The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk Read online

  She did not answer, and he did not pursue his question. Instead, he tried the keys one by one in the lock, but none of them would fit. Finally he put them back into his bag.

  “Guess I’ll have to try something more intricate,” he said. “This lock has hidden tumblers. That’s harder than anything else to open. It’s the best kind of lock, though, because it can only be opened with a special key. Leavers are used mostly in standard or stock keys.”

  When Lou was not speaking aloud, he was mumbling to himself either in Dutch or in English. Nancy caught phrases like pin tumbler, too much graphite, bent key, cam screws, and wondered what he was thinking. All the girls figured that in any case, opening the mystery trunk was not an easy job.

  “Hm!” Lou said at last. “You must have something valuable in here, Miss Drew, to lock it up this way!”

  The girls looked at one another, but made no comment. The locksmith did not seem to notice their lack of response. After he had tried several more keys, Lou said, “I guess I’ll just have to remove the cylinder.”

  Using a tiny screw driver to take out the set screw, he released the cylinder. In a few moments he found the secret of the combination, and filed a new key. Then he returned the cylinder to its plate and handed the key to Nancy. “Try this,” he said.

  She did. “Oh, it fits perfectly!” she said, pleased. She had no trouble locking and unlocking the mystery trunk.

  Lou rose and put his tools away. Again he spoke to Nancy. “You’d better not lose this key,” he told her. Then he stared in amazement at the trunk. Nelda had opened it, and revealed part of its contents.

  “Well, well!” Lou exclaimed. “Men’s clothes!” He looked at Nancy quizzically. “Are you masquerading or perhaps you are part of a traveling theater group?” he asked her pointedly.

  Bess giggled, but the other two girls frowned. Nancy merely smiled. “Guess again,” she said.

  Lou was not sure what she meant by this, but she gave him no time for other questions. Instead, she took his arm, escorted him to the door, and opened it.

  “Thank you very much,” she said, handing him several guilders for his work. “I’ll let you know if I have any more trouble.” Then she almost pushed him into the corridor, shut the door behind him, and locked it.

  The other girls were laughing, but finally became quiet. “So N.D. is a man!” George remarked.

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” Nancy said. “I still think it’s that fellow I overheard in the corridor.”

  At this moment there was a knock on the door.

  George walked over and opened it. Heinrich, their cabin steward, stood there.

  “Lou, the locksmith, thought maybe you needed some help,” he said and stepped inside.

  “I don’t think so,” George said. “But thanks for the offer.” She tried to usher him out, but he stood still and stared at the open trunk.

  “Your boyfriend’s clothes?” he said to Nancy, smirking.

  “No,” George said and escorted him into the corridor. She shut the door, locked it, and walked back to the trunk.

  “Nancy, I’m afraid your reputation will be ruined forever. No doubt Heinrich will spread the word around that you have your boyfriend stashed away under your bed!”

  “I’ll set them straight,” Nancy replied with a chuckle. “I’ll tell them he’s yours, not mine!”

  After the teasing subsided, George asked, “What do you suggest we do next with this?”

  Nancy replied, “I think we should invite the captain to come down here and investigate this trunk with us. Nelda, would you please call him? If he isn’t in his quarters, try other locations.”

  Nelda picked up the phone and after several attempts reached her uncle. She told him what the trunk contained and that they were about to empty it.

  “I’ll be right down,” he said.

  Not only Captain Detweiler but the girls were amazed at what he pulled out of the mystery trunk. On top were good-looking suits, but underneath was an assortment of old, worn outfits, paint-spotted overalls, and a battered black felt hat.

  “This seems like a working man’s trunk on the bottom and an executive’s on top,” Bess remarked.

  The captain continued to pull articles out. He held up a gray and a red wig.

  “Disguises!” George exclaimed. “Assuming that the man doesn’t have a wig in his own color, he could either be a blond or a brunette.”

  “Or he could be bald,” Bess added.

  Captain Detweiler turned to Nancy. “What is your opinion?”

  “I believe the owner of this trunk wears disguises for some reason, perhaps one that isn’t entirely honest. By the way, captain, did you have a chance to ask the porters about the man I overheard in the corridor?”

  “Yes. One of them remembered the incident, but said the fellow left after complaining that his trunk had been delivered to the wrong cabin, and hasn’t said anything since then.”

  “Does the porter know who it was?”

  “No. He said he didn’t pay much attention because he was so busy distributing the luggage.”

  “That’s strange,” Nancy said. “The fact that the passenger didn’t follow up on his trunk seems to indicate that he felt uneasy about it. And if this is it, he might have been afraid someone would open it and find all these disguises!”

  “Sounds logical,” the captain admitted.

  The searchers were interrupted by a knock on the door. Quickly they restored the contents of the trunk and pulled down the lid. Then Nancy went to admit the caller.

  Heinrich stood there again, but did not attempt to enter. He merely said, “I have a message for you, Miss Drew. Mr. Havelock wants to see you at once at the purser’s desk!”

  CHAPTER V

  Crashing Trunks

  “THANK you,” Nancy said to the steward. “I’ll go up in a few minutes.” He left and she rejoined her friends.

  “I wonder why the purser’s office didn’t phone instead of giving the message to Heinrich,” she thought to herself. “This may be a hoax!”

  Just then the telephone rang. It was for Captain Detweiler. A ship’s officer was calling to tell him that he was needed on the bridge at once.

  After saying he would be there directly, the captain hung up and smiled at the girls. “I’ll leave this mystery in your hands,” he said. “And I’m sure you’ll solve it.”

  “It has us puzzled,” Nancy admitted. “But we’ll do our best.”

  The captain patted the young sleuth on the shoulder as he left, then Nancy turned to the girls. “You heard Heinrich’s message, didn’t you? I’m supposed to go up to the purser.”

  Her three friends wanted to accompany her, but Nancy had another idea. “This might be a ruse to get us all out of the cabin,” she said. “Then someone could come in and either take the mystery trunk or unpack it and take away the contents.”

  Nelda nodded. “I’ll stay here,” she offered. “You go ahead.”

  Bess said that she, too, would stay. “If more than one person should come in and make a scene, two of us might be able to get them out of here better than one.”

  “Okay,” Nancy said.

  The trunk was locked and shoved under her bed. Only a little of the brass trimming showed. Nancy looked around for a place to hide the new key to it. Finally she decided. “I’ll put it in the secret pocket inside my cosmetic bag.”

  She and George went to the purser’s office. Mr. Rodman Havelock was there and said that he, indeed, had sent the message by Heinrich. “Your line was busy when I tried to call, so I asked the steward to tell you.”

  Nancy and George were relieved. The message had not been a ruse after all!

  “I think I have good news for you,” Rod went on. “After the meteor came down and the ship was tilting and listing, many pieces of luggage in the hold were dislodged. While straightening the place up, the man in charge spotted a brass-bound trunk marked N.D. under a heap of other baggage. It must be yours.”

  “Won
derful!” Nancy exclaimed. “How soon can it be sent to my cabin?”

  The assistant purser suggested that first she go to the hold and identify the trunk to be absolutely sure it was hers.

  “We don’t want any more mix-ups,” he added.

  Rod wrote out a slip to the man in charge of the hold, saying Nancy and George had permission to enter and look at the trunk. Then he gave them directions.

  “Thank you very much,” Nancy said, and the two girls hurried off.

  They found the door leading down steep iron steps to the boiler room. The place fascinated them, not only because of the huge fire pits, but also because of the pipes and myriads of electrical wires leading to every part of the ship.

  Nancy and George. had to walk carefully because of the small puddles of oil here and there, which had dripped from the machinery.

  George grinned. “We’d be a mess if we fell here,” she commented.

  The girls were intrigued by the gigantic pipes running along either side of the ship, which held fresh drinking water.

  Finally they came to the hold. The door was locked, so they pushed a button, which rang a bell inside.

  A crewman opened it. Nancy showed him the permission slip and he allowed the girls to enter. The heavy door locked behind them with a great thud. The man, on whose overalls was stitched the name Pieter, said something to them in Dutch, but when Nancy indicated she could not speak his language, he pointed and led the way to where the trunk was stored.

  At this very moment, the ship lurched. Pieter, Nancy, and George lost their balance. All three of them fell to the wooden floor. Baggage and boxes tumbled about, pinning them down. At the same time all the lights in the hold went out.

  The crewman cried out in pain. George was silent. Nancy could not move, but called out, “George, are you all right?”

  There was no reply, not even a muffled answer to her frantic question. Instead, speaking with a Dutch inflection, Pieter said, “Ring gong by door!”

  In the blackness Nancy pushed away an enormous box and struggled to her feet. Then she tried to find her way to where she thought the door was. The girl detective kept bumping into various kinds of baggage and pushing them aside. It was hard going, but she urged herself on. Obviously Pieter was in no condition to move.

  Once she concluded she had gone in a circle and started over again.

  “Hurry!” Pieter cried out.

  “I’m trying!” Nancy replied.

  Finally she could feel the outline of the great steel door and moved her fingers alongside it. At last they discovered a round object, which she assumed was a bell. Nancy pushed it hard. A loud gong began to ring in the corridor outside.

  Within minutes there was a knock on the door. “What’s the matter?” boomed a man’s deep voice. “Are you having trouble in there?”

  Nancy put her face against the doorjamb and shouted, “We’re locked in and two people are hurt. Please let us out!”

  Someone began to manipulate the lock on the other side and presently the big door swung open. A powerful flashlight was beamed into Nancy’s blinking eyes. “What happened?” asked the ship’s officer who stood there. She had never seen him before, but he gave his name as Harper.

  “There was this big lurch,” Nancy said, “and the lights went out in the hold. My friend and I were in here with Pieter to look for my trunk, when we were all thrown down. I think Pieter is hurt, and my friend may be, too!”

  Mr. Harper beamed his flashlight all around. In a moment it picked up Pieter’s prostrate form. He was lying face down with a heavy crate on top of him, and he was moaning in pain.

  The ship gave a tremendous lurch.

  The officer hurried over to the stricken figure. “Come on,” he said, “help me get this crate off him!”

  With great effort he and Nancy lifted the crate from the man and helped him stand up. He was able to walk around and move his arms, but said his head hurt.

  Mr. Harper told him to take several deep breaths, and Pieter did so without showing any discomfort. Apparently he had not injured his ribs.

  “You’re lucky nothing seems to be broken,” the officer said to him.

  Nancy spoke. “Please come and help me find my friend. She must be unconscious!”

  All three made their way to George’s side. Her eyes were closed and she did not move, but there was no luggage lying on her.

  “She might have hit her head,” Mr. Harper said. “We must have her taken to the infirmary. She needs attention right away.”

  While Nancy stayed with George, Mr. Harper stepped into the corridor and used a wall telephone. He called the infirmary and suggested that a doctor come at once and that orderlies bring a stretcher to take a patient upstairs.

  Nancy had been rubbing George’s wrists and the back of her neck, trying to restore her to consciousness. But there was no response from her friend.

  “Oh, George, please wake up!” Nancy pleaded and rubbed harder. George did not stir.

  An icy fear crept up Nancy’s spine and her heart began to beat wildly. Suppose George’s injuries had been fatal!

  CHAPTER VI

  The Secret Plan

  SUDDENLY the excitement, exertion, and worry swept over Nancy. Objects in the hold around her began to waver and grow dim. Her head spun, then everything was black!

  When Nancy woke up, she felt as if she had been asleep a long time. She realized she was lying on a table in the examining room. A nurse was standing beside her, smiling.

  “You must have fainted,” she said kindly. “Here, drink this!” The young woman handed Nancy a paper cup containing a hot liquid. “I’m sure it’ll make you feel better.”

  The girl sat up and sipped the refreshing stimulant. She wondered what the concoction was. It tasted like a combination of tea, cinnamon, sugar, and something very bitter. In seconds Nancy felt much better, and gradually the events of the past half hour came back to her. She remembered George and the accident in the ship’s hold. “My friend,” she said to the nurse. “What happened to her?” The fear for George returned and showed in Nancy’s tense voice.

  “She’s all right,” the nurse said.

  “Is she awake? Can I talk to her?”

  “I’ll find out for you. Meanwhile, I suggest you take it easy.”

  “All right,” Nancy said.

  When the nurse had left the room, she slid off the table and went to sit in a comfortable leather chair. For a few minutes she felt drowsy again, but presently she was wide awake and sat up straight.

  The nurse reappeared and said, “You may come with me and see your friend now.”

  “Oh, thanks!” Nancy felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She followed the nurse into a tiny pleasant room. George was lying in the only bed.

  “Oh, I’m so happy to see you awake!” Nancy exclaimed, kissing her. “What does the doctor say?”

  Before George could answer, a physician appeared and introduced himself as Dr. Karl. He answered the question himself.

  “Your friend George is lucky not to have been injured worse. She did get a good bump on the head. No permanent damage has been done, though. She’ll have to remain here for twenty-four hours for observation.”

  George smiled. “I’m terribly sorry, Nancy. I guess I won’t be able to help you for a while.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Nancy said. “Right now you just get better.”

  The young detective thought perhaps Bess and Nelda would like to come for a short visit, so she picked up George’s bedside telephone and dialed one twenty-eight. There was no reply at first, but finally Bess answered.

  “Oh, Nancy,” she said, “something terrible has happened. Please come right back to the cabin and hurry!”

  “What’s the matter?” Nancy asked.

  “Two men came in here to rob us!” Bess cried out.

  “Okay, I’ll be right there,” Nancy said and hung up. She decided not to tell George what Bess had said and waved good-by. “
I’ll be back soon,” she told the girl. “Right now I’ll have to go and find out about my trunk. We never did finish our job.”

  When Nancy walked into one twenty-eight she found Nelda and Bess seated on one of the beds. Both girls were shaking like leaves.

  “What happened?” Nancy asked.

  “Oh, it was awful, just awful!” Bess replied. “Heinrich brought two strange men here. He said they were plumbers and had come to fix our shower. After the steward was gone, I told the men nothing was wrong with our shower. They looked anyway then returned and said yes, it was okay.”

  “That’s when the trouble started,” Nelda put in. They came back into our room and one of them saw the brass-bound trunk!”

  “He yanked it out from under the bed,” Bess continued. “I asked him why he was doing that, and he told me he recognized it. The trunk was supposed to be in the hold.”

  Nelda added, “But we told them they couldn’t have it. Then one of them said it belonged to a friend of his and they were going to take it whether we liked it or not.”

  “But they didn’t,” Nancy remarked.

  Nelda smiled. “Because we wouldn’t let them!”

  “Don’t think they didn’t try,” Bess added. “They pushed us out of the way and tried to grab it. When they did that, we both screamed. They got scared, I guess, and ran out of the cabin.”

  “Did anyone else hear you?” Nancy asked.

  “Yes. Within seconds Heinrich, another steward, and two or three passengers arrived. They did their best to calm us.”

  “I’m sure,” Nancy said, “that those men weren’t ship’s plumbers. They suspected or were told that an unmarked trunk with the initials N. D. on it was in here and decided to have a look.”

  “More than that,” Bess said, “they decided to steal it!”

  Nelda told Nancy that she had asked the two strangers for the name of their friend who allegedly owned the trunk, and one of them had answered in an ugly tone that it was none of her business.

  Nancy asked what the two intruders looked like.

  “They both had blondish beards and mustaches,” Nelda said.

  Nancy thought about the disguises in the trunk. The owner could have more of the same in a suitcase in his cabin. She doubted that the beards were real! But she did not say anything and tried to calm the nervous girls.