George teased her cousin. “You’d have had an appetite without any adventures.”
The three girls hurried upstairs and packed the clothes they would need for the next few days. When they were ready to leave, Nancy promised her father she would keep in touch with him and the Billingtons to exchange news about the case. Mr. Drew said he would contact Mr. Webster and tell him of the vandalism.
“I’ll ask him if he wants to have someone in town take care of it or if he’d like me to.”
As he kissed his daughter good night, Mr. Drew wished her luck in getting results on Monday to her personal advertisement.
“Maybe you’ll find out who the members of the gang are. Anyway, my dear, watch your step.”
Nancy and Ned rode in the rented car, while the others took the Nickersons’. Despite the fact that the official opening of the house party lasted until almost two o’clock, none of the young people slept late the next morning.
After they had attended church services, Dave suggested that the whole group take a tour of the Space Center that afternoon. The others agreed.
Nancy was just as intrigued by her second visit to the Base as she had been before. The boys were especially fascinated by the rocket soon to lift off for the moon.
George, who had been silent for several minutes, said, “I’d like to be an astronaut. What do you think my chances are?”
“Oh no!” Bess exclaimed. “Suppose you went to the moon and got stranded there!”
Smiling, Nancy remarked that she too would like to become an astronaut.
Ned grinned and said, “How about letting us boys go first? We’ll tell you how it is.”
The bus driver, who had overheard the conversation, seemed to be amused. He turned slightly and said, “You boys had better get started on your training. While you’re here, why not go for a physical checkup and briefing?”
“Great!” Burt replied with a wink.
George leaned forward in her seat. “What about me? Could I get the same treatment?”
“I think so,” the driver answered, grinning broadly.
The others looked at Nancy. “How about you?” Ned asked.
“Perhaps,” she replied, knowing they were kidding her. “After this case is over.”
In a short time the bus reached the Vehicle Assembly Building. The tourists went inside. They were told about the immense structure and what took place there.
Then the guide said, “The space vehicle that will lift-off for the moon Tuesday was transported from here to its launch pad several weeks ago.”
Nancy and her friends were the first to leave the building. They wanted to get a better view of the huge spaceship.
As they were coming out the door, two men, heavily bearded, came up to them. “Pardon me,” said one. “We’re doing an article on the moon flight for a science magazine. Would you mind if we take your picture, and quote what we overheard you say on the bus about wanting to be astronauts?”
The six young people looked at one another but did not answer.
“Over here,” said the second man who had a large camera. “We won’t use your names.”
He led the way around the corner to the side of the building away from the tourists.
“I guess there’s no harm in it,” Ned whispered to Nancy.
She nodded and followed the two men down the far side of the building. While one arranged the group against the wall with the girls in front, the other man focused his camera.
“All ready,” he said.
His companion dashed out of the way and the photographer clicked his camera. Instantly a stream of tear gas shot toward them. Nancy and her friends tried to run, but their eyes began to smart and they could not see.
In the distance the guide was calling out, “All aboard!”
Nancy heard running footsteps and assumed their attackers had fled. As the fog of tear gas dissipated, Nancy was able to see dimly, but not well enough to move very fast for fear of bumping into something. She realized, however, that a man was coming toward her.
He proved to be one of the guards from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Rushing up, he asked, “What happened?”
A stream of tear gas shot toward them
Nancy choked out the answer. “Tear gas! Two men with beards. One man had a camera that shot the stuff at us.”
“Follow me!” the guard said. “We’ll give you something to soothe your eyes.”
“My friends too!” Nancy told him.
She could vaguely make out the rest of her group. Nancy called to them to follow her.
By the time they reached the front door of the Vehicle Assembly Building, the bus had gone. Nancy said there was a chance the attackers were on it.
“Hadn’t you better phone the Visitors Center and have the bus checked?” she asked the guard.
“I’ll do that at once—that is, as soon as I find someone to take care of your eyes.”
Suddenly Nancy remembered the young engineer who was a relative of Hannah Gruen’s. She asked, “Is Herb Baylor around? I know him.”
“I’ll get him,” the man promised, and hurried off.
When Herb Baylor saw Nancy and the rest of the group and heard what had happened, he instantly took them to the infirmary where a young doctor gave them first aid. He put a few drops of a soothing solution in their eyes which soon relieved the burning sensation.
There was a knock on the door and the same guard walked in. He was holding two wigs with beards attached and a box camera. “I found these at the side of the building,” he said.
Nancy gasped. “The men who used the tear gas must have been wearing them!”
Ned added, “Now we can’t describe those villains and they’ll get away easily!”
“Too bad,” Herb remarked. “What was their motive?”
George answered, “To scare us into dropping our detective work. But they can’t do it!”
CHAPTER XVIII
A Ruse Works
HERB Baylor thought Nancy and her friends should return to the Nickersons at once. “Take it easy,” he advised.
The young people were glad to and went to bed early. By morning everyone felt fine. A few hours later they set off for the Real Eight Museum of Sunken Treasure, reaching Cocoa Beach by five to twelve. Quickly Ned parked out of sight of the front entrance. Nancy and her friends took up positions behind posts on the covered patio of the octagonal-shaped building.
Exactly at twelve o’clock a car pulled in near the entrance. A few moments later a second one drew up behind it. Then a third and a fourth automobile stopped. A man got out of each car and the four assembled on the broad walk leading to the building.
Nancy’s heart was pounding. One of the men was Scarlett, another was Antin!
“So Antin is one of the gang,” she thought.
There was a heavy-set stranger. “That must be Max Ivanson!” Nancy decided. “He looks very much like that photograph I saw.”
The last person to come toward the building was a young man.
Nancy thought, “Could he be the ‘son’ in the personals? His face looks familiar. Why do I think I know him?” Then it suddenly dawned on her. He strongly resembled Mr. Fortin, the owner of the moss-covered mansion.
The men came closer and then stopped to talk. Nancy could hear them plainly. Each inquired about who had written the personal in Sunday’s paper. When all of them denied having done it, looks of fright spread over the men’s faces.
“I’ll bet the FBI found out about our code,” said the heavy-set man. “I’m leaving!”
He ran to his car and the others fled to theirs. Moments later they roared off.
“Shall I chase any of them?” Ned asked.
Nancy replied, “Try Ivanson.”
Ned and Burt rushed off and soon were out of sight.
Meanwhile Nancy had raced inside the museum to telephone her father. She paid the admission fee and dashed into a booth. Mr. Drew was astounded at what Nancy had discovered.
“I’ll inform the police of this development,” he told her. “They will certainly question Antin and search his room. I’ll also clue the authorities in on who the other men are that may be responsible for the explosive oranges.”
Nancy had remembered to jot down the license numbers of the men’s cars and now gave these to her father. “Good work!” he said.
When Nancy emerged from the phone booth, Dave and the other girls stood waiting and demanded to know what was going on. In whispers she told them.
“Oh, Nancy,” said Bess, “you’ve all but solved the case!”
Nancy did not think so. George was eager to go to the Billington house to learn the climax.
“But we have no car,” Nancy replied. “We don’t know when the boys will be back. Meanwhile, since we’ve all paid our admission, let’s look at the exhibits.”
A young woman came up to them and said, “You forgot to take your tapes and earphones. The tapes tell you all about the exhibits. Start on the left.”
They went back to a counter where she handed each of them one of the little boxes to hold. They plugged in the tiny earphones. The tour began.
In the center of the room stood a replica of one of the ships dashed to pieces on the Florida coast in 1715. The old-time vessel had sailed entirely under canvas and for this reason was no match for a violent tropical storm.
Around the circular wall was a panorama of the history of cargo carried aboard these Spanish vessels that sailed between the homeland and the New World. The treasures on display were from ten of the eleven vessels in the ill-fated Plate Fleet.
As Nancy listened to the tape she learned that the Spaniards had subdued the Aztec Indians and made slaves of many of them. They were forced to work their gold and silver mines and fashion the metal into Spanish coins, jewelry, and other objects. Overseers were often cruel and the slaves worked long hours.
Other scenes showed gold ingots being packed into boxes, and gold and silver coins in others. Moving on, Nancy and her friends listened carefully to the running account on their tape recorders. Many of the objects on exhibit, such as sabers and sword handles, dishes and bracelets, were encrusted with coral.
Nancy found Bess rooted to one of the glass cases. “Isn’t that pathetic?” she asked, pointing to a small wedding ring imbedded in coral. “It’s so little a tiny woman must have worn it. Maybe she was the wife of one of the captains.”
George walked up. She had heard Bess’s remark and said, “I can’t find much sympathy for those people. They were just plain thieves.”
Nancy commented, “They certainly ruined the Aztec civilization, which in many respects was far above that of their conquerors.”
Before leaving the museum, Nancy and her friends went into the gift shop. The articles for sale fascinated them. Everyone bought pieces of jewelry made from gold or silver dug from the bottom of the ocean.
Nancy purchased a lovely necklace of pieces-of-eight coins for her Aunt Eloise in New York. She decided on a bracelet made of silver coins for Mrs. Billington, and a large piece-of-eight pin for Hannah Gruen.
After the young people had looked at everything in the shop, they left the building. Ned and Burt were just returning.
“Any luck?” George asked.
“No,” Ned answered. “All the men disappeared in the next town. We couldn’t find them or their cars. »
“Let’s go home,” Nancy urged.
Bess insisted that they eat lunch before going to the Billingtons’. The boys found a lunch stand. Everybody was ravenously hungry except Nancy. She tried to hide the fact that her curiosity was getting the better of her but her friends sensed it.
“I’ll eat this hamburger as fast as I can,” Bess told her.
Nancy laughed. “Don’t get indigestion!”
She ordered a lobster-salad sandwich and declared it was the best she had ever eaten.
“No dessert!” Ned spoke up. “I know Nancy’s itching to leave and I am too!”
When they pulled into the driveway of the Billington home, a police car was there. Nancy and her friends hurried into the house.
There was wild confusion in the living room. Tina was screaming at a policeman that her husband was innocent of any wrongdoing. Antin was shouting that he was the victim of a frame-up.
At that moment a policeman and an FBI agent came down the stairs. The FBI man was carrying a bomb which he said had not yet been activated. The officer held supplies used in constructing homemade bombs. Nancy and her friends were told that Tina and Antin were attempting to move their possessions out when the officers arrived.
After advising the couple of their constitutional rights, the agent asked, “Mr. and Mrs. Resardo, if you’re innocent, how do you account for these things?”
Instead of replying, the couple tried to make a dash for the front door. They were quickly stopped and brought back, but refused to admit anything.
Nancy whispered to the detective, “May I ask the prisoners a question?”
“Yes, go ahead. But of course they don’t have to answer without having their own lawyer present.”
The young detective looked directly at the Resardos. “Who set the fire in Mr. Billington’s grove?” There was no response.
She tried another approach. “Is Max Ivanson a pal of yours?”
This question startled the Resardos, but they remained silent. Seconds later the prisoners were taken to jail.
Hannah Gruen gave a great sigh. “I’m glad they’re gone,” she said. “Imagine their making bombs right in this house!”
“Please don’t talk about it!” Bess begged. “It makes chills go up and down my spine.”
She wandered outdoors, more upset than she wished to admit. Dave had followed her and suggested that they all do something pleasant and get away from the mystery for a while.
“Like what?” she asked.
Dave thought for a moment, then said, “How about going to the Webster house to see if it has dried out yet?”
Bess liked this idea and so did the others. They climbed into the rented car and Ned slid into the driver’s seat.
When they reached the Webster place, Burt said, “We couldn’t see much of the grounds in the dark last night. Let’s walk around now.”
The boys were intrigued by the unusual trees in the garden, particularly the sausage tree. Everyone went over to it.
Suddenly they heard snarling in the jungle on the other side of the fence. The young people shrank back just as the leopard came running from the direction of the cages.
“He’s loose again!” Bess cried out.
Directly behind the animal was Longman with his whip. He kept snapping it against the ground and shouting to the beast. The leopard paid no attention. Snarling and hissing, the agile beast climbed the fence.
The next moment he made a flying leap across it and landed in the sausage tree next to the young people.
CHAPTER XIX
The Mansion’s Secret
BRANCHES of the sausage tree broke from the leopard’s weight. They crashed to the ground, together with several of the hard, twelve-inch melons.
Screaming, Bess dashed toward the Webster house. She kept urging the others to follow her.
“Run! Run!”
Longman, on the other side of the high fence, seemed stunned for a couple of seconds. Then he cried out, “Catch this and slash that beast!” He tossed the whip to the boys.
Nancy, to avoid being recognized by the animal trainer, turned and ran to the house. In the meantime Burt and Dave had each grabbed a broken branch with the heavy sausage-shaped fruit and were ready to ward off the animal if he should attack.
As Ned caught the whip, he yelled to Nancy and George, “Open the garage door! We’ll chase the leopard in there!”
This was easier said than done. At first the leopard refused to come down from the tree. Then, responding to Longman’s commands, he made a great leap toward the fence, but missed it and dropped to the ground.
Ned cracke
d the whip in the air and on the ground. The beast started to make another leap, then stopped. Lowering his head, he looked balefully at Burt and Dave and crouched as if about to spring at them. The two boys waved their tree-branch clubs in the air. By now the leopard was thoroughly confused.
With Ned working the whip and his friends flourishing their fruit-laden branches, the frightened beast was finally driven into the garage. Quickly George and Nancy yanked down the door.
Inside, the leopard set up a fearful racket. Above the loud snarls, the young people heard Longman call, “Keep him there! I’ll get my van!”
While they were waiting for the trainer to come, an idea suddenly came to Nancy. She said to Ned, “This is our chance to get into the basement of the moss-covered mansion and find out what’s behind the steel door. Will you go with me?”
Ned’s eyes opened wide in amazement. “You mean ride in the van with the leopard?”
“Of course not,” Nancy answered. “After the animal is inside and Longman is in the driver’s seat, you and I can quickly climb up to the roof of the van and lie flat. He won’t know we’re there and we can get off before he opens the van door.”
Ned replied, “You know you’re taking a terrible chance, Nancy. But I’m game to go with you.”
To the surprise of everyone, Bess came speeding up the driveway in their car. They had assumed she was in the house.
She jumped out and said excitedly, “I brought some meat with a tranquilizer in it.”
“You what?” George asked.
Bess explained that she had noticed a doctor’s sign on a house in the next block. She had driven over there and explained to him what had happened. He could not come himself but had given her the chunk of raw meat with a tranquilizer pill imbedded in it.
The others stared at her in amazement. Finally Nancy said, “That’s wonderful, Bess. It was quick thinking.”
Dave took the chunk of meat. As the others carefully lifted the garage door a couple of inches, he poked the food inside. Then the door was shut tight again.
The enraged animal apparently sniffed at the meat, then ate it, because for a few minutes there was silence. Again he began to howl objections, but this time they did not last long.