“I think the orchid will be all right until tomorrow,” she said. “It’s cool outside, but it’s not bad in here. All the other orchids look pretty happy, anyway.”
“Then let’s get some sleep,” suggested Henry. “It’s been a long day.”
They all slept well after the hiking and climbing they had done. Jessie dreamed about hummingbirds and orchids, and she woke to the sound of little bells. At first she thought maybe she had dreamed their entire adventure and that she was back home, where Violet had hung a mobile in her room.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the room full of orchids. Out the window, the lush mountains and Machu Picchu greeted her. The sound of bells was the jangling of keys outside the hotel door.
“Good morning!” came Grandfather Alden’s voice. “Are you kids up?”
Jessie opened the door and waved him in. Violet, Benny, and Henry were just waking up. “Yes, we’re up…sort of. Good morning!”
“I heard from Tricia what happened last night. She and Anna Argent went out to find Dr. Lukana already. Tricia told me to get you four and the orchid and meet them.”
The children got ready to go, and Benny took a turn carrying the orchid. Even though the glass case was broken, the air was warm when they walked outside and down the path to Machu Picchu. The orchid looked happy to feel a little fresh air, its leaves and orange blossom perking up like it was smiling.
The Aldens found Tricia and Anna talking to an older woman, down by Machu Picchu in a grove of trees. It was strange to see Anna standing out in broad daylight, not trying to hide or sneak around. In fact, she looked a lot like Tricia and Trudy.
“Good morning, Aldens!” said Tricia cheerfully. “This is Dr. Lukana.”
“Hello,” Dr. Lukana said. She looked at the orchid. “Oh, there it is! Oh my, what a lovely specimen. May I see it?” Benny handed the orchid to Dr. Lukana. The botanist turned the case back and forth, eyes wide in awe as she examined it. “It’s in great condition. You four did a fantastic job keeping it safe all the way from Argentina. Yes! Come on then, this way. Let’s make it official!”
“The orchid got returned thanks to the four of you,” Tricia said. “You go on with Dr. Lukana. We’ll be here when you’re done.”
Grandfather nodded. Even Anna Argent waved to them. So Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny followed Dr. Lukana down a narrow trail that went into the forest. The trail was canopied in tree leaves, loud with birds, and buzzing with bugs. Finally, Dr. Lukana stopped in a small grove where a big tree grew in the middle of a clearing. It was covered in thick moss, and in every nook and cranny of its bark were wild orchids of every color.
“Orange monkey orchids haven’t been seen in Machu Picchu for fifty years,” Dr. Lukana said. She set the glass case down and carefully removed the top so she could take the orchid out. “I prepared a special spot for this one when I heard from Tricia that she had found it.”
Dr. Lukana lifted the orchid out of the case and gently placed it in the crook of one of the big tree’s branches. She patted the roots down with moss. Right away, the orchid looked at home, shaded from the light by the tree’s boughs and nourished by the rich, clean air of the mountains. The four Aldens gazed at it quietly until Benny exclaimed loudly, “We did it! We returned all the artifacts!”
His excitement made them all laugh.
“It feels great, doesn’t it?” Henry asked.
“Do we have to go home right away? I want to look around Machu Picchu before we leave!” said Violet.
“Of course!” Jessie said. “Grandfather will be happy to look around with us too.”
Benny took one last look at the orchid as they went back up the trail to where Grandfather, Tricia, and Anna waited. The wind blew through the orchid’s leaves so it looked like it was waving. Benny waved back, then ran up the trail, looking forward to their next great adventure.
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.
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 books.
The Khipu and the Final Key Page 8
