soft and shiny.
“Ohh,” said Jack, stroking the furry little head. “He’s really cute.”
“Let’s get him home,” said Annie. “I’m sure he’s hungry and thirsty.”
Jack grabbed their bikes again and started down the sidewalk with Annie and the puppy. “What breed do you think he is?” he asked.
“I think he’s a mix,” said Annie.
“A mix of what, I wonder,” said Jack.
“Lots of dogs! All sizes, big, small, and in between. Saint Bernard, terrier, husky,” said Annie. “He’s a mix of all the dogs we’ve ever loved.”
Jack nodded. “Cool,” he said. “I hope Mom and Dad will let us keep him.”
“They will,” said Annie. “They said we could get a dog when we found the right one. And this is definitely the right one.”
“Yeah, but what if he’s just lost?” said Jack.
“Don’t worry. We’ll ask around and put up signs,” said Annie. “But I have a feeling he’s not lost. I think he was actually in the woods waiting for us. I think he’s a gift.”
“A gift? From who?” said Jack.
“Maybe from Merlin and Morgan,” said Annie. “A gift to thank us.”
Jack smiled. He liked that idea. “So what do you think we should name him?” he said.
“Hmm…” Annie thought for a moment. “What about Oki?”
“Oki?” said Jack. “Like the boy we just met?”
“Yeah, I like that name,” said Annie. “Plus, it’ll remind us of all the huskies and Balto.”
“Yeah…,” said Jack. “But, hey, just promise me if he asks to go outside or eat or play with a toy, you won’t say ‘Okey dokey, Oki.’ ”
Annie laughed. “I promise,” she said.
They climbed the steps to their front porch. Then Annie stopped at the screen door. “Ready to meet the parents?” she asked the puppy.
Yip. Yip!
“Okey dokey, Oki,” said Annie. “Let’s go inside.”
For more than one hundred years, sled dog racing has been a favorite sport in Alaska. The most famous race in sled dog history took place in the winter of 1925, when a relay of sled teams carried a medicine to fight diphtheria from Anchorage, Alaska, up to Nome, Alaska, in less than six days. That wondrous achievement became known as the Great Race of Mercy.
Many brave mushers and their dogs risked their lives in brutal weather to save the diphtheria patients in Nome. The nationwide attention given to their story helped raise awareness about the importance of widespread vaccines to prevent the disease.
Most famous of the dogsled drivers was Leonhard Seppala, who, with the help of his dog Togo, carried the medicine farther than any other driver. Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog, Balto, received the most accolades from the public because they were the last in the relay and delivered the serum to Nome, where reporters and well-wishers were waiting to celebrate the entire run.
There was some controversy surrounding the fact that Kaasen received so much credit, especially as he had chosen not to stop at the Port Safety roadhouse and allow a musher named Ed Rohn to carry the medicine on the final leg of the trip. Kaasen said that the darkened cabin led him to believe Rohn was sleeping, and therefore time would be wasted by waking him and hitching up all his dogs and getting him on the trail. So Kaasen decided to speed on to Nome to get the medicine there as soon as possible.
Regardless of the debate over who should have received the most credit, the 1925 serum race was testimony to the courage, strength, and skill of all the Alaskan mushers and their amazing dog teams.
Today people remember the serum race every spring, when sled drivers and their teams gather to run in the Iditarod, the biggest sporting event of the year in Alaska.
Mary Pope Osborne
is the author of many novels, picture books, story collections, and nonfiction books. Her New York Times number one bestselling Magic Tree House series has been translated into numerous languages around the world. Highly recommended by parents and educators everywhere, the series introduces young readers to different cultures and times in history, as well as to the world’s legacy of ancient myth and storytelling. She and her husband, writer Will Osborne (author of Magic Tree House: The Musical), live in northwestern Connecticut with their three dogs. Ms. Osborne is coauthor of the companion Magic Tree House Fact Trackers with Will and with her sister, Natalie Pope Boyce.
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