“How did you happen to know about me?” he asked.
At once Nancy told him about Mr. Wheeler, the accident, and the kidnaping.
“What a low-down trick!” Mr. Judd cried, incensed. “What do you think is the reason?”
“We can only guess,” said Nancy. “Possibly you can help solve the riddle. Do you know why Mr. Wheeler was bringing my friend George and me here? He hinted that it had something to do with the settlement of Mrs. Horton’s estate many years ago.”
Peter Judd was thoughtful for several seconds, as if trying to decide whether or not to tell these strange girls something he knew. Finally he said:
“I believe I do. After that young lady Joan Horton got all her grandmother’s money, she went away—nobody knew where. Suddenly I remembered something that had happened on my train a little over six months before old Mrs. Horton died. I went to Mr. Wheeler and told him about it, but he just laughed at me. But now I think maybe he has decided there was something to it.”
Eagerly Nancy asked, “What is the story?”
CHAPTER XI
The Tower Signaler
NANCY, Bess, and George pulled chairs close to Mr. Peter Judd so they would not miss one word of the story he was about to tell.
Suddenly Nancy jumped up and commanded, “Wait!” She turned and dashed toward the front door, calling as she went, “Girls, run out the back way and stop that man!”
Mr. Judd was amazed. He did not know what Nancy meant, but he hurried to a window and looked outside. He was just in time to see Nancy take off full speed after a man who was fleeing down the embankment toward the dock. Before she could reach him, the man jumped into a motorboat tied alongside the girls’ rented runabout and roared off.
Nancy came to a full stop on the dock. It would be useless to try to pursue the man; he had too much of a head start. Bess and George ran up to her.
“Who was he?” Bess asked. “Why were you chasing him?”
The young sleuth explained that as Mr. Judd was about to start his story, she had seen the top of the head of an eavesdropper just outside the window. “I got a better look at him as he jumped into his boat. I think he’s the man you said followed me in River Heights—the one who was following George here in Deep River. He’s the man I said looked familiar.”
“He seems determined to find out what we’re doing,” Bess remarked.
“I’ll say he is,” George agreed. “So far as I’m concerned, he’s definitely an enemy.”
“And maybe he’s one of the kidnapers,” Bess suggested. “Why don’t we follow him? He might lead us to Mr. Wheeler.”
George scoffed at this idea. “That’s exactly what he wouldn’t do,” she said, laughing. “Anyhow, we wouldn’t be able to overtake him now.”
Nancy nodded. “Let’s go back and hear Mr. Judd’s story,” she suggested.
Inside the cottage once more, she described the eavesdropper and their past encounters with him. “Have you any idea who he might be?”
Mr. Judd shook his head, and Nancy begged him to tell the story which had been interrupted.
“While I was on a train running direct from New York City to Deep River some fifteen years ago,” he began, “I specially noted three passengers in one of the cars—a man, a woman, and a very pretty little girl between two and three years old. When I had some free time I stopped to talk to her. She said her name was Joanie and she was going to stay with her other granny.”
Nancy, Bess, and George listened intently. This was indeed interesting!
“Joanie made a remark that I have never forgotten. She said her granddaddy and grandmommy she was with were going far away to tell people about God.”
“Missionaries?” Bess queried.
“I suppose so,” said Mr. Judd. “Well, the little girl and her grandparents got off in Deep River and I never saw any of them again. Months later, when I heard about Mrs. Horton and her grown-up granddaughter named Joanie, I remembered about those folks on the train. I kept thinking about that grown-up girl getting all the money and thought I ought to tell Mr. Wheeler the story.”
George blurted out, “You told this to Mr. Wheeler all that time ago and he didn’t do anything about it?”
“As I said before, he just laughed at me. I felt kind of silly and never mentioned the story again to anyone. Now, maybe, Mr. Wheeler has changed his mind and wants to hear about it in more detail.”
“No doubt,” Nancy agreed. “Can you give us the details?”
“The little girl had big, blue eyes and blond curls.”
Nancy excitedly opened her purse and took out the picture of young Joanie Horton at the age of two. “Is this the child?” she asked.
It was now Mr. Judd’s turn to look astounded. “It certainly looks like her,” the ex-conductor said. “Of course it was a long time ago, but this is just about the way I remember little Joanie.”
Mr. Judd asked Nancy to explain her connection with the Horton family. “Actually, it’s my father’s case,” she replied, knowing that it might be unwise to reveal her part in the investigation. “I expect my dad to come to Deep River in a little while. He’ll probably come to call on you very soon.”
This evasive answer seemed to satisfy Mr. Judd, and before he had a chance to say anything more, Nancy arose, thanked him, and said the girls must leave.
“I certainly hope they find Mr. Wheeler soon,” Mr. Judd called, as his visitors went toward the dock.
When the girls were seated in the runabout, Nancy’s face wore a broad grin. “This is the best clue yet!” she exclaimed.
“It’s simply marvelous!” said Bess. “How are you going to develop it?”
Nancy said she thought it might be a good idea to do a little sleuthing among the shopkeepers in town. “There may be some who were here fifteen years ago, and perhaps could tell us if any articles for a small child were sent out to the Horton home.” Nancy suggested that the girls divide up the shopping area and make separate calls on the storekeepers.
This bit of delving took until the latter part of the afternoon. They had about given up hope of any further clue, until Nancy entered a small toy store. It was run by an elderly man and woman. After learning that the couple had been in town for over thirty years, Nancy asked her question.
The man and woman looked at each other, then smiled. Finally the woman said, “I remember something about a child’s gift very well. The most beautiful doll and carriage we have ever sold were ordered over the telephone at Christmas time and delivered to the Horton home.”
“Did the person who delivered it see a little girl there?” Nancy asked.
“No. Our messenger saw no one. I remember clearly how he reported to us that a check and a note had been left on the Horton porch with instructions for him to leave the toys there.”
The man shopkeeper, curious, asked Nancy why she had made her inquiry. As nonchalantly as possible, Nancy answered, “My father is interested in the Horton family. My friends and I came up here on a vacation and he asked me to find out what I could about them.”
“I see,” said the man. “Can’t tell you anything more.” He turned and walked into a back room. At the same time, a boy came in through the front door and the woman went to wait on him. The girls left.
“This is our day for good luck,” said Bess. “Maybe the moonstone is bringing it!”
Nancy laughed, but agreed that they had picked up two valuable clues. “Right now I have so many trails to follow, I don’t know which to take. The one I’d like most to pursue would be the opportunity of talking to Jody Armstrong.”
“Then why don’t you?” said George. “She’s probably home by now.”
“No,” said Nancy. “If I seem like a friendship pusher, the Armstrongs may become suspicious and not let me see Jody at all.”
“You’re right,” said Bess. “Anyhow, don’t forget, the boys are coming today. I want to shampoo my hair before they get here—it’s a sight after all our trekking around and the wind blowing i
t in that boat.”
The girls took a taxi to the motel. As soon as they reached it, Nancy went to the telephone. She called police headquarters and asked if there was any news of her stolen car.
“Not a trace,” said the officer on duty. “I’m sorry, Miss Drew. We’re still working hard trying to find it.”
Nancy next asked whether Mr. Wheeler had been found. Again the answer was no. Nancy hung up.
In spite of this disappointment and worry over the whereabouts of the injured lawyer, the day’s new clues spurred Nancy on. She felt too excited to go to her room to rest or start dressing. “I think I’ll get the binoculars and take another look at that castle,” she decided.
She got the glasses and went out to the terrace. As she trained the binoculars on the distant building, the tower of the castle came into sharp focus.
Nancy gasped. A man, bewhiskered and unkempt, stood on the roof of the tower. He, too, held glasses to his eyes. They were trained directly on the motel and Nancy!
Instantly Nancy dodged behind a tree. “I hope he didn’t see me.” Though out of sight, she continued to focus her own binoculars on him.
The man put down his binoculars and began to make strange motions with his hands. Nancy watched him intently.
She asked herself, “Has that man gone crazy or is he trying to signal someone?”
CHAPTER XII
Impending Crash
“HI, SLEUTH!” a male voice called.
She lowered the binoculars and turned quickly. “Ned!” she cried out.
He kissed her, then asked how she was making out with her mystery case. For answer, Nancy handed him the binoculars and pointed toward the tower of the castle. “See if you can figure out what that man is doing,” she suggested.
Ned adjusted the glasses. Finally he said, frowning, “With that long beard and unkempt hair the fellow looks like some kind of a nut. But actually I think he’s doing his own version of a wigwag. Maybe he’s sending a message in code.”
Nancy took the glasses again and watched the strange man. He continued the same motions for another half minute, then disappeared.
“I guess he’s gone inside the castle,” she said.
Ned took the binoculars. “Suppose I watch to see if he comes outside the castle, and if so, where he goes and what he does. Meanwhile, you bring me up to date on the news.”
Nancy told him about the missing Joanie Horton, and her suspicion that Mrs. Horton’s servants were connected with the child’s disappearance. She outlined Mr. Wheeler’s part in settling the Horton estate, his disappearance from the hospital, Peter Judd’s story, and the mysterious men who had followed her and George.
“One of them calls himself Mr. Seaman.”
“So you suspect some great hoax was perpetrated fourteen years ago,” Ned commented. “I’d say this is a big order for us boys to deliver over a weekend, but we’ll do our best.”
Though Ned and Nancy waited for some time, with the glasses trained on the castle, no one appeared either on the tower or the grounds. Ned grinned. “I guess that strange fellow lives there,” he said. “Not too bad a place if you don’t have to pay rent.”
“He’s probably the person who warned George and me away from the castle when we swam over to it,” Nancy said.
“In that case, you girls shouldn’t go there alone again.”
Nancy and Ned walked to the motel, discussing the tower signaler and wondering to whom he was sending a message. “It may or may not have anything to do with the case I’m trying to solve,” Nancy remarked.
“If it has,” said Ned, “the receiver might be Mr. Seaman or that other man.”
Nancy nodded and led the way into the motel lobby where they found Bess and George talking excitedly with Dave Evans and Burt Eddleton. She introduced Ned to Mrs. Thompson, who in turn showed him the room where the three boys would sleep.
Forty minutes later the young people, in attractive suits and dresses, met in the lobby and discussed where to have dinner. Mrs. Thompson suggested a popular dining spot. “They have dancing and the music is really excellent.”
“That’s the place for me,” said Dave, taking a few dance steps.
Nancy and her friends decided to try the spot and set off in Ned’s car.
“No leads on your convertible?” he asked Nancy, who sat in front beside him.
“Not one! We hike and taxi. But getting to the castle hasn’t been on our schedule. Let’s go right after church tomorrow.”
“I’m at your service,” said Ned.
The restaurant building proved to be a large, modern concrete structure with geometric designs painted on it in flamboyant colors. The interior decor was ultrafashionable and a band was already playing a lively tune.
“It looks like a sophisticated place in New York City!” Ned remarked in surprise.
Bess tossed her head. “What makes you think Moonstone Valley isn’t up to date?”
The three boys were puzzled and Dave asked, “Moonstone Valley?”
“Oh, somebody changed its name,” Bess explained. “It’s now called Deep River Valley, but I think Moonstone is a lot more romantic.”
After the three couples were seated at a table, Bess continued, “Speaking of moonstones, did you know Nancy received a beautiful one as a gift?” Bess looked directly at Ned Nickerson.
“No, she didn’t tell me,” he answered. There was nothing in the way he said it to indicate that he was the donor.
“It’s very mysterious,” Bess went on. “There wasn’t any card with the gift—just a warning note.”
“A warning?” Ned repeated. “What kind?”
Bess declared that she would not tell him another word until he confessed he had played the joke. Ned denied this vigorously. “Honestly, I didn’t send the moonstone,” he declared. “But I’d certainly like to know who did. Tell me about this warning.”
The whole story was told and the boys agreed it was mysterious. None of them thought it was funny; rather, something to be taken quite seriously.
“I suppose you figure there’s some connection between your moonstone and Moonstone Valley,” Burt said.
“If there is, it eludes me completely,” Nancy answered. “But if the sender had a joke in mind or a warning, why didn’t he send a cheap stone? This is one of the most beautiful moonstones I’ve ever seen. I’ll show it to you.” She took it from her evening purse.
“Wow! What a gift!” Burt exclaimed.
As a waiter came to their table, the three couples turned their attention to dinner and dancing. They spent several hours at the attractive restaurant, then left.
“It’s too early to go directly home,” said Ned. “How about renting a speedboat if we can and taking a cruise on the river?”
Bess looked up at the sky. “What a beautiful moon!” she exclaimed. “It would be absolutely heavenly on the water. Let’s do it!”
Nancy directed Ned to a dock where she thought boats could be rented at night. They found one that gave twenty-four-hour service. Ned parked and went inside to make inquiries. Presently he returned and said they would take a sleek motorboat named the Water Witch.
“Which water?” Dave punned, whereupon Burt pretended to throw him into the river.
The six young people climbed in and Ned took the wheel.
“If you want to see Mr. Wheeler’s wrecked boat, it’s across the river and down a short distance,” said Nancy.
Ned followed her directions and had just turned downstream when they all became aware of a speedboat coming toward them. IN It was headed directly for their boat.
At once Ned turned his craft. The approaching boat still came at them, as if drawn by a magnet. Ned sounded his horn. The other pilot paid no attention.
“Is that fellow loco?” Burt asked worriedly.
Ned dodged this way and that to get out of the path of the oncoming craft.
“It’s going to hit us!” Bess screamed.
Just before the strange boat reached them,
its pilot dived into the water. Ned swerved in a desperate attempt to avoid both the speedboat and the swimmer. His effort was successful.
“Good work!” said George.
Everyone looked to see what had become of the pilot who had jumped overboard.
“I see him!” Nancy cried out. “He’s swimming toward the shore.”
“I guess he’s safe,” said Ned. “Now we’d better chase that speedboat and try to stop it before it does any damage!”
The race was on. Ned gave his own craft full power and little by little inched up on the pilot-less boat.
“I’ll jump across,” Burt offered, and made a flying leap. He took the wheel, which he found responded well. “There’s nothing the matter with this steering mechanism. That fellow intended to hit us for sure!” He invited George to hop in beside him and asked, “Now where do we go?”
“I suppose we should take the boat back with us to the dock and explain what happened,” said Nancy.
“But I’d like to see that castle first,” said Ned. “Is that the building over there?”
“Yes.”
The two speedboats headed for the rickety dock, which evidently had been used by the former tenants of the castle.
Suddenly Nancy exclaimed, “I saw a light moving in the castle!”
“I did too,” Ned agreed.
“That man with whiskers must be there!” Bess suggested.
George gave a great sigh. “There’s one way to find out. Why don’t we tie up here and you boys can investigate?”
She was just about to get out of the stranger’s speedboat when the group heard a shrill whistle. They turned. Coming at a fast clip was a police launch. A large searchlight pinpointed the Water Witch and the other craft.
The young people in both boats stayed in their seats. In a few seconds the launch pulled up alongside and stopped.
The chief officer leaned over the railing and said, “So you’re the ones who stole the boat!”
Nancy and her friends were dumfounded. She protested firmly that they had not stolen the boat and told exactly what had happened.
“Sorry, miss, but that sounds as if you’re just trying to shift the blame onto somebody else.”