19. Smart Decoy
Nancy watched the boat for several minutes, unaware that her clothes were dripping a puddle of water onto the floor at her feet. It was still blowing wildly outside, and the boat staggered about the cove like an abandoned creature. Nancy stared at it, trying to see if it was being guided. Suddenly a warm hand touched her shoulder. She jumped.
“What are you doing in here, honey?” her father asked.
Instead of answering, Nancy pointed to the cove.
“The Polka Dot,” he gasped.
“I think it’s been abandoned,” Nancy said. “At least no one seems to be on the bridge, and it isn’t anchored or anything.”
“Maybe they tied it up at the dock and it got loose,'’ Mr. Drew suggested.
“Then where are Jack and Tom?” Nancy asked.
Their eyes met for a moment, and then they went to the kitchen. The others were just getting ready to go change to dry clothes. Penny had put a pan of stuffed chicken breasts into the oven to cook, since her grandparents and Bess had nearly starved on the short rations Jack and Tom had supplied. Everyone stopped talking when the Drews entered, their faces making it clear that they sensed that something was wrong.
Mr. Drew cleared his throat. “I think you should know that the Polka Dot is derelict in the cove.”
“And the men?” Mrs. DeFoe gasped.
“We don’t know,” Nancy admitted, “but they must be somewhere on the island.”
“We should try to get the boat,” Mr. DeFoe said. “If we could all get on board and get away from here, then we could radio for help.” “There’s no way we can get to it,” Nancy told him. “The only small boat is kindling under the dock or else sunk. I was looking for it after I saw the Polka Dot.”
“I guess there’s nothing much that can be done at the moment,” Mr. Drew said, “except keep an eye on the boat. If it gets close enough to shore, maybe we can go down and try to get on it.
Mr. DeFoe sighed. “The way things have been going, the next squall will either drive it out of the cave or put it on the rocks.”
“If it runs up on the beach, we could still use the radio,” Penny reminded him.
“In the meantime, I think we’d all better change into dry clothes,” Mr. Drew said.
Nancy laughed, breaking the tension. “If this keeps up, I’m going to run out of clothes,” she announced. “I’ve done nothing but put on dry clothes all day long.”
“We probably should all just go to bed,” George observed. “Do you realize it’s the middle of the night?”
They all looked at each other. Then Bess stated, “I’m not sleepy, I’m hungry.”
“I don’t think any of us will be able to sleep while those men are out there somewhere,” Mrs. DeFoe remarked, sobering them.
“Perhaps we should check and make sure that no one has gotten into this building, Mr. Drew,” Mr. DeFoe suggested.
The two men left, and Nancy went back to the window, watching as the boat plunged about the cove, battered by the waves and harried by the wind that drove it first one way, then another. Slowly, the scene dimmed as the rain clouds returned and the wind sounds changed again. Nancy was glad when her father came to tell them that they’d found no sign of intruders.
“They must be holed up somewhere else,” Nancy said. “No one would stay out in this storm.”
“The food will be ready in about forty-five minutes,” Penny announced, returning from the kitchen. “Think we can be dried off by then?”
Nancy changed her clothes adding a light sweater that felt good as the wet wind forced its way through the resort building’s cracks and chilled the air. She was exhausted, yet her mind refused to stop.
The lines of the rubbing map moved through her mind like a tangle of string. Was there truly a treasure hidden at the end of one of the tunnels marked on it? But if so, why hadn’t Tom and Jack found it, since they obviously knew their way through the maze well enough to use it as a prison?
And where were they? That question chilled her more than the weather. When she went out to the lobby, she found Mr. DeFoe at the window, staring at the blackness beyond. “Where do you think Tom and Jack are?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “Probably in one of the cabins.
“Why would they come here in the storm?” Nancy asked. It was a question that had bothered her while she changed.
“They wouldn’t have much choice,” he replied. “Seahorse Island has no good anchorage for the boat, and with the water as high as it is tonight, the island might even be underwater. It’s a low, flat kind of island. It loses half its area to high tide or this kind of sea.” He sighed. “I’m just glad they brought us over here when they did—and glad that you found us when you did. We would have as little chance of survival in that tunnel as we would have on Seahorse Island.”
As the others joined them, more details of what had happened were discussed, and Nancy began to feel that much of the mystery had been explained—all except the most important part. No one had any idea where the pirate treasure might be hidden.
“Tom and Jack don’t know either,” Bess informed Nancy as they leaned back in their chairs, full of food and sleepy. “They were arguing while we were on the boat. Tom kept telling Jack that his map was a fake, that they’d explored the whole system of tunnels and there wasn’t any treasure.”
“But they stayed to look more,” George reminded her.
“Jack said there was something that went with the map, some kind of key; but he didn’t know what it was.”
“The medallion,” Nancy supplied.
“But what does it mean?” Mrs. DeFoe asked.
Nancy shook her head. “I can’t seem to figure it out,” she admitted.
“I think we all need some sleep,” Mr. Drew suggested. “Let’s barricade the doors and go to bed. Maybe things will look better in the morning.
Since they were all too tired to argue, they left the table as it was and stumbled off to their beds, well aware that dawn was not too far away.
In spite of the late hour, Nancy slept poorly and woke early. The silence that greeted her was almost eerie after the night of howling wind and pounding rain. Nancy got out of bed and pulled on her clothes before padding to her glass door to look out. The scene was almost mockingly tranquil. Sun spilled over the dripping world, and the distant ocean sparkled as the waves danced. Only when she looked closely could she see the broken palm fronds on the ground, the torn bushes, the battered and bruised blossoms drooping from hibiscus bushes.
Suddenly, there was a flash of movement off to her left, and Nancy gasped as she saw Jack stepping out of the dark shadows near the closest cabin. A moment later, Tom joined him and the two of them moved toward the path to the beach.
Nancy slipped from her room and ran to the dining room, her eyes scanning the beach and the cove, seeking the Polka Dot. The boat was there, all right, beached clumsily on the far side, the waves lapping lazily at it.
The radio! She remembered only too clearly what had happened to the radio-phone in the resort and she had no doubt that they would do the same thing to the one on the boat, especially now that they knew they were all trapped on the island because of the storm-beached boat.
“Nancy?” George came around the corner as she was moving the barricade from in front of the door. “What’s going on?”
“Get Dad and tell him that Tom and Jack are going after the boat,” Nancy called. “I’m going to try to stop them.” She opened the door and ran out into the cool freshness of the morning, ignoring the questions that George called after her.
Once on the path to the beach, she realized that there was little she could do to stop the two men. She had no weapons, nothing to threaten them with. She slowed down and peered ahead, seeking the young men, not sure what she was going to do.
They were already on the beach, moving away from her, heading toward the boat just as she’d feared. Nancy hesitated, then made her decision. George would bring her father and the o
thers to her rescue. For now, she had to decoy Tom and Jack away from the boat, so she picked up a rock and threw it against a nearby clump of storm debris. As she’d hoped, it began to slide down the hill noisily and the men looked back at her.
Nancy gave them a moment, then ran the rest of the way to the beach and started away from them through the sand toward the inland swell of land that marked the opening between the cove and the sea. For one horrible moment, she was afraid the men wouldn’t follow her, but then she heard the sound of their slipping and sliding progress as they loped along the beach after her.
“Where is she headed?” Tom asked, his voice carrying in the silence.
“Doesn’t matter,” Jack panted back. “She’s the one to trade for the necklace.”
Nancy looked up, ready to turn toward the resort so that her father and George could come to her aid, but the way was blocked by a storm- toppled palm. For the first time, fear swept over her as she realized she couldn’t double back— the men were too close. She had trapped herself!
The beach turned to rocks and the land fell away as restless waves came crashing through the opening, carrying with them snags of wood and other flotsam from the storm. Nancy hesitated, then began to climb, feeling the touch of the wind as she left the protected cove and started up the steep cliff face.
“We’ve got her now!” Jack shouted, his tone filling her with terror as the rock and sand began to shift beneath her feet, making her slide backward instead of letting her get above the men. Her fingers and toes were scraped and bleeding as she continued to scramble against the unstable ground, seeking something to cling to, something to pull her up away from her pursuers.
20. Treasured Solution
“That’s far enough!” Her father’s voice came clearly on the air, and Nancy heard two yelps of surprise from Jack and Tom.
She stopped fighting the shifting ground and allowed herself to slide back toward the beach, not daring to look over her shoulder till her feet were resting on a stable rock. When she did, she burst out laughing.
For a moment Carson Drew’s face stayed grim, then he, too, began to laugh, as did George and Mr. DeFoe. The axe gleamed brightly in the morning sun as Mr. Drew lowered it to the sand. “It was the only weapon I could find,” he admitted. “You didn’t give us much warning, Nancy.”
“I was just afraid they’d get to the boat and wreck the radio,” Nancy told him as Penny came panting up with a coil of rope.
“What now?” Mr. DeFoe asked after Nancy and George tied the hands of the two bearded and weary-looking young men.
“Is there some place we can lock them up?” Mr. Drew asked Mr. DeFoe.
“The root cellar should do,” Mr. DeFoe answered promptly. “It’s not too big, but it has a nice stout door and I have a good padlock for it.”
“That ought to take care of them,” Carson said, sounding pleased. “If Penny can show us where it is, why don’t you go on around to the boat and see if you can reach the authorities, Jeff. There must be a lot of people wondering about all of us by now,”
Mr. DeFoe nodded, looking none the worse for the ordeal he and his wife had been through. “I’m just glad to see the Polka Dot again,” he said. “I was afraid something would happen to it when they said they were going to use it to leave a false trail in Florida.”
“Why did you bring it back?” Nancy asked the glowering men. “Why didn’t you leave it there?”
“Tom’s boat was too small for the treasure,” Jack answered sullenly. “I figured we’d need it.”
“Do you know where the treasure is?” Penny asked.
For a moment Jack just sneered at her, but Tom laughed bitterly. “He doesn’t know anything,” he taunted. “He has a map, but all we found were the caverns. There’s nothing in there. Someone got that treasure a long time ago.”
“It’s got to be there,” Jack protested. “We just didn’t have enough time to search. We found the ocean entrance, didn’t we? And all the caves.” He turned his glare to Mrs. DeFoe, who, along with Bess, had come down to investigate. “Why didn’t you and the. mister leave the island like everybody else?” he demanded. “You brought all this trouble on yourselves by hanging around here.”
“Let’s put you in the root cellar,” Mr. Drew said, tugging on the rope. “Then we’ll have an expert do the looking.” He winked at Nancy.
The next hour was one of busy confusion as the men were locked away and a hasty breakfast was prepared. Mr. DeFoe came in to report that he’d reached a rescue boat in the area and that the authorities would arrive before evening. He also brought the faded, ancient map that had led Jack and Tom to Anchor Island.
“Well, Nancy, I guess it’s up to you,” Mr. Drew said as they spread the map on a nearby table along with the medallion and the waterstained rubbing of the map on it. “What do you make of it?”
Nancy studied the map, seeing for the first time how much the island did resemble a broken anchor. She traced the coast and noted the water opening that she’d found herself in when she escaped from the men earlier.
“Their map doesn’t show the other entrance,” she murmured. “And there’s not too much indication of the tunnels we saw last night.”
She moved the rubbing closer and began to compare the two, gradually forming in her mind a picture of the passages. There were a number of them, more than she remembered seeing as they’d explored before they found Bess and the DeFoes.
“I think we’ll have to go back into the caverns,” she said, looking up. “There’s something here in the center that I don’t understand.”
Preparations took only a short time, and the day was warm and sunny as they all trooped along the drying road toward the cave entrance. The twine still lay as they’d left it and they lost no time in moving through the narrow and twisting passages.
When they reached the end of the twine, Penny tied on a new ball and they continued down the damp passage, relieved to find that water no longer poured into it from the leaky prison where Bess and the DeFoes had been confined. There were more side tunnels, but each was disappointingly empty.
Then, suddenly, they were at the bottom. The ocean lapped at their feet and they could see the distant light where the passage opened to the sea.
“Where is it?” Bess wailed. “Nancy, where is the treasure?”
“Could we have missed it in one of those tunnels?” Penny asked.
The others said nothing, but Nancy could see that they, too, were disappointed. She took out the medallion and studied it in the flickering light of the lanterns and flashlights. There was something . . .
Afraid of raising their hopes falsely, Nancy
moved away from them as they poked around the lower passage. She climbed slowly past the first side tunnels, then paused at the door they’d opened the night before.
She could find the tiny marks on the map that seemed to indicate the prison passage. The odd marks she couldn’t decipher were on the other side of the main passage line. The beam of her flashlight was weakening, but she slowly moved it over the seemingly solid face of the rock wall, not sure what she was seeking.
Even with extra care, she almost missed it. The years and the wearing of the dripping water had taken their toll of the chipped-in niche.
Heart pounding, Nancy reached into the hollow, her fingers grasping the lever it concealed. She pulled it, not sure what to expect.
The click echoed in the cavern stillness. A section of the wall seemed to shift and swell like a wave. Then it turned, and the beam of her flashlight touched the darkness beyond and lit it with the gleaming of gold.
Nancy opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Fortunately, George had come up to find her and she quickly called the others. Hesitantly, they all stepped around the balanced boulder that had swung aside and entered the treasure chamber.
Trunks, cases, and jeweled caskets were stacked everywhere, as were bars of gold bullion and rotted sacks of gold coins. Golden utensils gleamed when the dirt was brushed
away. It was nearly an hour before any of them even thought of leaving the chamber.
“Do you think we should just leave it here?” Bess asked, reluctantly placing a lovely emerald necklace back in the dark-wood-and- gold casket. “It’s all so beautiful.”
Nancy laughed. “It’s been safe here for hundreds of years,” she reminded her friend. “I don’t think anyone will find it while we have lunch and wait for the authorities to come and take Jack and Tom away.”
“I can hardly wait to tell them that you found it,” Mrs. DeFoe said with a smile. “That will let them know just how stupid they were.”
“I was lucky, too,” Nancy reminded her. “We had the medallion and that was the final clue.” “It wouldn’t have done them any good, anyway,” Bess stated firmly. “They couldn’t have figured it out the way you did.”
Nancy blushed as the others all agreed with the evaluation. Though she loved mysteries, she was frequently embarrassed by people’s comments after she solved them. “So what are you going to do about the treasure now that we’ve found it?” she asked, to change the subject.
“I’m sure the Historical Society people will be anxious to see it and catalogue it before it’s removed from the cavern,” Mr. DeFoe replied. “In fact, once we get full radio contact set up, I think I’ll see if most of our staff would like to work this summer. I’m sure we’ll be running at nearly full capacity once the story gets out.”