The Message In The Hollow Oak Part 20

Art roared off. He was back in a little while with the truck, the motorcycle lying in the rear. Sweet-smelling hay covered the board floor and Nancy was glad to see this, but knew it would hardly cus.h.i.+on the ride. It was not going to be a comfortable one.

It was a beautiful day and the whole group had breakfast outdoors. While they were eating, Nancy saw Theresa approach Julie Anne and speak to her quietly. The young detective noticed a look of disappointment cross Julie Anne's face.

Next the director walked over to Art and began to talk. He scowled but seemed to agree with Theresa. A few minutes later he came up to Nancy and said, "Sorry, but Theresa won't excuse me today. I have to dig."

Presently Julie Anne told Nancy their leader had made the same request of her. Nancy wondered if Bess had had a hand in this or whether Theresa had decided her students had had enough time off.

"I'll bet Bess is playing Cupid again," Nancy thought.

All her friends from home were intrigued by the excavation and went to watch the diggers at work. Julie Anne waved to them from below.

"Show us how you do it," Ned called to her.

She showed him, then suddenly said, "I've found part of a painted skull."

It was a slightly curved piece of reddish bone about two inches long.

"This is a good find," said Theresa. "It still bears traces of the red clay with which the Hopewell Indians painted the skulls of their dead."

"It could just as easily be an Algonquin skull," Claire said authoritatively. "I've heard they had some strange customs. Sometimes they mixed their bones into the burials of earlier people."

Theresa looked at the girl sharply. "That story is absolutely untrue. Where did you hear it?"

Cornered, Claire admitted that she had forgotten. "Then," said Theresa, "you should know better than to repeat such a story!"

Claire turned on her heel and walked away. Julie Anne winked at Nancy as if to say, "Little Miss Know-It-All didn't get away with it this time!"

Nancy told Theresa she and her group should leave at once to start their hunt. A box was quickly packed with sandwiches, fruit, cake, and bottles of soda. The three couples rode off in the open-back truck, with Ned at the wheel and Nancy beside him. She pointed out the direction, retracing the route Clem had taken.

Suddenly the sky grew dark. Large drops splashed against the winds.h.i.+eld. There were cries from the riders in the back. A downpour followed and the narrow lane turned to slippery mud.

Nancy looked around frantically for shelter. Below, at the foot of a steep bluff, she spotted a tumble-down red frame building.

"There's an old railroad station!" she exclaimed. "We can go in there!"

Just then Ned swerved to avoid a boulder in the road. The heavy truck skidded out of control and slid down the muddy embankment straight for the old depot! There were screams from the rear.

"Hang on!" Ned yelled.

Cras.h.!.+

The truck came to a halt with the cab inside the station. Plaster and boards rained down on it. The riders in the back scrambled out and hurried to the front.

"Nancy, Ned! Are you hurt?" George cried. Bess was white-faced with fright.

"We're all right, I guess," Nancy said shakily as she and Ned got out of the cab.

Ned gave a wry grin. "I don't think we did this old depot any good."

"It was a wreck to start with," said Burt.

The boys looked over the truck and found it undamaged. Meanwhile, Nancy searched the abandoned station on a hunch Bob Snell might be imprisoned there. She found only a broken cabinet in the ticket agent's office and a 1929 train schedule.

"It has stopped raining," said Bess.

"Then let's go!" Burt urged.

The girls found clean rags under the truck seat and wiped off the wet hay in the back. Then they all climbed in and Ned backed out of the broken wall. He drove along the gra.s.s-covered railroad tracks until he came to a gravel road leading back to the bluff.

Before long, Nancy recognized where they were. Straight ahead was the first hollow oak with the lead plate on it containing the name Pere Franois, and the date, followed by an arrow. It was noon by the time they reached the area where the second tree was located. But it was on the other side of a deep creek.

"I guess we came out of our way," Nancy remarked.

"I'm starved!" said Bess. "Let's sit down here by this nice shady stream and have our lunch."

"Sounds good to me," Dave spoke up.

The three couples climbed out of the old truck and walked toward the water to wash their hands. Burt was the first to finish. As he turned back toward the truck he saw two little boys peering into the cab. Thinking they might know the best spot to drive across the stream, he hurried toward them. Instead of waiting for Burt, the two ran away as fast as they could.

"I guess they're shy of strangers," he thought with a smile, and waited for the others to join him.

Nancy, first to get there, reached into the cab for the box of food. The string which had been tied around it was gone. Quickly she took off the lid and looked inside.

"Oh no! It can't be!" she exclaimed.

CHAPTER XV.

Strange Row of Stones

AT Nancy's outcry Bess looked into the box. She gave a little shriek. "What! No food?"

"Those little boys I saw running away," Burt remarked, "must have taken everything." He dashed off in the direction the children had taken.

Ned and Dave followed, while Bess sat down on the ground, disconsolate.

"Oh, don't be silly!" George chided her cousin. "It wouldn't hurt you to go without a meal."

"You're a good one to talk," Bess replied. "You eat all you want and stay slim. I can't help it if I get hungry."

It seemed like a long time before the boys returned. Ned was holding a package of sandwiches which the little boys had dropped. Burt and Dave had their hands filled with luscious raspberries. Streamers of watercress were trailing from their pockets.

"I see you retrieved some of our lunch," said Bess. "Did you catch those little monkeys?"

"No. They had too much of a head start, but if we ration this food, we won't starve."

Dave grinned. "I feel as if I'm on Operation Survival."