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Authors: Carolyn G. Keene

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George asked, “Nancy, are you going to carry the precious stone tablet with you or return it to Mrs. Wabash?”

“I’ll call Mrs. Wabash—I mean Mrs. Mary Morton, and do as she wishes.”

Nancy phoned the woman and asked her what she wanted done with the tablet. At once Mrs. Wabash requested that Nancy keep it.

“You have a lot of people with you, so there is less chance of it’s being stolen from you than from me. I’ll be traveling alone.”

“Are you going back home soon?” Nancy queried.

“Yes.”

The girl detective now asked if it would be possible for the Indian woman to come to the Drew home and decipher the symbols on the tablet. “Do you recall what was on the other tablets?”

“Vaguely,” she said.

Mrs. Wabash agreed to disguise herself a bit and take a taxi to Nancy’s home. When she arrived, Nancy brought out the tablet. Mrs. Wabash began to explain some of the symbols.

“This wavering line means a stream. Over here, near the deer, is a cloud.”

Nancy asked, “These two men with crude spears—what do they mean?”

“I believe,” Mrs. Wabash replied, “that it indicates a fight between the men. By the way, notice that their crude spears are launched from atlatls. These were heavy pieces of notched wood. By putting the foot of the spear into this, a man could launch his weapon much farther than he could with his hands.”

There was silence for a few moments, then the Indian continued, “I think perhaps the two men who are fighting represent two tribes. They probably had had a war, but there is nothing here to indicate for certain who won the battle.”

“Maybe that’s on another tablet,” Nancy suggested.

“Possibly,” Mrs. Wabash agreed. “The tablets had no marks on them to indicate the order in which they were to be read. I was working on that just before they were stolen from me.”

The conversation was interrupted by the telephone, and Nancy left to answer it.

Chief McGinnis was calling. “I have a little news for you,” he said. “I don’t know how useful it is, though. Two of my patrolmen spotted the men in Dave’s picture. But they declared they had already delivered the package and were innocent of any wrongdoing. They would reveal nothing about Fleetfoot, nor would they identify the man to whom they had given the package as being the thief we’re looking for.

“Of course, we had to let them go,” McGinnis continued, “but they’ll be kept under surveillance. If anything else comes in, I’ll let you know.”

Nancy thanked him, then went back to hear more of Mrs. Wabash’s story. She confessed to having thought the chuckwalla lighted up but probably was wrong.

Bess had been studying one of the human figures. She giggled. “This creature doesn’t seem to be wearing any clothes but has a very fancy headdress.”

The Indian woman said she had translated this to mean that the two figures, which she thought were male and female, could indicate a battle between the chief and his leaders and the common people.

“I believe the common people won,” Mrs. Wabash said, “because of the elaborate headdress, which no doubt was taken from the chief and put on the head of the rebel leader.”

George remarked, “That’s a fascinating theory. It will be fun to prove it someday.”

As they all stared at the other figures, Nancy, who had been using her magnifying glass, suddenly exclaimed, “Look at this!”

CHAPTER VIII

Say It in Code

IN the lower right-hand corner of the plaque, Nancy had detected an almost obliterated oblong mark.

“It has very faint petroglyphs on it,” she announced.

First Mrs. Wabash, then Nancy’s friends, looked at it through the magnifying glass.

Finally Bess said, “What do you think the marks represent, Nancy? It doesn’t look like much to me.”

Nancy waited for Mrs. Wabash to answer but when she did not speak, the young detective said, “Could this carving depict one of the golden tablets?”

Ned remarked that if it were, this was an amazing deduction. Nancy, now thoroughly intrigued, went for an even stronger magnifying glass, which her father kept in a desk drawer. She trained it on the faint petroglyph.

“This looks like a man gathering something from a stream. I think this hairline mark indicates a stream. Maybe he has found gold nuggets and will make a plate from them!”

She handed the magnifying glass to the owner of the tablet. “What do you think, Mrs. Wabash?”

The Indian woman gazed at the symbol a long time. “I believe you’re right, Nancy,” she said, smiling.

She added that Nancy had made a valuable contribution to the mystery. “I would even guess that the long-forgotten city ran along the banks of this stream. The golden plates perhaps were made from nuggets found there, and the plates are hidden in that area.”

Bess sighed. “Do you think we can ever find that city and the sheets of gold?”

“I’ll wager,” said Burt, “that if anybody can find them Nancy Drew can.”

The young sleuth grinned. “It’s a big order, but I hope you’re right.”

Mrs. Wabash rose to leave. She said she would meet the young people in Las Vegas.

“I’ll memorize your address there, so if anybody takes my purse again, it won’t reveal where you are.”

Nancy thanked her for thinking of this. “Now my friends and I will memorize your address and phone number.”

They all repeated it several times, then said good-by to the Indian woman. Soon afterward the three couples separated to attend to their packing.

Early the next morning they gathered again at Nancy’s house, and Mr. Drew said he would drive them all to the airport. Hannah Gruen bid them farewell, her eyes moist with affection. She pleaded with Nancy to be careful of Fleetfoot and of poisonous serpents or reptiles like the gila monster.

“I’ll do my best to avoid them,” Nancy agreed.

She hugged the housekeeper affectionately and hurried to the car.

On the way to the airport Nancy said to the others, “Don’t you think it would be a good idea if we had a signaling system in code?”

“Great,” Ned agreed. “You mean hand signals?”

“No, that is too obvious,” Nancy replied. “How about three or four sentences? The third word in each sentence will be a message to the rest of us.”

“Give us an example,” Dave suggested.

The girl detective thought a few moments, then said, “I always suspect bargains. Sometimes I’m standing near a sales counter. I inspect nearby merchandise also.”

For a couple of seconds her listeners looked blank, but Mr. Drew said, “I get it. The message is, ‘Suspect standing nearby.’ ”

“Pretty cool,” Burt commented. “Anybody else smart enough to think of one?”

At first nobody answered, but finally George grinned and said:

Please, Santa, look in my empty sock.
Fill it up real high.
A hole’s in the toe, but never mind.
The Christmas tree won’t sigh.

The others burst into laughter. Dave thought it was a bit corny, but George’s message was good. “It said, ‘Look up in tree.’ ”

By this time, Mr. Drew had reached the airport, and farewells were exchanged. When the travelers arrived at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, they learned that the plane to Las Vegas would be late.

“We have a long wait,” Bess complained. “I’m going for a tall chocolate float.”

The three boys said they would rather take a walk. Nancy and George went with Bess to the concourse for a cool drink. On the way back to the gate at which they would board the plane, Nancy bought a newspaper.

She had soon scanned the first page and turned over to the next one. Suddenly she exclaimed, “Oh!”

“Bad news?” George asked.

“I don’t know,” Nancy replied. She pointed to a headline which read:

RUMOR OF GOLD IN NEVADA DESERT RUSH TO SPOT EXPECTED

“Is it where we’re going?” Bess asked. “And do they mean the gold—”

George grabbed her cousin’s arm before she had a chance to give away their secret to anyone who might be snooping.

“Here’s a map of the area,” Nancy said, pointing it out in the paper.

The three girls studied it carefully and finally Nancy said, “Apparently it’s in the opposite direction from the one we’ll take out of Las Vegas.”

Bess sighed with relief. “Thank goodness. We’ve had enough trouble with strangers already.”

In a few minutes the boys rejoined the girls and Nancy showed them the newspaper story.

Ned whistled. “I hope none of the gold seekers come our way. That would spoil everything.”

As the group walked toward the boarding area, Nancy said suddenly, “What number are we? It’s like being in a maze. We’d better watch carefully for our sign.”

For a couple of seconds her friends said nothing. To an outsider Nancy’s conversation would seem perfectly rational. To her friends, using the third word in each sentence, she was saying, “Are being watch.”

One by one, members of Nancy’s group found an excuse to turn around completely to see who was watching them. All agreed upon a casually dressed young man. He seemed to be walking around aimlessly, but he always stayed close enough to hear as much of the young people’s conversation as possible. When he realized that they had detected his purpose, the man hurried away.

“One thing I’m sure of,” said Nancy, “is that he is not going on our plane. But he may want to make certain we’re aboard so that he can telephone the news to someone in Las Vegas.”

The trip to the Southwest was uneventful. On their arrival the young people taxied into the city in two cabs. They exclaimed over the garish downtown area.

“There must be billions of electric lights on these hotels, restaurants, and clubs,” remarked Bess, who was riding with Nancy.

It was a busy city, with taxis and private cars going up and down the streets in a steady stream. In a little while their cabs reached the residential area, which was very attractive and much quieter. The cabs pulled up in front of Neil Anderson’s home. It was spacious and had a beautiful flower garden.

Neil and his parents were charming people who made the visitors feel at home at once. A girl who was about fourteen years old came into the room and was introduced as Debbie, Neil’s younger sister.

“I’ll take you to your rooms,” she offered.

On the way through the split-level house, they passed the dining room. In it was a very long table set up as if for a banquet.

Debbie saw the looks of surprise on the visitors’ faces. “Big party here tonight,” she explained. “The rest of the Emerson group is in town and all the people going on the dig are coming here to dinner.”

“That’s great,” said Nancy. “Now we’ll be able to meet everyone. Debbie, I just can’t wait to see our caravan.”

“It’s pretty super,” the girl said. “I wish I could go on the dig, but they tell me I’m not old enough. I guess because I have so many little accidents, they think I don’t know how to be careful. I might ruin something precious that’s dug up.” She giggled.

“We’ll take lots of pictures,” Bess said kindly. “We’ll see that you get some.”

Since the dinner hour was only thirty minutes away, the young people quickly bathed and changed their clothes.

By the time they appeared, the other diggers had arrived. There were introductions, a lot of conversation, and a great deal of laughter.

Nancy was thrilled. What fun it was to join this jolly group and to try solving the mystery of the Forgotten City!

After dinner, the young people gathered in the garden. A graduate student from the University of Nevada, named Archie Arnow, immediately walked over to Nancy’s side to speak to her. At first she answered his questions lightly, but eventually she realized that he was trying to get information from her.

“I’ll pretend not to notice this,” she thought, giving him vague answers.

Several times Nancy tried moving away from him so she might talk to other people. He followed her very closely, and before she could say anything to her new friends, he would ask her another question.

“What a pest he is!” she told herself.

Nancy spotted Neil Anderson at one side of the garden. She made a sudden move, wedged her way through a group, and managed to get to Neil before Archie was aware of what had happened. Quickly Nancy asked Neil what kind of a person Archie was.

“Oh, he’s an archaeological whiz,” Neil replied, “but he’s not well liked. He’s very opinionated and secretive. Be careful, Nancy, or he may try to solve your mysteries for you.”

Nancy smiled. “Thanks for the tip.”

She said Archie had been following her around and asking questions. “I don’t know how much he has heard about what we’re going to hunt for out on the desert, so I thought it best not to tell him anything I knew.”

“You were wise, Nancy,” Neil said, “and you’d better warn your friends.”

Nancy alerted each one in her group.

George made a wry face. “I didn’t like Archie from the moment I met him. I wondered how you could be so patient, talking to him as long as you did.”

Nancy chuckled. “I couldn’t get away, but he didn’t learn anything from me.”

The following morning Nancy telephoned her home in River Heights. Hannah Gruen answered and told her that the police had phoned.

“They reported that Fleetfoot Joe had definitely left town,” she said. “McGinnis had phoned the Las Vegas police to be on the alert. So far he has heard nothing and suggested that if you should call, I should tell you to phone the police out there for information.”

Nancy did so at once but was told there was no news of the elusive thief.

As she left the phone, Nancy saw Ned coming toward her. She relayed her latest clue.

“Keep your eyes open,” he urged her.

Ned now told Nancy that he and the other boys would be busy the following day, helping to get the caravan ready.

BOOK: The Secret of the Forgotten City

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