Mystery Of The Tolling Bell Part 14

"Maybe I could walk." George gazed dubiously at her ankle, which had become badly swollen.

"You'd never make it, George. We'd better get you down to Bess. You can wait with her."

Nancy supported her friend as they made their way down the rocky hillside.

Bess was shocked by George's accident and as puzzled as the others by the sudden departure of A. H. She told Nancy and George that she had decided to take a walk along the sh.o.r.e to stretch, after being in the boat so long. Suddenly, to her horror, the elderly man sped off.

After telling Bess ot the plan to go for help, Nancy overruled her offer to go along. "No, you stay with George," she urged.

The sun was still high overhead and beat down upon the rocks. As Nancy set off to bring help to her friends, she could not stifle a feeling of resentment toward Amos Hendrick. What had possessed the man to leave them stranded?

"He must have had some reason," she thought "I don't believe he would abandon us on purpose."

Nancy stopped short. She was facing the front of the deserted cottage. The door was flapping in the wind.

"That's funny!" she thought. "I know I latched that door."

A dark shadow flitted around the side of the cottage. Had someone left the house, or was the figure that of an animal?

"It must have been my imagination," Nancy decided. "But just to make certain, I'll walk over there and find out."

The weather-stained cottage was as abandoned looking as when she had seen it before. Again she knocked. Again no one appeared. Once more she pulled the door shut and tested the latch to be sure it would not open again.

Before leaving, Nancy hurriedly circled the house, but saw no one. Yet she was uneasy.

"The wind couldn't have opened the door," she reflected. "And that shadow-"

In a hurry to reach Candleton, Nancy did not want to waste time. Striking out in what she judged to be the right direction, she was relieved to come upon a path which led out to a dirt road. Quarter of a mile farther on Nancy reached the spot where she had awakened the other day.

"How in the world could I have wandered such a distance in my sleep?" she asked herself.

Before long, Nancy came to the same farmhouse she had stopped at before. This time a car stood outside, its engine running. A man, evidently the owner of the place, started off.

"Wait!" Nancy hailed him. He pulled up at the gate.

"Are you going to Candleton?" the young detective asked breathlessly.

"That's right."

"May I ride with you?"

"Sure. Hop in." The farmer dusted off the seat, then swung open the door.

As the car jounced over the rough road, Nancy told the driver what had happened, explaining that she meant to hire another boat and return to the cliff for her stranded companions.

"By the way, who lives in the cottage on the cliff?" she inquired, hoping to pick up some useful information.

"Why, n.o.body."

"I mean, who were the occupants before the cottage was abandoned?"

"Sorry, but I don't know. My wife and I came here only a few months ago. We don't get around much or see any of our neighbors. Too busy trying to make a living from our farm."

He soon reached Candleton, and at Nancy's request the farmer obligingly dropped her off at the waterfront. He would accept no payment for the ride, insisting that it had not inconvenienced him, and he had enjoyed talking with her.

Nancy hastened to the wharf where she had rented the motorboat. She saw that the craft in which A. H. had abandoned them had been returned. But where was he? The young detective asked the owner of the boat if he had seen Mr. Hendrick.

"Sure, he came in about an hour ago," the man replied.

"Did he leave any message or give any reason for going off in the boat and deserting my friends and me at Bald Head Cave?"

"Why, no! You mean to tell me he deliberately left you girls in that forsaken spot?"

"He certainly did. I came to town for help. My friends are still there on the rocks, one with an injured ankle."

"That was a mean trick. I can't understand it. Take the boat and go after your friends. Do you need any help?"

"No, I can manage alone. Thanks just the same."

The boat owner filled the fuel tank for Nancy, and to make certain she would be prepared for any emergency, gave her an extra can of fuel.

Although visibility was good on the water, late-afternoon shadows were beginning to darken the coast. At full speed, Nancy proceeded to Bald Head Cave, anxiously scanning the sh.o.r.eline for a glimpse of her friends.

To her relief she saw a flash of color amid the rocks at the base of the cliff. George and Bess were waiting for her on the beach.

Overjoyed to see her, they shouted and waved. Supported by Bess, George limped through the shallow water to climb aboard the boat.

"We thought you'd never get here." Bess sighed. "Did you see A. H. while you were in Candleton?"

Nancy shook her head.

"Just wait till I meet him again!" George said angrily. "I'll tell him a thing or two!"

"I still think he must have had a reason for deserting us the way he did," Nancy said. "How did you get along after I left?"

"Okay," replied George. "My ankle feels better now."

"No ghostly apparitions?"

"Not one."

"How about the bell inside the cave?"

"We didn't hear a sound," Bess said.

Without further delay the girls sped directly to the boat dock and drove to a doctor's office which Nancy had spotted on the main street.

The physician, a friendly, middle-aged man, examined George's ankle and bandaged it. "You have a slight sprain," he said. "Take it easy for a few days."