Dave gave Old Joe one of the trout in the bucket, and Bess told him, “The boys caught the fish with their bare hands.”
The naturalist laughed. “That’s pretty clever. As clever as my Trixie, eh?”
Dave and the girls set off for camp. When they arrived, Nancy told only her father, Hal, and Jan what they had discovered.
“We have great hopes of locating the treasure,” she explained, “but there’s no use spreading the information until we’re sure.”
Ned and Burt reached camp just as supper was ready. The scent of frying fish whetted the appetites of the hungry campers.
Nancy revealed more of the day’s adventure to the group. For a while everyone paid strict attention and asked many questions, but soon one, then another, began to yawn.
Finally Bess stood up. “I’m going to turn in,” she announced. “Anybody coming?”
Before she could leave for her tent, some of the scientists joined the group. Nancy asked them if they had found anything new or unusual.
Dr. Halpern answered, “We’ve learned a couple of interesting things. None of the acid in Dismal Swamp has evaporated from the scorched area. It’s very strong stuff.”
Dr. York said that the chemists had worked on the chunks of sod that they dug up. We have come to the conclusion that the flying saucer sent out beams containing a combination of natural substances we know about and some secret ingredient. It is quite adhesive and difficult to separate for analysis.”
His remark about a secret ingredient gave Nancy an idea. She asked, “Do you suppose the flying saucer came from some rival country and not from outer space?”
Dr. York smiled. “I would hate to think that another country is more scientifically advanced than we are!”
Dr. Caffrey also grinned. “Nancy, I thought you were convinced that you and Ned received thought waves from creatures in outer space. Wouldn’t you hate to think that some rival country was able to control your mind?”
Nancy and Ned were horrified, and Ned said, “If men on earth did such a thing to us, I’m going to find them!”
“And do what?” Nancy prompted him.
Ned posed like a boxer. “Fight them, of course!”
Everyone laughed. Then the campers went to their tents and soon were sound asleep.
In the morning they awoke to the buzz of a giant motorized saw.
“Maybe the lumberjacks are cutting up the mystery tree!” Nancy exclaimed.
“How awful!” Bess said. “Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know,” Nancy replied. “Ned told them only to turn it over.”
George jumped up. “But they could ruin the treasure!”
“Maybe even steal it!” Bess added, tears coming into her eyes.
Nancy thought the campers should get to the site at once. “Come on!” she urged. “Every minute counts.”
The three boys joined the girls. All of them jumped on their horses and rode up the hill toward the fallen aspen tree.
George complained, “I think this oversized pony had lead feet.” She urged him to walk faster.
Before the riders reached the spot, Nancy, in the lead, detected wisps of smoke curling up from the forest. “Look! Up ahead! Fire!” she cried out.
They could hear crackling and smell burning wood. Sparks were flying into the air and being blown about by the breeze; many of them fell to the ground. The fire, still some distance away, nevertheless was moving rapidly toward the valuable tree.
“Oh, this is dreadful!” Bess wailed. “Poor Old Joe! He mustn’t be harmed.”
Nancy’s heart sank. Were Bess’s words about to come true? Would a giant conflagration sweep through the forest, burn up Old Joe’s treasure, his cabin—and possibly even injure him?
The fire might even destroy Dismal Swamp and the rare medicinal plants in the forest, the girl sleuth thought woefully.
Aloud she called in panic, “We must help put out the fire!”
18
A Rewarding Find
As the riders drew closer to the fire, they could hear men shouting. The young people wanted to urge their horses to go faster, but the climb was too steep. Nancy also feared that the animals might be frightened by the fire. Everyone reined in not far from the treasure tree.
“Fortunately the tree hasn’t been harmed,” Ned called to Nancy. He dismounted and hurried over to look. The lumberjacks had sawed the fallen trunk into sections and left them bark side down. The Indian’s face was barely visible.
Nancy jumped from her horse and ran toward Ned. “Do you think we can turn the piece over?”
“Sure,” Ned replied, watching a haze of smoke drift through the surrounding trees. “But what about the fire?” If it gets too close, it could burn up Old Joe’s treasure.”
Nancy admitted that this had been her fear all along. “You’re right and we must never let that happen. We must try to help the fire fighters at once. The blaze looks bad.”
By this time the others had dismounted and were staring at the three girls’ discovery. They all peered at what little they could see of the carving.
George said, “We’d better drag this section far away. It’s too precious to lose. Hear the crackling of the fire?”
Indeed everyone could. How soon would it be before the flames spread in their direction?
Bess said, “Oh, I hope the fire doesn’t get to Old Joe’s cabin!”
Dave slipped an arm around Bess’s shoulder. “A forest fire can really be frightening,” he remarked. “When I was a little boy at camp, one started near us. We had to evacuate in the middle of the night without our daytime clothes. We were told to soak blankets in the nearby brook and put them over our heads as we went through the smoke.”
Bess chided him, “Do you have to talk about such horrible things now? Isn’t it bad enough that we’re practically helpless?”
“Sorry,” Dave said.
All the young people worked hard to stand the precious tree section on end. They zigzagged it as far from the fire as possible and laid it down carefully. For the first time the mysterious carving was turned faceup.
“That’s gorgeous!” Bess cried out.
Nancy bent down for a close look at the carving. She exclaimed, “Here they are! The initials of Old Joe’s father! I’m sure we’ve found the treasure.”
She cut her exuberance short. “But we can’t take time to study these clues now. We must help the lumberjacks fight the fire.”
Burt suggested that the boys go back to camp for shovels to dig trenches as a backfire.
“And we’ll bring axes to cut down underbrush,” Dave added.
The smoke was thickening and the sound of burning wood grew frighteningly louder. The fire was spreading rapidly.
“I feel so helpless!” Nancy sputtered, coughing at the same time. “Let’s move our horses down to where we dragged the big log. They should be safe there.”
“Oh, I hope so,” Bess wailed. “This is awful!”
As soon as that was done, the three girls hurried back up the hill. The fire was definitely closer.
“I’m afraid the fire is getting worse,” George remarked.
“You’re right,” Bess added in alarm. “Oh, where are the boys?”
In a short time the three of them returned. They tethered their mounts with the other horses, then the girls helped them carry the shovels and axes to where they were going to start digging the backfire trenches.
“What can we do?” George asked immediately.
Ned suggested that they use the axes to chop down the underbrush and carry it away. “There may be enough dampness under the leaves on the ground to put out some of the flames.”
“We’ll try it,” Nancy said.
While the girls worked diligently, the boys separated to spade up the ground in trenches some distance away from the fire. They lit matches and dropped them into the narrow furrows, igniting a blaze that snaked its way toward the already burning section.
“That shou
ld stop some of the spread,” Burt declared, “but I think we should work faster.”
The girls had already cut down and lugged away heaping piles of brush.
“That’s great!” Ned called.
At the same moment they heard a helicopter overhead but could not see it through the dense smoke. No doubt the craft would be forced to stay above or behind the gray billows. In a few moments the group felt sprinkles of what they thought was rain.
Then Dave said, “There must be a forest ranger in that copter. He’s pouring water on the blaze.”
Bess sighed. “I hope it works!”
The young people continued to work hard even though they were exhausted and filthy. The girls were scratched from the thorny undergrowth they had been dragging away.
“I’ve never been hotter in my life,” Bess said. “The fire must be getting closer.”
Unfortunately her words were true. The roar of burning trees was louder than ever and more frightening. Would their work help quench the blaze?
As if in reply, the copter hovered directly overhead. Within seconds they were all drenched with water.
“Whee!” Bess exclaimed, running her hands through her soaked hair. “A free shampoo!”
The others laughed, then Ned remarked, “I guess the pilot missed his target.”
“I’m happy he did,” said George. “Now I feel cooler. I wish he’d come back and do it again!”
The pilot made no more misses, however, but continued to drench the smoldering trees.
After what seemed like hours of hard work, Nancy’s group noticed that the fire was beginning to subside. The welcome deluge from the copter and the joint effort of the fire fighters had, at last, turned the conflagration into a soggy mess. Now they could see how large an area had burned.
“It didn’t touch Old Joe’s cabin,” Nancy said with relief.
As she and her friends laid aside their tools and sank to the ground to rest, they saw two men coming toward them, threading their way among the charred stumps.
They introduced themselves as forest rangers. “We knew someone was helping from this end,” one man said. “You young folks did a great job. We’re mighty thankful to you.”
“It was tough,” Ned replied, “but I’m glad our efforts were useful.”
As soon as the forest rangers were certain that the embers had died out, they left. Nancy turned eagerly to her friends. “Now we can continue our hunt for Old Joe’s treasure.”
They hurried back to the big log with the Indian’s head carved on it. Nancy paused for several seconds before suggesting how to proceed.
“I think it would be safe to chip around the head and see if we can pry it up intact.”
The three boys pulled out their hunting knives and carefully dug a circle around the carved picture. Finally they succeeded in removing it.
“Pretty neat,” George remarked. “Nice souvenir for hanging in your bedroom,” she told Nancy.
The young sleuth smiled. “I’d love to have the carving, but I think it should go to Old Joe.”
Nancy encouraged the boys to dig deeper. The chips flew as Ned, Burt, and Dave took turns with their strong, sharp knives. Suddenly they struck metal and stopped chipping.
“I think we found something,” Ned told the others. Their pulses quickened at the thought that something exciting was about to happen.
Nancy watched closely as more of the wood covering the metal was chipped off. A box was revealed. There was writing on it. Nancy quickly dusted off the top.
On the lid these words were scratched:For my son Joe Austin
“Old Joe’s treasure!” the young sleuth exclaimed, hardly daring to believe her own words.
Ned attempted to lift the metal box from the depression in the tree trunk. No luck!
“Wait!” said Dave.
He and the other two boys burrowed down around the box with their knives until Ned could fix his fingers around it. To everyone’s surprise the container was not heavy. Nancy wondered with a sinking feeling if it might be empty! Oh, it mustn’t be, she thought.
The box was tightly sealed and there was no way to open it without special tools.
“Stymied again!” said Burt with a sigh.
“We shouldn’t open it anyway,” Nancy said. “Old Joe should. Let’s go down to his cabin as fast as we can.
19
A Strange Reunion
When Nancy and her friends reached Old Joe’s cabin, they found him lying on the bed. He complained of suffering a little setback with his foot and said it pained him to walk.
“It was my own fault,” he said. “I thought I was stronger that I am. I tried to carry some logs in.”
Suddenly he changed the subject. “I’m so glad all of you escaped the fire. Did it get close to your camp?”
Nancy assured him that the area had been miraculously spared and now the fire was entirely out.
Bess added, “The boys dug trenches for a backfire, and we girls cut down brush and dragged it away.” She displayed several scratches on her forearms.
Old Joe glanced at the tiny cuts. “You ought to put some salve on those. Anyway, I’m glad nothing more serious happened to you. Personally speaking, I’m right proud of your group. I was really afraid my cabin might burn to the ground.”
For the first time the naturalist noticed that Ned was carrying a rusty-looking metal box. Old Joe inquired, “What’s that?”
“Nancy will explain,” George told the elderly man, who sat up on the edge of his bed.
Ned placed the box alongside him. Old Joe stared at it unbelievingly.
“My name’s on it!” he cried, excited. “Where did you find this?”
He cradled it in his hands affectionately as Nancy described their search in detail.
Old Joe shook his head. “To think I’ve searched this forest hundreds of times and never seen the pyramid of rocks or the cave with the Indian pictures in it!”
A look of fear glazed his eyes as he stared at the small box. “What if the forest fire had ruined everything forever?”
“But it didn’t,” Nancy said softly. “That’s the important thing.”
Old Joe nodded. “You’re right. How can I ever thank you for saving that priceless log and the carving on it, not to mention what’s inside? I’ll always be grateful to you.”
All this time Bess remained silent. It was clear, however, she was becoming impatient. “Why don’t you open the box, Old Joe?”
The naturalist fingered the metal container lovingly. He smiled with tears in his eyes. “I’m almost afraid to open it,” he mumbled quietly.
Ned told him that the boys would help lift the rusted lid. Did he have tools they could use? Old Joe pointed to a drawer where Ned found a chisel, a wedge, and a hammer. He used them to pry up the lid while Burt and Dave pushed as hard as they could with their fingers to spring the cover loose. Finally it gave way.
Old Joe peered inside. “Money!” he exclaimed in disbelief. “A lot of it! My father did outwit his enemy!”
Nancy was staring too. “And there are a lot of papers. They must be important messages from your father.”
The elderly man’s hand shook as he lifted out the first one. It was a long letter. He gave it to Nancy.
“Please read it for me. All of you have been so helpful to me the least—the least—”
He broke off, faintly whispering, and slumped back onto his pillow.
“Old Joe!” Nancy cried, letting the paper fall to the floor.
The other young people crowded around the stricken man while Nancy felt his pulse. “It’s very weak,” she said. “Bess, please dampen that towel on the sink and bring it to me.”
“Sure, Nancy.”
George, in the meantime, stroked Old Joe’s forehead. It felt cold and clammy.
“Please wake up,” she murmured gently.
Within seconds Old Joe’s eyes blinked open. A smile spread slowly across his face. “I’m all right,” he said hoarsely. “Now help
me sit up, will you?”
“Maybe you ought to lie there a little bit longer,” Nancy said, patting his face with the wet cloth.
“But I feel fit as a fiddle.” Old Joe grinned mischievously. “We’ll compromise. You read the letter and I’ll sit back. How’s that?”
“Okay, if you insist,” Nancy said. “But please promise to take a nap when I finish.”
The man nodded. “Of course. After all, I don’t have any plans to go wild boar hunting right this minute,” he teased. “Now don’t keep me in suspense any longer.”
Without waiting another second, Nancy picked up the intriguing letter and read:Dear Son:
This will come as a great surprise to you. At first you are not going to believe it, but I assure you it really happened to me.
Once I came up to the forest by myself. That one time, an unearthly light suddenly appeared, approaching at tremendous speed from far off in the sky. I finally realized it was a flying object of some sort. To my amazement it slowed down and landed in Dismal Swamp. It was a flying saucer!
I rushed to take a close look at it—though the swamp smelled so bad it was overpowering. I heard a voice inside my head giving me orders. That was all I could hear—nothing out loud. The craft flew away almost as soon as it got here. I was terrified. At first I convinced myself that I must be dreaming. The silent voice warned me not to reveal the secret to anyone. Then the voice said the flying saucer would return to earth in ten years!
Old Joe exclaimed, “That’s this year!”
The young people checked the date on the letter and confirmed it.
“Incredible!” Dave said.
“Go on, Nancy!” George begged.
The girl sleuth continued:My son, you may wonder why I buried this information in a tree and carved an Indian’s head on it. Now you will be amazed to hear what else I have to say.
I never told you that your mother was a full-blooded Indian. She belonged to a small tribe of the Shawnee nation that used to live in this mountaintop forest. You had an older brother who looked just like her. He was mysteriously kidnapped, and I am sure he was taken away by the Indians, who did not approve of me.