The others smiled, and Bess commented, “Also one of the hottest. Let’s gol I’d prefer the cool Fern Forest.”
Keaka drove them through attractive residential sections, and finally out of town. Soon the car began to climb, and after a time reached a road running directly through a forest area made up almost exclusively of giant ferns.
“They really are as tall as trees!” Bess cried out excitedly. “Oh, let’s get out and take some pictures.”
“Watch out for snakes,” Mrs. Gruen warned.
“That won’t be necessary,” the guide spoke up. “There are no poisonous land snakes on these islands.”
Hannah sighed in relief and the sight-seers alighted. They walked a short distance into the forest. The giant ferns were surprisingly sturdy and George with a chuckle said, “Hypers, what a fan one of these would make!”
The group snapped some interesting pictures of the giant ferns, then Keaka suggested they go on. At times they passed through forests of trees and ferns and at other times through open country. Finally after a long, gradual climb the road brought them to a large green plateau.
“We are in the Kilauea Crater now,” the guide announced.
Presently he stopped the car at the side of the road and suggested that the passengers follow him. He headed for a spot where they could see steam issuing from the ground.
“I’ll show you some burning water,” he said mysteriously.
“Burning water?” Bess repeated. Keaka smiled but did not explain further.
Soon the group reached a circular pit in the ground about six feet in diameter. Through the drifting steam, the tourists could see water several feet below.
“O-oh, this smells horrid,” said Bess.
“Sure does,” Dave agreed.
Keaka smiled but made no comment. From his pocket he took a book of matches and lighted one.
“Here goes!” he called, still grinning. “Look out, everybody!”
He threw the match down into the water. Instead of being extinguished, the flame instantly caused a small explosion. The group fell back in dismay as yellow-and-red flames shot up a distance of some six inches above the ground.
The flame instantly caused a small explosion
“Why, that’s dangerous!” Hannah cried out.
Nancy laid an affectionate arm around the woman’s shoulders. “I’m sure Keaka wouldn’t do it if it were dangerous.” Turning to the guide, she saw that he was lighting another match. He threw this too down toward the water. Once more there was an explosion and flames shot up!
“What causes such a reaction?” Ned asked him.
Keaka explained that hydrogen sulfide gas was being formed continuously below the earth’s surface and found its escape with the steam. It ig nited when fire came in contact with the fumes.
“Is gas part of what starts an eruption?” Ned inquired.
“Yes. Gases are contained in the seething, boiling molten rock underground. After a while, if they cannot find any release, pressure is built up. When this becomes too great, an eruption occurs —which happens now and then over on Mauna Loa. But around here there are so many vents in the ground that the gas has no trouble getting out.”
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Bess looked a little puzzled. “You mean that the pressure of the gases forces the molten rock to burst out of the earth and that’s how volcanoes erupt?”
“Exactly,” the guide replied. “If you’re lucky, you may see an eruption on Mauna Loa while you’re here.”
“Oh, I hope not,” said Bess fearfully. “We might be buried under that scorching lava!”
Keaka laughed and shook his head. “We have some of the world’s finest geologists here,” he said. “They have many ways of telling when there will be an eruption and nobody gets too close.”
Despite his reassuring words, Bess continued to worry that a volcano might expode right before her eyes. It was not until they reached the delightful Volcano House, and she had eaten a delicious meal, that she forgot her fear.
After supper the visitors from the mainland walked around the attractively planted grounds, marveling at the steam coming out of the ground in many spots.
“This is the most exciting place I’ve ever visited,” George remarked to Nancy. “I’m glad Bess is over her fright about volcanoes. I feel a little bit myself as if some trick might be played on the people around here by that goddess Pele.”
Ned, overhearing the remark, said he had been talking with a volcanologist from the Hawaiian National Park Service. The man had stated there was absolutely no danger.
“By the way, he invited us to come over to headquarters tomorrow morning and see colored motion pictures of the most recent eruption at Mauna Loa.”
“Let’s go!” Nancy urged.
When Keaka appeared with the station wagon the next morning, Nancy told him of the invitation. The guide said by all means they must view the movie and drove them to the headquarters building.
For half an hour they were captivated by one of the most fantastic motion pictures they had ever seen. Fountains of red-and-yellow lava were shot high into the air, then came down to run as a burning river all the way to the sea. Upon reaching water, lava and ocean met in a hissing roar, sending up volumes of steam ten thousand feet into the air.
“No lives were lost during this eruption,” the narrator explained, “but a couple of dozen buildings were, and more than a mile of highway was buried. It is estimated that a billion tons of lava flowed from beneath the surface of the earth.”
Nancy and her friends left the headquarters building awestruck by the thought of what Mother Nature can do. Keaka drove them to the scene depicted in the movie. How different it seemed now! The site was gray and harmless looking. As they drove along, the guide pointed out where the streams of lava had run down to the sea. Directing their attention to the various scooped-out, cone-shaped hills, he said:
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“Those bowllike depressions are called caldera.”
Finally they came to the main crater of Mauna Loa. Standing on the edge, the group looked down into a blackish-gray depth, seamed with fissures, some narrow, some wide.
“And there are the angel birds!” Nancy cried out.
Swooping low one moment and disappearing the next were the little white birds. Nancy gazed at them intently. What was their secret which Grandfather Sakamaki was trying to indicate to his grandson to help him solve the mystery of Kaluakua?
“Those birds,” Keaka spoke up, “are man’s friends. It seems as if they have been put here for a real purpose. It’s said they can detect when there is going to be an eruption and fly far away.”
Nancy studied their motions for a long time. She was particularly fascinated by the way they fluttered, almost like butterflies, over one area, then swooped or rose, and fluttered again over another area.
Suddenly the young sleuth snapped her fingers. “I think I know what Grandfather Sakamaki meant!” she declared.
CHAPTER XIX
A King’s Treasure
“YOU’VE guessed the mystery?” Bess asked, astounded.
“Oh, no,” Nancy answered, “but I think I know what the clue of the angel birds means. I believe that Nikkio Sakamaki was telling his grandson to fly over the estate.”
As Keaka strolled off toward the station wagon, Nancy quickly explained to her friends, “If we swoop down low over the Golden Pavilion, I’m sure that we will find either another clue or perhaps the answer to the riddle.”
“It sounds reasonable,” Bess remarked. “But what are you going to swoop down in?”
George answered. “A plane, of course, silly.”
Nancy was thoughtful for several moments, then suggested a plan. “I think I should return in secret to Kaluakua, perhaps with Ned, and see what we can find out. Suppose one of you phone there and say that the group has postponed their return until tomorrow morning. The Chatleys and their friends will assume that this includes Ned and me. In the meantime, we’ll do some quiet sleuthing.”
Ned was enthusiastic about the idea. He was eager to start at once, but Nancy reminded him that it would be far better to cruise slowly over the Golden Pavilion in a helicopter than to fly over it in a plane. They would have to make arrangements to charter one.
“Do you think Keaka could be trusted to help us?” Ned asked Nancy. “He probably knows some helicopter pilots.”
Nancy thought this was a good suggestion. But before taking up the matter with Keaka she went on to tell the others more of her plan. “After we get to Honolulu, Ned and I will stay with the Armstrongs. If anything comes up, phone me there. And I’ll call you at the Volcano House.”
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Hannah was concerned about Nancy’s undertaking this bit of detective work, and made Nancy and Ned promise that they would be extremely careful. At that moment Keaka walked back to the group and Nancy asked about helicopter serv ice to Oahu.
The Hawaiian smiled. “I know just the man to take you,” he said. “We’ll drive back to Park Headquarters and I will phone him for you.”
When they reached the building, Keaka went inside and was gone so long that Nancy began to feel discouraged about the project. But presently the guide appeared, a broad grin on his face.
“Everything is arranged,” he announced. “Ken Brown will be waiting with his helicopter at four o’clock at the Hilo airport.”
“Thank you very much,” said Nancy, then suggested that they all return to the Volcano House for luncheon and to make arrangements for the others to spend the night there.
At three o’clock Nancy and Ned drove off with Keaka. When they reached the Hilo airport, he introduced them to Ken Brown. The pilot was a tall, slender mainlander with a blond crew cut and flashing blue eyes.
“A secret mission, eh?” he asked, grinning. “Sounds good. Climb in.”
Nancy and Ned shook hands with Keaka, thanked him again for all his help, and wished him well. Then they climbed aboard. The great rotors began to whirl and in a short time the helicopter was air-borne. As they neared the tip of Oahu, Ned told the pilot exactly where Kaluakua was located.
“Suppose we go past it first and then decide from which angle to approach the pavilion,” Ken suggested.
“Good idea,” Ned replied. “We can see if anyone is out in the gardens.”
“Yes,” Nancy agreed. “We’d prefer that nobody realize we’re purposely flying over the estate.”
Ken kept to the shore line. As they came opposite the Golden Pavilion, Nancy cried out, “Ned, look! I never noticed that the flower bed down there is in the shape of a plumiera blossom! Also, one petal is a little longer than the others. It points directly to the secret doorway under the pavilion.”
No one was visible on the grounds and in a moment Nancy asked the pilot to turn around and this time fly as low as possible over the Golden Pavilion. He did so, and as he came back, Nancy and Ned watched intently. From the air, the golden roof, in the form of a plumiera flower, shone brilliantly in the sunlight.
“I didn’t see anything unusual, did you?” Ned asked, as Ken sped on.
“No, I didn’t,” Nancy replied. “Ken, could you fly a little lower and a little slower?”
The young pilot grinned. “Anything to please,” he called back.
This time when Ken went over the Golden Pavilion it seemed as if he was only a few feet from it, and went so slowly that Nancy and Ned were able to give the flower roof a close scrutiny.
“Ned!” Nancy cried excitedly. “I see itl”
“See what?” he asked, puzzled.
“That symbol right in the center of the flowerl” Nancy explained excitedly. “Oh, Ken, please fly over it once more.”
As the helicopter made a wide sweep and came back over the roof of the Golden Pavilion, Nancy and Ned gazed intently at the symbol which Nancy had spotted. Quickly she sketched the symbol in her note pad, then began riffling the pages of the book.
“Have you seen enough?” Ken called back. “I just saw somebody come out of the house. The folks in there may become suspicious.”
“I’ve seen enough,” Nancy replied. “Please take us to the airport.” She continued to look through the notebook until she came to a certain page. On it were a number of Polynesian symbols and their translations. “I’ve been collecting these,” she told Ned.
“From books?” he inquired.
Nancy said that she had copied them from various places—objects in the museum, pieces of furniture, and advertisements. “Oh, Ned!” she suddenly exclaimed excitedly. “Here it is!”
She pointed to one of the symbols, comparing it with the drawing she had just made. “It matches! And it means king!”
“Good sleuthing,” Ned commented. “But where do we go from here?”
“I believe,” said Nancy, her eyes sparkling, “that some treasure belonging to an ancient Hawaiian king is hidden at the center of the golden plumiera.”
“If you’re right,” said Ned, “you’re about to solve one of the most intriguing mysteries in your career.”
Nancy admitted that she could hardly wait to investigate the roof of the pavilion. By the time they had landed and taken a taxi to the Arm strongs’ home, she had formulated a plan of action. “Tonight you and I will go secretly to the Golden Pavilion with a ladder, Ned. You’re to have the honor of uncovering the treasure. I’ll protect you by being a dancing ghost in the moonlight.”
Ned’s brow wrinkled. “I don’t get it.”
Nancy said that what she hoped to do was scare away anyone in the house or on the grounds who might see the “ghost,” and so leave Ned free to carry on his work.
“The person may not run away, of course, but I hope at least he won’t come near.”
Ned laughed softly. “Light begins to dawn. You’re going to pretend to be that ghostlike hula dancer? The one who was supposed to frighten people away?”
“Exactly, Ned. Of course, I may run into trouble if she, too, happens to come around, or if she’s staying at Kaluakua. But we’ll have to take that chance. Whatever happens, I’ll try to give you plenty of time to find the treasure.”
Ned remarked that it would not be safe to leave the ladder against the building, once he was on the roof. Anyone approaching the pavilion would know at once that someone was up there.
“I’ll hide the ladder while you’re working,” Nancy promised.
Ned grinned. “You’d better not let anything go wrong and leave me stranded up on that roof!” he warned.
By this time the taxi had reached the Armstrongs’ home. Mrs. Armstrong opened the door.
“Oh, I’m so glad to see you!” she cried out. “Hannah Gruen telephoned that you were coming. When I heard something of your plan, I began to worry, but now that you’re here safe, I guess everything is all right.”
She showed Nancy and Ned to rooms which they would occupy for the night, then suggested that they all meet in the garden for cool drinks of lemonade.
“Would you mind,” Nancy asked, “if we stay indoors? I don’t want anyone to know we’re here.”
“Why certainly, dear,” Mrs. Armstrong said. “We’ll talk in the living room.”
Mr. Armstrong had been out, but had returned by the time Nancy and Ned had freshened up. The older couple listened intently as Nancy unfolded her plan.
“And now,” she asked at the conclusion, “do you know where I can find a lightweight folding ladder that could be put inside your car, Mr. Armstrong?”
The man thought for a moment, then said he remembered their carpenter had one. He would phone and find out if they might borrow it. While he was gone, Nancy inquired if Mrs. Armstrong had a white muumuu and some white veils which she might borrow.
“Come upstairs with me,” her hostess said. “I think we can locate something.”
Mrs. Armstrong rummaged through a bureau drawer, pulling out everything that was white. Among the articles were two white scarfs.
“And here is a white muumuu!” she said delightedly. “We’ll press these things in a jiffy and you’ll be all set for your part as a hula ghost dancer.”
When she and Nancy returned to the first floor, Mr. Armstrong said, “I have permission for you to borrow the ladder. I’ll run over and get it now.”
“That’s wonderful!” said Nancy, “and I have my costume.”
She insisted upon pressing the muumuu and scarfs herself while Mrs. Armstrong sat by in the laundry room and chatted with her. Ned, meanwhile, had found a record player and was enjoying a variety of Hawaiian tunes.
Dinner was served indoors, so that no prying eyes would see Nancy and Ned. Conversation was both jolly and serious. As the time neared for Nancy and Ned to leave, the youth filled his two jacket pockets with several small tools to help pry up the center of the golden flower roof. Mr. Armstrong brought the car to the door, and the couple slipped into it.
“Good luck!” said Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong in a low tone.
On the way to Kaluakua, Nancy and Ned discussed the possibility of entering the grounds secretly.
“That’s easy,” said Ned. “I’ll park down beyond the gardens in a grove of trees I’ve seen. There’s a hidden path through it to the beach. We can come up alongside the bushes from the beach, and then turn in toward the pavilion.”
“Good!” Nancy approved. After Ned had parked the car, she said, “I’ll follow you.”
Ned carried the ladder. Over Nancy’s arm hung the muumuu and scarfs. Ned’s directions proved to be correct, and after a considerable walk, they arrived in a woodsy garden near the Golden Pavilion.
The ladder was set against the side of the building which was in shadow, and Ned scrambled nimbly up. When he reached the roof, he lay flat and crawled to the center.
In the meantime, Nancy had folded the ladder and dragged it to a place of hiding among the bushes. She looked around and listened. There was no sound, but far down the beach she could see a moving light.
“I’d better get into this costume,” she told herself. “Someone may be coming here.”
Hurriedly she slipped the muumuu over her head, removed her shoes and stockings, then draped the two scarfs gracefully around her head and shoulders in such a way that she could cover her face if necessary. Stepping out from the shadows, she noticed that the moving light was a little closer.
Her heart pounding, she began to hum a Hawaiian melody and dance the hula. As she swayed and raised her arms from side to side, the young sleuth kept wondering how Ned was making out. In playing her part of the ghost dancer, she dared not look up nor wander far away from the pavilion.
Suddenly the moving light on the beach went out. Had the person carrying it spotted her? Had he been frightened by the apparition, or was he stealthily moving toward her? For a moment Nancy felt like running, but her courage returned.
“I mustn’t desert Ned,” she commanded herself.
She continued to dance over the grass, up the steps of the pavilion, and across the floor. She glided down the steps on the other side. Still no one came to disturb her.
“Surely Ned will be ready in a minute,” Nancy thought.
A second later she was startled by a voice which seemed to hiss at her from only a short distance away. At first she thought it was Ned, then she detected the figure of a man emerging from among the bushes. Nancy’s heart missed a beat but she continued her acting, holding one of the scarfs across her face.
“Keep on dancing while I talk,” the stranger ordered, “and for ten minutes after I leave. Kiyabu is afraid of you and he won’t come while you’re here.”
Nancy was elated. Her ruse was working!
The man sat down on the ground and began strumming his fingers on the edge of the pavilion steps. Suddenly he raised his two forefingers and touched them together.
Nancy almost cried aloud. But she kept on dancing as she said to herself, “This man must be Jim O’Keefe!”
In a few moments he began to speak again. “It’s a good thing you showed up tonight, Milly,” the man said. “If you’d decided to welsh on us, your life and that of your double-crossin’ husband wouldn’t have lasted long.”
Nancy pretended to shiver and the man gave a low, sardonic laugh. “Now listen. Tomorrow night you’re to repeat this dance. Nancy Drew and the rest of her gang put off returnin’ until tomorrow. They’ll come out to watch you and then we’ll nab ’em all.”
O’Keefe went on to say that Nancy’s group would be taken to a mountain cabin, tied up, and left to starve. “Sakamaki will come next,” the man said harshly. “In the meantime, we’ll all clear out but the grandchildren.” He guffawed sardonically. “We’ll leave them to get control of the estate for us!”
Nancy, as Milly, made no reply. She continued to dance. O’Keefe got up, laughed softly, and went off toward the house.
“I guess we got here just in time,” Nancy told herself.
When the ten minutes were up, Ned came to the edge of the roof.
“I heard everything. Let’s get out of here as fast as possible!” Then he added jubilantly, “I have the king’s treasure!”
Nancy rushed off to get the ladder, set it in place, and Ned hurried down the rungs. Over his arm he was carrying a long, varicolored cape made of birds’ feathers.
“Why, this is one of those ceremonial capes made from the extinct o-o bird!” Nancy exclaimed softly. “A museum piece!”
“It sure was well protected,” Ned commented. “I had to pry up a lot of insulation. That’s what took me so long!” He threw the cape over his shoulders and strutted around.
“It’s simply gorgeous!” Nancy whispered.
At this instant the couple heard footsteps. Nancy and Ned began to run. Nancy had no time to put on her shoes and stockings, and Ned found it impossible to carry the ladder. He dropped it among some bushes and the two sped off.
But they were too late. The next instant they were surrounded by four men.
Nancy and Ned tried to escape, but it was too late
Ned managed to knock out one of the men, but the odds were against the couple.
The ancient cape was taken away from Ned, and he and Nancy were bound and gagged. Two of the captors dragged their prisoners back to the Golden Pavilion, opened the secret panel in the foundation, and roughly pushed them inside. The door was slammed shut!
CHAPTER XX
Aloha!
UNABLE to speak and hardly able to move, Nancy and Ned could not express their anger aloud. But both were extremely annoyed at themselves for having been captured.
“We uncovered the secret only to have it snatched out of our hands at the last moment!” Nancy wailed silently.
Ned berated himself for not having protected Nancy better.
Both prisoners wriggled and rolled on the ground under the pavilion floor until they managed to remove their gags.
“Ned, where are you?” Nancy asked. “If you can answer, say something.”
A second later the youth replied, “I’m over here.” Apparently he was on the opposite side of their prison beneath the pavilion. “I think I can get these ropes off in a minute,” Ned added.
But Nancy did not wait for him to accomplish it alone. She rolled over and over in the direction from which the sound of his voice had come. Reaching his side, she helped him untie the knots in the rope which pinioned his wrists behind his back. He, in turn, unfastened hers, then the two worked in pitch blackness to loosen the ropes which bound their ankles.
“This is a fine mess to be in!” said Ned. “Oh, Nancy, I should never have let you get in the clutches of these awful people.”
Nancy begged him to stop worrying and suggested that they both try to find the secret opening. They went in opposite directions, feeling along the three-foot wall, until they met again halfway around.
“I didn’t find anything,” Ned reported. “How about you?”
“No luck,” Nancy answered. “This time I guess we’d better make a slower circuit and go over every inch with our hands.”
The two started off once more. They were almost at the halfway mark again when Nancy felt what seemed like a tiny crack. Hopefully she began following it with her finger tips.
“Ned,” she said excitedly, “I think I’ve found the opening!”
He hurried toward her, and upon running his fingers over the crack, decided that this indeed was the secret door. Together he and Nancy pulled, pushed, and hammered on it. But the door did not budge.
“I’ll try throwing my weight against it,” Ned said.
Nancy crouched nearby, waiting hopefully. Ned, down on one knee like a football lineman about to charge his opponents, lunged. His shoulder thudded against the masonry.
“Oh, Ned,” Nancy whispered, “you’ll break a bone!”
Ned grimaced and tried it again. Thump! This time a tiny line of moonlight shone through.
“You’ve done it!” Nancy exclaimed with relief.
Ned made several more assaults on the stubborn piece of masonry, and finally the secret door gave way and swung outward.
“We’d better get away from here as fast as possible,” Ned whispered.
“Oh, no!” Nancy objected. “Since our captors didn’t return, they must think we’re still neatly tied up. This is our chance to do a little sleuthing. I believe we may even be able to find out where the cape is and perhaps learn some other secrets. In fact, O’Keefe may be in the house.”
Reluctantly, Ned agreed to do some more detective work with Nancy. First of all, she hunted for her shoes and stockings. Finding them, she put them on quickly, then the couple started off.
Keeping in the shadows as much as possible, they crept toward the house. Several rooms were lighted.
“You keep guard,” Nancy suggested to Ned. “I’ll tiptoe up the back porch and look into the kitchen.”
He nodded and she ascended the steps. As she peered inside the kitchen, Nancy gave a gasp of horror. Kiyabu and Emma, gagged and bound, were tied to chairs!
Nancy came quickly down the steps and whispered to Ned what she had seen. “Let’s look in some of the other windows,” she urged.
In the living room they saw signs of great activity. Seated in chairs were O’Keefe, the Ponds, Janet Lee, Roy Chatley, a reddish-blond man Nancy was sure must be Ralph Emler, a strange man, and three other women, one with a bandage on her arm.
“Well, Milly,” Janet was saying to the woman with the bandage, “somebody ought to pin a medal on you.”
“How about me?” the strange man spoke up. “I came along with her, didn’t I? She’s my wife. I deserve as much credit as she does.”
More talk revealed to Nancy and Ned that Milly, the dancer, had been late in her appointment that evening. Instead of going to the Golden Pavilion to perform, she and her husband had driven directly to the house. That was how Nancy’s subterfuge had been discovered! it was then that Milly told the others about the secret door that she had found.
“Oh, cut out this talk about medals,” O’Keefe ordered. “We got to lay our plans for tomorrow morning.”
In the meantime, Milly’s husband had arisen and put on the feather cape. He began to parade around the room, speaking in nonsensical gibberish, as if imitating an ancient Hawaiian king.
“Take that off!” Roy Chatley ordered. “If anybody’s going to wear it, O’Brien’s the one. He’s the king of us Double Scorps.”
The man known as O‘Keefe and O’Malley now got up from his chair and took the cape. “Yes,” he said haughtily, “Mike O’Brien is head of this outfit and don’t anybody forget it!”
Nancy’s pulse was racing. Many questions relating to the mystery were being answered. But one angle of it still puzzled her. How did Roy Chatley and his sister fit into the picture? If they were going to inherit two-thirds of the estate, why were the Double Scorps going to get part of it?
“The only answer,” the young sleuth told herself, “is that Janet and Roy really are impostors. Maybe Dad and Professor Nils Anderson will prove this. But we can’t wait for them to get here. We must have this gang apprehended!”
Nancy wondered where Mr. Jerral was. As if in answer to her thought, Mike O’Brien asked a man who had just entered the room:
“Well, Dr. Scribner, how’s your patient?”
The physician laughed scornfully. “Oh, I just gave him another dose of medicine. It’ll keep him on the sick list a while, then I’ll give him some morel”
Nancy and Ned looked at each other in concern. So John Jerral had been deliberately made ill by the Double Scorps! The couple doubted that the man they called Dr. Scribner was a licensed physician at all. He, too, must be one of the gang!
Silently Nancy and Ned moved away from the window, drawing off to a little distance. They began to whisper and make plans for the capture of the Double Scorps.
“Let’s go to Kiyabu’s cottage and phone for the police,” Nancy urged.
When Ned called headquarters, the astounded officer on duty said he would send a squad of men out at once. While waiting for them, Nancy called the Armstrongs and quickly related the night’s adventure.
They in turn had some news for Nancy which delighted her. Mr. Drew, Mr. Sakamaki, and Professor Nils Anderson had just arrived at the Armstrong house. They would all drive out immediately.