Mystery of the Lost Mine

CHAPTER

1 The New Boxcar

2 A New Adventure

3 Benny’s Gold

4 A Warning

5 Where Is Jake

6 Lights Out

7 Lost

8 The Storm

9 One Mystery Solved

10 Benny’s Surprise

About the Author

“T
urn left,” said Henry Alden. Leaning forward from the passenger seat, he pointed at a graveled road. “RV Haven should be about two miles down this road.”

“Roger,” said Grandfather as he steered the big mobile home off the main highway.

Benny looked up from the map Henry had given him to fold. He sat on the bench seat behind his big brother.

“Roger?” he repeated. “Henry’s name isn’t Roger.”

Grandfather laughed. “That’s navigator talk. Henry has been an excellent one since we left Greenfield.”

“What’s a nav—?” six-year-old Benny began.

“A direction finder,” answered Jessie, who was twelve, from the opposite bench. She was used to her little brother’s questions. She glanced around the kitchenette. “Since we’re almost there, we’d better straighten up.”

“I’ll put my drawing things away,” offered Violet. She packed up her tablet and pens and stowed them in the cubby beneath the kitchen table. Ten-year-old Violet Alden loved to draw.

“Are there any more sandwiches?” asked Benny. He was always hungry.

Jessie wiped crumbs from the counter. “Oh, Benny! I just cleaned the kitchen.”

“We’ll be there in ten minutes,” Grandfather told Benny, glancing in the rearview mirror. “And then we can have dinner in the restaurant.”

Violet joined Jessie on the bench behind the driver’s seat. “The campground has a restaurant?” she asked.

Most of the campgrounds across the country had only trailer hookups for power. Violet, Jessie, and Henry had taken turns fixing light meals.

“This place is supposed to have everything,” said Henry, who was fourteen. “A pool, a recreation center, riding stables nearby—”

“RV Haven is like a little town, right in the Arizona desert,” Grandfather added.

“Eight minutes,” called out Benny. “And then we’d better be there!”

Everyone laughed.

Violet gazed out the big picture window at the passing scenery of cactus and rocks. She couldn’t wait to take pictures with the camera Grandfather had given her. For a ten-year-old, she was a pretty good artist and photographer.

At last the RV lumbered under a tall wooden arch with “RV Haven” spelled out in horseshoes.

“We’re here!” exclaimed Jessie. She clung to the back of Benny’s seat.

Grandfather pulled the mobile home in front of a small wooden building marked “Office.”

“I’ll be right back,” he said, opening the door. “I have to sign in and find out where we can park the RV.”

“Five minutes!” Benny sang after him. But he didn’t care if Grandfather took an extra minute or two. After more than a week on the road, they had finally reached their destination.

“I can’t believe we’re here,” Henry said, echoing Benny’s thought. “It seems like a month since we left Greenfield —”

“And started west in Mr. McCrae’s RV,” Jessie filled in.

Gerald McCrae and Grandfather had been friends forever. When Grandfather offered to help work on Mr. McCrae’s cabin in Arizona, Mr. McCrae asked Mr. Alden to drive his RV out.

“Aren’t you glad Grandfather thought we should come along on this trip?” Henry asked.

“I’m glad he did,” said Violet. “We’ve seen practically the whole country!”

“The RV is neat,” Benny put in. He jumped out of his seat and ran around the kitchenette, then he stopped for a moment. “What does RV stand for anyway?”

“It stands for recreational vehicle,” said Jessie.

The RV was truly a miniature house on wheels. Benches behind the driver’s and passengers’ seats folded down into bunk beds. The dining table stood between the benches. The kitchenette was outfitted with a tiny sink, refrigerator, and stove.

Behind the kitchen was a sitting area with comfortable chairs. At the very back were the bathroom with a shower and a small, separate bedroom.

“It
is
neat,” Henry agreed. “Like a brand-new boxcar.”

The Alden children used to live alone in a boxcar after their parents had died. But then their grandfather found them and gave them a wonderful home in Greenfield.

“Well, our old boxcar is in Grandfather’s back yard,” Jessie reminded them. “The
new
boxcar is only ours until Grandfather helps Mr. McCrae finish building his cabin.”

“And I hope that’ll be a long,
long
time!” Benny declared.

At that moment, Grandfather returned with a packet of papers he placed on the dashboard.

“Block D, Number Two,” he announced, starting the engine. “That’s our parking spot. Should be just ahead.”

Recreational vehicles, Jessie noticed, came in all shapes and sizes. Theirs was one of the biggest on the road.

“Here’s Two-D,” Henry said, as Grandfather maneuvered the mobile home onto the paved pad. “I’ll help hook up.”

“Me, too!” Benny leaped out after them. At every campground stop, he proudly helped connect the RV to water, sewer, and electricity lines. Jessie and Violet stayed in the RV.

Each RV site held four vehicles. Block D contained three trailers. The Alden RV filled the last slot.

The other three units were occupied by a shiny, oblong trailer; a fair-size RV with stickers all over the rear bumper; and an RV that was even bigger and sleeker than the Aldens’.

“Wow!” Jessie exclaimed softly as she and Violet looked out their RV’s window. “I wonder who lives in
that
one.”

Just then, the RV’s door burst open and Benny thundered up the steps.

“Come on!” he called. “Time to eat!”

Grandfather smiled. “That boy will never be late to a meal,” he told the girls as he locked the door behind them.

Henry waited for them at the entrance to the restaurant. “The Chuck Wagon,” he said, indicating the branded sign. “Neat name, huh? There’s also a store in the back.”

A cowbell clanged cheerfully as they entered.

“Let’s sit there,” Benny said, pointing to a red leather booth.

“Order anything you like,” Grandfather told them. “I’m going back to the office to call Gerald McCrae and let him know we’re here and ready to get to work on his cabin.”

When he left, a dark-haired woman with hard eyes came over with menus.

“Are you the campers in Two-D?” the woman asked without even saying hello first.

“Yes,” Jessie replied. “We’re the Aldens. I’m Jessie.”

“Janine Crawford,” the waitress replied shortly. “I run the restaurant and the store in back.”

The woman shifted her weight impatiently. “If you all know what you want—”

Since they were all hungry, they ordered quickly: grilled cheese and fries for Violet, hamburgers for Henry, Benny, and Grandfather, and a taco salad for Jessie.

As Janine barked the order to the cook in the back, a thin, blond man came in. Henry admired his cowboy boots and engraved silver belt buckle.

The young man tipped his gray cowboy hat and walked over to their table. “Howdy, pardners. I’m Tom Parker.”

“I’m Henry Alden and this is my brother, Benny, and my sisters, Jessie and Violet.”

“You’re the folks in Two-D,” Tom guessed. “Your first time to Arizona?”

The children nodded.

“It’s so pretty,” Violet said. “In a different sort of way.”

“The territory is pretty rugged all right.” Tom brought over a water pitcher and four glasses.

“Do you work here?” Benny wanted to know. He was thinking about becoming a cowboy.

Turning a chair around backward, Tom sat down. “Yeah, I’m jack-of-all-trades around here.”

“And master of none,” Janine snapped as she set down a loaded tray. “Did you check the pool filter? And rake the gravel by the rec center?”

“Not yet.” When Janine left, Tom said with a broad wink, “Well, I guess I better hit the trail. According to her, I have a lot of work to do. See you around.”

The Aldens dug into their food.

“I wonder why Janine is so grouchy,” Jessie said.

“If I owned a restaurant, I wouldn’t be grouchy,” said Benny.

Just then the door opened and several people came in. A man, woman, and a boy about Henry’s age sat in the booth across from the Aldens. The boy smiled.

“Hi,” he said. “I’m Luis Garcia. You’re the people—”

“—in Two-D,” Henry finished with a laugh. He introduced his sisters and brother. “I guess everyone is known around here by their RV.”

Luis’s father smiled. “Ours is the well-traveled one.”

Violet remembered all the stickers on the back bumper of the trailer parked directly in front of theirs.

“Would you like to sit with us?” Henry offered.

“Luis, why don’t you join the young people?” Luis’s mother urged. “You haven’t met many children on this trip.”

Luis scooted into the Aldens’ booth. “How long are you staying?”

Henry explained about Grandfather’s working on Mr. McCrae’s cabin. “We could be here a week or so.”

Luis nodded. “We’ve been here a week already. My parents are geologists. We are on vacation, but a vacation for my parents means rocks, rocks, and more rocks!”

“Do you collect rocks, too?” Jessie wondered.

“I’m a rock hound, yes. It’s in the blood, I think.”

“Who are in the other trailers?” Henry asked. “Are they in here now?”

Luis lowered his voice. “Yes. The silver Airstream is owned by that man.” He nodded toward a tall, thin man who slouched over a cup of coffee. “His name is Mr. Tobias. He’s been here the longest, about a month. He stays in his trailer most of the time.”

“Why would anyone stay inside all day in a great place like this?” asked Violet.

Luis shrugged. “The couple in the booth over there own the big, fancy mobile home parked next to you. They are Mr. and Mrs. Clark.”

Jessie had noticed that couple. They were very young and flashily dressed. Right now they were both laughing and joking with Tom Parker, who had come back inside.

“You two ought to book an evening hike with me,” Tom was telling them. “The desert is a mighty fine sight at night.”

“We’d love to, wouldn’t we, Jim?” Mrs. Clark said to her husband.

Mr. Clark smiled at his wife. “If Caitie wants to hike in the desert, we’ll go.”

“Good! We’ll set a date.” Tom slapped their table in parting and came over to the Aldens. “Hey, I see you met my buddy Luis. Luis here can swap almost as many tall tales as I can.”

Luis gave a tight smile. “Not quite, Mr. Parker.”

Jessie wondered why Luis didn’t seem to like the young cowboy. Tom seemed very friendly.

Tom splashed water into their glasses, his mood suddenly changing.

“Listen, you kids. Water is a serious business in Arizona. Don’t ever be without it. The desert can be a dangerous place, you know.”

“Dangerous?” Benny asked, looking a little frightened.

“How do you mean, Mr. Parker?” Henry asked.

“Just be careful,” Tom said, and stalked off without another word.

“B
oy, it sure gets dark out here,” Benny commented as he reached for a handful of popcorn.

“Quiet, too,” said Jessie. Then she added with a laugh, “Except for Benny’s chewing!”

The Aldens had just finished taking turns showering in the RV’s tiny bathroom. Now they were sitting around, munching popcorn. Outside the big picture windows, they could see a few lights from the campground. Beyond, the desert was inky black.

“What do you suppose Tom meant?” Henry asked. “About the desert’s being a dangerous place.”

“It sounded like a warning to me,” Violet said.

“What sounded like a warning?” Grandfather came out of the bathroom wearing his robe.

Jessie answered, “Tom Parker told us never to go out without water, that the desert is dangerous.”

“He’s right,” Grandfather said. “The desert
is
dangerous if you’re not prepared. Always carry a canteen, and wear a hat and sunscreen lotion. The sun is very hot.”