Bab asked Mr. Prizer if she might see the rest of his collection of shells.
“It’s not unpacked yet. But I’ve got some beauties.”
The elderly man did not sit down again and the visitors took this as an indication that the interview was at an end. They all thanked him for his interesting talk, but Nancy and Ned noticed that he did not invite them to return. They mentioned this to the others as the group trudged up the hill to the road.
“That’s a bit strange,” Bab remarked. “Most shell collectors are eager to show off their specimens and talk about them.”
When the ghost hunters reached Pine Camp Lodge, Bess suggested, “Let’s go to the beach and have fun.”
“And give up the ghost hunting?” George asked.
“Do we have to work every minute?” her cousin countered.
George turned to Rita Rodriguez. “Have you any hunches? You have ESP, I hear.”
Rita smiled. “Would you like me to give some predictions about this trip?”
Bess forgot all about the plan to go swimming. “Please do,” she said.
The ghost hunters sat down and remained quiet. Rita bowed her head and remained motionless for several minutes. Then she raised her eyes.
“I’m afraid what I see in my mind’s eye is not good news. Perhaps I should not worry you with it.”
George said at once, “We’ve gone this far. We may as well hear the worst. Please go ahead and tell us.”
Rita said solemnly, “In the very near future I see an accident in a boat to a young couple. I cannot make out who they are but the message is that it may ruin our trip.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Bab. “Maybe all of us should stay out of boats.”
Nancy did not comment, feeling that the premonition should be considered as a warning, not a hindrance. No one else expressed an opinion. Ned broke the uneasy silence by suggesting that they all hurry to their cabins and change to swimsuits.
When they reached the shore a little later, Ned said to Nancy, “Did Rita’s warning scare you? Are you game to go out in a canoe with me?”
Nancy laughed. “You know I’m not scared. Let’s go!”
Ned picked a good-looking red aluminum craft. He chose paddles and said he would sit at the stern.
“You can just take it easy if you like,” he told Nancy, but she said she would like to paddle from the forward position.
It was a beautiful day and the sun was pleasantly warm.
They had gone about a quarter of a mile when Nancy exclaimed, “Ned! The self-paddling canoe is just ahead of us!”
He stared in the direction of the mystery craft. It was indeed the same canoe!
He and Nancy began to paddle at breakneck speed after it. “We’re getting closer!” he cried gleefully.
The canoe veered toward a cove. They sped along after it, wondering if this time they would find the place where the mystery craft was hidden.
Suddenly Nancy and Ned found it almost impossible to paddle. It seemed as if some terrific pressure were pulling them backward.
“What’s the matter with this canoe?” Nancy asked.
“I don’t know,” Ned replied. “We’re paddling like mad, but the canoe is almost standing still.”
He and Nancy dug in deeper but their efforts were of no avail. The two looked at each other in dismay. What unknown source was hindering their progress?
Before either could express the thought aloud, the canoe suddenly overturned. Taken unaware, they plunged deep into the lake.
Nancy immediately began to claw the water and made her way to the surface quickly. She looked around for Ned but he was not in sight. After several seconds had gone by and he did not rise to the surface, she became alarmed. Could the canoe have hit Ned and knocked him out?
Nancy dived and searched under water. She rose again. This time she spotted her friend. The sight horrified her.
Ned, apparently unconscious, was being towed ashore by giant arms that looked like those of a great octopus!
CHAPTER V
The Suspicious Flight
IN a panic over Ned’s safety, Nancy raced through the water after him and his captor. Was the creature that was dragging him along a real octopus or a man wearing a disguise?
The chase seemed endless.
“Let him go!” Nancy cried out as she thrashed through the water. But just when she was on the verge of overtaking the tentacled creature, it suddenly released Ned and dived under the water. A new fear took possession of Nancy. Was the octopus going to attack her?
Pushing the thought out of her mind, Nancy gave a final spurt and reached Ned. Fortunately the shore was not far away. Could she tow Ned there in safety?
Apparently the attacker did not intend to make further trouble. It did not reappear and Nancy managed to get Ned onto dry land and began giving him first aid. She knew he had not taken any water into his lungs, because he kept blinking and murmuring, “Get the octopus!”
Presently he was able to tell Nancy what had happened.
“When we were thrown into the water, the octopus grabbed me. It hit my head with one of the tentacles and I went under. I had enough sense to hold my breath until we rose to the surface. Then I managed to flop onto my back, but after that I guess I blacked out for a while.”
Nancy said the strange creature had disappeared under water. “Have you any idea who or what it was?” she asked.
Ned shook his head. “I’m sure octopuses don’t live in this lake so this one must have been imported.”
“I think,” Nancy said, “that it was a man in disguise. It’s further evidence that someone is doing all these weird things to frighten us away from Pine Grove Camp. I have a hunch it’s young Mr. Prizer.”
“You’re probably right,” Ned agreed. “Well, shall we start back to camp?”
Neither their overturned canoe nor the self-paddling craft was in sight.
“I’ll dive down and see if ours sank,” Nancy offered.
When she surfaced, Ned asked, “Any luck?”
“Not yet.” Nancy dived deeply and swam underwater for nearly a minute.
“I certainly don’t see our canoe,” she told herself ruefully. After a rest she tried once more.
Her search was fruitless. She and Ned concluded that it had been stolen by the octopus-man.
“Do you feel up to a trek?” she asked him.
“Oh sure. I guess we’ll have to walk way around the lake to get back to camp.”
“I’m afraid so.”
The other ghost hunters were still on the beach when Nancy and Ned returned. They were amazed when Nancy related what had happened.
Rita did not express her thoughts aloud, but the smile on her face plainly indicated an “I told you so.”
Burt and Dave decided to take a powerboat and hunt for the missing camp canoe, the craft that propelled itself, and the octopus.
“I’m sure there’s a connection between the last two,” Nancy told them just before they roared off.
Bess insisted that Nancy and Ned take a rest. They agreed but first stopped at the lodge to tell Mr. Leffert about the missing canoe and the other mysterious incidents. He was standing behind the desk, talking to the clerk.
When Ronny, the clerk, heard the story, his eyes opened wide. “I’ve been told there’s a monster in the lake,” he said. “I didn’t believe it, but now I do.”
Mr. Leffert pounded the desk and said, “That settles it! I’m selling the place! The whole thing has gone far enough. Just this morning I received an offer for the camp. I’ll take it and get out of here before I lose any more money.”
As he bellowed, an idea came to Nancy. She asked, “By any chance is the prospective buyer’s name Prizer?”
Mr. Leffert looked at her in surprise. “Why, yes, it is. How did you know that?”
She and Ned explained about going to see Mrs. Tarpey, the realtor, and learning that a man named Wilbur Prizer had been inquiring about the camp.
“Please wait a litt
le longer,” Nancy urged Mr. Leffert. “I have a hunch we’re going to solve the mystery. By the way, I suppose the price you were offered for the camp is very low compared to what it’s worth?”
“Yes, it is,” Mr. Leffert said.
“Then please wait,” Nancy pleaded.
Mr. Leffert agreed to do this. He had just made the promise when the telephone rang and he scooped it up. In a moment he said, “Yes, Mr. Prizer.”
Nancy and Ned looked at each other, wondering whether Prizer would be persuasive enough to talk Mr. Leffert into selling after all. But the proprietor put him off.
“I’d like a few days to make up my mind,” he said.
The caller became very angry and insistent and talked so loudly that Nancy and Ned could hear every word. Prizer did everything but threaten Mr. Leffert into agreeing to sell the camp. At one point Nancy was afraid the proprietor might give in and kept shaking her head to encourage him to delay.
“This is my final answer for the moment,” Mr. Leffert told his caller. “I will let you know my decision in a few days.”
As Prizer yelled louder, Mr. Leffert said, “I am very busy. I must say good-by.” He hung up.
The other ghost hunters entered the lodge just then and were apprised of the latest development. All were pleased that Nancy had persuaded Mr. Leffert to wait before selling his property. The group was about to scatter and dress for lunch when they heard the dock bell ringing furiously.
“Something’s happened!” cried Mr. Leffert.
Nancy was already out the door and running toward the dock. Bess and George were close at her heels. Burt and Dave were standing up in the camp’s motorboat. As their friends arrived Burt held up an octopus, its eight tentacles waving menacingly.
“Look out!” he cried.
With that, he threw the octopus directly toward the oncoming ghost hunters. Bess screamed and turned around. George and the others dodged the creature as it landed on the dock. Though its great arms continued to wave around, the octopus did not move away. Burt and Dave burst into uproarious laughter.
Nancy grinned. “You old fakers!” she exclaimed. “Where did you get this rubber octopus? And what makes it wiggle?”
“We found it near where Ned was attacked,” Dave replied.
Ned looked puzzled. “If this is what attacked me, a man must have been inside the thing or back of it.”
“If he’s using the creature to scare people,” said Nancy, “why did he let the octopus loose?”
George spoke up. “Maybe he didn’t plan to let it go, but had to when Nancy drew close to him.”
Burt said that he and Dave had found the fake octopus lying on the beach. While examining it, they had discovered how to start the mechanism which made it wriggle through the water. In a few moments the tiny motor ran down and the rubber octopus lay still.
Nancy had gone to the edge of the dock and noticed that the canoe was tied to the motorboat. “Is this the camp canoe?” she asked.
Dave nodded. “It was way up at the far end of the lake. But we didn’t find the one that propels itself.”
Ned pulled the aluminum craft up on the beach and began to inspect it. He said, “Something was keeping Nancy and me from making any progress in the water. Maybe there’s a hidden gadget.”
“Look out!” Burt cried
Bess looked fearful again. “You mean someone deliberately put a gadget in it so he could control the canoe?”
“I suspect so,” Ned replied.
He searched the craft thoroughly but found nothing. “It was removed,” Ned decided.
As he straightened up, George said, “If someone was trying to cause an accident, he wouldn’t know which canoe would be chosen to take out on the lake.”
“You’re right,” Ned agreed. “Let’s look in the others. Come on, fellows.”
Under the rear seat of each craft the boys found a radio-controlled mechanism. The movements of the canoes could be controlled from some hidden spot along the shore!
“I see it all now,” Nancy remarked. “The canoe that propels itself is probably also radio-controlled. At a certain point where the operator was hidden along the shore, the canoe was used as bait. Ned you and I swallowed the bait.”
He nodded. “Then the person held our canoe back and finally upset it. He or someone else jumped into the water with the octopus and attacked me.”
Jim Archer spoke up. “I’d say that the octopus-man or people working with him are trained engineers.”
“But nuts,” George commented in disgust.
The gadgets were removed from the canoes and turned over to Mr. Leffert. He notified the police, who later came to take the gadgets. The two officers were amazed and greatly concerned about the rash way in which the devices were being used.
The next morning Nancy said to the ghost hunters, “I think we should call on elderly Mr. Prizer again and tell him about the canoes and the octopus. We might learn from his reaction if his son was really behind the attack.”
Bab said she would like to go and see the man’s shell collection. Don offered to drive her. Ned, Burt, and Dave agreed to go, but the other ghost hunters decided not to join them.
“You tell us about it,” Anne said, smiling.
When Nancy and her friends arrived at the Prizer cottage, there was no answer to their knock. They looked in the windows and could see every part of the interior. No one was there and Nancy noticed that the cradle shell was gone.
“Well, we can’t break in,” Bab remarked. “I guess we’ll have to go back to camp without learning anything.”
Just then they saw a woman coming down the path toward the cottage. She was striding vigorously and swinging her arms. There was a set expression on her face.
“She sure looks mad,” Don remarked.
“That’s Mrs. Tarpey, the realtor,” Nancy told him.
As the woman stormed up to them she did not recognize any of the callers at once.
“If you’re looking for that old geezer who was staying here,” she said, “he’s skipped!”
“Skipped?” Nancy repeated. “You mean he has left?”
“I mean more than that,” Mrs. Tarpey said angrily. “Not only did he move out bag and baggage, but his relatives gave me a check that bounced!”
George remarked, “Then probably it’s just as well that he’s gone. You can rent the place to someone else.”
“Maybe and maybe not,” Mrs. Tarpey said. “With all the goings-on around here it’s doubtful.”
Suddenly she recognized Nancy. “You’re the girl who was asking me about the Prizers.”
When Nancy nodded, the realtor said, “Did you find out anything about them?”
Nancy repeated what little she had learned, particularly that the younger Prizers had no children.
Bess said, “I feel sorry for the old man. He’s not to blame for what his son and wife do.”
Nancy was not so sure that the old man deserved any sympathy. She was inclined to think he was part of the racket.
Bab remarked, “The senior Mr. Prizer said he had a fabulous shell collection. I wanted so much to see it.”
Mrs. Tarpey tossed her head. “If he had one, it was probably stolen from somebody.”
“Stolen!” Bab exclaimed.
“Yes. Didn’t you hear the news report this morning?”
CHAPTER VI
A Curious Prophecy
“WHAT was the news report?” Nancy asked.
Mrs. Tarpey said that a valuable collection of shells had been stolen in the nearby town of Sheldon. The collector had been away for a couple of weeks. Upon his return he had discovered the loss.
“The shells were worth a great deal of money,” Mrs. Tarpey explained. “Some of them are very rare. One of the Murex shells, a Brandaris, belonged to an ancient emperor. At the time he lived, people found that the Brandaris secreted a yellow fluid. When processed, it gave out a permanent purple dye which was used to color cloth for togas. Only emperors and kings were allo
wed to wear them.”
“How fascinating!” Bess remarked. “I can understand why the stolen collection was a real haul for the thief.”
Nancy said she would like to go into the cabin and see if she could find any clues to help solve the mystery of the lake.
“Also any clues to where the Prizers may have gone. May we go in, Mrs. Tarpey?”
“Yes, and I hope you find something so I can trace those crooks.”
The group entered and immediately began their search. George looked through a pile of newspapers in a corner. Those of local origin did not contain any stories which might give a clue, but on the bottom of the pile she noticed a Florida paper.
Suspicious, she called Nancy over and showed it to her. “There might be something here Mr. Prizer wanted to keep,” she said. “Help me look at all the articles.”
The girls scanned one column after another without finding anything that might relate to the Prizers. Then, on the next to the last page, Nancy spotted a marked article.
STOLEN SHELL COLLECTION REMAINS A MYSTERY
The item stated that an intruder had stolen a collection of priceless shells, some of them in the room where the owner was asleep.
“Nancy, do you suppose that intruder could possibly have been young Mr. Prizer after more shells?”
Nancy nodded. “Or old Mr. Prizer.”
By this time the other searchers were ready to give up. They had found no worthwhile clues.
“Look at this!” said Bess and showed them the news item.
Nancy went over to Mrs. Tarpey. “Is there an attic or a cellar in this cottage?” she asked.
“There’s no cellar, but there is an attic. You have to remove one of the panels in the ceiling to get to it.”
“I think we should look up there,” Nancy told her, and she agreed. “We’d better have one of the boys go up.”
Nancy asked Ned if he would do it. As everyone looked on, he hoisted himself to Burt’s shoulders and slid the panel back. Then he climbed into the attic. Those below waited expectantly. The attic floor squeaked and groaned as Ned moved around.