The Mystery Of The Star Ruby

The Mystery Of The Star Ruby BY Gertrude Chandler  Warner  The Series Of The Boxcar Children

By Rinchen Sangpo (10 yrs)

11/01/15

The Aldens were coming home after their long vacation. Benny didn't want to leave yet. Violet,Henry and Jessie told him they had to go back to Greenfield in order to get their education and see their boxcar again. Soon enough they saw a sign that said Ruby Hollow Gem Mine. That was very amazing. The kids decided that they wanted to go to Ruby Hollow in favor of their last trip before they came back to Greenfield. 

The kids arrived at the gem mine and spotted a few people. Soon the kids knew about the contest and wanted to take part in it. They each took a cabin. The girls have one cabin and the boys have the other cabin while Grandfather has the main building. As soon as Grandfather registered they went to the flume line. The flume line was filled with lots of gems. There were more then 10 gem types. Most of us got a sapphire or garnets but none of us got anything bigger so far. There were many different ranks among gems. Some Rubies were ranked by the size or hardness. There were ranks called mama bear ruby, Papa bear ruby, and baby bear ruby. Benny asked if there was a goldilocks rank. He said yes and that the goldilocks ruby was actually called a Star Ruby. It was hardest ruby to be found and very few have ever found it. When you look at it the sun shines on the ruby. To this day many people still look for it hoping to get extremely lucky.  They got complimentary buckets because it was their first day.  

When they came back from the flume line the kids and grandfather met 3 very nice people or at least at first. One woman was named Sybil,another man is named Donald and the last is named Jonathan. Along with the owner of the gem mine, Mr.Knight.  Donald told all of them in the second day of the contest that he was already going to win. He said that because he had a Papa bear Ruby. The second biggest gem in the ruby class. Benny told him that we still have a bunch of days to go before the contest is over.  That night Henry and Benny heard something come from the flume line but they didn't know anyone who would dig at a time like this.

The next day the kids went to the gem mine. There they looked at all the Rubies that were found or sold to the museum.  One ruby was very special and it was the Star Ruby. The very same day Violet found a mama bear ruby. She showed the gem inspector and he said that if she wanted it mounted into a ring all she needed to do was tell him. Soon when they were eating when Jessie's backpack disappeared. When they went into their cabin the backpack was just laying their but something was very suspicious. How would the backpack get from the diner all the way to the cabin without any one of them touching it?  That night the same thing happened as the day before. A stranger was digging something from ground or even hiding something.

The day after the kids went to the wade. Their they looked near the water to find some gems. The water should have already rinsed some of the dirt away from the gems so it would be easier for them to find it. Finally something amazing happened. Jessie found a Star Ruby. Hardest ruby in the world to find. Later someone stole Jessie's backpack again. They found out that the culprit was Donald since he said he would win  the contest. His Papa Bear ruby was actually a fake and in addition he wanted the whole gem mine from Cecil Knight but couldn't. Donald was Mr.Knights brother. Their father passed down the gem mine through family tradition and Cecil Knight just happened to be chosen. Donald was jealous.

The kids had a fun time at the Ruby Hollow Gem Mine. Jessie won the contest with her star ruby. Before there was a huge storm that struck the library. Jessie decided that after the contest she would sell her ruby in order to rebuild the library and add new books to it. Some of us were very happy and others were shocked. The ruby costed thousands of dollars and she was going to waste it all on books? Before the contest was over Benny decided to have some more food to eat. He  had a big appetite after all.

The End