Mystery of the Glowing Eye Part 15

"Listen!" George said a few minutes later.

The trekkers stopped and became silent.

"Hear that warbler?" George asked.

They could detect the dainty trilling notes of the warbler's song but it took time for them to find the bird. Finally Bess saw it seated high on the branch of a tree. "There it is!"

Nancy remarked, "From here it looks like a bird without a head. If it weren't for his eyes, you wouldn't know he had one. He looks as if a black mask had been pulled down over the upper part of his head. I guess that's why it is called the hooded warbler."

"Did you know," George asked, "that the female of this species doesn't have a mask? I suppose that's so she'll surely be seen by the boy warblers."

The group laughed and went on. Bess, intrigued by the wildlife, kept looking up. Without warning, she stepped into a deep hole of muddy, greenish water.

Instantly the others pulled her out, but she was a mess. Nancy took several tissues from her pocket and began to clean her friend's legs.

"Ugh!" Bess said suddenly. "Look at these things crawling around on me!"

Dave said kindly, "They won't hurt you. They're only miniature salamanders."

He tore leaves from several bushes and helped wipe off Bess's dungarees and sweater, while George and Nancy worked on the girl's hair.

"What am I going to do?" Bess wailed.

"Grin and bear it," George replied. But she did admit feeling sorry for her cousin.

"I guess from here on I'd better watch my step more carefully," Bess said finally. She was still shaking from her unexpected bath and held Dave's hand tightly for the rest of their trip through the swamp.

Immediately ahead was a small, open field which everyone a.s.sumed must be the place from which the helicopter had taken off. Directly beyond was another swampy area. A small cabin painted dark green blended so well with the surrounding growth that it was hardly noticeable.

"That could be the place where Ned is being held!" Nancy said excitedly.

The three girls and their companions walked across the field and gingerly went forward. The ground was spongy, caking their boots with mud, but walking was not as difficult as it had been in the swamp.

No one said anything at first, then George commented, "That swamp sure was an obstacle course, and I don't relish going back through it."

"Nor I," Bess said. "I hope somebody can figure out a different way of getting to the place where we left the car!"

n.o.body answered her because all of them were sure they would have to return along the same route.

Nancy hurried in front of the group and walked up to the cabin door. She knocked. No one replied. She pounded loudly but in vain.

"n.o.body home," she said. "Unless someone's hiding in there."

Nancy added that it was possible Ned was a prisoner and could not make a sound. He must be rescued!

She tried the door and finding it unlocked, she walked in. Her friends followed. No one was in sight.

All gasped in astonishment. The one-room cabin was a fully equipped electronic laboratory with two cots, a small stove, and well-stocked shelves of canned food.

"Well, Sherlock Holmes," said George to Nancy, "what are your thoughts now?"

Before replying, Nancy began to examine the laboratory. Burt and Dave did also. There were all sorts of gadgets, and open notebooks with numbers which meant nothing to the visitors.

Meanwhile, Bess had been looking around. She announced that there were no clothes in the place. "Do you suppose whoever lives here knew we were coming and skipped out?" she asked. "Otherwise why would anyone leave all this good food-meat, eggs, milk, and bread? I could eat some of it right now."

Presently Burt and Dave called to the girls to come to a corner of the lab.

"We've discovered a remote-control outfit, and here's the sending set."

"And over there," Dave added, "are a computer and programming tapes."

"Are you saying," George spoke up, "that the robot copter was kept here and its movements were controlled from this cabin?"

"It looks that way."

Bess asked, "Do you think Ned, Crosson, and the red-haired nut were in the copter we saw flying away from here?"

"I have a strong feeling," Nancy said, "that Crosson and the red-haired nut are one and the same person. I believe that Ned in his note was trying to tell us that Crosson is crazy and dangerous."

Dave reminded the others that they were just doing a lot of guessing. "We haven't come across one single thing around here to prove who the occupants are."

Nancy agreed with Dave and said that it was important they try to find out. "Let's all hunt for a clue," she proposed.

Everyone went to work. There was complete silence for a long time.

Nancy looked under both cots and pulled them from the wall. Suddenly her eyes fastened upon a mark which had been cut into the wood of the wall. At first glance it seemed to be a W. Was it someone's initial?

She called her friends' attention to it and they came over to look at the initial. Nancy squinted her eyes and stared at it.

Suddenly she said, "This isn't a W. I'm sure it's two N's. And that could stand for Ned Nickerson!"

Bess, George, and the boys leaned over to examine the mark. They all agreed that indeed it was NN.

"This is where Ned must have slept," Burt said. "And I'm convinced he was taken away in the copter we saw leaving here."

"Do any of you think he'll be brought back?" Dave spoke up. "I don't."

No one did, but Burt and Dave were inclined to think that Ned's captor might return. They were of the opinion that he would not leave the valuable equipment unguarded for long, although the possibility of it being taken in this forsaken place was slim.

Nancy was quiet for several minutes while the rest searched some more. When they reported that there were no other clues, she told the group that a possibility of getting to the main road without hiking there had just occurred to her.

"What is it?" Bess asked eagerly. "I certainly would like to be rescued from this creepy place!"

"The quicker the better," George added.

Nancy turned to the boys. "Do you think we could possibly contact the police over the two-way radio set here? We could tell them our suspicions regarding this cabin, and the take-off of the copter." She looked at Bess and grinned. "If they come by helicopter, they might even give us a ride back to our car."

Dave offered to try contacting headquarters.