“This is an outrage!” she was shouting. “I am telling you here and now that it’s a disgraceful procedure. Can’t a person take a trip out of the United States without being treated like a common thief?”
Nancy and her friends had to smile in spite of the fact that there might be a bomb aboard. George remarked, “That woman is a pain!”
Presently two police officers came to the rear part of the aircraft and inspected everyone’s hand luggage. As they finished their checkup, and started toward the door, Nancy asked them, “Could you tell us why you searched our bags, or is that against regulations?”
One of the officers looked at her intently, then said, “I’m sure there’s no harm in telling you. Someone phoned the airport that a bomb was being carried in the hand luggage of a passenger on this plane. It must have been a crank. We did not find anything.”
“Thank goodness,” said Bess.
The officers left the plane, and a few minutes later the craft finally took off. It had been in the air about an hour when Nancy saw her father walking back toward her.
“I think it’s all right now for me to speak to you,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.
The lawyer perched on the arm of his daughter’s chair. “I’ve been engaging various men in conversation,” he said in a low tone. “All seem to be in legitimate businesses. I’m sure there are no suspects among them.”
“Did you know that the police were looking for a bomb?” Nancy asked.
Mr. Drew nodded.
Nancy told him about the bomb threat the girls had received and about her own ruse to keep one from being placed in the plane.
Mr. Drew frowned. “I believe your trick worked for a while, but the gang probably had you trailed to be sure. There was no time to place a bomb aboard, but they still hoped to scare you and try to keep you from going to Hong Kong.”
Nancy whispered, “This must surely mean the gang has transferred its operations to Hong Kong.”
Mr. Drew agreed. He got up and returned to his seat.
Gradually, during the flight, Nancy made the acquaintance of the students, and in her own subtle way quizzed each one to see if by any chance there was a suspect among them. She came to the conclusion there was none.
“Members of the gang holding Chi Che must have gone by some other route,” the girl detective told herself.
The great plane stopped at Anchorage, Alaska, for refueling. Nancy and her friends were intrigued by the beautiful city. They were amazed at its size and the tall modern buildings.
“This used to be the capital,” said Bess, “but now Juneau is.”
Nancy remarked, “I’d love to come to Alaska in the middle of winter, and ride on a dog sled!”
The travelers’ next landing was Tokyo, Japan. What a bustling place the airport was! The girls were fascinated by the native people, most of whom wore Western dress, but many had on kimonos and sandals. Everyone seemed good-natured and there was lots of laughter. Men and women always bowed low to one another in greeting or when saying good-by.
The twenty minutes during which the travelers were allowed to visit the terminal were soon up, and Nancy and her friends climbed back into the plane. It was now two o’clock Sunday afternoon. By the time they reached their destination, it was exactly eleven hours later than it was in New York.
As the plane began its Hong Kong descent, George looked at her watch and grinned. “It’s one o’clock yesterday afternoon in New York,” she said.
The plane set down and taxied toward the airport building. The landing and take-off strips of Kai Tak Airport fascinated Nancy. They were on a spit of man-made land and she realized how skillful a pilot had to be to use them.
“We’re on the China mainland,” said Bess. “Not Hong Kong Island at all.”
“That’s right,” said George, who had studied the map. “This Kai Tak Airport actually is in the city of Kowloon.”
“How do you get over to Hong Kong Island?” Bess queried.
“By ferry,” George replied.
All this time Nancy, who now had a window seat, was looking intently at the crowd of people waiting behind a wire-mesh fence. She hoped to see Ned Nickerson among them!
“Oh, there he is!” A tingle of excitement rushed up and down Nancy’s spine.
The plane stopped and the exit door was opened. First-class passengers disembarked. Mr. Drew hurried toward the fence behind which he had spied Ned Nickerson.
“Hello, Mr. Drew!” the tall, good-looking, athletic young man called. “Where are the girls?”
“They’re coming.” The lawyer laughed. “I traveled in style. They’re in the tourist section.”
At that very moment the girls were moving toward the exit. George was saying, “I hope that pesky Mrs. Truesdale won’t stop us and try to find out what we’re going to do.”
The three girls finally went down the steps and exchanged gay greetings with Ned through the wire fence. Then the four travelers entered the low, white administration building. Here they went through the immigration formalities and customs examination. Finally they collected their baggage, then hurried to meet Ned in the waiting room.
“It’s sure good to see you,” the young man said, giving Mr. Drew a hearty handshake and kissing each of the girls. “I have a jalopy outside. I guess we can all crowd into it.”
“Did you get us hotel accommodations?” Mr. Drew asked him.
“Yes, at the Peninsula Hotel. That’s right here in Kowloon and I’m sure you will like it.” He chuckled. “Since prices here are lower than in the States, I engaged a three-bedroom suite with a living room. Nancy may want to entertain one or more villains.”
“Including yourself?” Nancy teased.
“Call me anything you like,” Ned responded, “but just let me stick around.”
“How much time can you spend away from Chung Chi College?” Nancy asked him.
“A few days. Well, shall we go?”
Ned escorted the group outside the building. Two porters stowed the luggage in Ned’s small foreign car, then everyone got in. Bess giggled. “It’s a tight squeeze!”
As the visitors approached the business section of Kowloon, they became more and more intrigued with the city. Most of the buildings were not more than three stories high, and Chinese signs hung everywhere. There were many Western people walking about, but the bulk of the populace was Chinese. Native men, women, and children wore pants and loose-fitting straight jackets. Most of the suits were black and plain, but here and there one would see someone wearing a beautifully embroidered garment.
Presently Ned drove to the hotel and residential area, where the streets were broad. The Peninsula Hotel was a large, attractive building. They entered the long, curving driveway and alighted at the front entrance.
“This is very charming,” Mr. Drew remarked as the travelers walked through the lobby to the registration desk.
The whole central section was filled with couches, lounge chairs, palms, flowers, and tea tables. People, seated in groups, were sipping tea and eating small cakes.
As soon as the Drews and their friends had unpacked and freshened up a bit, they met in their living room. Ned demanded to hear all about the mystery on which the three girls had been working. When they finished telling him, he whistled and said:
“You really picked a honey this time, Nancy. So you think Chi Che might be a prisoner here in Hong Kong?”
“I believe there’s a good possibility. But even if she isnÄt, I’m sure this is headquarters for the smuggling ring, and that she knows their secret. If the leaders can be rounded up, Chi Che will automatically be released.”
“I’m ready to help,” Ned said. “Nancy, when, where, and how do I start?”
The young sleuth thought for a moment, then she replied, “I want to show you something in my handbag.”
Nancy obtained the bag from her bedroom and took out the two pages which she had torn from the book on Asia. “These are the sheets which upset Mr. Stromberg. Lily Alys said the words ‘mah-jongg sets’ had been underlined. I don’t believe she noticed in which shop. Now’s your chance to be a detective, Ned.”
The young man took the sheets and read them carefully. Then a smile spread over his face. “I think I have a clue for you, Nancy,” he said. “One of these shops is owned by a man named Lung. The word lung was the original Chinese name for dragon.”
“Of course!” Nancy said excitedly. “I remember now! Grandpa Soong told us that. Let’s go there first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Fine,” Ned agreed.
“George,” said Bess, “this is our chance to go shopping for clothes and souvenirs.”
The next morning Nancy and Ned started out directly after breakfast. They took Ned’s car to the ferry, parked it, and went by boat to Hong Kong Island. As they crossed the bay, Nancy marveled at the surrounding scenery. The harbor was filled with boats of all kinds, large and small, including junks and sampans. The island ahead of them was almost like a stone fortress which rose to a pinnacle in the center.
“That is Victoria Peak and it’s eighteen hundred and nine feet high,” Ned told Nancy.
“It’s amazing how they build houses right into the side of the mountain,” Nancy remarked.
When she and Ned debarked, he hailed two rickshas and the couple climbed into them. Nancy was intrigued by the man pulling her little two-wheeled vehicle. He trotted along after Ned’s ricksha at a pace that a horse would trot.
Nancy found Hong Kong a fascinating combination of modern skyscrapers and quaint Oriental buildings. Presently the ricksha men turned down an alley and in a few minutes stopped. They had arrived at Mr. Lung’s shop.
“Like the ride?” Ned grinned.
“It was fun,” Nancy replied as they alighted.
She and Ned entered the shop and gazed around at the wall decorations. Every one of them was a dragon in some form. There were painted scrolls, pictures, and a few wooden figures. Nancy shivered. “This is a creepy place,” she whispered.
There was a short counter toward the rear of the shallow shop. As the couple approached it, a man came from behind a curtain in back of the counter.
“Mr. Lung?” Ned asked.
The man nodded.
“We’d like to see some mah-jongg sets,” Ned told him.
Without a word the shop owner took several from a shelf and gave the price of each. All the playing pieces were of ivory, but the less expensive sets were in plain boxes, while others were in carved teakwood chests lined with camphor wood.
“These are very beautiful,” Nancy said. “Do you have any others?”
Mr. Lung shook his head. “We have more that are similar, but these are samples of all the varieties I carry.”
Nancy examined the boxes carefully. It occurred to her that each one contained many places in which small articles could be secreted for smuggling.
“What do you think?” Ned asked her, careful not to use Nancy’s name.
“Let’s decide later,” the young sleuth answered. “After all, we’ve just started to shop.” She turned to Mr. Lung. “Thank you very much. We’ll probably be back.”
The man bowed and started to put the mah-jongg sets back on the shelf. Nancy and Ned left the shop and strolled up the alleyway. They had not gone far when Nancy heard a woman’s familiar voice say loudly, “You charge too much!”
Turning, the girl saw Mrs. Horace Truesdale just alighting from a ricksha. The woman, frowning, put some money in the man’s hand, then walked into Mr. Lung’s shop.
Quickly Nancy told Ned of her encounter with Mrs. Truesdale, then whispered tensely:
“Is it just a coincidence that she knows Mr. Stromberg and came directly here to Mr. Lung’s shop? Or could Mrs. Truesdale, by some chance, be part of the smuggling ring?”
CHAPTER XVI
A Chinese Puzzle
“NANCY, that’s a good hunch,” Ned said. “Let’s eavesdrop on Mrs. Truesdale.”
Quickly the couple moved up the narrow street and cautiously posted themselves, one on either side, at the door of Mr. Lung’s shop.
Nancy and Ned were just in time to see Mrs. Truesdale take a small white paper from her purse. She held it up and turned it first on one side, then the other, for Mr. Lung to see. Then, without looking, she seemingly returned it to her purse. But the paper fluttered to the floor apparently unnoticed.
“Please ship four dozen mah-jongg sets to my sister’s gift shop,” the woman said to the owner.
Mr. Lung grinned. “Very soon,” he said.
Mrs. Truesdale snapped her purse shut and started for the door, evidently unaware that the paper she had shown the man lay on the floor.
“I’d certainly like to see what’s written on it,” the young sleuth told herself.
“We’d better hide!” Ned warned. He took hold of Nancy’s arm and hurried her into the doorway of an adjoining shop.
They saw Mrs. Truesdale come out onto the street, hail a ricksha man, and climb into the cart. As soon as she was out of sight, Nancy urged Ned to return to Mr. Lung’s shop with her.
“Suppose you buy a mah-jongg set while I try to find out what is on the paper.”
“All right,” he agreed.
The eager couple re-entered Mr. Lung’s shop. Fortunately, the owner had not noticed the paper. Nancy and Ned smilingly walked up to the counter.
“We decided to come back, as you see,” Ned said. “May I see your assortment again?”
The shop owner nodded briefly and turned his back. Nancy quickly leaned down and picked up the paper from the floor. One side was white. Two words were printed on it—Kam Tin.
The girl detective hastily put it in her handbag. By now Mr. Lung had brought out the various sets. Nancy and Ned finally selected one in a teakwood chest.
“Shall I send this to you in the States?” Mr. Lung asked.
Ned had no intention of disclosing their names. “I think we’ll take it along,” he said.
“I will get your set from stock.” Mr. Lung disappeared behind the curtain into his back room. Now was Nancy’s chance to take out the paper. This time she noticed that the other side was red. Ned, too, took a glance and both of them gave a slight gasp.
The paper was definitely the cover to a package of firecrackers. On it was painted the fire dragon!
Quickly Nancy put the paper back on the floor. Mr. Lung reappeared and wrapped the set. Ned paid him. Both the young people smiled and thanked the shop owner, then walked outside.
“Where do we go next?” Ned asked.
“Some place where we can talk without being overheard,” Nancy whispered.
“Let’s go into the lobby of a small hotel near here,” he suggested.
As soon as they entered the place, Ned remarked, “This firecracker business seems to prove Mrs. Truesdale is part of the dragon gang.”
Nancy nodded. “Ned, have you any idea what Kam Tin means? That was printed on the white side of the firecracker paper.”
“Why, yes,” he replied. “Kam Tin is an ancient Chinese walled city several miles inland in the New Territories, beyond Kowloon.”
“I believe,” said Nancy, “that Kam Tin is either a place where the smugglers’ goods are collected, and perhaps put into the mah-jongg sets, or else it’s the spot where Chi Che Soong is a prisoner.”
“Oh, I hope it’s not the latter!” Ned said.
“Why?”
Ned described Kam Tin as hundreds of years behind the times. “There’s no plumbing in the one- to two-room houses which are set close together. People and farm animals also are crowded together. The streets are extremely narrow and there’s mud everywhere.”
“Oh, dear! Poor Chi Che!” Nancy exclaimed.
Ned explained that the men farmed outside the walls. At night the animals were brought inside the city walls for safety.
Nancy was thoughtful for several seconds, then she suggested to Ned that they contact Grandpa Soong’s brother as soon as possible. “He’s Mr. Lee Soong and is retired now. But at one time he was head of the police in Shanghai.”
“Then he’s just the one to help,” said Ned. “He’ll have a personal interest in this case, since Chi Che is involved.”
They returned to the Peninsula Hotel lobby and Nancy immediately telephoned Mr. Soong. He asked them to come to his house at once. Nancy, wondering where Mrs. Truesdale was staying, consulted the desk clerk and learned to her delight that the woman was registered at the Peninsula.
“It will be easy to trail her from here,” she told Ned.
The two sleuths set off for Mr. Lee Soong’s house. The Chinese was a very handsome man and appeared far younger than his twin brother. He was agile in his movements and spoke quickly and decisively. He was astounded and greatly concerned to hear the details of his great-niece Chi Che’s disappearance. At the end of Nancy’s recital, he said:
“I shall get in touch with the local police at once and a search will be started for Chi Che. If she is in this crown colony, she will be found. I will work on the case personally, and I beseech you, Miss Drew, to continue your fine efforts.”
Nancy promised to do so and said she was going to ask George and Bess to trail Mrs. Truesdale.
Mr. Soong thought this an excellent plan. “Mrs. Truesdale may be the one to lead us to a real solution,” he predicted. “I will also have two Chinese detectives follow all three, so no harm will come to the girls.”
Nancy thanked him and said she would let him know when her friends started out. She and Ned drove back to the hotel. Mr. Drew had not returned, but Bess and George came in from their shopping tour, arms filled with bundles.
“Oh, this town is fabulous!” Bess exclaimed. “Nancy, wait’ll you see what we bought!”
Nancy smiled. “First, though, I want to tell you what Ned and I learned this morning. And I have a sleuthing job for you and George.”
When the girls heard about Mrs. Horace Truesdale, they were thunderstruck. George actually fell into a chair, shocked. “And I thought that woman didn’t have a brain in her head!” Bess added.
“If she does belong to the gang,” said Nancy, “she might have been the one who sent the faked note and also the flowers to Grandpa Soong at the hospital. The dragon card might even have been meant for me to see so I’d be frightened off the case.”
“What do you want Bess and me to do?” George asked eagerly.
“Trail Mrs. Truesdale,” Nancy replied. “Or better yet, invite her to go shopping with you and find out everything you possibly can.”
“I like that assignment,” Bess spoke up quickly. “Get me into a shop and I can stand anything!” George telephoned to Mrs. Truesdale’s room and gave the invitation. To the cousins’ delight, the woman accepted promptly and said she would be ready to go shopping at two o’clock. Nancy relayed the message to Mr. Soong.
Then, turning to Ned, she asked, “How about you and I going to Kam Tin?”
The young man hesitated. “I’d rather not trust my old car for the trip. But I’d like to go. Suppose we try to charter a helicopter.”
“Perfect!” Nancy’s eyes sparkled.
Ned drove to the Kai Tak Airport and went inside the building to make arrangements for the flight. Nancy, meanwhile, walked outside and along a fence. Near the control tower was a large Navy helicopter. In the distance she saw a small whirlybird.
“That must be the helicopter Ned and I will take,” she figured, and walked toward it. At that moment a small car raced past her and onto the field. In it sat a Chinese man at the wheel, and a girl. She barely caught a glimpse of their faces.
Some distance farther down, the driver stopped the car. The Oriental girl alighted, hurried onto the field, and into a waiting plane. It was a small, two-engine craft. The car whizzed off.
Nancy, lost in thought about the mystery, kept on walking toward the helicopter. Presently she drew near the small craft into which the Chinese girl had hurried. Nancy noticed that there were curtains inside the plane which more than half covered the windows in the passenger compartment. The three landing steps attached to the inside of the door were down.
Suddenly a girl’s voice called, “Nancy Drew?”
Nancy was startled and instinctively responded, “Yes.” Instantly the Chinese girl peered through the doorway. “Come here!” she said. “I’m Chi Che. I’ve been a prisoner but I escaped. This pilot is going to fly me to Taipei to get away from the kidnapers. But I want to tell you my whole story first. And, please, how is my grandfather? Poor Grandpa!”
Nancy stared at the girl. She did indeed resemble the photograph of Chi Che Soong. “Hurry!” the girl urged.
Still Nancy hesitated. She wanted to be sure this was Chi Che. “But it’s not necessary for you to go to Taipei,” the young sleuth said finally. “Your uncle is here and knows all about your kidnaping. I’ll take you to him and you’ll be perfectly safe.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” the Chinese girl countered. “Please come inside a minute. I don’t want anybody to see me, but I must give you a message for my grandfather. It is very important.”
Nancy turned once more to look for Ned. He was coming on a run. Confident that now she would be all right, the young detective quickly went up the steps and into the plane.
Immediately the door was slammed shut. The pilot pressed the starter buttons on first one, then the other engine. The motors roared to life. At once the plane raced to the nearest runway and took off.
“I don’t want to go to Taipei!” Nancy cried out. “Take me back!”
Suddenly the Chinese girl laughed. “My name is Chi Che, but it’s not Chi Che Soong. Nancy Drew, you’re a prisoner!”
CHAPTER XVII
Pursuit of the Sea Furies
AS NANCY stood temporarily stunned by her capture, a man peered from behind a curtain where baggage was usually stowed. He was tall and very thin. Nancy had never seen him before, but was sure he was an American.
“How do you do, Miss Drew?” he said triumphantly. “Sorry I didn’t meet you in New York, but I’ve been trailing you and your boy friend around Hong Kong. This chance to take you in our plane is a lucky break. Are you prepared for a long ride?”
Nancy recovered herself and eyed her captors unflinchingly. “You don’t think you’re going to get away with this, do you?” she retorted.
The Chinese girl and her companion began to laugh scornfully. Then Chi Che said, “She does not know how smart you are, Skinny Kord.”
Kord began to taunt Nancy about having her friend George Fayne pose as Chi Che Soong.
“This Chi Che makes a better substitute, doesn’t she?”
Nancy ignored the question. “Where is Chi Che Soong?” she demanded.
“In a place where you will never find her,” Skinny Kord replied harshly.
He now took a long rope from behind the curtain, and with Chi Che’s help, bound Nancy’s hands behind her back. He then forced her to lie down across two seats and tied her ankles together.
“You may as well have a nap,” Skinny Kord sneered. “You won’t be doing any detecting.”
He and his girl companion walked up to the front of the plane where the Chinese pilot was gunning the craft to top speed.
“This is a dreadful fix to be in!” Nancy groaned inwardly. “What am I going to do?”
She thought of Ned back at the airport. Had he seen her enter the plane? Would he be able to effect a rescue? “Maybe some other plane will pass us.” Nancy’s mind raced. “If I could only signal it!”
The young sleuth suddenly remembered the lipstick she was carrying in her skirt pocket. By wriggling and squirming, Nancy was able to pull out the metal tube. By rubbing the case of the lipstick against the rope, she managed to detach the cap. Then she twisted the end until the red stick was showing. Slowly and painfully, Nancy managed to raise herself from the seats.
“I mustn’t let anyone see me,” she thought.
Keeping her eyes on the pilot’s compartment, where her captors were busily talking, Nancy backed up to the window. With the lipstick, she wrote a large SOS backwards on the pane so that it would be legible from the outside. She then drew the small curtains across the window so that the writing would not be seen from inside. Weary from her efforts, the girl detective once more lay down across the two seats.
Nancy wrote a large SOS backwards on the pane
Meanwhile, back at the airport, Ned Nickerson had arranged to charter the helicopter. He had come from the building and had been surprised to see Nancy go into the small two-engine plane. Then, the next moment, it had suddenly taken off.
“That’s strange!” the young man told himself. He dashed back to the airport building and rushed to the control tower to inquire about the plane.
“We know nothing about it except that it came in from Manila last Wednesday,” the Chinese controller replied. “It made an unauthorized take-off from the wrong runway before the airfield car could stop it. We tried to attract its attention by a red light from the tower, but the pilot paid no attention. No flight plan whatsoever was filed. They won’t answer on the radio.”
“So you have no idea of the plane’s intention or destination?”
“None whatsoever.”
“A friend of mine is on that plane!” Ned cried. “I’m afraid she’s been kidnaped! We must do something at once!”
The official asked Ned several questions. When the youth had identified himself and told enough of the mystery to convince the man a rescue was urgent, the controller called the headquarters of the Fleet Air Arm of the British Royal Navy stationed in Hong Kong harbor. After a lengthy and excited conversation, the official turned to Ned.
“The chase has been started. There’s an aircraft carrier a few miles out at sea engaged in practice exercises. It will try to pick up the plane by radar. As soon as it does, fighters will be sent out to force its return. A Navy helicopter is standing by and is just about to leave for the carrier. Would you like to go with it?”
“I sure would!” Ned said.
In a matter of seconds he was on board. The pilot of the helicopter introduced himself as Lieutenant Commander Rawling, commanding officer of one of the Fury Flights.
“Glad to have you aboard,” he told Ned. “My boys will be off after that plane shortly. It should still be well within radar range.”
Ned sat in the front seat beside the pilot. In a few minutes they had crossed Victoria Island and the great carrier came into view. Three Sea Fury planes took off from its deck, one after the other.
“We’ll follow them as quickly as we can,” Rawling said, “but this copter is much slower. I’ll get the flight leader on the radio.” He called and established contact. Ned could hear everything said by both men.
In a few minutes the flight leader reported, “We have the aircraft in sight.”
“Close in on him and make him turn back!” Rawling commanded.
“Wilco! Closing on him rapidly now.”
Ned heard the flight leader calling the aircraft on the radio, but there was no response.
“They probably hear but won’t answer,” Ned guessed. “Remember Nancy is on board,” he said. “I hope your men won’t shoot!”
“No,” said Rawling. “They may try to make the pilot think they will, though.”
The lieutenant commander gave orders to the Furies, telling them in code the maneuvers to follow. The flight leader called back, “There’s an SOS on one of the cabin windows!”
“Nancy must have put that there!” Ned thought excitedly.
In the kidnapers’ plane, Nancy was both thrilled and frightened. She watched fascinated as one plane dived in front to slow them down, another swooped below, and the third above. One second she felt she was going to be rescued, the next that she might lose her life; her captors seemed to be desperate enough to perish in the battle.
The Chinese pilot, Skinny Kord, and Chi Che were talking excitedly both in Cantonese and in English. They had heard every word the commander of the pursuing three-craft squadron had said.
“Why should we take orders from them?” Kord cried out. “We can get away. They’d never risk shooting with Nancy Drew in our plane.”
“But we don’t dare land in Taipei now or we would be arrested,” Chi Che said. “And we may run out of gas and crash if we keep going.”
The Chinese pilot said, “If we do not go back, I am not at all sure they will not fire on us. I am not risking it. We are returning.”
Since his companions could not fly a plane, they were forced to accede to his decision. In a short time, to Nancy’s relief, she felt the craft bank and turn. The pilot had lowered his landing gear as a token of surrender, she later learned.
Nancy pushed her curtains open. Apparently the fighter planes had changed position. Now one flew on each side of the kidnapers’ craft, so close that Nancy could see each pilot’s face clearly, at least that part of it which was not masked by his helmet and microphone.
Ned was thrilled to hear a new voice calling Kai Tak and asking for landing instructions. “We’ve won!” he shouted.
He strained his eyes on the distant horizon. Suddenly he pointed. “There they are!”