them into a holding area.”
“I've got just the spot,” Kincaid said. “We'll round
'em up like we do the bison.” She maneuvered her car
to the left, then to the right, forcing the driver of the
truck to swerve away.
Nancy grabbed some binoculars off the floor of
Kincaid's vehicle and peered at the occupants of the
black truck. “It's them, all right,” she said. “Tell's
driving, Stone's the passenger. No one's aiming a gun
this way. Pull up closer.”
With a loud “Yeeeehah,” Kincaid took out across the
bumpy ground, her foot slamming down on the
accelerator. She sidled her vehicle beside the truck and
steered right, forcing Tell to make a wide curve. Then
Kincaid moved around to the left, forcing Tell to come
back to a straighter line.
“Yow,” Bess said from the backseat. “This is worse
than a roller coaster.”
“Don't let them get away,” George yelled.
Kincaid was right. It was like guiding an animal
herd. She wheeled from side to side, making sure her
quarry was headed where she wanted.
“There they go!” she finally yelled, braking her car
and turning it just in time.
The truck couldn't stop. It plummeted down a hill
and into a shallow river that flowed through a narrow
gorge. Nancy and the others ran to the edge of the
gorge to check on the two men. When they got there,
both men were lying on the shore, panting. The truck
was badly damaged and sunk to the tops of its wheels
in gooey mud.
“Jasper Stone, you crook,” Kincaid yelled down.
“You'll never poach from our land again!”
“My friend's leg,” Stone called up. “I think it's
broken.”
“Is he conscious?” Nancy asked. “Are either of you
bleeding?”
“No, but we are in pain,” Stone replied, “and in need
of assistance to get out of here.”
“We'll get you some help,” Kincaid said, “but first
tell me about my bison. Have you rustled from our
herd? Did you take my cow and her calf?”
“Ms. Turner, we'll tell you everything,” Stone said.
“But get us out of here.”
“Not until you tell me where Lulu and Justice are,”
Kincaid said, her voice wild with anger. “They had
better be all right.”
“They're fine, okay?” Ephraim Tell yelled. “They're
on my ranch, about forty miles from here. Now get me
a doctor. My leg's killing me.”
“Please, Ms. Turner,” Stone said. “I assure you my
friend is telling the truth. We were never interested in
your bison, just your fossils. Your animals are fine.
Please get us out of here.”
Nancy recognized the voice. “You made that
threatening call to the Turners, didn't you?” she said. “I
answered the phone, not Kincaid. And you locked my
friend and me in the mine cave?”
“That's right,” Stone said, as his partner groaned.
“You were trespassing on my property.”
“Just lie still, Mr. Tell,” Nancy said. “Don't move
your leg. Have you been working as a projectionist at
Mount Rushmore?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Tell answered. “Gave me a
uniform, so I looked legit walking around the area.
Gave me access to Stone's property and the cave
without hauling up the logging roads.”
“Just one more question,” Nancy said. “Did you two
follow us to the Brady farmhouse and lock us in the
basement?”
Stone nodded, but didn't speak.
“With a coyote!” Kincaid said. “Nice going, Stone.
We'll get help, but you don't deserve it.”
“George and I will stay here and keep an eye on
them,” Nancy said. “They're really no threat. They
can't climb up the cliff—they're stuck in the gorge
until you bring some help.”
Kincaid and Bess drove back to the ranch house to
meet Sheriff Switzer. He and his men brought
paramedics out to rescue the poachers and relieve
Nancy and George of their watch.
The next day the sheriff, the FBI, Mr. Turner, and a
few of his ranch hands followed Ephraim Tell's
instructions and drove several livestock trailers out to
Tell's ranch.
A few hours later Kincaid was pacing up and down
the drive while Nancy, Bess, George, and Mrs. Turner
sat on the porch and waited. “You're going to wear a
hole in the ground,” Bess warned, smiling at her friend.
“I know, but I can't wait,” Kincaid said. “Lulu and
Justice have to be okay. They have to.”
At the sound of a car coming up the drive, Kincaid
stopped pacing. “It's only Clayton,” she said, her
shoulders slumping when she saw him.
The girls quickly caught Clayton up on the day's
events, and he joined the wait-and-watch for word
from Ephraim Tell's ranch.
At last they all heard it—the distinctive rumble of a
huge vehicle rolling up the drive. Mr. Turner pulled
the livestock trailer to an expert halt and jumped out of
the cab. Without a word, he and his ranch hands
opened the back of the trailer and eased out a large
chocolate brown bison cow and a cinnamon-colored
calf.
“Lulu! Justice!” Kincaid howled. “You're back!” She
threw her arms partway around Lulu's huge neck and
nuzzled her face. Then she snuggled Justice close in
her arms. “What did I tell you?” she said to the others,
tears streaming down her cheeks. “Isn't he the most
beautiful thing?”
“Matt and the FBI took custody of the rest of the
rustled herd,” Bill Turner said, his arm wrapped tightly
around Mrs. Turner's shoulders. “But he promised that
after all the evidence is collected and checked, we'll get
them back. It shouldn't be more than a few days. I told
them that if I didn't bring Lulu and Justice home
today, they'd have to answer to Kincaid.”
Kincaid and her father walked the two bison to the
corral, and everyone sat on logs watching Justice romp
and nuzzle his mother.
“I'm glad it wasn't Antoinette Francoeur,” Clayton
said. “She's kind of nutty, but I like her anyway.”
“I'm going to call her,” Nancy said. “She seemed
truly worried about Lulu and Justice. I think she'll like
knowing they're okay.”
“Nancy, we can't thank you enough,” Kincaid said. “I
was afraid I'd never see them again.”
“You should have had more faith,” Bess said with a
laugh. “I told you that no one can buffalo Nancy
Drew.”
George groaned, then added, “Especially when she's
so good at digging up clues!”
Carolyn Keene, On the Trail of Trouble
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