The Quest Of The Missing Map Part 12

"This is it all right. How about upstairs?" Ned asked, leading the way this time.

The first door confronting him opened into the bedroom where Nancy had been taken prisoner. Before them was an overturned chair and lying beside it the broken model of the Warwick!

"There has been a struggle!" Mr. Drew exclaimed, losing his usual calm. "Something has happened to Nancy!"

With increasing alarm he and Ned searched the entire house but found no trace of the missing girl. While Mr. Drew continued to look for clues in the room where the struggle had taken place, Ned went to question the neighbors. He returned with a discouraging report.

"I couldn't contact anyone, Mr. Drew. Must have rung four or five doorbells, too. The place next to this one is vacant."

"To the east or on the west side?" the lawyer asked.

"The east. It adjoins this room."

Mr. Drew had been fingering a small object which he now showed the young man. It was an ornamental pin from a dress.

"I picked this up from the floor of the closet," the lawyer explained. "I have a hunch it came from Nancy's dress and she dropped it as a clue. Ned, suppose you call Hannah Gruen and ask her if Nancy was wearing the pin when she left."

"I'll be back in a minute," Ned said, starting away. "Maybe Nancy has arrived home since we left."

Carson Drew was not so optimistic as he returned to his investigation of the closet. He found something which previously had escaped his attention. Although skillfully disguised with wallpaper, the back of the closet was made of wood instead of plaster. When he tapped his knuckles against it, there was a hollow sound.

"It's a door!" he exclaimed. "The pattern of the paper hides the outline!"

Mr. Drew pushed hard on the panel but could not budge it. Again and again he tried but to no avail.

He was mulling over the problem when Ned returned and reported, "The pin was on Nancy's dress. And she hasn't come home."

"There's no question about it, Ned. Nancy has been captured. I'm positive she was taken through this sliding panel to the next house."

"What!" Ned exclaimed.

"The panel has been locked on the other side. I've tried to get it open but-"

"Let's break it down," the young man urged.

"And tip off the kidnappers? No, I think we'd better proceed quietly," Mr. Drew answered. Just then he spied a small keyhole. "This is an ordinary lock," he said.

From his pocket he took a bunch of keys. One by one he tried them. The next to the last unlocked the door.

Never dreaming that her father and Ned were so close, Nancy remained alone in a tiny third-floor storeroom, ventilated by only one small window. She sat on an old wooden chair, gagged and tied so tightly her bones ached.

"If only something good would happen!" she thought unhappily. "What will Hannah do when she gets my note?"

At that very moment Irene Brown was ringing the doorbell of the Drew home. Behind the hedge her husband watched, pleased with himself. No one but the housekeeper was at home, he knew, and should she become suspicious, she could not call for help. He had just cut the telephone wire.

His wife greeted Mrs. Gruen pleasantly and said, "I have a note for you from Miss Drew. I don't know what it says, but she asked me to wait for an answer."

"Will you come inside?" Hannah asked.

CHAPTER XVII.

Puzzling Paper AFTER thoroughly searching the vacant house, Carson Drew and Ned were ready to give up. They had found no trace of Nancy.

"I was so sure she was here," the lawyer declared. He and Ned had reached the attic floor, which was dark and suffocatingly stuffy. "But maybe she was taken to another hideout."

"Listen!" Ned said.

They could hear a distinct scratching noise, as if someone were clawing against a plaster wall. Tracing the sound, Mr. Drew saw a door in a dingy corner of the room.

"Maybe she's in there!" he exclaimed, pulling at the k.n.o.b.

Nancy, bound and gagged, stared in disbelief. Ned tore off the handkerchief while Mr. Drew untied her bonds.

"Are you okay?" he asked apprehensively. "You look pale."

"I'm all right," she a.s.sured him and her father, "but I'm afraid we've run into a real calamity."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Drew asked.

"The Browns made me write a note to Hannah ordering her to deliver Captain Tomlin's map to them."

"How long ago was that, Nancy?" her father inquired quickly.

"At least half an hour." "Perhaps we can catch them!" Carson Drew exclaimed.

Leaving Ned to look for Nancy's car, he and his daughter drove home at top speed. Entering the house, they discovered Hannah Gruen down on her knees examining the telephone.

"Nancy, you're safe!" she exclaimed joyfully. "Oh, I'm so relieved."

"Did someone come here with a note from me?" Nancy asked anxiously.

"Yes, a woman. She left about ten minutes ago."

"That was Irene Brown!"

"I guessed as much, so I tried to call the police, but the telephone wires had been cut."

"You gave her the map?" Nancy asked.

"That was what you requested me to do," the housekeeper responded.

"Yes, I did. Oh, I can't blame you. You had no way of knowing that I didn't want you to carry out the instructions."

"All the same, I guessed it from the wording in your note," the housekeeper declared, ending the suspense. "I gave Mrs. Brown a map, but it will never do her and her husband any good. And it serves them right."

"Oh, Hannah, you're wonderful!" Nancy laughed happily and hugged her. "How did you manage to outwit her?"

"It was very easy. I knew you kept both sections of the map in your desk-Captain Tomlin's original and the copy of Mr. Smith's portion. I found an old piece of parchment in the desk and tore it diagonally. Then I quickly traced the original, leaving out many details and making several changes!"

"Mrs. Brown never once suspected?" Nancy asked, chuckling.

"No, she must have thought what I gave her was genuine, because she thanked me sweetly and went away."

"Hannah, you're as clever as any detective of my acquaintance," Mr. Drew said with a grin.

"I'm really grateful," Nancy added.

"There's just one thing that troubles me," Hannah said. "I copied the name of the island on the paper."

"Let's not worry about that," said Mr. Drew, "since you left out some of the directions."

While the housekeeper was preparing a late dinner, Mr. Drew went to a neighbor's and called the telephone company to report the cut wire. A repairman was sent at once and within a short time the Drews' phone was back in service.

As they finished dinner the telephone rang and Nancy rose to answer it. She recognized Ned's voice.

"h.e.l.lo, Nancy," he said, talking hurriedly. "I found your car. I'll bring it over as soon as I can. Right now I'm at the police station, and Chief McGinnis wants you to come at once."

"Now?"

"Yes. Fred and Irene Brown have been taken into custody. The chief wants an identification."

"Be there in a minute. 'Bye."

Nancy and her father went immediately to the police station. To their delight they learned that Ned had led the police to 47 White Street and aided them in nabbing the Browns when the couple had returned to release Nancy.

"May we talk with them?" she asked the police chief.

"Go ahead and good luck. We haven't been able to get a word out of either of them."

Mr. Drew and Nancy talked with the couple. They learned nothing from Fred, who denied the kidnapping of Nancy from Emerson.

"Forget it," he said. "It's the word of two against one."

Irene Brown proved to be less discreet. Nancy played upon the woman's feelings by intimating that Spike Doty was in jail and had made damag ing revelations which implicated the couple.

"Why, the double-crosser!" Mrs. Brown cried furiously. "He was the one who first learned about the fortune, and now he tries to throw all the blame on us!"

"Then you've been working with him?" Carson Drew asked quietly.

"Not any more."

"Rorke, perhaps?" Nancy inquired, watching the woman's face intently.

"Never heard of him," Irene Brown answered, but her eyes wavered-indicating to her questioners that she was not telling the truth.

"What did you do with the map you obtained from our housekeeper?" Carson Drew demanded. He had learned from the police that the paper had not been found in the Browns' possession.

"We sold it," Irene answered briefly.

"To Rorke?" the lawyer asked.

"Look, I don't have to tell you anything."

Realizing she had talked too much, Irene Brown fell into a sullen silence and refused to answer any more questions. Before leaving headquarters, Nancy and Mr. Drew again talked with Chief McGinnis.

"I'll have the Browns held without bail," the chief said. "Kidnapping is a serious charge."

Although the man and his wife were behind bars, Nancy remained uneasy. Spike Doty and the mysterious Mr. Rorke were free and both were determined to get the Tomlin treasure.

"Have they learned the location of Little Palm Island?" Nancy wondered. "Are they on their way to it?"

She phoned Mrs. Chatham, who was as impatient as Nancy to get the treasure hunt under way. The widow telephoned Captain Stryver, urging him to speed preparations so that the Primrose could sail from New York as soon as possible.

"I can have her ready by tomorrow," he said. "If I had a little more time, though, I could be more selective about the crew."

"We can't afford to waste another day," the woman told him.

The next morning Carson Drew, the Marvins, and the Faynes said good-by to their daughters at the airport.

"Wish I were going along," the lawyer said. "Have a good time and bring home the treasure!"

"At least I'll get a good tan." Nancy laughed, squeezing her father's hand and kissing him.

The traveling group consisted of Mrs. Chat ham, Trixie, the three Smiths, Bill Tomlin, and Nancy's special friends.

Bess's date Dave Evans was a blond, rangy, green-eyed boy who was on the Emerson football team. Burt Eddleton, George's friend, was also blond, but shorter and husky. He, too, played on the team.

With a grin Burt said, "A treasure hunt on a lonely island should have at least one pirate. I'm applying for the job."

Dave called, "I'll give you a patch for one eye!" The others laughed.

The trip to New York was fast. Taxis were hailed and the group headed for the dock and their first glimpse of the Primrose.

"Isn't she beautiful!" Bess exclaimed, gazing at the trim yacht.

As Nancy looked at the s.h.i.+p, her attention was diverted by a small piece of paper which had just blown from behind a crate on the dock. Wondering if it had been dropped by someone aboard the Primrose, she went over to pick it up. The next instant she stared in astonishment. A hand-printed message on the sheet read: MEET YOU ON THE DOCK WEDNESDAY MIDNIGHT.

SPIKE.

"That was last night!" Nancy thought.

Her friends, with the exception of Ned, were already going aboard and being greeted by Captain Stryver.