The Mystery of the Fire Dragon Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER I - Mystery in New York

  CHAPTER II - The Dragon Clue

  CHAPTER III - Campus Sleuthing

  CHAPTER IV - A Disappointing Wait

  CHAPTER V - A Convincing Disguise

  CHAPTER VI - The Chase

  CHAPTER VII - Strange Thefts

  CHAPTER VIII - Angry Neighbors

  CHAPTER IX - Bess Is Missing

  CHAPTER X - Bookshop Detectives

  CHAPTER XI - A Suspect Escapes

  CHAPTER XII - Flight Plans

  CHAPTER XIII - An Ominous Dream

  CHAPTER XIV - A Hidden Microphone

  CHAPTER XV - The Mah-jongg Dealer

  CHAPTER XVI - A Chinese Puzzle

  CHAPTER XVII - Pursuit of the Sea Furies

  CHAPTER XVIII - A New Assignment

  CHAPTER XIX - Symbolic Fireworks

  CHAPTER XX - The Escape

  “Let your prisoner go at once!” Nancy demanded

  Copyright © 1989, 1961 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

  Published by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., a member of The Putnam &

  Grosset Group, New York. Published simultaneously in Canada. S.A. NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES® is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster,

  Inc. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07739-9

  2008 Printing

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  CHAPTER I

  Mystery in New York

  “WHAT else does Ned say, Nancy?” Mr. Drew asked. He was listening intently to a letter his daughter was reading.

  “Ned likes being a college exchange student in Hong Kong, and he has actually learned to speak some Cantonese, Dad!”

  “Excellent. That, together with his study of Chinese culture, should make him very valuable in a number of fields,” Mr. Drew commented.

  Nancy nodded. “He’d like to go into the United States Intelligence Service.” Suddenly her serious mood changed. “Dad, listen to this.” She read, “‘Nancy, can’t you find a mystery to solve in this far-off colony, so I might show you around?’ ”

  Mr. Drew’s eyes twinkled. “Mystery or no mystery, Nancy, you just might get to Hong Kong sooner than you think!”

  “What!” the attractive, blue-eyed girl exclaimed. “You mean—?”

  Before Nancy could finish the question, the telephone rang and she went to answer it.

  “Aunt Eloise!” Nancy cried out. “How super to hear from you! Are you in New York?”

  “Yes, right in my apartment. I want you to rush here. A most peculiar thing has happened. A real mystery for you to solve.”

  The young blond detective was intrigued and could hardly wait to get the details from her aunt.

  Miss Eloise Drew, sister of Nancy’s father, lived alone and taught school in the city. Her large old-fashioned apartment had been converted into two separate apartments. Each had its own entrance from the hallway.

  “Two wonderful Chinese people moved in next door to me a few weeks ago,” Aunt Eloise began. “We’ve become good friends. That’s why I want to help them. There’s a darling old man we call Grandpa Soong and his granddaughter Chi Che, an orphan. She’s eighteen, and a student at Columbia University here.

  “This afternoon, when I returned from a teachers’ meeting, I found a strange note on the floor. It had been shoved under the locked door between my apartment and the Soongs’.”

  “And what did it say?” Nancy asked eagerly.

  “It was short and unfinished,” Aunt Eloise went on. “I’ll read it: Grandpa must think I am visiting student friends from Columbia. The police must not be notified I am away or Grandpa will be harmed. I am in grave danger because I have found out that—’ ”

  “The note ends there?” Nancy asked.

  “Yes, unfortunately. Well, you see why I need you here. I feel that Chi Che is depending on me to help her but I don’t know where to begin. I thought you might bring Bess and her cousin George with you.”

  “I’d certainly like to, Aunt Eloise, but Dad has just been talking about a trip to Hong Kong. Hold the phone while I ask him about his plans,” Nancy requested.

  After hearing the story, the tall, distinguished-looking lawyer smiled and said, “We won’t be leaving for Hong Kong for a week. In the meantime, go to New York if you wish.”

  Nancy hurried back to the telephone. “I’ll come tomorrow, Aunt Eloise. What time will you be back from school?”

  “Between four and four-thirty.”

  “I’ll get in touch with Bess and George right away,” Nancy promised. “And, in any case, I’ll come.”

  “Good,” her aunt said. “I’m really terribly worried about Chi Che. If much more time goes by, it may be too late to help her.”

  After saying good-by to her aunt, Nancy dialed the number of the Marvin home. “Hi, Bess!” she said. “How about a quick trip with me to visit Aunt Eloise?”

  “Sounds nice, Nancy. But why the big hurry? Don’t tell me! I know—a mystery has popped up and the trail leads to New York City,” guessed blond, slightly plump, Bess.

  “You’re partly right.” Nancy laughed. “There is a mystery, but it started in Aunt Eloise’s apartment.” She briefed her friend on the details.

  “Oh, dear, this really does sound dangerous!” Bess exclaimed. “Do you think we should—”

  “Of course I think we should try to help Chi Che,” Nancy declared. “We’ll take the early afternoon plane tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at one-fifteen.”

  “Okay. I’ll be ready,” Bess answered. “It’ll be fun just to go to New York—shops, theater—”

  “Bess,” said Nancy firmly, “we have a job to do. Chi Che’s in danger!”

  “All right, Detective Drew. Deputy Marvin signing off. See you tomorrow.”

  Nancy chuckled as she called George Fayne. She was Bess’s cousin but as unlike her in looks and interests as two people could be. Slender, with dark, short hair, tomboyish George was always ready for adventure.

  Upon hearing Nancy’s invitation, George was eager to fly to New York. “The mystery sounds intriguing,” she said excitedly. “And, by the way, Nancy, how about talking your dad into including me in the trip to Hong Kong?”

  “I’ll do my best.” Nancy smiled as she hung up and returned to her father. “The girls can go with me,” she said. “I’ll make reservations, then please tell me about Hong Kong.”

  Ten minutes later father and daughter were again seated in front of the log fire which felt cozy on this crisp October evening. Presently they were joined by the Drews’ housekeeper, Mrs. Hannah Gruen. She had lived with them for fifteen years since the death of Mrs. Drew, when Nancy was only three.

  “Do sit down,” Mr. Drew invited her. “I’d like to tell you about a case that may take Nancy and me to Hong Kong.”

  The pleasant-faced woman seated herself. “Oh, my! This sounds so exciting!” she commented.

  “I have been retained,” the attorney said, “to try to locate several people named as beneficiaries in a will which is being contested here. Their last known address was Hong Kong, but they don’t answer letters sent to them by the executors.

  “I’ve decided that the best way to find out what’s happening is for me to go there. Naturally I’d like my detective daughter along to help me if necessary.” He smiled. “And, naturally, a certain Ned Nickerson who is studying at Chung Chi College outside Hong Kong would like—”

  Hannah Gruen laughed and Nancy blushed as her father left the sentence unfinished. Then he continued, “Nancy, I’ll come home from the office to lunch tomorr
ow and drive you and the girls to the airport. And now, if you two will excuse me, I’ll say good night.”

  Promptly at one-fifteen the following afternoon Nancy and her father were at Bess Marvin’s home. A few minutes after that they picked up George Fayne.

  At the airport Nancy hugged her father, who wished the three sleuths luck. “We’re ready for anything,” George announced. “We even have our birth certificates with us in case we have to identify ourselves!”

  “Good!” Nancy applauded. “I’ve learned while sleuthing to be prepared for anything. I always carry mine with me.”

  The girls waved as they boarded the airliner, then settled down for the flight to New York. When they reached the terminal in the city, Nancy led the others to the taxi exit, where they took a cab to Miss Drew’s apartment house.

  “Four-twenty,” Nancy announced, as she pushed the vestibule bell to her aunt’s apartment. The inner door clicked open. “Oh, I’m glad Aunt Eloise is home.”

  The tall, attractive woman met the three girls as they emerged from the third-floor stop of the self-service elevator. “You all look wonderful!” Aunt Eloise exclaimed.

  Something in front of Nancy exploded with a loud bang!

  Nancy kissed her aunt a second time. “That’s from Dad, and Hannah sends her best wishes, too.”

  As soon as they had entered the apartment, and the door was closed, the young sleuth said, “Aunt Eloise, don’t keep us in suspense. Tell us everything about Chi Che and what happened.”

  Miss Drew produced the note the Chinese girl had written. At once Nancy noticed that in the lower right-hand corner of the stationery was a small hand-painted dragon in an Oriental shade of red. She pointed this out.

  “It may be a clue,” the girl detective remarked.

  Aunt Eloise could add little to her story, except to say that the Soongs appeared to be very fine people and very fond of each other. They rarely had guests, because Grandpa Soong was at present spending most of his time writing a book.

  “Let’s call on Grandpa Soong,” Nancy proposed, eager to start work solving the mystery.

  Her aunt agreed. As Nancy opened the apartment door, she noticed a figure running toward the stairway. The person wore dark trousers and a loose coat.

  Nancy stepped into the hall. At that instant something in front of her exploded with a loud bang!

  CHAPTER II

  The Dragon Clue

  INSTINCTIVELY Nancy put both hands over her face and stepped backward into the doorway. Despite her quick move she was showered with a spray of paper and sandy particles.

  “What happened?” Aunt Eloise asked excitedly. “Are you hurt?”

  “I—I guess not,” Nancy answered, as brownish-black smoke spread throughout the hallway.

  Bess and George dashed from the apartment to look around for the cause of the explosion. Nancy joined them and a few seconds later held up a small tube. “I believe it was a giant firecracker someone set off.”

  “A firecracker!” Bess repeated, thinking that mysteries for Nancy Drew had started in many unusual ways but never before with a giant firecracker.

  Ever since the time Mr. Drew had asked his daughter to help him unravel The Secret of the Old Clock until recently, when Nancy had solved the mystery of The Clue in the Old Stagecoach, she had been in many precarious situations. The giant firecracker might have injured the young detective badly.

  Nancy was staring at the Soongs’ door. Was the explosion some kind of warning to the Soongs? Or, by chance, had someone learned that Nancy was interested in the mystery and used this means to scare her off the case?

  By this time all the doors along the hallway of the apartment house were being opened and curious, frightened faces looking out. When the tenants found that no damage had been done and no one had been hurt, they closed their doors again.

  The last apartment to be opened was the Soongs’. An elderly man, with a long beard and wearing a black Chinese suit, looked inquiringly at the girls.

  Miss Drew stepped up and said, “Hello, Grandpa Soong. I want you to meet my niece, Nancy Drew, and her friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne.”

  Mr. Soong bowed low. “It gives me deep pleasure to meet the relative and friends of my very fine neighbor. I was on my way to answer the buzzer when I heard a loud explosion. Can you good people tell me what happened?”

  “Mr. Soong, we think that a giant firecracker was set off,” Nancy replied. “Would you possibly know why?”

  Grandpa Soong looked startled. “I know nothing about it. You think perhaps that because most firecrackers are made in Chinese territory I should know the reason?”

  “Oh, no,” Nancy replied quickly. Then she told about the figure she had seen running down the hall just before the explosion.

  Grandpa Soong smiled. “Without a better description, I could not identify such a man or woman. But I am sure I would not know him, anyway.”

  The young sleuth went from door to door along the hallway, asking the various occupants if they had noticed the running figure. Each denied having seen anyone around.

  When Nancy returned to the group, Aunt Eloise invited Mr. Soong into her apartment so that the girls might become better acquainted with him. Under the strong light of a reading lamp the elderly Chinese stared at George Fayne.

  Suddenly he said, “Please forgive my rudeness, but you remind me very much of my Chi Che. Of course she is Chinese and you are American, but your hair, your flashing black eyes—even your dress reminds me so much of my granddaughter who is away visiting.”

  George was startled, not only because Grandpa Soong did not suspect that anything unusual had happened to Chi Che, but also that she herself looked so much like the missing girl. She glanced at her clothes and had to admit that her mandarin-collared overblouse did indeed look Oriental.

  Aunt Eloise and the others seated themselves and almost at once Grandpa Soong began to talk about his writing. “My book has been many years in preparation,” he said. “I spent much time in the interior of China gathering very valuable archaeological data. I hope my work will be of great benefit to mankind.”

  “I’m sure it will be,” said Aunt Eloise. “Grandpa Soong, did Chi Che give up her after-school job at Stromberg’s Bookshop?”

  “Oh, no,” the elderly man answered. “She loves her work and her studies. They mean much to her. I presume she has asked for a leave of absence from the shop while she is away visiting.”

  Nancy asked, “Did Chi Che leave you a note, Mr. Soong?”

  “Yes.” As he took one from the pocket of his jacket, he said, “I would cherish the idea if you girls would call me Grandpa Soong,” and they nodded.

  The note was written in Chinese characters and Grandpa Soong began to translate it. “ ‘Going on holiday with college friends. Home-coming indefinite.’ ”

  Nancy had listened intently, but now her attention was drawn to a hand-painted dragon in the lower right-hand corner of the stationery. Curious, she mentioned it.

  “This stationery is not the kind used by my Chi Che,” Grandpa Soong explained. “It must have been given to her by the friend she’s with.”

  He laid the note on the table, then went on, “The dragon is a very old and sacred symbol of China. The ancient name of the dragon was Lung and children believed in Lung just as Western children believe in Santa Claus.

  “Legend tells us also that the dragon is the god of thunder. He appears in the sky as clouds which are said to be formed by his breath. Logically, then, the dragon is good because he produces rain and that, in turn, makes good rice crops, which are so necessary to the life of Chinese people.”

  The elderly man’s audience was fascinated. Presently Nancy said, “So often when I have seen pictures of dragons they are accompanied by strings of pearls on the beasts or on the frames. Is there any significance to this?”

  “Probably, but the story is lost in antiquity,” Grandpa Soong replied. “The combining of pearls with dragons in decorative designs is an
ancient custom, and while used principally in China, it was also used in the East Indies and Japan.”

  Grandpa Soong smiled. “I have heard that originally every self-respecting dragon had a pearl embedded under his chin! This gave him a special rank.”

  Nancy was thinking that all this information was extremely interesting, but the subject was not furthering her endeavors to glean any clue as to why Chi Che had left the note for Aunt Eloise implying she was in danger.

  Finally Nancy said, “Grandpa Soong, have you a good photograph of Chi Che?”

  The man’s eyes twinkled. From a pocket of his coat he pulled a picture of a most attractive Chinese girl, dressed in a greenish-blue brocaded Chinese silk dress, with an inch-high tight collar.

  “Chi Che does resemble you, George,” Bess spoke up. “Of course her hair is arranged a little differently, but she certainly looks like you.”

  Grandpa Soong laid the picture on the table next to the note. Deep in thought, he paced up and down Aunt Eloise’s living room, his hands behind his back and his gaze on the ceiling. Finally he turned to the group. “You will excuse me, I am sure,” he said. “A thought just came to me which I must put in my manuscript.”

  Without another word he went to the door and out to the hall. “Oh, he forgot Chi Che’s picture! And the note!” said Bess. She picked them up and started after him.

  Nancy took hold of Bess’s arm. “Wait! I’d like to keep the picture and note for a little while,” she said. “An idea just came to me.”

  “A brain storm?” George asked, chuckling.

  “I guess you might call it that,” Nancy replied, smiling. “I think the dragon is a definite clue. But before I tell you any more of my plan, I have another suggestion. I feel sure Mr. Soong as well as Chi Che may be in real danger. The person who lighted that giant firecracker rang Mr. Soong’s buzzer. Perhaps he planned to have the baby bomb go off in the poor man’s face. It might have blinded him! Anyway, I believe we should protect him as well as try to find Chi Che.”

  “I agree with you a hundred per cent,” Aunt Eloise declared. “What do you suggest?”