The Message in the Hollow Oak (3 page)

Instantly her seatmate jumped up and began to help her collect the various articles. To her annoyance, he looked at each one carefully before dropping it into her handbag. A woman passenger across the aisle had also arisen and assisted Nancy in retrieving her personal belongings.

“It’s a shame,” the woman said, then she whispered, “You’d better get away from that man. He’s a troublemaker!”

“What do you mean?” Nancy asked.

Before the woman could reply, the plane hit an air pocket. As the craft dropped, Nancy was sent sprawling in the aisle.

QUICKLY Nancy picked herself up and hurried to the galley. She told a stewardess she wanted to change her seat and was assigned one next to an elderly woman who was sleeping. Nancy leaned back and reflected on what she had heard about her former seatmate.

“So he’s a troublemaker,” she thought. “I can’t speak right now to that woman across from him, but I must catch her at the airport and ask what she meant.”

A new concern came into Nancy’s mind. The man could have seen the entire contents of her handbag. He might use the information of her identity to her disadvantage! Her thoughts were interrupted by the stewardess ready to serve a luncheon tray.

The woman alongside Nancy awakened and greeted her in a friendly way. While the two ate, they discussed the weather and air travel in general. As soon as the woman had finished eating, she went back to sleep and Nancy once more thought about the annoying stranger.

“No doubt all those questions he asked me—the snoopy old thing—were answered when he saw the contents of my handbag.”

A little while later the plane circled over the St. Louis airport and came in for a perfect landing.

When Nancy reached the baggage-claim section she scanned the crowd of waiting passengers, trying to spot the woman who had given her the startling information. Unfortunately she could not find her and finally assumed that the woman either was carrying her own luggage or did not have any with her.

The young detective noticed the inquisitive stranger with whom she had sat for a while and made a point of avoiding him. Without waiting for a porter, she claimed her two bags and rushed through the building to get a taxi.

“The Riverside Hotel,” she told the driver. As the taxi threaded its way through the heavy traffic Nancy could see a high silvery arch in the distance.

“That’s our famous arch,” said the driver proudly. “It stands in a park on the bank of the Mississippi and symbolizes that St. Louis is the Gateway to the West. The hotel you’re staying at has a good view of it,” he added.

When they arrived, a tall pretty girl with ginger-colored hair met Nancy in the lobby. “Hi!” she said, smiling. “I’m Julie Anne Carswell. I recognize you from a picture Ned once showed me.”

Nancy laughed. “He never told me. Julie Anne, it’s great to meet you.”

“Actually,” said Julie Anne, “I feel as if I know you and George and Bess and your friends Burt and Dave from Ned’s descriptions.”

“The girls might come out here to help me solve the mystery, Julie Anne. They’re wonderful. You’ll love them.”

The two travelers registered and were assigned to a room on the fifth floor.

While Nancy changed her shoes, she said, “Now tell me about the dig.”

“They’re making good progress,” Julie Anne replied. “Our leader, Theresa Bancroft, keeps everyone busy. They’ve already unearthed a skeleton of the ancient Hopewell Indians who buried their dead in great earthen mounds. No one knows what these Indians called themselves. Their first mound to be excavated was on the Hopewell farm in Ohio, so the Indians have been named that. Maybe you’ll be able to find a skeleton, Nancy.”

“Sounds interesting,” Nancy said, “but actually I’m here to solve a mystery about a hollow oak.”

Julie Anne said that Ned had mentioned it on the phone but had given no details. “Is the case a secret?”

“Oh no,” Nancy told her, and gave a brief summary about the Canadian missionary and the legend that he had left a valuable message in a hollow oak tree.

“You don’t have much to go on, do you?” Julie Anne asked.

“Only one clue. A friend of my aunt’s in New York found a fallen tree on which there was a plate bearing Père François’s initials and an arrow. It is thought that the arrow indicated the next place the missionary was going.”

“So you’ll be trying to trace his journey,” Julie Anne remarked, “until you find the message.”

Just then the telephone rang. Nancy picked up the receiver. A man’s voice on the other end said, “Nancy Drew?”

“Yes.”

“This is Room 412. I have something of yours you dropped on the plane. May I come up and give it to you?”

By this time Nancy had recognized the voice of the annoying passenger. She said to him,“My friend and I will meet you in the lobby.”

“Okay, if that’s the way you want it. Can you come right down?”

“Yes.”

Nancy turned to Julie Anne and told her what had happened on the plane and that now the man wanted to return something to her. “Come on, let’s go!”

Julie Anne picked up the room key and slipped it into her purse. Then the two girls went down to the lobby. The man from the plane walked over quickly toward Nancy and said, “I have a surprise for you.”

The stranger did not identify himself by name and Nancy did not introduce Julie Anne. The three went to a group of chairs and sat down.

Smiling, the man said to Nancy, “You know, you’re a little fox. I thought you were coming back to your seat and have lunch with me. It was not until after you had left the plane that I found this.”

He reached into a coat pocket and pulled out a small picture of Mr. Drew. With a smirk, the man asked, “Boy friend? Isn’t he a little old for you?”

Nancy was disgusted with the stranger’s crude humor. The picture was one of her father. She reached to get it.

“Thank you very much,” she said. “I appreciate your taking the trouble to return it.”

She and Julie Anne arose and started off.

“What’s the hurry?” the man asked.

Nancy did not reply. She merely thanked him again and the two girls walked away. He followed them a short distance, saying, “I’ll be seeing you.”

Julie Anne turned toward him. “What do you mean?”

At this the stranger merely laughed and walked off.

When he was out of earshot, Julie Anne remarked, “Nancy, I’m glad that man didn’t insist upon a date to give you the picture. I think he’s horrible.”

As soon as the annoying stranger had disappeared, Julie Anne suggested that the two girls take a trip around the city. As they were about to leave the lobby, Nancy suddenly saw the woman who had warned her on the plane.

“There’s someone I must talk to,” she told Julie Anne and rushed across the lobby. “Hello,” she said pleasantly.

The woman smiled and Nancy went on, “I wanted so much to ask you about that man who was my seatmate on the plane. I was afraid I might not see you again.”

“I’m glad we met,” the woman replied, and said she was Mrs. Waters. Nancy told her who she was and introduced Julie Anne who had followed her.

Mrs. Waters said the man’s name was Kadle. Nancy showed her surprise and Mrs. Waters asked, “You’ve heard of him?”

“Not until recently,” Nancy said. “A friend in New York told me to be wary of him, just as you did.”

Mrs. Walters said that she believed Kit Kadle was a confidence man. “A brother-in-law of mine was one of his victims.” Mrs. Waters went on, “Kadle doesn’t know me, but my brother-in-law showed me pictures of him. He probably was working one of his con games on the friend you speak of in New York. He may have been planning to get you to sign up for some scheme or to take your money for a phony investment.”

Nancy laughed. “No chance of that,” she said, “but I appreciate your telling me all this and I’ll certainly keep my eyes open for Mr. Kit Kadle.”

After a few minutes of conversation the girls said good-by and went out to start their sightseeing trip. Julie Anne was a little worried about Kit Kadle, but Nancy begged her to forget him. “Let’s see St. Louis.”

“One of the most colorful sections of town is right here at the waterfront,” Julie Anne said. “We can ride a little old-fashioned trolley car. It will take us to a number of interesting places including the arch and the old-time paddle wheel steamers at the foot of the levee.”

“That sounds like fun,” Nancy said eagerly. “Let’s try the arch first.”

At the next corner the girls boarded a yellow streetcar which clanged its bell and rode off slowly and smoothly toward the huge arch in the waterfront park. They got out with several other tourists and followed them across a concrete walk. Then they went down a ramp toward the entrance into one leg of the huge span.

Julie Anne was a little ahead of Nancy and found herself separated from her companion by the other visitors. Suddenly the tall girl stopped short in amazement. Through the glass doors leading into the arch she saw Nancy coming toward her!

“But that’s impossible,” Julie Anne told herself. “How could Nancy have gotten into the arch before me and now be coming out?”

But there was no mistaking that figure! It was Nancy approaching her on the other side of the glass doors. “Nancy!” Julie Anne called and hurried forward.

Nancy laughed. “Here I am!” she answered. But her voice was coming from behind Julie Anne! “I’m in back of you!”

Julie Anne turned. There was Nancy hurrying down the ramp. “It’s my reflection you saw,” she said.

The other girl grinned. As they reached the doors into the arch, she saw that the darkish glass had perfectly reflected the walk behind her, making it look as if Nancy were already inside the building.

“You fooled me that time,” Julie Anne said with a chuckle. “But no more trick mirrors, please!”

The girls took a slow but thrilling ride to the top of the arch in a small, globe-shaped elevator. From there they had a breathtaking view of Illinois across the river. When they came down, the girls walked to the levee and visited a museum on an old paddle wheel steamer.

“Those river boats saw lots of good times, I guess,” Nancy remarked.

Afterward, the two ate dinner in a river steamer anchored nearby. It was furnished elegantly in nineteenth-century style.

“Um! It’s delicious,” said Julie Anne, biting into a broiled, freshly caught fish topped with buttered almonds. Over dessert Julie Anne told Nancy that she had engaged a helicopter pilot to take the two girls south the following morning directly to the dig. The hotel would pack a lunch.

They were up early and set off for the airport. When the craft had been airborne about an hour, Nancy became fascinated by the unusual river country landscape. It was like a wide peninsula with a river on each side. To their right lay the wide brown Mississippi and ahead on the left they could see the bluish water of the Ohio.

Here and there the pilot pointed out sites of Indian burial mounds. “Many others have been leveled off and the ground used for farming,” he explained.

The dig that the girls were heading for was near the Ohio River. After lunch the copter landed beyond an old-fashioned farmhouse. Near it, digging in an ancient Indian burial ground was being carried on.

Julie Anne’s college friends had heard the whirlybird coming and left their work to greet the newcomers. They were so warm and friendly that Nancy’s instant reaction was, “What a wonderful bunch of people!”

Bringing up the rear was a tall, blond, attractive woman who looked very trim in her pale-blue dungarees. Julie Anne introduced her as Theresa Bancroft, the group’s leader.

“I’m delighted to meet you,” Theresa said. “Welcome to our humble quarters.”

Nancy replied, smiling, “It’s kind of you to let me stay here while I try solving a mystery.”

Theresa put an arm through Nancy’s and led her to the farmhouse. The others followed and it seemed as if everyone was talking at once.

Several told about the perfect skeleton they had unearthed that day. While some of the girls were cooking supper, the boys in the group began singing. Soon everyone joined in.

By the time the meal was over, Nancy felt well acquainted with all the diggers from Paulson University. One of the boys, Art Budlow, who was slender, thin-faced, and had brown hair, asked the young detective if she would tell them about her mystery.

Nancy smiled. “I’m trying to find a certain oak tree which was already hollow in 1680,” she replied.

There were exclamations of surprise, and a boy named Todd Smith shook his head, saying, “You’ll never do it.”

Julie Anne came to Nancy’s defense. “There’s no harm in trying,” she remarked. “Anyway, I expect Nancy to find something important right here in this dig.”

Nancy laughed and said she hoped she would not disappoint anyone.

“You won’t,” Julie Anne assured her. Presently the boys said good night and went off to their own quarters at another farmhouse. Nancy was placed with five girls who shared a dormitory-type bedroom.

The only bureau in it stood next to her cot, and was already filled with the other girls’ clothes, so she did not unpack hers. But she opened her suitcase to take out Bess’s cookies which she passed around to her roommates. They set the leftovers in the box on top of the bureau.

Nancy undressed hurriedly and crawled into bed. She fell asleep instantly, but soon afterward was aroused by a weird voice calling, “Na-an-cy Dr-ew!”

Before she could force herself wide awake, something hit her on the head.

THE object which had struck Nancy was not heavy and had not injured her. But the sensation awakened her fully. She looked straight ahead and blinked in disbelief. Two eyes were shining in the darkness. An animal!