The Clue in the Crumbling Wall Read online

“Let’s go!” Nancy whispered jubilantly a moment later. “The cloister entrance to the castle may have been left unlocked!”

  The three girls stole noiselessly along and eventually reached the castle. The door was indeed unlocked. It made such a loud noise when Nancy pulled it that she feared the sound would carry to the men.

  “What a weird place!” George commented as they hurried inside. Nancy led the way through the long winding corridor toward the front hall.

  “Let’s get out of here as soon as we can,” Bess urged.

  Nancy was fairly familiar with the floor plan and found the main entrance. It was locked, but the key she had fitted.

  “At least we can get out,” she said.

  “No, no,” Bess interrupted. “Hector probably has a guard on watch.”

  Not paying heed to her cousin’s warning, George peeked outside, then stopped short. “Oh, oh!”

  “What’s the matter?” Bess asked, following her.

  Tied at the foot of the steps were the two huge dogs the girls had met before. They began to growl menacingly.

  “Well, hello, old fellows, we meet again!” Nancy called cheerily.

  But her friendly attitude did not work this time. The animals would not allow the girls to descend.

  “You try it alone, Nancy,” Bess suggested.

  Nancy had no success. “The hounds are acting very strangely,” she whispered. “What can be wrong? The other day they let me pass.” She shifted the metal box under her arm and the animals growled even more fiercely.

  “Why, maybe it’s this box,” she said. “The dogs think I’m trying to steal something from the castle!”

  Telling her friends she would be right back, Nancy ran inside. In a minute she had emptied the box of photographs and the diary and stuffed them under her sweater.

  “Now where can I hide the box?” she thought.

  Nancy caught sight of a narrow door, partially open. “That’ll do,” she decided.

  As she placed the metal container on the floor of the closet, she heard footsteps not far away. Someone was coming along the winding corridor!

  She hurried outside. The dogs growled but Nancy was determined to pass by them.

  She ran down the steps, her friends behind her. Bess was fearful, but tried not to show it.

  The hounds bayed loudly and the next second Mr. Hector’s figure framed the doorway.

  “Hey, you!” the lawyer shouted furiously. “Stop! Stop!”

  The girls ignored him. As Hector ran down the steps to untie the dogs, he tripped over the long rope and fell down on his face.

  Nancy urged her friends to run faster while the man bellowed in pain.

  “Quick! To the wall!” she panted, holding the treasure close inside her sweater.

  CHAPTER XV

  Salty’s Plight

  THE three girls raced madly to the front wall of the estate. Clutching vines to pull themselves up, they reached the top and scrambled over. Then they paused for breath.

  “What a narrow escape!” Nancy murmured. “Daniel Hector saw me!”

  “Did he recognize you?” Bess asked.

  “We have never really been introduced and I only turned around briefly when I first realized he was there.”

  “What did you do with the metal box?” Bess queried.

  “I hid it. But not these.” Nancy produced the photographs and the diary from beneath her sweater. “I still have the evidence!”

  “Great!” George said. “But what’s next? We’re a long way from the boat.”

  After catching their breath, the girls debated what to do. They were worried about Salty and what might have happened to him. To reach him they would have to go far out of their way through jungle growth next to the estate.

  “And there’s a chance,” said George, “he’s in trouble and might not even be where we left him.”

  “We’ll have to return to town and rent a boat,” Nancy concluded.

  The trio walked as fast as they could and made their way to the main highway. Bess pointed out that public transportation was infrequent along this route.

  “Last time I was here I thought the bus would never come,” she said.

  The girls waited impatiently for twenty minutes. They were almost in despair when Nancy saw a familiar car headed in their direction.

  “It’s Lieutenant Masters!” she cried, holding up her hand to signal the officer.

  The young woman stopped. “Hop in,” she invited, and Nancy introduced her friends.

  “Did you go to Heath Castle?” the officer asked.

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “We found several good leads. In fact, we were following one this morning. Salty came with us.”

  “Salty?”

  “He’s the singing clam digger of Muskoka River,” Bess explained. “We left him on the beach. He may be in the hands of the thieves by now!”

  Quickly Nancy explained the situation and asked the officer if she could arrange to send out a police boat to rescue Salty. “I’d like to go along if they’ll let me,” Nancy added. “I’m worried and feel responsible for him.”

  “We’ll go too, if we may,” put in George.

  Lieutenant Masters radioed headquarters. In a few minutes she had arranged for the girls to accompany the rescue party. “But be careful,” she warned them. “Meanwhile, I’ll tell the chief to search for Biggs and Cobb.”

  On their way to the police dock, Lieutenant Masters said that she had planned to stop at the Drew home to discuss the problem of Joan Fenimore and Teddy Hooper.

  “I had hoped Joan wouldn’t play with Teddy any more,” said Nancy.

  “I’m inclined to think she may have tried not to,” the officer said slowly, “but—well, here’s the story. Teddy really causes me more worry than a dozen other boys on my list. He hasn’t been to school for three days. It does no good to talk to his mother. She always sides with Teddy. I’m convinced she’s unsuited to look after him.”

  “I’ll say she is,” George burst out, and told Lieutenant Masters about her stolen clothes. “We’re sure he took them,” she concluded.

  Nancy said, “He’s friendly with Biggs and Cobb.” She explained about Teddy and the two men at the castle.

  The lieutenant listened seriously. “I’m afraid the boy may be a thief,” she agreed. “This morning I caught him trying to sell a pearl at Weatherby’s curio shop. When I asked him where he had gotten it, he refused to answer me. Maybe he was the one who snatched your purse, Nancy. Anyway, when I took him home, his mother said she knew nothing about the pearl. Teddy finally said that Joan Fenimore had given it to him, but she denied this.”

  “What a pity he’s involved her,” Nancy said. “She’s too nice a child.”

  A few minutes later Lieutenant Masters pulled up to the dock, where two officers were waiting in a motorboat.

  The girls were introduced to Lieutenant Carney, a stocky, muscular-looking man, and Officer Mellon, who was tall and soft spoken.

  The girls climbed aboard and the craft roared off. In a short time they reached the Heath estate. The rented motorboat was anchored in the same spot but there was no sign of Salty and his rowboat!

  “He wouldn’t have had time to row home,” Bess said, worried. “And we didn’t pass him on the way.”

  Lieutenant Carney cast anchor and everyone waded ashore. They started an intensive hunt. Before long George spotted the sailor lying motionless near the entrance to the cloister. She gasped. But suddenly he sat up and looked at her. “Thought ye’d never come,” he muttered. There was blood on his face and shirt.

  “Salty!” exclaimed Nancy, who had hurried over. “You’re hurt!”

  Her cry brought Lieutenant Carney on the run. Salty stood up and insisted he was all right, though he was somewhat unsteady.

  “What happened?” Nancy asked, and Lieutenant Carney pulled out his notebook.

  “I was diggin’ for clams when a couple o’men an’ a boy seemed to come right out o’ nowhere. They asked me wh
o I’d brought to the Heath gardens.”

  “Did you tell them?” Bess asked.

  “No, but they said they’d beat me up if I didn’t an’ then go after the intruders themselves.”

  “I tried to argue ‘em out o’ it, but they was stubborn as mules. When they started to go after you, I tried to stop ’em.”

  “But there were three against you!” George said.

  “Ye’re right. ’Fraid I got knocked out. But I come to pretty soon; in fact, just in time to see one o’ the rascals takin’ my boat.”

  Salty told how he had seen one man going through the section of wall with the stone steps beyond and decided to follow. But the sailor had gone no farther than the opening before everything went black again before his eyes.

  “Later I come to,” he said, “but I couldn’t seem to move for a while. Somewhere in the garden I heard two men talkin’. Nancy, you must be very careful from now on,” he warned. “Those guys are plannin’ to kidnap you!”

  Lieutenant Carney spoke up. “We’d better get back to headquarters, Salty. You can give us a description of the men there. Also I want you to see a doctor to make sure you’re all right.”

  In a few minutes the police boat was skimming down the river with Salty aboard. Nancy and her friends took the rented craft back to Campbell’s Landing, then headed home in her car.

  It was midafternoon when Nancy reached her house. She found Mr. Drew there, looking through some old newspapers. He and Nancy ate a late lunch while she eagerly showed him the photographs and the diary from the Heath estate.

  “You certainly had an exciting time,” her father remarked. “But I have some interesting news, too.”

  Nancy’s eyes lighted with curiosity. “Something that will help solve the mystery, Dad?”

  Her father nodded. “It concerns Juliana’s missing nurse.”

  “Emily Foster?”

  “Yes. I’ve located her. And here’s the best part. Tomorrow morning she’ll see you and tell you all she knows!”

  CHAPTER XVI

  News of Juliana

  “OH, Dad! Where is Emily Foster?” Nancy asked, thrilled by the news. “How did you find her? What did she say about Juliana?”

  “One question at a time, please,” Mr. Drew said, laughing. “I talked to her only by telephone, so I didn’t get any details.”

  “Is she here in River Heights?”

  “No. In Hampton. I traced her by contacting the State Board of Nursing. Miss Foster is on a case in Hampton. She’ll be free tomorrow, and has promised to meet us at the Hampton Motel.”

  “That’s great. Maybe now we’ll find Juliana!”

  “Don’t build your hopes too high,” the lawyer warned his daughter. “Miss Foster may not know what became of the dancer. Even if she’s able to provide a clue, you have only a short time to fol low it up.”

  “That’s the trouble,” Nancy agreed, worried.

  “Only ten days are left before Heath Castle will be lost to Juliana.”

  “Anyway, it seems to me you’ve built up a case against Daniel Hector, and that’s something,” her father said. “Even if Juliana is never found, there’s no reason why that unscrupulous lawyer and his henchmen should help themselves to any of the estate.”

  The Drews planned to leave for Hampton that evening and spend the night at the motel in order to be on time for their early-morning appointment. Nancy, knowing she had a dozen things to do before leaving, rushed to do them.

  Before they left, she suggested that they stop at the Fenimores’ to see if Joan and her mother needed anything.

  “I can’t help worrying about them,” she said. Mr. Drew agreed. When they arrived at the house, the little girl was asleep. Her mother, however, was up and in surprisingly good spirits.

  “The Hoopers have moved!” she said. “Now Joan and Teddy will be separated!”

  “I wonder why they left so suddenly,” Nancy mused.

  “It was strange,” Mrs. Fenimore replied. “Mrs. Hooper never talked about moving. A truck drove up with Mr. Hooper and another man and they loaded up all the furniture. Then Mrs. Hooper and Teddy left in a taxi with their luggage.”

  Mrs. Fenimore went on to say that Teddy had been boasting to Joan lately.

  “He said his father was a smart man—he knew how to make money without working for it. Oh, how the talk frightened me!”

  “I’ve never seen Mr. Hooper,” Nancy said. “Can you describe him?”

  “Cobb Hooper is a tall, thin man, sullen-faced, and unkempt in appearance.”

  “Did you say Cobb?” Nancy was startled by the name.

  “Yes.”

  Nancy did not show her excitement as she recognized the name of the suspicious man she had overheard in the cloister at Heath Castle! She asked Mrs. Fenimore if she knew anything about Teddy and his family.

  “I never knew when that boy was telling the truth,” the woman replied. “But he told Joan he knew where there was a hidden treasure.”

  Nancy’s mind was whirling as pieces of evidence seemed to fall into place. “Mrs. Fenimore,” she asked, “did Joan ever talk to the Hoopers about Juliana and the property she was to in herit?”

  “Dear me, yes! The child told everybody.”

  “And Teddy repeated it to his parents?”

  “I don’t know. He told Joan he went to the castle himself. But she was to keep it a secret.”

  “When did Teddy tell your daughter this?”

  “Oh, some time ago.”

  There was nothing more of importance that Mrs. Fenimore could remember. After learning that the family was not in need of food or anything else, Nancy and her father got up to leave. Nancy remarked that they were on their way to interview a woman who might have information about Juliana.

  “Oh, I hope she does!” Mrs. Fenimore said.

  As soon as the Drews were in the car, Nancy told her father of her suspicion regarding Cobb Hooper.

  “I thought Cobb was a last name,” she commented. “It never occurred to me that Biggs’ companion might be Teddy’s father. The man I overheard in the cloister didn’t act very paternally toward the boy.”

  “Maybe it’s only a coincidence.”

  “Possibly. But Cobb is not a common name. Shouldn’t we talk to the police again?”

  Mr. Drew glanced at his watch. “All right. But we haven’t much time if we’re to get to Hampton tonight.”

  At headquarters the sergeant on duty consulted the files and informed the Drews that Cobb Hooper had a prison record.

  “Have you a mug shot of him?” Carson Drew asked.

  “Sure.”

  The photograph was brought out. With only one glance Nancy knew that he was the same man she had seen in the castle garden.

  “Cobb Hooper was one of the men who was hacking at the stone walls,” she revealed. “He also rammed me with his boat.”

  “I’ll try to get a warrant for his arrest,” the of ficer said.

  Nancy and her father thanked him and left for Hampton. They arrived at ten o’clock, and the next morning waited in the motel lobby to meet Emily Foster. She was fifteen minutes late.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it on time,” she said as she rushed in breathlessly. “You are Mr. and Miss Drew, aren’t you?”

  As the two nodded she went on, “The nurse who was to relieve me was late.”

  Nancy and her father liked Miss Foster at once. She was in her early forties, brisk and efficient, with a friendly smile.

  After some polite conversation, she came right to the point. “Mr. Drew, you said over the telephone that you wanted to ask me about a former patient of mine. I’ll be glad to help you if I can.”

  “The information we are seeking concerns Juliana Johnson,” Mr. Drew began, “but I believe she gave the name Julia Flower at the hospital. She was injured in a hit-and-run accident.” He showed Emily Foster Juliana’s photograph.

  “Yes, I knew her as Miss Flower,” the nurse said.

  “Tell us about her
,” Mr. Drew urged. “Whatever you can remember.”

  “Well, I had a hunch right away that Miss Flower gave us an assumed name,” Emily Foster recalled. “For one thing, she never had any visitors. No messages came for her, no letters. She would not allow the authorities to notify anyone of her accident. ‘I don’t want anyone to know,’ she would say. ‘Not until I’m well.’ ”

  “Did she believe she would recover?” Nancy asked quickly.

  “Only in the beginning. Then the doctor told her the truth—that she’d be lame for the rest of her life.”

  “How did she take it?” Mr. Drew questioned. “Very hard. Miss Flower cried for days, saying the strangest things. One remark I recall was, ‘His little Cinderella will never dance for him again.’ Oh, it was heartbreaking to listen to her.”

  Cinderella!

  Nancy was so sure she was on the right track that her mind leaped from one possibility to another. She nearly missed hearing her father’s next question.

  “Where did Miss Flower go after she left the hospital?”

  “I don’t know,” Miss Foster admitted regretfully. “From her remarks, I surmised she intended to live in some secluded place near Hopewell.”

  “That name Flower,” Nancy mused. “Juliana was interested in gardening,” she added, recalling what Mrs. Fenimore had told her about the dancer. “She would pick a place with flowers and trees and vegetables, probably a farm.”

  “Miss Flower no doubt did,” the nurse said. “She was always asking me to buy her garden magazines. Why, the day before her release, I remember she cut an advertisement from the local paper—”

  “What was it?” Nancy asked eagerly.

  “The ad offered a small fruit and vegetable farm for sale—a place known as Clover Farm.”

  “Where is it?”

  “It seems to me there used to be a Clover Farm at Milton about ten miles from here. I don’t know whether it’s the same one, though.”

  Nancy turned to her father.

  He sensed her thoughts and said, “Yes, we’ll go there today. It may be a futile trip, but we must follow every lead.”

  “Oh, I hope it’s the right place!” said Nancy. “We must find Juliana soon. Time is getting short!”