The Message In The Hollow Oak Part 4

"One of the most colorful sections of town is right here at the waterfront," Julie Anne said. "We can ride a little old-fas.h.i.+oned 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 gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s 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 anch.o.r.ed 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 b.u.t.tered 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-fas.h.i.+oned 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 a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sed 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.

CHAPTER IV.

Rough Ride

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 s.h.i.+ning in the darkness. An animal!

Quickly Nancy felt under her pillow and pulled out a flashlight, which she always kept within reach when camping. She beamed it directly on the two eyes.

"Na-a-a!Na-a-a!"

A goat! It had been after the cookies and had knocked the box off the bureau. By this time all the girls were awake and flashlights shone from every cot.

"Oh!" Julie Anne cried out. "How did he get in here?"

One of the girls, Susan Miller, lighted a lantern and the whole group began to giggle. Then they asked one another how the goat had managed to enter the house. Though the front and rear doors of the farmhouse had been closed, they were not locked.

"And our bedroom door is open," added Julie Anne. "My guess is that some of the boys played a joke on us."

Nancy spoke up. "If so, I guess it was meant for me, because just before the box of cookies fell on my head, someone called through the window here, "Na-an-cy Dr-ew!"

By this time she was trying to lead the goat from the room. Apparently remembering the cookies, he was reluctant to go.

Nancy took a couple of them from the box and enticed the animal out of the house. She threw the cookies on the ground. gave him a gentle shove, then shut and locked the front door. Julie Anne had followed her and now decided to lock the rear door also.

"It must have been the boys' doings," she said. "Who else would bother to come way out here to play a joke?"

Nancy agreed. The girls returned to their cots and all the lights were turned off. Fortunately the disturbance had not awakened others who were in the house.

In the morning the boys arrived early, and Theresa held a short Sunday religious service before breakfast. As they ate, the boys were questioned about having played a joke on Nancy and the other girls the night before. All of them looked blank and denied having had any part in it.

Julie Anne did not believe them and tried to get them to admit their guilt. The boys, however, insisted they knew nothing about the trick.

Nancy had begun to believe them, and this brought a new worry to her mind. Was it possible that Kit Kadle had followed up his announcement that she and Julie Anne would be seeing him? It seemed to Nancy a logical conclusion.