The Message in the Hollow Oak (10 page)
Read The Message in the Hollow Oak Online
Authors: Carolyn Keene
Tags: #Canada, #Women Detectives, #Detective and Mystery Stories, #Girls & Women, #Gold, #Mystery & Detective, #Juvenile Fiction, #Adventure and Adventurers, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Fiction, #Treasure Troves, #Nature & the Natural World, #Mystery Stories, #Adventure Stories, #Gold Miners, #Illinois, #Drew; Nancy (Fictitious Character), #Fraud, #General, #Mystery and Detective Stories
It was agreed that Nancy and Ned would talk to the deputy while the others did the shopping and went sightseeing around the tiny town. A short distance away they could see a small, attractive park overlooking the river front.
“We’ll meet there at five o’clock,” Ned told them.
He and Nancy hurried off to the deputy’s house. A thin, red-haired young man was seated on the porch steps eating an apple.
“Are you Deputy Wooster?” Nancy asked.
“I am,” he said solemnly. “What’s the trouble?” He pointed to the steps. “Take a seat.”
The couple did, and after introducing themselves, quickly explained about the kidnapped detective. Nancy showed Mr. Wooster the note she had found in the cave.
“Well, now, the marshal told me about this Kit Kadle and the two fellows he probably kidnapped,” said the officer, “but this is the first lead we’ve had to them. Trouble is,” he added thoughtfully, “this is a mighty small town—only five hundred folks or so and I know just about all o’ them. I can’t think o’ anybody who would have a man hidden in his cellar or anywhere else, for that matter.”
“Is there an empty house around?” Nancy asked.
The young man raised his sparse eyebrows. “Now there you may have a squirrel in the tree, young lady. The old Hatchett house has been empty for almost five years.”
“Tain’t empty now,” said a raspy voice.
Nancy turned to see a skinny blond youth in dungarees coming up the walk.
“This is my cousin Jimmy,” said the deputy. “He lives next door and he don’t miss much.”
“I think somebody’s livin’ in the Hatchett place,” the newcomer went on, “Hank and me were out that way in our car a couple o’ nights ago and saw lights in the house and a car in the driveway.”
Deputy Wooster stood up. “I’d better look into this,” he said firmly. He reached into a trouser pocket, took out a badge, and pinned it to his blue shirt.
“Is there trouble?” Jimmy asked, his blue eyes sparkling. “Can I go with you, Ben?”
“Okay,” said the deputy. “I guess we could use an extra man. But it might be dangerous. You do only what I tell you.” He turned to Nancy and Ned. “Did you folks have lunch?”
“A little,” Nancy replied.
“Jimmy,” said the deputy, “go in the kitchen and fetch some apples and that bag o’ doughnuts on the table. I’ll start the car.”
A few minutes later Nancy and Ned were riding in the back seat of the police car. The deputy drove down a dirt road outside of town. Jimmy shared the apples and doughnuts with them as they told him about the note. After several turns, Wooster headed along a rutted lane and pulled off into a small clearing.
“We’ll walk from here,” he said quietly.
Single file, the four made their way up the road, keeping inside the tree line. At the edge of a driveway they stopped.
“Wow!” Ned exclaimed. “What a wreck!”
Before them was a large gray frame house with broken shutters and a tumble-down porch.
“No car in the driveway now,” Nancy noted. “I can’t believe anyone is living in this place.”
The four circled the old dwelling but saw no signs of life. Then they walked carefully onto the sagging porch. The front door was standing ajar. Quietly they entered.
“Let’s try the cellar,” Nancy urged. She took out her flashlight and the deputy turned on his.
“It’s that door at the end of the hall,” whispered Jimmy. “I explored this place a couple o’ years ago.”
As noiselessly as possible they went down the dark stairway. Except for a huge furnace and some odds and ends of junk the cellar was empty.
“Where were the lights you saw?” Nancy asked Jimmy.
“Upstairs.”
Carefully the group searched the first floor, then climbed to the second. While Wooster and his cousin were examining the bedrooms, Nancy and Ned spotted a door which they suspected might lead to a third-floor attic. Ned opened it and the two listened. There was a stairway indeed but everything above was dark.
Nancy and Ned started up the steps. Suddenly they stopped. From somewhere ahead of them came the sound of heavy breathing.
CHAPTER XIII
Alarming Moments
“SOMEBODY’S up there!” Nancy whispered to Ned.
The two hurried up the stairway and Nancy beamed her flashlight over the dark attic.
A man was lying on the floor, bound and gagged!
The couple rushed over to the prisoner and released him. He smiled weakly and whispered, “Thank you. How did you know I was here?”
Without replying to his question, Nancy asked, “Are you A. C. E. Armstrong?”
“Yes.”
At that moment Ben Wooster and Jimmy hurried into the attic. They stared in disbelief.
“You found him!” exclaimed the deputy. “Are you all right, mister?”
“I think so,” Armstrong said hoarsely.
The deputy shook his head. “It’s amazin’. I’ll drive you to a doctor in town right away. He can look you over and send you to a hospital if need be. Take it easy. Jimmy, get the car.”
While the youth was gone, Nancy asked A.C.E. about his abduction, adding that she had received the news of his disappearance from her aunt. “Your detective friends will be relieved to learn you’ve been found.”
“I was waylaid in my car,” he began, “by Kit Kadle and another man soon after I left the hollow oak area. They were armed and said if I didn’t tell them where the tree was with the message in it, they would kill me.
“Of course I couldn’t tell them because I didn’t know myself. Kadle had assumed that since the other members of the detective club had left for New York, they had solved the mystery and knew where the treasure was, but hadn’t had time to dig it up.”
“You’re sure there is a treasure?” Ned questioned Armstrong. “And that it’s buried?”
“No, I’m not sure. Kadle assumed that the message would tell where a treasure was buried. They took me in my car to a shack in a woods, then to the cave and finally here.”
Nancy told him about finding the note in the cave. “Why did the men take you there?”
“They had to meet another man, and I guess they were afraid to leave me alone. We arrived late in the afternoon and hid until after the park grounds closed. The third man must have done the same. When it was dark they met at the cave. I didn’t get a good look at him nor hear his name. While the three were talking together I managed to write that note and stick it in the crack.”
The deputy spoke up. “How long is it since you’ve seen Kadle and his pals?”
A.C.E. told them one or another of the men came to feed him three times a week. “Someone’s due today so maybe you can catch him.”
“I’ll radio the State Police,” Wooster said.
Ned asked A.C.E. if he knew Kadle was bothering the people at the dig, especially Nancy, and that he had planned to kidnap her.
“Yes, I was aware of all that,” he replied. “I felt so helpless here when all I wanted to do was escape and expose Kadle.”
“Did you know,” Nancy queried, “that one of the boys at the dig disappeared and we suspect he too was kidnapped by Kadle and another man?”
A.C.E. said he had not heard the men say anything about this. “Ordinarily they talked freely in front of me and I have a feeling that sooner or later they were going to kill me so I couldn’t expose them.”
As Armstrong stopped speaking, Jimmy came pounding up the attic stairs. He, Ned, and the deputy helped the weakened man down to the car. On the way to town he expressed his thanks to Nancy and Ned for rescuing him.
“We’re glad you’re safe,” said Nancy. She promised to call her Aunt Eloise, who would pass the news on to his family and friends.
After A.C.E. had been taken to the doctor, Nancy hurried off to make her call to New York. Miss Drew was thrilled to hear what had happened. Then Nancy met Ned, Ben Wooster, and Jimmy outside the physician’s office.
“Mr. Armstrong will be okay,” the deputy reported. “He’ll rest here a couple o’ days, then fly home. I’ve reported his car stolen. You young people did a great job today. Can I give you a lift somewhere?”
Nancy glanced at her watch. “It’s nearly six o’clock,” she said. “We have to get back to the towboat. But there are eight of us. We can’t all fit in your car, I’m afraid.”
“We’ll take two cars,” Jimmy offered eagerly. “I’ll get mine!” He raced away.
Ned hurried to the waterfront park to round up the rest of their group. Nancy and Ned explained what had happened, then the group set off for the quarry dock.
When they reached the towboat, Nancy and her friends thanked Wooster and Jimmy and hurried on board.
“Just in time!” called Captain Boge from the pilot house. “The engine’s fixed and
we’re ready to go!”
The boat got under way.
we’re ready to go!”
The boat got under way.
After freshening up, the young people hurried to the dining area adjoining the galley. The table was set with a red-checked cloth and loaded with delicious-looking food.
“Oh!” gasped Bess. “It’s like a beautiful dream! I had such a skimpy sandwich for lunch!”
The captain appeared and seated himself. Immediately the others did too. While the steaming bowls and platters were being passed around the table, Nancy and Ned told Captain Boge about finding the kidnapped man.
The captain was impressed. “So I have real detectives on board,” he said. “That calls for extra big helpings of strawberry shortcake.”
When Mattie brought in the heaping desserts, everyone praised her excellent cooking.
“I really can’t eat another bite,” said Bess, starting on the whipped cream.
They had just finished the dessert when there was a loud crash of glass and a log whizzed through a window, sailed over their heads, and landed against the far wall.
“Oh!” screamed Bess and everyone ducked.
The diners sat frozen to their chairs, and Mattie came to the door, pale and speechless.
Dave exclaimed, “What a narrow escape!”
Everywhere lay broken glass, some of which had showered those at the table. Burt had a small cut on one hand, but otherwise there were no injuries.
“We’re lucky to be alive,” George murmured. When the shock of the incident passed, everyone jumped up and carefully shook off the glass. Captain Boge said he was sorry about the accident, but glad his passengers were all right.
The log sailed over their heads
“Sometimes,” he explained, “a floating log gets caught beneath a barge and is carried along underwater. When it breaks loose, the log is propelled upward with great force. It sometimes angles for the boat and crashes onto the deck.”
George said grimly, “There was great force all right. If that had hit—”
Dave finished her remark.“—Lil ole me, Emerson would have lost a great football player. And it certainly couldn’t afford that.”
His facetiousness made everyone relax. The boys offered to put new glass in the window, while the girls sorted out the debris from the dishes and table linen. A deck hand would clean the floor, the captain told them.
When the work was finished, the young people gathered on deck and talked over the day’s adventures. Nancy said that now she knew Kadle had not found the message in the hollow oak, she wanted to get back and pursue her search.
“I’m all for that,” Art spoke up.
So much had been going on that the subject of jealousy between him and Ned had been forgotten. Nancy was happy over this and hoped the good relationship would last.
She approached Captain Boge and asked when they would get back to Cairo. He looked at her understandingly.
“I know you want to return to the dig soon but you’ll have to be patient. During the night I’ll be dropping off these barges at various stops. In the morning I’ll pick up some at Uniontown, Kentucky, and start downstream. We’ll be back in Cairo late the following day.”
He smiled. “Then I’ll go on down the Mississippi to New Orleans where I came from and you’ll go back to your mystery.”
During the evening the young people sat around the pilot house eating snacks and listening to Captain Boge.
“Lots of places on the Ohio have odd names,” he said. “Like Dead Man’s Island or Tobacco Patch Light or Lovers’ Leap Light.”
“That last one is romantic,” said Bess, who was finishing her second apple.
Next morning the travelers gathered in the pilot house after breakfast to watch the new barges being put into place.
The captain pointed to a big one loaded with coal. “It’s the last,” he said. “When that jumbo is in place we’ll be on our way.”
“I’d love to get closer and watch,” George said.
“Let’s all go,” Burt urged.
“Okay,” said the captain. “But be careful.” With George in the lead, the young people hurried down the iron steps, across the deck and stepped out onto the middle barge. They walked quickly along from one to the other until they came to the front. A tugboat was maneuvering the loaded jumbo toward a bow barge. Several men stood at the end of it ready to rope the oncoming one into place.
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