The Witch Tree Symbol Part 11

The three jumped out of bed, hurried into their clothes, and raced downstairs. They found Mrs. Glick busy with her baking. From the oven came the aroma of apple pie and cookies.

"You are sleepy birds," Mrs. Glick teased, while stirring batter for a cake. "But you are in time to make the fasnachts."

When the hot fat was ready, Nancy and George dropped the raw doughnut rings into it, one by one. As soon as each was cooked, it was removed and dried on paper. Bess sprinkled them with powdered sugar.

"When you get hungry, help yourselves," Mrs. Glick invited. "We will not have time to sit down to breakfast."

"We'll leave at six sharp," Mrs. Glick announced, as she bustled about the homey kitchen. After a snack, the girls a.s.sisted her in packing the food into her automobile.

When they reached the market, the visitors helped Mrs. Glick set up her stall. Afterward, the woman suggested that they walk through the market and look around the town.

The three friends were intrigued, not only by the hearty, appetizing foods and the bright flowers on display but also by the hand needlework and cookbooks on sale.

Outside the market, Nancy, Bess, and George watched Amish carriage after carriage arrive. There was a long row of hitching posts to which the horses were tied side-by-side. There was not a black horse among them. Most of the men and women were tall and strong looking. All had good color and bright eyes.

George suddenly grinned. "The minute they turn their backs, you can't tell one from another."

Bess giggled. "The young men must have a hard time keeping track of their dates!"

An hour later the girls decided to return to the market. As they turned the corner they saw an Amish girl coming toward them.

Suddenly Nancy cried out, "Why it's MandaKreutz!"

CHAPTER IX.

Mistaken Ident.i.ty

NANCY and her chums stopped In front of MandaKreutz on the street, but the Amish girl looked at them blankly. She gave no sign of recognition.

Ignoring this, Bess said to her sweetly, "Why did you run away from home again?"

"I think you must have me mixed up with someone else," the girl replied. She started to walk on.

Nancy took her arm. "Surely you remember us-the girls who met you on the road when you were walking home from Lancaster?"

Suddenly the Amish girl smiled. "I guess you have mistaken me for my cousin, MandaKreutz."

The three friends were stunned. Now that they looked closely at the stranger before them, they knew she was not Manda. This young woman was slightly shorter and plumper. But otherwise the cousins looked enough alike to be identical twins.

"Well, I surely thought you were Manda," Nancy said, smiling. She introduced herself, Bess, and George. "We met your cousin the other day and have been trying to find her ever since."

"I'll tell you where she lives," the Amish girl said. "By the way, my name is Melinda Kreutz."

George spoke. "We know where Manda's family lives, but she is not living at home. Didn't you know this, Melinda?"

"No," the Amish girl replied. Then, looking at the others searchingly, she said, "Is something the matter?"

Bess answered quickly. "You mean you don't know Manda has run away from home?"

"Sell issawschrecklich!" Then Melinda added quickly, "I beg your pardon. You do not understand our language. I mean, it is dreadful. I did not know about Manda, for I do not hear from my cousin often. Our ways are different. I am Church Amish."

After hearing the story, she shook her head. "My uncle is too stern but he loves his family. Soon, though, Manda would have married and gone away from home, anyhow. She should not have run away."

"You mean Manda has wedding plans?" Bess asked.

"No. There was no young man I've heard of. But all Amish girls marry young," Melinda explained.

Melinda was glad that Manda's father had decided to forgive her and take her back. She hoped that Nancy and her friends would soon find her cousin.

"Can you give us any hint as to where she may be?" the young detective asked. "We heard she was working for an Amish couple who have recently moved into this area."

Melinda studied the sidewalk for several moments. Then she looked up and said, "This may help you. Two days ago a man hurried up to me on the street and began to talk. I guess he thought I was Manda."

Nancy asked what he looked like. The girl's description fitted Roger Hoelt in Amish disguise.

"Did he say anything to give you an idea of where Manda might be?" George prodded.

Melinda said that the man had rushed up to her and cried out in Pennsylvania Dutch, "You've got to get out of here quick and go back to the schnitz! That witch girl is coming!"

Nancy was furious. Roger Hoelt had convinced Manda that Nancy was a witch!

"Please go on, Melinda," she requested as calmly as she could.

Melinda said she had told the man that she did not know what he was talking about. He had tried to argue with her and had said, "You can't run out on my wife and me like that!"

But when Melinda had insisted that she did not know him, a frightened look suddenly came over his face. He had mumbled something about thinking she was someone else and had gone off.

"What do you think the man meant by his strange words?" Melinda asked Nancy.

The detective smiled. "I don't know, Melinda. You should know better than I. What is a schnitz?"

Melinda said it was a word with variations of meaning, but that it had to do with apples. In recipes such as schnitzungnepp, it meant dried apples and dumplings. A schnitzing was an apple paring and drying party.

"Well, how would you interpret what the man said to you about going back to the schnitz?" George asked Melinda.

The Amish girl thought it might mean a schnitzing. "I would like to know who the witch girl is."

"I can't tell you," Nancy replied quickly. Then the three girls said good-by and hurried off.

"Well, we picked up a good clue, even though we didn't find Manda," Bess remarked.

"A very good clue," Nancy agreed. "Now we must locate someone who knows where the schnitz is." She asked a policeman, but he could not help her.

The visitors returned to the market and walked among the stalls until they came to Mrs. Glick's stand. To their amazement, she had sold nearly everything she had brought from the farm.

"A couple more pie sales and I shall be able to return home," she said, smiling.