Mystery of Crocodile Island (14 page)

The girl detective described how the suspect had fled in a car, adding that she had managed to see the license plate. “Headquarters has the number.”

“Yes, we know it,” Parks said. “Can you tell us anything else about the man?”

“Yes,” Nancy replied. “I think he’s the same person who was spying on me and my friends while we were watching the crocodiles at the Easton estate. He was peering at us from behind some mangroves, so I caught only a glimpse of his face. He had shoulder-length black hair and beady eyes. He might be a half-breed Indian. I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you about him.”

“That’s more than people usually notice,” Officer Joyce complimented her. “Thank you for the information.”

While he had been talking, Lieutenant Parks picked up the manager’s phone and called headquarters. He asked the sergeant on duty to look up the license number Nancy had given him.

“It’s urgent,” she heard him say.

They all waited for an answer, which came in a few minutes. When the manager heard the name of the owner, he showed utter astonishment. “That’s my name! It’s my car! It must have been stolen!”

Immediately he called the parking-lot attendant, who phoned back in a few minutes. “Your car is not here! I didn’t notice anyone take it. I’m sorry, sir.”

The manager hung up. Just then another phone rang. The call was for the officers. Lieutenant Parks picked up the instrument. He said, “That’s good. You say the suspects got away?”

The officer put down the phone and reported to his listeners that a few minutes earlier the car had been found abandoned about five miles from the club.

“In that case,” Joyce said, “we’ll have to depend on this girl’s description to nab the fellow. We’re to look for a man with a bag of golf clubs. He has long black hair, beady eyes, and could be a half-breed Indian.”

While this conversation had been going on, Bess had been waiting outside the room where Mr. Gonzales was for the doctor to appear. In a few minutes he came outside. She asked how the patient was.

“He has regained consciousness,” the physician reported, “but has a racking headache. I’ve ordered an ambulance to take him to the hospital. No one is to see him, either here or at the hospital.”

Bess said thank you, turned, and hurried back to repeat this message to Nancy and George. She heard Lieutenants Parks and Joyce discussing the case. Parks declared that he was sure the suspect would have dumped the golf clubs as soon as possible. As to his being a half breed Indian, there were so many of them around that it would be almost impossible to identify the man they were looking for.

Joyce shrugged. “I guess we’re at a dead end on this case.”

Nancy spoke. “Maybe not,” she said. Then, turning to the manager, she requested, “Will you see if Colombo has returned?”

 

 

 

THE manager, Mr. Burley, learned that Colombo was back and sent for him. He asked him to meet Nancy, Bess, and George in the tropical garden.

“Did something happen?” he questioned, when they met and sat down. He looked worried.

“I’ll say it did,” George replied. “Mr. Gonzales was hit on the head with a golf ball, which was deliberately aimed at him. It knocked him out and now he’s in the hospital.”

Colombo stood up, walked in a circle, and spoke Spanish so fast that the girls could not understand him. Finally he sat down again and said, “That is very bad. Please tell me more about it.”

Nancy took up the story, and when she finished describing the attacker, Colombo said, “He sounds like a man named Sam Yunki, who used to be a caddy at this club. Then he worked at Crocodile Island a short time. I don’t know where he is now.”

“When he was at the island,” Nancy asked, “was he one of the workmen who was close to Mr. Gimler?”

“Yes, he was. Very close. I’m sure Yunki’s the one who threw the golf ball at Mr. Gonzales. He’s an excellent shot.”

“Did you know him well?” Bess inquired.

“No,” Colombo replied. “I was never allowed to be near him.”

“That’s understandable,” George said. “Gimler and his partner wouldn’t have wanted you to become a pal of his.”

Nancy went into the clubhouse to tell this latest news to Mr. Burley. When she told him about Sam Yunki, he said, “I remember hearing about him. He was surly and uncooperative. That is—unless people paid him handsomely or tipped him generously.”

Nancy asked Mr. Burley if he knew that Yunki had worked at Crocodile Island after leaving the club.

“No, I didn’t,” he said. “I heard he left here unexpectedly and no one knew where he went, not even the other caddies. Well, I’ll notify the police at once.”

Nancy rejoined her friends, who said Colombo had already gone back to work. As the three girls walked to the parking lot, George said, “We really picked up a good clue!”

When they reached home, their hostess was smiling. “I have another message for you girls,” she said. “Nancy, your friend Ned called again. I invited the three boys to come down as soon as they could. It didn’t take them long to make up their minds. They’ll be at the Miami airport this afternoon.”

Nancy gave the woman a hug. “How sweet of you to invite them! You know we wanted to farm them out as bodyguards for Mr. Gonzales, but now he won’t need them. He’s in the hospital.”

“What!” Mrs. Cosgrove cried out in alarm.

Nancy and the girls told her about the day’s events.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Cosgrove said. “I hope Mr. Gonzales isn’t seriously hurt.”

Bess said, “We’ll call tomorrow and find out. The doctor said they would need to make some tests.”

Nancy, Bess, and George went upstairs to get ready. They gave their hair special attention and put on pretty dresses before going to meet the boys.

Miami airport was crowded, but the girls had no trouble finding the athletes from Emerson College. At once the couples paired off to exchange kisses. Then, while the boys were collecting their baggage and later as they all rode to the Cosgrove home, the girls told them of their adventures to date.

“I’m relieved that you’ve made such progress in your sleuthing,” Ned teased. “We didn’t want to come here to join a wild-goose chase.”

George said, “I haven’t seen any geese around, but there are crocodiles, alligators, snakes, fish that climb trees—”

“Oh, stop your kidding,” Burt interrupted.

“You’ll see,” George told him.

A few minutes later the young people reached the Cosgrove house. After dinner, Dave said, “Danny, what do you think our chances are of getting onto Crocodile Island? I can’t wait to see a crocodile. Nancy told us that recently it has been closed to visitors.”

Danny offered, nevertheless, to take them all in the skiff the following morning and try to land on the key. “It may be open,” he added cheerfully.

The seven young people set off early and headed directly to Crocodile Island. Nancy suggested that if visitors were allowed ashore, Ned, Burt, and Dave should go without the girls.

“No one there knows you, so you could look around without making the owners suspicious. Perhaps you can pick up some clues we’ve missed.”

Unfortunately the planned visit did not take place. When they reached the island, prominently displayed signs prohibited visitors. Furthermore, there was no activity around the place.

This lack of activity puzzled Nancy. “I can’t understand it,” she said. “I wonder if something happened.”

Danny shrugged. “If we can’t go ashore, we can’t find out. Tell you what. Suppose I take you boys to an uninhabited key so you can see exactly what one looks like. The girls haven’t seen the island either.” He smiled. “I can almost guarantee that you won’t find any mosquitoes.”

The girls laughed and then told the boys about the jungle attack.

Danny went on to say that the key ahead was reputed to have been a slave hideout. “I mean an Indian-slave hideout.”

Ned remarked, “We haven’t been here twenty-four hours and I’ve learned a lot I never knew before.”

George grinned. “Oh, hadn’t you heard? We three girls and Danny are walking encyclopedias! Just ask us anything you want to know about this place.”

“Okay,” said Burt. “How deep is the water in Biscayne Bay?”

George did not hesitate a second. “It runs from nothing to twenty feet.”

Burt was startled and turned to Danny. “Is she putting us on?”

“No, she’s not. George is telling the truth. At low tide some of the sand isn’t covered at all. The deep-water channels vary from twelve to thirty feet,” he explained.

“Wow!” Burt said. “I never would have guessed. That’s interesting.”

When they reached the key, Danny stayed in the skiff while the others went ashore. As they scrambled over the mangrove roots, the boys seemed to have trouble.

“This stuff is something!” Dave cried out. “I just turned my ankle.”

“You have to get used to it,” Bess told him. “And you’d better make sure you don’t turn your whole leg!”

The young people found it difficult to walk across the coral rock, mangrove, and spiny plants, which grew in profusion. About quarter of a mile from shore they spotted a tumble-down thatched-roof hut.

Ned remarked, “I thought Danny said this place was uninhabited.”

“I’m sure it is,” Nancy said. “No one could possibly live in that cabin.”

They all struggled up to the hut and stared. Its roof was sagging and the building, made of mangrove branches, was ready to fall apart.

“I’ve seen enough,” Dave announced. “Now I can be a walking encyclopedia myself on the subjects of mangrove trees and coral rocks.”

Bess was about to say something, but screamed instead, “Look out!”

“What’s the matter?” George asked her.

Bess continued to scream and pointed at the branches of trees over their heads. Large black snakes were falling from them in profusion!

Everyone ran, and the reptiles missed all of them except Ned. One slimy creature landed on his shoulders and instantly wound itself around the young man’s neck.

“Ugh!” he cried out, trying to pull the snake away.

Burt and Dave jumped to help him. Burt grabbed the snake just behind its head, while Dave closed his fingers around the body near the end of the tail.

Bess was still screaming, with the result that all the other snakes scurried off into the underbrush, apparently frightened.

Within seconds Burt and Dave yanked the reptile from Ned’s neck and shoulders. They flung it away, and with swift humping motions, the snake crawled out of sight.

“Thanks, fellows,” Ned said. “I’m glad that thing didn’t fasten its fangs in my throat!”

Bess’s continued screaming had brought Danny dashing through the bushes.

“What happened?” he asked.

George told him, and he said, “Don’t worry, Ned. Those snakes are harmless. They live in the water part of the time, but come ashore to hunt for food. I guess they climb the trees to sleep and dry off.”

Nancy told Danny his passengers were ready to return to the skiff. After they had reached it and climbed aboard, the boy pointed out a police launch in the distance.

“I wonder where it’s going,” he said.

Nancy asked, “Isn’t that the direction of Crocodile Island?”

“Yes, it is,” he replied. “Want to follow it and see what’s happening?”

“You bet,” everyone replied.

As they neared the crocodile farm they saw the police launch pull up to the pier. Four officers jumped out and went ashore. Nancy and her friends could hear indistinct voices. They assumed the police were ordering everyone on the island to come out of hiding. When no one appeared, the officers blew whistles. At the same time, the men spread out on the island.

“I wish we could do something to help,” Nancy said.

Danny suggested that they go around to the other side of the island and see if any of the suspects were trying to escape in a boat. He put on power and presently the
Pirate
was rounding the tip of the key.

“Look!” George exclaimed. “There’s a boat and men are climbing into it!”

Nancy and Bess cried out together,
“The Whisper!”

“Oh, they’re getting away!” Bess wailed. “What’ll we do to stop them?”

“We should tell the police!” George declared.

 

 

 

“AFTER them!” Burt shouted, and Danny quickly guided the skiff toward the fleeing boat.

The Whisper
was a more powerful craft, however, and stayed well ahead of them. They followed it through the green waterway and it became smaller and smaller in the distance. By the time they reached the ocean,
The Whisper
was only a tiny dot.