Bess giggled. “Cross my heart!”
At this point the group became aware of a motor. They were surprised and looked up. Coming down the slope was a beach buggy.
“That must be Archie,” said Ned. “He brought one of those along. Well, I’d better get down to that water hole and clean up a bit so he won’t ask too many questions.”
Ned scooted off, and a few minutes later Archie arrived. He stopped a short distance beyond the hole and jumped out.
“Well, I must congratulate you all,” he said pompously. “This looks like a lot of work. How did you get so much done in a short time?”
George spoke up. “Oh, haven’t you heard about the wizards of Emerson and River Heights?”
“Now what kind of an answer is that?” Archie demanded. “I’m part of this expedition. I have a right to know what’s going on. Did you find anything?”
Bess dimpled and squinted her eyes at him. In a childish voice she asked, “Would little Archie like a baby doll to play with?”
The young man was furious. “I don’t deserve such sarcasm,” he said pettishly. “By the way, where’s Ned?”
Burt answered. “Oh, he has gone to the Roman baths.”
This remark was too much for Archie. “I’m leaving,” he said.
In his anger he put his beach buggy into reverse gear and shot backward. The car backed into the hole!
CHAPTER XVI
A Skeleton Dance
FORTUNATELY the beach buggy was too wide to fall into the hole. The rear end had gone down but it hit the wall beyond, and the vehicle now hung over the rim.
After Archie’s first look of fright and surprise, he shouted, “Get me out of here!”
“With pleasure,” said George, walking up and offering him her hand.
He ignored it and got out of the vehicle himself, then surveyed the buggy bitterly.
Finally he said in a more conciliatory voice, “Come on, fellows. Give me a hand. See if we can push this thing over the edge.”
Nancy suggested that they tie several ropes to the front bumper. “Some of us can pull, the others push.”
“Okay,” Archie agreed, then stood still, doing nothing.
The others tied the ropes, then Burt suggested that Archie go to the rear and push as hard as he could with him.
“Wanna and the girls can pull the buggy from the front.”
This strategy worked, and in a few minutes the beach buggy was safe again.
Archie climbed in and started the motor. “It works!” he said. “Thanks a lot, kids. See you at camp.”
The others were glad he was leaving but to be sure he would not be alone should his vehicle get stuck, Burt offered to go back with him.
Ned returned from his clean-up job. Since it was time to go back for the noonday lunch and siesta period, the diggers gathered up their tools and other paraphernalia. They lugged them up to the car.
When they reached camp, Wanna suggested that she and the girls go on to the museum and turn in the clay doll. Ned and Dave said they would see them later.
When the Indian geologist and the girls reached the Lost City Museum, the curator greeted them with a big smile. “I can tell from your outfits that you have been working. Any luck?”
Proudly, Bess opened a case in which she had been carrying the clay doll she had found and mended with Dave’s help.
The man blinked. “You found this?” he asked.
“Yes, I did,” Bess answered. “There were several pieces. We couldn’t find the one that belonged in here.” She pointed out the hole in one of the doll’s arms.
“It was probably crushed underfoot,” the curator stated. “But it hardly shows.”
He accepted the doll with thanks, saying the state of Nevada would be very happy to receive this.
“Incidentally,” he said, “you did a great job of mending this. Very professional looking. It is perfect.”
Bess beamed happily, then she said, “We made a great discovery. I don’t know whether Nancy wants to tell about it or not. We’re trying to keep it a secret.”
“Yes, we are,” Nancy told him. She laughed. “But I think it’s safe to tell you about it. We just don’t want a lot of gold seekers coming to the place where we’re working. One of the boys actually found a gold nugget way down underground.”
“What!”
“That’s right,” Wanna spoke up. “As you know I have some pet theories concerning the desert. The students seem to be proving that my ideas are correct.”
“That’s wonderful!” the curator said. “Do you want to divulge any more?”
Nancy told him about the morning’s adventures and the finding of the turquoise bead.
“But the greatest thing of all was the geyser.” As the man’s eyes opened wider and wider in astonishment, she went on to describe it.
“This is amazing,” he said. “Why, you know, we might even be able to make this valley fertile again!”
At the remark George grinned. “And bring back American elephants and camels and even giant sloths.”
“Oh stop!” Bess begged.
The others laughed and Wanna said, “All joking aside, if we could have a river running through this desert, it wouldn’t take long before it became a good place to live.”
She and the girls said good-by to the curator and drove back to camp. The cool quarters and hearty lunch were a welcome change for Nancy and her friends.
Afterward the other group of diggers displayed some of their finds. They had uncovered many arrowheads, some stone mallets, and a cylindrical stone about two inches thick and highly polished.
Professor Maguire said, “I believe this was a rolling pin, which the squaws used to crush corn into flour.”
“What a weapon to use on an enemy!” George remarked.
Nancy picked up the stone. “Um, heavy,” she said, putting it down quickly. Then she tried rolling it. “In ancient times it seems to me people always did things the hard way.”
“They had to use what was at hand,” the professor told her.
At four o’clock that afternoon Nancy and her friends were ready to start out again. They could hardly wait to continue their work. Everyone hoped there would be no more visitors. Archie, meanwhile, had told the whole camp about the opening where Nancy’s group was digging.
It was decided that the first thing she and her friends would do would be to enlarge the hole near the lower end. The diggers would take turns going down on the ropes, two at a time. For a while they turned up only pieces of broken pottery and stone axes.
“This must have been a large populated area at one time,” Ned remarked to Nancy, who was his partner.
The young sleuth did not reply, for at that moment a trowel she was using hit something solid. Hoping it was a valuable piece and not just a rock, Nancy carefully worked around it. She turned her flashlight full upon the spot.
Then she exclaimed, “Ned, this is a bone of some sort!”
“Are you sure?” he asked as he moved himself to a position alongside her. The two worked in silence and as quickly as they dared. In a little while an elbow began to protrude from the sand, soil, and rock formation.
Ned whistled. “A human bone! What a find!”
Nancy’s heart was thumping. She had never been more excited in her life.
“I wonder how much of this skeleton is here and how we’re ever going to get it out.”
Ned admitted that they would need help. Apparently the skeleton, if it was all there, lay beside the hole.
Up to now, the small amount of dirt they had dug had fallen down into the stream below and had been partially carried away by the water. For further digging they probably would have to remove a good bit of earth. Should it be dropped down?
Nancy suggested that they try to trace any bones they could locate without digging. This worked for a few minutes.
Nancy uncovered a hand, which had fallen from the wrist. Ned got up as far as the skeleton’s shoulder and found that at the
joint it was loose from the upper arm.
“I guess there are several pieces,” Ned remarked. “We’d better get buckets and more help.”
Nancy agreed. She and Ned pulled themselves to the surface and told the others what they had found.
“We’d like to see if we can find the whole skeleton,” she added.
Bess said she could not believe such a fantastic find. “It’s utterly magnificent!” she exclaimed.
Ned said he would suggest that they take an extra rope down, to which the buckets could be tied. The dirt he and Nancy took out from around the bones would be put into the buckets rather than dropped below. The buckets could be hauled up and the earth dumped.
Burt said, “You don’t know how deep into the side of the mountain you may have to go. Why don’t we take turns digging?”
“That’s a good idea,” Nancy agreed. “It’s hard hanging in that rope sling and reaching in to dig out the dirt around the skeleton. The earth is packed solid.”
Wanna offered to be one of the first to go down. She was eager to see how far above the water the skeleton lay. This might tell her which civilization it might have belonged to. She and Burt were the next two down.
The others took the buckets of dirt as they came up, and carefully spread the contents on the ground. While waiting for each bucket, they carefully examined the sandy soil for more relics.
None were found, but Burt called out that he was coming topside and bringing part of the skeleton with him. He appeared with an arm, though it was in three pieces.
The next time Dave went down and Wanna came up. George took a turn. They had found the left leg, which was also in pieces.
The work continued for a couple of hours until finally a complete skeleton had been unearthed. It proved to be that of a man. Wanna said she believed he was young and she judged from an indentation in the skull that he had been killed by a spear.
“Ugh!” said Bess, who secretly was glad that her ankle would not permit her to go down into the hole.
She liked the artifacts, but abhorred the idea of finding the skeleton of someone who had lived long, long ago.
“Let’s wire this man together,” Burt suggested. “I’d like to take him back to camp in one piece. Later the curator can do a better job.”
Dave scooted up to the car to find the proper drilling tools and the wire. When he returned, everyone in the group became busy putting the prehistoric skeleton together. When it was complete, Burt held it up.
“He was very short,” Bess remarked.
Wanna said, “Most of the Indians in this area were short.”
Burt began to jiggle the skeleton and make him dance. The others laughed.
Dave said, “I have an idea. Tonight the whole camp is to have a meeting around a campfire. How about our putting on a spook show?”
He outlined his plan.
“We’ll all stay in the background. Then just as the meeting finishes, we’ll make queer sounds. Burt, wrapped in a blanket, will come in, holding the skeleton and making it dance.”
When Burt agreed, Dave whispered something to him and the other boy nodded and smiled.
Later, at the right moment, Nancy’s group made low, moaning, crying sounds. Everyone around the fire looked startled. Then Burt stepped forward, intoning weirdly. He made the skeleton dance, then said in a deep voice: “I am from another civilization. Do not disturb my sleep!”
The whole audience burst into laughter.
At that moment Nancy suddenly felt a strong arm around her waist and a big hand was clapped over her mouth. Before she could resist, the girl detective felt herself being dragged away!
CHAPTER XVII
A Capture
FLAILING her arms and struggling to free herself, Nancy tried hard to loosen the grip of her abductor. Presently she realized that he was powerful and she could not fight him physically. She would have to outwit him.
“I must do something and do it quick!” she decided.
An idea that had worked before came to Nancy. In a few seconds she went absolutely limp, as if she had fainted. In surprise her captor nearly dropped the young sleuth and relaxed his hold on her.
The ruse had worked! Instantly Nancy was free, and she started to run back toward the rest of her group.
“Help! Help!” she yelled.
Her captor, realizing he had been outwitted, began to run. Several of the boys raced after him. One lanky youth from Emerson College, who was a star track man, soon caught up with the fleeing abductor. He brought him down with a resounding thud.
Within seconds the other boys reached them and pulled the suspect back to camp. Nancy and her friends crowded around.
“Fleetfoot!” cried Nancy.
The man looked at her with hatred in his eyes, but he would not give up so easily.
“You can’t hold me!” he roared. “I haven’t done anything!”
Nancy gazed at him scornfully. “What do you call abduction? It’s a federal offense. I think we had better call the police.”
Fleetfoot now took another tack. With a forced smile, he said, “I wasn’t going to harm you, miss. I just wanted to tell you to stay out of my territory.”
Nancy did not comment. Instead she asked, “Where are the rest of Mrs. Wabash’s stone tablets?”
There was no answer.
“Okay,” Nancy said. “If you won’t talk, we’ll take you to the police. There’s a warrant out for your arrest back in River Heights, and the Las Vegas police have been alerted to find you.”
Fleetfoot looked surprised. He knew he was cornered and said, “Why don’t we strike up a little bargain? If you promise not to have me arrested, I’ll tell you where the rest of the tablets are.”
Nancy told him she had no control over what the police might do, even if she didn’t turn him in. “So it’s no use trying to evade the law,” she added.
Again Fleetfoot seemed to be thinking about what to say next. To everyone’s surprise he blurted out, “Mrs. Wabash has the tablets!”
Suddenly a voice behind them in the darkness called out, “That is not true!”
A young Indian woman stepped forward. Wanna Antler!
She turned toward Nancy and said, “A little while ago I went to the kitchen and used the shortwave telephone to call Mrs. Wabash. She said one tablet had been brought to her by a man who was not Fleetfoot and had offered to sell it.
“The price was pretty high, but she decided to buy it. Mrs. Wabash recognized the tablet.”
Bess exclaimed, “She bought something that actually belonged to her?”
Professor Maguire now stepped forward. “I think the sooner the police have this man in custody the safer we all will be. I’ll call them at once.”
Nancy whispered to him, “Fleetfoot is a slick person. Don’t you think we should tie him up and put a guard over him until the police get here?”
The professor smiled. “I think it would be a very good idea.”
While the boys tied up Fleetfoot, Wanna took Nancy’s arm and they walked off together.
“I have a surprise for you,” the Indian girl said. “The tablet Mrs. Wabash bought was the copy you made!”
Nancy was amazed. “Evidently Fleetfoot and his buddies didn’t recognize it as a forgery,” she said, smiling. “Otherwise I’m sure Fleetfoot would have blurted out the truth.”
“What about the rest of the tablets?” Nancy asked.
Wanna replied, “Mrs. Wabash said that the caller had promised to return and bring them if she would pay the high price he wanted. Knowing their value, she agreed, but so far the man hasn’t returned.”
“It’s my hunch,” Nancy said, “that this man is a buddy of Fleetfoot’s, and Fleetfoot isn’t giving them up that easily. I’m sure if he gives them up at all, it will be only after he has had copies or drawings made. He’ll sell them to Mrs. Wabash one by one.”
Wanna nodded in agreement. By this time she and Nancy had reached their tent and were soon ready for bed.
Nancy was very happy at the turn of events. Not only had she uncovered something valuable for the dig, but she had helped to capture a wanted thief and was one step closer to solving the mystery of the valuable stone tablets, the golden plates, and the location of the Forgotten City.
She consulted Wanna, Bess, and George, asking if they didn’t think it would be wise to go back to the Mouse’s Tank and the Valley of Fire to make a more thorough search for the missing tablets.
“I do!” George called out.
“Yes,” Bess echoed, yawning.
“Count me in,” Wanna added.
The following morning Nancy asked Professor Maguire to go along with her group. He consented eagerly.
They started off in two cars. The professor rode with Wanna, Nancy, and Ned.
He said, “Suppose you call me Don. All year long I’m addressed as professor and it would be a relief to hear my own name.”
“All right, Don,” the others said.
When they approached the Valley of Fire area, Nancy said, “Let’s start at the Mouse’s Tank. We can separate and look inside and outside for anything Fleetfoot may have buried.”
They reached the place so early that there were no tourists at the site. They examined the ground for recent digging and flashed their lights over every inch of the cave, but found nothing suspicious.
“I guess,” said Nancy, “that if Fleetfoot had anything hidden here, he took it away after he saw Bess, George, and me.”
They joined those in the other car, and together the eight went to investigate possible hiding places for the tablets in the Valley of Fire.
Nancy grinned and said to the other half of her party, “We’ve lost our professor temporarily. Meet Don, everybody.”
They all laughed, and to make the change of name official, Bess, George, Burt, and Dave shook hands with Don.
Bess spoke up. “I’m glad you asked us to call you Don,” she said. “I feel much more comfortable now. Professors always scare me!”
The others laughed, then Don said, “Where does the lady sleuth want us to start?”
Nancy suggested that they search in pairs. She handed out a whistle to each couple. “Every ten minutes I suggest we blow the whistles to be sure everyone is all right.