Nancy Craig and the Mystery of the Fire Opal

    This book is somewhat of a mystery itself. Years ago when I was looking to buy Whitman editions of the Polly Brewster set I purchased a book lot on Ebay, this was one of the books included. I had never heard of this book before which was surprising because I am fairly familiar with Whitman titles. This book also seems to have three different titles; Nancy Craig and the Mystery of the Fire Opal is printed on the cover, Nancy Craig and the Fire Opal is printed on the spine, and Nancy Craig and the Fire Opal of Guatemala is featured through out the book. "Authorized Edition" is printed on the spine, indicating that Nancy Craig is a pre-existing character outside of books but, try as I might, I can not find out who she is. She does not appear to have been a celebrity, a character in a radio show, or a comic strip. Who is Nancy Craig?

    When reading this book previously I recall finding it wonderfully adventurous but at the end I realized there was one problem with it; the main character did not have to be present for the actions of this story to happen. With or without Nancy Craig present the results of the story would have happened the way they did. I will talk more about this later.

    Fifteen-year-old Nancy Craig is on a plane piloted by her father heading for Guatemala. On the plane is her friend, sixteen-year-old Dannie Marston, who is heading to Guatemala with his father, archaeologist Dr. Marston, and a group of other research men. 

    Nancy is jealous because, unlike Dannie, she does not get to participate in the archaeology expedition into the Guatemalan jungle. She is going to visit her cousin, Kathy Wilson, who moved to the south American country a year ago when her father, uncle Ronnie, went into Foreign Service and was assigned there.

    Once they arrive Kathy tells Nancy about Maria Paso, a Guatemalan girl who boards with Kathy's family during the school year. She has invited the girls to visit her at her family's home during the current summer holiday. Kathy tells Nancy that Maria's family owns a vast amount of land, part of which is called the Forbidden Valley. Superstition says it's a dangerous place that no one must step foot onto. Nancy is instantly eager to visit it, brushing off superstitions as nonsense.

    After Nancy's father leaves Nancy, Kathy, Uncle Ronnie, Dannie, and Dr. Marston all head to Kathy's family's home where they meet Maria. As everyone is getting settled in their rooms Nancy and Kathy hear Maria talking rudely to two men who have come delivering produce from her family's farm. After the men leave Maria explains to the girls that the men are North Americans who are renting a hut on her family's land, right outside of the Forbidden Valley. They claim to be there to catch butterflies and locate flowers but Maria is suspicious of them because they've offered her father such a large sum of money to rent the hut.

    Ted, Kathy's younger brother, has been collecting rocks while living in Guatemala and is eager to show them to Dannie. One in particular catches Dannie's eye; he believes it to be an opal, possibly a fire opal which Dannie is very interested in and eager to find one for himself. Ted is excited by this possibility and agrees to have the stone taken to a member of the archaeology group who can cut it open to verify.

    Nancy and Kathy later join Uncle Ronnie when he goes into town to run errands. While the girls wait in the car they see the two North American men and feel they are up to something suspicious.

    Soon the archaeology groups heads out on their expedition. Dannie will be tasked with coming into town occasionally to get mail and supplies. His first trip is set for Wednesday but when the day arrives Dannie does not. Nor does he the next day. Uncle Ronnie insists there's nothing to worry about because, he says, Dannie is smart enough to take care of himself.

    Nancy and Kathy then head to the Paso's house where they will be guests for a week. During supper Maria talks about Dannie stopping by their house on his way to town Wednesday. Nancy and Kathy becomes instantly worried, Dannie had evidently started on his journey but never reached his destination. Mr. Paso follows the route Dannie had planned to take and asks everyone along it if they've seen him; no one has.

    That night an earthquake shakes the house. The Paso's and Kathy are use to them but Nancy has never experienced one and has been living in fear of them since arriving in South America. The experience leaves her quite shaken.

    As a distraction from worrying about Dannie the three girls and Tomás, Maria's brother, go for a picnic at some old ruins. The trail there leads past the rented hut and Maria once again voices her dislike of the renters. Tomás remarks that the men and their horses are gone every single day but he doesn't know where. 

    The ruins are close to Forbidden Valley and Nancy is eager to catch even a glimpse of it. Maria and Tomás vocalize their fear of the valley and share the legend that anyone who goes into the valley will never come out alive. Nancy brushes off this superstition and persuades the hesitant Kathy to walk up a bluff that over looks the valley. They notice hoof-prints and upon investigation find more prints going both toward and away from the valley. Evidently someone has been going into the valley and coming out alive, could it be the men renting the nearby hut?

    On top of the bluff they admire the beauty of the valley and persuade Maria and Tomás to join them. The two are shocked at seeing how beautiful the place is, they had believed it to be a barren wasteland. Trying to take advantage of the opportunity to rid the family of their superstitions Nancy says she's going to walk down the bluff into the valley to gather a flower. But as she descends down the rough slope an earthquake begins and she is tossed down and covered with debris. 

    On the whole she is fine but her leg has gotten cut and she's bleeding badly. She manages to climb back up the bluff and the Guatemalans, believing the evil spirits attacked her for entering the valley, are shocked she is alive. By this time Nancy has become woozy from blood loss and the two girls are having to carry her. 

    Tomás never stopped running after the earthquake began and has told the renters what happened as he ran past their hut. The men, Pearson and Conners, come find the girls and begin berating them for being so near the valley. They don't lighten up until Maria threatens to have them removed from her father's land. After this they lend the girls a first aid kit to bandage Nancy's leg, then lend a horse for her to ride back to the Peso's.

    Nancy spends the next day keeping off her leg and the Paso's prepare to take their produce and wares to market the following day. Around dinnertime Dr. Marston, Uncle Ronnie, and another man from the expedition show up to inquire if any information about Dannie has been found. Uncle Ronnie confides to Nancy that he fears Dannie has been robbed and murdered while on his way to town. 

    After the men leave the family discusses Dannie's visit and it is revealed he asked the Paso's endless questions about the forbidden valley. Nancy and Kathy come to believe this is where he had gone.

    The next day the Paso's are headed for the market when Nancy claims her leg isn't well enough to join in and Kathy insists on staying with Nancy. Once the family leaves for the day the American girls pack a lunch, water, and a field kit. They saddle the Paso's old burro and head to the forbidden valley in search of Dannie. The burro is slow and balks constantly which costs them time. As they get closer to the rented hut the girls hear horse steps and hide in the bushes. They see Conners and Pearson ride by heading to the market which releases them of the anxiety of running into the men in the valley. 

    Once in the valley they rein the burro by a stream then continue on foot. The valley is filled with lush fruit trees, mahogany trees, and what the girls believe to be opal stones. It's not long before they find a blazed trail which they assume the two men have made. They follow the trail calling for Dannie at intervals. 

    By the time they sit down to lunch Nancy's leg wound has opened and is bleeding. She's determine to carry on tho. Not long after they continue their trek through the jungle an earthquakes erupts causing a tree to fall and their packs become trapped under it. Kathy has a brief moment of weakness where she wants to run back to the mule but upon realizing Dannie has been in the jungle for multiple earthquakes and could have met the same fate as their packs, they continue on. 

    The farther they go the more lost in the wilderness they become and Nancy's leg gets worse and worse and she's soon struggling to walk. The girls discuss finding a sturdy tree to sleep in for the night, once they find one Kathy climbs it and from her viewpoint she sees an ancient pyramid and temple in the near distance. Finding this a safer place to sleep they head to it and climb to the top of the pyramid. They call for Dannie from this height and get a response; he's under the temple. 

    Once in the temple Dannie instructs the girls on how to unbar and lift a stone from the floor that works as the dungeon's entrance. Dannie is freed from his prison and reveals he was put there by Conners and Pearson. He tells his story of being curious of the forbidden valley and venturing in on Wednesday. He begins finding opal stones when Conners and Pearson appear. Enraged that the boy has found the natural treasure they have been stealing, they keep him prisoner so he can tell no one of it.

    By now Nancy is not able to continue on the journey and it's too dark to safely navigate the jungle so they spend the night in the temple. In the morning Nan's leg is worse and showing serious signs of infection. They decide that Dannie will go back through the valley for the burro so Nancy can ride out. The girls are placed into a caved-in nook on the side of the pyramid where they are to hide for several hours until Dannie's return. They figure here they will be safe if Conners and Pearson arrive. 

    The men do arrive and it's clear by their packed horses and attire that they are about to flee the country, they are just setting Dannie free first. The girls sneak down the pyramid and into the temple. One man goes into the dungeon after receiving no reply from their calls to Dannie, Kathy then sneaks up on the other and shoves him backwards into the dungeon opening. They secure the entrance then soon hear horses. A rescue party including law officials, Dr. Marston, Uncle Ronnie, and Ted appear with Dannie who they met in the jungle. The rescue party had been formed the previous night after the Paso's returned home to find a note from Kathy telling of their plans.

    The two men are arrested, Nancy's is given medical treatment, Dr. Marston has a new archaeological find with the pyramid and temple, and the Paso's are free of their superstitions and will now find great wealth with all the natural resources the valley contains.

- The way Guatemalans are looked down upon for their cultures religious beliefs is kind of annoying. I try to be extremely open-minded with old books, I know it was a different time when reliable information was not as easily available and so stereotypes, myths, and misinformation were taken as fact but this book was so rude. 

    It constantly talked about how Guatemalans who believed in their countries traditional religion were ignorant and uneducated. It mentions how Christian leaders were working to educate the country so they will adopt Christianity. I found it especially laughable when Nancy observes how the "ignorant and uneducated" people light incense on the church steps to their gods while the "educated modern" ones light candles in the church. Matilda Bailey clearly did not see how laughable this comparison was.

    Not only that but the savior theme of this book got on my last nerves, I've never come across a more intense version if it. For example there's a scene when Uncle Ronnie stops at a villagers house on the side of the road to purchase melons from the owner. Inside the home a young woman has sprained her ankle. A medicine man is there waving herbs over the ankle and all the natives are confused as to why this has not instantly cured the ankle. Our savior Nancy then comes in and mystified these ignorant and uneducated people by teaching them that hot water can ease pain.

    And it's not just that Nancy happens to help these people with basic knowledge but she actually sees it as her duty. When Dannie first goes missing Mrs. Paso tries to comfort Nancy and Kathy by saying she'll burn an offering to protect Dannie from evil spirits. Instead of being thankful for this act of kindness and empathy, Nancy feels guilty for not immediately trying to convince Mrs. Paso that offerings and evil spirits are not real.

- To make things even worse Nancy's cut leg is later treated with a poultice of herbs by Mrs. Paso to ease the pain. Even though they work and do ease Nancy's pain she does not change her opinions of people using them in the traditional healing practices.

- There a definite plot hole with how much destruction happens with each earth quake. For example when the earthquake happens when Nancy is descending the bluff to pick a flower. Rocks, dirt, trees, etc. all fall down around and on top of her. But if there was a large earthquake the night before and regular earthquakes every few days how was all that not dislodged previously. The same happens when the girls go into the jungle; there's no note of fallen trees from previous earthquakes but after one happens while they are there suddenly trees have fallen blocking the paths.

- The same meal is mentioned over and over; albondigas, tortillas, and boiled corn. I think this is the only South American meal Matilda Bailey knew of.

    Overall I feel conflicted about this book. I really enjoy the part that takes place in the valley and, to a slightly lesser extent, at the Paso's. I think the premise is good and it makes a wonderfully adventurous story but the judgmental overtones of the whole book really ruin the majority of it. I also found the parts taking place at Kathy's house and that surrounding area quite boring. 

    I'm not sure if their are any other girls books from this time period set in the Guatemalan jungle as it seems like a unique setting but if so then I would really love to find them and see if they got it right where Matilda Bailey got it wrong.

    Now as for what I mentioned at the start of this review about Nancy and Kathy not needing to be present for the actions of this book to turn out the same. I am going to copy and paste what I wrote about that from my previous review years ago:

    "Dannie had been kidnapped by 2 men and hidden in the dungeon of a temple in the jungle. The girls find and release him but it's then too dark to venture back so they sleep there. The next morning Nancy's leg wound is too painful/infected for her to walk back so Dannie goes to get the burro the girls left yesterday to carry her back. While they wait they hide and then the 2 men show up. The men were going to release Dannie that morning and then immediately leave the country, saying that by the time he walks out of the jungle they would already be gone. It's stated that it would only take a couple hours to get out of the jungle on foot. Well starting that morning the police had started looking for men who they had been suspicious of for sometime. So if the men had then left the jungle after releasing Dannie they would have been apprehended and Dannie would have walked back to the city or been found on his way back. Not only that but Ted had already told the authorities he had found the opal Dannie was interested in, in that jungle so the authorities were already on their way there looking for Dannie and thus would have ran into the 2 men. Regardless of if the girls had come the day before to find him, Dannie would have been on his was home and the 2 men would have been arrested on that same day around the exact same time."

    So as you can see the girls did not need to go into the jungle to save Dannie. The whole point of them going alone was that they claimed it would take too long to contact Dr. Martson or Uncle Ronnie to have authorities go but this is proven false. Therefore the girls endangered their lives and Nancy may have gotten blood poisoning for nothing.