The Boxcar Children are helping endangered animals!

  The group spread out, with Henry on one end and their guide, Kayla, on the other. Everyone scanned the ground as they moved through the tall grass.

  Violet was the first to spot something. She called out and held up a plastic water bottle.

  “I guess we’re not the first people to come this way,” Jessie said.

  They kept going, and before long, Jessie gave a shout.

  “More garbage?” Violet asked.

  Jessie crouched in the tall grass. “I don’t think so.”

  The group gathered around, and Jessie handed the thing to Kayla.

  “It’s the GPS collar,” Kayla said. “This didn’t come off by accident. Someone removed it.”

  Benny gulped. “But if the collar is here, where is the snow leopard it belongs to?”

  Copyright © 2022 by Albert Whitman & Company

  First published in the United States of America in 2022 by Albert Whitman & Company

  ISBN 978-0-8075-1019-3 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-8075-1020-9 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-0-8075-1021-6 (ebook)

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  THE BOXCAR CHILDREN® is a registered trademark of Albert Whitman & Company.

  Printed in the United States of America

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 LB 26 25 24 23 22

  Illustrations by Craig Orback

  Visit The Boxcar Children® online at www.boxcarchildren.com.

  For more information about Albert Whitman & Company,

  visit our website at www.albertwhitman.com.

  CONTENTS

  1. A New Adventure

  2. A Change of Plans

  3. Give and Take

  4. A Sound in the Night

  5. Mystery Becomes Mission

  6. Out and About

  7. A Call for Help

  8. Out in the Open

  9. Adding It Up

  10. Returning Home

  CHAPTER 1

  A New Adventure

  “I can’t wait to see the real thing,” said ten-year-old Violet Alden, adding spots to the drawing in her sketch pad. “I’ll draw an even better one then.”

  “I’d say your snow leopards look pretty good already,” Henry said from across the airplane aisle. Then he turned back to the book about India he was reading to his little brother, Benny.

  At fourteen, Henry was the oldest of the four Alden children. He was used to watching out for the others. On this trip, he had a lot of responsibility. The children were on a flight halfway around the world. Until they landed, he was in charge. And with six-year-old Benny, that meant making sure he didn’t get too antsy.

  Jessie reviewed the notes she’d written in her notebook. She was twelve and liked to keep the children’s travels organized. “We will land in Leh,” she said. “That is the largest city in Ladakh.”

  “Huh?” said Benny. “I thought we were going to India.”

  “Ladakh is a territory in India,” Jessie explained. “It’s in the northern part of the country. It’s also one of the highest up places in the world.”

  Henry nodded. “A perfect place for snow leopards,” he said. “They live far up in the mountains. And the Himalayas have the highest peaks anywhere.”

  A voice came over the airplane’s speakers announcing that they would be landing soon. Violet closed her sketch pad. Jessie tucked her notebook into her backpack. Henry put away the book he was reading and made sure everyone had their seat belts on.

  Benny bounced in his seat. “I can’t wait to see Kayla again!”

  Kayla Young was the family friend the Aldens planned to meet at the airport. She worked for a group called Protectors of Animals Worldwide, or PAW. The children had met Kayla when they were visiting Port Elizabeth, where she’d been doing research. After a bad oil spill had happened off the coast, they’d helped her keep the animals that were affected safe. Kayla had been so impressed with their help, she’d invited them to come along as she helped protect other animals around the world.

  Benny gazed out the window as the plane descended. They’d been flying above clouds. Now mountain ranges stretched as far as he could see. The tops of the mountains were white with snow.

  “Everything is so big,” said Benny. “It must be hard to find snow leopards in the mountains.”

  Violet leaned over to look. “I bet they can go all kinds of places people can’t. They probably hide well too.”

  “That’s why Kayla and PAW need to study them,” Jessie said. “PAW wants to find out how snow leopards act in the wild. They also want to know how people are affecting the cats.”

  Benny looked up at his big sister. “What do you mean? I like to pet cats and hear them purr.”

  Jessie grinned. “Don’t try to pet a snow leopard. They’re wild animals.”

  “I know,” Benny said. “We shouldn’t touch wild animals. We might hurt them, or they might hurt us.”

  “Right,” said Henry. “I don’t think you’ll have a chance to touch a snow leopard anyway. They won’t want to get close to us. But maybe we’ll see one, if we’re lucky.”

  Violet sighed. “I sure hope so. It would be sad to come all this way and never see a snow leopard.”

  “It will still be fun,” Benny said. “We get to be in the mountains. Grandfather said it’s really far from everything. It will be like living in the boxcar again.”

  At one time, the children had lived in a boxcar in the forest. That was after their parents had died. They’d thought their grandfather would be mean, so they’d run away. They’d had many adventures while living in the boxcar, but when Grandfather had found them, they’d found out he wasn’t mean at all. Now they had a real home with Grandfather, and they still had plenty of adventures.

  Jessie chuckled. “Benny, the Himalayan wilderness might be a little tougher than the forests of Greenfield, Connecticut.”

  They watched as the plane lowered into a wide valley. A blue-gray river wound between green trees. Buildings came into view.

  Before long, the plane touched down. Benny giggled as the plane bounced on the runway and slowed to a stop. When the plane reached the gate, a flight attendant escorted the children off the plane.

  Finally, after hours of travel, the Aldens saw a friendly face. Kayla had big, smiling brown eyes, and her short hair bounced as she hurried over to greet them with hugs. She’d already been in India for a week and had traveled down from the PAW research center in the mountains to pick up the children.

  Once everyone was ready, the Aldens followed Kayla outside, where a shuttle was waiting to pick them up. Benny yawned. “What time is it? It’s bright out, but I feel like it’s the middle of the night.”

  “We traveled a long time,” Henry said. “Back home, it would be the middle of the night.”

  “You’re also at a very high altitude,” Kayla said. “Here we’re more than eleven thousand feet up. The tallest mountain in New England isn’t much higher than six thousand feet.”

  Jessie looked at the mountains rising in the distance. “And we aren’t even to our final destination yet.”

  “No,” said Kayla, “but the air is thinner at this height. It has less oxygen in it, which makes it harder to breathe. We’ll rest here in Leh to get used to the altitude. Then we’ll go to the research center farther up.”

  Violet took a deep breath. “Does that mean even less air?” she asked.

  Kayla put an arm around Violet’s shoulders. “It does. But don’t worry, we’ll take it slow. Plus, you kids are in good shape. I saw the way you ran around the beach back in Port Elizabeth.”

  After a short shuttle ride, the Aldens reached the hotel and took their bags to their rooms. Once they were settled in, they could really feel the effects of the long flight. The children climbed into comfy beds, and one by one, they fell asleep. A new adventure was about to begin, and they needed to be rested for it.

  “I’m feeling better now,” Violet said that evening as the children headed to meet Kayla for dinner in the hotel dining room.

  The others agreed, even Benny. “Usually, I don’t like to nap because I don’t want to miss anything,” he said. “Today I knew everyone would be napping!”

  At dinner, Kayla filled in the Aldens about the research PAW was doing in India. “Snow leopards are elusive,” she said. “That means they are hard to find. Here, some people call them the ‘ghosts of the Himalayas.’”

  “Ghosts!” Benny laughed. “Not real ghosts though.”

  Henry nudged his brother. “There aren’t any real ghosts, silly.”

  “Maybe there are,” Benny said. “We haven’t seen any, but we haven’t seen any snow leopards yet either.”

  Kayla chuckled. “In this case, ‘ghosts of the Himalayas’ just means that snow leopards are very hard to spot.”

  “Don’t leopards already have spots?” Benny giggled at his own joke.

  “Actually, they don’t really have spots,” Jessie said. “They have rough black circles shaped kind of like roses. They’re called rosettes.” Jessie had been learning all about snow leopards in the days leading up to their trip.

  “Very good,” said Kayla, looking impressed. “Other leopards have golden fur with black
rosettes. Snow leopards have light gray fur with black rosettes.” She smiled at Benny. “Or spots.”

  “How many snow leopards are left?” Violet asked.

  “We think there are fewer than eight thousand,” Kayla said.

  “In the whole world?” said Benny.

  “That’s right,” said Kayla. “But it’s difficult to get a good count. They live in steep, snowy mountains, and few roads go through their territory. Mostly that’s good. It keeps away people who might hurt them. But it’s bad for researchers like me who want to find them. Even people working here for many years might never see a wild snow leopard.”

  As Jessie finished eating, she pulled out her notebook to make notes. “How do you study an animal you can’t see?”

  “We get help from technology,” Kayla said. “First we look for places we think the snow leopards go. We look for tracks or other signs of the animal’s presence. Then we can put up cameras that record if a cat passes by.”

  Jessie scribbled notes. “Can you tell much from the pictures?”

  “Not as much as we’d like,” said Kayla. “Sometimes we capture an animal. Then we can examine it to make sure it’s healthy. We also put a collar on it with a special GPS unit. Then we release the animal, and the GPS sends a signal to our computers so we can see where it goes. The leopard gets to live its life in the mountains, and we learn where it travels.”

  “That’s really cool,” Jessie said.

  “I was hoping to see a snow leopard.” Violet frowned. “A photo isn’t the same.”

  “You’ve come at the right time,” said Kayla. “At the research station, we’ve been tracking a female snow leopard through its GPS collar. We’re learning a lot about her range, or the area she travels. It’s important work to help protect the species.”

  “If we know where it is, maybe we can spot it!” Benny said.

  Kayla nodded. “We just might,” she said. “But I don’t want you to be disappointed if we don’t get the chance. Sometimes the best place for a wild animal is in the wild. Usually, if a snow leopard comes near humans, it means something is wrong. When they are away from humans, they are safest and happiest.

  Violet thought of her drawing of a snow leopard. She really did want to see a snow leopard in person. But more than anything, she wanted to do what she could to make sure the animal would be safe and happy.

  She hoped they could find a way to do both.

  CHAPTER 2

  A Change of Plans

  The next morning, the Aldens woke up excited to explore. They headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. The buffet had some familiar foods, like scrambled eggs and roasted vegetables. Benny especially liked the warm buns with apricot jam.

  Henry tried a warm drink that wasn’t so familiar.

  “Butter tea is traditional here,” said Kayla. “This is a special kind called pu-erh. Personally, I think it tastes like soil, but it’s not so bad with some milk, yak butter, and salt.”

  Benny wrinkled his nose. “Dirt tea with salt and yak butter? No thank you.”

  Henry lifted the bowl of tea and took a cautious sip. “It is different. It doesn’t taste like any other tea I’ve tried.” He sipped some more. “It’s thick and sort of sour. I’m not sure if I like it. Maybe.”

  “Well, it’s very high in calories,” Kayla said. “That’s good when you work outside in the cold. Butter tea for breakfast gives you lots of energy.”

  Henry passed the bowl around so his brother and sisters could try it. Trying new things was always fun. They decided they’d rather have juice with breakfast though.

  After breakfast, the Aldens bundled up in warm clothes. Kayla led them out to the streets of Leh. The sun shone brightly in the blue sky.

  Jessie put on sunglasses. “My eyes tell me it’s daytime, but I’m still tired, even though I slept a long time.”

  Violet covered a yawn. “Me too. I feel funny. Not dizzy exactly but a little off-balance.”

  “That’s normal when you first get to this high elevation,” Kayla said. “Remember, you need to give your bodies time to get used to the thin air.”

  Even Benny wasn’t as bouncy as usual. Normally he led the way, but now he had to work hard to keep up, even though Kayla wasn’t walking quickly.

  Jessie stopped to pick up a plastic water bottle someone had dropped in the street. “Ugh. I guess trash is a problem everywhere.” She looked around for a garbage can but didn’t see one.

  Kayla took the bottle and put it in her backpack to throw away later. “It’s a huge problem here. Tourists create so much trash. They dump thousands of plastic water bottles each summer.”

  “That’s terrible,” Jessie said. “I’m glad we brought water bottles we can refill.”

  Henry nodded. “Just remember to be careful when you refill. Remember what Grandfather told us? We need to make sure the water won’t make us sick.”

  “That’s right,” Kayla said. “Leh used to get its water from melting glaciers, but most of the glaciers are gone now, sadly. The streams around here are polluted as well. Even the local people have to buy bottled water now.”

  “I never thought about not having clean water,” Jessie said. “We take it for granted that we have all the water we want.”

  The children came to a wide street paved with bricks. Some of the bricks were colored orange, yellow, or white, making square and diamond designs.

  “This is the main market,” Kayla said.

  The street was closed to cars, so people could walk from side to side without worrying about traffic. Rows of pretty buildings three stories high ran along each side. People sat on the sidewalks next to piles of vegetables for sale. The Aldens recognized potatoes, onions, carrots, and other familiar foods. They also saw others they didn’t recognize.

  “Look at all the food!” Benny took a deep breath of the cool air. “It smells good here. I smell bread baking and vegetables cooking and maybe soup like we had at the hotel last night.”

  One window showed racks of bread. Benny hurried toward it and peered inside at all kinds of bread, rolls, pastries, muffins, and cookies. His mouth watered. “Can we try some?”

  Kayla laughed. “You just had breakfast. I promise we’ll have a tasty lunch in a couple of hours.”

  Benny sighed. “That sounds like a long time. We need to keep up our energy because it’s cold and the air is thin.”

  “You learn quickly.” Kayla smiled. “But I promise you won’t starve.”

  They walked past a shop with bunches of bananas hanging from the ceiling. Inside, they heard people talking quickly in a language that Kayla said was Ladakhi.

  Violet took pictures of the shops and the street market. She loved all the bright colors. She’d need her colored pencils to draw this.

  Partway down the block, someone was speaking loudly in a language the children recognized. “Protect the snow leopards! Put them back on the endangered species list.” The man was in his twenties. He had long brown hair and a sunburned nose. He wore a shirt with a picture of snow leopard on it and spoke with an American accent. The man held out pamphlets to everyone who passed.

  The children stopped to listen. “I thought snow leopards were endangered,” Jessie said to Kayla.

  “They were recently taken off the endangered species list,” the man chimed in. He handed Jessie a pamphlet. “Now they’re only considered vulnerable. But that’s not good enough. There are only a few thousand left!”

  Violet whispered to Kayla. “I forget. What’s the difference between endangered and vulnerable?”

  “The categories tell how likely it is that a species will become extinct,” Kayla said. “Extinct means we don’t think there are any more individuals anywhere. Once something is extinct, it’s gone forever. Some animals are extinct in the wild. That means they survive only in captivity, like in zoos or aquariums. Endangered means an animal is at high risk of going extinct. Vulnerable isn’t quite so serious. It means the species might become endangered if we don’t take action.”

  “So vulnerable isn’t as bad as endangered.” Violet took a pamphlet from the man.

  “Snow leopards almost went extinct,” he said. “Their numbers have come back a little, but not enough.”